Then again, the C64 had a pretty good processor and instruction set which lent itself well to gaming. I've seen it played on an Apple IIe way back when, which is what introduced me to the games. If you want to try it, you could grab the CCS64 emulator and visit for free disk image downloads of C-64 games.Įndurium: Hmm, I've only played the C-64 version of U3 because it was superior to the other platforms until upgrade patches happened. I tried just about every race/class and for the most part everything seemed to work as advertised, though some combinations aren't as effective as others, which is how it goes in party based games. Combat wasn't too difficult with a balanced party and I don't recall struggling with anything in particular. Mass Attack spells seemed to have a 50/50 chance of success Dungeon encounters were likewise reasonably paced Overland encounters happened frequently enough to keep me from thinking the world was unpopulated. All I recall is everything seemed to work right such that I didn't have any complaints. I don't recall the issues you mention though admittedly I didn't spend much time observing mechanics. Hmm, I've only played the C-64 version of U3 because it was superior to the other platforms until upgrade patches happened. * In (at least) Castle Britannia, MP recovers at a rate of 1 every 2 steps (not 1 every 4, as in the NES version and the computer versions I've tried).Īnyone know of other little differences like these?Īlso, anyone have any Ultima 3 versions to recommend? (I've played DOS and Amiga, and decades ago I played NES (and am thinking of giving that version another go), but are there any other interesting versions worth looking into?) MSX Cartridge version: Based off the NES version, so the changes there also apply, but I have noticed one other thing: * Druids do not get fast MP regen, making that class considerably less useful. I won't go into all the details here, but: NES: This version differs substantially from computer versions. Mass attack spells (which have a 75% chance per enemy to hit, I believe) frequently hit all enemies, and I have seen such spells hit nothing far more often than would be expected if the RNG were perfect. For example, if Appar Unem fails, if you keep trying it, you will likely get a lot of failures before it succeeds. * The RNG is less random than it should be, and seems to have a lot of streaks. * Accuracy is affected by position in the party the first character doesn't need 99 DEX to hit reliably, while the fourth character can't hit reliably even with 99 DEX. (This makes Rangers probably the best class in the game, and it obsoletes Druids in this version.) * Rangers regain MP quickly in a manner similar to Druids, but with the roles of INT and WIS swapped. (Maybe the developers decided the start was too unforgiving after this version was released?)ĭOS: The overworld encounter rate is *really* low in this version. Specifically:Īpple 2: Haven't played this version, but it appears that you start with only 100 HP (instead of 150 HP), so your HP is 50 less than in other versions.

I have noticed that the various version of Ultima 3 seem to differ in rather subtle ways this topic is here to list those I am aware of.

Ultima III Exodus for the Amiga