Ultima VI: The False Prophet

blah blah 2017-05-27 6 points DOS version

Revolutionary game for it's time.

open world ... do what you want when you want... even mundane stuff like grind wheat into flour and bake bread, or hunt deer in the forest

rpg-lite .. while other RPG's were seeing more complexity to stats and such as adding value, Ultima 6 had only 3 basic stats (str, dex, int), and only 8 levels you could go up to. This doesn't sound like much, but...

story-driven ... the game was driven by plot and hunting down clues, not leveling up in order to fight in harder areas. You could literally avoid most combats in the game. There was never a pressure to go grind to be able to handle another area. Normally, what prevented you from moving on was the lack of a spell or item to deal with an obstacle (eg: dispel field spell in order to remove a barrier from a doorway). There were difficult places in the game (eg: Dungeon Destard, where Dragons lived). But, you could always find an alternate way around them to avoid conflict (eg: casting invisibility on your whole party or have everyone equip invis rings... then just stroll in undetected.)

no map transitions ... most RPG's up to that point had a large-scale overworld travel map, then zoomed-in overhead maps for combat and maybe zoomed in maps for dungeons or faux wire-frame dungeons. Ultima 6 just had a single map, and all action took place on it in overhead fashion. You travelled along roads, walked right into towns... no transition to a town map (!) ... when combat started it was right on the map view you were on, and you not only already saw your whole party with you, but you would simply position them during coimbat. Combat ended, you simply ended it and went back to what you were doing. You never left the map view you were on. This created a deeper dive into the game as the fourth-wall wasn't broken with map / view transitions.

AI player characters... you could set your party members to either be under your manual control, or use computer AI. So, combat could simply boil down to you controlling the Avatar, then watching your other party members and enemies position and fight the rest of the turn. Or, you could control your whole party. It was very flexible and fun.

Fleshed out world / NPC's .. I know I talked about an open-world, but the NPC's in the game all had lives, schedules (!), activities... you would find a fisherman on the docks fishing by day, and sleeping in his bed by night. Many NPC's were just filler; not part of any quest or clues, but you'd speak to them and find out they were far more fleshed out then just cookie cutter fodder. They had backgrounds, and sometimes would discuss how it impacted their schedules (when they did things) and where they went.

Secrets ... the world was HUGE, and tons of folks to talk to, so you would always stumble across a new cave or secret treasure stash every where. I played the game for years until I spoke with the glass blower in Minoc and asked a specific question which made him reveal he could craft glass swords! It's stuff like that, uncovering new secrets after years of playing, that keeps you coming back.

Random encounters ... the world was filled with random combats and stuff between no-name NPC's and monsters to make it seem alive... as if other adventurers are out there trying to make a name for themselves. Dungeons, roads between towns, etc... you'd be walking along and suddenly you'd hear fighting... wolves are hunting rabbits, dogs are killing snakes, NPC's are killing monsters... you could join in and help, or sit back or kill everyone and take their stuff. It depended on how you wanted to role play. There was always a big fight west of Britania on the road to Skara Brae between no-name human NPC's and mongbats that was a blast to get involved in. When you went down into the crypts under one town, there would be random, no-name human NPC's fighting skeletons... like they were a party of humans that went adventuring and you stumbled across them in the middle of combat with skeletons! This made the world feel so alive.

While SSI Gold Box games were flings, Ultima 6 was my first "serious girlfriend" CRPG. I spent years playing it, discovering new stuff, and just living in that fantasy world. It was a fantastic game, b/c it didn't force you to do anything. It was The Elder Scrolls, before Elder Scrolls perfected their "open world do what you want" formula.

Itoo 2012-02-24 5 points DOS version

This is an unrestricted, non-linear, open world, with a few simple missions and plenty of side-quests. I couldn't get my daughter to play Ultima 4 to save my life, but this one she played with. Nearly all the objects can be taken, fights can be evaded, and you really can't die. Every character has a very unique portrait and personality, and most are somehow interconnected with someone else either for mainline plot or side-skits.

Since each of the characters is a unique personality with a unique contribution to the plot, you learn a lot about how people think and behave, their motivations, goals, and quirks similar to reality but on your own time and without having to go out and meet 100 people and further get to a point with those people where you can interview them. In Ultima you are the Avatar, and everyone is generally more than happy to answer your questions.

Although I couldn't get my daughter to play Ultima 4, Quest of the Avatar, I was still able to teach her some of the Ultima moral system through this game. You still have to go around visiting the shrines, they still give you moral advice, and the characters in each of the eight towns still teach you about their particular virtue as you interact with them. The Ultima series in general is great for personal character development, by acting as the hero in the game, you build the hero you are in real life.

As with most Ultima games, its best to take notes. There aren't any "you are here" signs or mission summary statements to keep you clued in on anything you might be doing, major plot or minor plot.