Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
Developer(s)	Origin Systems FCI (NES) Sega (SMS)
Publisher(s)	Origin Systems Pony Canyon (NES) Sega (SMS)
Designer(s)	Richard Garriott
Engine	Ultima IV Engine
Platform(s)	Amiga, Apple II, Atari, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, FM Towns, MSX, NEC PC-9801, NES, Sega Master System
Release	September 16, 1985 1990 (NES, SMS)
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single player

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, first released in 1985 (USCO# PA-317-504) for the Apple II, is the fourth in the series of Ultima computer role-playing games. It is the first in the "Age of Enlightenment" trilogy, shifting the series from the hack and slash, dungeon crawl gameplay of its "Age of Darkness" predecessors towards an ethically-nuanced, story-driven approach. In 1996 Computer Gaming World named Ultima IV as #2 on its Best Games of All Time list on the PC. Designer Richard Garriott considers this game to be among his favorites from the Ultima series.

Plot

Ultima IV on the Commodore 64

Ultima IV is different among RPGs in that the game's story does not center on asking a player to overcome a tangible ultimate evil.

After the defeat of each of the members of the triad of evil in the previous three Ultima games, the world of Sosaria underwent some radical changes in geography: three quarters of the world disappeared, continents rose and sunk, new cities were built to replace the ones that were lost. Eventually the world, now unified in Lord British's rule, was renamed Britannia. Lord British felt the people lacked purpose after their great struggles against the triad were over, and he was concerned with their spiritual well-being in this unfamiliar new age of relative peace, so he proclaimed the Quest of the Avatar: He needed someone to step forth and become the shining example for others to follow.

The object of the game is to focus on the main character's development in virtuous life, and become a spiritual leader and an example to the people of the world of Britannia. The game follows the protagonist's struggle to understand and exercise the Eight Virtues. After proving his or her understanding in each of the virtues, locating several artifacts and finally descending into the dungeon called the Stygian Abyss to gain access to the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom, the protagonist becomes an Avatar.

Conversely, actions in the game could remove a character's gained virtues, distancing them from the construction of truth, love, courage and the greater axiom of infinity -- all required to complete the game. Though Avatarhood is not exclusive to one chosen person, the hero remains the only known Avatar throughout the later games, and as time passes he is increasingly regarded as a myth.

Gameplay

Instead of the statistics-oriented character creation process typical of early computer role-playing games (including the first three Ultimas), in Ultima IV, players choose their character type by answering a series of ethical dilemmas. These situations do not have one correct resolution; rather, players must rank the eight virtues and whichever stands as their highest priority determines the type of character they will play. For example, choosing Compassion makes you a Bard, Honor a Paladin, Sacrifice a Tinker, and so on.

Although each profession embodies a particular virtue, to become an Avatar the player must achieve enlightenment in all eight virtues. Enlightenment in the virtues is achieved through the player's actions as well as through meditation at shrines. Shrines to each of the virtues are scattered about Britannia, each requiring the player to possess the corresponding virtue's Rune before allowing entry. Through meditation and correctly repeating the virtue's Mantra one to three times at the shrine, the player gains insight and ultimately enlightenment in the virtue. A seer in Lord British's castle provides the player with feedback on their progress in the virtues.

Technically, the game was very similar to Ultima III, although much larger. This was the first Ultima game to feature a real conversation system--whereas NPCs in the earlier parts would only give one canned answer when talked to, now players could interact with them by specifying a subject of conversation, the subject determined either by a standard set of questions (name, job, health) or by information gleaned from the previous answers, or from other characters. Many sub-quests were arranged around this.

Another addition were dungeon rooms, uniquely designed combat areas in the dungeons which supplemented the standard combat against randomly appearing enemies.

The game is also notable for setting the world and tone for the games that followed in the series. After Ultima IV, the storylines became more and more linked, with many details from earlier games referred to in newer games, often in a self-explanatory way so that the player doesn't necessarily need to understand everything in the previous games, even though it helps. This is in contrast to earlier Ultima games, and many other examples in other series, which tended to favor "new antagonist is the son/daughter of the previous one" type of weak relations.

Also, the world of Britannia was first introduced here in full, and the world map in the series did not greatly change any more from this point onward. The player may travel about Britannia by foot, on horseback, across the sea in a ship or by air in a "lighter than air device". Speed and ease of travel is affected by the mode of travel as well as terrain and wind.

