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This was collected from posts to rec.games.misc:
>From: cenobite@oak.circa.ufl.edu (John Houghton)
I have finally finished Ultima VI, after having to restart the game 6
times because of some inherent bugs in the program. The bugs caused my
game to crash in certain dungeons, Lord British to vaporised in the
thin air, and weird things to happen. The staff from Origin said that
the bugs are caused by keeping too many items on each player. It is hard
to know what items to keep, and what items to discard, until I finished
the game. At one time, I was keeping several hundred items. So I am
writing this article, which I hope will help many of the current
Ultima VI players. For this article to be helpful, it will inevitably
contain some spoilers, but I will try not to reveal too much. If you
need more specific help, please email to me.
Some common questions that are asked during the game are:
(1) What items do I need to keep?
(a) Essential Items : The only items that you need to complete the
game are a loaded-vortex cube (with 8 moonstones), and the 2
vortex lens.
(b) Discardable Items : A lot ot items can be discarded, once they
have been used at appropriate places in the game. The problem is
to know when you can discard them. Some of the objects are also
bulky, and you do not need to keep them with you, when they are
of no use.
(i) 8 runes - They can be discarded after you have freed each
shrine, and collected the moonstone.
(ii) 9 pieces of maps - They can be discarded after you have
got the location of the pirate's cave from Homer, and
after you have figured out the location of the treasure
island.
(iii) 2 pieces of tablet - They can be discarded after Mariah
explain to you about the false prophet.
(iv) ballon plan - This can be thrown away after you have built
the hot-air ballon.
(v) ballon - can be discarded after you have been ordained for
a quest at the shrine of Singularity. The ballon is very
heavy, and is a burden to carry along. You can throw away
the fan as well.
(vi) scroll of gargoyle language - can be thrown away after you
have use it.
(viii) excess weapons - can be sold to the weaponsmith for gold
pieces. You will pick up lots of throwing axes, spears,
cloth armor, shields & helms that you do not need, once you
equiped yourself with the essential weapons/armors. Sell
them away whenver you're in town.
(ix) general items - there are a lot of useless general items in
the game, e.g. yellow rings, etc. Most of these items have
no cash value, and no useful properties. You do not need to
carry them around.
(2) Who do I recruit as team members, in the game?
The following are a list of creatures who will join you for your
quest :
Jaana, Julia, Gwenno, Katrina, Sherry, Blain, Cpt Leonna, Cpt Leo...,
Sentri, Seggallion, Gorn, Beh Lem.
You will need Sherry for a specific task, and you will need Beh Lem so
that the gargoyles in gargoyle-town do not attack you. Dismiss Sherry after
the task is done.
Initially my team comprised of a lot of familiar faces (people that were
with me during Ultima VI & V). However I found out that Katrina & Julia
has been downgraded to weaklings in this game. Jaana, the druidess has
lost her ability to cast spells!!! So, selecting the best of the lot,
my team comprised of
Avatar, Dupre, Shamino, Iolo, Seggallion, Gwenno, Gorn & Beh Lem.
(3) What important items are found in the Dungeons?
There are lots of dungeons, with 3 - 4 levels in this game. You have
to explore them thoroughly, to have the maximum amount of fun in the
game. Usually at the lowest level, there will be some important items
& tresures. Be meticulous - explore every corner, and use every
ladder, and drop down into every hole in the ground. Do not give up
exploring, until you have found the appropriate item in each dungeon.
(I've included * to indicate non-essential items, but do explore them
for fun)
Caves/Dungeons
(a) Moonglow Catacombs - Rune of Honesty
(b) Bucaneer Cave - Minor Treasures *
(c) Dungeons Destard - Dragon Eggs, Major Treasures
(d) Dungeon Wrong - Map
(e) Dungeon Shame - Map
(f) Dungeon Deceit - Minor Treasures *
(g) Dungeon Covertous - Minor Treasures *
(h) Ant Mound - Map
(i) Sutex Castle Catacombs - Ballon Plans
(j) Lycaceum Underground - Certain Books *
(k) Cyclops Cave - Powder Kegs *
(l) Spider Cave - Spider Silk *
(m) Heftimus Cave - Minor items *
(n) Heros Cave - Minor items *
(o) Dungeon below LB Castle - Thief Guild Belt
(p) Dungeon Hyaloth - Gargoyle scroll
(q) Pirate's Cave - Tablet
(r) Tomb of Kings - Minor items *
(s) Shrine of Control - Mondain Statue
(t) Shrine of Passion - Minax Statue
(u) Shrine of Diligence - Exodus Statue
(4) What Spells do I need?
