Hello! I was a teen in the 90's when PC-Gaming started with the good old 386 and MSDOS. One of my first games ever was Ultima 6: The False Prophet. Fans of the Ultima series will most likely enjoy this game, as well as anyone else looking for a simple isometric fantasy turn-based RPG.

This guide is to assist newcomers to the game in understanding some basic features, as well as some advice to help them along.

You get to create your character party from the start. They let you know that party order cannot be switched after the game starts, so it's not a good idea to put a squishy mage out front. Character creation can make or break the game for you! Don't be afraid to experiment and start a new game with a fresh party.

Everyone's strategy is different. The mobs in the game throw status effects at you that may immobilize or confuse your party. If you have a mage or healer early in your turn order they can cast spells to stop these effects- letting recovering party members act. Or perhaps you can have them go last and heal all the damage your fighters just took that round.

That said, the builds are pretty classic.

I highly recommend having your party leader in front. Line of sight is limited by darkness, especially in all the dungeons you will crawl through. You're going to need a source of light, and characters are able to have two weapon sets from the beginning. The lead will want to hold torches and lanterns in their secondary and switch before combat.

Light as I understand, can help reveal the map better, assist in searching for secret doors, and maybe even effects foraging. If you have good sources of light, such as lanterns instead of torches, they will reveal more map and most importantly mobs -before- they have a chance to initiate combat. This gives you time to swap weapons, set strategy, and otherwise prepare.

So party order is pretty important.

Character creation when done sloppy can make the game unplayable because, let's face it, seagulls and crabs will kick your butt. It is best to concentrate talents in no more than three areas. If you try to make a jack of all trades, they will master none and their early game progression will be stunted.

So if you want to use persuasion for example, go ahead and pump points into persuade- but don't try to make a politician with points in barter, persuade, and whatever else. They will be stretched too thin an become innefective in battle.

It's best to give everyone a combat speciality, and a utility.

Keep in mind that spells can only be cast if you are holding a staff. So if you put points into white magic on your custom fighter, hoping to make a paladin like me, you better be ready to switch weapons in battle; which costs an action point btw.

As the tooltip says, if you start with 15 points, you get the basic school spell free. Black has direct damage spells and useful things like "Web" for crowd control. Healing will heal, cure effects, and buff as usual. Grey magic will have a lot of utility spells, such as "Invisibility." I advise only using two schools of magic for the first part of the game. Black/White has worked best for me, because healing in battle is important, and it is best to finish enemies off quickly to lessen the number of incoming attacks.

Several of the races are very suitable as casters. The two stats you need to worry most about are Intellect and Wisdom. You are going to want wisdom because spells fail like mad in this game and wisdom prevents that, and even makes them more effective. The intellect is going to give you more magic points. These are key.

You will most likely want your casters to be female, because they get a wisdom bonus in this world. The creators worded this well, so there's no need to get upset at males having a strength bonus and females wisdom. That's just how this world is, and it reflects a truth of reality. If you are primed to shout sexism, just don't.

You will eventually want to invest some points in strength so your mage can actually carry a few things. Health will be needed in later levels so they aren't one shot, and if you want them to move further, agility is necessary for more action points. But to start, you want Int and Wis.

I usually ivest five points at a time in a desired area. If you spread the points out in the various talents and stats when leveling, you won't see immediate improvements for quite a few levels. I think it best to specialize and get clear and present results.

No doubt you will want to roleplay in the RPG and have the mage be your alchemist, loremaster, or negotiator. These are all good utilites, and will be useful if you choose them. I would only start with one however.

Lore is great for finding secret walls and at 40 points you can identify magic items. For the starting areas, you will need up to 30 points to find all walls. I would concentrate on getting to 40, even at the expense of not leveling your magic schools. Secrets = gear and loot. Loot which you will need to identify.

Early Alchemy will give you the potions you need to keep moving. You won't have to lug around all those ingredients- which get quite heavy! Most fights with a healer will leave you victorious and healthy, but you will need to either sleep several hours for your Mage(s) to get mana back ... or, you can fill them up wth cheap poitions.

Bartering can help make you rich, but not by much if you only invest a few points in it. If you go for this, go all out.

Foraging is very important if you want to find more than rocks and garbage. The higher the score, the better the loot. This is usually better in a ranger/fighter class, but a mage could still do well with the invested points. They just won't have a lot of helpful gear.

