Ultima

For other uses of Ultima, refer to Ultima (disambiguation).

Ultima is a series of fantasy computer role-playing games from Origin Systems, Inc.. Ultima was created by Richard Garriott, a.k.a. Lord British. Several games of the series are considered seminal games of their genre. Today, Electronic Arts holds the brand. It is considered the longest running RPG game franchise, as well as being one of the longest running, if not the longest, video game series.

Overview

Ultima tells the story of a hero who would be summoned by the ruler of a different world known first as Sosaria, later as Britannia whenever troubles would arise. The ruler of that world is called Lord British, and his pleas would be answered by a stranger coming from another world known only as Earth through a magical portal. As time passed, that hero would overcome several obstacles and fight several entities (both in Britannia and in other planes), and gain the title of Avatar, becoming the embodiment of the Virtues.

The Ultima series can be divided in three parts. The first three games (Ultima I-III), the "Age of Darkness" trilogy, are the typical "kill the evil overlord" fantasy games. The antagonists of the first three games reside in their castles, but have summoned forth legions of monsters that make prey of the land; the protagonist must defeat them, but does have the option of stealing and murdering. The next three games (Ultima IV-VI), the "Age of Enlightenment" trilogy, add a revolutionary moral element into the fantasy game genre. The character had to attain the eight virtues of honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, spirituality and humility. The eight virtues are loosely based on the Hindu concept of Avatarhood, which involves sixteen paths of purification, with the final (sixteenth) path being to become one with God (according to 'the Official Book of Ultima' by Shay Addams.) The character of the Avatar is basically a Christ figure without any religious overtones. The three principles of Truth, Love, and Courage echo the quests of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion from The Wizard of Oz; though Garriott denies that they were the original source. The third and final trilogy (Ultima VII-IX), the "Age of Armageddon" (also known as The Guardian Saga), pits the Avatar against an anti-virtue deity known as the Guardian.

Ultima I-V were originally developed on and released for the Apple II family of computers. All the games from Ultima VI on were developed on IBM PC compatible machines. The earlier Ultima games were ported to many computer types, including 8-bit Atari (Ultima I-IV), Atari ST (Ultima II-VI), Commodore 64 (Ultima I-VI), Commodore Amiga (Ultima III-VI, VII Part 1) and IBM PC (Ultima I-V).

The Ultima games were also famous for the trinkets included in the game boxes. From Ultima II on, every main Ultima game came with a cloth map of the game world. Starting with Ultima IV, small trinkets like pendants, coins and magic stones were found in the boxes. Made of metal or glass, they usually represented an important object also found within the game itself. Originated in Infocom games, these trinkets were called feelies.

The creator, Richard Garriott, no longer owns the rights to the game, nor participates in the development, however he still owns the rights to several of the characters from the game. Due to this, it is impossible for either Richard Gariott or EA to create a new Ultima game without first getting permission from the other, which is unlikely.

Many Ultima fans hope that EA games will lose interest in Ultima and sell the rights back to Richard Garriott when Ultima Online shuts down, as they have cancelled both of the other online titles in the series and have shown no interest in single-player Ultima games. Whether or not Richard Garriott would be interested in making another Ultima game is not known, but the chances are high that if Richard Garriott didn't buy the rights, members of the fan community would, meaning that even though Ultima IX was technically the final game in the series, some incarnation of Ultima is likely in the future.

There is also a substantial community of Ultima fans known as the Ultima Dragons.

Ultima is also a magic spell used in the "Final Fantasy" games, though in this case it is merely an abbreviation of the word "ultimate" and not a reference to the Ultima game series.

The games

The original series

The Age of Darkness

* Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness (1981)
* Ultima II:The Revenge of the Enchantress (1982)
* Ultima III: Exodus (1983)

The Age of Enlightenment

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

The Age of Armageddon (The Guardian Saga)

* Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992)
** Ultima VII: Forge Of Virtue (Expansion Pack) (1993)
* Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle (1993)
** Ultima VII Part 2: The Silver Seed (Expansion Pack) (1993)
* Ultima VIII: Pagan (including Speech Pack) (1994)
* Ultima IX: Ascension (1999)

Other Ultima games

* Akalabeth: World of Doom (a.k.a. Ultima 0) (1980)
* Ultima: Worlds of Adventures (a.k.a. Worlds of Ultima):
** Ultima Worlds of Adventures : Savage Empire (1990)
** Ultima Worlds of Adventures II: Martian Dreams (1991)
* Ultima Underworld:
** Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1991)
** Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1992)

Unreleased Ultima games

* Worlds of Ultima III: Arthurian Legends (cancelled in 1993)
* Ultima VIII: The Lost Vale (Expansion Pack, cancelled in 1994)
* Ultima Worlds Online: Origin (aka Ultima Online 2, cancelled in 2001)
* Ultima X: Odyssey (cancelled in 2004)

Ultima Online series (1997)

Ultima Online on the IBM PC

See the main article Ultima Online

A MMORPG version of the world of Britannia. In Ultima Online, thousands of players interact online in Britannia. See Ultima Online for more information.

