“I’m Irene, and I can buy or sell.”
Here you’ll find inaccuracies in Minoc and its corresponding dungeon Covetous in Ultima IX. And then there’s “Cove”, if this is even a proper name for those three huts. The worldbuilders did a horrible job. The entire island is patchwork, house styles don’t match up, and everything feels liveless thanks to loads of one-liner NPCs. It’s clear that the idea to combine Minoc and Cove was a last-minute decision, in which logic and respect for the player’s intelligence was sacrificed to a dreaded deadline.
Ignorance of predecessors
-
How did the blue lens get into the hands of the Rom Baro? In former times,
it was property of Britannia!
(by Hacki Dragon) -
Where the heck do all those gypsies in Minoc come from? In Ultima VII, the
gypsies seemed to be dying out. There was only one big gypsy family, and it was already quite
decimated.
(by Tribun Dragon) -
In Ascension, you can’t cast spells in Covetous due to the large amounts
of Blackrock. But the Blackrock had always been there, it just wasn’t discovered yet.
Thus, you should not have been allowed to use magic in Covetous in any previous Ultima.
(by Tribun Dragon) -
“Nico” (great name for a mage, by the way, rather sounds like a pimp) is supposedly
just short for something. First, I thought that Nico must be Nicodemus, whom we know
from Ultima VI and 7. Problem is that the secret is never revealed in the whole game,
and the Avatar doesn’t even wonder what happened to Nicodemus. Well done, UA
devteam.
(by Natreg Dragon) -
Why does the Avatar let Nico explain to him how the Orb of the Moons works?
At that point, he can’t know yet that the Orb has only the same name as the one from
previous adventures.
See Injury in Pagan.“Milord, I’ve been using an Orb of the Moons 500 years before thou wert born!”
(by Tribun Dragon)
Technical shortcomings
-
Why do potions not work in Covetous? The game claims that it’s the Blackrock’s
fault. But Blackrock only blocks ethereal waves, not chemical substances. (The strangest thing
about it is that potions did work fine in Ultima VII and Underworld II, even under Blackrock
influence.)
(by Tribun Dragon) -
There are 3 buildings in Cove! Three! Of those buildings, one is a ruin, and
another one is a large administrative building. Nevertheless, craploads of guards run around
in Cove. Isn’t this very implausible altogether?
(by Hacki Dragon)The patch says that many people left Cove after the riots, which is why it looks like a ghost town now.
-
Why don’t you get karma when you give healing potions to the old woman
in Minoc?
(by Hacki Dragon) -
In Covetous, magic doesn’t work because of all the Blackrock - but that
doesn’t count for the Liche! Quite unfair.
(Perhaps Liches are immune to blackrock, like Horance apparently was in Ultima VII, or their magic’s source is different. Of course, the game doesn’t answer the question.)
(by Hacki Dragon) -
If the large amount of Blackrock in Covetous blocks magic, then why can the Avatar wear
a complete Blackrock armour and cast spells as he likes nonetheless?
(by DaCuda) -
What did the designers think to themselves when they dried Julia’s fire-red hair?
(by Tribun Dragon) -
The designers did not only change Julia’s hair color; they also changed her speech, so
that she sounds like a gypsy now!
(by Charles Frederick) -
Nico’s “Orb of the Moons” has another flaw: its shape. In former times to
be precise, the Orb was no sphere, but just a stone.
(by Tribun Dragon) -
When you create a magic light outside of Covetous (a spell that permanently
sucks mana) and go into the dungeon, the light remains. However, since the spell permanently
draws mana from ethereal waves and Covetous lately blocks ethereal waves, the spell should
disappear.
Mana arrows, by the way, also work in Covetous, which they aren’t supposed to, for the same reason.
(by Tribun Dragon)
General problems
-
There is a plot hole in the history of Minoc: we are told that the town was
rebuilt after the destruction of old Minoc by the Guardian. Furthermore, we are supposed to
believe that riots happened after the appearance of the Columns in new Minoc. Well, but...
the destruction of old Minoc was the Column’s fault, wasn’t it? That’s why
new Minoc can’t have experienced a “normal” period of time. Also, if the
riots started shortly after the Column had appeared, then one must wonder how those
people could build a town in midst of a riot.
(by Hacki Dragon)Thanks to the patch, everything becomes clear: First of all, Minoc, Cove, and Vesper are destroyed by the Guardian. The people move to Dagger Isle, but there isn’t enough room for everyone there, and the soil isn’t very fertile; this leads to a civil war. Lord British can’t do anything because he is occupied with the war against Blackthorn. The Avatar also thinks now it’s wrong to call a small collection of gypsy tents “Minoc”.
-
Why don’t the Avatar and Julia leave Covetous together? After all, it’s
a dangerous dungeon, and travelling in company is safer than being alone...
(by Hacki Dragon) -
Why does Blackthorn not torture Laszlo to learn what he wants to know? What
purpose serve the nice torture devices on Terfin? Blackthorn should really act a bit harsher.
Call some Wyrmguards and take the Rom Baro with you. Why does he only threaten to hurt him?
(by Hacki Dragon) -
Now that’s it: Laszlo hides the blue lens hidden in a chest in his wagon!
Does it really not occur to Blackthorn to search the Rom Baro’s wagon?
(by Hacki Dragon) -
After the Avatar has collected first impressions in Minoc, he writes into
his journal:
Yes, oh heroic one, everyone here is definitely daft due to the Column’s influence. You have already experienced the affair with the Columns in the other towns, so please don’t ask such stupid questions.“Is everyone here daft?”
(by Hacki Dragon)Fortunately, the patch eliminates such mistakes with no mercy.
-
Raxos lies to the Avatar when he claims that Lord British appointed him. The
Avatar then tries to show the player that, after all, he isn’t as dumb as he looks, and
says:
Well, well, Sherlock Holmes, Lord British didn’t mention a lot of other things to you, as for example the disappearance of the companions, the destruction of the three keeps of the principles, or the rather important fact that the Guardian invaded Britannia.“Funny, Lord British didn’t mention your appointment to me.”
(by Hacki Dragon)
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