Ultima III: Exodus (1983) | The RPG That Defined A Genre | Retrospective Critique 

Remind me to never try this premiere thing again -_- First time using the new uploader (the one youtube enforced instead of the old one) and thought "instant premiere" meant uploading like normal. Instead we got this confusing nonsense, sorry about that.

My first rpg when I was about 10-11 years old. In hindsight, I was too young (it came with Carmen Sandiego) but still fun because lots of hours with my best friend. We just died and died until we found the town Yew, then got past the start. Then got into the grind, still not willing to try dungeons too much. I still remember getting sunk the first time, playing alone, found the temple that lets you increase strength. Ran to my friend's house to tell him. We finished the game by trial and error for the insert card order because we hadn't found the clue (or exotic armour). I never thought critically about this game like this review. It's all true but I have soft spot for it so it's my favourite ultima. So many hours it's burned into my memory. It took about 10 seconds just now to remember the word you have to yell, but it's still in my memory 30 years later.

This video is what RU-vid is all about 🏆 and ultima 3 is best played in one hour chunks after you get home from ‪4th grade back in the 80s. Your endurance is epic !!!

Ultima 3 (NES version) was my first RPG. It got me in to RPGs even though I really didn't have much of an idea of where I was going or what I was doing lol.

Love love love your in depth reviews! Really excited for U4 and whatever else you have in store.

I found your channel and immediately enjoyed it, I love how in depth you go while keeping it interesting the entire way through

I just finished to watch your videos. I must say your understanding of MDA framework and your benevolent approach of this old titles is freshening. I wish you (at least) 1000 subs and a better treatment from the youtube algorithm !

Great analysis sir! Thanks for this, I really enjoyed it!

Great overview. This was fun and funny (nice cameo by Timothy Leary!). Nice editing! Ultima 3 was my introduction to the series and still holds a special place in my heart! :-D I remember that trick of making backups of the player disk, because Quit and Save couldn't save you if you died. Fun times!

Your Ultima videos are my favorite Ultima videos on yt

Your channel is one of the best. Really enjoys every episode.

Another great review. This game at the start looks fun and anxiety inducing, especially for the combat that's essential for the gold to buy food. The game had some bits that were definitely ahead of their time but had so many things holding them back. The encounter rate raising as you level up and not being able to add more stats after level 25 was a bad move but was probably necessary due to the hardware limitations of the pcs at the time. Still! Future developers would continue to improve and refine what Ultima 3 laid out. Thank you, Georg! Glad to see you doing well and continuing to upload videos of these games that I haven't been able to play, and paved the way for future gameplay mechanics.

Ultima III was my first Ultima game, and I played II and I soon after. I'll always have a soft spot for it, but the tedious grind is a huge problem. Having a party and the separate combat screen slows encounters to a crawl, and there are far too many as the game goes on. Ultima IV and V also have this type of combat system, and they can get horribly tedious too, but they have other things going on and they seem to progress at a more steady rate, so the slow, tedious combat is a little easier to tolerate. I agree that the final castle in Ultima III is good, and I remember being surprised when the floors attacked me close to the end. I also like how the boss "fight" at the end isn't just another fight against a powerful enemy - it was nice to see a new concept there. The first time I went down the whirlpool in a ship was exciting too. Unfortunately, there are too few of those moments of excitement and too many mind-numbing fights against endless hordes of uninteresting monsters. Ultima III was innovative and was an important step on the way to the peak games of the series, and it is the first one that has the cohesive atmosphere and style that would come to define the series, so it is a good game for people interested in the history of RPGs to experience.

Yay, you’re back!

Very solid video, as always :) I love your reviews. Keep em coming.

I played this game so much I covered the whole world with gold chests. This not only removes most of the black, but also monsters can't walk on the chests.

Amazing as always! Found this video yesterday when I started thinking about your videos again! To my pleasant surprise there was a new video waiting! I tried watching it last night but I fell asleep cause I was too exhausted but I will watch it tonight when I come back from work! I loved the parts I got to watch at least, haha. I do not know if I already recommended "legend of Grimrock" or not, but if you do not know about that game it is easily one of the better games of recent years. There is a sequel as well.

I would love to see you doing these reviews of SSI's Dungeons & Dragons games too

Stumbled across this via Reddit and I'm delighted. I love old RPGs and you seem to have put in a lot of effort here. Good stuff!

