Retrospective - Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar for Sega Master System | hungrygoriya
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- Ultima IV is the first game I've played from the Ultima series. Since finishing up the game, I've been wanting to express everything I loved and hated about Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar for the Sega Master System (SMS) and why I won't stop thinking about it any time soon. This video serves as a retrospective and review, as well as a compilation of my thoughts and impressions of the game itself and how I feel it has impacted me personally and how it'll shape how I view other RPGs in the future. 🍖
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Ultima 4 was my very first RPG. I played it on the Sega Master System. I remember it came with a substantially sized booklet & map. I had never played anything like it before… but from the moment I entered that gypsies wagon, I was hooked. I think what I appreciated most about the basic graphics was that the game demanded that you engage with your own imagination and flesh out the characters and the lands in your minds eye. I believe this is one of the things that makes the game such a personal experience. We project our own humanity into the game world. This is why Ultima 4 has stuck with me for decades.
I'm so glad this was your first! Our experiences sound pretty similar except I came to it much later in life. I'm happy it stayed with you too.
I was 12 when it came out. Im playing it now at 43 and i still think its the best open world game ive ever played.
I just got the av cable for higher clarity and now i wanna get a tube amp to soften the sound!
Best ever.
I grew up playing Ultima 4 and i genuinely believe it made me a better person, teaching me the consequences of my shortcomings, and how good deeds connect us to something that is bigger. Clearly one of the most important games i've ever had the chance to play.
I wouldn't doubt that it did! I still think about Ultima IV in some way almost every day. It's changed a lot of people for the better.
I feel that way about "Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire", with it having such a heavy focus on honor.
And then Ultima 5 came along and showed us how those virtues could be twisted to evil if taken to extremes.
I will always hate EA for ruining this series.
Unfortunately it had kind of the opposite effect on me! The game (which I played as a little boy) actually prompted me to more deeply question the merits of such a rigid moral system. Maybe I was always naturally wired to the "chaotic" side (hopefully still "chaotic good") rather than "lawful" side in D&D terms.
For example, why should fleeing from an evil enemy detract from valor/honor and be treated like an immoral action? What if fleeing was the only way for me to protect the lives of my wounded companions? I can see why it would be considered unethical if we abandoned someone in danger who needed our help by fleeing (like abandoning innocent villagers being attacked), but not immoral to flee when no one else is in danger but us -- that seems wise to me, not immoral.
So I started to really favor a more nuanced idea of morality and the game made me distrust such rigid views of right and wrong, because such a rigid adherence to notions of right and wrong actions might cause us to encourage and celebrate actions which, in actuality, cause more harm than good (like rushing recklessly into a hopeless battle causing not only ourselves but our comrades to get killed needlessly), and shun the very actions which do the opposite (making a strategic retreat): a more consequentialist and less categorical way of evaluating productive vs. counter-productive actions, so to speak.
@@melichardcurlq6535 Mine was QFG 3 and Ultima 6! Both focused on the theme of factions on the brink of war (humans vs. gargoyles in U6, Liontaurs vs. Leopardmen vs. Simbani in QFG 3). We come in as peacekeepers trying to prevent a war between these rivaling factions.
That always seemed the most ethical stance to me is not the person who joins the "right" side of a war by siding with the side that aligns with their moral beliefs but the person flexible enough in their beliefs that they can negotiate peace. I like the peacekeeper, the mediator, the negotiator way and that usually requires someone willing to compromise, while the rigid ways of looking at morality tend to be very black and white and uncompromising.
I think people are too diverse and vary too much in their thinking to take such a rigid stance on morality as Ultima 4 seems to encourage. It's the person with the most flexible stance as I see it who is best able to resolve conflicts and promote cooperation.
I relate it somewhat to Jeet Kune Do. It set itself apart as a mixed martial art in terms of its flexibility: to be flexible like water as Bruce Lee put it, and unashamedly deriving from multiple styles of martial arts instead of just picking one and treating it like it's the only right way (inflexible, rigid). I see it the same way with morality. The more flexible we are with our morality (provided our intentions are still noble and in pursuit of harmony and cooperation), the better we're able to adapt and compromise and prevent needless conflicts.
