Players were allowed to steal from stores, or kill individuals that may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time such as the Jester (which was pretty much required in Ultima I). The Sega Master System case, however, actually used the original art. ![]() It plays off the original art from the computer version but adds a giant serpent in place of a giant wash of ocean spray. This is the label for the NES release in North America. Therefore, I feel that it is very important that this effect be a net good rather than a net bad.” “Personally, I do not believe all the flak that goes around in some circles about the bad effect fantasy games have on kids, but, no doubt, even my game has some little effect on some lives. He would clarify this in Addams’ book by saying that it was a documentary on the Dead Sea Scrolls and that it explored the view of Hindus viewing Christ as an avatar figure - someone who had purified themselves to the ultimate level. The other was in seeing a television show that “talked about the concept of an Avatar in many Eastern Religions” which “set the game design wheels in motion”. One, which Shay Addams had noted above in his book, was the response that he was reading from the fan mail he was getting from players who felt strongly about his games. In an interview with CGW on Ultima IV, Richard Garriott said that two things inspired him to focus on the concept of an Avatar. Dungeons were also crammed with new dangers and traps in addition to sporting “collapsing bridges” and secret passages within rooms filled with monsters. Ultima IV was also “sixteen times” larger than Ultima III with new art, music, party recruitment of NPCs to buff up your chances, and a parser system using key words to expand interactions with the citizens of the land sharing clues on quests, treasures, and how best to become this “Avatar” Lord British speaks of. It also made no secret that the hero is from Earth transported to Britannia thanks to a gate inviting him through with the items that actually came with the game’s packaging. Of course, the player and their companions may fare a bit better. Many have tried, some have come close, but no one yet has succeeded in this most noble quest. But the last few pages of the History revealed the real struggle in the words of Lord British himself - to embody the Virtues of the land and lead Britannia to a new Golden Age. It was as if the player were sent on clean-up duty. No clear “goal” in the most traditional sense of a CRPG. There was no Master Evil that threatened the land, no Wicked Empire to throw down. It’s not bad, though unlike the original art, you actually see the guy’s face.Īt least, that was the gist of the game. This is the anime label art for the Japanese release of Ultima IV on the Famicom. Lord British has unified the land into Britannia and the last vestiges of evil need to be extinguished once and for all. The defeat of Exodus transformed the land, shifting “mountains’ and oceans into what they are now. He had always been personally invested in each Ultima, but now he wanted to take it and himself to another level.Īs described by the History of Britannia (which, at least for the computer releases, came with the game along with a cloth map, the Book of Mystic Wisdom, and a small ankh), Ultima III ended the Age of Darkness. This was a turning point for Richard Garriott and the series as a whole. If someone was going to spend “100 hours” exploring his world, he felt that the content he was providing should be as responsible. The convoluted stories blending sci-fi and fantasy of the first three games were drawn from his eagerness to put things that he liked into one pot, stir it with crunch, and then unleash players into them.īut now in his twenties and as more players continued to explore his worlds, he realized that this was an opportunity to do more than simply send players off to kill monsters again. He didn’t design any of them to promote any kind of ideology or philosophical argument - he simply enjoyed making them. ![]() By the time Ultima IV arrived in 1985 after two years of development, he had very different ideas on what CRPGs could deliver to his audience.Īs he would admit in Shay Addams’ 1990 “The Official Book of Ultima”, as the fan mail began pouring in, he took notice of how people would try to pry meaning out of his games. Richard “Lord British” Garriott was getting older, more experienced, and his games grew along with him. In tiny print, you can see Origin’s call for developers, who they call “Authors”, in the bottom right hand corner. And Origin’s own library had also been growing. Two years after the game had come out, it was still popular. This ad, which came out in 1987, shows off the box art for the game and leaves its purpose as ambiguous as what it described on the back of the box.
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