ULTIMA VI from Origin and Lord British is the sixth game in the Ultima series. Great improvements to the graphics are to be enjoyed in this game, but it does not compensate for the buggy program, poordocumentation of the commands and little improvement in the actualplot/game itself
Be certain to set you game up properly or it will run very slowly. The screen is divided into four sections: map, status display, message area and command icons. The map area is so small that until you have played the game for a while it is far to easy to get disoriented. I would prefer a larger map area.
Do NOT use the mouse! Although the docs such as they are says that mouse is supported it simply does not work well. The keyboard works fine once you get used to it. Commands are NOT well explained. It took me a couple of hours to figure out how to move items from one character to another, drop items, etc. Much attention was given to the compendium. I wish such attention had been given to the instructions.
You begin the game with 3 other companions in Lord British's castle. You also begin IN a fight. This is not a nice way to start a game. Frankly at this point you are not familiar enough with the commands to handle a fight easily. My group managed to scrape through and Lord B did heal us completely right afterwards, but I think it was a poor game choice.
Your beginning group is: Yourself, Dupre, Shamino, and Iolo. Talk to them. Iolo can gather or split all the gold in the party for you would be nice if the docs told you these things rather than leaving it to the player to find out by random chance. Later in the game you will find others who are willing to join your group. Everyone who is willing to join you is not necessarily worth having join you. Some of them are poorly equipped, others have poor stats, or both. Having extra people in your group can sometimes be an advantage even if they are not the best. To ask them to join or leave your party, talk to them.
Another word of caution: Many BUGS have been reported on this game.I see little excuse, save greed, for a game to be released to the public with such obvious bugs. Unfortunately this practice seems to be becoming the rule rather than the exception these days. You can send in your disksfor replacements. You should also make backups of your character filesoften or you may find yourself restarting the game. Don't just overwriteyour past backups, make different copies. That way you will have achance to save what playing time you have put in. Some bugs can be avoided by limiting your inventory and later in the game reducing your party to theoriginal four avatar, Dupre, Samino, Iolo.
TEAM MEMBERS:
NAME WHERE STR; DEX;INT Magic
*Beh Lem - outside Hythloth 23 ; 24 ; 26 0/0
Blain - with Gypsies 16 ; 21 ; 18 0/0
Cpt Leonna - Moonglow 15 ; 15 ; 18 0/0
Cpt Leodon - Moonglow 15 ; 19 ; 15 7/7
*Gorn - Under Sutek's
*Gwenno - Minoc 18 ; 21 ; 17 9/9
Jaana - Yew
Julia - Minoc 21 ; 18 ; 17 0/0
Katrina - New Magincia 19 ; 16 ; 16 0/0
*Seggallion - Serpents Hold 28 ; 21 ; 20 0/0
Sentri - Serpents Hold 26 ; 18 ; 16 0/0
Sherry - Lord B's castle
Sherry is a talking mouse. You need her for one task in Jhelom. Once completed, you can drop her from the party.
* suggested best party to add to Avatar, Dupre, Shamino, Iolo
EXPERIENCE needed to Advance:
0 - 100 Level 1 When one of your characters has enough
101 - 200 Level 2 experience to advance a level, TALK to
201 - 400 Level 3 a shrine and chant the mantra. You can
401 - 800 Level 4 greatly improve the character's stats
801 - 1600 Level 5 with careful use of the chart below.
1601 - 3200 Level 6
3201 - 6400 Level 7
6401 + Level 8
CHARACTERISTIC IMPROVEMENTS BY SHRINE:
Shrine Strength Dexterity Intelligence
Compassion - +3 -
Honesty - - +3
Honor - +1 +1
Humility - - -
Justice +1 - +1
Sacrifice +1 +1 -
Spirituality +1 +1 +1
Valor +3 - -
MANTRAS:
Compassion mu
Control un
Diligence us
Honesty ahm
Honor summ
Humility lum
Justice beh
Passion or
Pride mul
Sacrifice cah
Singularity unorus
Spritiuality om
Valor ra
RUNES: Location of and requirements to get:
Compassion:
Ariana, child, in the conservatory of Britannia. You will need her mother's permission. Her mother runs the tavern in Britannia
Honesty:
In the tomb of Beyvin in the catacombs of Moonglow. You will need to get the key from Manrel who lives south of the Blue Bottle Inn.