One of the best story i played and read in games in all my life.The values this games say its amazing.This game need be talk more for all generations.
I was thrilled to experience it even if it was so late down the line. I tell everyone to play it and I hope some more people eventually will. I'm also very excited for Ultima V!
I agree that it was pretty damn cool at the time, and I'm very fond of the game. But obviously the story as told in-game is very thin and hasn't aged all that well. Most NPCs only have one or two sentences of dialogue, if at all. The story you've built in your head is much better than the one being told in the game, if you catch my drift. The documents you get with the home computer go a long way in establishing the world.
I've been thinking about Ultima IV just about since I first played it for Commodore 64 around 1986. :) I was so into it that even when I'd play outside with my across the street neighbor kids, whose parents made them play outside for about 95% of the day, we'd "play Ultima IV" with wiffle bats as our swords, coming up with quests to complete and enemies to defeat on the fly. They didn't have a computer, so it was up to me to present ideas from the "real" game, but mostly we were all just improvising and being kids, having a ton of fun.
Nice retrospective and you've highlighted the really striking qualities of this game!
That honestly sounds like an amazing bunch of memories from your childhood. I did something similar growing up where my schoolyard friends and I would play Sonic the Hedgehog. Imagination can take you pretty far!
Thanks about the video. I've since played Ultima V and absolutely adored returning to this universe again. It's such a special experience, but Ultima IV definitely resonated with me a lot more. I think about it almost daily still and it's been a while since I've played through it myself.
I was always a little turned off by how the NES version of Ultima 4 somehow transformed into a Final Fantasy look-a-like. I'm happy to see so much of Exodus makes a return to the Master System version. Although this makes me sad that I still don't own a copy of it. :/
I have yet to try the NES version, but I think I'd like to try it just because it's so different from the original. I'll take Ultima IV in any way I possibly can! I'd say that if you can get your hands on the SMS version that it's definitely worthwhile playing through. It's changed how I feel about most other games and I think about it often even though it's been a long while since I played it now.
Also, sorry it took me so long to reply to this. I didn't get a notification for your comment, but I appreciate that there are other Ultima fans out there! I need to get into the later games in the series. I wonder how V is on the NES...
I was always annoyed at how it was rarely clear how to raise certain virtues ie humility
@@notmegaming9038 Yeah, and they'd deliberately try to trick you with how they'd word questions to make you be prideful. I appreciated the other aspects of the game, though.
@@iwanttocomplain I'm glad that your sentiments align so much with my own. It's amazing how moving one small game can be!
Ohhh...the NES version of Exodus!! I played through that before Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior! Back then those titles really had a way of bringing our little group together because we would take turns grinding for hours at a time. Wahhh, We'll never have games like that anymore which is pretty sad.
Ultima 4 (or as I used to call it when a kid 'ultima 4th'), was my very first RPG, on my Master System. Waay back in early 90's.
It also was the game which made me learn English (not my 1st language), as my mom would go to work and I'd be home alone I mean, she was the one who knew English, and she helped me play through it. But when I was to be alone, she'd leave me with a translation dictionary, and the 8 years old me would go through it, word by word, trying to understand what to do in the game.
The years have passed and when I was mid 20s I decided to give it another go.
One of my 1st encounters was with the dreadful insect. Never was I able to hit it, and it always killed me.
Then I realized that swinging a sword at a bug in the hopes to kill it is quite pointless.
Unequiped my sword and killed it in the first try, with my bare hands.
The epiphany I had that moment cannot be described with mere words, as at least, I had vanquished my sworn enemy after more than a decade of humiliation by its 6 legs.
That sounds like a really fulfilling way to come back to a game again and absolutely crush it... pardon the pun. It's been fantastic reading about people's childhood memories with this game. It's really cool that this one helped you learn some English!
@@hungrygoriya "some" English indeed, as the game is all written in ye olde English. It was hard as a kid to get it all, but it at least settled the basis for my easy learning it years after.
Skull of Mondain: Hey thats a nice set of virtues you've built up. Would be a shame if something were to happen to them..."
Yeah, thankfully I didn't try using it in the playthrough. I don't know if it knocks everything back down to zero, but I have a feeling it'd be a pretty big hit.
