The Very Ancient Dragon's Ultima I: First Age of Darkness Compendium

 

 

 

-- Ultima 1 Resource Page complete? YES
-- last updateApril 28, 2006
 

ULTIMA I: FIRST AGE OF DARKNESS (ult1)

Ultima I, originally just Ultima, was first released in 1980 for the Apple II. The game was one of THE FIRST commercial RPGs. It was "re-released in on December 23rd, 1986 (USCO# PA-317-505) as Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, entirely re-coded in assembly language, with improved graphics, much faster action, and with slightly improved gameplay, by Origin Systems. This re-release was sold in much greater numbers than the original release (thanks to the much increased market for computer games in general; it was not a very big hit relative to its time) and was ported to numerous other systems." More information on Ultima 1 is available at Wikipedia - Ultima 1. Game versions are discussed at RPG Classics - Ultima 1.

  • Bookmarks for Ultima 1

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  • FAQ's for Ultima 1
    • Andrew Schultz, “Ultima I FAQ” (vs.1.1.0). Excellent FAQ with discussion of character classes, discussion of ways to improve cash flow, hit points, and attributes, lists of armor, weapons, transports, spells, monsters, and bar talk. Also has a walkthrough, ASCII maps of the four continents with map coordinates of major locations (towns, castles, signposts, and dungeons), a discussion of town and castle types, a list of quests and tips for hexidecimal cheating. Get it here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/562657.html.
    • Brian Hodges, “Ultima I for Atari 8-bit Computers FAQ/Walkthrough” (vs.1.0). Very good FAQ with tips on character creation, a discussion of character stats, brief notes on the continents, towns, dungeons, castles and shoppes, lists of commands, weapons, armor, spells, transports and monsters, plus a continent by continent area walkthrough. Most of the info is also useful for the PC. Get it here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/562657.html.
    • Plaid Dragon, “Ultima I FAQ” (vs.2). This is an extensive and excellent FAQ consisting of three files, a hint file, a technical file and a walkthrough. The hint file gives tips on exploring the overworld, dungeons, and space, as well as completing quests. The technical file is more data-oriented with a discussion of character classes and races, as well as detailed information about towns (including some shoppe names and prices), dungeons, and other places of interest. It also has lists of weapons, armor, spells, and transportation. The third file is a continent by continent walkthrough including time travel and space. Very useful. You can get all three files from Auric's Ultima Moongates site (see under Bookmarks above) and here (in both .txt and .html formats): http://members.aol.com/UltimaWrld/ultima01.html. You can also get a copy of the Technical Information file and the Walkthrough here: http://www.the-spoiler.com/RPG/Origin/Ultima.1.html. A more recent version of the Walkthrough (rev. 3) is available here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/562657.html and here: http://www.thecomputershow.com/computershow/walkthroughs/ultima1walkthrough.htm.
    • : ) Underworld Dragon, “Transcript for Ultima 1”. You can get the complete conversation transcript for Ultima 1 here: http://www.notableultima.com/literal/Transcript_U1.html.

 

 

 

 

  • LEVEL MAPS for Ultima 1
    • You can get a nice big scan of the whole outside area of Ultima 1 with the four continents in their proper juxtaposition and with little castles, towns, dungeons, and sign posts depicted (here): Cartographics. You can also get a zipped .pdf file with the complete maps (outside, castles, towns, dungeons) from Trigon Dragon's Ultima 1 Dox. The outdoor maps have place names and the towns, castle, etc. maps often have comments and strategy. I also like the keyed outdoor maps (have dungeon, town, castle and signpost names) from RPGC Ultima 1 Shrine - Overworld. I find them convenient to use when playing as they are all on one page. You can also get maps of the different town and castle layouts here: Cartographics.
    • Ultimatrix. You may want to check out this nifty map viewer/printer for Ultima 1-6, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams. You can wander around the world in this utility just as if you were playing the game. You can generate computerized maps, tile based maps, peer at gem maps and more. For more information go here: What is Ultimatrix?. To download it go here: Ultimatrix Downloads. For examples of Ultimatrix maps for Ultima 1 go here: Ultima I: First Age of Darkness Maps.

 

  • PATCHES for Ultima 1
    • If you're seeing the game in black and white instead of color, you can get a fix for that here: U1 EGA Display or here: Graphics Fix.

 

  • REMAKES of Ultima 1
    • Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn. This was a 3D remake of Ultima 1 which was cancelled due to problems with Electronic Arts. You can get the whole sad story here: Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn and here: Ultima@RPGDot. Some nice screenshots of the game and demos for Windows and Linux are still available here: Peroxide - Games. You can also get more info and the demo in Windows or Linux here: Ultima 1 - A Legend is Reborn. Just scroll down the page until you find it or download the Windows version directly here: Tech Demo 2.5.1 (Windows).
    • Ultima 1 for PalmOS. This is "a port of Ultima 1 to the Palm. Unlike the original, supports a party of 4, top-down view of dungeons, and battle scenes." Get more info and download a demo here: Ultima 1 for Palm. Just scroll down the page until you find it or download the demo directly here: PalmOS Demo 1.03.
    • Ultima Classics Revisited. "UCR is a project to remake the engines for Ultima 0 through Ultima 6 with the goal of making it more convenient and enjoyable to play these classics." Read more about it and download the beta version and source code here: Ultima Classics Revisited. Note that at this time only Ultima 1 and Akalabeth work. Just scroll down the page until you find it.

 

  • SAVEGAMES for Ultima 1
    • You can get a savegame for Ultima 1: First Age of Darkness here: http://www.jerf.org/ult/u1win.zip. The character has been everywhere and done everything and is standing near the time machine which will take him to the endgame confrontation with Mondain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 2004-2008 The Lorekeeper Project
-- updatedApril 28, 2006