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'Disclaimer: This article is about the Pre-Electronic Arts era of the Ultima'' series. Anyone who includes information about Ultima VIII: Pagan or Ultima IX: Ascension in the "Plot", "Why It Rocks", "Bad Qualities", and "Reception" sections will have those edits reverted.'''

Ultima is a series of computer role-playing games created by Richard Garriott. The games where developed and published by Garriott's company, Origin Systems. The series consists of nine mainline games and two spin-offs known as the Worlds of Ultima series. The mainline series was separated into trilogies, with the first three games being part of the Age of Darkness trilogy. The first game in the series was Ultima: The First Age of Darkness that released in June of 1981. The game was followed shortly with Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress that released on August 24, 1982. The third game in the series, Ultima III: Exodus released on August 23, 1983. The next trilogy was known as the Age of Enlightenment trilogy. The games consist of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, which released on November 1985, Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny which released on March 1988, and Ultima VI: The False Prophet, which released on June 1, 1990. The final trilogy, known as the Armageddon Trilogy which consisted of Ultima VII: The Black Gate and its sequel Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle that released on April 16, 1992 and March 25, 1993 respectively, Ultima VIII: Pagan on March 15, 1994, and finally, Ultima IX: Ascension on November 23, 1999. The two Worlds of Ultima games where known as Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire and Ultima: Worlds of Adventure - Martian Dreams and released on unknown dates in 1990 and 1991. Two other spin-offs known as Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds released on March 1992 and January 1993 respectively. This article will focus on the Origin Systems era of the series.

Ultima: The First Age of Darkness
In the land of Sosaria, an evil wizard named Mondain ruled the land. A thousand years ago, he had crafted a gem that would grant him immortality. Afterword, Mondain unleashed beasts and evil creatures throughout the land. A king named Lord British searches for a person who can bring an end to Mondain, with that person being the player. To defeat Mondain, the player has to find a time machine to travel back in time to before Mondain was given his immortality. The player must collect gems from each of the kings of the land to power the time machine when found. Each king will give the player a task to do in return for a gem. After the player has found all the gems, he purchases a space shuttle and goes to outer space searching for a time machine. Along the way, he rescues a princess who reveals the location of the time machine. After using the machine, the player must kill Mondain himself before he collects the gem. He kills the evil wizard and destroys the gem. This leads him to be transported back to the present and is rewarded by Lord British.

Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress
After the death of Mondain in Ultima I, the player discovers Mondain's apprentice and lover, Minax, is threatening Earth and the space-time continuum to avenge Mondain. It is up to the player to stop Minax once and for all by exploring the Earth and the Solar System. However, Minax's castle can only be reached by using time doors, and an enchanted ring is needed to pass through the force fields in the gates. Finally, the hero is able to hunt down Minax and kills her using the only weapon that can harm her, the quick sword Enilno.

Ultima III: Exodus
After the defeat of Minax, the creature named Exodus, the creation of Mondain and Minax, is terrorizing the land of Sosaria from his dwelling on the Isle of Fire. Lord British summons the player and his party to go out and defeat Exodus. The quest takes the adventurers to the lost land of Ambrosia and to the dungeons of Sosaria to receive magical branding and to find the Time Lord. Once found, they finally enter the Isle of Fire. However, upon entering Exodus' lair, they discover Exodus is just a computer and shut off his programming using magical punch cards in a specific order into the mainframe to destroy him.

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
After the defeat of each of the members of the Triad of Evil in the previous three Ultima games, the world of Sosaria underwent drastic changes. Eventually the world, now unified under Lord British's rule, was renamed Britannia. Lord British felt the people lacked purpose after their great struggles against the Triad were over, and he was concerned with their spiritual well-being in the new age of peace. He soon proclaims the Quest of the Avatar: He needed someone to become the shining example for others to follow. The players must exercise the Eight Virtues and lead a virtuous life to become an Avatar and a spiritual example for the people of Britannia.