@Magos Nihilus Oooo I'm not sure how many points you get for each virtue-building "good deed" in the first place, but -10 does sound significant either way. Yikes! It's definitely not something to be taken lightly.
I don't know that I'd do a let's play for TH-cam, but I do have Ultima V (hopefully the PC version if I can get it running in a virtual machine) planned for my livestreams over on Twitch. It's still a ways away since I have a few games to play through before that, but I do plan to play other Ultima games in the future beyond that as well, especially 7 since people have really hyped that one up. I'd love to try the NES version of Ultima IV sometime just for the sake of seeing what it's all about. I know it's quite different, but there's something about that aesthetic that I really like.
Now if only Ultima had taken a cue from its D&D roots and let you gain experience from _overcoming_ enemies whether or not you _killed_ them - successful diplomacy and stealth are supposed to let you grow in experience, not just murder.
This is a great idea and I wonder if the game could be rom-hacked to implement it. It shouldn't break anything, as it would just add more ways to gain experience. Maybe even aside from enemies, you could gain some experience through a successful conversation - like you say the right thing to make a character join you, or to just learn an important clue. A nice side effect of all this could be to reduce grinding.
Having played D&D and AD&D starting back in 78, I’m pretty sure that was not a feature of the games until a later addition-I think 3rd, after the very last Ultima. Plus, it’s much harder to provide those options in a game, and Ultima doesn’t, of course. At least not the first five. I’m not aware of such options in later ones, but can’t speak authoritatively.
@@RetroDawn No, that was a feature of the original D&D. Experience Points are for _overcoming_ monsters, including by stealth or social victory, and experience from monsters is _minor_ compared to experience from collecting money anyway. No version of D&D before 3rd Edition expected _killing monsters_ to be your primary source of leveling up, when videogames copying D&D had made that the default quite some time before.
You actually got xp for gold. Defeating enemies, regardless of how, was irrelevant.
@@Welverin XP from enemies was _minor_ . Gold was the _main_ source of experience, but bypassing enemies via stealth or diplomacy did in fact give experience points.
I remember being a young teen and getting the NES game as I was going through a bunch of mental issues and dealing with hospitals. It was a safe harbor for me and I will always be thankful for it. Great review btw! Gonna try out this version for sure!
So glad you pulled through all that. It's a pretty special game to a lot of people based on many of the comments here.
I wrote a solution to this in the late 80's. for a sega magazine. After hearing your comments all I can say is welcome to classic rpg gaming :-) It's been a long time but there was a dungeon to the west where you could go warp down to a level full of chests and then warp out and then warp in again and all the chests would be full.... really helped me, when I played it a second time..
I seem to remember this exact place you're referring to... it was like a dream walking in to see all those chests, and knowing I could take them all because I was in a dungeon!
Ultima V, VI and VII will blow your mind and take over your world, in case you haven’t got to them yet. Best games ever.
I've since played Ultima V but not the others. I really enjoyed it!
Thanks for this most thorough review of an outstanding game. You are touching upon all the important intellectual and moral aspects of this masterpiece. It truly is a character forming experience. And the Sega Master version beats all others - I say this as a C64 guy.
Thanks so much for your kind words. I think about this game in some way almost every day since I played it, and I think it's something that'll stay with me for the rest of my life. It's hard to explain, but it really did shift my thinking in a lot of ways. I can't say how much I appreciate this game.
I picked up the NES version recently because I really like the aesthetic of it, but I think the Master System version will always be my favourite. One of these days I'll have to play Ultima V!
