The MS-DOS version of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar was ported by James Van Artsdalen and first published on the PC by Origin Systems in 1987. It uses 16-colour EGA graphics, which is at least a step up from the previous three (un-patched) Ultimas, which used four-colour CGA graphics. It’s also currently – at the time of writing – available individually FOR FREE on GOG.com, or as a part of a paid-for package with episodes five and six. And it’s well worth playing, even today – some 35 years after the game’s original release. Which demonstrates just how good it is.
Tag Archives: Denis Loubet
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, Atari 8-Bit
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar on the Atari 8-bit was ported by David Lubar (who created the excellent Pastfinder) and first published by Origin Systems in 1986. It is an excellent conversion of a brilliant game and is arguably the best Role-Playing Game on Atari‘s 8-bit home computer.
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Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, Commodore 64
The fourth game in the Ultima series first came out on the Commodore 64 in 1985 and the game was converted by Chuck Bueche, who also did a great job of porting the third Ultima to the C64. So it plays similarly to its predecessor. Ultima IV was also re-made by The Genesis Project in 2015, with superb new graphics, a trainer, bugfixes, a savegame editor, fast-loading d81 and CRT (cartridge) versions, and various other enhancements. If you’re playing the C64 version for the first time then that’s the version I’d recommend – unless you deliberately want to play the original version. I’m showing the 2015 remake here first, then at the end of the set I’ve shown screenshots of the original 1985 version, for comparison. It’s easy to tell them apart.
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Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, Apple II
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar is the fourth game in the Ultima series and was designed by Richard Garriott and first published by Origin Systems in 1985. It is the first game in the “Age of Enlightenment” trilogy, which moves towards a more ethically-led, story-driven approach. Rather than requiring the player to overcome a tangible evil the story instead focuses on the player’s moral self-improvement.
BioForge, PC
BioForge is a cyberpunk action/adventure developed by Origin Systems and published by Electronic Arts for PC MS-DOS in 1995. It is similar in style to Alone in the Dark or Resident Evil, with static backgrounds and animated 3D characters moving over them.
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss, PC
The first of two ground-breaking Ultima Underworld games made by Looking Glass Technologies (formerly known as Blue Sky Productions) and Origin Systems.
The Stygian Abyss, first released in 1992, is one of the first Role-Playing Games to feature first-person action in a 3D environment.
