MIDI Week Singles: "Eyes of Knives" - Ultima: Exodus (NES)

"Eyes of Knives" from Ultima: Exodus on the Nintendo Entertainment System (1987)

Composer: Tsugutoshi Goto

Album: No Official Release

Developer: Richard Garriott

First off, yes, I know that Exodus is the third title in the Ultima series, but the NES cart was titled as Ultima: Exodus as opposed to the PC release, Ultima III: Exodus.  So now that that is out of the way.

I bought Ultima: Exodus probably sometime in the early '90s, maybe after I already had either (or both) Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy, but I bought it for two main reasons.  1) Because Dr. Potts had it and he seemed to be a good judge of RPGs, and 2) It had a fairly involved character creation that lets you choose race, class, and bonuses to add to your pre-determined stats; I knew from Dr. Potts my Wizard should be Fuzzy, and Cleric should be Bobit.  I could not tell you how many times I either started Ultima: Exodus, but I can tell you how many times I beat the game.  Zero.

And that is where "Eyes of Knives," being the title given to the song from the album "Ultima Remix," comes into play as it is the music that plays during the character creation screens.  And that is what this song evokes in me, a combination of frustrated and confused nostalgia, mixed with excitement at being able to customize a party of adventurers.  Maybe I should get around to actually trying to beat this game and finally figure out what this story is all about?  

Hmmm. . . (Although that's not the NES port).

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

I Sing The Ballads of Victory and Defeat