Of all the Ultimas that this author has had the pleasure of playing, the most memorable was Exodus. In Ultima III Exodus yourself and a three other explorers are hired by Lord British to save the land of UIltima from a vicious enemy (can’t recall if it was a demon or dragon). The game’s intelligence would punish you for doing random things like robbing shopkeepers or attempting an assassination on Lord British. I recall getting my guys strong enough to fight one of the Lord’s bodyguards and the game saving and disallowing me from entering town from then on… hooray for multiple saves.

Ultima was your classing RPG, you go out and fight things trying your best to avoid death, mastering new skills and honing your battle prowess. Getting stronger means you get richer and getting richer meant you got better weapons, armor and magic which in turn makes you even stronger. I recall the difficulty of the game and the need to use my imagination on the pc version (I played both it and the NES version) due to the limited graphics and my team basically being stickmen.

Ultima Exodus had one of the most breathtaking endings of any RPG I have played. You and your team mount horses and have to escape a crumbling castle after slaying the final creature. This escape was through a gauntlet of debris with huge refuse falling with intent on crushing you as you rode out. The difficulty of the game itself and the big boss is enough to make you shake as you ride out hoping and wishing that you will not die and be forced to fight that boss again. Awesome, awesome game, Ultima Exodus was one of my favorite RPG experiences.