Ultima II Grand

ULTIMA II GRAND

Original game by Lord British in 1982

VIC 20 port and one-disked C-64 Grand version by Aleksi Eeben in 2025

THE STORY

After the defeat of the evil Mondain in Ultima I, peace returned - until rumors emerged of Minax, his apprentice in black magic. These rumors proved true: Minax had grown even more powerful than her master and sought revenge. Using time travel, she journeyed to the Land of Legends - the origin point of Earth's history - seizing control and warping time toward a dark, apocalyptic future.

But Mondain's death caused rifts in space-time, creating time gates on Earth. Researchers believe the timeline can be restored if Minax is destroyed in the past. You are the chosen hero tasked with this mission.

THE GAME

Ultima II features a deep role-playing system set in a vast, complex world. You travel by foot, horse, ship, plane, and even space shuttle, exploring Earth across different time periods and visiting distant planets in the Solar System.

The gameplay is very similar to the previous game in the series, Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness. The scope of the game is bigger, in that there are several more places to explore, even though some of them (like most of the Solar System planets and the dungeons and towers) are not required to complete the game.

In the game, the player has to travel to several different time periods of Earth, using time doors. The periods are the Time of Legends (a mythological period), Pangea (about 300 to 250 million years ago), B.C. (1423, "before the dawn of civilization"), A.D. (1990), and the Aftermath (after 2112). The player also has to travel to space, where all the planets in the Solar System can be visited.

You consume food and lose hit points in battles, but defeating enemies earns you gold, items, and experience. Towns offer weapons, armor, and supplies, and talking to locals reveals helpful tips, lore, and clues. As the game progresses, you'll uncover your mission and learn how to safely gather resources and heal.

KEYS

A Attack

Attack an enemy

B Board

Mount a horse or board a ship

C Cast Spell

Spell needs to be selected with M

D Descend

Climb down a ladder in a dungeon

E Enter

Enter a town/dungeon/castle/read sign

F Fire Cannons

Fire the cannons from a frigate

G Get

Pick up an item (chest, weapon, armor)

H Hyperspace

Catapults the spaceship to the desired coordinates

I Ignite Torch

Ignite a torch when inside a dungeon

J Jump

Jump up and down

K Klimb

Climb up a ladder in a dungeron

L Launch/Land

Start Launch or Landing in a plane or rocket

M Magic

Choose a magic spell (to cast with C)

N Negate Time

Stop the time. Needs a certain item

O Offer

Offer gold as a present or bribe

P Pass

Pass a round without doing anything

Q Quit & Save

Save the game. Only on the surface

R Ready Weapon

Draw a weapon

S Steal

Try to steal an item

T Transact

Talk to NPCs (e.g. traders)

U Unlock

Open a lock. Needs a key

V View

View from the bird's perspective (magical helms needed)

X X-it

Dismount a horse or leave a ship

Y Yell

Yell out a word

Z Ztats

Show all character values and the character's inventory

@ North

Go north. Go forwards in a dungeon

[ West

Go west. Turn left in a dungeon

] East

Go east. Turn right in a dungeon

/ South

Go south. Go backwards in a dungeon

To help with keymapping problems in emulators, you can also use the cursor keys to move in VIC 20 Ultima II and C-64 Ultima II Grand.

CREATING A CHARACTER

You start by creating a custom character (or you can play Talon, a dwarf fighter on the disk). Distribute 90 points, with a minimum of 10 in each of the following attributes:

Strength: Increases damage and armor allowance (need 29–31 for space armor)

Agility: Boosts weapon use and stealing success. Defines which weapons can be readied

Stamina: Reduces damage from attacks

Charisma: Improves merchant discounts

Wisdom: Enhances clerical spell use

Intelligence: Affects magic power and negotiation

Then, choose a race (+5 to one stat):

Human: Intelligence

Elf: Agility

Dwarf: Strength

Hobbit: Wisdom

Pick a profession (+10 to one stat):

Fighter: Strength

Cleric: Wisdom

Wizard: Intelligence

Thief: Agility

Select gender:

Male: Strength +5

Female: Charisma +10

Stats can be boosted later in the game.

MAGIC

Only clerics and wizards can use magic. There are nine spells in total, with each class able to cast six.

The following three are shared by both:

LIGHT - Creates magical light, replacing a candle

LADDER DOWN - Teleports you one level down in a dungeon or tower

LADDER UP - The reverse of LADDER DOWN, bringing you up one level

Cleric-only spells:

PASSWALL - Destroys a wall in your path

SURFACE - Instantly teleports you from a dungeon back to the surface

PRAYER - Calls for divine aid; may instantly destroy an enemy

Wizard-only spells:

MAGIC MISSILE - A damaging attack spell; power scales with wizard level

BLINK - Teleports you to a random location—ideal in emergencies

KILL - A deadly spell with lethal intent for a targeted enemy

To cast a spell, first press M (Magic), then enter the number of the desired spell from the list. This prepares the spell for casting. To activate it, press C (Cast), and the effect will follow shortly.

Spells can only be used inside towers and dungeons-where they're most needed, since all manner of evil dwells there. You can't cast spells spontaneously; they must be purchased in towns.

VIC 20 ULTIMA II

Following successful VIC 20 ports of Elite and Ultima III, I began work on a port of Ultima II. One charmingly odd game, for sure! This time, I also did the complete disassembly myself, inspired by MagerValp's work on Ultima III Gold and Ultima IV Gold, as well as Mark Moxon's earlier analysis of the Elite source code, in spirit of digital archaeology.

After compression and rearranging, all game code and data files now fit on a single disk side, instead of the original's two (or even three). Total number of files is reduced from 140 to about 50, by for example combining town maps, their MPCs and the MPC talk into one compressed file, and gathering almost all code, only excluding the intro sequence, into one executable.

Title picture is repixeled from Apple II. Tile graphics were hand-adapted from C-64 to the VIC 20, into half the horizontal resolution. The text font was similarly adjusted to 4x8 pixels, allowing for 40-character-wide text on the VIC. Apple II style palette, perhaps closer to the other games in the series, is used instead of the bright C-64 colors. (Light green and green being too close, and VIC colors missing all greys made any approximation of the C-64 palette look bad.)

Line drawing was slightly optimized, and the monster drawing routine in dungeons is bugfixed and noticeably speeded up by not drawing the pixelated shapes pixel by pixel. To help with emulator key mapping issues, the emulator-friendly cursor keys can also be used for movement.

Several bugs in the original code were fixed and the fixes were also brought to a new, one-disked C-64 release named Ultima II Grand.

More information:

vic20ultima2.wordpress.com