Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny



Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny is the fifth game in the series and the second installment of the "Age of Enlightenment" trilogy. It was published and released in 1988 by Origin initially for the Apple II, C64 and IBM-PC. Ports for the Amiga and Atari ST followed in 1989 and 1990, respectively, with a final port for the NES in 1993.

The game was a considerable leap forward from Ultima IV and marked the beginning of complex storytelling in the series. The land of Britannia grew larger in scope with the addition of many new locations, important items and a sprawling subterranean underworld in supplement to the already established dungeons. Also featured was a complete day/night cycle with all world inhabitants following a schedule to match, while dialogue reached new levels of depth to progress a grim, multi-faceted story. The soundtrack maintained the benchmark set by earlier titles while visuals advanced noticeably in color and complexity -- particularly dwellings, cities and castles were now more robustly detailed with furnishings and other incidental items, while dungeons became far more vivid in presentation.

Ultima V was released to financial and critical success and remains, to many, a superior entry in the series.

Included with the game
The release of Ultima V included with the game:
 * The "Book of Lore" (serving as the manual)
 * A cloth map of Britannia
 * A Codex Coin (as seen in the introduction sequence)
 * The text "Lord British's Journal," a precursory log detailing the King's disappearance

Differences between the ports
The 8-bit ports for the Apple II and C64 are quite different from each other. The Apple II port lacks many of the details and colors of the C64 port, but features full music. The C64 port boasts superior graphics but lacks music, which only can be heard in the C128 variant of the port.

The 16-bit ports for the Amiga, Atari ST and IBM-PC differ more subtlely. Graphically, they appear mostly identical (Amiga and Atari ST versions feature an "Ultima V" logo permanently emblazoned on the screen). The PC port, however, lacks any music and mouse support. The Atari ST port has full music, albeit differing in presentation, and mouse support. The Amiga port features mouse support but only ever plays the lone piece of music written specifically for it. For more information, see: Computer Ports of Ultima V.

There were also several ports of Ultima V for Japanese console systems. They featured superior graphics and sound compared to the North American release.

The NES port of 1993 is a dubious standout. Visually, it resembles Ultima VI but features very little music. The graphics are of lower quality and the game is extremely slow to the point of being almost unplayable, only marred further by a truncated plot. For further reading, see: NES-Port of Ultima V.

The Story
Britannia had enjoyed peace and prosperity since the Quest of the Avatar found its champion. The dungeons were soon sealed by the Great Council in the intervening years, with the Eight Virtues strong and the people living in content. However, the existence of a vast and mysterious Underworld was discovered, prompting Lord British himself to set out on a pioneering expedition to thoroughly explore its depths. Not one week into the journey, the king and most of his entourage fell prey to ominous forces and were overwhelmed, leaving British missing. The following appearance of the sinister Shadowlords deeply corrupted the mind of Britannia's interim presiding regent, Lord Blackthorn. With Lord British's fate unknown, a dark tyranny of draconic, extremist "Virtues" ensued, with the Companions of the Avatar declared outlaws.

The player, as the Avatar, returned to Britannia to find it in such peril; governed by a ruthless, dictatorial regime and terrorized by the dark Shadowlords. Gathering as many former companions as possible, the Avatar discreetly sought out guidance in the effort to vanquish the Shadowlords, recovering the Crown Jewels of Lord British and undermining the Oppression—Lord Blackthorn's own agents—in the affair. With the aid of the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, the Avatar learned the nature of Lord British's imprisonment.

After successfully trapping and destroying each of the Shadowlords, the Avatar descended into the colossal Underworld and the foul dungeon Doom, successfully recovering the captive Lord British and restoring him to the throne. With the Shadowlords' hold over Blackthorn severed, his mind was finally clear but burdened with the knowledge of what had transpired under his rule. Faced with a choice by Lord British to either stand trial before the Great Council or be exiled to a fate unknown, Blackthorn chose the latter, stepping without a word through a waiting red moongate.

Trivia

 * First Ultima with schedules and day-night cycles.
 * The main theme of the game deals clearly with fundamentalism and moral absolutism (Making Virtue into Law).
 * The final Ultima to use flat-perspective tile graphics, and also the last where the PC was not the primary development platform.
 * This game marks the first time the runic alphabet is extensively used, forcing the player to frequently self-translate signs, decrees, etc.
 * First traditional "hint-giving" appearance of Smith the Horse.

Upgrades
While the graphics of Ultima V were the best available in the IBM-PC version of the game's original release, it was completely devoid of music. An  Upgrade Patch circumvents this limitation and re-inserts all pieces at their proper places with a quality superior to the original music-capable ports.

Ultima V - Lazarus
Lazarus is a comprehensive remake of the game using the Dungeon Siege engine. See the Lazarus project for more information.

Neat Ultima V
There has also been an attempt to port Ultima V to windows. Neat Ultima V is a project similar to xu4 or the more ambitious Exult to create a new game engine utilizing the original data files. Unfortunately, development has been very slow.

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny for TI Calculators
Play Ultima V on your TI calculator! A complete and faithful remake for TI-89, TI-92+, and TI-V200 calculators. See Ultima V for TI Calcs project forum for more information.