Was excited to see a new post in my subscription feed this morning, couldnt wait till I had time to sit down and watch. As someone who has only meaningfully played Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar on the NES, plus briefly dabbled 1-2 hours into one or two of the games on the SNES, these are really interesting look-backs. And i cant wait to see how a more in-depth look at Ultima 4 on PC compares to my memories of the game on the NES. I was VERY surprised to see the multiple-party mechanic in Ultima. This was a feature that I absolutely adored when it came to Wizardry 5 on the SNES. Losing your whole team was not the end of the game. It was not an excuse to save/load and pretend it didnt happen. It was the start of something new, a different band of adventurers who would likely dive deep and need to grind their abilities until they were able to rescue the original team and any important items they may have had with them, bring them back, and resurrect them. This change in gameplay upon a party loss felt rewarding, it let you re-experience earlier parts of the game again that you had not seen or been challenged by in awhile. It also meant treating your characters with respect because you couldnt just reload any time you pleased, and bring them back was costly, but doable since there was not an awful lot of stuff to buy within that game past the early parts. Hearing that a similar system like that existed in any other game rather surprised me, and I'd sure love to discover other games that used it as well. This was another interesting look-back at a game I'd have written off as being a bit too old for my tastes, but you did a great job outlining some of the things that it did well, and really made it sound rewarding in its own ways. The exploration, secrets, and puzzles in Ultima 4 on the NES were some of the most rewarding parts of the game for me. But we'll have to see if the mechanics match up to the fond memories I have of it when i was younger. It too had its share of grinding and flaws, and a weirdly inverse difficulty curve / battle grind as you leveled up, but there were a lot of great moments to be had, including a few which were probably partially unique to the NES like the save screen referring to the 'magic box.'

What a great deep dive, but I don't think we need to worry about spoilers for games this old. Loved it.

Great as always. Are we getting a full Ultima retrospective at this point?

Really enjoying these Ultima videos. I played all of them (including Akalabeth) in the 70s and 80s on the Apple ][, which is the computer that Richard Garriott programmed these games on (and the computer he intended for them to be played on.) To wit, I have to admit that looking at the CGA color palette simply doesn't do the game justice. It's much more beautiful when viewed on the Apple ][. The dungeons, for example, had red and blue walls which made it easier to understand directions as you rotated. Another benefit of playing Ultima III on the Apple Is that this was the very first computer role-playing game to have a musical score! The PC versions didn't get a soundtrack until Ultima VI (which is when Garriott finally switched to developing the Ultima series on PCs). The Apple sound card (called the Mockingboard) had brighter, crisper tones than the warbly ad-lib card for PCs did. Playing Ultimas III, IV and V without the accompanying Mockingboard soundtrack is a very different experience and I highly recommend you go back and play them using an Apple ][ emulator. You can also find the soundtracks on RU-vid.

Playing this was ridiculously hard after doing the gold box series first. I never managed to find the mark of the serpent so it just became an exercise in frustration.

Yes! Thank you for uploading!

Look... I'm gonna be honest. I hit the like button the moment I saw that adorable lil fluffball.

Now this is where Ultima takes some giant strides towards true greatness. It won't be there until IV, but the additions of the combat screen (and system in general) and the party of characters rather than a lone... avatar... really do a lot to make the game more engaging and complex. It is always shocking when looking at Ultima IV and V, what masterpieces they are, and then looking at I and II, and how far from that they started out. And it's interesting to see what parts of IV onward began in this game, and what parts were truly innovations of IV. I'd still say that IV does way more small things, adds so many details and smooths out so my wrinkles and brings truly revolutionary concepts into play which have rarely ever been attempted by future games... but this game does a lot of the scaffolding, creating a much more robust base game, from which IV was then able to refine and create a masterpiece from with a few genius flourishes and a ton of details. It's still weird to me that there's never been an effort to remake at least IV with simple but nice 3D graphics and some modern refinements. Maybe it's in copyright hell or something like that?

You complained about the excessive grind. There are different areas you can grind. Things you can do to grind from easy to hard. 1. Destroy town Yew (cleric town--no guards. 2. Dungeon east and north of castle level 3. 3. Death Gultch. 4. Town Moon (4 guards) 5. Montor east and west town.

Hey do you have an idea about when the next video is coming out? I'm really looking forward to it!