UO spawned two sequel efforts that were cancelled before release: Ultima Worlds Online: Origin (cancelled in 2001, though the game's storyline was published in the Technocrat War trilogy.) and Ultima X: Odyssey (cancelled in 2004). However, several expansions were released for Ultima Online, adding new features and areas to be explored. They are The Second Age, Renaissance, Third Dawn, Lord Blackthorn's Revenge, Age of Shadows, Samurai Empire, and Mondain's Legacy.

Console games

Console versions of Ultima have allowed further exposure to the series, especially in Japan where the games have been bestsellers and were accompanied by several tie-in products including manga based on Ultima.In most cases, gameplay and graphics have been changed significantly.
Ultima: Exodus (NES)
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES, Master System)
Ultima: Warriors of Destiny (NES)
Ultima: Runes of Virtue (Game Boy) — Non-canonical, action based gameplay and puzzle solving. The antagonist is called the "Black Knight."
Ultima: Runes of Virtue 2 (Game Boy, SNES)
Ultima: The False Prophet (SNES) — Gameplay adapted for the game pad. Includes plot changes and reduction in violence.
Ultima: The Black Gate (SNES) — Gameplay adapted for the game pad. Includes plot changes and reduction in violence.
Ultima: The Savage Empire (SNES) — A graphical update using the Black Gate engine for the SNES. Japan only, cancelled in the US.
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (PlayStation) — Released in Japan only.

Related media

Strategy guides

Secrets of Sosaria: A Guide to the Realm, Exodus: Ultima III
The Way of the Avatar: A Guide to Ultima IV
Paths of Destiny: A Guide to the Mysteries of Ultima V
Ultima VI Cluebook: The Book of Prophecy
The Savage Empire Cluebook: Malone's Guide to the Valley of Eodon
Martian Dreams Clue Book: The Lost Notebooks of Nellie Bly
Ultima Underworld Clue Book: Mysteries of the Abyss
Ultima VII Clue Book: Key to the Black Gate
Ultima Underworld II Clue Book: Gems of Enlightenment
Ultima VII, Part Two, Clue Book: Balancing the Scales
Ultima VIII Clue Book: Pentology
The Official Book of Ultima, by Shay Addams (COMPUTE! Publications, 1990)
The Official Book of Ultima, Second Edition, by Shay Addams (COMPUTE! Publications, 1992)

Novels

*The Ultima Saga, by Lynn Abbey and Richard Garriott (Warner Books)
*The Forge of Virtue (1991)
*The Temper of Wisdom (1992)
*Ultima: The Technocrat War, by Austen Andrews (Pocket Books)
*Machinations (2001)
*Masquerade (2002)
*Maelstrom (2002)

Manga

Ultima: EXODUS No Kyoufu (The Terror of EXODUS)
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
Ultima: Magincia no Metsubou (The Fall of Magincia)

Major and recurring characters

* The Avatar
* The Companions of the Avatar
** Dupre
** Gwenno
** Iolo
** Jaana
** Katrina
** Shamino
* Batlin
* Lord Blackthorn
* Lord British
* Chuckles
* Exodus
* The Guardian
* Mondain
* Minax
* Smith, Iolo's talking horse
* Dr. Johann Schliemann Spector, a.k.a. Zipactriotl
* The Time Lord

Related projects

Many communities of dedicated programmers have taken it upon themselves to patch the old Ultima games to run under modern operating systems, or to remake and/or revise their cherished series with modern gaming engines. This is a partial listing of them:

Engine rewrite projects

* Ultima Classics Revisited - An open-source, work-in-progress portable engine, currently covering Akalabeth (complete) and Ultima I (partial).
* u3project - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima III engine.
* xu4 - An open-source, portable Ultima IV engine.
* nu5 - A planned open-source, portable Ultima V engine.
* Nuvie - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima VI engine (works with Savage Empire and Martian Dreams, too).
* Exult (website) - An open-source, portable Ultima VII: The Black Gate and Serpent Isle engine (works with the expansions as well).
* Pentagram (website) - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima VIII engine (may later work with Crusader games, too).
* Underworld Adventures - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima Underworld engine.
* The System Shock Hack Project - An open-source, work-in-progress portable Ultima Underworld (and System Shock) engine. Currently abandoned.

Remakes and new games

* Ultima V: Lazarus - A remake of Ultima V by volunteer programmers using the Microsoft Dungeon Siege engine. The final version of the game, Ultima V: Lazarus 1.2, was released on April 1st, 2006. (website)
* The Ultima 6 Project - a remake of Ultima VI also using the Dungeon Siege engine. Currently in pre-alpha, but they have released a demo of their technical systems.
* Titans of Ether merges two former development efforts, both originally based on the The Elder Scrolls' Morrowind game engine. Ultima IX: Redemption is an effort to create an alternative to Ultima IX: Ascension, writing a new ending to the Age of the Guardian saga of the Ultima series. Production is currently half-way completed as of August 2006. Ultima X: The New King, a sequel to Ultima IX: Redemption, will be created by the same team and will feature the The Elder Scrolls' Oblivion game engine.

External links

* Origin Systems, Inc. (the same as the Ultima Online official website today)
* The official Ultima Web Archive - Information and files concerning the entire saga
* MobyGames entry for the Ultima Series
* The Ultima Legacy from GameSpot - A historical overview of the series

Ultima: Encyclopedia BETA

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