"The one who shall tread the path of the Avatar to
full revelation is not only brave, but honest and filled with
compassion for all living things. Birtannia needs one who can show
how to fight the forces of Evil found both outside of and within
the individual. Our hopes and prayers are that thou might be the
one..."
-- from The Way of the Avatar
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| When Ultima IV was first conceived, it was truly
unique - who ever heard of a role-playing game where you didn't go
and kill the Evil Bad Guy? Rather, the idea is to participate in a
program of self-improvement through eight different kinds of
virtuous activity, eventually becoming the pinnacle of goodness:
the Avatar of Lord British's system of virtues. This may well have
been the first true "role-playing" game for computers, since your
behavior and actions in the game affect the way the game reacts to
you as a player. Kill, lie and steal, and you will still be able to
play, even go wherever you want, but you'll never win. It's dated
now, but Ultima IV is still recognized widely as a watershed in the
history of computer gaming. |
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 Ultima IV:
Quest of the Avatar
- Platform: Apple II.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc., © 1985.
- Characteristics: UPC 17814-01111. 5.25" (2).
- Included: History of Britannia book; Book of Mystic
Wisdom book; Ankh trinket; cloth U4 map.
- Original List Price: $59.95
- Platform: Atari 8-bit.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc., © 1985.
- Author: Conversion by Dave Lubar.
- Platform: Commodore 64.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc., © 1985.
- Author: Conversion by Chuckles.
- Characteristics: UPC 17814-01125. 5.25" (2).
- Platform: PC.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc., © 1985.
- Author: Conversion by James Van Artsdalen.
- Characteristics: UPC 17814-01210. 5.25" (2).
- Platform: Amiga.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc., © 1988.
- Author: Conversion by "Banjo" Bob Hardy.
- Characteristics: UPC 17814-01210. 3.5" (1).
- Platform: Atari ST.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc., © (1988?).
- Author: Conversion by "Banjo" Bob Hardy.
It has been noted that later runs of the cloth map, distributed
with some of the ports, had a more reddish tint. There has also
been some debate over the ankh; it's definitely some kind of
lightweight, bendable metal, probably aluminum but I'm not sure.
Ultima IV is the earliest of the Ultima games that has not been
significantly remade by Origin. Even so, it isn't too hard to find
copies available over Usenet. I've even seen shrinkwrapped
originals, still with the Broderbund distribution sticker on
them. |
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 Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
for the Nintendo Entertainment
System
- Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System.
- Publisher: FCI, © 1990. Developed by Origin.
- Characteristics: UPC 22909-10011. Cartridge.
- Included: Instruction book, Hint book (84pp.).
Following on the successful release of the NES Ultima III,
Origin wrote this second port the next year through licensor FCI.
They followed Nintendo's annoying trend of including full
walkthroughs with many of their games. Well, I found it annoying
anyway. You can probably find a copy of this game at the FuncoLand web site. |
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|
 Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
for the Sega Master System
- Platform: Sega Master System.
- Publisher: Sega, © 1990.
- Characteristics: UPC 974365-635718. Cartridge.
- Included: Paper Ultima IV map/tables; History of
Britannia booklet; Book of Mystic Wisdom booklet; Sega instruction
manual (32pp.).
This item has quite a history behind it. As the story goes,
Nintendo was very unhappy with Origin for developing this game, as
at that time Origin had already signed an agreement with Nintendo.
Finally, it came to the point that a CEO of an unnamed "large
software company" had a round of golf with some of the management
at Nintendo and told them, basically, to get over it. Nintendo
relented, and Origin eventually released the Sega version of Ultima
IV, but it was the only game they ever developed for Sega. This
game was released in English, French, and German (the UPC above,
the only one I have, is for the German version). Some English
versions of the game came with two sets of manuals: a pink set,
written in French, and a blue set written in English. The game
seems to have been released in very small quantities in the US,
because it took an exceedingly long time to find someone who had
bought it here. Whether that was because of Origin's difficulties
with Nintendo, who can say. |
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|
 Ultima: Quest of the Avatar
Special release for the Commodore
64
- Platform: Commodore 64.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc.
- Characteristics: Comes in a large, videocassette-like
box. 5.25" (2).
- Included: Same as the original.
Here is an odd product: a "special" release of Ultima IV for the
Commodore 64. I really don't know much more about it than is stated
here. |
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|
Free Release of Ultima
IV
- Platform: PC.
- Publisher: Origin Systems, Inc.
- Characteristics: CD and/or online download.
- Original List Price: Free!
In 1997 Origin released free, complete versions of the PC port
of Ultima IV through two publications: the August 1997 issue of PC
Games, and the October 1997 issue of Computer Gaming World. Soon
thereafter, several other online sites began to offer the binary
for download, against Origin's wishes, because they felt it had
been placed in the public domain. It hadn't, of course, and there
was a great deal of heated debate and angry words tossed back and
forth because of it. More recently, Origin has decided to allow
anyone in the Ultima Dragons to
provide the game for free. Personally, I prefer owning the
aforementioned issue of PC Games, because the CD is permanent, and
because it also contains a free copy of another great role-playing
game, Betrayal at Krondor. But if you'd like to, visit Fortran
Dragon's download page,
where you can obtain Ultima IV. |
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