Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (ADOVG)

DRTnOOber

New Zealand476 Posts

July 03 2012 20:18 GMT

Preamble: This isn't a review. It doesn't contain critical analysis, just the subjective opinions of one person. The intent is to remember the games I've come across in my life and share the nostalgia, nothing more. And some of those games I didn't play in great depth.

The next few days I'll be covering some of the older Ultima titles, so if you've never heard of them hang in there, we'll be back to normality soon. Tomorrow I'll cover off Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny and then we'll take a break from the Ultima series and look at some other games.

I've heard a lot of people say Ultima IV is one of their favourite games of all time. I'd love to hear from anyone who played this game back in the day and enjoyed it. It was a little bit before my time, but retrospectively it seems like an amazing game.

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

Developer: Origin Systems
Platform: PC (MS-DOS), NES - First came out on Apple II.
Release Year: 1985
Stephen's Rating: n/a

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Ultima IV was the first game in the Age of Enlightenment series and marked a turning point in the Ultima franchise. Unlike traditional RPG games there was no evil "boss" to defeat, instead the game involved ethical and spirital exploration.

Basic Plot

After the defeat of the triad of evil in the previous Ultima games, the world of Sosaria lay battered and broken. Three quarters of the world had been destroyed. What was left was ruled by Lord British. Although no evil threatened the land anymore the people were aimless and had no purpose or guidance. To provide guidance Lord British formed the eight virtues:

- Compassion
- Justice
- Valor
- Spirituality
- Sacrifice
- Humility
- Honor
- Honesty

But founding them was not enough, he needed a hero to embody these virtues to show the populace the way.

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From the Commodore 64 version.

Many heroes tried and failed. In the end The Stranger was summoned from Earth again to see if he could succeed where others had failed. The Stranger succeeded in embodying the eight virtues. He gathered companions on his travels, and finally entered the Abyss on the Isle of the Avatar and consulted with the magical tomb; The Codex of Ultimate Wisdom. There, the codex annointed him The Avatar; the champion of virtue. The world was renamed Britannia.

After the end of the game the democratic Great Council went about taking the codex out of the Abyss so that all could read it. The impact was devastating and the Underworld collapsed. To avoid the denizens of the Underworld travelling to the surface the council sealed the great dungeons.

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Similar gameplay to the previous games with some enhancements.

Gameplay

This game defined a new level of storytelling that would be adopted by many RPG's to come. The game focused more on story than it did anything else which gave the player a richer experience than ever before. Richard Garriott himself places Ultima IV has one of his favourite games in the series.

The actual gameplay was similar to the previous Ultima games and involved exploring, talking, and completing quests.

HubertFelix

France631 Posts

July 03 2012 20:37 GMT

Never played the early ultimas but I remember playing ultima 7 The black gate & Serpent Isle with my father. Those games were SO good. Pagan seemed strange at first but it's atmosphere was really good too (fuck those spiders were scary for a young kid).
We waited for ultima ascension for so long, but it was bad.
Those games are my childhood, Stones theme makes me so nostalgic.

DRTnOOber

New Zealand476 Posts

July 03 2012 21:02 GMT

On July 04 2012 05:37 HubertFelix wrote:
Never played the early ultimas but I remember playing ultima 7 The black gate & Serpent Isle with my father. Those games were SO good. Pagan seemed strange at first but it's atmosphere was really good too (fuck those spiders were scary for a young kid).
We waited for ultima ascension for so long, but it was bad.
Those games are my childhood, Stones theme makes me so nostalgic.

I am exactly the same. Ultima VII: Black Gate was the first Ultima game I played from the main series, but Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss was the first Ultima game I actually played. I got both on a CD called the "EA Compilation" which our second computer along with many other games including Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire which runs in the Ultima VI engine.

Ultima VIII was VERY different I agree, but very cool in its own way. I loved the different magic systems and the game world... although it was very dark compared to other Ultima games. Ultima IX was the biggest let down of my entire life. I will never buy another game published by EA ever again if I can help it. They ruined my childhood with that.

I have already blogged about the Ultima VII games, check if out:

Ultima VII: Black Gate - http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=340999
Ultima VII: The Serpent Isle - http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=343983
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss - http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=341188

And yeah the music is amazing. Stones, among many other tunes from the Ultima VII games, still gets stuck in my head. Some of those tunes are haunting in an awesome way.

caradoc

Canada3022 Posts

July 03 2012 21:31 GMT

I bought a box set when I was like 12 that had Ultima 4, 5 and 6.

I think 5 was my fave, but I played all three for so so so many hours.

5 and 6 have aged pretty well, but for some reason I find it pretty hard to play 4 now for any amount of time now.

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