of Fire itself to confront Exodus in his lair. The game ends immediately upon Exodus' defeat; but unlike many games in the genre, Exodus cannot simply be killed in battle by a strong party of adventurers, but only through puzzle-solving and by paying attention to the clues given throughout the game. At the end of the game, players were instructed to "REPORT THY VICTORY!" to Origin. Those who did so received a certificate of completion autographed by Richard Garriott. Places in the game such as Ambrosia and the Isle of Fire make appearances in later games, such as Ultima VII and Ultima Online. Development Ultima III was the first game in the series published by Richard Garriott's company Origin Systems. Ports appeared on many different systems. *The publisher Starcraft has no relation to the video game StarCraft and went out of business in 1996. Reception and legacy Ultima III sold over 100,000 copies by August 1986, and over 120,000 copies by 1990. Video magazine listed the game seventh on its list of best selling video games in March 1985 with II Computing listing it fifth on the magazine's list of top Apple II games as of late 1985, based on sales and market-share data. Exodus is credited as a game that laid the foundation for the role-playing video game genre, influencing games such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. In turn, Exodus was itself influenced by Wizardry, which Richard Garriot credited as the inspiration behind the party-based combat in his game. Computer Gaming World stated in February 1994 that Exodus "was the game that became known as Ultima to hundreds of thousands of cartridge gamers". Softline stated that Ultima III "far surpasses" its predecessors, praising the "masterfully unified" plot and individual tactical combat. The magazine concluded that the game "upgrades the market; in several ways it sets new standards for the fantasy gaming state of the art. Happily, it also shows us a maturing artistic discipline on the part of its imaginative author". Computer Gaming Worlds Scorpia in 1983 called Ultima III "unquestionably the best in the series so far ... many hours of enjoyment (and frustration!)", although she criticized the ending as anticlimactic. The magazine's Patricia Fitzgibbons in 1985 reviewed the Macintosh version. She complimented its graphics but criticized the audio, and stated that the game did not adequately use the computer's user interface, describing using the mouse as