Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny

aka: Ultima V: Shukumei no Senshi
Moby ID: 808
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

The Avatar, the embodiment of the Eight Virtues and the hero of Britannia, is called back to deal with a grave threat. Lord British, the country's benevolent monarch, has disappeared, and a man named Blackthorn has usurped his throne. The tyrant rules the land by enforcing the virtues upon the will of the people, corrupting their meaning in the process. His fundamentalist visions led him to create a police state, where failure to adhere to the virtues is punishable by death. Behind Blackthorn are the three Shadowlords, anti-thesis to the three principles of Truth, Love, and Courage. The Avatar must understand their meaning and origins, find a way to defeat them, rescue Lord British, and restore the former ethical principles of Britannia.

Ultima V uses the basics of the Ultima IV engine, an overhead perspective for the map of Britannia and its towns, and a rosette-compass 3D view for the dungeons. The battle system also resembles that of the previous game, with separate battle screens and navigation of character icons in turn-based style. Many of the gameplay elements of the predecessor return, including the complex spell system (reagents must be bought in order to cast spells), recruitable party members, moongates that teleport the party between locations, various means of transportation (horses, ships, etc., with the notable addition of a magic carpet), and so on. Character creation based on morally ambiguous questions and basic leveling up system have been preserved as well. In comparison to the predecessor, the classes have been reduced to four.

Additional challenges include navigating characters through the Underworld, a vast underground area containing many hazards; random presence of Shadowlords in the cities, which influences the behavior of their inhabitants, making them run away, steal from, or attack the Avatar; inscriptions in a runic alphabet that must be deciphered by the player, and others.

The game has a noticeably more detailed world than any of its predecessors; the towns are much larger, with many unique buildings and objects represented graphically. Ultima V introduces physical interaction with the game world: many objects can be pushed or pulled, the main character can sit down on a chair (which is graphically shown), etc. It also incorporates a day/night cycle and schedules for non-playable characters: for example, it is impossible to shop at night because the shopkeepers are sleeping. Dialogues with NPCs have been enhanced, featuring more unique and detailed conversation topics.

Spellings

  • ウルティマV - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

28 People · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 85% (based on 17 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 120 ratings with 9 reviews)

Definitely the best of the lot.

The Good
Ultima V is in my opinion the absolute pinnacle of Ultima. The system that it designed, being the tile-based system, reached perfection in this game(no, didn't think 6 was perfect). And in my opinion, the graphics still stand out as being good by today's standards - solid, not dated, and they created a motif that is still hard to bash. Everything that began in Ultima IV was made better in Ultima V, and it got me hooked. Of course no one will ever believe you when you admit these things, but just try it.... and you might just agree.

The Bad
Nothing. Absolutely nothing bugged me about this game. I have always thought, and still think, it's a perfect roleplaying game.

The Bottom Line
It's the most quintessential of the Ultima series, and shows you everything that made the Ultima worlds so detailed and made the game design groundbreaking. And the graphics are still bearable, even today. Perhaps it's not an immersive enough experience for people brought up on the 3D revolution, but for those of us who began before that time, this is a classic roleplaying game. Absolutely my favourite, and still the best of the Ultimas.

DOS · by Old man gamer (381) · 2000

The Best of the Series!

The Good
Ultima V was the absolute best of the Ultima series. With a detailed storyline and great graphics (for the time), you actually felt immersed in the story. You would walk from town to town and encounter a land of people under a strange shadow of darkness. Although Ultima IV introduced the concept for vitures, Ultima V made you understand why they were necessary.

The Bad
Unfortunately, as with most games, the graphics do not age well. The game is great for nostaligic old-timers but new gamers may find it bland.

The Bottom Line
Basically, this game was the finest RPG I've ever played. Others have been good, but this one tops my list.

DOS · by Toadstool (54) · 2000

This game is so good that I created an account for the sole purpose of reviewing the game

The Good
Ultima V was a Christmas present. Boy am I glad my parents saw me reading the box cover while at the Games and Gadgets.

What I liked best about Ultima V at the time that I was a 13/14 year old playing it, was just how compelling and immersive the plot and gameplay were. I can still remember the worry and fear that I had the first few times I walked into a town occupied by a Shadowlord, or first stepped into Blackthorn's castle. I lived this game. I even dreamt this game.

The second best thing I liked, though it dovetails into the first, is how smart the game was. As a 13/14 year old, I never before heard the words Avatar or Codex or Stygian or Mandrake Root, or mantra. Nor did I ever stop to think about the importance of virtue. This game challenged and enlightened me. I'm grateful for that.

Now, 10-11 years later, what do I like about it? I like the top-down point of view. I like the icon-based combat. An icon-based--wait-for-your-turn-to-attack gameplay has the advantage of building tension as you wait to see whether you will have enough time and luck to manuever your badly wounded party member out of the battle field. Tension/atmospherics--they are part of what made this game so great. The, um, "live action," swordplay of today's games just doesn't do it for me. I don't so much enjoy to fight as I do to think and manage. Ultima V understood that and took advantage of that.

Lastly, I'd like to say that I really wanted to help the people of Brittania. This game was compelling, immersive, smart and taut. But most of all, it was the greatest video game I have ever played.

The Bad
What didn't I like about Ultima V? Ultima VI, Ultima IX and any other RPG I have since played or tried to have played. This game spoiled me. It was my first real RPG experience, and by far it has been my best. Nothing compares.