There are about 80 spells in this game, and you definite do not need
most of them. If you buy all the 80 spells, you will have 80 items
in your spell-book, and this may cause your game to crash. Here
are some of the basic spells that you will need.
Dispel Magic (cure poison), Telekinesis, Unlock Magic, Dispel Field,
Pickpocket & Reveal (detect invisible beings).
(5) Is stealing/pickpocketing/killing OK?
Stealing, Pickpocketing & Killing will cause you Karma Points. You
started out with 75 Karma Points, and you need only this much Karma
Points to finish the game. Talking to each of the 8 shrines will give
you 10 more Karma Points. Pickpocketing an item cost you about 5 Karma
Points. Stealing cost you 1 point. Killing intelligent lifeforms will
cost you Karma points as well (e.g. killing some of the winged gargoyles
in gargoyle town).
However, some minor stealing may be permitted in this game to build up cash
real fast. I know where to get 240 gold nuggets (i.e. 2400 gold pieces)
at the expense of 1 Karma point. Email me if you really need cash.
(6) How do I avoid restarting from scratch when my game crash?
Make multiple copies of savegame\*.* as your game progress, and you
can always use an older version, should your current game get corrupted.
(7) OK. I just found out that you "use" doors to open them. Sounds strange
to me, but OK, if you insist. I really think that the writers of the
instructions are assuming that the user has played previous versions, or
are all the instructions for ULTIMA this poor?
The reason the instructions are "poor" for Ultima VI is most likely because
the controls have been so vastly simplified over previous Ultimas. Ultima
III through V seemed more like NetHack with respect to keypresses than any
other game. There was an advantage in that you could try more possibilities,
like yelling things or whatnot, but now it's simpler to establish whether or
not you're supposed to be able to do something with something. My only real
peeve so far has been that it's difficult to catch on that "dispel magic"
cures poison.
(8) Can you have one of the other members in your party "get"? I find it a
waste of time to get for myself a "move" to the other members of the
party. Oh well, I guess part of the game is to figure out the cryptic
commands.
They aren't cryptic, just simplified. You have to go into solo mode (by
pressing 1 through 8) and have them get the object. Just like the other
commands, this is described clearly in the reference card. For example:
"USE (U) operates *any* object that has some function. Among other things,
it will let you open and close doors and chests, enter or exit ships, climb
ladders, milk cows, mount horses, light or extinguish fires, look into
telescopes or crystal balls, ring bells, eat or drink food and beverages,
and play musical instruments."
(reproduced from ref guide w/o permission)
...whereas in previous Ultimas the Use command would be represented by five
or more different commands for each situation.
(9) I haven't found any of the previously reported bugs yet. I seem to be
able to store many items in my inventory pile. I think that I have
version 1.7. (IBM) Any newer versions out there?
I have version 1.7, and have had only minor inventory problems. Lord British
has become a variety of nonsensical things, as have the members of his court,
but it could be a lot worse, so far. Make backups!
10) Where in Yew can one find wood for panpipes? Also, where's a sawmill?
You should looking for LOG, instead of wood in Yew. The sawmill is in
the east of Minoc, after you walk through the swamp.
11) How can one check up on one's Karma points?
This trick is not documented, but posted in this group. To check your
Karma, hit ALT and 213. The first two digits are you Karma, the next
4 digits tell you the time of the day, next 3 is the X coordination and
the next 3 is the Y. The finnal digit is the number of world you are in.
The problem is that this is a fifth generation message.
The original posting says that <alt> 213 shows Karma points but
it must be typed with the numeric keypad and <numlock> on.
12) Where can one get lockpicks? I've been looking all over the place for 'em!
A guild in... (sorry, I forgot, I believe is on an island.)
13) I've been utilizing an invisibility ring to free shrines w/o messing
with uncooperative gargoyles. Is this a mistake?
