Exodus: Ultima III

Ultima III: Exodus, the third in the Ultima series, is it regarded by many as the most influential computer role-playing game (CRPGs) ever created, and is often cited by players as their favorite game in the series. Released in 1983, it was the first Ultima game published by Origin Systems.

The story of Exodus centers on a quest (back in Sosaria) to destroy the final remnant of the evil Mondain and Minax. Exodus features revolutionary graphics for its time, being the first computer RPG to feature animated characters. Also, Exodus differs from previous games in that players now direct the actions of a party of several characters rather than just one. Players now battle groups of enemies on a separate battle screen, where the player has to understand fairly complex weapons and magic systems and employ rudimentary tactics in order to overcome each opponent, as opposed to the system in the previous two games, in which the player is simply depicted as trading blows with one opponent on the main map until either is defeated.

While previous Ultima games let the player "explore" randomly generated dungeons (in Ultima I) or poorly-designed and plotwise completely irrelevant dungeons (in Ultima II) in wire-frame first-person, Exodus' dungeons are solid-3D in appearance, integrated into the game's plot, and remain the same across multiple plays (therefore introducing the element of requiring players to actually create their own maps for dungeons). In many other ways Exodus is more focused than the earlier parts; futuristic references are largely (though not completely) gone; also there are almost no map areas that do not serve some particular purpose in the game. The look of the game is no longer based on certain characteristics of the Apple II hardware; it is rather a carefully designed screen layout.

The game is named for its chief villain, Exodus, a demonic creation of Minax and Mondain that the series later describes as neither human nor machine. At the beginning of the game, Exodus is terrorizing the land of Sosaria from his stronghold on the Isle of Fire (later called Fire Island in Ultima Online). The player character is summoned by Lord British to defeat Exodus and embarks on a quest that takes him to the lost land of Ambrosia, to the depths of the dungeons of Sosaria to find the mysterious Time Lord, and finally to the Isle of Fire itself to confront Exodus in his lair. In the great tradition of old-school "Kill The Foozle" CRPGs, the game ends immediately upon Exodus' defeat; but unlike many games in the genre, Exodus cannot simply be killed in battle by a strong party of adventurers, but only through clever puzzle-solving and by paying attention to the many clues given throughout the game.

Although this is the last game in the series to take place in Old Sosaria, places in the game such as Ambrosia and the Isle of Fire make cameo appearances in later games, namely Ultima VII.

Exodus became a smash hit, and it is often cited as a main inspiration for later game developers.