Spoony Plays Ultima VIII: Pagan, Part 1

Very much a departure in style from the previous Ultima games, Pagan is not so much an RPG as an isometric action platformer with some light RPG elements.  Which would be fine if it were a quality game, but unfortunately it also suffers from an awkward mouse-driven control scheme, a confusingly layed-out game world and heavy plot cuts due to a rushed development schedule.

As for me personally... I don't recall it being very fun.  Or even particularly good as a game.  We'll see if that holds true this time around, I suppose.



Patch

After numerous fan complaints arose, a patch for the game was released that introduced several interface hotkeys, allowed for mouse-targeted jumping and disabled all moving platforms in the game, making it considerably easier to navigate.  If you have an older version of the game, I highly recommend downloading the 2.12 patch here.

A short overview of the controls

Left Mouse button - One click to examine, double-click to interact with something.  Double-click on the Avatar to bring up his status menu, and on windows to close them.  In combat, a single click blocks and a double click attacks.
Right Mouse button - Walk in the direction indicated by the cursor.  Right click on the Avatar to begin combat mode.
Left + Right Mouse button - Jump in the direction the Avatar is facing.  In the patched version, you will attempt to  jump to the exact point the cursor is on.  Jumping into a ledge will cause the Avatar to climb up, provided it is low enough.
Escape - Brings up the menu.

If you have the patch installed, there are also several hotkeys to utilize.

C - Begins combat mode.
I - Inventory (backpack)
O - Options menu
Z - Opens status screen
Backspace - Closes all open windows
Alt+H - Reverses the mouse button functions.
Alt+X - Closes the game.
Ctrl+V - Displays game version number

Unreleased expansion

An expansion pack called the Lost Vale was also planned for Pagan, but was ultimately never mass-produced due to the game's poor reception.  The code for it has also since been lost, so the only surviving remnants of it are some box scans and a handful of low resolution screenshots.  From what we can gather, the plot was supposed to center on three of the missing gods of emotion who were sealed away by the Titans (only briefly mentioned in the core game), and that it would have you confront several minions of Hydros as enemies.  Other additions would have included a bottomless "Bag of Reagents" that would eliminate the need to collect them (similar to the Ring of Shal from Serpent Isle) and a "Tiny-Tar" spell that would cause the Avatar to shrink, allowing him to enter new areas only accessible through small gaps.

Ultima VIII: Gold Edition on GOG (includes the patched version with the Voice Pack installed)
A comprehensive fan site for the game

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And finally, some miscellaneous stuff I didn't point out in the video:

You can visit Shaana the executioner's house in West Tenebrae if you want, though she won't have much to say.  However, you can also rob her chest in order to get an axe (a major upgrade from your dagger), a gem and a bit of obsidian.  The key is under the book on her nightstand.

You should also visit the recall pad on the second floor of the palace, so that you can quickly return to Tenebrae at any time via the item Mythran gives you.  I do this off-camera to save a bit of time in the next video.

Spoony plays Grandia, Part 2

We undergo an adventurer's trial as Justin prepares to set out for the New World...

Spoony Plays Ultima VII Part 2: The Serpent Isle, Part 12

We visit the six temples, revive Gwenno and prepare our means to stop the Banes.



Stuff I didn't get on camera due to a mistake on my part!

First, you will need to talk to Gwenno once she is cured of her madness.  She will mention trapping the Banes again, and that the mages of Moonshade may hold the key to this.

Talk to Torissio about soul gems, and he will give you the Create Soul Prism scroll in exchange for the Philanderer's Friend.  Transcribe that scroll into your spellbook immediately, as it's a one-of-a-kind item and we'll need to cast it multiple times.

Next, talk to Ducio, who will create three Worm Gems for you at a cost of three Worm Hearts each.  (This seems to be a bit finnicky; you may have to talk to him several times before he actually makes one, let alone all three.)  Then cast Create Soul Prism on each one to turn them into Soul Prisms.

Now we need to make a trip to the three Chaos Shrines to empower them.

