“With language like this, how couldst thou become an Avatar?”
Ultima V is already a great deal more fun for nitpickers. Dialogues have become more lengthy, and NPCs are more related to each other, which creates a much more complex plot; a plot that has also become more prone to inaccuracies. However, real bad mistakes are rare, because the great era of the series had just begun with “Warriors of Destiny”: There are gray moral situations and moods in Ultima V, unlike in Ultima IX, which draws everything in black and white. Ultima V was also the first Ultima to use NPC schedules - a feature mercilessly eliminated in Ultima IX. The plot is open and flexible: You can do everything in any order you wish, not like in Ultima IX, which forces the player to follow a linear plot like in an adventure game.
The following nitpick is new:
Ignorance of predecessors
-
It’s strange that we don’t hear a single word about the rune stones
in Ultima V. They were last seen when the Stranger became the Avatar in Ultima IV, and in Ultima
VI, they’ll suddenly reappear in the cities.
(by Hacki Dragon) -
The designers missed the opportunity to tell us why Sentri, the lord of Serpent’s
Hold in Ultima IV, has suddenly become an adventurer hiding in Bordermarch. I also
thought the three castles offer resistance against Blackthorn, so why then is Sentri not with
his men in the keep?
(by Hacki Dragon) -
Where are the Book of Truth, Candle of Love, and Bell of Courage?
(by Tribun Dragon) -
According to everybody’s statements, the Isle of the Avatar rose from the sea
after the end of the last game. However, the Isle was already there in Ultima IV!
(by Tribun Dragon) -
What happened to the treasure vault of Lord British? (I know: He gave all
his gold to the poor and lives off the high interest rates now.)
(by Tribun Dragon) -
The Book of Lore, Ultima IV history part, reads:
They obviously forgot about Magincia here. Magincia once was the city of pride, until it was destroyed by daemons (before Ultima IV). It wasn’t until after the Quest of the Avatar that shepherds rebuilt the town.“The eight city-states, now townes united under Lord British, were each dedicated to fostering the study and spread of a single virtue.”
Therefore, that line in the Book of Lore can’t be correct, as there were only seven towns in Britannia before Ultima V.
(by Flash) -
At the end of Ultima IV, when you returned to Earth, it said you could always return to Britannia
now, because you knew the
“secret of the gates”
. However, all later Ultimas (especially Ultima V) claim that you’d love to return to Britannia but can’t.
(by Flash) -
According to the Book of Mystic Wisdom, “Z is the first letter of the unpronounceable truename of the Lord of the Underworld”
. If we believe Ultima V, the Underworld doesn’t come into being until after Ultima IV, or, if you take Ultima VI into account, you should meet that Lord then. (Any chance this is an unknown name of Draxinusom?)
(by Flash)
Technical shortcomings
-
Did the islands that now house keeps like Bordermarch really rise through volcanic
activities only? If this is true, then villages and towns should have been affected
as well.
(by Tribun Dragon) -
On the map of Britannia, Buccaneer’s Den is too far to the south! The
reason is pretty clear: The spot where the island is located in the game is exactly where the
Ultima V logo was placed on the map.
(by Hacki Dragon) -
We are told that the Codex always appears in the language of the reader. However,
when the Avatar reads it, it shows runes instead of Latin characters.
(by Tribun Dragon) -
The Drylands throw up some questions. Not only is it most suspicious that the lake
suddenly dried up, but it’s also even more strange that the Shrine of Sacrifice
remains completely unharmed at the very center of the desert.
(by Hyena of Ice) -
Many will find this to be too pedantic, considering the simple graphical possibilities of Ultima
V, but I think it’s interesting:
The Lord British sprite wears a crown - That’s impossible, because the Avatar has Lord British’s Crown. The sprite also wears a royal cloak, which seems strange, since Lord British originally was on an expedition and surely wore more comfortable clothes.
(by Tribun Dragon) -
When you go down to the Underworld through a dungeon and try to return to the surface
through a different dungeon, the entrance will be sealed! It’s a bit strange
that the spell of the Great Council was powerful enough to seal even the dungeon exits at the
ground of the Underworld.
(by BlueClaw) -
In the intro it’s mentioned that Blackthorn banned magic use in Britannia,
and that any use of magic brought the Shadowlords upon the caster. This raises two possible
flaws:
- If magic was supposedly banned by Blackthorn, then why are apothecaries still allowed to do business? They sell the primary ingredients for spellcasting! Little wonder Blackie’s regime fell with such lax totalitarianism like that...
- Whenever the Avatar casts magic, should that not bring the Shadowlords to his very location each time?
(by BlueClaw) -
Why did Lord British not take the Orb of the Moons with him when he entered
the Underworld? If he had done so, then he and his companions could have escaped any time...
(The only possible excuse: He did not want to take the risk of losing the Orb. But someone
that cautious normally doesn’t undertake dangerous expeditions into unknown worlds, either!)
(by Hacki Dragon) -
Skeletons leave blood when you kill them. This could easily have been fixed.
(by Dino the Dark Dragon) -
In Ultima V, the three castles are supposed to be opposing Blackthorn. However, his
own guards guard the castles. (The Oppression does an excellent job, doesn’t
it?)
(by Dino the Dark Dragon) -
When the Avatar arrives in Britannia and the scene with the Shadowlords takes place, you see
a stream, a bridge, and a waterfall. However, all this happens in close vicinity
of Iolo’s Hut, where there’s no stream or waterfall, or even a bridge, nearby.
(Note that the Avatar and Iolo have to carry Shamino to the hut, so it must be close...)
(by Trevor Clim) -
On the intro picture with the lightning, when the Avatar arrives in Britannia, he wears a helmet.
Yet in the very next scene, he suddenly wears a chain coif.
(by Tribun Dragon) -
The programmers reproduced Lord British’s cell with every detail reflected
through the mirror. However, they forgot the stove!
(by Dino the Dark Dragon)
General problems
-
The three castles (Lycaeum, Empath Abbey, and Serpent’s Hold) are said to offer resistance
against Blackthorn’s regime. However, the guards don’t keep anyone from
entering the keeps, and there is no sign of fighting or even war. Strange.
(by Hacki Dragon) -
What actually happens to the Codex coin in the course of the game?
(by Tribun Dragon) -
The Underworld can’t have been created just by the material thrown out of the
Abyss, if only because of the Underworld’s size. So it’s nonsense what
Iolo says in the introduction.
(by Tribun Dragon) -
Why is dungeon Doom actually sealed? The Great Council didn’t even know
it existed! Likewise, why is the Word of Power for Doom the same as the password for the Codex
in Ultima IV?
(by Tribun Dragon) -
Everyone keeps saying that the Shadowlords had not been able not leave the Underworld
until Lord British shortly opened one dungeon to descend. But why didn’t they simply
leave the Underworld by flying up through a whirlpool? If humans survive this, then it’d
hardly be surprising if they survived it, too...!
(by Tribun Dragon) -
They say Lord British descended into the Underworld through a dungeon, which is simply wrong.
The expedition went through the waterfall west of Trinsic. This naturally
leads to the question how the Shadowlords could escape from the Underworld at all...
(by Sergorn Dragon) -
Leof in North Britanny says the Lycaeum is located on Dagger Isle, but it
is actually located on Verity Isle.
(by Dino the Dark Dragon)
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