Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny/Gameplay

The Story

After the three Ages of Darkness (Ultima 1, Ultima 2 and Ultima 3), the lands of Sosaria were unified by the good Lord British. The newborn kingdom was named Britannia. The people still lacked direction, though, therefore Lord British proclaimed the Quest of the Avatar (Ultima 4) to promote eight Virtues. The champion who managed to complete the Quest was called Avatar.

After the Quest of the Avatar more earthquakes happened, and the bottom of the dungeons opened to reveal an unexplored underworld. Lord British himself started a journey to explore the underworld with a group of loyal knights. Before leaving, he appointed the trusted Lord Blackthorn as regent of the kingdom.

When Lord British and his knights got to the underworld, they were ambushed and the party exterminated. Lord British alone survived, but he was captured by the three Shadowlords and imprisoned in the deepest dungeon. The three Shadowlords then emerged to the surface of Britannia and started corrupting the minds of the people. The regent Lord Blackthorn himself fell under their influence, and imposed martial law and an extremist version of the eight Virtues of the Avatar.

The Companions of the Avatar (from Ultima 4) managed to avoid the influence of the Shadowlords and summoned the Avatar from his home world.

You are the Avatar, and your quest is to defeat the Shadowlords and rescue Lord British from his underworld prison.

Introduction

In Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny you control a hero and a team of six adventurers in a quest across the fantasy world of Britannia. During the game, the party members can progressively acquire several weapons and armors, but also many other items and a wide array of spells.

Ultima 5 is a role-playing video game. Specifically, it belongs to the sub-genre of American-style RPVGs.

Three aspects that can define the genre of RPGs are listed here, and they apply to Ultima 5 as well:

1. Text is an essential part of the game, and the characters have to talk and interact with non-evil characters to proceed in the adventure;
2. There are permanent upgrades, in the form of enhancements of the various attributes of the characters (attack, strength, magic etc.);
3. There is freedom of exploration, all the areas are connected by an "overworld", and areas that have been previously cleared can usually be re-visited; in other words, the game is non-linear.

Japanese-style RPVGs focus more on the plot, while American-style RPVGs like Ultima 5 focus more on exploration and "body-building" of the characters. Nevertheless, all three aspects are present in every RPG.

Gameplay basics

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Similar games

• Ultima 4 and Ultima 6, that together with Ultima 5 constitute the Age of Enlightment trilogy;
• Ultima 3, Ultima 7 and Ultima 7 Part 2, where the player still controls a team of heroes.