Introduction[]
Martian Dreams is the third incarnation of the Ultima VI engine, and for many fans it’s the best one: what an imaginative game! How many other role-playing games take place in the Victorian Era on Mars and tell a story about time manipulation? It is a pity many fans don not even know about this part of the Ultima series. Martian Dreams leaves all cliches behind.
Technical shortcomings[]
Blue berry group distortion[]
If any single person in your party ingests a blue berry and becomes disoriented because of it, switching to solo mode and assuming control of any other party member doesn’t help at all. In fact, that party member selected in solo mode also exhibits the same signs of disorientation, despite the fact that he or she never ate a blue berry! It looks like it’s all for one and one for all here, lads.
And something else: how the hell does ingesting a blue berry affect Chsheket? She’s a machine! She’s invulnerable to the cold, invulnerable to radiation and burns, yet she’s disoriented by a blue berry? Methinks those metal bodies aren’t so indestructible as Kaxishek had claimed them to be... [1]
Sigmund Freud[]
Sigmund Freud should not look as old as he does in Martian dreams, as he is 37 years old. [2]
General Problems[]
Pocketwatch[]
The pocketwatch had to be local to 1895, or Raxachk would have used it to determine where the Avatar was really from by his psychometry powers. It was only because he didn’t realize that the Avatar was from almost a century in the future that he underestimated the hero’s imagination and ability to stop him. [3]
Canal worms[]
The Canal Worms don’t make sense. The canals have been dry for centuries, so that race should have become extinct long since. But when you fill the canals, the worms reappear. How? Nevertheless, in nature there are creatures that may get crystallized for an indefinite time and come back to life when rehydrated. [4]
AC/DC[]
When bringing the broken motor to Tesla, he identifies it as a DC motor and directs you, “regretfully”, to “that curmudgeon Edison”, as Edison was the primary advocate of DC motors at the time. Just what is so hard for Tesla in regards to repairing a DC motor? Yes, Tesla was an advocate of AC motors and knew their designs inside and out. But what one must remember is that Tesla originally came up with the AC motor design when thoroughly studying DC motors. Should that not mean that Tesla is also more than qualified to repair a DC motor? Maybe he just didn't like to work on DC motors. [1]
SOS[]
In the intro you see an SOS signal sent from Mars. But the SOS was used by British and American ships very late in the 19th and early 20th centuries; therefore if the protagonist has a naval background and is American or English there are good odds he would know what the SOS was. If however Martian Dreams takes place a bit before 1895 it becomes quite a stretch. [5]
Inaccuracies within dreams[]
Anything that happens in a dream can’t be expected to be 100% consistent. These inaccuracies can be considered minor, or maybe even on purpose.
Shadowlords speaking[]
The Shadowlords didn’t speak in Ultima V, but they do in this game. Then again, the conversation takes place in a dream, so perhaps it can’t be expected to be 100% consistent. [6]
Shadowlords' eyes[]
The color of the Shadowlords’ eyes is all wrong. Weren’t they all one colour, which was red? Instead, Nosfentor, Faulinei and Astaroth have different colored eyes. So it may be a good method of identifying each of them. [1]
Serpent's Keep[]
In the Dream World, Faulinei says that Nosfentor was defeated in Serpent Keep. It’s actually called Serpent’s Hold. [6]
References and original contributors to Hacki's page[]
External Links[]
- Hacki's Ultima Nitpicks - hosted by Bootstrike
This article includes material originally taken from Hacki's Ultima Page, and is used with permission.