ULTIMA VII: THE FORGE OF VIRTUE by Origin Systems
Reviewed by Richard Wyckoff

Overview: If you just can't get enough Ultima 7, The Forge of Virtue is
probably exactly what you're looking for.  Otherwise, its value is
questionable.

Graphics:    10
Sound:        5
Gameplay:     8
Originality:  4

Review machine: 486/33 clone with AMI Bios
                8 meg RAM
                Soundblaster
                Mouse

Advertised as the first add-IN disk ever, Ultima 7: The Forge of Virtue
is an additional adventure for Ultima 7.  The mage Erethian has raised
the Isle of Fire from the sea floor.  The Isle houses the shrines to the
three principles (Love, Courage, and Truth), which years ago Lord British
constructed.  The shrines are each guarded by a complicated test,
designed to truly test the Avatar's mettle before granting him or her
increased skill.

Forge is contained on one high density disk (double density is available,
for a ludicrous $9.95 "shipping and handling" fee).  When installed,
Forge will add about 1 megabyte to the size of Ultima 7, although the
documentation states that up to 4 megabytes are needed for temporary
files during the process.

Besides the additional data files, the Forge disk also contains an
updated version of the Ultima 7 executable, version 3.4.  Unfortunately,
this new version is not much of an improvement over the older version.  I
played completely through the old version on a 386/33 and had few
problems, except for the vanishing bodies in Minoc and the non-retracting
wall at the end of the game (see GameBytes 5).  But on my 486, even with
a completely stripped down version of DOS (nothing but mouse.sys), the
new version would hang at random intervals.

Version 3.4 does, contrary to some rumors on the Internet, fix the
disappearing keys 'feature'.  The aforementioned bodies in Minoc also
appeared for me this time.  Other than that, I couldn't find any other
improvements.  The faulty lighting algorithm (where you could cast one
Glimmer spell and light a dungeon indefinitely ) remains, as do the
street lights in Britain that usually don't come on at night, and if they
do, don't go out in the morning.  And besides all these nitpicking
details, there are still the major problems of U7: the poor inventory
interface; the chug-chugging of the screen when you travel; and the
Artificial Stupidity of your party members who don't know how to feed
themselves, will walk into fires and other dangerous areas, and will
shoot each other in the back during combat.

Luckily, you are able to decide whether or not to install version 3.4.
If you are in the middle of a game when you add Forge, you will probably
not want to update your executable, because (surprise!) version 3.4 is
not compatible with your old save game files.  What's more, Forge may not
be able to handle some of your old save games (if your party is on a boat
in the area where the new island appears, for example).  The
documentation does describe how to salvage these saves, however.

So now you've finally installed Forge, and are ready to play it.  What's
different?  Very little, actually.  If you start the game over from the
beginning as I did, there will be a tremor right after you step out of
the red moongate, and if you ask Iolo about it, he will tell you to go
see Lord British.  Lord British tells you that the Isle of Fire has risen
from the sea.  If you have read the documentation, you already know this.
He gives you the deed to a boat which is docked to the south of Vesper
(hey, free boat!), and tells you to check out the island.

Unlike many games, the documentation of Forge is almost too complete.
The reference card tells you exactly what to do to get to the island,
even telling you where the boat is located and which way to sail, in case
you forgot Lord British's speech.  The "Guide to the Isle of Fire" is
written in the form of the mage Erethian's journal, and gives overviews
of each of the shrine's quests.  These overviews really take a lot of the
fun of discovery out of the game (especially the Love Quest), while at
the same time are not specific enough to let you avoid the major
frustrations.  Worse, the game text and hints are almost exactly the same
as those found in the documentation.

The Isle of Fire is quite large.  It appears just south of Vesper, and
extends out under the "BRITTANIA" text on the game's map.  It does not
appear on your map, but if you have a sextant you can work out where you
are.  In a large castle in the middle of the island, you will find the
mage Erethian, the three shrines, and the Dark Core of Exodus.  After
talking to Erethian, you will want to go on the quests, since that is
pretty much all there is to do on the island.

If you take the quests in the order listed in the documentation, the
Truth Quest will come first.  This involves quite an extensive dungeon,
but the hints scattered through the dungeon are not helpful at all, and
the solution is the kind that you'll probably either stumble upon
immediately, or else miss completely and wander for hours, as I did.
When you finish it, the shrine will maximize some of your statistics.
The next quest is Love.  As I said, the documentation practically walks
you through this one, provided you can work out the mechanics.  Just like
the the Truth Quest, what may be obvious to some might be completely
foreign to others.  Finally, the Courage Quest involves a lot of
fighting, and yet another either-you-get-it-or-you-don't puzzle.  To
complete it, though, you must perform another task, which is the only
part of the game not completely spoiled in the documentation.  I won't
spoil it either, but it involves a sword that reminded me of Michael
Moorcock's Elric books.

After you finish all the shrine quests, you are given a so-called fourth
quest: another simple item manipulation puzzle, which various characters
will explain to you.  When you finish this, Iolo tells you to go back to
Lord British, who gives your stats yet another boost, and that's it.
There aren't any particularly fancy ending graphics, and all you get for
congratulations are two sentences of dialogue.  Then you are left as (to
quote the box) "The most powerful character in the land, wielding its
most formidable weapon."  I'm sure this makes the rest of the game much
easier, but the Avatar becomes quite powerful even without the Forge
quests.

I expected a little bit more out of Forge.  Granted, it's an under-
twenty-dollar product, but the Wing Commander I and II add ons at least
gave you more ships and graphics, and especially more plot.  Forge
doesn't advance the Ultima 7 story at all, and is basically just there to
increase your stats.  IMHO, Origin should have made an add-in that took
place after the end of Ultima 7 but before the start of Ultima 7 Part II.
Forge also shows a few signs of the typical Origin rush-production: some
typos in the text, the nearly-as-buggy- as-the-original upgrade, and the
poorly thought-out dungeons.

This is not to say that I hated Forge.  It just didn't excite me nearly
as much as Ultima 7 originally did.  If you want a few more dungeons to
explore, and the chance to become an uber-Avatar, you might enjoy Ultima:
The Forge of Virtue.

This review copyright (c) 1992 by Richard Wyckoff.  All rights reserved.