Part 2: In which we investigate the "kidnapping", are taunted by a basement slime, and flee the city of Trinsic
Alright folks. Here we go.
First thing's first. I realized I never mentioned the sound effects - perhaps because I hoped to forget them. The whole thing is very console-ized. Imagine Final Fantasy menu sound effects glued onto Ultima game. If I figure out how, and stop being lazy, I'll record and upload a sample video on YouTube.
Now, as you may remember, we are currently trapped in Trinsic.
Apparently the mayor can give us the password, so, we're off to see the mayor.
It should also be noted that the map of Trinsic in the SNES version and PC versions are vastly different. The SNES version isn't just smaller, but it's organized entirely different.
Night has fallen. This is what night looks like.
Since this is crappy for screenshots, I am going to use Magic Emulator Powers to speed up time and make it day again.
Here is the courthouse.
I can "talk" to the fountain out front.
I choose to drink some water.
Riveting. Let's throw a coin in.
It
might have? I just threw a coin in. I sure fucking hope it did. Also, who is talking to me? Did the game's narrator suddenly decide to address me directly? Maybe this game is deeper than I thought.
Sure enough, the "weight of my coin purse" has changed. I have...
two more gold? What the fuck? How?
Magic? An early attempt at a slot machine? Or is my coin teleported to the Britannian stock market and invested behind the scenes?
I try a few more times, but this is all I get on each attempt.
Guess I've used up my luck. Or my magic. Or what the fuck ever. I take my anger out on a nearby horse...
...and apparently vaporize it. With Avatar power. Or something. The same animation played when the red moongate at the beginning vanished, so I can only assume this is how every NPC and object in the game "dies".
Okay, enough screwing around, time to talk to the mayor and solve this "kidnapping" (hint: I THINK IT WAS THE FUCKING BONES I FOUND IN THE FUCKING WELL)
There's a note on the door of the courthouse:
Uh. Alright then. Inside, I find nothing but a book.
Apparently they could only fit a couple of sentences of each of Ultima 7's books in the SNES version. Since the mayor is not to be found in the courthouse. I leave...
...out the same door it told me not to go in earlier. And yes, before you ask,
I still cannot enter the building using that door. Also note, on the edge of the screen, the horse that exploded a minute ago is back. I imagine "respawning creatures" will be another popular theme in this game.
Alright, guess I'll search the city for the mayor. I'll start in the tavern, where any good mayor should be.
The tavern is empty. Could it be the SNES version actually has some form of NPC schedules? A minor bright spot, since surely even the SNES version would have a taken tavern employee NPC, right? I'll fast forward time to confirm my suspicions.
Nope, not so much, but eventually Iolo comes in, despite the lack of any actual employees to serve him. Guess the poor fuck has nothing to do since he
won't join my Goddamn party. Also, it's worth noting now that anytime I bump against a consumable, be it food or drink, it automatically vanishes and a brief sound effect plays. I presume if I had lower health, it would be restoring it. "Streamlining" at its best, I guess.
I return to the courthouse and speed up time to see if it makes the mayor appear. No joy. I leave and re-enter to see if that triggers anything...nope. Alright then. In fact, I search the entire town (an easy feat, considering it consists of less than a dozen buildings) but there's no sign of any "mayor".
I guess I'll start the "kidnapping" investigation at the scene of the crime and see if it pops up. Here is the "barn" the "kidnapping" supposedly took place in.
It has room for maybe one horse to stay. Uncomfortably. Beyond that, I learn absolutely nothing.
It's time to question Petre, as Iolo suggested earlier.
Apparently, the SNES only has room for a certain number of NPCs, so Petre gets to look like a Generic Fellowship Member from the PC version.
Petre gives me the basic rundown: Christopher the Blacksmith and Inamo, his Trusty Gargoyle Sidekick, were "kidnapped". So I guess the skeletons I found in the well were really just random skeletons left down there from some earlier murder/kidnapping. Trinsic seems to have a far more serious problem on its hands, but really, I just want to "solve" this so I can move the fuck on. Petre mentions a note that I should inform the mayor of.
I have a bad feeling about this. I've now talked to the NPC Iolo told me to, and said NPC told me to seek the mayor. Does that mean, if I go to the courthouse, the mayor will
finally have spawned?
...yup. I see him for a moment, and as I move to talk to him...he vanishes. Into thin air. What...the...fuck.
I get outside and find it's night again, so I guess the game must've triggered his "schedule" and teleported him home.
I finally track the fat fuck down and barge without warning into his house, in true Avatar fashion.
I'd just like to take this moment to note that I love how the option "Bye!" always has an exclamation mark. It's those sort of small touches that make a Good Game into a Great Game, and a Great Game into a Classic. And as we all know, Ultima VII is definitely a classic.
The mayor asks me to talk to Christopher's son, Spark, and a guard who was wounded the night of the *twitch* kidnapping. For some reason, only the Avatar can handle this. I guess that explains why the town wells are full of skeletons.
Time to visit Spark.
Spark was a joinable NPC in the PC version, but I have a hunch he's just a throw-away character in the SNES version.
