Ultima (game series)

Ultima
developer	Origin Systems
Publisher	Origin Systems Electronic Arts
Designer	Richard Garriott
First title	Ultima (1981)
Last title	Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar (2013)
Platform (s)	Apple II , Atari 8-bit , Atari ST , Commodore 64 , Commodore 128 , Commodore Amiga , FM Towns , Mac OS Classic , macOS , MS-DOS , NES , PC-9801 , Sega Master System , SNES , Windows , X68000
Genre (s)	Computer role playing game

Ultima is a series of fantasy - computer role-playing games of game developer Richard Garriott .

Game world

The games in the Ultima series are set in the fictional world of Britannia. This is reminiscent of a medieval Europe that was enriched with fantasy elements. As a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Garriott had a close relationship with the Middle Ages and was also inspired by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the Dungeons & Dragons game world. A noticeable element of the game world was the subordinate role of religion; The thinking and acting of the characters living in the game world were determined by humanistic principles.

Development history

The early Ultima parts appeared as early as the 1980s. From part three they were distributed by Garriott's own company Origin Systems, Inc. , and from the takeover of the company in 1992 by Electronic Arts . The first seven parts of the series are considered classics in computer game history.

Early parts of the series (up to part five) were developed on the Apple II and released for the most important home computers and game consoles in use at the time ( e.g. Apple II, Atari 8-bit , Commodore 64/128 , Amiga , Atari ST , Mac , IBM PC and Compatible, FM Towns , Nintendo , Sega Master System ), the later games (from part six) were developed for PCs and mostly appeared only for these, in Japan sometimes also for game consoles such as the SNES . Ultima VII (Part 1), Ultima VIII and Ultima IX were also published in German and French. The older parts were only published in English and partly in Japanese. Only Ultima IX was programmed for Windows.

Ultima IV required the player to orientate himself towards ethical norms and is Richard Garriott's favorite within the game series. Parts five and six, which in turn question and problematize the moral rules that shaped the fourth part, also apply to this day as a classic. Since Ultima VI, which first supported VGA , the graphics of the games have been greatly improved. The plot of Ultima VII was so complex and extensive that the game appeared in two parts.

The eighth part then surprisingly renounced many cherished elements in 1994, among other things it only played on a single island instead of a whole planet; while the story was now much more superficial, the graphics were again improved enormously. Nevertheless, the game only met with a rather restrained reaction from the fans of the series, which was partly due to the integration of skill elements. The ninth and last part of the series, for the first time with modern and realistic 3D graphics at the time, was announced for five years and was eagerly awaited; However, the result published in 1999 was particularly disappointing due to countless errors and program crashes and another less detailed plot.

Many fans believe that Richard Garriott was unable to assert himself against the wishes of EA management - from their point of view, to the detriment of the game, which in earlier stages of development was strongly reminiscent of a graphically optimized Ultima VII. Ultima IX also found some new fans. Nevertheless, the development of the planned Ultima X was canceled before the release.

chronology

Age of Darkness trilogy

• 1981 Ultima (reissued as Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness in 1986 )
• 1982 Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress
• 1983 Ultima III: Exodus

Age of Enlightenment trilogy

• 1985 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
• 1988 Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
• 1990 Ultima VI: The False Prophet

Age of Armageddon trilogy

• 1992 Ultima VII: The Black Gate (German title: Die Schwarze Pforte)
  • 1993 Ultima VII: Forge of Virtue (additional scenario)
• 1993 Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle ¹
  • 1993 Ultima VII Part 2: Silver Seed (additional scenario)
• 1994 Ultima VIII: Pagan
• 1999 Ultima IX: Ascension

¹ Was not given a new number as it used almost the same engine as Black Gate .

Ultima I to IX have more or less one storyline in common; From Part IV onwards, a more or less constant world map is used (exception: Ultima VII Part 2 and Ultima VIII, which are played in other worlds).

The special thing about the first editions of the games was the scope of delivery. In addition to the data carriers and the relatively lavishly designed manuals, there was always some game-related gimmick from Part IV , e.g. B. a moonstone or a coin in the pack. The cards of the respective game worlds printed on fabric , which already exist from Part II, are still a sought-after collector's item among fans today. In the later editions of the respective games, the additions were omitted and the cards were available on paper or stored exclusively on CD.

From Part VI, the old, very symbolic graphics were replaced by an increasingly complex visual appearance, which required high-end PCs of the time in order to remain playable with regard to the graphics card and, since Ultima VII, also in terms of memory and CPU performance .

In Ultima I and II as well as VIII and IX the player leads a single character , in Ultima III to VII a group of characters (party). In Ultima IV, the element of "virtues" was added. The main task in this part was to become a master of all virtues through one's actions.

For Ultima VIII an expansion called The Lost Vale was produced and completely completed, but then never went on sale due to the disappointing sales of Ultima VIII. In October 2005, an original copy of a finished sales box (but empty) by The Lost Vale was sold in an auction for 1,923 US dollars. According to one of the designers of the extension at the time, a copy of the data was probably not preserved at Origin due to the lack of backup guidelines at the time. However, design documents have been preserved which, among other things, document the action of the add-on.

Precursors and offshoots

• 1980 Akalabeth ("Ultima 0", relatively simple game that, instead of an actual plot, only knows the exploration of dungeons and battles in them. New, randomly generated maps in each game. No possibility of saving.)
• 1983 Ultima: Escape from Mt.Drash (only for VC-20 , simple labyrinth game, extremely rare, not an official part of the Ultima series)

Two role-playing games with a slightly improved Ultima VI engine and "non-standard" scenarios:

• 1990 Worlds of Ultima: Savage Empire (scenario: indigenous cultures in a tropical rainforest enriched with fantasy elements)
• 1991 Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams (Scenario: Jules Verne- like Mars trip in the late 19th century)

Two early " first-person " 3D games with full freedom of movement (before Doom ):

• 1992 Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (only loosely connected to the main series)
• 1993 Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds (full part of the storyline, located between the two Ultima VII parts).

