ULTIMA III Walkthrough

The Walkthrough

Here is the basic walkthrough of the game. It is actually pretty simple. Check out the following pages for more detailed tips and clues.

1. Find the Marks. - There are four marks (Mark of Kings, Force, Fire, and Snake). They are all found in dungeons. All four characters must have all four marks.

2. "Pray" in the Circle of Light to get the word: EVOCARE. You need this to access Castle Death.

3. "Dig" on Islands to get Exotic Armor and Weapons.

4. Get the Cards from the Shrines on Ambrosia. Take a ship through the Whirlpool, and "Search" all of the Shrines.

5. Go to the 8th level of the Dungeon of Time and talk to the Time Lord to get the Order of the Cards. (From Left to Right: Love, Sol, Moons, Death)

6. Take a ship to the Silver Snake. "Yell" EVOCARE.

7. Enter Castle Death and find Exodus (four boxes in the North side of the Castle).

8. "Insert" the cards into Exodus in the order told by the Time Lord.

That's it! The hardest parts of the game is raising money(for food and attributes), and finding a ship( to go to Ambrosia and Castle Death).

General Hints

* Always use 4 players. Despite what the manual says, you can't recruit from the Game. There are no advantages to playing with less and many disadvantages.

* Note the pluses and minuses of each player type. For instance, either a Bobbit or Fuzzy would be a good druid, because the druid's magical ability is based on half of the mental skill (wisdom/intelligence) you have more points on. Druids recover magic points twice as fast as other players, which is handy when you need several cure spells quickly. A Rangers advantage is the powerful weapons they can use and their limited ability to steal & disarm chests. Their weakness, is in their magic ability. A Dwarf or Elf would make a bad Ranger because either would have a maximum of only 25 magic points.

* Manage resources carefully. Keep a close eye on gold and attribute points. Don't try to buy more attribute points then a player type is capable of having because you will lose the gold, but the attribute will not be increased. Don't use the <J>oin gold command if your group has collectively more than 9999 pieces. The counter will just cycle around.

* Don't spend a lot of gold on armor. Get Exotic Armor as quickly as possible on an isle near the towne of Grey. The isle is in the bay which is at the Southeast quadrant of the continent of Sosaria. Use <O>ther to DIG.

* Exotic Weapons are found the same way by digging On an isle near the towne of Fawn which is located on the group of islands at the just north of Sosaria, northwest of the castle of Lord British.

* Exotic Weapons are absolutely essential to fighting your way through the castle Death to reach Exodus but are not the most effective weapons elsewhere because they have no long distance ability. Outfit each player that is capable of wielding distance weapons with the best possible. Even a sling is better than an Exotic sword if you defeat your foe before he gets within striking range.

* Increasing player attributes is done in the shrines of Ambrosia which can be reached by entering the whirlpool while at sea. Use <O>ther to SEARCH each of the four shrines to get the cards. <E>nter to raise attributes.

* To get a leg up with new players, join all gold and materials from 4 new characters to a single player and save the game. Reboot. Disperse the party and delete the 3 players that now have nothing. Create 3 new ones to go with your fourth. The extra gold makes starting out a bit easier. Avoid starting a game with 4 brand new players whenever possible or learn to handle death.

* All players need dexterity and Strength but Wisdom and Intelligence are only for magic users. Players that use prayer spells require Wisdom but not Intelligence. Sorcerers are the opposite. Exceptions are, Druids that use half of whatever mental skill you have more of (so max out your best), and Rangers, who use half of the lesser (max out your worst and match it with the other).

* You will obtain hit points automatically when you talk to Lord British as your experience increases (this is done by defeating monsters). You can get up to 550, unless you have the Mark of Kings, in which case you can get up to 2550.

* If your party gets poisoned near Castle Britannia anyone with the clerical skills to cure and don't want to spend the gold at a healer, you will find a curing fountain almost immediately inside the Dungeon of Fire, hidden in the alcove directly south of the towne of Britain.

* Completing the game requires LOTS of gold for powerful weapons, attributes and useful items like keys, gems and powders. You would probably never acquire enough gold to purchase all you need, but there is a shortcut. Death Gulch on large island to the east of Sosaria is a treasure trove of wealth. If you have a thief with good dexterity and all of your players have the marks of Fire and Force you can clean up by stealing all the chests you find within it. If you have no powerful fighters, you may want to bring along a lot of powders to freeze time while you run outside to safety. Use the <O>ther command to BRIBE guards to get out of your way. Enter without a key by going through the maze to the south of the towne entrance.

* Dawn is deep within the forest and only appears when both moons are in the new phase. Start at moon gate #4 (southernmost part of Sosaria, west of Montor West). Go right from here until you can emerge from the small area locked in with mountains by going north. From there, go 6 steps north and 2 west, then wait for the new moon cycle (or west 8, south 35 from castle Britannia).

* Yew is hidden deep in the Mountains to the west of castle Britannia. Enter the pass on the west side of the mountainous area going east toward the castle.

* Devil Guard is in a hidden mountain lake area and is accessible only by using moon gates 3, 5 & 8.

* The Castle Death is located on an island to the southwest of the Sosarian continent. To pass the silver snake, you must have the Mark of the Snake and <Y>ell EVOCARE.

* Although it may seem obvious, now is a good time to explain the marks. You get them by touching the hot metal rods that are found in the dungeons. Unlike the cards, ALL of your players should hold all four of the marks. The mark of Fire allows you to walk unharmed through fire and lava, which may be necessary to get some of the hints. The mark of Force, similarly allows you to walk through force fields that are sometimes used to protect gold. The mark of the Snake allows you to pass the silver snake if you know the magic word. and finally, the mark of Kings will cause Your hit points to be raised to a maximum of 2550 as you gain in experience.

* Be advised that ships are very hard to come by in Ultima III, since most of your travels will be on land, you will have to leave any boats you may have acquired from time to time. Because of their relative scarcity, you don't want them parked anywhere in the open, because they will be destroyed if the whirlpool comes along. The best way to leave them and be assured that you will be able to find them later is to park them on the other side of the silver snake and exit via the moon gate. If you wish, you can even fill up this entire waterway with boats and eventually be able to walk right into the castle Death from entrance at the moon gate.

* In spite of the scarcity of ships, it will often be to your advantage to park one between the mainland of Sosaria and the island where the towne of Death Gulch is located. Because of the convoluted water ways around here, you can often leave a boat at this location for a long time before it is swallowed by the whirlpool and it is very convenient to just walk across the boat and gain access to the place where all the gold is. It is also handy to have a boat waiting near castle Britannia. Even given this advantage though, I would not place one there unless I had at least one reserve boat parked in the safe area near castle Death.

* After approaching Exodus, use the <O>ther command to INSERT the cards of Love, then Sol, then Moons, then Death one at a time, from left to right.