I have the weirdest hobbies.

If anyone's interested in joining or watching, I've started speed running Ultima IV.

My latest recorded run, done only as proof of concept and with little concern for the actual quickness of inputs, came in just over two hours. It's here: https://youtu.be/r3IqXzhAlRc (Obviously, this has MASSIVE SPOILERS for the game, like where to find every dang thing and the answers to all the important questions)

I have a faster route now that I'm hoping can bring me down to about 90 minutes, assuming I can keep my flailing fingers under control. Among other things, I'm not evil to start.

Anyway, if people are interested and would like to exchange notes (or consider some of the other old RPGs around) I'd be happy to discuss.

Very nice - I'll be linking to your video from the Classic Ultima Online website. It's still in alpha, but if you want to try out your speed run techniques on a slightly modified version of U4, then that could be a big help to the project.

Let me get the bugs out of this one first!

What's been "slightly modified" in the online version?

The runes must be carved from various rune carvers using a gathered component. The white stone can't be fetched using blink, but the balloon is a lot easier to use. Shrines have their own separate maps. Dungeon maps are never in first-person perspective and therefore have been modified where necessary to prevent wrapping. The classic companions cannot join you (that's what other players are for). That's about it. You can also access U1 through U3 by talking to Lord British, but that's purely optional.

Going solo's not a big deal for me, if you watch the run. That's the key to going fast, not having to control a huge party. It will probably be faster in the end since I don't have to pick up the companions, although I'll probably have reroute for the rune carving and the new dungeon layouts, but I'm sure it's doable. But one run at a time. :)

Pardon me whilst I cast IN MANI CORP on this thread.

I stumbled across your speedrun on johnny1974's site and tracked it back here. Which is crazy timing since I'm toying with speedrunning U4 DOS myself. Did a very rough test run based on thedagit's SMS route and came in at 3 hours. (I did a lot of flailing about as I was watching thedagit's run and trying to follow along with it at the same time. So it could have been MUCH faster.)

Anyhoo I was wondering if you wanted to submit your run to https://www.speedrun.com/ultima4#Any_DOS? It would be great to get some numbers on there and I think including your run is historically important.

Did you ever do your faster 90 minute run?

Also during your run you muse about having a randomizer for the game...
Well guess what else I have been up to! https://github.com/Fenyx4/U4DosRandomizer/releases. It is still in alpha stages. But the overworld is randomized and I'd love to have some more people playtest it and give feedback on more features.