Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny

Warriors of Destiny featured much more polished writing (earlier games were riddled with some spelling errors and uneven vocabulary) and considerably greater detail than previous games. It was the first Ultima to implement a time-of-day system in which the sun rises and sets, and non-player characters follow daily routine schedules. This game has been lauded as realistically portraying a culture living under a dictatorial regime; its tone is much darker than that of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.

As in Ultima IV, the player can interact with non-player characters (NPCs) by typing a word or phrase that signifies the topic to discuss. The NPCs will say what they care to share about a subject when it is mentioned, and the player can repeat key words used in the NPC's response to ask for further details. Sometimes, an NPC will ask a question of the player, and the player must give an appropriate response to keep the conversation active. As in Ultima IV only the first four letters of player spoken text are read by the game i.e. for 'shrine' the player need only type 'shri'.

The Shadowlords

The Shadowlords play an integral role in enforcing the oppressive atmosphere of Britannia in Ultima V. They appear at various times in different towns, and affect the townspeople. If the Shadowlord of Cowardice is about, the people will run away from the player, afraid. If under the effect of the Shadowlord of Falsehood, they will try to steal from the player. If the Shadowlord of Hatred is affecting them, they will try to attack. Later in the game, the player learns to track the movement of the Shadowlords by using astronomy.

Each of the Shadowlords represents the antithesis of one of the three guiding principles: Faulinei, the Shadowlord of Falsehood opposes Truth; Astaroth, the Shadowlord of Hatred opposes Love; and Nosfentor, the Shadowlord of Cowardice opposes Courage. The Shadowlords must be defeated, but this cannot be accomplished through pure combat.

First, the player must learn each Shadowlord's name by interviewing NPCs, Second, the three shards of the Gem of Immortality must be recovered from their scattered locations in the Underworld. Finally, the player must visit each of the sacred flames (the Flame of Truth at the Lycaeum, the Flame of Love at Empath Abbey, and the Flame of Courage at Serpent's Hold), summon the corresponding Shadowlord by shouting its name, lure the Shadowlord into the flame and finally destroy the shard by throwing it into the flame.

Transportation and Exploration

In addition to traveling by foot, the player's party can ride horses, sail ships, and row skiffs. The player can also use the eight moongates, the magical doorways that appear each night in eight locations across Britannia. Stepping through one transports the player to another moongate, determined by the phases of the two moons. Although by default the moongates are located near each of the eight major towns, it is possible to relocate the gates to other areas by digging at their location to get the moonstones they appear over. Transplanting moongates proves to be a boon later in the game when exploring the Underworld.

Two additional modes of transportation, the grapple and the magic carpet, are also available. The grapple can be used to scale small mountains (though the large mountains remain impassible throughout the game.) The magic carpet is a handy way of traversing the game world, as it can float over almost any terrain, as well as increasing the party's speed to make it easier to escape monsters.

The carpet can float easily over swamp, rivers and coastal waters, but flying over rough sea waters or lava will injure the party. Both items are located by piecing together conversations from multiple NPCs and completing side quests, though with prior knowledge an experienced player can acquire both items very easily and very early in the game.

The Evolution of Ultima

After Ultima V, the series continued to evolve, introducing deeper storytelling, improved graphics, and more expansive worlds.

• Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990) introduced a tile-based world where players could freely move and interact with objects in new ways.
• Ultima VII: The Black Gate (1992) expanded the narrative depth, presenting a more immersive open-world experience with a real-time environment.
• Ultima VIII: Pagan (1994) experimented with a more action-oriented approach, moving away from the traditional turn-based gameplay.
• Ultima IX: Ascension (1999) brought full 3D graphics and aimed to conclude the Avatar's journey, though it was met with mixed reactions due to technical issues.

These later Ultima titles continued to shape RPG storytelling, but Ultima V remains a fan-favorite for its balance of depth, challenge, and immersive world-building.