Virtues

Further information: Virtues of Ultima

The eight virtues of the Avatar, their relationship to the three principles of Truth, Love and Courage and how the gameplay has been designed around them are as follows:

• Honesty: Truth
  When purchasing goods from blind merchants the player is required to enter the amount they actually wish to pay. Although the player has the option of paying less than the merchant has asked for, this will mark the player as dishonest. Stealing gold from chests owned by others will also penalize the player.
• Compassion: Love
  By using the Give conversation subject, a player can give beggars alms and in doing so demonstrate compassion.
• Valor: Courage
  Valor is displayed by the player defeating enemies in combat and not fleeing in a cowardly fashion. This means that when retreat is necessary, the player should be the last party member to leave the field of battle.
• Justice: Truth and Love
  Not all of the hostile creatures in Britannia are evil and the player must avoid unprovoked attacks on those that are not. If attacked, he should resort to driving them away rather than killing them. Out of the eight virtues, this one requires the most finesse to embody and is a particularly good example of balancing ethical dilemmas. The player's party must stand their ground for Valor, yet drive their foes away without killing them.
• Honor: Truth and Courage
  By completing quests and exploring dungeons the player demonstrates their honor.
• Sacrifice: Love and Courage
  If the player goes to a places of healing while in good health, the player can make a blood donation and sacrifice some health in doing so.
• Spirituality: Truth, Love and Courage
  Meditating at shrines and achieving enlightenment in the other virtues enhances the player's spirituality.
• Humility: None, though it is considered the root of all virtue.
  The player demonstrates their humility during conversations. A boastful response to a question results in a penalty, a humble response results in a bonus.

Development

Richard Garriott has stated that he began writing this game when he realized (partly from letters of enraged parents) that in the earlier games immoral actions like stealing and murder of peaceful citizens had been necessary or at least very useful actions in order to win the game, and that such features might be objectionable. Furthermore, organizations like BADD (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons) were drawing attention to the supposedly satanic content in role-playing games in general, and the demonic nature of the antagonist of Ultima III, as depicted on that game's box cover, was a good target.

Official biographer of Richard Garriott, Shay Addams wrote:

"He decided that if people were going to look for hidden meaning in his work when they didn't even exist, he would introduce ideas and symbols with meaning and significance he deemed worthwhile, to give them something hey could really think about."

The concept of virtues was inspired by a TV show about the Avatars of Hindu mythology, which described the avatars as having to master sixteen different virtues. The eight virtues used in the game were derived from combinations of truth, love, and courage, a set of motivators Garriott found worked best, and also found in works like The Wizard of Oz. The game took two years to develop, twice that of both Ultima II and Ultima III. Garriott described the playtesting as "slightly rushed" to make the Christmas season; he was the only one to finish playing through the game by the time it went out for publishing.

Versions

NES version

Ultima IV on the NES

Like Ultima III, Ultima IV was ported to NES by FCI and Pony Canyon. This version, titled Ultima: Quest of the Avatar, was released in 1990.

The overall game had not been changed much, though the approach was very similar to other console RPGs of the time, particularly Dragon Quest and NES Final Fantasy games.

Graphics had been completely redone, as was the music; the overall graphical and musical tone was close to the feel of the Japanese games. The dialogue options were quite limited once again. Another change is that you cannot have all seven recruitable characters in your party at the same time, as you could in other versions. Any character over the four you could have would stay at a hostel at Castle Britannia, requiring you to return there to change characters.

However, the combat system was fairly close to the computer games, with the additional option to use automated combat.

Sega Master System version

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar for the Master System is the first (and only) Ultima to be ported to a Sega console. It was released in 1990 and was both ported and published by Sega. The port features completely re-drawn graphics (although unlike the NES port, the style was retained from Origin's version), a simpler conversation system and, unlike the NES version, uses the regular Ultima IV background music. Although the Master System is easily capable of displaying more complex first-person scenes than those found in Ultima IV (see Phantasy Star), this version's dungeons are viewed from a top-down perspective, much like those of Ultima VI, which was released the same year. It seems that most of these cartridges were produced for the European market, as they contain a multi-lingual (English, French and German) manual, both books from the original version as well as a folded paper map. The books were of different colour for each of the three editions (blue for the UK version), fully translated and did not fit inside the game's box.

Ultima IV on modern operating systems

xu4 is a game engine recreation for Ultima IV that is available for Dreamcast, Linux, Mac OS X, RISC OS and Windows. The Windows version and any source compile requires original Ultima IV for DOS files to run, but Mac and Linux versions have been allowed by Origin to include the files. Maintains compatibility with the 1985 DOS version (save files from the DOS game can be used on xu4, and vice versa).

There are two other fan remakes currently available, using the Neverwinter Nights engine. The first is Avatarship - Ultima 4. The second is Ultima Reborn See The Ultima Reconstruction page for more details.

References

• Kasavin, Greg & Soete, Tim (1998). "The Ultima Legacy". GameSpot.

External links

• Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar at MobyGames