Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (NES)/Gameplay

Introduction

In Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny you control a hero and a team of four 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.

Similar games

• Ultima 6, where the NES port of Ultima 5 borrowed the graphics from, although quite unsuccessfully;
• Ultima 5, the original port of this game, that has the storyline in common, but little of the graphics and gameplay.