Ultima
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For other uses, see 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.
OverviewUltima tells the story of a hero who would be summoned by the ruler of a fantasy 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 is 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 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 three principles are also linked in the game to the symbols of the bell (Bell of Courage), book (Book of Truth) and candle (Candle of Love), which are the objects that were expended in the Catholic excommunication ceremony. In general, the Ultima games take symbolism from many different religious and philosophical sources. 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 Garriott or EA to create a new Ultima game without first getting permission from the other, which is unlikely. The gamesThe original seriesThe Age of Darkness
The Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Armageddon (The Guardian Saga)
Ultima CollectionThe Ultima Collection is a CD-ROM collection of the first eight Ultima computer games, including their respective expansion packs. It was released in February 17, 1998 for Windows and DOS. Along with Ultima's I-VIII this collection also included:
Other Ultima games
Unreleased Ultima games
Ultima Online series (1997)
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 gamesConsole 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 Ultima manga. In most cases, gameplay and graphics have been changed significantly.
Major and recurring characters
Related mediaNovels
Manga
Ultima DragonsThe Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter is a large fanclub of Ultima devotees. Some members have been honored with tributes to them in various games in the Ultima series, and the Dragon Edition of Ultima IX was named in their honor. Related projectsMany 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
Remakes and new games
See also
External links
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