Thank you for this video and the poignant account of your experience with the game. I'm five years too late, but I have to say I absolutely adore Ultima IV and it also had the deepest influence on child me: I had a notebook full of notes, I used to rent the game from a store until I could buy it (years later) and I was also struggling with the language (interestingly it was UIV that made my mom realize I needed English classes, which ultimately led me to become a teacher myself, so I'm forever grateful for that as well). I have always thought that the virtue system was something amazing for such a simple game, especially considering how hacking and slashing were the norm -- I used to think the virtues would work in a real-life religion as well, and I still do. It took me years to actually finish the game, because I had no way of finding all the info until the internet came along... so I played and played and replayed the game. I had a whole system, like starting as a shepherd knowing that it was the hardest class to level up (and then just dying after getting the rune in Magincia). I knew everything the game told me, I walked around in the dark, I did everything I could without dispel. Even after replaying the game as an adult I found those delightful references to Paul and Linda McCartney, Rabindranath Tagore, Buddha, so there were new things to delight me. I'm so glad that my videogame experience was so weird and different from my peers: I literally never player a Final Fantasy game, but I was one of the only people in any group to have played Ultima games in Brazil (a friend of mine got Ultima VIII on PC and we spent long afternoons trying to decipher it) and it totally shaped my views on spirituality and RPGs in general. Thanks for sharing this powerful story with us.
Thank you very much for sharing this. I very much wish I'd come across this game at an earlier point in my life like you did. It's amazing to hear how much it helped to form and shape so much of your childhood. What a wonderful experience!
Love your channel. You have more will than I do to complete this game.
I'm glad I saw it through... totally worth it if you can hunker down and get it done.
@@hungrygoriya I may have to vicariously live through you for this one. Thank you.
You don’t gain or lose compassion for killing ‘Evil’ enemies like orc or undead. You do gain compassion if you let enemies such as the giant rat or snakes flee, since they are not inherently evil.
I think my confusion over that came from the History talking about how some things like skeletons are not inherently evil because they can be made non-evil with a spell or something, but I take your point. All I know in practice is that I had to run away from some red sea serpents and lost an eighth, and I thought they were supposed to be evil... I just let most things flee after a while if they needed to.
@@hungrygoriya You probably lost the Valor point from running away.
@@robmcraf2765 Yeah, that's probably what happened. I guess you have to let the enemy decide to leave or run and you never can.
I loved your review. Ultima 4 is one of my favorite games of all time. Furthermore, Ultima 4 on the SMS, IMHO, is the best way to play the game and watching your playthrough was a joy. As you said, Ultima 4 is a personal journey and being able to watch yours was a delight.
Always glad to meet another fan! And thanks about the playthrough. There was a half-finished let's play up when I was first making my way through Ultima IV on the SMS so I just had to put the whole game up. I think about this game most days still, even now.
@@hungrygoriya Indeed! It is one of those rare games, allowing us to embrace the hero/heroine within. I hope you continue your journey throughout Britannia, for the story only gets better from here...
I am a lot more familiar with the NES version! I never made it far as a kid but I definitely tried. I had figured my way around Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest and was eager for another RPG. What I found was confusing and I didn’t get it at first, until I got a hold of a copy of Nintendo Power, Volume 21. It features Star Tropics as it’s main game but I found a great guide to Ultima 4 along with it. Unfortunately by then I didn’t have a copy of the game but I memorized those pages!
These days both the game and magazine sit on my shelf. Waiting for that day I sit down and make my way through it and join the ranks of the Avatar!
As a side note, it also had this one other game. One game that has haunted me for years. It is also sitting there waiting for me to finally tackle it. I don’t find many talk about it and it might be for its crazy difficulty. It’s name?
Magician
I hope you do eventually try out Ultima IV one of these days. I still think about it almost daily and it's been years since I played it, so I think it's definitely worth experiencing. It's cool that you have the magazine to go along with the quest too!
Magician... I'd love to play that one sometime. I have it on the shelf and watched a friend dabble with it a little (but not too much... I didn't want spoilers) and it looks like something I'd appreciate. It's definitely on my list of things to play soon.
Ultima 4 is one of my all-time favorite games. As well as the Ultima series in general. I remember fondly playing through the game on my my 286 PC and being blown away by the game. The SMS version is the most faithful of the console versions.
Yeah, I was really smitten by this game. I have the NES version kicking around it's a curiosity for me, so I might try that some day. I'd also really like to try Ultima V. I have a PC Ultima collection now, so whatever version comes on there is what I hope to play. I've heard the NES Ultima V is awful, but I also want to see what it's all about too.
Again, illustrating how you're the most patient gamer around.. working through the initial growing pains of a game like this (part IV) to become the seasoned veteran you are today :) Nicely put together!
