The age of Darkness: The early Ultima games

I guess I should start by saying, that I don't think the early Ultimas are great games, not in the modern perspective at least, nor games that have endured time relatively well. As games, they are not something I can see that many modern gamers picking up and really enjoying as games. But none the less, they are interesting games as a historical artefact, if not because of anything else but for the fact that Ultima 1 was a second game by Richard Garriott as well as it was the official kick-off to a series that lasted as far as 9 single-player games as well as a popular MMORPG spin-off, Ultima Online.

To explain why the first Ultima game is what it is, it's important to remember that it was done by an enthusiastic kid, who was barely in his 20's. Before Ultima, Garriott had done Akalabeth, which had been a hit game back in the late 1970s.  The success of his first game proved to the young man, that there's a future in games, so fine-tuning his engine, he set out to create a computer roleplaying game, that was more complex and epic in scope.

The simplicity of the world of Akalabeth. 

Of course, from a modern perspective, Ultima 1 isn't that complex. It's a fairly simple game, where you perform simple quests while finding out how to defeat the evil Mondain. The most cumbersome thing about it really is getting your characters stats high enough so that you're ready for the final confrontation, but if you know the game, you can do that in a couple of hours. So not really a game of epic proportions more than it's a collection of fantasy and sci-fi cliches young Garriott thought was cool at the time.

I think I should reel back a bit and talk a bit more about Akalabeth first, as it is at times called Ultima 0 and Ultima 1 does share DNA with Akalabeth, as far the presentation of the game goes. Ultima 1 does add more stuff up on the game, but it's easy to see that they stem from the same place and that Ultima is using an improved engine from Akalabeth. Or perhaps it could be said, that Ultima 1 is an expanded version of Akalabeth.

Akalabeth has an overworld map, just like Ultima 1 does. In both games, you can move between towns and dungeons and perform quests for the kings. But Ultima takes all this a bit further by adding in sci-fi elements in a form of space combat. As a mandatory part of the game, the hero needs to go to space and fight against suspiciously familiar-looking fighters in order to become a space ace. The hardest part is navigating around the sector without running out of fuel.

Besides the presentation of the game, the overworld map and the 3D dungeons, Akalabeth also feeds some lore to the Ultima series, by having some familiar names in it, like Garriott' alter ego, Lord British. Not that the first Ultima games have any serious lore in them, not at least if you aren't willing to spend some time reading the game manuals. 4th Ultima was probably the first serious attempt from Garriott to actually tie down some lore, but the first three games are just a jumbled mess of all kinds of things tied together only with superfluous means. None of them really require you to know what has happened in the previous games and they even have a possibility to play as different races, like hobbits for example.

Ultima 1 offered more in terms of graphics in comparison to Akalabeth, Atari 8-bit version

Ultima 1 does try to build the world of Sosaria up, but in the end, it's not a setting woven with any particular skill nor with any real red thread in mind. The world itself is a mash of sci-fi and fantasy tropes and this makes it feel a bit of a jumbled mess. At first, it starts out as a fairly typical fantasy game, but it turns into a sci-fi adventure.

When Ultima 2 came out, it was pretty evident by then, that Garriott didn't yet have any master plan in mind about Sosaria which later turned into Britannia. Instead of Soria, the story takes place on Earth, in several different time zones. If anything, Ultima 2 feels like the odd one out in the overall structure of the Ultima series, as while the later games do reference Earth, this is the only title that takes place there. Even Guardian, the later baddie of the series, only references his desire to conquer Avatar's homeworld but never sets his foot there.

The later games in the series, as well as the fan communities, have tried to retcon the first three games with the Ultima series that started from Ultima 4, which took the world-building and the lore of Britannia more seriously. From Ultima 4 onwards the series feels more like a deliberate attempt in designing a larger universe rather than a collection of cliches pulled out from a hat. There have been valiant efforts in trying to connect the first three games to the larger mythos, but that has always been only a partial success as any retcon ultimately succeeds only by omitting a lot of details from the first trilogy.

Dungeon crawling in Ultima 2, DOS version

The linking element between the first two games is that the villain of Ultima 2, Minax, is the lover and a pupil of Mondain you killed in the first game. With a vengeance, she has decided to put you in your place by attacking Earth. Doing that, she messes up the timelines or something like that, and it is up to you to put things right.

Ultima 2 is more or less more of the same the previous two games had on offer. It has larger maps, more areas to explore, but at heart, it is just an extension of what came before it sans some of the unfitting elements like space combat. it is evident Garriott was still trying to figure out if there was a concrete world in the Ultima games or were they just random games sharing a title and some elements.

On a technical level the 3rd game in the Ultima series, Exodus, brings in some significant changes to the table. Previously it was only you against the world, with combat that took place in the world map or in the dungeons against one enemy at a time. Now you have a team of your own, helping you to smite multiple enemies in turn-based combat that takes place on a dedicated combat screen. The game itself is still divided between top-down exploration of town maps and the world and 3D dungeon crawling. Ultima 3 was also the first game Richard Garriott published under his own company, Origin Systems.

The story of Ultima 3 revolves around defeating Exodus, the child of Minax and Mondain wanting to avenge the death of his parents. Several centuries have passed in Sosaria since the previous games, which is the reason why things look very different as far land masses go. Sosaria doesn't quite yet have the shape of Britannia, but several upheavals have taken their toll on the world. And furthermore, during the character creation, you can choose between different fantasy races, like Bobbits, Elfs and Dwarfs as well as humans.

In the game world, you can talk to people, bribe guards, steal and even fight. The dungeons have gotten a makeover as well, as now they have solid structures instead of wireframe walls. And Ultima 3 was one of the first CRPGs to have animated characters in it, which was a big deal in 1983. Defeating the Exodus was a bit different from other CRPGs of the era as well, as this time around you had to use puzzle-solving skills and connect several clues you find during your quest. 

Ultima 3 DOS version in its original CGA glory. 

Garriot himself has said Exodus was inspired by another RPG giant of the day, Wizardry, which was a party-based RPG. In turn, Exodus, and Ultima games in general, ended up inspiring game developers in Japan, giving birth to series like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest.

Despite Ultima 3 still clings to some fantasy cliches, this was the point where the series finally started to find itself, becoming something bigger than a jumbled collection of cliches a kid that started the series thought were cool. Exodus was a technical milestone for Garriott, but Ultima 4 was to be something completely different. But I'll dive into that later.

As a final note, the early Ultima games have quite a few fan patches that aim to make the games a bit easier to approach or at least to look at. Some add better support for hotkeys, some change the DOS CGA graphics to a nice looking EGA or VGA as well as add midi soundtracks. So, if you do want to try out the old games and want them enhanced a bit, I'd recommend checking out UltimaCodex site.