Exodus is my favorite of the Ultimas for the Apple IIe.

If you enjoyed Castle Exodus I think you'll find something very enjoyable in the future.

Hi again, Georg! Didn't watch the review, but have some questions already :D Do you know about mods for U2 and U3? I've found some mods that make EGA or even VGA graphic instead of default CGA and something about map from U1 for U3. Didn't know that's a "remake" of U1 on U3 engine or not, but it can be interesting for you somehow.

5:28, and you are in Grey, which town is a key to avoiding literally tens of thousands- maybe even hundreds of thousands- of turns of aggravation. I recommend a new party to head there immediately. There are only four units of eight guards in the town. Join gold to one party member. Get that party member to bribe each unit of guards, at 100 gold, to vanish. Then steal the treasure chests behind the counter in the shop, and attack everybody everywhere. The thief in the vault attacks you anyway, so imagine this as self-defense. Every enemy left in Grey is a single opponent, with as much treasure as any full enemy party of eight, so ganging up on them is the easiest and most profitable combat you can have. Use Appar Unem to disarm every treasure chest, no exceptions- your novices cannot afford to be hurt. It's irritating because the spell often fails, but starting a game over is worse. Make it a goal to purchase at least a dozen powders, forty torches, and a score of gems at the Guild. Buy food when necessary. Sell superfluous weapons and armour- thieves can steal them during combat, so they are best sold as soon as possible. Get your fighter-types ranged weapons. Save at least 400 Gold to bribe the Guards again. Go to Lord British to unlock Hit Point increases as soon as possible. Leave town, then re-enter, repeat your Bribing, fighting, treasure-gathering and Guild item purchasing until everybody has at least 200 experience points and you have the Guild equipment mentioned above. Go to the dungeon NE of Lord British's Castle, get everyone the Mark of Kings, which unlocks 550+ HP. Use the Moon Gates to get to the mountain-locked dungeon. Put your Thief-type in front of the party. Go down to Level 4. There are two fountains; one cures poison, the other maximizes HP. Drink from the Increase HP fountain to top everybody up. Using your rogue, disarm all traps on levels 4 and 5, even before grabbing a single treasure chest; get healed as soon as a party member falls below 200 HP. Climbing up and down the ladder in the middle of the floor, now grab all the treasure chests, retreating and healing as necessary. If powerful enemies attack you, use your Powders to negate time and defeat them. Powders are cheaper than paying for resurrection at a healer. Go back to the surface, get XP promotions, more food, then re-enter. Return and repeat until every party member has as close to 9999 Gold as possible. Rove the map, visit towns, talk to everybody to get clues, kill occasional foes, but leave their treasure for when you need it later. Keep your eyes peeled for that Pirate Ship! Capture it. Get the Exotics from the islands; get more than you need, in case of thieves. Equip all party members eith the armour, and your non-ranged heroes with the weapons. Take the "whirlpool plunge". In Ambrosia, focus on Strength and Dexterity the first time. Use your keys and gems to find and access the Shrines. Get the Cards at each Shrine; spend all that hard-earned gold. Go back to Sosaria. Hit the mountain dungeon again. Return to Ambrosia. Top off your party members. Always max out Strength; for Dexterity, top your rogues. 50 Dex is usually enough for everybody else. Max out your mages' Intelligence and Wisdom. Return to Sosaria. Clobber everybody- Guard units, for example, always consist of eight characters worth 15XP each, so that's 120 XP guaranteed; they are a good target now. Visit Lord British to max out your Hit Points. Get the other Marks in the dungeons; their bottom levels are no longer a death sentence for your now-powerful heroes. Go for Exodus; yell the Word of Passage at the Great Earth Snake. Equip Exotic weapons and armour for all. Hit the lawn and the bricks. Fight through the Castle to get to Exodus. Follow the proper order to vanquish the enemy! Victory in under 150,000 turns- consistently and easily. If I did it, years ago, so can anybody else.

good job george

Oh yeah, this is ganna be good...

Ultima III is my favorite Ultima. Then Ultima II. In the past V was my favorite, but it is not as replayable as II and III. My play style makes most use of the Thief first, then Druid. There is a great way to get gold and xp. First, get to level 2, then buy some torches. Then visit the dungeon to the east and north of the castle. Cast down level twice (to dungeon level 3). Search the corners and open the chest with the Theif. Cast up to get out. You'll get over 1,000 gold and xp from fighting.