Thanks so much! I can't say enough how wonderful this game was once I got the hang of everything. I definitely feel more credible calling myself an RPG fan coming out of the other side of Ultima IV.
That was great to see. The opposite of swiping through TikTok, really.
@@hungrygoriya You're amazing. Keep up that awesome work, we'll all just keep being amazed. You have a pure heart for enjoying these games. Back in the 1980's, I thought girls didn't play games (I was not very smart and neither was video game culture). Things are much better with you playing!
A very nice retrospective on your journey with Ultima IV. I like the way you put in the music at the end, really wrapped it up nicely!
I am so glad I managed to get something cohesive out of the pile of feelings I had inside after wrapping up this game. Thankfully I recorded the soundtrack a few weeks ago to stick that online (I couldn't find it elsewhere). It was all at my fingertips!
Such a rewarding game, and DEFINITELY very hard to get going on it. Once I got that snowball rolling, it was a lot of fun. I loved all the "virtues", I had never played a game that rewarded all those different kinds of behaviors.
I've never experienced anything else quite like it. It's such a special game.
Ahh Ultima IV I remember playing this as a kid at dad's oldest friend's house around the time I got Dragon Quest/Warrior II. I already beaten Ultima III but the shift to an ethics based gameplay took some getting used to. My biggest virtue issue was suppressing the urge to kill fleeing enemies because doing so would prevent them from attacking less combat skilled travelers later.
Yeah you always want the experience eh? I struggled so badly with letting fleeing monsters go as well. I wish I could've played this one when I was younger. I wonder if it would've had a similar impact on me though.
This series was so far ahead of its time. It's understandable how they pushed it to consoles even if it meant cutting stuff out. They really tried with U7 but the only way to play it is on PC with the expansions.
It's honestly pretty amazing... I'm about to start up Ultima V soon and I'm so thrilled to be coming back to the series. I'll be playing it on PC so I'm curious to see what it's like tackling this kind of game in that format.
@@hungrygoriya The UI improves as you get to 6 with the added bonus of bottomless inventory for easy misplacement of critical items. The differences between the ports and the Dos version as you progress will be overwhelming. Entire quest lines are missing. ;)
@@timm_3r I thought I heard that the U4 port to the Master System was very faithful to the PC version at least... I haven't played U4/5 on NES but I understand that those two are very different. Either way, I'm sure it'll be fun to experience them in some form or another!
@@hungrygoriya This may be true. I haven't played SMS version. The scale of the games ramps up significantly over the next 2 sequels. I don't think I ever encountered the SMS version in stores, I'm sure I would have gotten it if I seen it. U5 was definitely a hot mess on NES that I couldn't stomach knowing what the game is supposed to look and play like.
U6, U7, and the spin offs, Savage Empire and Martian Dreams, are on the SNES and have the most obvious limitations due to religious themes, hardware, and space.
Just bought this game for my Sega Master System and I'm really looking forward to playing it for the first time. Really helpful hearing your journey with the game. Now I'll know a bit more about the mindset I should go into it with
I hope it helps you stay optimistic! Just make sure to read the history! No, really! :)
PC version is far supierior! keyboard intefacec is not tedius patience is needed with both versions but no toggle and up/down menu bullshit just direct commands!
I liked that this version remembered the keywords for you if you got them from speaking to someone else already. I think it was a very nice way to play the game, but I've only tried Ultima V on PC. I liked it well enough, but sometimes I had commands I didn't even know I could use in certain contexts.
I had a professor who had some Ultima maps in his office xD
It makes sense! They're pretty fancy so I could see that passing pretty easily.
In case you haven't played it yet - now you are worthy of experiencing Ultima V (You can get it pretty cheap at GOGdotCOM). It has aged way better than U4 even tho the UI is still somewhat archaic. I also recommend you using a mapper mod for that one. U5 is way more cynical when it comes to the 8 virtues. Thanks for your insightful review of this port!
I'm planning to spend some time with Ultima V in the coming months actually... I'll keep these things in mind! And thanks for your kind words.
