Ultima: The Age of Darkness

This story arc has some notable points. It takes place in Sosaria which was renamed Britannia in the next story arc. 3 of the four major areas of the world available in the first game were lost. Only one, The Lands of Danger and Despair, resurfaced in the main series as Serpent Isle, in yet another story arc. The other two were used in the alternate timelines of Ultima Online. Ultima II actually took place on Earth. The virtues for which Ultima is so well known for were not yet created in this arc. And "The Avatar" didn't exist yet. Rather "The Stranger" from Earth was the protagonist. Spells are one use items purchased from shops in the first few games. And the one contained a first-person-shooter space travel sequence. Time travel and space travel are features of the first few games. Only the characters of Iolo, Shamino and Lord British were introduced in Ultima I. There was no party system in the first few games. The conventions of computer RPGs were not fully realized and Richard Garriott and team's programming skills were not fully developed when this series was created. In fact, they were pretty much programmed completely by Garriott. Additionally, the computer gamine market went from non-existent to explosive in this time. And Garriott switched publishers and methods several times be for creating his own company. Thus, these games are quite flawed and different from the rest of the series and computer RPGs in general. Yet they were innovative and responsible in every way that matters, for the rest of the series. The games that followed we not simple marketing gimmicks; real lessons and story elements came from them.

Parent:
* Ultima

Related:
* Age of Enlightenment
* Age of Armageddon
* Underworld
* Worlds of Adventure