#ULTIMA IV QUEST OF THE AVATAR

[retrocgads]

UK 1987

[videogamepolls]

Requested by anon

[oldschoolfrp]

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar by Lord British (Richard Garriott), Origin Systems Inc, 1985, Denis Loubet box art. The game package included a cloth map of Britannia and a metal ankh.

[oldschoolfrp]

1985

World Map from Ultima 4 source: https://ultima.fandom.com/wiki/Ultima_IV_Map_of_Britannia

[jackassrabbit]

We're live with some Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar! Join @darkwizardjamesmason, @kittycatherder and me as we kill and/or save Lord British!

Probably both, knowing us.

[goofmuffin]

Ultima III: Exodus (1983)

Yes, I know I misspelled “Bertha”, I’m dyslexic okay. (more under cut)

What a massive step up from Ultima 2. Despite the reduced scope of the story, the game is significantly longer (Ultima 2 took me a few days but this game took me over a week). It also managed to improve on basically every aspect of its predecessor, and set the standard for most future RPGs to come.

Like Ultima 2, Exodus is very open-ended. I still feel like there was more of a drive in this game, and figuring out what you’re meant to do felt more natural and rewarding. Exploring the world was also more fun; though Ultima 2′s world may have been larger, spanning 10 planets and 5 time periods, Ultima 3′s world is simply more full of *stuff*. Don’t let anyone tell you “wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle” is a purely modern phenomenon...

Image: The rewards of thoroughly exploring and mapping dungeons.

Most of my gripes with Ultima 2 have been worked out: dungeon exploration is now fun and what you spend most of the early- to mid-game doing (there’s actually useful things in dungeons!) and character development is no longer extremely annoying and boring. In Ultima 2 your character level didn’t seem to matter, all it seemed to effect was what monsters spawn, but here gaining experience is essential because it’s directly tied to a character’s maximum HP.  In addition, attribute raising actually presents an interesting quest for the player and once you’ve figured out how to raise attributes, it’s not annoying as hell! (Though still requires work)

Spells have also been reworked: they’re not only actually useful but can be really powerful. Also instead of essentially being items exclusive to mages, casting spells uses a now-standard magic point system. Casters are weak early, but once their MP has been raised high enough, the flow of combat gets entirely flipped on its head as you get access to spells of mass destruction.

Image: Finally acquiring a pirate ship.

There’s a few particular gripes I have, and most of them have to do with boats. In order to acquire a ship, which is necessary to beat the game and important for accessing other areas, you have to fight a crew of pirates and claim their vessel. This is a great concept, but the issue is getting the actual pirates to spawn. It took me several hours of wandering Sosaria aimlessly until I saw one (and yes, my characters *were* all above level 5).

Then it comes to controlling the boat itself. In a truly characteristic move Richard Garriott decided to implement wind mechanics to sailing: cool in concept but it is executed in the most annoying way possible. Basically, you can sail around freely, but if the wind - which randomly changes direction every few seconds - decides to blow in the opposite direction or not at all, you simply can’t move. So this means when you’re sailing, you’re just constantly getting randomly stopped for a few seconds until you can continue. It’s such a small thing but so so irritating.

Image: “Good day!”

Even with those small annoyances, Exodus is absolutely still worth playing today, if you enjoy open-ended old school roleplaying games. And I absolutely recommend trying to play with as little use of online guides as possible as I did - figuring out the game’s mysteries is extremely rewarding. Onto Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar!

[arcadefan]

I've never played the game, but I love the deep rich colors and composition of Lee Macleod's original artwork for the NES version of Ultima IV Quest of the Avatar.

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Something that frustrates me about Ultima IV us that it was THIS CLOSE to being a very interesting subversion of this problem very early in the CRPG genre. Like, it had a system that's almost perfectly set up to subvert this.

In Ultima IV, the player character is on a quest to become the Avatar, and one of the tasks they need to do in order to accomplish this is to master the eight virtues, which are influenced by different gameplay actions.

One of these virtues is Compassion, and one of the interesting aspects of the game is that when you get into attacked by a creature that the game considers non-evil, fleeing to avoid combat with them raises your compassion. Or, if you do fight them and the creature tries to flee, attacking them while they're trying to flee lowers your compassion, while letting them escape raises it.

Conversely, trying to flee combat with an evil creature (especially if you're at full health) is considered cowardly and lowers your Valor.