These are much shorter than the Shrines of Order, probably due to more plot cuts.  First up is the Shrine of Emotion, where you must gather the four lodestones and place them atop the four small pillars at the fountain to cause the Water of Emotion to flow once again.  Be sure to click on the green spot on the wall to talk to the ghost, and smash the nearby column to find the fourth one.

We actually don't need to visit the Shrine of Tolerance just yet (since the shrine we need to get water from is in Gustacio's basement), but since we're doing this all in due course anyway, we might as well get it over with.  Here you find Mortegro, who is trapped.

Go into the basement and talk to Sethys, who won't have much to say to you as he confuses you for a follower of Order.  He does reveal that he's lost the temple's key, however.  So cast Serpent Bond and sneak into the wall beside him to find a hidden cache full of gold (and the gold key).  Use that to free Mortegro, and he will give you another vitally important spell in Summon Shade (again, you should transcribe it immediately).  He'll also sell you any other spells from his catalog at half price.

He offers to join the party, but as soon as you step outside the temple, he'll be hit by a Teleport Storm and whisked away to parts unknown, never to be seen again.  You can avoid this by using Serpent Bond to sneak Mortegro past the plot flag, allowing you to keep him in your party.  He is rather wimpy, however, so you may want to give him the Belt of Strength and a ranged weapon to make him a bit less vulnerable.

(Note that, due to incomplete coding, he will refuse to leave the party when told to, and he has no reaction to returning to Moonshade, so the only way to remove him from your group hereafter is to kill him.  Or take him back to the shrine and let him get teleported away.)

We'll come back to wrap up Sethys' subplot a bit later.

The Shrine of Enthusiasm is another bare-bones dungeon, just consisting of a maze that spans three floors.  With a bit of trial and error, you should make it through and reach...

...The Well of Enthusiasm, where you can get the Water of Enthusiasm.

(We'll be back here later too, but we don't need to traverse the maze again, thankfully.)

Once you've got the three waters of chaos, use them on the three Soul Prisms to create the Prisms of Enthusiasm, Tolerance and Emotion.  Then fix up the Black Sword with the Flux Analyzer to repair its soul-trapping capabilities.

Finally, you'll need to track the Banes.  Each of the three Chaos Temples has a different means of doing this in the form of a unique object in each - the Web of Fate in Tolerance, the Moon's Eye from Emotion, or the Magic Lens in Enthusiasm.  Each one will show you a scene of the Banes gathering in the Castle of the White Dragon.

(Alternately, you can have the Hound of Doskar track Iolo's Lute, Shamino's Book or Dupre's Shield; this will not show you the scene, but the castle will be unlocked regardless.)

Regardless of your chosen method, though, this will enable you to enter the Castle of the White Dragon.  Arm up your party (return to Spinebreaker to fill your empty party slots with automatons and retrieve your allies' equipment if you haven't yet) and be prepared for a tough battle!

Spoony Plays Ultima VII Part 2: The Serpent Isle, Part 14 (Finale)

We restore balance to the forces of order and chaos and the universe is saved.  But our victory is short-lived...



There's no going back once you enter the Temple of Balance, so before you set foot inside, be absolutely sure you have the following items!

• Serpent Crown (hidden in Captain Hawk's stash in the forest north of Monitor, 85 South by 23 West)
• Serpent Armor (locked up in Fawn's armory.  Give Yelinda the Comb of Beauty and she will give you the key to access it.  She is found in Gorlab Swamp after you track her diamond necklace with the Hound of Doskar)
• Serpent Ring (reward for finishing the tests of Order in Furnace)
• Serpent Earrings (a gift from Frigidazzi, given to you by Shamino after escaping from Freedom)
• Serpent Staff (found in a troll den in Furnace.  Search them for a key to the door)
• Serpent Necklace (given to you after liberating the Dream Realm in Gorlab swamp)
• Chaos Serpent Eye (found on the Isle of Crypts)
• Chaos Blackrock Serpent (Batlin attempted to use it at Spinebreaker to open the Wall of Lights, with disastrous results)
• Order Blackrock Serpent (ended up in Stefano's possession due to a teleport storm.  Save him from the Death Knight and he'll give it back)
• Balance Blackrock Serpent (in Silverpate's treasure cache in the frozen north, cave entrance at 50 North by 40 East)
• Ophidian Sword (given to you by Xenka after completing the Shrine of Chaos.  It looks very similar to a Serpentine Sword, so be careful not to confuse it with one!)