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
After the Avatar mastered the eight virtues, reaches Avatarhood, and receives the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, he is summoned back to Britannia, where he is greeted by his friend Shamino, but is immediately attacked by three mysterious cloaked figures. He manages to repel them and brings the wounded Shamino to his friend Iolo, where he is told of what is happening in Britannia: Lord British has been lost in an expedition and Britannia is now ruled by Lord Blackthorn. Blackthorn rules Britannia under strict rule and is perverting the Virtues. The eight Shadowlords are also causing havoc in the other lands of Britannia. The Shadowlords where created by the shards of Mondain's broken gem of immortality. The Shadowlords are represented by Falsehood, Hatred, and Cowardice, opposites of the Three Principles of the Avatar. The goal of the Avatar is to take down Blackthorn's corrupted rule and to defeat the Shadowlords, all while trying to put Lord British back on the throne.

Ultima VI: The False Prophet
A few years after Lord British returns to the throne of Britannia, the Avatar has been captured by gargoyles and is about to be sacraficed. Thankfully, his friends Shamino, Dupre, and Iolo appear and save the Avatar, fleeing to Britannia using a Moon Gate. In the process, they steal a sacred text from a gargoyle. Some of the gargoyles follow the party, but are killed by the Avatar and his companions. The party is told by Lord British that the Shrines of Virtue have been captured by the gargoyles. They are tasked to save Britannia from the gargoyles and take back the Shrines of Virtue. However, late in the game, the Avatar learns that the situation is different for the Gargoyles, as they have their own system of virtues that is unlike the ones in Britannia. The quest has been changed from driving out the gargoyles to making peace with them.

Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire
After the events of Ultima VI, the Avatar is transported to a jungle world known as the Valley of Eodon. The world is inhabited by many different tribes, all of which have been drawn from many time periods in history. When the Avatar arrives, the world is under attack from the insect-like race known as the Myrmidex. To bring peace to the world, the Avatar has to master the stone-age tribal culture and their magic techniques. The Avatar must persuade the thirteen tribes to join in an alliance against the Myrmidex. When all of them are together, they must destroy the huge corrupted moonstone that the Myrmidex possess, which is about to collapse in instability.

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss
In Britannia, the wizard brothers Garamon and Tyball accidentally summon a demon named the Slasher of Veils. To stop the demon, Tyball uses Garamon as bait for the demon. The demon finds them and offers Tyball incredible strength and power, which he agrees to receive. Garamon attempts to seal the demon away after this exchange and is killed, but successfully seals it. Tyball, now a person of evil, can't unseal the demon as it is trapped in a room of virtue, so he attempts to steal Baron Almric's daughter Ariel and sacrifice her to be able to enter.

Overall

 * 1) As explained below, this series is probably one of, if not the most influential, role-playing games of all time. Every game added something that had an influence on today's games. For example, Ultima Underworld was one of the first games to explore using 3D and its gameplay would influence the release of the Elder Scrolls franchise. Another good example is Ultima IV, which was one of the first open world games and the first with a morality system. All in all, without this series, gaming today wouldn't be the same.
 * 2) The characters in these games where not one dimensional, and they experienced growth throughout all of the titles in the game. Many of these characters also had distinct personalities, such as Chuckles the Jester and Shamino the Ranger.
 * 3) The stories of these games, particularly for Ultima IV and above, are some of the best ever told in a role-playing game. The stories, while mostly focusing on there being a big bad villain in the world, go very deep and some have non-traditional plots. For example, Ultima V has many deep themes, such as corruption and law. Another example is the previous Ultima IV, which told a story about the protagonist's self-improvement.
 * 4) Very complex controls. The games have so many options to explore the world that the entire keyboard is taken up due to how complex the gameplay is, more so in the earlier titles.

Ultima III

 * 1) Ultima III: Exodus was one first video games on a computer that tried to tell some kind of story and develop it throughout the entire game. For example, talking to people in towns didn't spout some random dialogue, but rather would be helpful in progressing.

