But then I take a while to level up the spell, finally getting Ultima 16, and it's rather lousy, costing 16 times as much MP, yet doing about the same damage as far as I can tell. What's going on here?

Anyway, with the April Fool's Day joke out of the way, perhaps I could ask: What do you think of Ultima 1? As for me:
* I find the HP system to be rather interesting, with there not being a max HP stat.
* The fact that the best strategy is to dive into the dungeon right away rather than fighting outside to get XP and Gold first feels rather strange to me.
* Speaking of which, what's the point of XP and levels in this game, particularly once you've unlocked everything in the shop (which happens before you gain even one level)? Do levels actually do anything? (Yes, I know you can't level up to level 16, even though the earlier part of this post mentions Ultima 16.)
* Why is there an action minigame in an otherwise turn-based RPG?

(Extra credit: Can anyone name the game the joke is about? (Hint: It's not an Ultima game.))

According to one of the strategy guides I found online, the only difference leveling up makes is that it appears to increase the number of overland enemies. It doesn't seem to have any other effect. Because Garriott's philosophy at the time was to throw everything at the wall, and see what stuck. I'm pretty sure there's an interview where he talks about this, but for the life of me I can't find it right now.

I start off with a stealing spree (as I said in an earlier thread, my Ultima 1-3 characters tend not to be much better than Mondain/Minax/Exodus and need that redemption of the Quest of the Avatar), then kind of wander around/occasionally going into dungeons. I think I only actually tried the space junk once, and wasn't good at it. Never beat the game, I played the series most of my life, but have only ever finished a few of them and those I have finished are the end (pretty sure Serpent Isle is the earliest).

Speaking of which, I decided to give it a shot again. A few hours and I got everything that could be done before going into space, other than maybe some extra stat grinding. And I remember why I hate space so much, Just docking is enough of a pain, let alone shooting down all the TIE fighters, Really wish Garriot had thought more before throwing that in.

Okay, after way too many reloads, and trips back and forth into space, I managed to get space ace. After that it was just a matter of one more princess rescue and then searching for the time machine and then finally stumbling through the fight with Mondain that has been in the waiting for decades, in all the years I have been playing that on and off.

Took a little longer than it should have to realize attacking was not the way to deal with the Gem of Immortality. Lost most of my hit points in the process, but killed him in one try.

Interestingly enough, Mondain's attacks, including the damage you take when you destroy the gem, do damage based off your HP. (Worth noting that I don't need to specify "current" here, as Ultima 1 lacks the current/max HP distinction that's considered standard in the genre.) Hence, going in with lower HP is not that big a deal, and if you take damage at all, you're going to lose a significant portion of your HP, no matter how high it is.

By the way, I found the Missile spell to be rather effective if you equip a Triangle. Kill, on the other hand, will only give Mondain more health, or at least that's what the message claims happens when you use that spell on him.

(By the way, in the game I was referencing in the joke part of the first post, there are enemies whose attacks steal an amount of HP based off the target's max HP, making them particularly deadly if you have high HP and low evade. At least you can get a weapon that has that property in that game.) First instance (to my knowledge) of a non-genre-appropriate minigame in a video game, and almost certainly the first instance of this in an (otherwise turn-based) RPG.

So, yes that issue I had with Final Fantasy 7 actually appeared in a game much older than that.

I'm just happy to have finally beaten it, but don't expect to ever do it again. I got pretty good at the docking, except when trying to stop while moving diagonally. I died the first time I got space ace, when I could not stop and hit the planet before switching back to the shuttle, after accidentally getting into diagonal movement. I only had to redo the last five kills, but the dogfight controls are so horrible even that was incredibly annoying.

Will just try to keep that save if I ever feel like shooting Mondain with a blaster some more. Having now finished 1 and 2 (each in one day, surprisingly short when you know what to do and in the case of U1, use the Ladder Up/Down spells to minimize dungeon time). I never thought I would say it, but that mini-game alone almost makes me want to rank U1 below U2. For all those years of pain, it feels weird how easily I just beat both (Minax took two tries, unlike Mondain, I just didn't have enough HP the first time, in addition to not knowing what to expect inside her castle). Its really just the beginning and some of the stupid, sometimes-unique, mechanics (auto-save, permanent death, reinstalling to start over), that were fixed in the fan-patch I used there, that caused most of my hate for U2.

I guess its time to see if I can finally take out Exodus next, eventually see if I can beat everything I hadn't yet, everything up to Black Gate (technically 9 to, but I think I will ignore that, due to my grudge against it and its other problems).

I actually really do like Exodus, in part because it has the best class system in the entire series, and in part because you get regenerating MP without those pesky reagent requirements, so there's no long term cost for casting spells. (MP regen sometimes feels a bit slow.)

It's worth noting, however, that Ultima 3 does have a useful exploit (allowing you to get a ship without having to rely on luck for one to spawn) that is only possible with the auto-save enabled.