Ultima is a series of open-world fantasy role-playing games created by Origin Systems and developed by Richard Garriott. Electronic Arts has owned the Ultima brand since 1992. By 1997, the series had sold more than 2 million copies.

Together with Wizardry and Might and Magic, the Ultima series helped set many standards for the computer role-playing game genre. Several games in the series are considered important examples of their type. Their new ideas, especially in the early games, were often copied by other games.

The Ultima games are mostly set in the fantasy fiction world but also include science fiction elements. Most of the games take place in a world called Britannia. The main character is called the Stranger at first, but becomes known as the Avatar starting with Ultima IV and is referred to by that name afterward.

Games

The main Ultima series includes nine games (with the seventh game split into two parts) divided into three three-part series, called "Ages": The Age of Darkness (Ultima I-III), The Age of Enlightenment (Ultima IV-VI), and The Age of Armageddon (Ultima VII-IX). The last series is sometimes called "The Guardian Saga" because of its main villain. The first series takes place in a fantasy world named Sosaria, but during the events of The Age of Darkness, Sosaria is split apart, and three-quarters of it disappears. The remaining part becomes Britannia, a land ruled by a kind king named Lord British. Most of the later games are set in Britannia. In all the games, the main character is a person from Earth who is called by Lord British to protect Sosaria and later Britannia from dangers. At first, the player is called "the Stranger," but by the end of Ultima IV, the player is known as the "Avatar."

In Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness (1981), the Stranger is called to Sosaria to defeat Mondain, a wizard who wants to take over the world. Mondain has a gem that makes him invincible, so the Stranger uses a time machine to go back in time and destroy the gem before it is created.

In Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress (1982), Mondain’s student and lover, Minax, tries to avenge him. When Minax attacks Earth, she opens portals to different times and places, bringing monsters everywhere. The Stranger finds a special sword that can hurt Minax, then fights her at Castle Shadowguard and defeats her.

In Ultima III: Exodus (1983), it is revealed that Mondain and Minax had a child named Exodus, described as neither human nor machine. After Minax’s death, Exodus attacks Sosaria, and the Stranger is called again to destroy it. This game was the first in the series to allow players to team up with other characters, a feature used in later games.

In Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1985), the story changes to focus on a system of eight virtues based on love, truth, and courage. Lord British is worried about the spiritual health of his people and asks the Stranger to become a spiritual leader by example. The Stranger’s choices in the game determine how close he gets to achieving the ideal of the virtues. If he masters all eight virtues, he becomes the "Avatar," a symbol of Britannia’s values.

In Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (1988), the Avatar returns to Britannia to find that Lord British has been lost in the Underworld. Lord Blackthorn, who rules in his place, has been corrupted by the Shadowlords and twists the meaning of the virtues. The Avatar and his friends rescue Lord British, defeat the tyrant, and restore the true meaning of the virtues.

In Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990), the Avatar and his companions must fight Gargoyles invading Britannia. The game explores themes of racism and fear of outsiders, challenging the Avatar to understand and unite two different cultures.

In Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992), the Avatar is caught in a plan by a group called the Fellowship (inspired by Scientology) to create a portal for an evil being named the Guardian to enter Britannia. This was the first game where the creator, Richard Garriott, planned the story for future games. An expansion called Forge of Virtue added a volcanic island where the Avatar must destroy a piece of Exodus’s data and create a powerful weapon called the Black Sword.

In Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle (1993), the second part of Ultima VII, the Avatar follows the Fellowship’s leader, Batlin, to Serpent Isle, another piece of the old world Sosaria. The game explains many unanswered questions from earlier in the series. The story ends with the Avatar being captured by the Guardian and taken to another world for the next game. An expansion called The Silver Seed allowed the Avatar to travel back in time to balance the forces on Serpent Isle.

In Ultima VIII: Pagan (1994), the Avatar is exiled to a world called "Pagan" by the Guardian. Here, the Britannic virtues are unknown, and the world is ruled by powerful beings called Elemental Titans. The Avatar defeats them and returns to Britannia. A planned expansion called The Lost Vale was canceled due to low sales.

In Ultima IX: Ascension (1999), the final game in the series, the Guardian conquers Britannia and corrupts its virtues. The Guardian is revealed to be the evil part of the Avatar himself, expelled when he became the Avatar. To stop the Guardian, the Avatar must merge with it, destroying himself as a separate being. An earlier version of the story had a more dramatic ending, where the Guardian and Lord British are killed, Britannia is destroyed, and the Avatar ascends to a higher realm.

