Ultima VI: The False Prophet (DOS)

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Ultima VI: The False Prophet
Ultima 6 - DOS - USA.jpg
Platform: DOS
Year: 1990
Developer: Origin Systems, Inc.
Buy: Amazon
For other games in the series see Ultima.

Ultima VI: The False Prophet is a top-down fantasy RPG by Origin Systems. It was the first Ultima to be primarily released on DOS instead of Apple, and the first to have wide support for various graphics and sound adapters.

In the game, you again play as the Avatar. You are beckoned to Britannia through an unusual red moongate, only to find yourself the target of an assassination plot. You're thankfully rescued by your companions and brought to Lord British's throne room. It seems that the gargoyles have begun to attack Britannia and take over their shrines. You must stop their attacks by uncovering their true motives.


Screenshots

Ultima 6 - DOS - Bootup.png

The opening sequence.

Ultima 6 - DOS - Title.png

The title menu.

Ultima 6 - DOS - Introduction.png

Well that can't be good!

Ultima 6 - DOS - Character Creation.png

Figuring out my patron virtue.

Ultima 6 - DOS - Lord British.png

Long time, no see, LB!

Ultima 6 - DOS - Camp.png

Setting up camp along the high way.


Music

Ultima 6 was not only a major upgrade in graphics, but it was also a major upgrade in audio. The earlier, rather plain soundtracks were replaced by a more polished sound, and support for high fidelity audio devices really helped. However, even with the professional sounding new songs, a few of Ken Arnold's songs from Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (C64) survive, as well as the Ultima mainstay, Stones.

Initially, Herman Miller was tasked with the game's soundtrack which he began after Thanksgiving of 1989. However, most of his work was scrapped and replaced with songs Todd Porter had composed throughout the 1970s and 80s. Though several of Ken Arnold's songs are reprized, it is doubtful he worked on the music at all, and his songs were probably arranged for the new audio format by Miller.

The game allowed for six different sound cards of varying quality. So far, four of them have been recorded. They are separated by the number at the beginning of their track. 1 is the Roland MT-32, the highest quality. 2 is the AdLib which has a warm sound. The Adlib wasn't as impressive sounding as the MT-32, but the sound card was far more ubiquitous, so it's usually the version people remember most. 3 is the Creative Music System AKA Game Blaster which has a more electronic tinny sound. 4 is the Tandy 3 Voice, the lowest sound fidelity.

Some of the titles are derived from the Origin Soundtrack album, those used in Ultima V derive their title from that game. See the individual song pages for full details.


Recording

VGMPF Album Art       Icon-Help.png

Ultima 6 - DOS - Album Art.jpg

#

Title

Composer

Arranger

Length

Size

Listen

101 Can't Remove the Pain Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:46 3.6 MB
102 Ultima Theme Ken Arnold Herman Miller 4:08 3.7 MB
103 Fall Leaves Todd Porter Herman Miller 1:30 1.5 MB
104 I Hear You Crying Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:22 2.8 MB
105 Rule, Britannia! Thomas Arne Herman Miller 1:24 1.4 MB
106 Black Forest Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:07 2.9 MB
107 Stones David Watson Herman Miller 5:14 4.7 MB
108 Engagement and Melee Ken Arnold Herman Miller 2:18 2.3 MB
109 The Wander Todd Porter Herman Miller 1:56 1.6 MB
110 Cap'n Johne's Hornpipe Ken Arnold Herman Miller 1:32 1.6 MB
111 Audchar Gargl Zenmur Herman Miller Herman Miller 1:24 1.4 MB
112 Unity Herman Miller, Thomas Arne Herman Miller 1:24 1.4 MB
201 Can't Remove the Pain Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:46 3.5 MB
202 Ultima Theme Ken Arnold Herman Miller 4:08 3.6 MB
203 Fall Leaves Todd Porter Herman Miller 1:30 1.3 MB
204 I Hear You Crying Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:22 3.1 MB
205 Rule, Britannia! Thomas Arne Herman Miller 1:24 1.2 MB
206 Black Forest Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:07 2.2 MB
207 Stones David Watson Herman Miller 5:14 4.0 MB
208 Engagement and Melee Ken Arnold Herman Miller 2:18 2.0 MB
209 The Wander Todd Porter Herman Miller 1:56 1.5 MB
210 Cap'n Johne's Hornpipe Ken Arnold Herman Miller 1:32 1.3 MB
211 Audchar Gargl Zenmur Herman Miller Herman Miller 1:24 1.2 MB
212 Unity Herman Miller, Thomas Arne Herman Miller 1:24 1.2 MB
301 Can't Remove the Pain Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:46 3.3 MB
302 Ultima Theme Ken Arnold Herman Miller 4:08 3.7 MB
303 Fall Leaves Todd Porter Herman Miller 1:31 1.2 MB
304 I Hear You Crying Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:22 3.0 MB
305 Rule, Britannia! Thomas Arne Herman Miller 1:24 1.2 MB
306 Black Forest Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:06 2.4 MB
307 Stones David Watson Herman Miller 5:15 4.8 MB
308 Engagement and Melee Ken Arnold Herman Miller 2:18 2.0 MB
309 The Wander Todd Porter Herman Miller 1:56 1.5 MB
310 Cap'n Johne's Hornpipe Ken Arnold Herman Miller 1:32 1.4 MB
311 Audchar Gargl Zenmur Herman Miller Herman Miller 1:24 1.3 MB
312 Unity Herman Miller, Thomas Arne Herman Miller 1:24 1.3 MB
401 Can't Remove the Pain Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:46 3.6 MB
402 Ultima Theme Ken Arnold Herman Miller 4:08 3.8 MB
403 Fall Leaves Todd Porter Herman Miller 1:31 1.4 MB
404 I Hear You Crying Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:22 3.3 MB
405 Rule, Britannia! Thomas Arne Herman Miller 1:24 1.3 MB
406 Black Forest Todd Porter Herman Miller 3:07 2.9 MB
407 Stones David Watson Herman Miller 5:14 4.8 MB
408 Engagement and Melee Ken Arnold Herman Miller 2:18 2.2 MB
409 The Wander Todd Porter Herman Miller 1:56 1.9 MB
410 Cap'n Johne's Hornpipe Ken Arnold Herman Miller 1:32 1.4 MB
411 Audchar Gargl Zenmur Herman Miller Herman Miller 1:24 1.4 MB
412 Unity Herman Miller, Thomas Arne Herman Miller 1:24 1.3 MB


Credits

(Source (Game), Source (Manual))

Though John Miles is credited in the game, he said he didn't write the sound driver or create the audio format for Ultima 6, and believes that it was created by Gary Smith and Martin Galway. Todd Porter also may have had something to do with the audio driver since this is the only game that credits him for music. The game's instruction manual also credits Richard Garriott for sound and music, so he may have possibly created the audio drivers for the game.


Game Rip

Format

Download

File:M.png

Download

(Info)

The M files are simply located in the root install folder. The files do not contain individual tracks for different output and instead rely on drivers to filter the audio to work on the various sound cards. The music seems to have been targeted to the MT-32, and possibly tweaked for the AdLib, but everything after that was an afterthought. The Creative Music System and Tandy 3 Voice soundtracks are quite poor, often losing some of the notes.

All of the music was recorded by capturing the audio of DOSBox except for the MT-32 soundtrack which was recorded on an actual MT-32. The MT-32 soundtrack does not use SysEx data, but it does change the instruments prior to each song being loaded. The instruments are not stored in the music file, so this is probably controlled by the driver or the program.

This rip includes the original music files, an uncompressed copy of the files, the sound drivers, and the renamed music files.


Audio Devices

Music

Icon - AdLib.png Icon - Creative Music System.png Icon - MT-32.png Icon - Sound Master.png Icon - SSI 2001.png Icon - Tandy 3 Voice.png

Sound

Icon - PC Speaker.png

(Source)

Despite allowing so many different devices for music, all of the game's sound effects use the PC speaker.


Releases

  USA.svg   USA
Ultima 6 - DOS - USA.jpg
Title: Ultima VI: The False Prophet
Platform: DOS
Released: 1990-??-??
Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc.


Links