I've been playing Ultima IV on and off for about the last week and I've really enjoyed it. For the most part I've been able to keep up with quest items, locations, shrines, and mantras just by keeping notes.

But, one problem I'm having is that nobody seems to tell me where the dungeons are. I'm trying not to look up locations or clues that just tell me the answer. For instance, I don't want to just know where the candle is, I want to know how you find out where it is, so that I can go find it!

So, can anyone tell me: do characters in game give me the location of dungeons if I ask the right questions? Or am I supposed to just run into them randomly?

Thanks in advance!

IIRC you are told the general location of some of the dungeons, but not all.

IIRC, the original cloth map gave you a good idea of where the dungeons were located; if you can find pretty much any map of the game world (U4 through U7) then those locations should remain about the same throughout.

thanks for the replies, everyone.

i figured i was supposed to just look around, and i think some of the dungeons are visible on the map, but not all of them.

will just have to dive in and see what happens!

Note that not all dungeons have overworld entrances.

oh MAN

I never expected the dungeons to be so complex. You could spend an entire day or two just trying to get through one, and you still may not actually do it. Mapping them would be a very, very long process.

to all the people who played this without using any maps or clues, congratulations. there are some very hard to see switches in certain rooms that I'd probably miss if I weren't looking for them, and even then I'm not sure I'd know to stop on them in a certain order. I can see myself getting totally frustrated with them and giving up. Not to mention that finding such switches are necessary for getting quest items!

yikes!

You don't need to make or use maps; I just stocked up on tons of Gems whenever I went to a dungeon. (P)eering at a Gem pretty much reveals all the secret walls, your location, etc of the floor you're on.

It's been a long time since I played U4 to completion (like 15+ years!) but I remember solving some of the dungeon rooms with basically brute force, i.e. throwing magic axes at literally every wall and floor tile until a door opened up.