Ultima IV

 * 1) Most importantly, Ultima IV was one of, if not the first, open world games of all time. Right at the beginning, you have complete freedom in how you wanted to complete the game. You could go to your starting town first, or try to trek somewhere else instead. You could complete your quest however you wanted to. You could do anything and it was truly something that was ahead of its time.
 * 2) It was the first game with a sort of morality system. In other games at the time, including past Ultima games, you could kill innocent people or even go on a murderous rampage without any consequences. Sometimes, it was necessary to continue by doing this. However, in Ultima IV, you had something to keep track of. You had a morality system where what you would do would influence the world around you and your "Virtues". For example, if you stole something from a person's house, you would lose points in your Honesty virtue. However, if you do good options such as donating blood, you will gain virtue points. This was another thing that was ahead of its time.
 * 3) It was the first game where the goal of the game wasn't to defeat the villain or the big bad evil force. Instead, the game was more personal, as it was about the main character trying to become a better person spiritually and to be an example to the people of the world.

Ultima V

 * 1) One of the most chilling and suspenseful game over sequences of all time.

Ultima VI & The Worlds of Ultima Duology

 * 1) Greatly improved graphics from the last games. The world is a lot more detailed and there are semi-animated cutscenes.
 * 2) The Worlds of Ultima games decide to take the games in new settings that vary differently from the standard swords and sorcery worlds. The Savage Empire puts the Avatar in a prehistoric world full of dinosaurs, while Martian Dreams has a world with steampunk-like Victorian era technology and takes the Avatar to the planet Mars.

Ultima VII & Serpent Isle

 * 1) Once again, the graphical and technical quality has had a large jump, making the game's visuals very advanced for the time (many people had to upgrade their computers just to play the game). There are even fully animated cutscenes and voice acting included in the game. Once again, the world is a lot more detailed and has the largest map of the entire series.
 * 2) These games begin to take the Ultima series in a more dark and mature direction. For example, right from the beginning of the game, we see a villager with all of his limbs cut off of his body in a bloody mess and the game even has some enemies sacrificing a newborn child to summon a demon. There is even a colony of nudists in the game. This new direction makes the game feel more serious than the other games in the series in a good way. However, the game isn't without its non-serious moments, as there are plenty of Easter Eggs and inside jokes in the game.

Ultima Underworld 1+2

 * 1) Ultima Underworld is probably one of the most influential video games ever made. It was the first RPG ever made that used 3D graphics in a first-person perspective, and influenced the release of future titles, with the most known being The Elder Scrolls.
 * 2) Very complicated gameplay.

Ultima I to V

 * 1) The graphics in these games have not aged that well. Because of the limitations of computers at the time, every character in the game is represented as one single still image that would stay the same, with the exception of a character dying or a chest being opened. In addition, these games didn't have a lot of color. Some versions of Ultima I to III had only four colors, based on what computer you where playing the games on.
 * 2) The virtue system in Ultima IV, though very well made, has a few flaws. For example, if you kill a fleeing enemy, you will lose points in the Justice virtue. However, you would want to kill the enemies because you want the experience, but if you let them flee you get points in Justice. While this is related to the virtue system, it can get very annoying, especially if you are low on experience points.
 * 3) The plot and world of the first two games are very ridiculous and aren't very well written. The technology of these games are also very out of place, such as the world of Sosaria having space shuttles along with carts. Another example is there being phazors along with the standard fantasy fare of axes and maces.
 * 4) Ultima II has aged the worst of the entire series. It is very confusing and expects you to know what to do. However, the game gives no explanation on how to do many things, such as never telling you the quick blade Enilno is the only thing that can kill the villain and not saying how to get the blade in the first place, even if you talk to every NPC in the game world.

Ultima VII & Serpent Isle

 * 1) Despite being full of blood and gore and very dark moments, the game somehow was given a Teen rating, which doesn't seem appropriate given the content of the game, such as the aforementioned gore and nudity.

Trivia

 * In Ultima VII, there is a corn farmer in the game named Mack with a Bloodfang-class starfighter from Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi in his field. He says that it landed in his field and a cat-like (Referencing a Kilrathi) being came out of it before he killed and ate it. Clicking on the ship causes the Kilrathi Empire theme from Wing Commander II to play.

The Complete Series
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Ultima I
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Ultima II
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Ultima III
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Ultima IV
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Ultima V
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Ultima VI
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Ultima VII
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Ultima Underworld
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Ultima Underworld II
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Games With Their Own Pages
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar