Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar Retrospective | Reimagining the RPG

Comments · 1.3K

• JU

  @just-mees · 2 years ago (edited)

  My mom once said she had a client who said he loved video games, and when she asked him which ones he liked he said he mostly plays ultima 4 and that she should tell her children about it, so that they'll be happy playing it for months. This wasn't in the 90s or the 2000s this was last month. I don't know what he was thinking but I respect his swagger

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• TU

  @tuinhoofd1923 · 1 day ago

  The tradition of binging the entire series again when there's a new entry

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• M.

  @m.streicher8286 · 1 year ago

  Comparing EA to a vulture is an insult to the important work of scavengers in an ecosystem.

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• GE

  @GeorgGreat_GameReviews · 2 years ago

  For about 3 years my analysis of Ultima IV was the second most popular video about it on YouTube. It hasn’t yet, but, in a short while, this video will surpass mine… And I couldn’t be happier.<br> <br>Ultima IV is a very special game. The experience of playing it 3 years ago is one that had a tremendous impact on me. If this excellent video brings greater attention to it – far greater than it had in decades – there will be more people giving this game a shot and… maybe at least one of those people will discover in this game the same treasure I had.<br> <br>So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for making this video. <br>Thank you for keeping Ultima alive.

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• CO

  @Cottinmouth · 2 years ago

  Ah yes. My favorite. A feature length film about a game that I have not played and have never thought of before.I can’t wait to watch it all.

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• 50

  @5000Seabass · 2 years ago

  I think this guy might be the 100% best retro “RPG” YouTuber to ever do it.

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• IS

  @Isrieri · 2 years ago

  Never have I asked the question, &quot;I wonder if Rich Evans has ever played Ultima?&quot; but that&apos;s the magic of a Majuular video, boyos.

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• KR

  @krichicha · 2 years ago

  The comparison to FF4 is even more apt when you consider Cecil had his own quest of virtue going on in that game.

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• PE

  @peterkorisanszky2950 · 2 years ago

  I came up playing Ultima 7 in the early 90&apos;s when I was like 9-10. RPG&apos;s were tied for my favorite genre, and Ultima 7 was the defining game of that genre for me. This stayed true for me until maybe Baldur&apos;s Gate. In 2005 I decided to go back and play all those old games I missed because they just weren&apos;t available. Games which were important historical context for the ones I loved, but games I didn&apos;t expect much from. I played Catacombs Abyss, Wasteland 2, Wizardry 1-5. Stuff like that. I did them all blind with no walkthroughs. I figured that people didn&apos;t have that stuff back then, and I&apos;d judge these games based on how they held up playing them as close to intended as possible. Once again, I didn&apos;t expect much. <br> <br>A lot of these games held up better than I thought they would, or kind of matched my expectations. When I played Ultima 1 and 2, it was right in line with what I thought I was getting into. Ultima 3 was the first Ultima game I enjoyed. Then I played Ultima 4, and my mind was blown. I couldn&apos;t believe what I was experiencing. This wasn&apos;t just the best of these old dated games, this was a game that was actually better than the game I was trying to give context to. Ultima 4&apos;s graphics, dialogue, and combat are dated. But the gameplay loop of exploration, clue hunting, note taking, and experimentation was so rewarding I was delighted the entire time. This old crappy game I played just to see the DNA of the good stuff that came later has ended up being one of my favorite games of all time. <br> <br>Ultima 7 presents better, and has more doodads to mess around with. But it is in every other way either a sidegrade, or a downgrade on the gameplay Ultima 4 has to offer. Ultima 4 gives you a big checklist of objectives, and sends you out to follow a couple dozen small breadcrumb trails at your own leisure, with a few others to stumble across along the way. You get a steady drip of satisfaction as you find the things you&apos;re looking for, and find your objective getting closer and closer, the checklist smaller and smaller. If you get frustrated with one trail, you have the freedom to go do others for a while to ease the friction. The result of all this is so satisfying that it&apos;s hard to think of a more modern comparison. I don&apos;t think I really recaptured the feeling of playing Ultima 4 in 2005 again until Elden Ring in 2022. <br> <br>I don&apos;t think Ultima 4 is the best RPG ever. But I do think it&apos;s the best Ultima game. A lot of love clearly went into it. I&apos;m glad they had the courage to see their vision through. It demonstrated the truth of games as art at a time where that wasn&apos;t clear. I can honestly say it was an honour to play a game they must have sacrificed so much to create. It wasn&apos;t a spiritual experience or anything, but I have the humility to admit their valorous effort resulted in a game which did justice to the medium. If you have enough compassion to overlook what is dated about it, I think you&apos;ll find some wisdom in it too.

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• PS

  @PseudoParadise · 2 years ago

  You know someone&apos;s content is gold when you immediately click on a new video as soon as it drops

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• TO

  @TommyOtheNorth · 2 years ago

  I think the biggest appeal of these videos is the history lesson as well as gaming lore. The contemporary footage adds a lot of vibes, especially the nice blizzard footage. Anyway, learning about the developers and where they were at while making the game, adds to the game section of the video so much. So often ive played a game and found myself wondering &quot;what were they thinking?!,&quot; sometimes happily, sometimes with bemusement and sometimes even anger. I&apos;ve seen the making of DOOM and the guys at id, including transdimensional weigher of souls, John Carmack. This is a lot like those videos but about way nerdier guys making weird fantasy rpgs

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• TR

  @tracidvoyager · 2 years ago

  I&apos;m truly impressed by the amount of footage and background info you&apos;ve managed to find and gather for this series for the developer history parts, you&apos;re like a one man documentary crew. Bits like the Roe R Adams nod are invaluable gaming history, and things like that are often in risk of being lost to time when chronicling the 70s - 80s, early to mid 90s game history. Maybe you and Matt Barton could team up one day

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