So what's our lesson this time?  That everything should have a balance, of course.  We see that without the fundamental force of Chaos to balance out Order, things took a very dire turn in Serpent Isle's past and continue to deteriorate even hundreds of years after the fact.  Monitor's Discipline without Enthusiasm to balance it leads to Apathy, sowing distrust and tension between the three clans that causes them to become ineffective in the face of the goblin threat. Fawn becomes a prejudiced society obsessed with shallow beauty and a crooked mockery of a justice system (showing Ethicality without Tolerance), and Moonshade's elitist society displays Ruthlessness - Logic without Emotion.  

While largely cut from the final game owing to time constraints, the Banes would have served as a twisted, extreme counter-force to the three cities' (already twisted) principles.  Shamino the Anarch would have allowed any law in Moonshade to be broken so long as one obtained a permit first (which he would give out freely), and the rangers would have rebelled against the upper classes as a result.  Iolo the Mad would have unleashed vermin and plague upon the populace, causing them to become ugly as a cruel mockery of their vanity.  Dupre would invade Monitor, turning the warriors of the three houses into the animals they idolized, fulfilling their "wantonness" for the strength of those animals.

On a larger scale, we also see that the Great Earth Serpent being pulled into the physical world by Exodus begins a chain of events that leads to the destruction of the Chaos Serpent, the collapse of the Ophidian culture, and ultimately the teleport storms which threaten to destroy the entire multiverse.  Over the course of the story the Avatar restores the Chaos Serpent to counterbalance Order, but must also restore the Great Earth Serpent to serve as the universal mediator, creating a necessary equilibrium between both extremes.

Spoony Plays Ultima VII Part 2: the Serpent Isle Bonus: Various odds and ends

Serpent Isle was the first Ultima game produced under Electronic Arts' label.  As you may expect from that fact, the game was released under a rushed development schedule and many aspects of its design were cut down, removed entirely or hastily rewritten to accommodate for heavy time constraints.

Here's a video highlighting some of the normally inaccessible areas in the game:



Unused Dialog Strings

Quite a few characters have dialog strings that are not viewable without using cheats or rooting through the usecode file.  There's a pretty extensive list of them here.  Noteworthy, though, is the fact that Cantra was intended to have dialog after being revived and freed of her madness (though this goes unused due to a bug preventing her from being cured).

There's also more character dialog about the killing of Pomdirgun (which gets very little fanfare in the final game) and more on the subplot about the silk stockings.

A few other oddities I found in the files:

• "I wager that would work much better if thou wouldst put some liquid in it... Perhaps some BEER for instance. Or mayhaps some WINE...."
• "last stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff stuff ale beer wine blood water "
• Zounds, I wager that was right good.... mmmm... I wager that would cure a body's thirst. Why dost thou not wait until dinner to drink that

Some kind of wine bottling minigame or subplot?  No idea.

• w thine hand and hit someone with it... Someone else, that is.

No idea.  Maybe some kind of combat tutorial.

• error, somebody stepped on the worm!-

Could refer to the ice worms in the northern reaches, or maybe the worms you have to bop with a hammer in the Test of Order.

Unused Voice Clips

There are also two unused voice clips in the game.  One is the Guardian saying "Pleasant dreams, Avatar." and then following up with a laugh.  Probably supposed to accompany resting (as a similar voice clip did in Ultima VII), or possibly intended for when the Avatar enters the Dream Realm.

The other is a short speech from Arcadion, which he was most likely meant to give once you freed him from the Black Sword.  His dialog in the game is different, notably omitting mention of the Banes.  Maybe he was supposed to stick around longer, and you'd have to release him later on for a different reason?  It's also possible that the Avatar's imprisonment in Freedom was originally intended for later in the game.

Both of these clips can be listened to here.

Unused Portraits

The Black Sword has three unused portraits (with different animations).  Design document notes imply you were to speak with the Banes while they were imprisoned in the sword.

