In the early 1980s I was exposed to Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. I loved it! I played as much as I could with my older brother and our neighborhood friends. But alas, within a couple of years I had sadly stopped playing my beloved D&D. Why? Because of a stupid "Satanic Panic" that rocked not only our rural little town, but the entire nation as well. (But that is a topic for another time.)

So imagine my delight when my brother's friend introduced me to a computer role playing game, Ultima II, that was very similar to D&D, but didn't involve playing with others or using manuals with demons, devils and spellcraft. And most importantly: I could play it without my mom finding out about it and banning me from it!

My Intro to Ultima Games

I was a big fan of the Commodore 64 and 128 back in the 80s, and loved playing games on those machines. After playing Ultima II I ended up purchasing Ultima V in the waning years of that lovely decade. I nearly completed that game (which was a big deal in the days before the internet!) before I left high school and moved on in life. That game was an absolute joy to play, and is still, to this day, one of my all-time favorite games. The level of detail and engagement was staggering. I spent many, MANY hours talking to citizens of Britannia to get clues about how to rescue Lord British from the Underworld and save the land from the evil Blackthorn. It took me months to compile notes about every location and person that I could find in the game. It was truly mesmerizing, and it easily sucked me into its sphere of influence.

It was nearly 10 years before I undertook to play another Ultima game. In the late 1990s my brother made me a Christmas gift of The Ultima Collection CD - which included all Ultima games from I to VIII. I was again ecstatic to re-enter my beloved Britannia and learn its many secrets. I played Ultima I and re-played Ultima II... but that was as far as I got. While I loved those games, and had a great time playing them, real life eventually interfered and I lost touch with Ultima.

Bless Me, Ultima

Fast forward to 2025, and I found myself again wanting to delve into the lands of Ultima. This was mostly because of my other site, c64sets.com, where I had done some recent work on the Ultima IV page. I started looking into the Ultima series again, and decided to give Ultima VI: The False Prophet a try. I had never played that one, and so would be coming to it "blind".

I fired up the DOS copy from my Ultima Collection CD and loaded it into the fantastic DOSBox emulator. I was thrilled to be back in an Ultima game, and one in which I knew nothing to boot! It has taken me a few days to get used to the controls and how everything works - I am not as young as I once was, you know! But I am finding that the experience is taking up more and more of my waking thoughts.

The interface was a bit clunky and took some getting used to, but I am loving the interaction and exploration that goes with the game. The story of the gargoyles is interesting, the scenery is beautiful and juggling exploration with combat, lighting, food and experience is just as fun and frustrating as I remember from Ultima V.

Playing old computer games doesn't bother me - especially if they were made at some point during my lifetime. I am finding that it is more and more difficult for me to play new games - not sure if that is because I am becoming and old-fogey (probably) or if the new games just don't appeal to my Generation X sensibilities (or lack thereof). Anyway, the bottom line is that I am thoroughly enjoying playing Ultima VI now, some 35 years after its initial release. That may have something to do with a book I read several years ago: Dungeons & Dreamers.^† A big part of that book talks about Ultima creator Richard Garriott and how he came up with and produced the games. Fascinating stuff to be sure!

Interested In Trying It Yourself?

If you think this is something you might be interested in then be sure to check out the Wikipedia page for Ultima VI, or even grab the game from gog.com for a few bucks and spend some time exploring a great, old, classic computer role-playing game. You might just thank yourself later on!

† - This is an affiliate link.  Learn more on my Privacy & Disclosure page.