Exodus: Ultima III
DOS - 1985
Also released on: Amiga - Apple II - Atari 8-bit - Atari ST - Commodore 64 - PC-88
Description of Exodus: Ultima III
Greg137 commented:
Ultima III that game whether you picked the NES port or the DOS version both had their problems.
NES version- Ships lost their cannons, They added a new status condition that was almost impossible to treat(cold), nearly every treasure chest was booby trapped with either poison(which did more damage) or the common cold difficult to treat), and while you could resurrect by lord British if you got wiped, Lord British would revive you with only a few HP, and hospitals lost their restore HP option, so you ended up resetting anyway unless you were level 2 or below, while you could save the game you were only given two areas in the entire game to save your progress, Armor didn't help much, and in fact some types of armor didn't work at all, mobs couldn't drop loot, and running around the map with a party of 4 meant that you were attacked more often, and stealing brought out the teleporting RED Guards who were the toughest enemies in the game next to Lord British(provided that you were stupid enough to attack him), and the floor! magic was thankfully easier to use.
NES was the yang where most of the problems occurred however it had a few critical good things about it that saved it from being a train wreck.. Dos version- enemies drop loot, ships had cannons, armor actually reduced your damage, Hospitals could heal you, you only had one condition to worry about(poison), you could actually bribe guards and they would leave, two main problems though which ruined it, Lord British didn't revive you if you died, and If you were wiped out game over your game would auto save after every character died, so it was essentially hardcore mode, you could revive a dead ally, but it cost you nine hundred to have a guarantee revival, and two hundred to heal your party members, 1100 gold in other words, and finally DOS version featured that your entire party occupied the same square so you could avoid monsters easier.. DOS was the Yin who had fewer problems but had the nastiest of the faults..
Both games had a system where the elements of your classes were divided into weapons , armor, steal and disarm, black magic and white magic, the game rotated the usefulness of each discipline, and so by the end game weapons and armor disciplines were useless since every class could use the best weapons and armors in the game! Steal and disarm was useless in the end game also.. Armor users were outdated in the mid point of the game when the best armor could be obtained by every class.. Weapons users could use bows until the end game(Exodus keep) where they were rendered useless at least on the NES version..
There was no point to stealing anything from the last castle(exodus's keep.. Black magic was only useful for wizards, as half wizards were rendered useless since they couldn't heal, white magic users, and dual casters(white and black) were the only people who could be useful in the end game.. That means Rangers, Paladins, Wizards, Clerics, druids, and illusionists are the only classes that can still function at top capacity while in Exodus's castle, while the rest of the classes were a liability that could get you killed.. Which means Thieves, barbarians, larks, alchemists, and fighters were a waste of effort to even try.. So yeah half the classes were useless while the other half could probably solo the entire game if played correctly..
If there was a version to recommend I would recommend the Gameboy color edition, provided that you can stand the awful music or you could just turn off the sound volume..
Ultima 3 can be upgraded using the patch provided by The Exodus Project.
External links
Captures and Snapshots
Comments and reviews
Zedwithmorals 2024-02-18 0 point
???. Yeah, developers in the 80s. A barely playable game until nes. I mean, you can only be resurrected so many times before you have to kick a—. Much like the game itself. And then the implicit cheating in this game. No wonder it’s still only $5. God.
larry 2020-05-07 0 point
gog and origin are offering just the dos version of the game. so how can we get the c64 or nes version legally?
mymoon 2020-03-29 1 point Commodore 64 version
Pretty impressive for its time. Was too young to really appreciate the game.
Tom 2018-12-31 2 points DOS version
Just beat this game again...Best game of all time! Except the NES version, that one kind of sucks. (And yes, I beat that version too) So many hours of my life were spent on this game and I see many more hours to come. I am about to play it again on the C64 to be honest.
ULTIMAte Commodore 2017-08-06 0 point
My favorite of the first trilogy. Wasn't too enamored of Ultima II, and I finished Ultima I relatively quickly.
Seannachie 2015-10-15 3 points
This looks like the version with the added fan-made content (graphic upgrades and midi music). I tracked down the original 4-color PC port and set up game directories for both versions. For the whiners who keep complaining about how much this version sucks, go play the vanilla version then come back to this one.
arnick 2015-09-19 -3 points DOS version
Man, this game is total shit compared to the NES version. I dare say it is completely unplayable. Developers got away with murder in the 80's, LOL.
Jake 2014-12-31 0 point DOS version
This was probably my favorite NES rpg ever, sadly that version is far superior to this DOS version (and the c-64 version.) Not so much a 'better' game, but the controls were much more comprehensible and streamlined (necessary with only the a, b, start and select buttons available on the NES controller.) Added to that the graphics (such as they are) were better, which is not really a contributing factor so much as the simple fact was they were cleaner so it was easier to see what was going on and it was not such an eye sore. This version with it's bright contrasting colors for the boxes combined with the overly similar color on the actual view screen just makes it hard to look at. That said the c-64 version, for once, was much worse, and nearly un-playable for the lack of being able to make out anything on the play screen.
happy player 2014-12-04 1 point DOS version
*plays ultima...cant understand it....reads the manual....cant find the instructions.....looks up online for the controls....finds controls. RAGE QUIT!!!*
that's me right there lol
OM 2013-02-01 0 point DOS version
...Blackjack,, that's an -ancient- bug that showed up when they did some tweaking just prior to putting out the first boxed set. James Van Artsdalen did that port, and he was ducking bullets for at the time for quite a whie.
BlackJack 2012-11-22 0 point DOS version
when I try to revive a dead player at a healer's, the game locks up..
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Buy Exodus: Ultima III
Exodus: Ultima III is available for a small price on the following website, and is no longer abandonware. GOG.com provides the best release and does not include DRM, please buy from them! You can read our online store guide .
Game Extras and Resources
Some of these file may not be included in the game stores. For Exodus: Ultima III, we have the following files:
6 MB (Amiga)Other Releases
Exodus: Ultima III was also released on the following systems:
Amiga
- Year: 1986
- Publisher: ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
- Developer: ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
Apple II
- Year: 1983
- Publisher: Ediciel Matra et Hachette, ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
- Developer: ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
Atari 8-bit
- Year: 1983
- Publisher: ORIGIN Systems, Inc., U.S. Gold Ltd.
- Developer: ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
Atari ST
- Year: 1986
- Publisher: ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
- Developer: ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
Commodore 64
- Year: 1983
- Publisher: All American Adventures, ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
- Developer: ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
PC-88
- Year: 1985
- Publisher: Pony Canyon, Inc., StarCraft, Inc.
- Developer: ORIGIN Systems, Inc.
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