The Ultima series was one of the first thoroughly developed RPG series. Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny improves the series without watering down what had already been accomplished in the prior games. Including a marked improvement in graphics and gameplay over Ultima 4, Ultima 5 shows that RPG series can continue a running theme and still stand out on its own. While knowing the prior Ultimas serves to enrich the experience of playing Warriors of Destiny, anyone new to the series can start at Ultima 5 without losing out on hours of excellent gaming.
The Ultima series was one of the first thoroughly developed RPG series. Ultima 5: Warriors of Destiny improves the series without watering down what had already been accomplished in the prior games. Including a marked improvement in graphics and gameplay over Ultima 4, Ultima 5 shows that RPG series can continue a running theme and still stand out on its own. While knowing the prior Ultimas serves to enrich the experience of playing Warriors of Destiny, anyone new to the series can start at Ultima 5 without losing out on hours of excellent gaming. The story is well developed and in-depth. Character progression is entertaining and rewarding. One of the first attempts at party play in an RPG is seen
in the Ultima series and not many games have pulled it off as well. Once you start playing this game you will be pulled into the story and the many hours of gameplay required to finish will never disappoint.
The in-depth storyline is compelling and filled with side quests you can pursue at any time. The land of Britannia is vast and has a developed history. While roaming the vast countryside and visiting the large number of towns and villages you will encounter many different enemies and speak with many independent NPCs. Each NPC will have their own personality and conversational directions to pursue. In going through the game, I ended up with pages upon pages of handwritten info from conversations which further drew me into the game and storyline.
The Ultima series was one of the first to introduce class diversification. There are many different ways to play through Ultima 5 as there are several classes to pursue. Upon starting the game, the player has a series of questions to answer. How you answer ultimately leads to determining the class of your character, such as Mage, Fighter, Bard, Shepherd, and Paladin. The different classes excel in either fighting or magic but fighters can use magic and conversely mages can use bows and swords. You will start the game venturing out on your own but will soon find characters to party up with. By the end of the game you will have a full party of 6 and will be able to choose from several different characters to fill that 6. Each character is of a different class and you will want to be selective as there are far more characters to choose from than can fill your partyI myself played through the game several times, focusing on different skills and classes each time.
Ultima 5 is my preferred selection from the Ultima series and even with the incredible graphics and enormous worlds of today’s RPGs, Warriors of Destiny remains an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