Looks like a wisp. They may have been planned to return for Serpent Isle.  Or this portrait may have been intended for something else entirely; no way to know for sure.

No clue, though I've heard it was intended to replace all of the characters' portraits if you flubbed the copy protection.  Another theory states that it was intended for a Wildman NPC that got the axe.

Original Plot Remnants

Monitor

When the Bane of Wantonness invades Monitor, he would punish the knights for their pride by turning them all into the animal matching their command, though retaining their human intelligence.  There are numerous bears and wolves running around town in the final version, but no real explanation is given for their presence.

However, there is a small fragment of this original idea in the code.  If you bring the Bane Dupre near Caladin, he will transform into a bear.  The game will then crash since it attempts to call an incorrect dialog pointer.

Moonshade

Fedabiblio mentions that the rangers of Moonshade have gone mad.  You see no direct evidence of this in the game itself, but it correlates with the original design documents for Moonshade - once Shamino the Anarch takes over, he would allow a person to commit any crime so long as they received a permit from him (which he gave out freely).  As a result the city would be thrown into civil war, with Julia and the Rangers turning on the mages.

Mortegro's manor was also intended to have been overrun by the ghosts of the dead after this event, including Blackthorn, Elizabeth, Abraham, Hook and numerous dead Gargoyles.  The player would need to get the spectral orb (another artifact stolen by Vasculio) to rid the manor of them.  The orb remains in the game, but there are no other signs of this plot element left.

Ensorcio was also planned to have a larger role in this plot, allying with Shamino the Anarch to get revenge for his exile.

Fawn

Apparently, Iolo the Mad was not intended to simply kill off the inhabitants of Fawn (leaving only Yelinda and Ruggs alive), but was instead planned to unleash vermin and plagues, causing them to grow "uglier" as they succumbed to disease.

A scroll found on Leon's body in the Fellowship camp also implies that he had his tongue cut out by Iolo, forcing him to "lead by example".

Others

Gwenno was apparently supposed to join the Avatar's party, as evidenced by her paperdoll having a head when cheated into the party (whereas most NPCs do not).  This was apparently added in Exult as a feature.

Claw (aka "Cat Isle") is probably the most prominent and famous cut area in the game, taking up a good chunk of real estate on the game's map but being reachable by any means short of cheating (or obscure teleport eggs).  Its size and the elaborateness (yet unfinished state) of its design suggest that it was intended to be an integral part of the game, and comments from the developers confirm this.  There were two separate ideas in mind for this area:

• The character Yurel was originally planned to be the leader of a cat-like race that inhabited the island and was facing extinction. Unfortunately, there would be nothing the player could do to save them...
• Continuing the joke from Ultima VII, one would find a crashed Kilrathi ship on this island.  The surviving pilot would have been worshipped by natives as a god due to his fearsome strength and superior intellect.

These ideas both went unimplemented due to time constraints, so Claw just ended up being another "cheat room" akin to Erstam's Isle or the Trinsic chimney, and Yurel ended up getting a smaller role in the Silver Seed add-on.

There are also a few unused objects that would seemingly fit in with this area, including a cat skull, some cat statues and a "cat eye stone" gem.

The island is also home to numerous incomplete fragments of dungeons, as seen in the above video.

Oh, and thanks to TCRF's Serpent Isle Page for a lot of this info!

And here's one more little bonus:

A silly easter egg that occurs if you launch the intro.exe with the arguments "hisss jive". Be sure to turn the sound off in the installer first, or the subtitles won't appear.

Spoony Plays Ultima VII Part 2: The Serpent Isle, Part 13

The banes are defeated and our allies are returned to normal.  But we still have a lot of work to do to restore balance to the cosmos....



A short aside - the Chaos Heirophant bug

One of the game's better known bugs is that you can talk to the Chaos Heirophant well before you're supposed to.

