Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds

From Before I Play
Jump to navigation Jump to search
  • There's no handholding and no quest journal. Remember what people say and note down anything that seems important (the game has a great map annotation feature).
  • Whenever you bump into monsters you can't beat, just avoid them and come back later (sometimes a dozen levels later).
  • It's best to be a swordsman. The sword trainer (Lobar in Killorn Keep) is twice as effective as the other trainers. Also, strength determines how much you can carry, which is very important.
  • Regarding Strength and other stats: IIRC, there are few or no ways to improve them during the game; if you roll bad stats, just create a new character instead of pushing through (Str 25 is enough to wear a set of chainmail and still carry a bunch of items)
  • Most locked doors can be bashed open. Carry a few bad weapons for this.
  • Use the look command on everything. EVERYTHING.
  • When you look at a monster, if it is not hostile, it's usually better not to attack.
  • Non-hostile creatures can be aggroed by events, conversation choices, or taking their belongings ("you see a day-old piece of cheese belonging to a rat"). Look before you grab.
  • After you clear the prison world, you have a choice of Killorn Keep or an ice world. Choose the former first.
  • Don't use the clunky command bar. Click & drag RMB is a far easier and more versatile option for interacting, LMB for looking around (1/2/3 for looking up/down). After some trial and error you might even get some early/clunky WAXD + mouselook.
  • Shift-J is a standing long jump. The manual probably mentions it, but it's a lifesaver.
  • Different types of weapons have different optimal attacks; e.g. for swords it's the bottom stabbing one.
  • At some point (late-ish) during the game you'll get an Enchant Item spell. It's extremely powerful and stacks about a dozen times (upgrading the item all the way to Unsurpassed). If you cast it on a magical item, it'll upgrade the existing enchantment (damage, accuracy, etc.); if you cast on a mundane item, you'll get Toughness, which makes it lose durability more slowly. It's sometimes worth hoarding minor magical items to upgrade later.
  • At some point during the game the castle servants will go on strike. Do try to appease them, otherwise you risk breaking an essential step of the main quest.