I'm not entirely certain that anyone remembers me saying that I'd be posting about my time in Britannia's Age of Armageddon, but I sure do, and it's about time I delivered.
So, the truth is, I absolutely hate the combat. Maybe I'm just not used to it yet, but it's just a little irritating. I'm not saying that it's the core of the experience, because it really isn't, but given that I know that I'm going to have to fight some dragons somewhere in my future, I'm don't feel like I'm going to be ready. However, I dialed down the combat difficulty, picked up two more companions, beat down some bandits, and now I'm equipped for war with the Guardian.
Now for the good stuff: the story is progressing in an amazing way. I'd say spoiler alert, but let's face it, none of you are going to care about spoilers if you haven't played this particular game from twenty years ago. So far, two brutal ritualistic murders have taken place in the wake of two Fellowship members coming into towns. I don't know if it's obvious enough so let me say it: The Fellowship is evil. As are Elizabeth and Abraham. You know...EA...like the vile corporation that raped Origin Systems and destroyed this franchise. Okay, moving on.
Along the way I've found some of the adventurers from previous games, such as Iolo, Shamino, and Sentri. While I've never had Sentri in my party in the earlier games I've played, I have recruited Iolo. Shamino, however, has only met my character in the first Ultima...as it was his castle that I ransacked and ripped through to save a princess who would tell me where his time machine was. Yeah, scroll back a ways and check out my review of that one to see how nutty that game was!
Between murder sites, character recruiting, and begging Lord British for healing, I met a gypsy named Margareta, who told me a lot of what is to come in the game. Apparently I will be fighting Captain Hook, meeting a Time Lord, and even chatting up with some wisps.
Not a screenshot.
I also spoke with another mage who'd lost his mind and was put on the trail of a magic carpet. This is one of my primary objectives right now, because I would love some help traveling around the map. Let's face it: traveling through the swamp sucks with a party of this size, because touching the water poisons you. Well, small price to pay to see greater Britannia. However, I think that it's not so much the Avatar that gets poisoned as it is Spark. The little kid has a death wish.
Yeah, I haven't gotten very far. I have made progress, but it's a beast of a game. I do have some leads, including a serpent knife, and of course the vile EA(!). As long as things keep going this well (yes I think it's going well!), I will post more about my trip through Britannia in the coming Age of Armageddon. I think that I will play Ultima VIII: Pagan and do just the same. If you think I should, drop a comment! Show me that you are reading rather than letting me just look at my statistics and guessing that people give a crap!
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