There's a little burned-out house between the Sleeping Bull and the bank that has no real purpose plot-wise.  However, there are two ghosts inside, and talking to either one of them will bring up the dialog with the Chaos Hierophant.  (This apparently also applies to any other non-hostile ghosts running about in the game too, but this is the best known spot for it since it's relatively early on.)  I'm not sure why this bug exists; my best guess is that these ghosts are still using a "placeholder" pointer while awaiting some NPC dialog that was ultimately never coded, and Origin simply forgot to change it before the game shipped.

But either way, you should avoid talking to them, since it will cause spoilers and potentially set a wrong plot flag somewhere, which can make the game unwinnable...

Jawbone

Spoony Plays Ultima VII Part 2: the Serpent Isle, Part 11

The Banes are unleashed due to Batlin's foolishness, and all of Serpent Isle suffers for it...



Items Recovered

Glass Sword -> Pinecone - Hazard the Trapper picked it up as he moved north.  We recovered it from his lockbox.
Blackrock Serpent -> Fine Stockings - Stefano stole the Stockings, then they ended up in our possession due to a mishap with a teleport storm.  After bailing him out of trouble again, we finally get it back.

Serpent Jawbone

Spoony Plays Grandia, Part 1

Another beloved RPG franchise from Game Arts, probably best known for the Lunar series (which was a fan favorite on both the Sega CD and the original Playstation).  Grandia isn't quite as well-known, however it is no less worthy of your time if you love quality JRPGs with a sense of fun and adventure to them.

The game was published in the US by Sony and in Europe by Ubisoft as a Playstation exclusive.  There was also a Saturn version that never made it out of Japan, along with a Saturn-exclusive bonus disc known as "Grandia Digital Museum" that serves as both an extension of the original game's storyline and as a literal digital museum, showing off concept art, drama plays starring the characters, minigames and other features.


A site with map scans (very handy)

Spoony Plays Ultima VII Part 2: The Serpent Isle, Part 10

We meet up with Batlin again at last, then pursue him to the frozen north...



One artifact of the game's unfinished state are the double gold doors on the east end of Skullcrusher, which can never be opened under any circumstances (short of cheating).  There isn't much to see behind them, though, aside from a curious book that I don't believe appears anywhere else in the game:

A full map of the area beyond the golden doors.

(Thanks to TCRF for the image!)

There are a few functional traps in the halls, but no enemies.  The staircase deposits you in the ocean in the upper-left corner of the map.  Apparently there was supposed to be an extra layer to this dungeon but they never had a chance to get started on it...

In the cave leading to the northern reaches, you may also have happened upon a note written by Gannt the Bard, asking you to avenge his death at the hands of Captain Stokes.  His tower can be found in the woods north of Monitor, at coordinates 77 South by 28 West.

It turns out he's not a pirate in the "high seas" sense (though he does have that sprite), but a software pirate who is illegally copying several of Origin's games!  You can kill him if you wish to get a Lightning Whip and a few other goodies from his tower.

Items Recovered

• Magebane -> Blue egg - Found on a small island full of angry penguins.
• Rudyom's Wand - Lab apparatus - Found in the laboratory in Skullcrusher.  Unfortunately it was damaged in transit and has lost its ability to destroy blackrock...

Items Still at Large

• Blackrock Serpent -> Fine stockings - They belong to Columna and both she and Torrisio want them back. They seem to have no knowledge of the Blackrock Serpent, nor is it anywhere to be found in their manor.
• Glass sword -> Pinecone - Most likely came from the forests to the north.

Spoony Plays One-Shot: Sin and Punishment (Tsumi to Batsu: Chikyu no Keishan)

Got a new HDMI splitter, so I tested it out on one of my all time favorite games.  Seems to work perfectly!

This is the Wii Virtual Console release.



I should also point out that the Wii U Virtual Console version of the game is considerably better than this one. The controls can easily be remapped however you like and it doesn't have the awful input lag that plagues the VC versions of Super Mario 64 or Donkey Kong 64. Check it out!

Spoony Plays Terranigma, Part 12

The final confrontation and the bittersweet ending.

Spoony Plays Terranigma, Part 11

We finish rebuilding the world, then set out to stop those that would destroy it.

Spoony Plays Terranigma, Part 10

Betrayal and the true nature of the threat to our world are revealed.