i'm playing ultima 4, and it seems like i've killed a million monsters by now and i still havn't leveled up! does anyone know how much xp you need to reach level 2?


i got Iolo in my party and we both use slings so the monsters can't flee, I am actually kiling them and getting their xp. it just seems like its taking forever.

i would like to add that i only play for five minuets at a time, but ive probably played at least a half hour by now. of course, the first part of that half hour was spent hitting monsters with a staff then watching them flee before i could kill them. very frustrating.

have you spoke to Lord British? If not head over to Castle British and talk to him if you have enough XP then he will raise your level

dope! thats what i didn't do right!


it seems like the easiest way to play this game, is to die immediatly after starting, end up at britishes castle, obtain iolo in your party, and start leveling up until your powerful enough to adventure on your own. gaining a huge pile of gold and food in the meantime.


my next question, does everyone start off as a mage?

Lol,no your class is determined by you governing virtue/what virtue you picked at the end of the gypsy's questions at the start

Honesty = Mage
Compassion = Bard
Valor = Fighter
Justice = Druid
Sacrifice = Tinker
Honor = Paladin
Spirituality = Ranger
Humility = Shepherd

Also you can not recruit the companion with the same virtue/class as you so if your a Bard you can not recruit Iolo also you must have 7 companions in your party(for a total of 8 one for each virtue) to finish the game if you don't you will be kicked out of the abyss till you do. Oh and you must be level 8, don't recall if your party must be as well.

i don't like mages typically. too much micro management, especialy in these old rpgs of yesterday.

but since i've already gained so much xp and gold as a mage, i'll stick with it. i better learn how to cast spells, i assume thats in the manual? i need some reagents i know that from ultima 7.

Yeah it's in the manual, in Ultima 4 you need to mix the spell first so if you want to cast cure you would need to use the Mix command which is M and then just pick what reagents for cure it would be Garlic and Ginseng there is more to it but it's been awhile but you can mix up to 99 castings of a spell and save them for when you need them.

Also make sure you have a few dispel spells handy as I recall one of the runes is hidden beyond a bunch of barriers

Also Regents are sold in only two shops and one oddly enough is hidden.

jeez these old games are crazy. i better stock up on gold before looking for them. are reagents cheap?

depends on the reagent the rarer ones like Black Pearl and Blood Moss(i.e. the ones that are a pain to obtain by finding them outdoors yourself) are more expensive but the shop keep at both shops is blind as a bat so your asked how much your going to pay them now you can pay 1 gold for 99 of every reagent but your Honesty and I think Justice or Compassion(I can't recall if it's just honesty or honesty and another virtue that get's lowered for cheating the reagents sellers) is going to take a massive hit but you can always try and raise it back up

The other option, as DCT talked about, is to simply take the hit on your virtue(s) and pay 1 for 99 of each when you find a town with reagents you haven't bought yet. You'll need to do it semi-early in the game though so you have time to rebuild those virtues.

The mage actually is the best class in Ultima 4, since all classes end up with the same maxed out stats but the mage also has the most MP. And he can use a bad ass ranged weapon.

Yeah you can do it, but hey - you should act as an avatar, right? And this is bad! :)

DCT unloaded a few helpful tidbits with regard to classes and companions, but was also clearly confusing games and/or memories at one point or another:

there are four reagent shops in IV, and two of them are hidden (not two/one as DCT stated). they all offer the same six 'basic' reagents, and there is no other method of acquiring those six reagents - just as there is no method other than harvesting the right place at the right time to acquire the two 'high-powered' reagents.

each of the four [blind old woman] herbalists has one 'signature' reagent that she sells cheaper than the other three herbalists (Garlic, Silk, Moss and Pearl) and (iirc) each of the other two buyables (Ash, Ginseng) has two locations where it is 'equally cheapest'.

the setup becomes less generic, and awkward in different ways, in the sequels - bought reagents come in fixed-size 'packets' and each vendor (with distinct name and occasional personality) has a slightly different selection, and Mandrake and Nightshade even become buyable (though horribly expensive)... and eventually you can gather all eight reagents from the great outdoors and dungeons...