For me, Ultima V is defined by a tension between the exciting ambitions of its worldbuilding and the frustrations of its approach towards the traditional strictures of the CRPG.
Ultima V is fascinating, a game that subverts the groundbreaking moral structure of its predecessor by transforming its moral principles into tools of absolutist violence. Its vision of an oppressed Britannia is dark, bleak, and more immersive than ever before, thanks to an impressive-for-1988 devotion to world simulation (there's a day-night cycle! NPCs have their own schedules! you can sit in a chair!) and more fleshed-out writing in NPC conversations.
But my favorite thing about it is its progression. The conversation system is based around keywords and a text parser - a character may have a key piece of information on how to defeat the Shadowlords and free Britannia, but you won't know to ask them about it unless you've spoken to another character halfway across the world. With a journal in hand, this turns the game into an exercise in cross-continent detective work, requiring you to gather and follow-up on clues and leads as you travel from town to town and seek out every human settlement in Britannia. This is where the game shines, requiring you to explore and forcing you to sit with the world the development team has built and see the effects Lord Blackthorn's violent rule has had on the people of Britannia.
Unfortunately Ultima V also wants to be an RPG, and this is where it's at its weakest. I've never been a big fan of the combat in this era of Ultima, and it continues to be relatively slow and tedious here. Character progression takes a frustratingly long time - an unbelievable amount of XP is required to hit the max level of 8, and only the character who deals the killing blow to an enemy gets any XP from it. To top it off, magic kills give no XP whatsoever, cutting off a lot of the tactical usefulness of combat spells, and in classic CRPG fashion, dying down-levels you and removes a significant amount of XP. None of this was much of a problem until I hit the combat-heavy dungeons, most of which are required to get many of the items needed to finish the game. Even after a full 20 hours with a smaller party of 4 characters (out of a max of 8), my Avatar was only level 6, with most of the rest of my party at levels 4 or 5. Suffice to say, getting through the final dungeon was a struggle and I nearly gave up a handful of times.
It's been a decade since I played the first four Ultimas, but I don't remember the combat grating on me so much before. Some cursory reading on the internet confirms that a lot of these problems are unique to Ultima V - combat is harder here and plays a more central role, and it's a lot less forgiving when it comes to doling out XP. While it's in keeping with the game's bleak world and atmosphere, it's also a bummer, and takes away from the game's very real strengths.
Ultima V is fascinating, a game that subverts the groundbreaking moral structure of its predecessor by transforming its moral principles into tools of absolutist violence. Its vision of an oppressed Britannia is dark, bleak, and more immersive than ever before, thanks to an impressive-for-1988 devotion to world simulation (there's a day-night cycle! NPCs have their own schedules! you can sit in a chair!) and more fleshed-out writing in NPC conversations.
But my favorite thing about it is its progression. The conversation system is based around keywords and a text parser - a character may have a key piece of information on how to defeat the Shadowlords and free Britannia, but you won't know to ask them about it unless you've spoken to another character halfway across the world. With a journal in hand, this turns the game into an exercise in cross-continent detective work, requiring you to gather and follow-up on clues and leads as you travel from town to town and seek out every human settlement in Britannia. This is where the game shines, requiring you to explore and forcing you to sit with the world the development team has built and see the effects Lord Blackthorn's violent rule has had on the people of Britannia.
Unfortunately Ultima V also wants to be an RPG, and this is where it's at its weakest. I've never been a big fan of the combat in this era of Ultima, and it continues to be relatively slow and tedious here. Character progression takes a frustratingly long time - an unbelievable amount of XP is required to hit the max level of 8, and only the character who deals the killing blow to an enemy gets any XP from it. To top it off, magic kills give no XP whatsoever, cutting off a lot of the tactical usefulness of combat spells, and in classic CRPG fashion, dying down-levels you and removes a significant amount of XP. None of this was much of a problem until I hit the combat-heavy dungeons, most of which are required to get many of the items needed to finish the game. Even after a full 20 hours with a smaller party of 4 characters (out of a max of 8), my Avatar was only level 6, with most of the rest of my party at levels 4 or 5. Suffice to say, getting through the final dungeon was a struggle and I nearly gave up a handful of times.
It's been a decade since I played the first four Ultimas, but I don't remember the combat grating on me so much before. Some cursory reading on the internet confirms that a lot of these problems are unique to Ultima V - combat is harder here and plays a more central role, and it's a lot less forgiving when it comes to doling out XP. While it's in keeping with the game's bleak world and atmosphere, it's also a bummer, and takes away from the game's very real strengths.