DrCrypt on 27/1/2002 at 22:59
Hi all. Starting this game up again (for the third time) and trying to figure everything out. One thing I'm havin difficulty figuring out how the Underworld engine handles is the shrines. It seems to me that as a fighter, every time I level up I get two prayers at a shrine. However, I've noticed that that number never seems to change, even if I come back to the shrine only after letting a few levels pass. Is this my imagination, or do you have to come back to a shrine after each level-up to reap full benefits of it?
Also, another questions: is it just me, or are sound effects in this game pretty weak? Either they aren't working right on my card, or there really aren't many.
Brad Schoonmaker on 28/1/2002 at 01:33
It sounds to me like you don't know about skill points. These are what determine the number of meditations you can benefit from. They are earned mostly from combat victories and solving quests. There's no way to know when it increases except to click on the pull chain under the inventory. On the other hand, when you raise a level, there's a little sound cue to let you know.
There's no lack of sounds, in my opinion. Besides there only being a few creature that make noise with movement, I think the environment is filled enough with sounds.
Brad S.
Zerker on 28/1/2002 at 01:42
Except for a little bug in Underworld 1 where skill points don't seem to appear at all in the skills list <img src="frown.gif" border="0">
I think it's based on Experience, so that while the higher levels require more experience to gain, you'll also earn more skill points doing so... I've never heard a skill point sound, myself, so I dunno about that one.
DrCrypt on 29/1/2002 at 16:15
Okay, I understand the shrine system more or less now. As for the sounds: I installed Ultima Underworld 2 just to see if I got better digital sounds there, and I do indeed... I can hear my foot-steps really well, the doors open, my sword makes a tangible swish when I swing it, et cetera. However, Ultima Underworld's sounds comparatively are non-existant/mediocre: I occassionally hear some "clink" noises, but no foot-steps and the door-opening sound more sounds like the sound card gargling. However, the funny thing is is that both sound cards have the exact same configuration... making me secretly suspect that the sound in Ultima Underworld is merely weaker than in UU2. Is this so, or am I experiencing some total system gaffe?
twisty on 30/1/2002 at 00:44
The sound in Underworld is less developed than UW2, as far as sound effects go. The music is still pretty cool though.
Digital Nightfall on 30/1/2002 at 16:53
The sound effects in UW2 were something quite new at the time. Switching from UW1 to 2 (I got them both when they were new) was pretty exciting, since suddenly the textures were 256 color rather then 16 color, and the sound effects were more then just little clicks and shuffles. ;)
The sound setups for the two games were the same, because the Voice engine for the UW1 intro used the same technology that the SFX engine does in UW2. While UW2 had real sound effects, it had only one or two lines or speach, compared to UW1's long spoken introduction.
Disk space ... ya know.
Chiller on 31/1/2002 at 23:59
Okay. Let's see. You get skill points when you level up. The higher the level, the more sp's u get. You get quite a lot of those at lev 16... and it should make u very happy :)
I've experienced a strange yet beautiful ;) bug once... i started receiving skill pts after i reached lev 16... I just needed to kill stuff, and the sp's kept flowing... After a while, I even stopped pumping my stats, as it became obscene (30 Mana, Casting, Lore, Sword, 20 Atck & Def -- in UW2). Well, just keep hoping it happens to you :cheeky:
-Chiller
Al_B on 1/2/2002 at 12:58
Quote:
Originally posted by Chiller Okay. Let's see. You get skill points when you level up. The higher the level, the more sp's u get. You get quite a lot of those at lev 16... and it should make u very happy :)I thought it was around level 13 that you received a large number of points when you level up, but it's been so long since I played UW1 that I can't remember exactly.
I believe that you actually receive a number of skill points for a certain amount of experience points as well as for levelling. I've always found it worth giving a shrine a shot if you're passing even if you haven't just levelled.
Alistair
Hannibal on 15/2/2002 at 09:18
I do believe the prayer points in UW are exp based. Get a certain ammount of exp and you can pray for a skill increase. But you can only go up to level 15 in UW if I remember correctly. You stop gaining exp somewhere around level 7, before the confrontation with Tybal I believe. Or at least that is where I usually get my maximum.
Bit of a shame really, something I loved about UW2 was the enhanced skill point system allowing you to gain proficiency in everything. In UW you had to spend every single prayer as best you could, and not mess around with the general prayers in the first level shrine.
That did not stop me from setting up shop in front of the two mages in the key of courage stairwell and have them summon creatures for over a hundred hours total...
I saved all the excellent gear, and the arrows from the goblins... the gold too. And the jewels... I filled up all the distant rooms on that level with them; stacked all the weapons and armour so that they were in neat piles with just one of their portraits showing in the stack. I liked to put the jewels and gold in that alcove near the dorr, the one just right near the stairs up from the lower level, and splay them all over the place. Gold in piles of 700 btw...
Yes, I have issues.
jezmilar on 19/2/2002 at 09:03
In those days the master soundcard was the Roland LAPC-1, a total synthesizer with both analog and digital synthesis (Both rather primitive). It was far more superior to any sound card until the Creative Soundblaster AWE 32 came along.
Though it had no digital sound support, many games of the UW era used this card because those ugly FM-synthesis melodies were quite awful compared to the musical magnificence the LAPC-1 could deliver. And they made sound effects with it too.
I can tell you that with this card, the UW is totally another experience. At least it made me fall of my chair many times.
Just go and listen to the original songs ripped directly from the Roland LAPC-1 (or MT-32 which was the Midi-module version of the device) at the (
http://www.ttlg.com/other/jukebox/uw.htm) TTLG Jukebox
:thumb:
