There was so much attention to detail in this game. (the other half was the character/user disk)Ĭonsidering the timeframe this game was released in, absolutely nothing. The ultima world was HUGE for a game that came on 1/2 of a 360k disk. (early 80's) A cloth map, spellbooks with textured covers, each printed on heavyweight paper. The packaging for this game was unlike any other that I'd seen at the time. This installment introduces separate combat screens where player-controlled party fights multiple monsters in a turn-based tile-based system. Like in earlier Ultima games, exploration is divided between top-down overworld locations and first-person 3D dungeons. The game has larger and more detailed towns, populated by NPCs the protagonist can converse with to obtain clues. The party is created at the beginning of the game by assigning various class combinations and determining the characters' attributes. The third title in the Ultima series was the first to feature a party of adventurers instead of a single player character. Obviously, it falls upon the hero from Earth to find and stop him. Now that child has become an adult with the power to avenge the death of his parents. Times passes and eventually geological disruptions and a resurgence of the monster populace occur, and it is soon learned that Mondain and Minax had conceived a child named Exodus before their death. The track order is based on when you'll likely hear the songs through normal game play.After the defeat of the evil wizard Mondain and his mistress Minax in the previous two Ultimas, peace has returned to the land of Sorsaria. Ken Arnold should be contacted for official titles, and game files should be researched to find more appropriate titles. They are based on popular names found on the Internet and where the songs appear in the game. The titles come from the original Apple II soundtrack. As the demo is acted out, music from the game is played in the background eventually playing the game's entire soundtrack, even the Exodus' Castle theme. Ultima III: Exodus is also the first of the Ultima games to feature a title screen demonstration of the game. Two songs, Towne and Shrines, have been trimmed in half and are missing the second verses with altered pitch. It's barely perceptible, but about one minute of music on the Apple II will be stretched to about a minute and two seconds on the C64 port. The conversion process added a rather buzzy sound to the music, and it plays at a slightly slower tempo than the original Apple II version. The music is kept similar to the Apple II version which was composed to play in the inferior AY-3-9830 chip on the Apple II's Mockingboard, so the port doesn't take full advantage of the C64's SID chip. The arrangement to the Commodore 64 was probably done by Arnold, but it may have been done by the C64 porter, Chuck Bueche. The music was originally composed by Ken Arnold for the original Apple II version of the game, and was ported along with the Commodore 64 version. There are eight songs, and two fanfares, which was pretty impressive for 1983.

The over world music is long and intricate, the dungeons have more aggravating music, and the now iconic British tune Rule, Britannia! plays in Lord British's throne room for the first time. This is the first Ultima game to be released with a full soundtrack and the well-composed tunes add much-needed mood to the game. Though C64 port features a 1983 copyright, it may have been released in 1984.Įach main section Ultima III: Exodus has its own music which continues to play in the background as the game unfolds. These two versions are superior to the Atari 8-bit and DOS ports, but later ports for the Amiga, NES, and other platforms were superior. It features comparable graphics, music, and controls.

The game was ported to the Commodore 64 by Chuck Bueche and was very similar to the original Apple II game. Multiple-character parties, separate combat screens, travel by ship, various quests, the signed victory letter from Lord British himself, and most important for this site, music! The game has a decent amount of additions from its predecessors. Unfortunately, you must first perform a painful amount of grinding to gain enough gold, levels, and stats to become strong enough to fight Exodus. In doing so, you will save the land of Sosaria from certain destruction. In Ultima III: Exodus, you create and control a party of four adventurers who are trying to foil the plans of the dreaded Exodus, the spawn of Mondain and Minax. For other games in the series see Ultima.

Exodus ultima iii c64