Honor:
On the pedestal in Trinsic. Talk to the mayor before taking it and return it afterwards.
Humility:
The mayor of New Magincia has the rune, you will need to answer a questions before he will give it to you. The answer is "Conor".
Justice:
Talking to the thief in the Yew jail will tell you that the rune is hidden under a plant in Yew's tavern.
Sacrifice:
Selganor in the Minoc Artisians' Guild has the rune but you will need to join the Guild before he will give it to you. To join, you need to get a yew log from Ben west of the mayor's house in Yew and have it cut at the saw mill south east of Minoc. Take yew board to Julia to make into PanPipes and learn the notation of the tune STONES from Gwenno minoc Stones music 6789878767653
Spirituality:
In the chest in Marney's house in the north end of Skara Brae.
MOONGATES: To use a moongate, stand in the center and USE the MOON ORB and point to one of the squares around you. Below is a list of where each square will take you: the numbers listed are the coordinates of these areas. If you use [ALT] 214 you can teleport to these areas by listing the coordinates.[ALT] 214 works ANYWHERE in the game at least through version 3.2. SEE BELOW FOR ADDITIONAL EXPLANATION OF ALT COMMANDS
+-------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| MG of | Shrine of | MG of | Shrine of | MG of |
| Honesty | Honesty | Compassion | Compassion | Valor |
| MoonGlow | | Britannia | | Jhelom |
| 383 1F3 0 | 3A7 106 0 | 1B3 18B 0 | 1F7 166 0 | 093 373 0 |
+-------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| Shrine of | Shrine of | Lord B's | Shrine of | Shrine of |
| Humility | Control | Castle | Passion | Valor |
| | | Throne Room | | |
| 398 3A7 0 | 044 02D 5 | 133 160 0 | 0BC 02D 5 | 09F 3AE 0 |
+-------------+--------------+==============+--------------+--------------+
| MG of | [[ MIDDLE ]] | MG of |
| Humility | No Effect [[ YOU ARE ]] No Effect | Justice |
| New Magincia| [[ HERE! ]] | Yew |
| 2E3 2BB 0 | [[ ]] | 0E3 083 0 | +-------------+--------------+==============+--------------+--------------+
| Shrine of | Gargoyle | Shrine of | Temple of | Shrine of |
| Spirituality| Altar | Diligence | Codex | Justice |
| | | | | |
| 017 016 1 | 080 056 5 | 066 0DD 5 | 39B 36C 0 | 129 027 0 | +-------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| MG of | Shrine of | MG of | Shrine of | MG of |
| Spirituality| Honor | Honor | Sacrifice | Sacrifice |
| Skara Brae | | Trinsic | | Minoc |
| 04B 1FB 0 | 147 336 0 | 183 313 0 | 340 0A7 0 | 29B 043 0 | +-------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
STARTING OUT:
You begin the game in Lord British's castle. Lord B will tell you how the shrines are under the control of the gargoyles and must be freed.There is equipment for your use in the castle, in your room and in others. Talk to everyone you meet. Ask their name and job to get clues as to further conversation. Talk to the mage in L. B's castle. He will tell you about Iolo's book and to consult Mariah in Lycaeum.
INVENTORY HINTS:
Major BUGS are related to character's inventory so keep only what youneed, food, reagents, and the like. Some items you will need to keep untilthey have been
used. Once used, you can drop them such as Rune Stones andpieces to the pirates treasure map To WIN the game you will need:
Vortex Cube loaded with the 8 Moonstones
2 Vortex Lens
It will be very useful to have a strong character in your party carrya skiff. There are areas you will want to reach such as Dungeon Shamethat you will be unable to
reach without a skiff.
SEWERS:
Good for gold and experience In the potion laboratory in the castle, you will find a ladder tothe sewers below the castle. This is the best place to start out
yourcharacters. It is larger than it looks. Use all ladders you find until youare familiar with where they lead. On level 2 of the sewers you will findan underground lake.
Phoenix lives to the north of the lake. When you havegotten the PICKPOCKET spell, seek out Phoenix and take her thieve's belt.