I started playing the NES version again; it was one of the first turn based RPGS that I ever played. I didn’t realize how much games like FF IX ruined me for more labor intensive game engines like this. It’s still better than having your armor and weapons break in Miracle Warriors (ahem*Breath of the Wild*ahem).
Funny how you can appreciate all of the things later games do when you play something like this where you're on your own for virtually everything eh? Miracle Warriors has breakable armour and weapons for a while, but there's a way to eliminate that problem... I won't say more, but if that's been holding you back from enjoying that one, it doesn't have to be a permanent problem.
The Ultima series really has some strange effects. Later on, especially in Quest of the Avatar, by the end you really start to appreciate how involved it really is even though it's so archaic and difficult! Might and Magic is the same way!
I've never played a Might and Magic game before, but if it's similar to this, that's very intriguing! I have Ultima V lined up for not too long from now, and I'm totally looking forward to playing more in the series!
@@hungrygoriya might and magic 6, and wizardry 8 (6-7-8 are a linked trilogy) are considered the more user friendly must plays in each series. MM 5 is 2 games mixed together and the end of the original style. MM 6 maybe more up your thing than the ocd world of user friendly 7 and is done in the same style.
I remember playing this with a friend and never finding wine for the shrine of spirituality? .... while we had looked everywhere :(
It's there, I promise! I found all the shrines eventually... some of them are pretty well hidden since you can't always see everything around you if you're near mountains.
Same here never found the wine I think needed for that same shrine. With my buddy back in 1991, spend hours on it.
Ultima IV was the first RPG that I ever played. I played it on the NES port but the Master System port is, in my opinion, superior.
I still need to play the NES game one of these days, but I did absolutely love the Master System version.
I treaded the same Google Sheets path as you, but still haven't finished the game. You have a beautiful voice! Congratulations on your LP initiative.
Thanks very much! I hope you'll finish the game someday. It was a really wonderful experience for me, and it's definitely worth pushing through to the end if you've already made some progress.
And thanks about the voice... I'm pretty lucky I suppose!
I respect your endeavor! I've collected all runes and still not into any dungeons :) I will eventually finish it!
Ultima IV on Commodore 64 was hugely influential to me, and I had some similar experiences to the ones you described, thanks for the trip back and for doing these great reviews.
Aww right on! I'm glad Ultima IV was also impactful for you too.
My favorite version.
I wish someone could make a modern version of this game. I think about it too from time to time because in every other game you’re essentially a psychopath. The 1st time I played it through, I naturally played it like every other game only to find out you can’t cheat. You really have to be the good and virtuous avatar to complete the game. I still remember that struggle and frustration. But I also remember the satisfaction of finishing the game proper.
It's funny how much perspective this game lends on what being a "hero" really means, right?
I used to see the early games in magazines as a kid but couldn't just get any game I wanted even though my parents had an Apple II+. Ultima 4 was the first one I played. A friend copied the disks for me and drew out a copy of the map by hand. He even made some notes for me on how the runes and reagents work. Ultima 7 Black Gate/Serpent Isle is probably the most accessible and intuitive to modern people, and is the best one. You don't even have to be good or follow the "Avatar rules" though your companions might run away from you in disgust.
I was in the same boat as you as a kid, but with the NES. We only got games on holidays and birthdays. It's really cool that someone set you up to play Ultima IV and went the extra mile to ensure you had a good time with it. I suppose I had a similar experience when I played it online because I had a few very dedicated people in my stream chat that were willing to help clarify a few things I didn't quite get about Ultima IV. Once it clicked though, I was off on a trajectory that would permanently change how I view video games.
I've yet to play Ultima 7, but I've heard wonderful things about it. And to avoid the SNES version, apparently!
I dont think Id have the patience for this game. 😅 Great video though!
It's not for everyone, but it changed me. I loved it!
Your description of the introspection this game gave you has reminded me of my first time playing Soul Blazer. The game was already old by the time I was playing it but the age of something should never be taken as a reason to dismiss it completely.
Near the end the narrator asks the player: "How would you feel if you knew your entire life would be one year long?"
I was so struck by the question I was unable to pick up my controller for 30 minutes. Later on this quandary became inevitably tied to an aphorism from Piers Anthony who states: "Man is the one being born knowing he will die, and that is an appalling intellectual burden."
