Party Hardĭifferently from Garriot’s last three games, Ultima III finally has a party system. The clue book has maps for all the dungeons, what helps a lot with finding secret passages. They are also better integrated on the game’s plot, as you need to explore at least a few of them to finish the game. I also had some fun putting together clues and save scumming to get the necessary information from oracles and bartenders to not lose my money.Īs for dungeons, the developers finally dropped the wireframe aesthetics for a more textured one. Otherwise, you can seek better maps online.Įven with those problems, I genuinely enjoyed exploring the world and marking places of interest on the scanned map instead of searching for a complete one. If you have the digital release, you can draw all over its scanned counterpart if you want to feel like it’s 1983. The original cloth map doesn’t identify cities or dungeons too, but you could mark these locations with push pins or similar office supplies. But to make things more difficult, there is no conventional map, as the only one you can find in-game don’t identify any point of interest. The plot is still cryptic if compared to modern RPGs, but thanks to its clue book it isn’t hard to find your way around Sosaria. Yet even with these accessories the developers had to put a lot of effort thanks to other technical limitations from the Apple II platform.Īltogether, Ultima III is a better experience than its predecessors. and Ultima: Part 1 - From Akalabeth to Ultima VI, by Andrea Contato, to be able to play the soundtrack on an Apple 2, the computer would have to be equipped with two expansion cards: the Sweet Micro Systems Mockingboard, which gave it better sound capabilities, and the Language card, which gave its users more 16K of RAM. The Story of Richard Garriott, Origin Systems Inc. At the time it still was a novelty on the platform, since it had limited capabilities in this regard. Ultima III has an enjoyable soundtrack, with seven original compositions: Wanderer, Towne, Castle, Dungeon, Combat, Shopping and Exodus’ Castle - The Isle of Fire. I played the game in 16 color EGA as it looked better to me, but you may choose what’s easier on your eyes. And so The Stranger comes back one more time, but now followed by three allies. After investigating the matter, Lord British sent a call for heroes to fight this new menace, only known as Exodus. A fragment of a manuscript telling about her union with Mondain, and the creation of something that could be a Man, a Monster, or a Daemonm (the box art is a bit misleading, don’t believe on it!). Later on the Great Earth Serpent emerged from the bottom of the ocean, while monsters reappeared all over Sosaria.Ī hint of the nature of this new menace was found in the ruins of Shadowguard, Minax’s fortress. There, amidst the molten lava looms a dark presence from a castle. Unfortunately, its inhabitants can’t have a break, as in the middle of the ocean a volcanic island appeared. But is it still worth playing? Let’s find out.Īfter The Stranger defeated Minax, Sosaria stayed in peace for 20 years. The game was a big improvement from its predecessor, featuring a party system, revamped combat, improved graphics (except for the IBM PC), and a soundtrack (that was considered a novelty at the time). I was very disappointed by this lack of care. Like the other digital releases, all these books are now supplied in digital format, but the pdf files look terrible and sometimes are hard to read. Like its predecessor, Ultima III came with a few feelies: The Book of Play, the game’s manual The Ancient Liturgy of Truth, clerics spell list The Book of Amber Runes, wizards spell list a cloth map and an advertisement for Secrets of Sosaria, a clue book, originally sold separately. Still, Exodus was a success and guaranteed Origins survival and growth. I don’t think it’s necessary to say that’s an oversimplification of the event, as a major industry crash would not be caused only by a game failing its sales goals. It was a risky move since the company was founded near the infamous video game crash of 1983, usually attributed to the E.T. After two bad experiences working with well-established publishers, Garriot felt that tackling production and distribution was a necessity not only to keep his independence as a developer, but to avoid disputes over profits and royalties. Again, the IBM was the worst port and the one we are playing today.Įxodus was the first game published by Origins System, Inc., the company Richard Garriot, Ultima’s creator, founded with his brother and father. Exodus was originally released in 1983 for the Apple II (its development platform), C64, 8-bit Atari and IBM PC. So it’s the beginning of November and we are finally playing Ultima III: Exodus, finishing the so-called Age of Darkness trilogy, composed of the first three Ultima games.
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