SHRINES:
After you have spent a little time in the sewers earning gold andexperience, its time to visit the wide world. Your purpose at this point is to free the shrines from the
hold of the gargoyles. The shrine ofCompassion east of Britannia is the easiest to free early in the gamehaving fewer gargoyles guarding the shrine. At other shrines,
you mayfind it easier to cast invisibiity upon your avatar and have him/herfree the shrine alone thus avoiding a fight with the gargoyles. To freea shrine USE the rune
on the shrine and chant the mantra. The forcefield upon the shrine will be broken. Take the MOONSTONE!
EXPLORE and GAIN EXPERIENCE:
Here is a list of some of the major areas of interest in the game. Asnoted, some contain important clues or items while others are primarilygood for gaining
experience. Many of the caves are connected.
Ant Mounds - Map piece piece, reagents
Bucaneer Cave - minor items
Cyclops Cave - Powder Kegs, gold
Dungeon Covertous - minor items
Dungeon Deceit - minor items
Dungeons Destard - Dragon Eggs, major treasures
Dungeon Hyaloth - Gargoyle scroll, ENTRANCE TO GARGOYLE WORLD
Dungeon Shame - Map piece, gold, gems
Dungeon Wrong - Map piece
Heftimus Cave - near Jhelom, rings, potions
Heros Cave - Near shrine of Honor, minor items
Lycaceum Underground - Books
*Moonglow Catacombs - Rune of Honesty, weapons, armor, staves
Pirate's Cave - Tablet, storm cloak, magic fan
Sewers (under L B's) - Thief Guild Belt, gold, minor items
Shrine of Control - Mondain Statue
Shrine of Diligence - Exodus Statue
Shrine of Passion - Minax Statue
Spider Cave - Spider Silk
Stonegate - Vortex Cube
Sutex Castle Catacombs - Balloon Plans
Tomb of Kings - minor items
* Books:
The book of lost mantras if shown to Wisps will get you the 8th level spell of Armageddon which you do NOT need. The book Wizard of Oz when given to Lord British will get you some gems as reward.
KARMA:
Karma is important in this game. To maintain and increase Karma, do not steal, return the rune of honor to Trinsic, do good deeds such asgetting dragon eggs for
Sandy the cook in Trinsic.
PIRATES' MAP & TABLET:
Talking to Mariah in Lycaeum will reveal that a second portion ofthe tablet will be needed to translate it fully. Mariah directs you toZoltar the gypsy. Zoltar will tell
you that pirates stole the otherportion of the tablet. To locate this second piece of tablet you will need:
Thieves Belt - sewers under LB's to join the Thieves Guild to be able to get any information from HOMER on Bucaneer Den.
Homer will tell you that there are 9 pieces to the map of Captain Hawkin's treasure the location of the 2nd piece of tablet. Homer hasone of the nine pieces. The
others are at:
Shipwreck - 71S, 14E
Ant Mound - 4th level
Dungeon Shame
Dungeon Wrong
Giving Sandy, the cook in Trinsic, dragon eggs will tell you the other locations of map pieces:
locations of map pieces:
Serpent's Hold - A woman to the east has a piece. You will need to give her a Magic Shield to get it.
Dagger Isle - Hermits cellar move harpsicord
Bad gypsies - Buy or pickpocket the piece N of Paws
Mayor of Trinsic - Confront mayor with name "GORDON"
After collecting 8 pieces return to HOMER. He will give you the last piece and tell you how many paces to move before digging you will need a SHOVEL.Drop the
map pieces and move them around until you get a clear map of thelocation of the treasure.
TREASURE:
:Small island to southwest of Bucaneer's Den with 3 stones in northeast corner. Walk 3 steps south, 9 steps west, 12 steps south. DIG!This will reveal a hole that
you can enter. Explore this area which hasmany traps until you find the sign: "Drop to your Death", choose thehole that has a gold nugget next to it to find the
TABLET. Return to Bucaneer's Den and give Storm Cloak to Homer. Return to Lycaeum with both parts of the tablet and talk to Mariah.
GARGOYLES:
Mariah will supply some additional information on why the gargoylesare causing so much trouble now. She will direct you to Sin Vraal southof shrine of sacrifice who
will tell you that you can enter the gargoyle world through Hythloth.