I thought a lot about the act of reflecting on one's existence after the game asked me that question. Putting that ability into such a specific scope of reference was a fascinating and horrifying idea to contemplate.
I was a 20 year old philosophy student beginning his journey into existentialism and utilitarianism at the time. This likely further enhanced my response to Soul Blazer as a whole. And yet 15 years later that narrator's question is still an idea I return to occasionally.
As someone who cares about games as a true art form, moments like these are what I use to teach people who unfairly dismiss the industry as nothing remarkable or important. Art is supposed to make us think and is not confined to a single form.
I've never had much of an interest in Ultima games, but I'm glad this one gave you something akin to what I experienced with Soul Blazer. :)
owning and trying to play this game as an 8 year old was a fucking trip, there was so much borderline arcane knowledge that I stumbled on over the years in this game. I don't think I ever beat the game, or even understood what I was supposed to be trying to do in it, but overall I liked it a lot and it helped shape many of my expectations for what makes a good RPG, which peaked when I randomly bought morrowind for the xbox from a supermarket
Right on! It had such a positive effect on me and I've carried that forward with me into every new RPG I take on. I hope you liked Morrowind! I haven't played the Elder Scrolls games yet but they look like a lot of fun.
As an old Ultima Online player, I remember playing the PC version adapted for modern system several years ago (it's how I found gog back when it was called "good old games") It was even more cryptic with having to type in the questions instead of selecting from a list...I just remember that asking characters "job" seemed to unlock important dialogue. The Master System looks so much more faithful though, than the NES port.
I suppose there's pros and cons to the list format because if you don't find the person that gives you the keyword to put it in the list, even if you know what you want to ask, you can't ask it!
And yes, from what I understand, this one's far more faithful to the PC version for sure.
Great review! I think you did an excellent job of explaining what was frustrating and rewarding about the game with fairness. I had Ultima IV: The False Prophet for SNES but not the booklet, so I never got very far. I finally found a decent walkthrough and FAQ online last year and enjoyed it - but with only the information that's found in the game, it was frustratingly opaque.
Hmmmm I'm glad to know that the SNES game requires the manual. I picked up a copy of it a while back and haven't played it yet, and I'm hoping to play that version when I get around to it.
And thanks about the review! I had so many feelings after Ultima IV and it took me a long time to articulate everything. It really, truly changed how I feel about RPGs and I still think about it even these days no matter what game I'm playing.
Looks like a great game if you stick with it and learn it all properly. Im not sure I would have the patients but I appreciate the type of game this is. Another really cool review mate and thanks for making it x
After I finally figured it all out, it was really rewarding to play through. Definitely worth it, but I understand why some might shy away from something so intensely involved! And thank you :)
The best version was probably the Commodore 64 rendition with the original Apple II version second. The Apple version is also better played in monochrome mode rather than in color because of the way the Apple II handle color creating fringe artifacts. Everything else just added additional clutter to the game. I mean the NES, SMS and PC versions had more colors and more complex graphics, but they are NOT prettier and still crude by today's standards. In the end they just make stuff like secret doors more difficult to see in the game. The console versions are annoying with the speech menus to get around the lack of a keyboard.
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The only annoying thing about the C64 and Apple versions are that they come on 4 floppies. On emulators it means that you have to switch floppy image files in and out of the two simulated drives.
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I finished the game as a kid on the Apple II (circa 1987), recently I went back and replayed in on a C64 emulator and finished it. I tried the NES and PC versions and didn't like them settling on the C64.
I'm sure I would've liked the game on the C64, but I also really liked the Master System version as well. I suppose a lot of the visual experience is subjective too, but I liked that the Master System made the dungeons top-down too. I understand the other versions are first-person.
I'll have to look into the C64 game sometime. It sounds like it's a very nice version! I own the NES game too and am curious to try it out sometime despite how different I've heard it is. At least the Master System port was relatively true to the source material (or so I've been told at least).
This game looks shite , I only looked it up to see why folk are trying to sell it for £90 -£100 odd on eBay. Well judging by this video it's not worth that maybe a fiver!