Additional:

• 1985 Ultimore (4 or 5 unofficial mods for Ultima III)
• In 1997 the Ultima Online series began, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on the world of Ultima. This represents a turning point in the history of mass online games in general, because with it they left their niche existence. Ultima Online became the commercial model for many other games. Although the game graphics could not keep up with these competitors later, Ultima Online was extremely popular and held up very well in the market until the start of World of Warcraft in late 2004, which has since dominated the market for all mass online games. Nevertheless, Ultima Online continues to this day.
• 2010–2014 Lord of Ultima , a browser game by Electronic Arts and Phenomic , set after the fall of Sosaria. The game was discontinued on May 12, 2014.
• 2013 Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar
• 2018 Underworld Ascendant

General concepts

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Where do these assessments and partial ratings come from? - 01:07, 13 May 2012 (CEST)

The first three parts are "normal" fantasy role-playing games, of the Hack and Slay type , whose mechanisms are roughly based on Dungeons & Dragons , which is why Akalabeth is seen as the forerunner of the Ultima series. In each case a powerful boss has to be found and defeated, beforehand you have to “work out” the necessary requirements.

The importance of pure combat decreases from part to part, while adventure elements such as puzzles and the use of certain objects are becoming more and more important. In Part III there is no longer a physical final battle. In addition to the basic fantasy setting, these three games also have science fiction elements, which, however, become less important from game to game.

The procedure in the first three games is purely expedient: in order to achieve the end goal, the “civilian population” of the game world may (and in some cases must) be attacked, killed, robbed, robbed and bribed. As a “punishment”, the player has to survive fights with angry guards at most. However, these have a short memory: after the player leaves the respective location (town, village, castle etc.) in the game world, their hostility is over, even if the location is entered again immediately afterwards.

The virtues

From Ultima IV a moral element is added, i.e. h. to shining hero and role model, Avatar , to be, merit must in the eight virtues (virtues) are acquired. From this game on there are also "hidden" rewards and punishments in the form that the character receives quasi negative karma for bad deeds like stealing, positive karma for good deeds like donating money and blood. This affects the course of action in different ways, depending on the game: In Ultima IV, negative karma directly prevents the achievement of the game goal, later it has more indirect negative effects, such as slowing down or reversing the level rise and hostile reactions from non-player Characters.

The virtues of the three basic principles of truth (Truth) , Love (Love) and courage (Courage) organized:

principle	Virtue	Associated city
Truth (truth)	Honesty	Moonglow	ahem
Love (love)	Compassion	Britain	must
Courage	Bravery (valor)	Jhelom / Valoria *	ra
Truth (Truth), Liebe (Love)	Justice	Yew	beh
Love, courage	Sacrifice	Minoc	cah
Truth (Truth), Courage (Courage)	Honor	Trinsic	hum
Truth (Love), Courage (Courage)	Spirituality	Skara Brae	om
	Humility	Magincia / New Magincia **	lum

* In Ultima IX: Ascension , Valoria is the city of valor.

** In Ultima IV, Magincia is a city that was once dedicated to the anti-virtue “pride” and has therefore fallen into ruin, from Ultima V it was newly founded as New Magincia and dedicated to humility.

The origin of these ideas can be seen on the one hand in the medieval knight ideal (however, Ultima does not contain any explicit Christianity ), on the other hand, ideas also flowed from the film The Wizard of Oz , Buddhism ( Four Noble Truths , Eightfold Path ) and products of modern pop culture a.

In the later parts there are two more fundamentally similar value systems, but differing in content: the virtues of the gargoyles in Ultima VI and the principles of the Ophidians in Ultima VII Part 2 .

Social issues

From Ultima V onwards, more serious social phenomena were playfully thematized: moral fundamentalism and dictatorship in Ultima V , xenophobia and the conflict between different cultures in Ultima VI , sectarianism in Ultima VII , which ends justify which means in Ultima VIII .

reception

The US magazine Computer Gaming World called Ultima I “one of the best computer fantasy role-playing games” of the time, but criticized a bug in the revival of the game character and insufficient documentation. The magazine 64'er honored Ultima V in its retrospective Games '88 as “Best Successor”. The 64'er also praised the “lovable details” of the game series and found that computer role-playing games “would be inconceivable without the Ultima series (...)”.

Web links

Wiktionary: Ultima  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Ultima series at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hardcoregaming101.net: Interview with Richard Garriott. Retrieved December 9, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Rockpapershotgun.com: Sacred Worlds. Retrieved December 9, 2015 . 
3. ↑ 20 years and counting - Origin Systems. sherigranerray.com, November 5, 2009. (English) - In the wording: “… Lost Vale, the Ultima VIII add-on not only existed, but was completed and ready to gold mastering. ... "
4. ↑ WTF Dragon / Ultimacodex: The Lost Vale Plot Documents (English). April 19, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012
5. ↑ http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/lord-of-ultima/news/lord_of_ultima,46507,3032638.html
6. ↑ Computer Gaming World, January 1982, p. 33: Ultima. Retrieved December 2, 2016 . 
7. ↑ 64'er 2/1989, p. 16
8. ↑ Anatol Locker : Fantasy and Evil Forces . In: 64'er . Special issue 60, March 1990, p. 27.