# Ultima III: Exodus - Work: Computer RPG - Date: 1983 (Apple II) - Made by: Richard Garriott (Designer & programmer) - Houses: Origin Systems - Platforms: Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, PC-88, PC-98, FM-7, MSX2, NES / Famicom - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/ultima-iii-exodus/ > The first Ultima from Origin Systems sends a party of four against Exodus, spawn of Mondain and Minax, with animated tiles, tactical battles, a musical score, and a villain defeated not by the sword but by punch cards. **Why it matters:** Exodus brought party-based tactical combat, animation and music to the Ultima series, was widely ported and imitated, and helped inspire Japan's Dragon Quest; the protests over its demonic cover also pushed Garriott toward the moral themes of Ultima IV. ## Quick answers **When was Ultima III: Exodus first released?** Ultima III: Exodus was first released in 1983 (Apple II). **Who created Ultima III: Exodus?** Ultima III: Exodus was made by Richard Garriott (designer & programmer). **Who published or developed Ultima III: Exodus?** Origin Systems. **What kind of work is Ultima III: Exodus?** Ultima III: Exodus is a computer RPG in the Western Computer RPGs (CRPG) tradition, released for Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, IBM PC, Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, PC-88, PC-98, FM-7, MSX2 and NES / Famicom. **Why is Ultima III: Exodus important?** Exodus brought party-based tactical combat, animation and music to the Ultima series, was widely ported and imitated, and helped inspire Japan's Dragon Quest; the protests over its demonic cover also pushed Garriott toward the moral themes of Ultima IV. ## Overview The Stranger has slain Mondain and his apprentice Minax, but something has been left behind. From its stronghold on the Isle of Fire, Exodus, their offspring, "neither human nor machine," is laying waste to Sosaria, and Lord British summons adventurers again. *Ultima III: Exodus*, released on August 23, 1983, for the Apple II and originally titled *Exodus: Ultima III*, closed the "Age of Darkness" trilogy and was the first game published by [Richard Garriott](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/richard-garriott/)'s new family company, [Origin Systems](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/origin-systems/). It is the game in which *Ultima* grew up technically: a [The party](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/party/) of four instead of a lone hero, tactical battles, animation and music. ## Origins *Ultima II* (1982) had been published by [Sierra On-Line](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/sierra-on-line/), which agreed to Garriott's demand that it be boxed with a cloth map. A dispute over royalties for its IBM PC port persuaded Garriott to publish himself. With his brother Robert, their father Owen, and Chuck Bueche, he founded Origin Systems, and *Exodus* was its first release. Garriott openly borrowed from the competition. He credited Sir-Tech's [*Wizardry*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/wizardry/) as the inspiration for managing a party, and the dungeons abandoned the wireframe look of the earlier games for solid-walled 3D mazes. On the overworld, enemies were visible on the map and could be avoided; and line of sight hid what lay behind mountains, forests and walls. On the Apple II the game supported the Mockingboard sound card for a full score composed by Kenneth W. Arnold, which played on Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 ports too. ## How it plays Players build four characters from 11 [classes](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/character-class/) (fighter, paladin, cleric, wizard, ranger, thief, barbarian, lark, illusionist, druid and alchemist) and five races (human, elf, dwarf, bobbit and fuzzy), whose limits cap how high statistics can grow. The party moves as one icon on the map but splits onto a tactical battle screen in combat, where each member acts in turn, a significant change from the earlier games' one-on-one exchanges. Levels come only when Lord British grants them, and hit points are capped at 2,550. Travel is on foot, on horseback, or by boat, which must be captured from pirates. Townsfolk can be talked to, bribed, stolen from or fought, at the risk of summoning guards in groups of eight. Dungeons of eight levels hold magical marks that must be branded onto characters, and fountains that heal or poison. The key to victory is hidden in the Time Lord's words and in the lost land of Ambrosia: collect four marks and four cards, reach Exodus on the Isle of Fire, and insert the cards into the machine in the right order. As *Computer Gaming World*'s Scorpia observed, the villain's "surprisingly quiet and nonviolent" defeat anticipated the less combative endings of later games. ## Reception & impact *Softline* wrote that it "far surpasses" its predecessors and set "new standards for the fantasy gaming state of the art." *Compute!* called it "a modern-day masterpiece," praising the cloth map, extensive documentation and "thrilling" dungeons, and the *Chicago Tribune* named it one of the best computer games of its day. It won the adventure game of the year prize in *Computer Gaming World*'s 1985 reader poll and entered the magazine's Hall of Fame in 1988. Sales passed 100,000 by August 1986 and 120,000 by 1990. Not everyone approved. The demonic figure on the box drew protests from religious fundamentalists during the [Satanic Panic](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/satanic-panic/), who accused the game of corrupting young people and encouraging Satan worship. Garriott, reading his first real volume of player mail, took the criticism as a prompt to think about what his games taught, and answered with [*Ultima IV*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/ultima-iv/). ## Legacy Ported to 13 other platforms, *Exodus* reached audiences far beyond the Apple II. In Japan it appeared on the PC-88, PC-98, FM-7 and MSX2, some editions packing a jigsaw-puzzle map, and in 1987 as a reworked Famicom game from Pony Canyon, released in North America by FCI. *Computer Gaming World* noted in 1994 that *Exodus* "was the game that became known as *Ultima* to hundreds of thousands of cartridge gamers." It is often cited, with *Wizardry*, as an influence on [*Dragon Quest*](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/dragon-quest/) and through it the Japanese console RPG. It is often credited with laying the foundations of the computer RPG genre, and in 1993 LairWare licensed it for a full-color Macintosh remake which the company went on selling for years. ## Facts - Garriott credited Wizardry as the inspiration for its party-based combat. - It was among the first computer RPGs with animated characters, and on the Apple II it played a full score through the Mockingboard sound card. - Exodus turns out to be a kind of computer; the final battle is won by inserting four cards in the right order. - Characters can choose among 11 classes, including the bard-like Lark, the Illusionist and the Alchemist, and 5 races including the Fuzzy. - You can attack Lord British, but he cannot be killed in combat; cannon fire from a ship only defeats him until you re-enter the castle. - Its demonic box art drew protests from religious critics who accused the game of corrupting youth. - Some Japanese computer editions replaced the cloth map with a jigsaw puzzle of the map. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_III:_Exodus) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.