Leaving aside the whole can of worms of how the system inherently encodes certain types of creatures as ontologically evil and thus morally imperative to fight and kill (which is bad but for purposes of this reblog is a whole other can of worms), if human (and also potentially other sentient non-human) enemies were classified as non-evil this could have been a very interesting system to avoid the narrative dissonance that comes from the player character inevitably becoming a mass murderer over the course of the game. Like. You get attacked by innumerable Nameless Bandits, but in order to actually become the Avatar and beat the main quest you need to learn to avoid engaging in combat with them when possible, and spare their life when they're trying to flee from you. There's would even be some associated sacrifice since doing the right thing implies missing out on XP and loot that they would give you if you killed them.

Buttttt the problem is that the only creatures that are considered "non-evil" by the game are animals and town NPCs. Human enemies that attack you in the wilderness are classified as evil, so instead the system actually punishes you for trying to avoid combat with them. It's fucked.

I do think it's pretty funny when games about killing people with magic and swords and stuff suddenly decide to have a quest where they try to make a Moral Choice™ about whether you choose to kill or spare some bad guy.

Like my dear friend... you completely destroyed the moral stakes of Choosing To Kill A Guy by featuring hundreds of hostile NPC encounters with no other meaningful way of overcoming them other than killing them. By the time the player gets to the Moral Choice about whether it is right to kill bad people they will inevitably already have killed a triple-digit number of people that probably haven't done anything anywhere as bad as this guy.

[smbhax]

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar NES box art by Lee MacLeod

1 2

[retrocgads]

UK 1987

[kchasm]

Ryu Number: Owen Garriott

Owen Garriott was an American astronaut who spent approximately two months in Skylab 3, taking—at the time—the shared world record for longest spaceflight (it'd be broken less than half a year later, but that's still awesome). More relevantly for us (i.e. those of us interested in Ryu Numbers), he was the father of Richard Garriott, the creator of the Ultima game series, so it's no surprise that the latter stuck a cameo of the former in Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress:

That's the finish line. The problem, as always, is getting there.

It's generally accepted that each Ultima game features the same individual as protagonist—that is, that the same repeat isekaiee stars in each major installment of the series. Assuming that this is true, and that this protagonist—referred to by lore as "The Stranger" or "The Avatar"—is the same dude whichever game they're in, Owen Garriott has a Ryu Number of at most 4.

That said, early installments of the Ultima series were a bit iffy on whether the protagonist was the same individual game to game, so maybe you're iffy, too. Fair enough! You can still get a Ryu Number of at most 4 for Owen Garriott following an alternate route.

Apologies if you're learning it just now, but there's a fighting game where you can have Santa Claus and the Buddha duke it out. It's on Steam. Jesus is there, too, but Santa Claus seemed funnier.

Oh, and apparently the Buddha is in some versions of Ultima IV. You know he's the Buddha because when you talk to him he says, "I am Buddha," and says stuff at you from the Dharmapada. Which may seem odd, but if I had a list of historical or public domain individuals I wouldn't be too surprised by seeing after getting isekaied to another world, the Buddha would be up there. That's so Buddha!

"But my guy," says the imaginary version of you I've built up in my head without actually knowing you, "'Buddha' is a title. This Britannian dude could be any old Buddha! The Theravadas acknowledge twenty-nine of them, and they're on the stingy end!"

To which I say: Come on, my dude, you know that whenever anyone west of the prime meridian says "Buddha" they're talking about Gautama. Are you really gonna make me do this?

Fine.

Yes, Short Round is also in Ultima IV.

(Bonus: Non-Minecraft routes:)

[hardcoded-gaming]

For the unfamiliar, Ultima IV (ported as "Quest of the Avatar") remains an incredibly unique RPG. And this screenshot sums up why.

It has all the hallmarks of D&D-inspired RPGs. Gather a party, go to some dungeons, gather some relics.

But one key aspect of those stories is absent:

There is no grand external threat.

The land is at peace. No villain is threatening it. Monsters roam the wilderness as they always have, but towns are secure, people live very peaceful lives by fantasy standards. You saved the world in Ultima 3, and it stuck!

Your quest, instead, is one of enlightenment.

Ultima's Lord British - an unabashed stand-in for series creator Richard Garriot - summons you because he is looking to the future. He wants his philosophy of Eight Virtues (don't ask me to list them) to be promoted across the land, and he believes you have what it takes to become The Avatar of all of these, a symbol for all good people to aspire to emulate. (FWIW, you can turn this down, if you don't mind never starting the game proper)

So for the bulk of the game, your priority is simply living up to these ideals. Acting with honor, humility, compassion, uh... the other ones. The way you go about this is generally agreeable, but can admittedly be a little simplistic and dated. You need to give money to beggars to demonstrate compassion, but, no, you can't interrogate the social systems that left a man homeless. In combat, you need to let certain enemies flee to demonstrate valor, which I wouldn't mind seeing in more games, but you don't have to extend this mercy to orcs and goblins, which are "evil by nature." Kill them as they flee, hero! (It was like 1990, we can cut it some slack)

We can nitpick little missteps like those all day, and it would be warranted if the game were more naive about the Virtues themselves. This is no manifesto, or set of divine commandments. It knows they only sound simple and unambiguously good in theory. Your very first interaction with the Virtues is a Morrowind-like personality test to judge which virtue you hold most dear, casually demonstrating that they can often contradict each other. Furthermore, the sequel shows these Virtues being twisted into tools of oppression, turning Ultima from a near-utopia to a dystopia.

