Dino's Guide to
Ultima VIII - Pagan

Patch

Contents

• Why the patch was released
• Fixes
• Download

Why the patch was released

After Ultima VIII was released, many people complained that it was more of an action jumping game than an Ultima RPG. Moreover, there were quite a few faults with the game such as the fact that there was no clue as to where Moriens' Birthplace is.

To allow the people to skip all the pointless jumping and to fix the errors, Origin released a patch.

It must really be a great coincidence how so many faults were introduced into the Ultima series ever since EA bought Origin.

Fixes

If you want to see a copy of the original text file that came with the patch, Prescient Dragon's Complete Guide to Ultima VIII - Pagan has a copy.

Targeted jumping

To skip all the jumping puzzles, where you would fall off and die at least 20 times before getting through and then reload (which took ages on those old machines), the patch allows you to cheat a little. You can move your cursor over your desired destination and the Avatar will jump there. You can also jump a greater distance than before.

Floating platforms no longer move in the patch, so jumping to them is much easier.

Plot fixes

There was originally no clue as to where to find the Birthplace of Moriens. Now, a sign indicates this. In the unpatched version, the door to the building with the entrance to the Zealan Shrine had a sign reading "Towards Fate do you travel". In the patch, it reads "Birthplace of Moriens.

The patch also includes books in the Argentrock library which contain the answers to Xavier's questions.

Hotkeys

Hotkeys were added with the patch, allowing the player to perform specific commands at the touch of a button. F7 and F8 will quicksave and quickload respectively, and will not require a savegame slot. B, R and K will activate the bedroll, Recall Item and Keyring respectively.

Items

• The Ghost Armour gives a greater amount of protection in the patch
• The Hammer of Strength in the cave on the Plateau has been renamed to the Bonecrusher
• Inventory management was made easier with automatic stacking and combining
• Placing items on the ground is much less restrictive in the patch.
• The Recall Item's charges are infinite in the patch, and will work everywhere except at the Obsidian Fortress
• The sticks Vividos sends you to fetch are now called Dead Man's Elbow.

Other Fixes

The Avatar no longer falls when taking a heavy blow. He will only fall when taking a mortal blow.

More feedback is given, in the patch, as to where to put the blackrock fragments on the Ethereal Pentagram.

Taking the Breath of Air before completing the Fire plot will not stop the game.

Download

You can download the patch from some locations: