Linguistic Dragon has published his final thoughts on Ultima 6, wrapping up his coverage of what is still my favourite entry in the Ultima series. Albeit Linguistic disagrees with that assessment:

I enjoyed the game a lot more than I expected to as a result, though it still hasn’t surpassed Ultima IV as my favorite (sorry, WtF). Frankly, I’m still undecided if it overtakes Ultima V, either. And I can’t quite put my finger on why, either. i think some of it has to do with the combat curve in the game.

…I spent most of the first act of the game starved for combat, only brushing up against the occasional small band of brigands or unusually feisty rats along the roads of Britannia, apart from the battles to retake the Shrines. Though part of the reason I actually took the time to fight the Gargoyles at the Shrines was for narrative purposes (the reveal that comes with translating the tablet feels more poignant to me if there’s actually been confrontations where death is on the line), I can’t deny a good portion of it was also just for the experience. The majority of the fights I had up until seeking out the pirate map were with Gargoyles at the Shrines, or at least it certainly felt like it. And though they were no cakewalk, I don’t feel they quite prepared me for the resource management that I needed to deal with when it came to the dungeons. I can only imagine how much moreso I would have felt if I hadn’t transferred my character over, with the boosted stats and experience that came with the action. Maybe this was by design – the game is about resolving matters peacefully, after all, and admittedly, the fact that there’s only one fight that I can think of that’s strictly necessary (the hydra blocking the secret door in Sutek’s castle) is a point in the game’s favor in my mind. Still, the learning curve feels a bit sharp in this respect, and skewed a bit.

However, he does heap praise on the game’s characters:

…Ultima VI’s NPCs are the most memorable yet, and not just due to their unique portraits. Each and every one of them has a personality, even those who don’t really have much to contribute to the plot, or even much to say at all. Blind, mute, injured, drunk, helpful, abrasive, energetic, lethargic – Ultima VI’s cast runs the gamut, and every piece of dialogue they have to say color them further. And this includes their ‘I don’t know about that’ responses when they’re asked about something they don’t have a response for – they’re all unique, and they serve to give each character that much more flavor. Some ignore the question, some don’t hear it, some dismiss it as unimportant, some apologize for not being of more help, but whatever they do, it’s a telling portion of their character that future games in the series just can’t really capture, on account of having switched over to the keyword system by them.

And also its story:

while I normally separate my discussion of the game’s story into the story on its own and the story as it relates and fits into the story of the series as a whole, I’m not so sure I can make that separation as cleanly this time around. So much of Ultima VI’s story leans on themes and ideas from previous games, after all. And perhaps partly because of that – the fact that it built upon the foundation the previous five games left for it – it’s an extremely strong and well-woven story. In fact, despite my love for Ultima IV, I’m going to go as far as to say that Ultima VI is the pinnacle of storytelling in the entirety of the series.

Yes, I did really just make that claim.

…If Ultima IV was about personal virtue, and Ultima V was about the dangers of mandating it by law, then Ultima VI is ultimately about virtue colliding with virtue. It’s a story of culture clash, of what happens when differing viewpoints run up against each other, of the friction that can come out of it and of the fact that reconciliation can happen. Ultima IV established personal virtue, culminating in the precept of Infinity, the countless potential that flows out of personal application of the virtues, but Ultima VI brought in a system that culminated in Singularity, the upholding of unity and cooperation – and by means of its ending, recognizes both the importance of the individual and of a society. Ultima V explored the other side of the coin and revealed it to be dark and unpleasant, but Ultima VI proved that sometimes the other side is simply a different sort of virtue, that sometimes, both sides can be in the right, and that one side of a situation being good and reasonable does not always preclude the other side from being so as well. It introduces other virtues, suggests more nuance to the virtues of Ultima IV, and in so doing sets the stage for the theme of balance that permeates Serpent Isle. And it didn’t always bludgeon a player upside the head with these, either – there’s a lot of little hints at them from conversations the player may not even necessarily have. It’s a tight narrative, it’s unique in both theme and execution, and it’s brilliant.

Also, he has a really mind-blowingly excellent suggestion for a fan project:

…a fan-made game from the Gargoyles’ perspective would be utterly intriguing, if you ask me, running around the collapsing Gargoyle Realm to find an Orb of the Moons, figure out how it works, capture the Britannian Shrines, and ultimately figure out how to draw out the False Prophet…

Anyhow, do click on through to read the rest (because, yes, there’s more).

Linguistic won’t be jumping into Ultima 7 straightaway, it should be noted; he’ll be journeying through Savage Empire and Martian Dreams first. And possibly Ultima Underworld; I can’t recall if he had included those games in his playlist or not.