Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar Overview
Ultima - Quest of the Avatar presents a role-playing experience where the primary objective is moral development rather than the defeat of a final antagonist. The setting is Britannia, a land reshaped after earlier conflicts and now governed by Lord British, who promotes a system of eight core virtues. Achieving mastery in these virtues defines the player's journey to become the Avatar, a spiritual exemplar for the world.
Gameplay integrates this ethical framework directly into its systems. Character creation involves answering questions that determine a starting class and location based on virtue alignment. Progress is measured by increasing one's standing in each virtue through specific actions, such as donating blood or facing combat bravely, but these levels can also decrease through dishonest behavior. This focus on moral choices represents a significant departure from contemporary RPG conventions, where self-interested actions like looting or attacking fleeing foes were common.
Exploration occurs across a large world map, towns, and dungeons, using various modes of travel. The game retains traditional RPG mechanics like turn-based combat on separate screens, experience points, leveling up, and magic systems that require collecting and combining reagents. It also introduced features like recruitable non-player characters who permanently join the party. Visual presentation uses a top-down perspective for the overworld and towns, while dungeons are navigated in a first-person view.
A later FM Towns release maintained the identical gameplay but featured graphical enhancements. The game's design, which prioritized ethical gameplay and character growth over mere conquest, established a new direction for the series and the genre.
