Which game had a talking skull?

[Warped]

I was talking with an old friend of mine from high school the other
week, and the subject of old games came up. He said he had played an
older Ultima game but couldn't remember which one, and all that stuck in
his memory was a skull that you had to find and could talk to.

I thought I knew these games inside and out, but the only significant
skull-interaction I can think of is finding and smashing Mondain's in
Ultima IV.

I put the question to the UDIC: Did he get a memory crossed with one
from some other game, or did I miss out on something in one of the
Ultima games?

--
WarpeÐ Dragon
-==(UDIC)==-

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2018 16:46:21 -0600, Warped <warped...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I thought I knew these games inside and out, but the only significant
>skull-interaction I can think of is finding and smashing Mondain's in
>Ultima IV.

Well, there was Dupre's skull in Ultima 9 too. But we don't talk about
that.

>I put the question to the UDIC: Did he get a memory crossed with one
>from some other game, or did I miss out on something in one of the
>Ultima games?

Odds are he means the Guardian. Yes, I know he wasn't a skull but his
face was very skull-like (despite it having a fuzzy muppet exterior)
and his talking was a significant part of the game.

If not the Guardian, I'd be hard pressed to name a character. Barring
a one-off NPC (talking skulls aren't that original an idea so it
wouldn't surprise me if one such snuck in at one point or the other,
perhaps as a ward on a doorway or some such) I also do not recall any
significant Skully characters. Some of the gargoyles had skull-like
faces. It is possible, as you suggested, he is thinking of a
character from some other franchise: perhaps Mort the Mimir from
Planescape or - the name that jumped to mind when I read "talking
skull" - Murray from the Monkey Island series.

But my money is on the Guardian.

"AVATAR! Know that Britannia has entered into a new age of
Enlightenement. Know that the time has finally come for the one TRUE
lord of Britannia has come to take the place at the head of his
people. Under my guidance, Britannia will flourish and all the people
shall REJOICE and pay HOMAGE to their new... Guardian. Know that you
too shall KNEEL before me, Avatar. You too will soon acknowledge my
authority. For I shall be your companion, your provider... and your
MASTER! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

(I'm sad, I had to go to youtube to fill in the gaps of that speech. I
used to know it by heart).

[ultimadr...@gmail.com]

There IS a talking skull in one of the dungeons in Ultima IX. Named Skully. :D Not a major character, but I think there's a quest to reunite him with the rest of his bones and put him to rest. You find his head on a post and you have to talk to him a few times. He also gives a key or a clue to solving the dungeon IIRC. Hope this helps!

Gallara

[Warped]

On 09/25/2018 05:12 PM, ultimadr...@gmail.com wrote:
> There IS a talking skull in one of the dungeons in Ultima IX. Named Skully. :D Not a major character, but I think there's a quest to reunite him with the rest of his bones and put him to rest. You find his head on a post and you have to talk to him a few times. He also gives a key or a clue to solving the dungeon IIRC. Hope this helps!

Like the man said, we don't talk about Ultima IX :p

Actually, to my shame, I haven't actually played IX very much. It just..
hurts. I'll get around to it one of these years.

But thanks, Gallara! I'll see if I can get some screenshots and jog his
memory with.

> On Tuesday, September 25, 2018 at 9:05:32 AM UTC-4, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> Well, there was Dupre's skull in Ultima 9 too. But we don't talk about
>> that.

I didn't play it far enough to encounter that. Please, talk about that.
Watching his Hari-kari routine in U7P2 was heartbreaking.

>> Odds are he means the Guardian. Yes, I know he wasn't a skull but his
>> face was very skull-like (despite it having a fuzzy muppet exterior)
>> and his talking was a significant part of the game.

-snip-

>> But my money is on the Guardian.

The way he talked about it, it was something you encountered in the game.

But, the notion it was the Guardian would never have entered my head. I
guess I'm too set in my ways, aware of what I 'know'. Thanks for that
perspective! It is pretty skull-like.

>> "AVATAR! Know that Britannia has entered into a new age of
>> Enlightenement. Know that the time has finally come for the one TRUE
>> lord of Britannia has come to take the place at the head of his
>> people. Under my guidance, Britannia will flourish and all the people
>> shall REJOICE and pay HOMAGE to their new... Guardian. Know that you
>> too shall KNEEL before me, Avatar. You too will soon acknowledge my
>> authority. For I shall be your companion, your provider... and your
>> MASTER! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
>>
>> (I'm sad, I had to go to youtube to fill in the gaps of that speech. I
>> used to know it by heart).

Yeah, I know that feeling. Christ I'm getting old.

--
WarpeÐ Dragon
-==(UDIC)==-

[Spalls Hurgenson]

On Wed, 26 Sep 2018 18:58:37 -0600, Warped <warped...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On 09/25/2018 05:12 PM, ultimadr...@gmail.com wrote:
>> There IS a talking skull in one of the dungeons in Ultima IX.
>>Named Skully. :D Not a major character, but I think there's a
>>quest to reunite him with the rest of his bones and put him to
>>rest. You find his head on a post and you have to talk to him
>>a few times. He also gives a key or a clue to solving the
>>dungeon IIRC. Hope this helps!

>But, the notion it was the Guardian would never have entered my head. I
>guess I'm too set in my ways, aware of what I 'know'. Thanks for that
>perspective! It is pretty skull-like.

Yeah, Gallara probably nailed it. It meets your forgetful friend's
criteria better than any of my suggestions. I seem to recall there was
a skull that warded a door somewhere - but I can't remember the
details and it may very well have been another franchise entirely; as
I said, the talking skull is a fairly common trope.

I myself did play Ultima 9 - repeatedly - but these days I'd rather
forget it entirely. Some of the production values of that game were
amazing - its music, its sunsets - but everything else of the game was
so, so terrible. It's no surprise I didn't remember any specifics
about that game ;-)

>>> "AVATAR! Know that Britannia has entered into a new age of
>>> Enlightenement. Know that the time has finally come for the one TRUE
>>> lord of Britannia has come to take the place at the head of his
>>> people. Under my guidance, Britannia will flourish and all the people
>>> shall REJOICE and pay HOMAGE to their new... Guardian. Know that you
>>> too shall KNEEL before me, Avatar. You too will soon acknowledge my
>>> authority. For I shall be your companion, your provider... and your
>>> MASTER! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

>>> (I'm sad, I had to go to youtube to fill in the gaps of that speech. I
>>> used to know it by heart).

>Yeah, I know that feeling. Christ I'm getting old.

Just so long as you remember your Eight Virtues, you're still good.
(I have to admit, I struggled with those too, but in the end I got all
eight. I am not entirely off the Path yet).