Long time Computer RPG fans may have crossed paths with the legendary Ultima Series.  Introduced in the mid 80’s by creator Richard Garriot, also known as Lord British in the game series, Ultima took a very unique stand on computer Role Playing, putting you in control of a hero that could bring peace or chaos to the world.  In the first three games in the Ultima series, many fans were somewhat put off by the open ended style of gaming.  You could literally walk up to a peasant on the road and murder him!  And sometimes in the games it made things easier, when needing only a couple more kills to gain a level or two!  Ultima IV: The Quest of the Avatar went to at least try and change the way these games were played. 

 

When FCI ported over Ultima: Quest of the Avatar to the NES in 1990, I was ecstatic, having been a fan of Ultima: Exodus from 1989, which was a port of Ultima III from PC running on DOS.  In this rendition of Ultima the path you chose had large ramifications on how the outcome of this game would conclude.  The goal of the Avatar is to seek out the eight virtues; to become a pure good creature of faith if you will.  If you run into a beggar on the street and he asks for spare coins and you give it to him, you gain experience towards one of these virtues.  If you would take a different path and refuse to give charity it could come back and bite you in the ass later.  I have added some DOS to NES screen shot comparisons to show you what FCI changed when porting over Ultima IV.

 

The games story is a little bit harder to follow than most games, other than being told that the fate of all Britannia hangs in the balance, the rest of the game is kind of up to you.  The Quest of the Avatar is basically an adventure to set an example for all others, a hero for the people of Britannia to look up to.  I have heard that some reasons as to why this game has such a moral backbone, was due to the bad rep that Role Playing games like Dungeons and Dragons were getting for immoral happenings in society at that time. The Quest of the Avatar was a glimmer of hope in such dark times.  He he… well kind of, you could still be as evil as you wanted in the game, murdering, stealing Cheating, it was all part of the game still, you just had to be DARN good at it!  If you murdered a peasant in town there is a very good chance that the town guard will be right around the corner whipping up a sweet dose of Justice!!

 

The game pushes a very ‘do the right thing’ presence at the very beginning.  When you first hit start it goes into a very in depth character creation mode that asks you a series of questions in which you determine your class, if you constantly answer questions with a greedy undertone you could very well end up playing a Rogue, but if you answer those same questions very wise you could be a Wizard.  As the game progresses you encounter many wondering adventurers that may or may not join your party depending on you class and demeanor.  You can have up to four party members questing with you at one time.  If you add any other members they sit at the INN in the first town you start in waiting to go adventuring with you.

 

The gameplay is a very welcome change to most NES RPG’s, while it does have a overworld look that is very similar to Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy, it goes well beyond that when it comes to battles.  In Battle gameplay takes turned based fighting to a whole new level.  While you still take turns between your party and the monster opponents attacking one another and healing party members, the game gives you a battle field in which you can move and hide/flee or flank opponents from behind and use many different strategies within each fight you get in.  This feature really sets itself apart from other RPG’s at the time.

 

In comparison to the DOS version, they enhanced the music and graphics quite a bit while having to leave out a little bit of the dialog and conversational features (mainly because the NES did NOT have a keyboard), otherwise this game is in every way better than its PC counter part.

 

As far as graphics and music go this was your above average role playing style graphics, Super Deformed sprites walking around in a massive world, filled with lots of excellent colors and visuals that far surpassed most 8-bit games at the time.  The music is definitely one of the strong points of this cart as well, lots of memorable tunes that fit each scenario.

 

Overall I would be hard-pressed to find a better RPG than Ultima: Quest of the Avatar.  On the NES, SNES, Genesis, and even PC Engine or any system for that matter!  The game is rock solid with many twists and turns along the way to keep you leveling up and creating your own perfect world of Britannia. 

 

Graphics:    8.0

Sound:        7.5

Control:      8.5

Fun Factor: 9.0