I don't think this is a mistake, later on you will find a lot of
invisibility ring.
14) I take it that when one "Steals", Karma points are lost. If this is done
inadvertently and the item is immediately replaced, have I still "Stolen",
as far as Karma points are concerned?
I think you've still stolen. But according to see@cs.utexas.edu's
article, steal once, twice shouldn't affect you Karma too much.
15) Has anyone taken the book, Wizard of Oz, from the Lycaeum and given it
to Lord British? If so, what is the reward that he gives you?
He gives you 48 measly gems. Big deal!
I only need one gem... I just save the game before I use it each time,
and restore the game when I am done.
16) Anyone know how to re-order your party without asking people to leave
and then join again? This doesn't work for say, Julia... she gets mad
and won't join up with you. I would much rather have Dupre and Segallion
up front than Iolo and Gwenno....And I find no mention of re-ordering on
the quick reference card.
I'd like to know this one too.
17) How do you use the sawmill? I found one at Xio's place... but I can't
figure out how to use it to cut the yew log. Is there a saw mill
somewhere else? I tried asking Xio to cut it for me... but she didn't
know what I was talking about.
There is a sawmill elsewhere. Try east of Minoc.
18) Anyone know how to tell if you can take something and not get accused of
stealing? For instance, if you go to Iolo's Hut, select Iolo, and have
him search the place and take something, it says, "Stealing!" But other
places let you take stuff...
I believe you can take anything for free in the Castle.
(MAJOR SPOILERS WARNING)
There is a simple way to steal lots of items with cost of only one
karma point. Just get a bag and move all the stuff into it. Then
in one fell swoop.... As much as you can carry. You can clean up a
whole town if you have the patience. Of course I never did that.
19) Finally, could someone tell me all of the things of interest in the
sewers below British's castle? I've searched the place pretty
thoroughly, but I'm afraid I might have missed something, and I don't
want to spend the time looking through the whole place again.
Ever heard of the thieve's guild and such? It's rumored that they
have a connection with the buccaneers of the Den. For starters,
try looking for one lady who wields two glass swords when you come
upon an underground lake. Incidently, this one leads to the
second serie of quests in the game.
20)Well, it seems that I can't drop anything from any of my characters. This is
very frustrating, as my people colleclt more and more stuff, they can't get
rid of anything. Has anyone else out there in netland have this problem also?
Let me clarify my problem. My characters try to drop something, and the object
"magically" reappears in their hands... I tried it in solo mode, no luck. I
tried it not using a mouse, no luck.
I did find a solution for the problem. I reran the install/configure program
(don't ask me why) and that fixes the problem for a short time. (?) The
problem reoccured, so I ran the install... The install fixes it for a short
time.
21) One little problem in Yew...
The Lady Mayor writes a permission slip to give to the guard so that you
can talk the the thief in solitary confinement. However, the guard's key
that he gives you only opens one door. The thief is behind the next one.
the key does not fit the other door, but at least returning it yields two
karma points.
You don't need to open the second door to talk to the man. Just speak
to him through the window. By the way, you'll need those two extra
karma points you get for returning the key because you'll lose a couple
for being forced to lie. (I sort of felt sorry for the poor guy in
prison :-( ).
22) Can anybody tell me where I can find Budo. (Homer in Bucaneer's Den tells
me to talk to him.)
Try checking for secret doors. Use a gem or PEER spell to locate
possible place.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karma seems to go up when you give a dragon's egg to the chef in Serpent's
Hold... and the dragon's egg isn't even taken away. In this version, therefore,
Karma can be increased to 99 real quickly, which lets you steal just about
anything you'd like to.
Does anyone know whether "Animate" costs karma points? How about killing the
animated creature? Taking the "corpse" doesn't appear to ...
I have not been very clear about Karma Points, and
should have added 'at each shrine' to the above. That means that :
Basic Karma Points - 75
Talking to 8 shrines - 80
Total - 155.
You will have a maximum of 99 Karma points, and the excess 56 Karma points
will give you some flexibility in doing a few 'unAvatar-like' deeds, like
pick-pocketing the thief-guild belt from Phoenix.
>From getting to 8 level I can give you a rough outline of Exp points
needed to advance
1 ????
2 ????
3 ????