Shocking. After being told the mayor sent me, he tells me had a dream that his father was hurt, and that he saw a Gargoyle and a man - not his father - leaving the barn. Which works in the PC version, when Christopher and Inamo were
murdered. But were was Hook (OOPS SPOILER SORRY) and his own Trust Gargoyle Sidekick leaving the barn
without the kidnap victims? Did they tie them up and come back later? Or take them and stuff them in a well then go back to the barn to hide their tracks? Or, perhaps, did the writers of this piece of shit
just not care anymore? If so, I empthasize.
Spark tells me he found a note and some gold in a chest in his father's house. As I recall, in the PC version, Spark gave you a key and you actually got to find and open the chest yourself, but whatever. Anyway, the note explains that apparently Christopher had an argument with Klog, the local leader of the Fellowship, and was working on a "special project" for him, which should be over at his shop. The plot - what little there is - thickens. I guess. Whatever. At least the little shit gave me 500 gold, even if he didn't join my party.
The only thing I find at Christopher's shop are more blacksmith hammers, of which I know have five, so I decide to visit Klog. But, he's not around at the moment, so I do a little exploring.
I enter Conner, a local guard's house, who is in no way brainwashed by the Fellowship.
Subtle.
His basement is dangerous as well, but braving the Evil Slime, I find a shield and some "skeleton keys" in a barrel. As in all great RPGs, there is no way to open a locked door besides using a universal "key" item that is dropped randomly and found as loot.
As in all True Ultima games, the slime splits when attacked...
...and taunts the Avatar by name when I "use" it.
...fuck me this is going to be a long game.
I return to the basement a few times, killing slimes and finding a new shield and keys to loot each time. On the third visit:
Booyah. Notice I now have two more hearts and ankhs, which I can now only assume are "mana". So much for my "heart container" theory.
With my newfound keys, I can loot the town basements more effectively. In true Avatar fashion, I loot every basement in town (all 3 of them) with no reprocussions, upgrading to leather armor and boots, as well as a mace. I should visit the provisioner, too, and find out if this game is actually terrible enough to let me sell the endlessly-respawning loot I'm finding, thus raping any possible chance at having a consistent economy.
This is the merchant interface screen. There appears to be no dialog with merchants beyond this screen. "Streamlining."
He's not interested in any of the Clothes or Cloth I found, but everything else he gobbles up happily, including weapons and armor that respawn whenever I leave a screen, thus guaranteeing I will never have money problems ever. Knowing this, I buy the sword (I have no idea if it's better than my new mace but it
looks bigger) and a bedroll.
I do him a favor and clean out his basement as well, hitting the third level of experience (
already?!) by killing a dozen or so rats, but sadly finding no respawning loot to exploit. In case you're wondering, there don't seem to be any stats besides health and ankhs. I can't even see how effective my armor or weapon is, as far as I can tell. Impressively, I
can drop items, so I drop all the crap I can't sell. Anyone want to guess if it'll still be there if I leave and come back?
Shocking. I do discover, however, that I can assign any combination of weapons/shields to the A and B button, so I decide to dual wield the shield and mace, having no idea how shields work. Dual wielding! Fuck yeah! This game is so next gen.
I also decide to try out a bedroll...
Well, at least now I have a way to advance time without abusing the Emulator Fast Forward spell (Vas Fuk Dis). I am half-surprised to find the bedroll
isn't a one-shot item. Always nice when a game is slightly less shitty than you expect.
Alright, I guess that covers everything in Trinsic except getting the
fuck out, so it's time to talk to the Fellowship and the injured guard, get the password, and head northward.
The Fellowship "Hall". I guess that's accurate, since it's literally
just a fucking hallway.
I get no option to ask about the Note. He just gives his alibi for the night of the kidnapping and talks about Eliza and Abraham and how Christopher was going to leave the Fellowship...
Wait.
Eliza and Abraham? REALLY?!? Did the SNES catridge not have enough memory for the full name
Elizabeth? Anyway, he invites me to ask his wife, Ellen, about his alibi. Think the game will let me?
Hey, whaddya-know. The game is now two for two in being "really shitty but still not quite as shitty as I've come to expect." It's all about lowering your standards, people. She offers nothing interesting, however, beyond confirming her husband was there. So, time to talk to our injured guard.
So we visit the "healer", who apparently just abandons his/her patients in a random bed until the heal of their own free will. I guess I should just be glad the healer doesn't have a basement full of monsters like everyone else in Trinsic.
Alfred explains he was on duty that night and knocked unconscious. When he came to, the Crown Jewel, captained by Captain Hook, had left for Britain. Guess we're headed north.
Time to talk to the mayor again.
I love how "Lord British", "Hook", and "No fucking clue" are the only options. Not even the head of the Fellowship is an option, despite very briefly being a suspect. Anyway, if you've been following the LP, the answer should be pretty obvious by now.
Oops. Guess it was the other guy.
First quest COMPLETE. Too bad I have no in-game journal to indicate this is so. My sense of accomplishment is left wanting. I believe this part of the game also served as copy protection in the PC version, trapping you in Trinsic if you couldn't provide certain information located in the game's manual and/or cloth map. Ultima VI had something similar.
I drop the password to the guard.
I love how NPCs randomly switch to and from Elizabethan English. This random character-switch mid-conversation reminds me of Oblivion, which seems appropriate, given how awesome and next gen this game is.
Finally outside the city walls! Next, I head north to Paws. Assuming Paws is in the SNES version, and Nintendo didn't just deem it Too Goddamn Depressing.