[Rainer Deyke]

I've recently played Ultima 6 through for the first time. A couple of comments on the game:

• I was amazed at how well the game weathered the test of time. The only better modern RPG I can think of is Planescape: Torment. Even the Fallout series seems to fall short of this masterwork. By contrast, I was never able to get into the previous Ultimas.
  
• An game that corrupts savegames and only one savegame slot is a bad combination.
  
• The game seemed unbalanced in many respects. Almost all combat could be avoided entirely through the use of moongates and invisibility. Strangely, this did not adversely affect my enjoyment of the game.
  
• Being able to buy cloth from a weaver and sell it to a tailor added a lot to the game. Even if I cannot imagine a more tedious task than actually doing so. Having the option of doing something gives meaning to the choice not to do it.
  
• When trying to control the whole party, the combat system becomes unplayable bad. Possibly the worst combat system I've ever encountered. With the rest of the party switched to auto-combat, combat is stupid but playable.
  
• Having to equip a spellbook to cast spells is incredibly annoying.
  
• I would not have found the shipwreck without a walkthrough. Not because it was particularily well hidden, but because I have no patience with games that waste my time.
  
• The conversation system was also extremely annoying, especially when I had to guess at keywords because they weren't highlighted.
  

[entilazy]

I never beat Ultima 6 without cheating "Spam spam spam humbug!"

The graphics were cool, the way you could use items on each other to change them, and sell them back rocked, and I actually liked the combat, except that they missed so much making simple battles take forever. I liked the boomerang, and the way you had a mouse as a fighter, and the way you pick your portrait and "virtues at the beginning."

That said, the game kinda sucked. I literally couldn't find anything, not even the guy you talk to to get level ups. I never did find Lycaeum or wherever you were supposed to go first.

Btw, after playing Ultima 6 is when I first got the concept of a MMORPG, and that's the reason ultima online was the first MMORPG I ever played (and the only one I ever payed for).

[Sirocco]

Been a looooooooooong time since I play it. I got it the day it hit the shelves... which was within a week of Underworld's release, so I pretty much didn't play it for a month or two while I drooled over Underworld's revolutionary 3D engine and sickly sweet gameplay.

I finished the game, but did so with the aide of a walkthrough of sorts. I had no trouble with combat, but found it extremely unbalanced in the beginning. Going near the shrines was certain death until you gained some levels and good equipment, and the winged gargoyles had a irritating tendency to follow you for miles when you tried to run from them. Not good.

The mantras did not change from Ultima 4, which is good because I didn't have to learn them over again :) Some of the puzzles seemed to have no solution, such as the ghost named Marney. I tried for hours to find some approach that would work, but eventually gave up. Using Sherry to get the rune of Honor was nifty, no doubt.

Lots of hidden stuff. Lots.

The gargoyle world was fascinating and well developed. Seeing their set of virtues and binding elements, and how they perfectly contrasted with Britannia's virtues, quite an eye opener. I still remember marching into the temple with all the silver serpents. Or blowing the horn and summoning more serpents outside that one guy's house (!)

The solution to the game was inventive; any other game would have you either wiping out the gargoyles, or simply knocking out their ability to fight. But this comes on the heels of Ultima 4, a RPG where the only true 'enemy' in the game is yourself; more specifically your vices.

Yep, it had flaws, but was very memorable. I still have to say I enjoyed 4 and 7 better.

.

[Rainer Deyke]

The shrines gave me no problem because they are all accessible with the moon orb. I would just gate in, free the shrine, and gate out again before the gargoyles had time to react. The dragon dungeon (Dastard?) was nasty though, mostly because I had previously avoided combat instead of leveling up. I ended up using mass invisibility to sneak in with a minimum of combat.

[Sirocco]

If you enjoyed U6, you should look into playing The two "Worlds of Ultima" games: The Savage Empire, and Martian Dreams. Both operate off a slightly modified U6 engine. The main difference being smaller sprites, but combat and menu mechanics are extremely similar.

Having finished both, I have to say I enjoyed The Savage Empire a bit more than Martian Dreams.

.

[BigManJones]

Are the Ultima games abandonware yet? If not, were do you guys get them at? The bargain bin?

[Rainer Deyke]

I got mine several years ago a in a cheap CD-ROM collection. "Abandonware" is not a legal status, but you could probably find them that way.

[Sirocco]

Considering that Origin is totally defunct beyond the maintenance team pumping out UO titles, I would say go ahead and pirate the hell out of anything Origin has produced; EA pulled their life support when Ultima 9 went out the door.

But if that ruffles your scruples, simply hit Ebay and grab the goods from there.

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[Mandrake]

6 was good, but personally I liked 4 and 7 better. 4 was more engrossing...I felt like i was actually in brittainia(sp?) and 7 (as well as serpent isle or black gate or whatever 7.5 was) had a brilliant plot.
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[Sirocco]

7 seemed to have a brilliantly fleshed out world, but U4 was a borderline spiritual experience for me -- especially since I was so young when I first played it on my c64. The concept of playing a RPG with no true external antagonist... was nothing short of revolutionary.

.

[fingersmith]

Ultima 6 was immense. I have the best memories from that game. It blew me away, the graphics and the game play were nothing I'd seen before. I was at that age when imagination flowed and I won't forget the cinematic at the start and the fight at the castle they landed you in. I don't remember a single fault, but then I had nothing to compare it against. Unfortunately I never finished it! Wish I had though.

[The Anarchist]

Christ, i've still got Ultima 4 on the Master System. However, I didn't much care for it. The game needed some kind of structure, in my opinion. It was too open ended, you could just wander around and not acomplish anything if, like me, you didn't get the general gist of the game.

Also, whats with the directions in this game? Shouldn't you have some way to know where the nearest town is without wandering around for hours in the wilderness? I'm just impatient I guess, and I'd really rather play a game with more focus on storyline.
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