Ultima 1. It's time to experience the magic!

 

It is a Saturday and full of healthy potential! That means Ultima 1! I am jumping in today. I want to play through the entire series. Well, I will play through Ultima 4-7. Parts 1, 2 & 3 will be gentle attempts that are an excuse to obtain lore. Reading the video game manual is a crucial part of classic RPGs! As for Ultima 8 & 9, I will pretend that they do not exist. We always want to end things on a good note!

I still want my Nintendo Switch 2, along with Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection. I also want to give World of Warcraft another try. I am embracing my Catholicism and I love the idea of playing as a healer. Somebody who uses the powers of Good! But all those things can wait. Right now, I want Ultima! 

FYI, my passion for retrogaming CRPGs has been greatly aided by "The CRPG Book". I bought the hardcover version and I highly recommend it! The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games | Bitmap Books

When Life Is Full

 

I see my priorities more clearly now. I go to work and get a lot done, often staying late. Then I go to the gym. After that, I head home and do as much singing practice as I can before my body gets too tired. That is a full day. Sunday mornings are devoted to church, Catholicism and vocal performance. Video games (and everything else in my life) take a back seat to the things I mentioned. It is Friday and I have not really played more than 60 minutes of gaming in total this week. And that is ok!

I play the Sparafucile orchestral condensation piano part better now. The vocal line is mostly memorized, at least as far as music notes. I want to dig into the words more. They taste good. Sparafucile is a Bass with bite! I dream that I could perform that role one day... 

My fighting game weekend has arrived! I plan to buy a Nintendo Switch 2 and get the Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection. I need to get a list of moves. 

Pietro Mascagni plus a Nintendo Switch 2

I am excited about "Pie Jesu" by Mascagni! It is a choral vocal setting for Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana. I worked on the piano and Soprano vocal solo part last night. It feels so good in my voice. Finally! I want to record it very much. The words speak to me...

Pie Jesu
Latin source: Liturgical

Pie Jesu, Domine, dona eis requiem.
Pie Jesu, Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam.

Pie Jesu
English translation © Anon.

Blessed Jesus, Lord, give them rest.
Blessed Jesus, Lord, give them eternal rest.

On the video game front, yes, I will get a Switch 2! But I have a strict budget, so I must wait until March 1st. 

HOW TO BUY IT: Hardware - My Nintendo Store - Nintendo Official Site 

It is time to embrace Mortal Kombat! I will play it from the very beginning. I like that it is easy to take video clips from the Nintendo Switch 2. 

Spending the evening with Sparafucile

 

No gaming yesterday! Things rarely worked out as planned. Worked late and then hit the gym. Once I got home, I practiced my music until bedtime. I start my singing with the Sparafucile duet ("Quel vecchio maledivami!") from Rigoletto. Singing as Sparafucile is excellent for my lower register. Give me that nice low F at the end! Since I learn the piano part at the same time, it is slow-going and gentle on my voice. Daily practice is key. I want my voice to be in good shape for this Sunday at church. If I am lucky, I will get to create another music recording of my work!

As far as gaming, I will continue with Wizardry and start the Ultima series. I feel like that is plenty, though an action game would round things out nicely. I keep looking for DOTA 2 players so that I can make a team! If only a DOTA player would see this post! lol. DOTA is something to play with friends, rather than solo play. 

My secret desire is to buy a Switch 2 and then get the Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection. I adore those games! They are the only series where I can learn EVERYBODY'S moveset. A fighting game completely changes when you know the moves of all the characters. The strategy element dramatically deepens.

 

I bought the "Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" remake over the snowy weekend!

I was playing yesterday and I got pissed! And then hooked. I kept hearing rumors about how tough it is. I assumed that people were complaining over nothing. "It's a modern remake, so they totally are going to dumb it down! What's the problem?!" 

Well, I was wrong. I didn't just have 1 or 2 characters die over and over again from my party of 6. I had multiple full-party wipes after only 2 hours. And this game has only 1 save file and it autosaves! At that point, it was easier to create a new file than to attempt a rescue. (Some people will shut off the game when they see a wipe happening, but that is too close to savescumming for me. I prefer to play the game as intended.)

I felt a bit of relief when I noticed that less than 50% of Steam players got the achievement of having a character reach Level 5. That means that I am not the only one who struggled! 

But I persevered and I am now on Floor 2. 

2 big things helped me: 

1) Do NOT use point buy for creating your characters. Use random and then keep rolling. You can end up with a bonus stat point pool of 20, which is nearly double what you would get if you used point buy. 

2) Your Thief doesn't need to be in the front row! My Thief was in the front and kept getting one-shotted, which moved my squishy caster to the front and caused a chain reaction of deaths. Yes, I know that it is possible to play the game without a Thief. But I did not want to miss out on the roleplay of having a Thief, along with missing out on gold and treasure. The Thief can Hide in the back row. If successful, they can Ambush on the next turn and do melee attacks from the back! I pumped up the Vitality of my Priest and put him in slot 3 instead. He had more survivability, especially since it made more sense to have him Parry than Attack. 

Tonight, I look forward to the gym, practicing "Pie Jesu" and then pushing forward in the dungeon!

HOW TO BUY: Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord on Steam