Here is an ALMOST complete "Chain of Questody" (quest custody) flow chart for Ultima V. The main things missing are how to learn about a couple of lord british's possessions, and a few other "missing starts" for dialogue flow, which I can use the u5 transcript to trace to their origins as well, when I can come back to this project. I used the free software LibreOffice Draw, which can be found here. It's sub-optimal for this task (had to manually reposition the arrows whenever I moved any cells), but it's still pretty good.
I figured I'd publish this version here so I can defragment my brain and come back to it later. yes I would like to make one for Ultima IV and earlier as well (they SHOULD get easier and simpler - though Ultima V is NOT simpler than Ultima VI it turns out!)
This is all part of the process of learning the "questody" for ultima games and what makes them feel like adventures, all for me to understand for my #AgeOfSingularity Ultima VI fan recreation project.
So far it boils down to: U5 PROGRESS = Exploring Places to Ask to Get Info, Words, and Locations of Words and Items + Grinding to Be Strong Enough to Beat Dungeons.
The main thing you need to do, is ask everyone in every town about everything, and you will pick up on "leads" to actually progress. apart from that, it's grinding (another thing I think should be toggleable/sliderable options for different playstyles).
Some info needed is NOT found inside the game itself (dungeon and shrine locations, I think), and the player is expected to have it from 1) prior game knowledge, and 2) the feelies (physical objects like maps and guide cards) that come in the box with the game.
I'm not sure how I feel about this approach, as I generally believe the player should never NEED to minimize the application to look online, or step outside the "screen" itself, to get necessary information. I suggested Minecraft add a recipe book so people didn't have to spend all day googling recipes or fumbling around to happen upon them, and I'm sure others suggested it too, as it ended up in Minecraft. It's awesome, THOUGH...
ALTHOUGH, for my games, and for Age Of Singularity, while I plan to have things like in-game maps and compendiums, etc - virtual feelies - I still love the idea of having a setting to disable all that stuff, thereby forcing you to pull out the notebook and draw your own maps - if that's the experience you'd rather have. I love when a game forces me to draw my own map - but it should always be a toggleable OPTION imo.
I even have my own steam games playlist called "The New Precision" which is specifically games that WILL require you to get a notebook and take notes, if you are to solve them. Currently that playlist includes Mizzurna Falls, Myst, The Portopia Serial Murders of 1983, and Sherlock Holmes The Mummy's Curse.
and it's an awesome experience - IF you have the time and patience to WANT that kind of experience, but I'm generally for letting more people play more ways.
These are essentially "frictional pacing" features, the right amount of friction being good for making a game memorable rather than mind-numbingly "theme park ride-like", as with many modern games where you play it and beat it in one sitting then forget everything about it. players will often "optimize the fun out of a game" if allowed to by developers, while others simply do not have the time to draw out their own maps and translate languages - and yet should be able to experience the other 90 percent of what a game has to offer as well - I'd rather someone experience ONLY 90 percent of my game, than none of it. Hence, options.
So that's what I've figured out from this research so far from the Ultima VI and Ultima V chain of questody studies. I do plan on adding the missing details to Ultima V's and also making a chain of questody for Ultima IV and maybe III when the time is right. In the meantime if you want to create your own, I used the free software LibreOffice Draw, which can be found here. It's sub-optimal for this task (had to manually reposition the arrows whenever I moved any cells), but it's still pretty good.
Here's the original fb UDIC post.