• Ultima Trilogy (1989) – a collection of the first three Ultima games released for Apple II, Commodore 64, and DOS by Origin Systems.
• Ultima: The Second Trilogy (1992) – a later collection of the second three Ultima games released for Commodore 64 and DOS by Origin Systems.
• Ultima I–VI – a compilation of the first six Ultima games.

Packaging

Ultima game boxes often included special items called "feelies." For example, starting with Ultima II, each main series game came with a cloth map of the game world. From Ultima IV onward, small items like pendants, coins, and magic stones were added. These items were made of metal or glass and usually represented important objects from the game.

Richard Garriott disliked how games were sold in plastic bags with only a few pages for instructions. He insisted that Ultima II be sold in a box, including a cloth map and an instruction book. At that time, Sierra was the only company willing to agree to this request, so Garriott signed with them.

Copy protection measures

In the Atari 8-bit version of Ultima IV, one of the floppy disks had a track that was not properly prepared. Without this track, the player would lose every battle. This issue was not immediately obvious as a copy protection method, as players might think the problem was due to lack of experience or poor equipment. The copy protection was hidden well enough that the German distributor did not notice. They sent out Atari 8-bit packages with floppy disks that were formatted correctly. These copies acted like unlicensed versions, causing players to lose every battle.

In Ultima V, some information in the game’s booklet that seemed unimportant was later asked by characters in the game. The game also used runic symbols and a special language for spell names. The booklet included translations and explanations for these elements. A journal about Lord British’s failed journey into the underworld was also included in the game box. During the game, players would need to follow the same path as the expedition to find an important item. These features were subtle copy protection methods that fit the game’s fantasy setting, making them less obvious to casual players.

Ultima VI used a more organized copy protection system with in-game questions. Players could not progress if they answered incorrectly. This method continued in Ultima VII, where players had unlimited chances to answer questions correctly. Answers could be found in the manual or cloth map. However, the manual included all copy protection answers for every game in the Ultima Collection.

In Ultima VII Part 2: Serpent Isle, copy protection questions appeared at two points in the game. If players failed to answer twice, all non-player characters (NPCs) would say changed versions of famous quotes. The game would also display the word "Oink!" and become unplayable. Starting with Ultima VIII, copy protection questions were no longer used.

Common elements

Originally, the world of Ultima had four continents. These were Lord British's Realm, ruled by Lord British and the Lost King; The Lands of Danger and Despair, ruled by Lord Shamino and the King of the White Dragon; The Lands of the Dark Unknown, ruled by Lord Olympus and the King of the Black Dragon; and The Lands of the Feudal Lords, ruled by the lords of Castle Rondorin and Castle Barataria.

After Mondain was defeated and his Gem of Immortality was broken in Ultima I, a major event changed the world. Three of the four continents seemed to disappear, leaving only Lord British's realm. This remaining continent was later called "Sosaria." The Lands of Danger and Despair were later found again as Serpent Isle, which had moved to a different dimension or plane, suggesting the other two continents might still exist. Ultima II shows Castle Barataria on Planet X, which implies the Lands of the Feudal Lords became this planet. Ultima Online: Samurai Empire suggests the Lands of the Feudal Lords were transformed into the Tokuno Islands after the cataclysm.

After Exodus was defeated in Ultima III, Sosaria was renamed Britannia to honor Lord British. Serpent Isle stayed connected to Britannia through a gate in the polar region. In Ultima VII, the Fellowship leader, Batlin, fled to Serpent Isle after the Black Gate was destroyed, preventing the Guardian's first invasion. Ninety percent of Serpent Isle's population was destroyed when evil Banes were released by Batlin in a failed attempt to capture them in Ultima VII Part 2.

In Ultima, the player controls the Avatar, who represents eight virtues. The virtues were first introduced in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1985). The game's focus shifted from traditional role-playing to an ethical model based on the Three Principles of Truth, Love, and Courage. Each virtue is linked to a party member, a city in Britannia, and a planet in Britannia's solar system. Each virtue has a mantra, and each principle has a word of power the player must learn. The eight virtues are Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality, and Humility. These virtues were inspired by Hindu beliefs and characters from The Wizard of Oz.