This game has its morality system front-and-center. And if you don't live up to it, it says "fuck you." Being an asshole doesn't change the story, it stops the story dead, because the story needs a hero, not a murderhobo.

And I think that's kinda awesome. It remains a breath of fresh air, especially in a post-GoT fantasy landscape, eager to explore moral grays. Ultima IV says there is still room for a proper hero, and it's well worth trying to be one.

[g4zdtechtv]

THE PILE PRESENTS: Filter - Best RPG

Where playing as a team is as important as finding a gemstone.

[everygame]

Ultima IV (PC)

Developed/Published by: Origin Systems Released: 16/09/1985 Completed: 29/09/2019 Completion: Beat it! Trophies / Achievements: N/A

As usual, my route to playing this was pointlessly convoluted as I suddenly thought to myself “man, I’d like to play those weird Ultima side stories, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams” then thought a bit about how I had never played an Ultima that used the text parser/keyboard input and then decided well I might as well go back to the oldest Ultima anyone considers worth playing* to get used to it, because if I could stand that I’d consider games in the Ultima VI engine a major quality of life upgrade.

(*I’m aware that people definitely like Ultima III, but it’s still part of the goofy first trilogy where they had to ret-con everything anyway, and I have my limits.)

Anyway, Ultima IV is probably one of the most important RPGs ever made even though if you really think about it so much of the series has been left behind (despite how much it still has to teach.) Having said that, Ultima IV is easily the most bafflingly hard to get into game I’ve played probably since I started this site, considering after the fun, unique character creation it just dumps you in the world (in one of several possible locations, some of which are islands you might have no idea how to get off of) and says “go for it.”

I spent a lot of time cross-referencing different walkthroughs and maps just to even begin to understand how to play this, and it’s a bit of a shame that it’s all so deeply obscure (by wont of the era in which it was made, memory requirements and Richard Garriott’s lack of playtesting) because Ultima IV actually is… sorta fun?

There are a ton of design issues. For a game about living up to virtues, Garriott didn’t think it through too far and got a bit desperate with what you’re supposed to do for each of them leading to about four of them basically amounting to “repeatedly give money to beggars” (and which you can cheat by walking in and out of the same town, which is hardly very virtuous.) Oh and you don’t actually want to have any of your party join you until the end of the game because it’s absolutely tedious to even move 3 or four companions about in each battle. All the dungeons are mental, and the game is extremely badly paced because you’ll definitely end up doing them all at the end rather than across the game (but at least you can cheat through almost all of them with up/down spells…)

That all said, weirdly Ultima IV really… well, it’s hard to explain, but it just got my imagination going. Mind when games didn’t have all them dang graphics and you had to sit and imagine great adventures? Well, somehow this got all my nostalgia flowing and I… imagined… my adventure. I dunno, I can’t explain it.

Will I ever play it again? No, but I’m playing Ultima V right now!!! Well, not right now, because I’m writing it, but also probably not right *now* while you’re reading it. I’m asleep or at work or something.

Final Thought: Alright I didn’t emphasise this enough maybe but this is almost impossible to go back to. It’s nicer with the VGA graphics upgrade and in the excellent virtual machine xu4 but by virtue of being quite open ended you really have to be dedicated to solving this from the get go or else you’ll bounce off it within five minutes. But if you get into the right mindset, it’s… well, it’s at least interesting.

[self-loving-vampire]

CRPG Progress 2023

I just thought I’d write myself a list of games from the highly-recommended and free CRPG book I sometimes mention.

There is still a lot of stuff from that book that I want to play, as well as other games not mentioned in it. 

Ideally I would play at least a little bit of everything on it for the best historical perspective, but in practice I find it difficult enough to finish just my existing backlog so I need to prioritize some things over others.

If a game is marked with a single exclamation mark, it means it sounds particularly interesting to me even beyond its historical significance and I want to try it for at least a couple of hours to see what it’s like.

If a game is marked with two exclamation marks, it means I have played some of it.

If a game is marked with three exclamation marks, it means I have played enough of it to have a reasonably solid idea of how it plays and all.

If a game is marked with four exclamation marks, it means I have reached the end credits or otherwise finished the game at least once.

70s RPGs

Beneath Apple Manor (!)

Dunjonquest: Temple of Apshai (!)

Oubliette (!)

Futurewar (!)

Avatar (!)

80s RPGs

The Return of Heracles (!)

Wizard’s Crown (!)

Phantasie (!)

Starflight (!)

Alter Ego (!)

Deathlord (!)

Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (!)

Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (!)

Pool of Radiance (!)

Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (!)

The Magic Candle (!)

The Dark Heart pf Uurkrul (!)

Knights of Legend (!)

Dungeon Master (!!)

NetHack (!!)

Wasteland (!!)

Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (!!!)

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (!!!!)

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (!!!!)

Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (!!!!)

90s RPGs

Ultima VI: The False Prophet (!)

Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (!)

Captive (!)

Champions of Krynn (!)

Fate: Gates of Dawn (!)

Disciples of Steel (!)

Worlds of Ultima: Martian Dreams (!)

Star Control 2 (!)

Betrayal at Krondor (!)

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (!)

Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures (!)

Ravenloft: Stone Prophet (!)

Birthright: The Gorgon’s Alliance (!)

Diablo (!)

Final Fantasy VII (!)

Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven (!)

Jagged Alliance 2 (!)

Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (!)

Darklands (!!)

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (!!)

UnReal World (!!)

Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (!!)

Ultima VIII: Pagan (!!)

System Shock 2 (!!)

Baldur’s Gate (!!!)

Ancient Domains of Mystery (!!!)

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall (!!!)

Ultima VII: The Black Gate (!!!!)

Princess Maker 2 (!!!!)

Exile Avernum: Escape From the Pit (!!!!)

Fallout (!!!!)

Fallout 2 (!!!!)

Planescape: Torment (!!!!)

Ultima IX: Ascension (!!!! DO NOT DO THIS PLEASE LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE)

2000s RPGs

Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn (!)

Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer (!)

Diablo 2 (!)

Wizards & Warriors (!)

ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal (!)

Neverwinter Nights (!)

Neverwinter Nights 2 (!)

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (!)

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (!)

S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl (!)

The Witcher (!)

Yumina the Ethereal (!)

Eschalon: Book I (!!)

Arx Fatalis (!!)

The Battle for Wesnoth (!!)

Space Station 13 (!!)

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (!!)

Mass Effect (!!)

Valkyria Chronicles (!!)

Dragon Age: Origins (!!)

Agarest: Generations of War (!!!)

Recettear: An Item Shop’s Tale (!!!)

Dwarf Fortress (!!!)

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (!!!)

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (!!!)

Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura (!!!)

Elona (!!!)

Risen (!!!)

Deus Ex (!!!!)

Wizardry 8 (!!!!)

Gothic (!!!!)

Geneforge (!!!!)

Gothic 2 (!!!!)

Temple of Elemental Evil (!!!!)

Sacred (!!!!)

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (!!!!)

Gothic 3 (!!!!)

Fallout 3 (!!!!)

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (!!!!)

2010s RPGs

Caves of Qud (!)

Dungeons of Dredmor (!)

Divinity: Original Sin (!)

Transistor (!)

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (!)

Tale of Wuxia (!)

Pyre (!)

Cultist Simulator (!)

Kingdom Come: Deliverance (!)

NEO Scavenger (!!)

The Age of Decadence (!!)

The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings (!!)

Legend of Grimrock 2 (!!)

Shadowrun Returns (!!)

Dragon’s Dogma (!!)

Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead (!!)

Pillars of Eternity (!!)

Darkest Dungeon (!!)

NieR: Automata (!!)

Kenshi (!!)

Vampyr (!!)

E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy (!!!)

Mount & Blade: Warband (!!!)

Torchlight 2 (!!!)

Din’s Curse (!!!)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (!!!)

Divinity: Original Sin 2 (!!!)

Wasteland 2 (!!!)

UnderRail (!!!)

Fallout 4 (!!!)

Fallout: New Vegas (!!!!)

Mass Effect 2 (!!!!)

Dark Souls (!!!!)

Magical Diary (!!!!)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (!!!!)

Tales of Maj’Eyal (!!!!)

Legend of Grimrock (!!!!)

Path of Exile (!!!!)

Tyranny (!!!!)

ELEX (!!!!)

Pathfinder: Kingmaker (!!!!)

Slay the Spire (!!!!)

Disco Elysium (!!!!)

[hardcore-gaming-101]

Cover art for a 1988 manga adaptation of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.

Ultima: Quest of the Avatar by Yuko Tanaka