The Official Book of Ultima

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Scan of the cover of a book titled "THE OFFICIAL BOOK OF Ultima®". Subtext follows. A drawing of a medieval-clad man armed with a sword and shield stands with his foot on the chest of an anguished gargoyle. Inset, is a drawing of a medieval-clad man from the rear, confronting 3 figures in dark robes and red glowing eyes. Another inset drawing depicts a medieval-clad mounted man confronting a dragon.
First edition (1990)

The Official Book of Ultima (first edition: ISBN 0-87455-228-1, second edition: ISBN 0-87455-264-8) is a book about the Ultima series written by Shay Addams, with assistance from creator Richard Garriott and illustrations by Denis Loubet. It was first published in 1990 by COMPUTE! Publications, with a second edition following in 1992.

Description[edit]

The Official Book of Ultima comprises three parts, opening with a biographical account of Garriott's early experiences with fantasy settings and computer programming, his subsequent creation of the Ultima games, and his co-founding of Origin Systems. The second part of the book expands on the development process behind Ultima VI, while the third provides solutions for each installment (coverage varies by edition; see below), presented as semi-satirical narratives from the perspective of Addams' player character, Alfred.

Editions[edit]

The first edition of The Official Book of Ultima is 244 pages long and carried a list price of $12.95 at release. It includes guides for Ultima I, Ultima II, Ultima III, Ultima IV, Ultima V, and Ultima VI only.

The second edition is 308 pages, with an original list price of $18.95. It features largely the same content as the first publication (with some revisions), however with solutions added for The Savage Empire; Martian Dreams; Ultima Underworld; Ultima VII; the Nintendo ports of Ultima III, Ultima IV, and Ultima V; and Runes of Virtue.

Surprisingly, there is also an edition in Chinese for Taiwan. It is the first edition, published in 1992. Only about 500 books were produced, making it a rarity. The cover is styled to look like an old book, complete with gold-metallic runes on it.

Other Edition Covers[edit]

  • Photocan of the cover over of a book titled The Official Book of Ultima. It has a blue background and the emblem of a snake.

    2nd edition (1992) cover

  • Photoscan of the cover of a book titled Ultima BOOK FOR THE AVATAR. The background is brown and gold decorations along the margins. Chinese characters are interlaced with the title.

    Taiwan cover

Trivia[edit]

  • The first edition contains a rare mention of Origin's cancelled Mythos project, which is absent in the later revision (although erroneously still referenced in its index).
  • In both editions, the Words of Power for Deceit and Wrong are misspelled in the walkthrough for Ultima V, respectively as fallaw and malul instead of fallax and malum.[1][2]

Gallery[edit]

  • Photoscan of the back cover of a book. The space is dominated by text promoting the book through summary. There is an ISBN barcode at the bottom. The background is lightly colored.

    Back cover of the first edition

  • Photoscan of the back cover of a book titled COMPLETE ULTIMA. There are several lines of credits that follow and an ISBN barcode at the bottom. The background is blue and there is an emblem of a snake at the top.

    Back cover of the second edition

External Links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Addams, Shay. "Say the Magic Words of Power". The Official Book of Ultima - First Edition. COMPUTE! Publications: 1990. Page 221.
  2. ↑ Addams, Shay. "Say the Magic Words of Power". The Official Book of Ultima - Second Edition. COMPUTE! Publications International: 1992. Page 217.
Reference Books
The Books The Genesis of Ultima ☥ The Official Book of Ultima ☥ Official Fanbook ☥ The Ultimate Collector’s Guide
Our Epic Origin ☥ Through the Moongate
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