4 > ~450
5 > ~900
6 > ~1600
7 > ~3600
8 > ~7500
I'm not sure on the exact numbers obviously but they are close, if you
want experience go to the dungeons, and use missle weapons. The dungeon
below Lord British's Castle is fairly interesting and large and you can
get at least 1500+ points there; maybe not the most efficient but it
isn't far to walk and not that difficult to survive in.
Also, in case nobody else has figured this out the HELP spell will NOT
take anything from you, experience or reagents, if your entire party is
alive, so cast it EARLY. If someone dies, including you, then the
person will lose Exp points. If you cast it early you lose time, and
nothing else.
I've been reading various postings and it seems that people believe that
the messages `Squid wounded' and `Fighter Critical' are bugs, but NO.
If you take the path that leads West from Britain you'll eventually hit
a N/S corssing right near the coastline, at this T you will sometimes
find other people fighting each other!! and you can come in and clean up
the mess, retrieving 200+ gold in the process. But as you are walking
closer to the T and they are fighting you get messages. It seems that
because Ultima VI has only one mode ( as opposed to In City or In Castle
like Ultima VI) the game keeps track of things much farther away. If
you'll notice whenever monsters hit themselves you get messages, so it
makes sence that when you get those messages there are monsters outside
of your view but close enough for the game to keep track of that are
beating on eachother. BTW this is also why VI is so much slower than V,
in V you had to enter towns, shrines, anything to get off the World map,
hence less things to calculate in World mode. Vi is slow, but it is
doing a lot of work, which I feel makes it a much more realistic
adventure game. (PS: Yes I do have a fast machine and a HD).
Well I can tell you that the "Lord British poisoned" message is a bug.
I've had this one several times, and every time it happens, Lord British
is nowhere near his castle anymore. I think he's dead. That's why
I keep a backed up version of my savegame directory.
For those of you who have problems with your EGA version of Ultima VI,
try playing without the mouse... once I did this most of the screen
displaying bugs disappeared.
I did find one nifty little bug though... Let's say Dupre dies... so you
pick him up and look for the nearest healer. Along the way, you pick up
a couple more companions, so now you have eight people in your party. Of
course, when you find the healer, you forget this, and have Dupre
raised.... Oops! The game gets all screwed up. Mostly because you can't
ask Dupre to leave, so no provisions were made for him when he doesn't
fit in it. Something to watch out for...
>From: pa1606@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (The Blessed Wraith)
There is one more dungeon called the Swamp Cave where you can find a
whole set of magic items including the second Storm Cloak in the
game.
More tips:
You don't need to dive into Hythloth for that scroll. I did it
the otherway around.
The crystal ball is truly a wonderful item. I know all areas
of Britania before I set one foot out of the castle. Incidentally,
that is how I found the Swamp Cave mentioned above. (If only I can
carry that thing around!)
You don't need to carry lots of weighty powder kegs around. You
need just one, and a spell called REPLICATE. In fact, that's the
only useful item that the spell is effective on.
You only need a 7th level spell ENCHANT to get a 8th level
effect if you have a staff. It's sometimes cheaper that way. (you
need to be 8th level though).
Use the PICKPOCKET spell to keep one of your magic shield. I did
find a second magic shield later in the game.
The most useful spell in dungeons is MASS INVISIBILITY. Get
everyone a ring of invisibility for emergence.
Keep the fan you find in Hawkin's treasure horde. It will come
handy someday if you don't want to waste lots of spells WIND CHANGE.
If you have enough karma points, there are a few chests that
might interest you. Ephemerides keeps a handsome amount, Xiao has
a bag full of spell reagents, and someone in Britania retains lots of
gold nuggets (make your guess). There is a spiked collar lying
around somewhere in Serpents Hold and a chest full of gems in Minoc
(make your guess again). By using the 'Bag Trick', you should get
away with a few items with minimal erosion to your integerity. (I
once had 234 karma points and had absolutely no idea how I got it).
If you are really thirsty for gold, find the Book of Lost Mantras
at the Lycaeum Library and talk to one of the wisps. Be forewarned
not to be too greedy as you may find yourself suffering the Midas
Syndrome.
You should NEVER use shrines of humility, sacrifice, justice or
honor to raise your levels.