Times of Lore

Origin Systems

Company type	Private
Industry	Video games
Founded	January 1, 1983 (1983-01-01)
Founder	Richard Garriott, Robert Garriott, Owen Garriott
Headquarters	Austin, Texas , United States
Products	Times of Lore, Ultima series, Bad Blood
Website	www.origin.com

Times of Lore is an action role-playing title released in 1988 by Origin Systems, available on various platforms such as PC, Commodore 64/128, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Apple II, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Amiga.

Plot

Following the disappearance of High King Valwyn, the realm of Albareth descends into chaos as dukes and barons compete for dominance amid barbarian raids and monster incursions. Players select one of three protagonists—a barbarian, knight, or valkyrie—to unravel a sinister plot and recover three enchanted artifacts.

Gameplay

The game presents a vast environment spanning over 13,000 screens, enabling uninterrupted exploration without loading interruptions—a notable technical feat during its era.

On the Commodore 64, the graphics employ a combination of low-resolution multicolor sprites overlaid with high-resolution monochrome sprites, featuring animated water effects and dynamic color transitions representing day and night cycles.

Certain actions can lead to unwinnable conditions if essential characters required for quests or items are eliminated, forcing players to restart. Conversely, attacking common villagers poses less risk since hostility resets after resting at inns.

Gameplay is enriched by various items such as teleportation scrolls, healing elixirs, and a returning axe inspired by Mjolnir. The concealed city of Treela is located centrally behind a forested area. Non-player characters reference a dragon dwelling in the northern region—found within a cave at the eastern boundary of the northern mountains—while catacombs exist but entering them summons ghouls that heighten the challenge. In the Apple II edition, the dragon is substituted by a giant situated in the northwest.

Development

Times of Lore was created by Chris Roberts and initially bore the name Ultra Realm. Roberts acknowledged that console action-adventure games, particularly The Legend of Zelda, heavily influenced its design. He explained that market demands from console and Japanese audiences shaped interface and gameplay elements, imposing certain limitations without sacrificing depth or quality.

Reception

In Computer Gaming World, reviewer Scorpia endorsed Times of Lore as an accessible entry point into computer RPGs, emphasizing its menu-based dialogue and streamlined actions that facilitated play. Compute! lauded its visual and audio presentation while noting its smaller scope relative to the Ultima series. The publication also featured it among "nine great games for 1989," recognizing it as an outstanding introductory fantasy RPG.

Reviews

• Jeux & Stratégie #56

Legacy

Times of Lore served as a foundation for several subsequent Origin Systems projects, including the 1990 action RPG Bad Blood, which utilized its engine. It also influenced Ultima VI: The False Prophet by introducing real-time mechanics, an open world with consistent scaling replacing earlier unscaled overworlds, and an icon-driven point-and-click interface. Richard Garriott credited it as an inspiration for both Ultima VI and Ultima VII: The Black Gate. The title is regarded as a forerunner to later games such as Diablo and Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.