Ultima™ IV: Quest of the Avatar

I played this one circa 2002 when it was already considered heavily dated and I was surprised at just how playable and fun it was. What impresses me the most about this, and most of the other Ultima games, is just how well-designed they are. Since you are resurrected when you die, there are no dead ends, and yet, the game still retains a fair challenge. The word fair is quite important here as many early (and current!) games were (are) designed by idiots who cheat by increasing game life cheaply with unfair difficulty levels or requiring tedious backtracking. In terms of design, modern gaming owes a huge debt to the Ultima series with its open worlds, interactivity and fair, balanced gameplay. Ultima IV doesn't take long to complete and is a simple, beautiful game. In many ways it's perfect and still perfectly playable.

I played this when it first came out on Apple ][ and it was an amazing game. Later I got it for the PC and it sat on a shelf for years. Then I saw it on GOG and I had to get it. For the first time in almost 20 years I played it again and the rush of fond memories past came flooding out as I did. This game is just as amazing as the first time I played it. I would recommend to anyone who wants to see what it was like to play old school games and have to actually work for it rather than have it handed to you.

Ultima IV was one o the first RPGs I copletely fell in love with. It was such an unusual take on the genre that I could not put it down. You do not fight some big, bad foozle at the end. Instead it's a quest of self-betterment. You must go throughout the land developing and upholding virtues. And then once you have secured them all, you must descend into the deepest depths to become the avatar of virtue. That was so unusual. It was also amazing at the time to be able to talk to just about every NPC. For its time the land was huge. In many ways it has not stood well to the test of time. Yet, it's an important and influential addition to the RPG genre that it is worth a play. If you do, consider getting the VGA upgrade and a fan-made patch to restore the music; it'll only improve the experience.

I haven't played this game back in the 80s so I am reviewing this game with modern standards and sensitives in mind. The graphics are actually decent and serve the game well. The old EGA graphics turned me off back when I was trying to play this game for the first time in the 90s. But with age comes wisdom (or so I hope). If you want you can mod the graphics, but it primarily brings more colours and (in my humble opinion) does not look better. The gameplay is mostly fun while above ground. I enjoyed exploring the towns and piecing together the information needed to complete the game. The combat however is so terribly designed that it makes exploring the dungeons and the sea almost a chore. I ended up giving all my party members long distance weapons (slings, Bows, and Crossbows) and combat morphed into a depraved version of shoot'em up. I didn't even bother getting any magical weapons or armor (other than a quest specific bit) and completely skipped using magic in combat. I regretted this choice in the final dungeon. The mythology, specifically the 8 virtues and the 3 principals is kinda cheesy and could have been done much better. Take truth for example, imagine what you could have been done with truth given modern fake news, conspiracy theories, and social network. Overall - I am sure I would have loved it to bits had I played it in the 80s. But it was almost a chore to play 40 years later.

couldnt start game inside of menu.