Ultima: Exodus by developers Origin Systems and Newtopia Planning and publisherFCI —Nintendo Entertainment System.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
There are two times of the year that tend to get mereflecting on games of old. One is near the end of spring, around my birthdayand the other is near Christmas. The connection here should be obvious, as whenI was a kid – most of the video games I played were gifted to me during one ofthose two yearly occasions.
In prior articles, I’ve touched on some of these gifts. Unabashedlink-fest coming up, but I still have some strong memories and emotions tied towhen I received my Nintendo Entertainment System (and Joust – I’ll have to reminisceon that one soon) from my Uncle Ken for Christmas. That same year my parentsgot me Elevator Action and Dragon Power as gifts, and my Grandpa Joe and GrandmaBev got me Double Dribble. A few years later, my Grandma Barb picked up Tecmo Basketball for Christmas. Before that my parents had gotten me into gaming witha TI99/4a, and years later my Uncle Ken again came through with the win, givingme a Sega Genesis for my birthday (and a ton of games such as Columns, AlteredBeast, Sonic the Hedgehog and an EA golfing game).
Okay, that was a lot of nostalgia. But when I think ofUltima: Exodus, I get hit pretty hard with nostalgia as well. This wasn’t yearone of me having my NES – it was a couple after I received it. This title gotreleased on over a dozen platforms, with some variance in the naming such asExodus: Ultima III and Ultima III: Exodus, but as it was the first release onthe Nintendo Entertainment System, they simply went with the title Ultima:Exodus.
I had never heard of this game, and I’m not entirely surewhat inspired my parents to pick it up. I vaguely recall my dad saying that hethought the cover of the box looked interesting and he was well aware that Iwas a big fan of the fantasy genre. This however, was also my true introductionto the roleplaying genre. Dragon Warrior wouldn’t be too far behind – I woundup borrowing that from a friend a few months after discovering my love forgrinding through oodles of turn-based battles. This was well before I wasintroduced to Dungeons & Dragons or played my first Final Fantasy.
Now, in retrospect, Ultima: Exodus is a pretty flawed but still fun game. I’veplayed it in somewhat recent years, and sure – any game release in 1989 isgoing to struggle when held up to today’s standards more than three decadeslater. I’m not talking about the graphics and sound (it is surprising how quicklythe music tickled the back of my brain, but I logged dozens and dozens of hourswith this game back in the day, so that music’s apparently been burned into mybrain by now.
But even comparing this game to some of its contemporariesfrom around the same time, such as the first Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasytitles, Ultima: Exodus just had a lot of rough edges. Several things werepoorly explained (somewhat common for the time), leading to a lot of wanderingabout and happening on to the next steps in the journey. The number scaling wasoff too, as experience for leveling was far easier to come by than the goldneeded to purchase leveling. Those two things feel out of sorts with oneanother, despite being tied to the same progression system.
Also, the way the world handled levels was a little oddlyinconsistent as the overworld scaled with your level but the dungeons were moreset to level ranges, leading to an uneven experience if you grind a lot earlyon. Combat had a sort of weird hit / miss frame thing that was more abouttiming than the more traditional behind the scenes dice rolling.
However, there was a flexibility to Ultima: Exodus that feltsomewhat ahead of its time as well. Character creation was incredibly flexible comparedto similar titles. You had greater control over the way you could interact withcharacters, with commands to attack, attempt to steal or even bribe NPCs. You couldeven pick a fight with the king (though you’d lose – he’s indestructible). Idid a lot of saving back then – but there were a lot of things that you couldtry – and screw up. Reviving characters is expensive, which makes the game feelmore punitive than most of the era.
It's also worth noting that when you discover the hiddenland of Ambrosia, the game opened up in a new and unexpected way, includingbetter character progression. That’s sort of the theme of Ultima: Exodus. Itwas a dense game with a lot of systems that often were not well explained, andthere was precious little handholding done. It’s not one of the hardest NESgames in the traditional sense, but a lot of hours and perseverance is neededto see it through to the finale.
In the end, however, for all its foibles, Ultima: Exodus ismore than just the game it is – at least to me. It’s another set of memoriestied to a Christmas gift from loved ones, and it also introduced me to one ofmy favorite video game genres ever. I think those things make Ultima: Exodus somethingfar more special.
Article by: Nick