You forgot to mention the most terrifying enemy in Exodus: The Floor!

Fuck! I blinked and missed three of your videos!

You deserve more subs

Only Ultima I played and finished was Complete Ultima 7 back in nineties. In my country Ultimas were not very popular mainly because of the language barrier. But I fell in love with the mythology after I read about the series in the game magazine. I loved 7 to death, I played it for every minute I could, printed the map, learned the runes, kept a journal... but was not able to get into any other ones. Too spoiled by the modern interface of 7...

Cool. I found this video one day after beating Ultima III for the first time. All human party with classic fighter, thief, cleric and mage. I recommend not trying to be balanced, but dish out 25 in dexterity (for fighters) else they can't really hit the targets, and 25 for spellcasters, to max out their usefulness. Unfortunately if you play the game like I did you will be stuck with those attributes to the very end of the game. :P I discovered that my Wizard+Cleric had enough combined MP (25+25) to effectively grind all my money in Dardin's Pit at the beginning of the game, right after my first 5 levels and buying a pile of torches. Two teleports down, get the center room chests and the corner room chests and drink at the fountain there for a full heal, then three teleports up to the surface, rest to full MP, save, and back down. Repeat over and over again. Boring but fast and can be done right after buying your first torches, but some level ups for the hitpoints to survive traps is preferred, but I stayed around 3-600 hp. I actually forgot to level up by accident. And your video make me glad I did. After that I would probably consider not getting the "Mark of Kings" at all until you're Level 5 with all characters, then simply forget to level up at all until you are ready to go for the ending. What killed Ultima III for me was the need to go to that other continent for attribute points. You want to grind like 3-40000 gold before going there, and have to do that with your starting attributes. After my first visit to the other continent I had 75+75 MP making it much faster and much safer to continue the same grind. And once I had maxed out all my attributes it was very fast to get all the other marks. Only then, after doing all that, did I level up my characters right before beating the game... I actually liked the ending. Silly end boss but not unexpected after Ultima I and II.

And so, four months later, I am revisiting this series of reviews. Why? Not because this is one of my favorite channels (but past views were for this reason lol), but because I decided to play Ultima myself! In the first one, for some reason, I didn't get access to the time machine from the princess and I already watched the finale on RU-vid, and in the second ... Well, I definitely agreed with your review while I was playing. So I couldn't really get anywhere, because although it looks like a more "standard" role-playing game, but, nevertheless, a lot is broken and really thieves stealing the blue pendance even after you just knocked her out, this is masochism lol ... Would I have dared to do this crazy Ultima race if it hadn't been for your videos, even though all the parts were bought from me a long time ago in GOG? I think not! Thank you so much for that. Rarely do I get the feeling that I’m discussing a game live when I’m just watching the video. I am glad that you are responding to fresh comments and that everything is apparently fine with you! I even specially sorted them by date to make sure of this. :) P.S. Still waiting for Space Quest 2 review. Especially Cubix Rube part lol.

I'm playing this now and I hate the 'beginner's hell', wonder if IV will be more of the same

God I really tried playing this game but the interface is so time consuming. This game needs a remake or remaster.

I don't agree with the break of the game at the higher levels. Once you max out levels 25, your combat is need to get gold. You can stock up on all the guild items, because they are expensive. You can get through the combats easier by buying more Powders to negate time, or gems and teleporting in dungeons you can get through them much faster--which is why up and down spells are very low casting cost--makes dungeon exploration easier.

*_There would be no Ultima IV...,_* *_...had there not been an Ultima III..._*

Best!

내가 100번째 댓글이지롱! 한국에서도 이 게임 했던 사람들이 지금 한국 온라인 게임을 만들고 있음

Ugh.. finally X-D

The DOS version has THE WORST graphics. Just awful. Not to mention the music (or lack thereof). I know you're done with this already, but perhaps take a look at it on the C64, Apple ][e, and Atari 800 systems. A comparison. Way WAY WAY better!! With the Apple ][e version, make sure you enable Mockingboard support in your emulator or you'll ultra-crap audio. (The Apple version is arguably the "purest" one as it's what Garriot used to write it) Also, that annoying movement delay you mention isn't there in those other versions. I haven't looked on your channel yet, but I wonder if you've done the Wizardry series. BRUTAL games!

2:24 Wow, just putting the transphobia on full display .