Mages have a lot of persuasion armor and items available throughout the game- while it's handy in a bunch of conversations, you may find other utilities more useful.

ONE LAST TIME: You can try to make a multitalented character, but it won't be effective. I would choose ONE speciality and stick with it. Spreading points out will be wasted.

As mentioned, you will want your lead character to have a light in their secondary weapon slot. You can put whoever you want in the lead, but they should be durable.

Your fighters will all need Dexterity to be effective at hitting enemies. So even the barbarian with the two-hand sword and prayers to Krom is going to need Dex to actually hit anything. Dexterity will also give you more action points in combat. They aren't just for movement. Using a potion or swapping weapons will not end your turn, but cost an action point. The tooltips will show much of this, but it's worth mentioning.

Strength will give you carrying capacity and make melee weapons hurt, like it says on the tin. You will always want Constitution so you aren't a glass cannon ... unless you want to be.

As you can see, fighters have to invest in at least three areas to be effective at combat! So choose wisely.

Sword & Board: If you are going to have a tank, you will need to invest most of your talent points in block. You will also need the best equipment available, so don't be shy about buying a new shield if none are dropping. In addition to Strength to hit and hold, Constitution for hitpoints, and Agility to actually hit something you may want to consider your Luck. Luck will help blocking a lot. I usually stick a tank in front with the torches, because all my talent points are invested in Block and One Hand Weapons.

Archer: Archers need agility, not just to hit, but to do damage. Luck is also great to combine with your agility. You'll need a bit of strength to carry supplies and gear, and some constitution to endure damge, but I would focus on Agility and Luck.

Greatweapons: Strength, Agility, then Constitution as normal.

Talents: You will probably want a Forager, in order to find more supplies, magic items, and gear. I would pump points into this talent. It works best on a two-hand fighter as they can alternate talent points in two hand and forage, and some defense is nice too. Rangers and archers can be used similarly and have nice gear options to assist in foraging. The point is, they don't need to invest in their shield like tanks do.

It's nice to have a ranged weapon along with your fighters. They will get webbed or the enemy will be out of melee range. It's better to get some damage than nothing at all.

Sorry this guide isn't the prettiest. I've gotten sloppy as my energy fades- I have a disease that makes me very ill, so this guide won't be exactly polished or otherwise finished for a while, but at least it's something.


Potions: Use them, there will be more. Vigor potions restore BOTH mana and health btw.

Ears: As far as I know, there are not early to mid-game quests asking for ears. You can sell those and skulls without fear. Goblin ears, as the tooltip shows, are an ingredient for potions; but Orc ears, which look the same, are safe to sell.

Thievery: There is no random number seed, so if you want to reload when pickpocketing or lockpicking you can do so as many times as you want until it works. It's your responsibility if you want to use this to cheat or not. You get XP from each pick, pocket or lock. It can be an easy way to get points to level early, because let's face it ... you're getting your butt handed to you by crabs and seagulls. So it's your choice.

In most shops, the owner is awake and watching at all hours. If you steal from their containers you will be witnessed. The items will not be confiscated from you upon arrest. You can also pay a fine or go to jail. If you go to jail, make sure you have food because you're gonna have to wait the time out or magically pick a 1% lock. I would weigh the items stolen against the fine for stealing. After a fashion ... it's like paying a discount for magic items that happen to be laying around ...

Sleeping: You need food. Most sleeping will be done to refill mana for your casters. Potions can help you avoid this. You can sleep anywhere, but sleeping at an Inn or house you own will not cost you any food. If you have to sleep a few hours after most encounters, that's O.K. Don't worry, this is normal and fine as long as you have enough food. A good forager can actually get you too much food to carry around, so don't be afraid to sleep.

Pelts: Most every pelt will have a single fetch quest for them. After the quest is completed, it is safe to sell any extras. Those Owlbear pelts get darn heavy.

Treasure: Gems and bars are worth saving until you have someone with excellent bartering skills. There may also be quests which ask for them, but I'm only a third of the way through the game.

Starting Area: I would begin with fighting outdoor mobs in the Southeast; around the starting town. There are two mines near town which are simple enough to clear. I would then do the sewer quest, and afterwards the main quest in the Necromancer/Skeleton dungeon. I suggest this order so your talents and combat ability grow enogh to deal with the challenges. You'll be able to figure out when to fight or look elsewhere after the starting area.

I hope this has been helpful. I'll edit and such when I have more energy. Cheers.