Ultima II was Lord British's second game in the Ultima series, not counting the so-called "Ultima 0," Akalabeth. It was originally published by Sierra On-Line for the Apple II, and subsequent versions were released for a handful of platforms, including DOS and the C-64. Generally, Ultima II is considered the weakest of all the Ultima games, although this is understandable as Lord British was still learning assembly language programming. The plot of the game involves you, the hero, being chased to Earth by the lover of Mondain, the nemesis in Ultima I.
She corrupts Earth's timeline, and you must travel between eras and back to her castle in the Time of Legends.
The game features time doors, a precursor of moongates, there are lots of dungeons, and you can explore other planets as well. The problem is simply this is all useless, and there is little or no reason to go anywhere but a few plot-necessary locations. They are not interesting, and mostly consist of "cute" in-jokes for computer game makers circa 1983. The combat system is a straightforward attack-and-point method, where as the conversation system, such as it is, involves other characters giving a phrase when you speak to them. Most of these phrases are generic--"Ugh me tough" for fighters, "Hex e poo,
hex on you" for mages, etc. Shops sell a variety of weapons and armor, as well as food, but it usually is far more efficient to steal them.
One of the more intriguing features of the game is the massive number of strange, miscellaneous items you can collect from battles with the 5 or 6 different enemies. These include magic helms, magic boots, skull keys, and so on, and each has its own particular use, which you learn about either by being told they did something or from hints given by various characters.
The graphics are rudimentary, but the water and some monsters are animated, an improvement from the original Ultima I. Minax, comically, has exactly the same tile as Mondain did in the previous game, but with a few pixels missing from her waist. Killing her is a bit anticlimactic, because by the time you reach the endgame, you are so powerful nothing can stop you. The sound effects are primitive and there is no music, but what do you expect? It's not a bad game by any measure, but it's a low point in the Ultima series.
