Talk:Wizard Eye

Refactualization overhaul

Where do I begin? Where does "Wizard Eye" come from? And what's a "Peer" spell? I remember peer gems, but in U4 the spell was View. I don't remember the spell having a time limit, but a keyboard limit: you quit the view spell by pushing a key or something like that. There's also a contradiction about whether or not you can see monsters with this. As I remember, you couldn't in U4. AngusM 05:00, May 3, 2010 (UTC)

"Peer" (VAS WIS) is from Ultima VII, and "Wizard Eye" (POR ORT WIS) is from Ultima IX. I never played Ascension, so can't say for sure how it works. No, the "View" spell did not allow you to see enemies in Ultima IV.

This whole discussion is leading me to believe that, as psychotic Ultima completionists, we should track spell progression through the series somehow. It could get pretty hairy, but there should be some way of knowing what spell was renamed to what and jumped to which new circle in which game, etc. --Polygoncount 07:30, May 3, 2010 (UTC)

The Peer spell existed up to Ultima VII, it also existed in the three previous Ultimas, it was just renamed to Peer after Ultima IV. The Wizard Eye spell also existed in Ultima VI and VII, as read in the Compendium and the Book of Fellowship (and found in the game itself).

Really, people, before you jump to conclusions, can't you just take a look at the manual first? I didn't pull these things out of my ass, I of course read the manuals and tested the spells, before writing up the articles.--Tribun 09:52, May 3, 2010 (UTC)

I think there needs to be a new approach to spell articles. A number of articles say nothing about to which game they belong, giving the impression that they are pan-Ultima. While the basic functionality of some spells repeat, no two spells from different games can be exactly the same, since no two spell engines are the same.

One thing we could do is simply mention to which game a spell belongs in the article. Another is that we could corral all spells with similar functionality into a single article, and then discuss the differences among the games in individual sections. When I look at it from the reader's perspective, I don't see the later as being worthwhile, since I don't see why anyone would be interested in knowing the relationship spells have to each other in different games—just how they work in an individual game.

I think the best thing might be a list of categories of the form "Spells of Ultima n". Although I would have to train myself to look at categories, since I find I often ignore them. AngusM 20:24, May 3, 2010 (UTC)