A few days ago, Linguistic Dragon posted yet another entry in his ongoing playthrough of Ultima 6. In it, he chronicles his quest to first join the Thieves’ Guild, and then his pursuit of the first few pieces of the treasure map. I’m actually having a hard time deciding what to excerpt, so I’ll just grab his summary of his progress:

I had found three pieces of the map, but there were still more to find. Since I was low on reagents after my run through Destard, with all those spells slung about, I opted to head for Moonglow and restock. Since it was in close proximity, after thanking Xiao for her services once more, I sailed north to Dagger Isle, seeking out the hermit that was supposed to live here. I found him on the north side of the island, a wild-eyed man named Bonn who seemed to have, simply put, lost it entirely. Much of what he said made little to no sense, and pretty much the only comprehensibly helpful piece of information was the fact his scrap of the map was apparently kept in his basement – which didn’t help much when an entrance to one was not visible at all. Closer examination of his quarters, however, revealed a lever beneath a harpsichord (which was not a simple matter to move, let me tell you – there’s a reason I play violin as well as piano, it’s a lot more portable) which opened the way to the basement. Some rummaging about in his bags and boxes led to the fourth piece of the map – what looked to be about half of the thing in its entirety.

So satisfied with a job well done for now, I called it there.

Also worth noting, I think, are his comments on his use of magic in the game, especially with respect to the aforementioned voyage into Destard:

In practice…there’s only been two games where I’ve sincerely enjoyed playing a character that’s a proper caster-type class, and those have been Kingdoms of Amalur and Dragon Age: Origins. Everything else, I tend to either favor a class that lets me use magic as more of a support mechanism rather than a primary means of action, or just a straight-up dexterity/agility-focused class. Why? Because there’s too much that goes into setting up and/or playing a mage right. Not that they’re not viable, it’s just that I’m not willing to put in the time and effort to learn that specific curve because it interrupts the flow of the game too much for me. Either that or it just takes too many resources to really make it an effective means of combat – constant chugging of mana potions, resting after every two or three fights to refresh spells, the hesitance to cast a spell because what if I need that slot for something more important later, it’s all something of a detriment to my enjoyment of playing a mage. Remember how spells were basically inventory items you paid for back in Ultimas I and II? That’s how a lot of magic systems in games feel to me, more often than not, just in a bit more veiled guise. And I suppose that’s a good thing, in some respects, because often spells have more powerful effects than just straight-up bashing with weapons, especially in combination with each other, and there needs to be some mitigating factor for the sake of balance. In practice, though, it feels rather more cumbersome to me than anything else.

So I’ve found myself musing on the fact that I’ve actually used a pretty heavy amount of magic as I play through Ultima VI, and not just that, but actively looking for opportunities to use my spells. I’m hardly playing as a full-out mage proper, but I’m making more use of magic than I typically do, and I haven’t exactly figured out why yet, either. Maybe part of it is due to the fact that magic is simply more convenient than some of the other options there are for doing certain things. Take curing poison, for instance. Red potions are an option, but aren’t sold anywhere, so you’re working off a limited inventory. There’s healers, but the cost of garlic and ginseng to cast the appropriate spell is considerably less than what they charge, and what’s more, it can be cast anywhere. Then there’s the fact it’s relatively simple to measure my resources. I never have to guess how many times I can cast a spell before my reagents are depleted – Ultima VI conveniently tells me right there on the screen when I choose a spell. Running out of MP isn’t a problem, because I’m still capable on the battlefield without using spells – I don’t have to rely on them, and so I can sprinkle them throughout combat as needed rather than just push and push and push them so hard that I have to constantly find means to regain the points to cast them.

These comments resonate with me…except that I found magic to be a bit too cumbersome in Dragon Age: Origins (though, to be fair, I found most of the combat-related systems in that game cumbersome). I generally eschew the use of magic as a primary skill in most RPGs, preferring to use it in a support capacity if at all. Typically, I’ll play a straight-up fighter type. But in both Reckoning and Ultima 6, I found I too make more use of magic than I might otherwise do in another RPG…and I suppose the ease of use of the magic systems in both games has something to do with that. Like as not, magic is very intelligently implemented in both games, and (what’s more), is largely effortless to use well.

Anyhow…what’s next for Linguistic?

Halfway through the search for the map – that just leaves Shame, Wrong, Empath Abbey, and the desert. Everything from here on out is something that I’ve never experienced in-game before – heck, half this update was.

What follows should, I imagine, be quite interesting indeed.