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Ultima seriesDying in Ultima 4(9 posts)(9 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted December 16, 2014
Hey all,

I'm thinking about starting Ultima 4 -- I've always been a fan of the games from the peak of the series, but I've never been really sure how I'd fare with the earlier ones, so I'm trying to get a better sense of the mechanics. One thing that's really confusing me about 4 is all of the stuff I've heard about dying. It initially sounded like permadeath, since you can't reload an earlier save after you die, but I've also read that you resurrect at Castle British and that dying can actually improve your Sacrifice score.

Is dying a big deal? Are their any consequences besides having to start back at the castle? Do you lose equipment, gold, virtue points, other progress?
Posted December 17, 2014
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NotJabba: Hey all,

I'm thinking about starting Ultima 4 -- I've always been a fan of the games from the peak of the series, but I've never been really sure how I'd fare with the earlier ones, so I'm trying to get a better sense of the mechanics. One thing that's really confusing me about 4 is all of the stuff I've heard about dying. It initially sounded like permadeath, since you can't reload an earlier save after you die, but I've also read that you resurrect at Castle British and that dying can actually improve your Sacrifice score.

Is dying a big deal? Are their any consequences besides having to start back at the castle? Do you lose equipment, gold, virtue points, other progress?
Well, it's definitely not a permadeath situation.
IIRC, you resurrect at the castle, lose all but 200 gold and food, and some amount of experience. I don't think it helps your sacrifice score at all though.
Posted December 17, 2014
Ok. So you don't have to start over in terms of all the stuff that the game counts toward completion, like completed virtues and collected virtue stones?
Posted December 17, 2014
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NotJabba: Ok. So you don't have to start over in terms of all the stuff that the game counts toward completion, like completed virtues and collected virtue stones?
No, you only lose an eighth if you do things repeatedly to hurt your score in that virtue (like paying 0 for reagents). I don't know for sure if you can lose quest items.
Posted December 17, 2014
IIRC, dying can help your Sacrifice rating in specific circumstances (covering your party's retreat). That isn't really something you want to arrange on purpose, though.
Posted December 20, 2014
I don't think you lose EXP from dying in U4, but you do in U5. That actually leads to a nice EXP cheat/exploit in U5 that allows you to jack your stats up really high.
Posted December 20, 2014
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DCC74: I don't think you lose EXP from dying in U4, but you do in U5. That actually leads to a nice EXP cheat/exploit in U5 that allows you to jack your stats up really high.
Ah, so 5 has a similar system? Is 6 the first one that uses conventional saves?

Thanks for the info, everyone! It makes these games feel a lot less intimidating.
Posted December 21, 2014
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DCC74: I don't think you lose EXP from dying in U4, but you do in U5. That actually leads to a nice EXP cheat/exploit in U5 that allows you to jack your stats up really high.
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NotJabba: Ah, so 5 has a similar system? Is 6 the first one that uses conventional saves?

Thanks for the info, everyone! It makes these games feel a lot less intimidating.
Actually, 6's saves are horrible, about 2.5 bajillion files in the save folder. You have to reinstall to start a new game unless you use GOG's tool or Nuvie (which I recommend). U7 is the first to use save slots versus one "if you want to start over then, no" save.
Posted December 27, 2014
U4 is only intimidating in terms of working out what all you're supposed to to if you play totally unspoiled. I had an extensive notebook when I first played it back in the day.

It's possible to do some things that greatly set you back in your goals, but if you're paying much attention these won't come as much of a surprise. At progress points maybe 20-30% of the way into the game, dying can feel like a major setback due to loss of gold and food. At the very beginning you don't have anything anyway, and much later, all your wealth is in your equipped stuff after a while.
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Ultima seriesDying in Ultima 4(9 posts)(9 posts)
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