The virtues became a major theme in later Ultima games. In Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny, Lord Blackthorn turned the virtues into strict laws, which unintentionally led to the opposite of what the virtues intended. In Ultima VI: The False Prophet, the Avatar was challenged to consider if his actions were truly virtuous. In Ultima VII, the Fellowship replaced the virtues with a new belief system, causing chaos in Britannia. In Ultima IX, the virtues were turned into their opposite, anti-virtues.

The virtue system in Ultima was a groundbreaking idea in game design and influenced other games like Black & White, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the Fable series. Unlike many games, Ultima can only be won by being virtuous. The system is described as a "philosophical journey" because it does not give clear rules or point values.

Early Ultima games called the player-character the Stranger, allowing players to complete quests through theft or violence. After Ultima III, Richard Garriott received criticism from parents and others for allowing immoral actions in the game. Inspired by a TV show on Hinduism and the concept of the Avatar, Garriott created the eight virtues for the Avatar in Ultima IV.

The Avatar first appears in Ultima IV, where his goal is to follow the virtues and retrieve the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom from the Great Stygian Abyss. In Ultima V, the Avatar defeats a repressive regime in Britannia. In Ultima VI, he brings peace between humans and gargoyles. In Ultima VII and VIII, the Avatar battles the Guardian, destroying both himself and his foe in Ultima IX: Ascension.

Except for Ultima IX: Ascension, players can choose the Avatar's name. Ultima VIII: Pagan fixed the Avatar's identity as a blond-haired, blue-eyed male, while other games allowed players to select the Avatar's race, gender, and appearance. Starting in Ultima IV, players used single keywords to activate the Avatar's speech, but later games like Ultima VII and Ultima Underworld allowed full conversations. Ultima IX added digitized speech to accompany the text.

The Avatar was designed as a blank slate for players to reflect their own personality. The word "avatar" was first used in this context to represent a player's actions in a virtual world. The Avatar was one of the first times players could choose the protagonist's race and gender, allowing them to reflect on their choices in the game. Over time, the Avatar's appearance and character became more defined.

Lord British is the ruler of Britannia and represents the game's creator, Richard Garriott. His name comes from a nickname given to him by friends who thought his greeting sounded "British." He added the "Lord" prefix when he played the dungeon master in Dungeons & Dragons games.

Reception

By 1990, the first five Ultima games had sold more than 470,000 copies for home computers in the United States. In Japan, Pony Canyon's Japanese versions of the Ultima series had sold nearly 100,000 copies for home computers and over 300,000 copies for the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System) by 1990.

In 1996, Next Generation ranked the Ultima series as the 55th best game of all time, noting that "although the graphics and style change with new technology, the series has always provided steady excitement in role-playing games." In 1999, Next Generation listed the Ultima series as number 18 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time," stating that "many computer role-playing games focus on fighting enemies non-stop, often in dark, underground areas. The Ultima series, however, always focused on a world where a character's values are as important as their armor in deciding success." In 2000, Britannia was included in GameSpot's list of the ten best game worlds, described as "the oldest and one of the most historically rich gameworlds."

Impact and legacy

Many new ideas from the early Ultimas, especially Ultima III: Exodus (1983), became common in later role-playing games (RPGs). These included using grid-based graphics, fighting with a group of characters, mixing fantasy and science-fiction themes, and using time travel in the story. Some of these ideas were inspired by another game called Wizardry, which also used group combat. Exodus was also special because it used written stories to tell a bigger tale than most games at the time, which usually focused only on fighting. Most video games, including earlier Ultima games and Akalabeth, mostly centered on combat without exploring other aspects. In Ultima IV, Richard Garriott introduced a system of chivalry and rules that players followed. This system tested players’ actions and judged them based on their choices, which was different from other games where players could act freely without consequences.

Ultima III was later released on many other platforms and influenced games like Excalibur and Dragon Quest. Many people believe it was the first modern computer RPG.

On June 30, 2020, Richard Garriott said that EA refused to help him revive or remaster the Ultima series.

Garriott’s new company, Portalarium, created an RPG/MMORPG that he called a spiritual successor to Ultima. On March 8, 2013, Portalarium started a Kickstarter campaign to fund Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues. This game was the first of five planned parts in the Shroud of the Avatar series and was designed as a "Selective Multiplayer Game," allowing players to choose how much they wanted to play online or offline. Originally planned to launch in Summer 2017, with later parts released yearly, the first episode was finally released on March 27, 2018, and received mixed reviews. Additional episodes have not yet been released.