So in the previous post M.G.O. confirmed my custom shrine meditation chart was accurate, at least in regard to the Shrine of Compassion.
Which would be an INTERESTING game mode: Can you beat the game using only the Humility shrine to level up your characters?
This is a built-in hard mode I never knew about. I think a lot about built-in player gameplay options to self-modulate challenge. It's also interesting how I used to try to min-max my skills and resources in games...
Then one day I realized all i was doing is making the game very easy, which means it'll be over sooner with less mental excitement! So nowadays I often intentionally choose less optimal options to make the game more challenging and rewarding.
The following shop data is collated into a chart on strategywiki.org's Ultima VI Equipment page, toward the bottom (Transportation and Sale). I arranged and darkened it to make a nice reference card. This is a concise way to see what to sell and where! Things that are red aren't even worth picking up, and you'll do much better if you only pick up the green items. Again I did not gather this data but only beautified it, so be sure to also check out the original page linked below the image itself.
The problem is, it's easy to get very rich in Ultima VI, and for my project I'd like to make money far more balanced and interesting. However for now, if you follow a couple of "challenge rules", you may enjoy the balance more: 1. Don't ever get the Book of Lost Mantras. 2. Only pick up the items from a certain range of this reference card, depending on the money grind level you want. Green for easy, neutral for normal, and red for hard.
It's up to you! Why be efficient and min-max, when you could make the game last longer and trigger your brain to actually activate more often, by being horribly inefficient? I think Mumbo Jumbo or SethBling said this when showing off a useless Minecraft machine. 'Why make an efficient farm, when you could make the most inefficent one possible?' Exactly! Don't optimize the fun out of your game. Or do! Shape your own experience and learn what you enjoy the most!
I want to have difficulty settings that are very tunable like this in my games. The best I've ever seen so far is Project Zomboid, which has a plethora of settings you can adjust to shape your experience to your preference, just like adding spices to a dish.
This, I think, is a part of the meaning of life as well. To have challenge, but the kind you choose and desire, with the ability to alter it at any time, knowing you have the self-control to not cheat yourself out of what you desire (This is also why Dark Souls should have difficulty settings). The human mind needs exercise just like the body does, but I think the measure of human progress is how many challenges are no longer forced upon us by the natural world, but by the number of challenges we have the luxury of avoiding, that we can then choose for ourselves to maximize our joy and growth.
The goal is to have adventures, and the goal isn't for your adventures to be over as quickly as possible!
Consider that the next time you consider min-maxing your stats and resources in a game you enjoy (Games you are just trying to slog through for whatever extrinsic reason, is another issue).
Having an adventure last very long, is a wonderful goal and dream. Then the goal is to share it, I think.
Nicolas Cage in the 2019 movie Color Out of Space said (actually quoting Yoko Ono unattributed, which peeves me a bit):
So find ways to create delicious adventures, and bring others along for the ride! At least that's what I think. Now read the next devlog to ask the question "Why is a reaper monster carrying around 97 loaves of bread?"
Here's the original fb UDIC post.