Graphics? Well, I'd trade in my video cards etc for my C64. The graphics were clean and just fine, thank you. What's more, by not having today's wizardry, the player was allowed to actually imagine the world for himself, to fill in the world's missing pieces with his own imagination. In that regard, the game was allowed to be personal and the player interacted instead of just having all the cliffs and waterfalls etc. laid out for him to see.

Typing in responses? Again, this is not a knock, but a positive. Beyond routinely asking for a character's name and job, you were required to at least put some thought in picking out what were the key words in the conversation that would unlock more information. The game kept you active. It didn't just ask you to select one of three possible responses, then read the character's response, and then repeat the process for the other two original responses.

I loved this game. It's only fault was that it made every other game I have played a disappointment.

The Bottom Line
I would describe Ultima V as an involved RPG that pulls you in because the characters are interesting, the plot is smart and challenging, and the gameplay let's you think. Ultima V is my favorite game of all time. I CAN'T RECOMMEND IT HIGHLY ENOUGH.

DOS · by G P (3) · 2001

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Was this game really released for the PC8801? Lifeinsteps (1) Nov 2, 2022
Another different Front Cover and a question Edwin Drost (9295) Dec 11, 2017

Trivia

Atari 8-bit version

An early prototype Atari 8-bit version of Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny was made, but never released. It can be found on the internet (there's even at least one video of it on YouTube), and offers nothing more than the game's main menu and credits screen.

Extras

Original boxes of Ultima V included a symbol stamped coin representing The Codex from within the plot and in some cases with a cloth map of the world.

FLIPFLOP

In the Apple II version of the game (and possibly others, though not the DOS version), yelling FLIPFLOP outdoors would cause each tile on the screen to invert itself, top to bottom. This is quite bizarre -- check the screenshots page to see it in action. Yelling it again will restore the tiles to their normal status.

Music

  • There is no music in PC version, but there exist a freeware patch that adds all the glorious music from C-128/Apple versions to play properly with the PC version as MIDI.
  • Contrary to popular belief, the Commodore 64 version did not have any music. The music was only available to those who had a Commodore 128 and started the game in Commodore 128 mode. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny was one of very few games that gave particular attention to the Commodore 128.

References: Electronic Arts

  • ORIGIN founder Richard Garriott has always had a bit of a grudge against Trip Hawkins, co-founder of Electronic Arts, because he didn't like their treatment as an EA affiliated label. Not only did he name a mausoleum after him (Pirt Snikwah backwards) in his Britannia Manor (a house in Austin, Texas, designed and used for creepy real-life RPG's), but, more related, he also made him appear in Ultima V as shipwright Hawkins.
  • There has long been animosity between EA and Origin. Just dig through the Ultima V binaries. Ultima V had a list of swear words that, when used in conversation, would result in the response 'With language like that how didst thou become an Avatar?!'. In this swear word list in the binaries were the usual 4 letter words as well as 'Electronic Arts'.

References

  • Many of the people in Ultima 5 are constructed from other Origin employees or friends of Richard Garriot - one example is Christopher in West Britanny, modeled after Chris Roberts of Times of Lore and Wing Commander fame.
  • The name of captain Johne's ship is Ararat. According to the Bible, that is also the name of the mountain where Noah's ark landed after the flood. Quite an appropriate name for a ship that's run ashore.

Remake

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny has been remade by fans in 2005 using the Dungeon Siege engine. It is a highly ambitious attempt to reconstruct the original title, including an enhanced plot, and adds strategy elements and updates conversational mechanisms to resemble modern game dialog systems. It is free for download from the TeamLazarus homepage (See Links section).

Smith

In the stable near Iolo's Hut, you'll find Smith (a talking horse). If you talk with him, he'll give you a "very important clue" -- however, the clue is for Ultima IV. Apparently, the Ultima IV design team forgot to include the clue so they put it in Ultima V as a joke. This tradition has since carried on throughout subsequent Ultima games.

Awards

  • ACE
    • 1989/1 (issue #16): ACE Adventure Awards 1988 - "Game of the year" (editorial choice)
    • 1989/1 (issue #16): ACE Adventure Awards 1988 - "Best RPG-influenced game of the year" (editorial choice)
    • February 1991 (issue #41) - Included in the list Greatest Games of all Time, section Role-Playing Games (editorial staff choice)
  • Amiga Power
    • May 1991 (Issue #00) - #18 in the "All Time Top 100 Amiga Games"* Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #14 Most Memorable Game Villain (Pirt Snikwah)
  • GameSpy
    • 2001 – #42 Top Game of All Time
  • ST Format
    • January 1990 (issue #06) - Included in the list 50 Games of the Year

Information also contributed by Eisentel, jlebel, Mattias Kreku, Mirrorshades2k, rstevenson, Sciere, SimonG and Timo Takalo

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Related Sites +

  • Exodus Project
    Here you can find various upgrades to Ultima games, including an Ultima V patch that adds MIDI music to the DOS version.
  • TeamLazarus Homepage
    including the download links for Ultima V: Lazarus.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 808
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by George Shannon.

PC-88 added by Trypticon. Commodore 128 added by Rola. Apple II added by KnockStump. Sharp X68000, FM Towns added by Terok Nor. PC-98 added by Unicorn Lynx. Atari ST added by Belboz. Amiga, Commodore 64 added by Jeanne. Windows added by eWarrior.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, SGruber, Patrick Bregger, Jo ST, RetroArchives.fr, Kayburt.

Game added January 28, 2000. Last modified March 27, 2024.