Your attack and weapon skills have a much greater effect than your dex ever will. Try making a character with 0 in both skills and as much dex as you want. Watch all your weapons break against the enemies' skin.

There is an objective best in this context because some skills are simply more effective and useful than others. The druid (and the paladin in UW2) are able to begin play with a more useful skillset than any other class.

This has been my experience as well. IMO, the required skills are Attack, [Melee weapon of choice], Defense, and a few points each in Acrobatics and Swimming. After that, Lore is exceptional, and Casting + Mana can be very useful.

Strength for higher carrying capacity has always been my stat priority. Other things make up for the other stats (Attack + Weapon for damage and to-hit, Mana for int, good armor and healing and mitigation spells for keeping hp up), but that weight limit is set from the start.

I've never tried to play through with ranged weapons (or magic) as my primary killing method; I've never been convinced its a good idea. Anything that doesn't get in your face to try and kill you will generally own your face if left at a distance (mages, gazers, fire elementals). All other hostiles like to charge right up where you can't use ranged weapons or several spells. And a wand of magic arrow is usually enough to convince escapees (like lurkers) to turn back around and die in melee combat.

That is how things have worked for me too. High or low dex never felt different to me while playing the game. High or low str makes a lot of difference.

has been a while since I played UW, but your point is only valid, IF your stuff doesn't disappear when you stash it, like I in Ultima VII Black Gate Serpent Isle where no cache(except maybe in special areas a pain) If you can store anywhere in UW Abyss then your point is valid. I haven't played in so long as to remember if you can just dump stuff around and it stays around after being in your pack.

Generally speaking, stuff stays where ever you put it. Drop it in water and it is gone, drop it in lava and it will probably be destroyed.

That's golden!

I bet Judy's ended more playthroughs than any other creature in the Abyss.

Stuff stays, where you drop it (as long as you drop it on solid ground).

But the rest is not true, in my opinion. UW can be beaten in many different ways, that's true. But some ways are much easier and more convenient that others. So there is an optimal way. Playing as a druid with a high strength and substituting a lot of secondary skills with magic comes pretty close to it, because it makes for efficient game play that minimizes backtracking and saves time. You are trying to save a princess and later Britannia after all, so you might wanna get to it asap.

Eh, what's the rush? The villain isn't going anywhere. :D

Yes, but that's video game logic. The Avatar doesn't know that he's the protagonist in a video game. ;)

He might. He's been shown to have an Ultima 5 poster in his home, and he booted up Ultima 7 on his PC once.

Bookwyrm627 is right, what's the rush. Tybal is like Mondain, a coward, he hangs around waiting for you to come and get him. ;) this is medeval, I don't need to save anyone in a New York minute here, I am not playing an action film. The Baron's daughter, She can wait. I don't like being dragged into a dungeon by her father so I have ill feelings about the affair, in a RP sense. Anyway I am playing as a fighter simply because you can still get mana at shrines and you can not in anyway up your strength. in a RP way, a fighter is a paladin since you can use shrines to up mana. as for practical skills the only one I use is swimming.

I think the Avatar would still try his best to rescue a maiden, even if he dislikes her father.

A fighter is a good choice. But if you're after str, you can get a str of 27 quite easily with a druid as well. Plus he's a better spell caster.

Time was on Mondain's side. After the gem is finished, the stranger can't kill him. Mondain would have literally forever to accomplish his goals.

Tyball is mostly pre-occupied. He's got larger fish to fry than the random dude that just showed up in the girl's room right before he bailed.