Dungeon Hythloth is to be found near the Shrine of Humility lowerright portion of the map. You will find Captain Johne on the bottomlevel. He will tell you about the
gargoyles and give you a scroll thatwill allow you to talk to gargoyles. Cpt. Johne will also tell you aboutBeh Lem a gargoyle who will help you get around the
gargoyle city withoutbeing attacked. Beh Lem is to be found just outside of Dungeon Hythlothon the gargoyle plane.
Talk to Beh Lem. He will tell you to see his father and give you instructions on how to find him. Beh's father will tell you that you needto visit the gargoyle Inquisitor
Lord Draxinusom> and surrender as wellas the need for you to make a sacrifice to help mend the two worlds, thatof humans and gargoyles. Naxatilor is the gargoyle
who will be able to explain sacrifice to you more clearly.
Go see Lord Drax and surrender. Drax will ask that you submit to wearing an amulet of submission. Dupre will warn you that it is a magicaltrick, ignore him. Once
you are wearing the amulet, you will be able totravel freely around the gargoyle world and talk with its inhabitants.
Now visit Nax who lives across the way from Drax and learn more aboutsacrifice. Sacrifice, to gargoyles, can mean one of three things: self,others or valuables.
When asked which you wish to sacrifice, answer "value".Nax informs you that the Codex is the only thing of real value. Nax willask if you wish to destroy the
Codex, answer "no". Nax will then suggestthat you return the Codex to the void. Here at last is your true missionin this game!
Visit the Hall of Knowledge to read the Book of Rituals and to getthe vortex lens it is broken and you will need to have it repaired bythe gargoyle lens maker who
lives east of the gargoyle city. After doingthese errands and returning to Nax where needed for additional instructions,you will be told that you need a concave vortex
lens to represent humansand to read the Codex for instructions on what to do with the lenses andthe vortex cube loaded with the 8 moonstones. The vortex CUBE
is supposed to be in the Hall of Knowledge but you will find it missing. Asking the gargoyle who cares for the Hall, you will learn that the Cube was stolen by humans
who went to StoneGate. StoneGate is the castle that lies in the mountains south of Minoc. You will need to find secret passages as well as do a couple of errands for
the Ogres that live there to get the vortex Cube.
The mage that lives across the river near Lycaeum will be able to makeyou a concave vortex lens if you can give him a glass sword. Glass swordscan be found on
Phoenix in the sewers.
You will not be able to enter the temple of the Codex unless you areon a quest. There is only one way to be put on a quest and that is tovisit the Shrine of Singularity
in the gargoyle world. To visit the Shrine of Singularity you will need a balloon. Plans for making a ballooncan be found on a dead body in the dungeon under
Sutek's. Once you have the balloon plans you will need to visit: Minoc to have the basket woven 300gp, Paws to buy rope 5gp to have silk thread spun have lots of
spider silk for this 10gp New Magincia to have the thread woven into cloth 20gp Paws to have the cloth sewn into a large bag 75gp.You also need a cauldron
dungeon wrong is a good source for this and an anchor.
USE the balloon plans to make a balloon. Have one of your strong characterscarry the balloon. Use a moongate to get to the gargoyle altar see moon-gate chart
above. Go north and a little to the right, drop the balloon andthen use it. Use the FAN to change the wind to S so that you may travelnorth. Once past the mountains,
land and enter the Shrine of Singularity.
TALK to the altar. When asked what you want, answer "quest". You willbe asked for whom you seek this quest of the Codex, answer "all". Theshrine will tell you
to visit the shrines representing the gargoyle virtuesControl, Passion & Diligence. Each of these shrines contains a statue withwhich you must talk to learn the mantra
of that virtue. The three virtues combined equal the mantra for the Singularity. Use the balloon to return south of the mountains, back to near the gargoyle altar.
The entrances to the shrines of Control, Passion and Diligence arefound on the island of the gargoyle world which is not that large. The catacombs of Diligence are
the hardest to get through. There is a secret door leading to a ladder near the lower left corner of the catacombs. This secret door is NOT on an outer wall.
After you have visited all three shrines and learned the mantras, return to the Shrine of Singularity. When asked if you have visited all three shrines answer yes and
then chant the mantra UNORUS. You now have a quest and may enter the temple containing the Codex!
Use the Moon Orb to get to the Temple of the Codex and read it LOOK. Follow the instructions to place the two lenses and the Cube loaded with all eight
moonstones then USE the Cube! You will see a series of pictures that culminate in the END GAME!
CONGRATS!
