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Information About

Ultima V




  developer Origin Systems
  publisher Origin Systems
  designer Richard Garriott
  engine ''Ultima V'' Engine
  released 1988
  genre RPG
  modes Single Player
  platforms Amiga <br> Apple II <br> Atari ST <br> Commodore 64 <br> DOS <br> MSX <br> NES


''Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny'' ( 1988 ) is the fifth part of the Computer Role-playing Game series '' Ultima ''.

At the start of ''Warriors of Destiny'', the player learns that Lord British has been lost on an expedition into the Underworld, and the throne of Britannia has been usurped by a tyrant known as Lord Blackthorn , while three shadowy figures known as the Shadowlords terrorize the countryside. Blackthorn enforces a hypocritically moralistic code of law ostensibly based on strict enforcement of the Eight Virtues , but in fact anything but virtuous. The Avatar is summoned back to Britannia by his friends; together they form the "Warriors of Destiny" in order to eliminate the Shadowlords, undermine Blackthorn's rule, and restore Lord British to his throne.

It can be said that the game deals with the issues of Fundamentalism and Moral Absolutism .

''Warriors of Destiny'' featured much more polished writing (earlier games were riddled with some orthographical errors and uneven vocabulary) and considerably greater detail than previous games, and also included a time-of-day system in which the sun rises and sets, and Non-player Character s would appear to have set daily schedules. This game has been lauded as realistically portraying a culture living under a dictatorial regime; its tone is much darker than that of '' Ultima IV ''.

This game was the last ''Ultima'' developed on the Apple II ; the limits of that system were increasingly becoming a hindrance to further technological advance, and thus all later parts were developed on PC systems. This was also the last part in which ''Ultima'' creator Richard Garriott had a major share in the actual Coding ; in the later parts he acted as a Game Designer only.
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Like the previous two parts of the series, ''Ultima V'' was also produced for NES by FCI/Pony Canyon. This version was, however, clearly not as good as its predecessors: introductory parts were cropped, graphics and gameplay were limited (the most notable example would be that the swamp ground was represented by magical poison fields), and there were few music tracks.

The Commodore 64 verson of ''Ultima V'' lacked a musical score altogether, but was otherwise the same game as the Commodore 128 version.


CHARACTERS


The Shadowlords

There are three Shadowlords: Nosfentor the Shadowlord of Cowardice, Astaroth the Shadowlord of Hatred, and Faulinei the Shadowlord of Falsehood.
Each of the lords represents the antithesis of one of the three principles of Truth, Love and Courage.


RUNIC ALPHABET


Ultima V used a modified form of the Elder Futhark Runic Alphabet for some game text, adding some letters to make a complete one-to-one correspondence with the English alphabet (plus a few runes to represent some common two-letter combinations).


PORTS, MODS, AND TRIBUTES

Recently, fans created a three dimensional version of Ultima V as a .


EXTERNAL LINKS