The Game That Changed Role Playing Games

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar is one of the best computer fantasy role-playing games ever made, and despite technological advances in the almost three decades since its debut, no other title can match it in scope or creativity. For unlike any other role-playing game, the vision in Quest of the Avatar remains unique, and gameplay advances not in the familiar terms of “kill ‘em all” but through thoughtful choices, ranging from giving alms to beggars to showing mercy to fleeing foes.

Such an original vision has never been seen and, unfortunately, has not been encountered since. Richard Garriot, the author-programmer, was concerned about the negative effects of typical pc role-playing games behavior like theft and also the murder of innocents, which were often necessary to win. He wanted to create a role-playing experience that focused instead on virtue and morality – and yet without an obvious (and stereotypical) focal point of evil such as a large bad wizard or dragon.

Inspired by Hindu mythology, Garriot created a system of morality for his game that revolved around the 3 core concepts of Truth, Love, and Courage, which combinations lead to the eight virtues of honor, sacrifice, spirituality, compassion, justice, honesty, valor, and humility. This system of morality was not just a pretty backdrop, but the very Quest of the Avatar itself.

Inside the world of Ultima IV, an avatar or champion was called for by the king to show the people the way, to be a shining example of the eight virtues and three principles. By mastering the virtues and solving numerous quests related to them, the player would then be granted access towards the final struggle inside the Great Stygian Abyss, wherein the greatest artifact of all resides, the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom.

It is a testament towards the imaginative gameplay of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar that, so many years after its heyday as a bestseller, with an entire franchise across multiple platforms, devoted fans continue to code it for new technologies, the most recent attempt of which at http://www.phipsisoftware.com/ultima4/Ultima4.html utilizes Adobe Flash.

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