RPGWatch Feature: Ultima 6 Project Interview

The release for Milestone 4 seems like a good time to release our latest feature. Corwin catches up with the U6 Project team to discuss their Dungeon Siege-powered remake of Ultima 6:

RPGWatch: What are the major 'selling' points of the game?

JS: The original Ultima VI (6) had a rich storyline full of lessons about prejudice, and how misunderstandings can often lead to uncontrollable violence. I personally think this is directly relevant to today's world, and probably will remain relevant for the foreseeable future. The game itself is incredibly immersive; even with the small piece that is available today, you can have comprehensive conversations with residents of Britannia, play games with them, solve their problems, and watch them go through their daily lives. I think we have approached the level of complexity and realism in an RPG that hasn't been seen since Ultima VII (7). We have a weather system, a day/night cycle, and even an economy system. We also have a lot of cool dungeons to explore. Essentially, it's a huge world with a lot of great stuff in it.

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"JS: The original Ultima VI (6) had a rich storyline full of lessons about prejudice, and how misunderstandings can often lead to uncontrollable violence. I personally think this is directly relevant to today's world, and probably will remain relevant for the foreseeable future."

Good old lord British was great with trying to put in themes that were being dealt with at the time and is still being dealt with today.

Thanks Corwin for doing the interview. The game looks and sounds great. I'm glad he didn't burn out like a lot of other modders did. U6 has a great story in it and it will be great to see what he does with it.

I completed Lazarus and it was quite the ride. I so want to play this.

Nice screens. Sounds like it will be a huge game, so I'm extremely glad to hear about the automated journal. I was totally lost in Lazarus, having never played an Ultima of any kind, and it just took the fun out of it. Having an updating quest journal would be a big help.

I tend to agree. I really enjoyed a lot of Lazarus but the game is huge and I have real-life interruptions, so relying on paper notes is a pain. I know it's authentic and all but I will really appreciate the journal in this.

DOH! I throwed my dungeon siege CD's away………………………………………. ………………………….. I was like darn I am not buying it again… so I suffered when Lazarus was out…. and now they make another one……………. how could I know.. should've kept that CD!!!!

GG, you can probably get the game somewhere REALLY cheap, so do yourself a favour and buy a copy (say on EBay ) and play Lazarus while you're waiting for U6 to be finished. I only bought the original DS so I could play Lazarus; I never came close to finishing the original DS, it was TOOOOOOOO Boring!!

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
DOH! I throwed my dungeon siege CD's away………………………………………. ………………………….. I was like darn I am not buying it again… so I suffered when Lazarus was out…. and now they make another one……………. how could I know.. should've kept that CD!!!!

You can just buy the expansion Legends of Aranna, it has Dungeon siege on it. Amazon has it for $8 to $12 depending on which store you get it from. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi…056714-2949618


@dhruin I didn't mind taking notes, but I played the original when I was a kid so it brought back a lot of memories.

@Corwin did you use the blink spell? I didn't even install that option with 1.2 because of the huge warnings about using it. Warning "if you use this spell it may destroy the world " Sorta like the Armageddon spell that the wisp gives you in Ultima 6.

Every time I see an announcement for one of the Ultimas, I get very excited. They're so difficult to create that it's hard to believe anyone would take the time to remake one of them. My favorite is still Ultima 7, but I really hope one of the Ultima 9 remake projects pans out. Has anyone heard any news on that front? It seems like the hardest remake to do -- generate a complicated storyline and integrate a party system from the rubbish that is the real Ultima 9. Maybe some day.

Also, it will probably be a lot more difficult to grab the DS in 2009, when this thing is supposed to come out, than now, so better hurry. I was lucky and got it 'free' with a German gaming magazine sometime last year.

Originally Posted by skavenhorde
You can just buy the expansion Legends of Aranna, it has Dungeon siege on it. Amazon has it for $8 to $12 depending on which store you get it from. http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi…056714-2949618

Definitely recommend this - Lazarus (even though I still haven't finished) is definitely worth the price, moreso when you can add this!

Excellent interview, Corwin, but finished by late 2009? Sigh, according to experience that means that it will be playable in summer 2010 or something… Well, I`ll wait. I trust the U6 project team that they will - unlike most mod projects of such a megalomaniac scope - actually complete it.

I suspect that even Lazarus's insatiable fans will be impressed.

So do I. What I've seen so far looks quite impressive. Keep up the excellent work, I count on you!