Trivia
Dialogues
In dialogs, key words can be identified for as they were highlighted in the text. However, this was only possible for EGA (and later) graphics. In CGA graphics (or similar) key words were not highlighted, thus adding additional difficulty in guessing which the key words were.
Extras
The game came with a map of Britannia printed not on paper, but on cloth. The quality of this material enhanced the realism of the world you got into when playing this game. A "moonstone" also came with the package. It was a smooth, black stone.
FM-Towns version
The FM-Towns version of
Ultima VI has full voice acting, both in English and in Japanese. The English voices were mostly provided by the designers, programmers and family members of Origin, including
Richard Garriott in the role of Lord British.
Innovation music board
One of the only games to support the Innovation ("SID" chip) music board.
Intro
In the game's introduction, the time displayed on the VCR is taken from your computer's system clock - in other words, it displays the correct time in-game. Also, you can change the channels using your numeric keypad.
Pacifist walkthrough
Of the
Ultima games, VI is the only one which allows you to win without a single fight, no cheating necessary. The Moonstone that you start off with transports you to different places in the game, so that all is required to finish are a few jumps to characters crucial to winning the game, and saying the right dialogue words to them. Learning the places and those words without outside-game knowledge(from a previous play or walkthrough), however, requires completing the rest of the game.
References
ORIGIN founder
Richard Garriott has always had a bit of a grudge against
Trip Hawkins, co-founder of
Electronic Arts, because he didn't like their treatment as an EA affiliated label. Not only did he name a mausoleum after him (Pirt Snikwah backwards) in his Britannia Manor (a house in Austin, Texas, designed and used for creepy real-life RPG's), but, more related, he also made him appear in
Ultima VI as pirate Hawkins.
Re-release
In 1992, Origin re-released this game and chose GT Interactive as the distributor. It came in a smaller box and contained a paper map and Compendium book.
Seggallion
One of Avatar's possible companions, a knight named Seggallion, is in fact an important character in
Origin's earlier RPG,
Knights of Legend. In that game, the player's main objective was to rescue the imprisoned Seggallion from the evil lord Pildar. Seggallion tells Avatar that he is from the parallel world Ashtalarea (which is the world in which the events of
Knights of Legend take place). He further explains that he accidentally stepped into a moongate and was teleported to Britannia.
SNES version
There are a few changes in the SNES version:
- The character creation was completely removed.
- There are many changes in dialogues and text, mostly replacing or removing all black humour, vulgar language or just words Nintendo doesn't like.
- All blood effects were removed.
- Killed enemies disappear instantly, dropping their inventory on the ground.
- Civilians can't be attacked.
- The magic spells "Trap", "Summon", "Slime" and "Eclipse" were removed.
A detailed list of changes can be found on
schnittberichte.com (German).
Special Edition
As
Ultima VI was published in 1990, ten years after the original Ultima (on the Apple II), Origin sold a special edition of the game to players who pre-ordered it directly from them. The special edition box was autographed by Lord British and included an audiocassette interview with him. There was also a contest in which players whose box contained a metal rune instead of the usual moonstone could have their name appear in a future Ultima.
Ultima 6 Online
An unofficial MMORPG,
Ultima 6 Online or
U6O, has been developed and released permitting free party-based multiplayer realtime adventuring (with spells, quests and scripted NPCs) in Ultima 6's distinct flavour of the world of Britannia (from its geography down to the look and feel of the sprites). Check out http://ultimasixonline.thezogcabal.com/ to investigate the server status, download the latest version of the client and see which players are currently online!
The Ultima 6 Project
On July 5, 2010, a group of
Ultima fans, Team Archon, released
The Ultima 6 Project, a remake of the original
Ultima VI: The False Prophet as a
Dungeon Siege mod. Not only a graphical update, the project also adds an alternative plot, an in-game journal and compendium, and a dialog system similar to the ones of
Ultima VII and
VIII.
A link to the project's page can be found in the related links section.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- April 1992 (Issue #93) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
- November 1996 (15th Anniversary issue) - #44 on the 150 Best Games of All Time list
- Power Play
- Issue 01/1991 - Best RPG in 1990 (DOS version)
Information also contributed by
Adam Baratz,
Alaedrain,
Indra was here,
James Hofmann,
Jeanne,
Nathan Taylor,
Olivier Masse,
PCGamer77,
Pseudo_Intellectual,
Rabbi Guru,
Sciere and
Ye Old Infocomme Shoppe
