Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress, developed for the Apple II computer and published by Sierra Online on August 24, 1982, is the second computer role-playing game in the Ultima series. It was also the only official Ultima game published by Sierra On-Line. Controversy with Sierra over royalties for the MS-DOS port of this game led the series creator Richard Garriott to start his own company, Origin Systems.
The gameplay is very similar to the previous game in the series, Ultima. The scope of the game is bigger, in that there are several more places to explore, even though some of them (like most of the solar system planets and the dungeons and towers) are optional and not really needed to complete the game.
In the game, the player has to travel to several different time periods of Earth, using time doors. The periods are the Time of Legends (a mythological period), Pangea (about 300 to 250 million years ago), B.C. (1420, "before the dawn of civilization"), A.D. (1990), and the Aftermath (after 2111). The player also has to travel to space, where he can visit all the planets in the solar system.
Story
From the game's story, we learn that the lover of the dark wizard Mondain, the enchantress Minax, is threatening Earth through disturbances in the space-time continuum. The player must guide a hero through time and the solar system in order to defeat her evil plot.
The young Minax survived her mentor's and lover's death at the hands of the Stranger (in Ultima I) and went into hiding. Several years later, Minax got older and very powerful, more than Mondain once was. Minax wanted to avenge the death of her lover, so she used the time doors created by Mondain's defeat to travel to the Time of Legends, a place located at the origin of times. From there, she sent her evil minions to all the different time eras; she also used her dark powers to disturb the fabric of time and influence men, who ultimately destroyed each other in the far future, nearly wiping out humanity.
Lord British called for a hero to crush Minax's evil plans. The Stranger once again answered British's call. The game begins with the Stranger starting his quest to defeat Minax. Minax's castle, named Shadowguard, can only be reached through time doors (similar to moongates in the later games); even then an enchanted ring is required to pass through the force fields inside. The war against Minax's vile legions is long and hard, but eventually the hero hunts down the sorceress to the Time of Legends, pursues her as she teleports throughout the castle, and destroys her with the quicksword Enilno.
Versions
The following table is based on the analisys by Teran[1].
| Year | System | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Apple II | The very first version of Ultima 2 was programmed on and released for the Apple II. The game was bigger than its predecessor, but graphically it didn't improve much, which isn't that bad, considering the time it was released. |
| 1983 | Atari 400/800 | The gameplay is the same, but the graphics are even worse than on Apple II. |
| 1983 | MS-DOS | The graphics are the first big problem with this version. Nevertheless, 4-color CGA graphics were standard in 1983, so the programmers can't be blamed. The second problem is the speed: it's too fast for modern computers, making the use of a slowdown-utility a must. |
| 1983 | Commodore 64 | A very good 8-bit version. The graphics are superior even to the Atari ST and playability is very high. |
| 1985 | Macintosh | The controls (via mouse and menus) are similar to those in the Atari ST version. This version is in black & white, as most of the early Macintosh games. |
| 1985 | Atari ST | This version is different, at least when it comes to controls: it's fully controlled by the mouse and commands are chosen over a menu on the top of the screen. Some people might say that keyboard control might be faster when you are used to it. The other point that is striking are the graphics. In contrast to many 8-bit versions and the original Apple II version, they used bright colors. Where once was black, there now is white, giving it a complete different look. |
| 1985 | FM-7/FM-77 PC-8801/PC-98x1 |
This early release by the Japanese company Starcraft resembles the western homecomputer versions, with the exception of being translated in Japanese language, obviously. |
| 1989 | MSX2 PC-98x1 |
Pony Canyon released this remake of Ultima 2 in Japan only. They improved the graphics and sound, making it a very good version (albeit playable only if you can read Japanese). Since the PC-98x1 is more powerful than the MSX-2, the former is probably the best Ultima 2 version to date. |
Table of Contents
- 1423 B.C. (game start)
- 1990 A.D. (build-up)
- Pangea age (& side quests)
- 2112 A.D. Aftermath (main quest)
- Time of Legends (final battle)