If you want to play it for free, you can on GOG. It won't even cost you that, haha
I played this at the time it was released, on a Commodore 128. #OldGamer. I honestly have no memory at all of it being difficult to understand. I was awe-struck. It was like my D&D games brought to life. What today looks and sounds primitive, at the time, seemed like the absolute bleeding edge of technology and I could hardly belief what I was playing. Some of my fondest gaming memories of all time are from Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. Hail, Lord British!
I am so glad you had the opportunity to play this when it was new! That's so exciting! Unfortunately I've never played D&D and while I've played other RPGs, this one is so different from others I've experienced in terms of how much you personally manage (like reagent crafting, etc.) and how much of an open world it is that it was all really overwhelming for me. I still obviously had a blast with it once I got my bearings and I still sing Ultima IV's praises to anyone that will listen. It was so much fun :)
Great review. I didn't know this version of Ultima 4 existed! I played it on NES, which is very different. It looks like the SMS version is much closer to the computer version.
That's what I've been told! I have yet to try either the NES or computer versions. I liked this one a lot.
Imagine playing this through WITHOUT having an excel spreadsheet on the side.
I had to search for every dude referenced and it took just under 2 years to finish as a 12 yr old kid.
Most fun ive ever had. Almost.
I opted for a searchable spreadsheet because I didn't feel like going crazy!
especially as much as you appreciated IV, i VERY highly recommend Ultima V for you now: for me it is the absolute perfection of the new world of depth first opened by IV, and the pinnacle of the series, subsequent ones being VASTLY different, and no longer so largely the personal work of Lord British himself..... though i don't know of any console ports, but Ultima is probably always a significantly better experience on PC with a keyboard for easy, quick commands rather than scrolling menus..... but also, it is LONG, and HARD, but i think even so much deeper, immersively realistic, and emotionally gripping, with a hell of a twist on the virtues and their political implications for ever individual in Brittania!!
ack, they did make an NES port of V, but it looks absolutely horrific, practically unplayable, DEF recommend PC, this SMS port of IV looks about as good as you could possibly get on a console thank goodness, but someone royally screwed the pooch for V!!!D
I've heard these sentiments from many Ultima fans, and V is definitely up next for me to play, whenever I get there. I have an Ultima Collection for PC and I'd have to double check what versions those are, but that's what I'm hoping to play when the time comes. It's nice to know that it gets better from here... at least for a little while :)
I don't know how the NES version plays, but I love the aesthetic of Ultima IV for that console (very similar to Final Fantasy) so I wonder if it'd be good as a standalone experience rather than comparing directly to the PC port... hmmm.
Ultima games are mysteries. The plot isn’t laid out in advance. The player needs to search for information as the core activity of the game. That can be fun if you’re in the mood for it. It’s a sort of bridge between older adventure games and newer RPGs.
I love how much this game peels back the handholding and expects so much from you!
Thank you for changing my mind about this game, I'll try it out now. I'm always open to having my mind changed about something I don't like.
I hope you enjoy your time with it! Good luck, take many notes, and have fun!
The quality of these videos is shocking. Separately, the excel spreadsheet work is so bad ass. I really appreciate your methodical approach.
Hey thanks! I couldn't imagine playing a game like this with written notes. I'd spend more time looking for a key word or a hint I took hours and hours prior, so a searchable document went a long way.
I have fond memories of this game, but I never beat it. Perhaps I should go back to it. 🤔
No time like the present! The PC version's free on GOG.
@@hungrygoriya cool! Thank you for the tip 😊👍
I still want to sit down with this and Miracle Warriors one day and play all the way through them 80s style, with maps and books.
I hope you do. Especially with this one. Miracle Warriors is great, but Ultima IV's really easy to sink into.
Great logical review THANKS!
Looks so dense... But you convinced me properly 😊
Many thanks for the review!
My pleasure! It's a really great game once you learn how to stay afloat in all the details.
I loved this game but unfortunately I got stuck trying to get the air ship or was it a air balloon. This was before the internet so now it sits on my shelf gathering nostalgic dust.
At least nostalgic dust is better than the normal kind. Sorry you didn't get through it!
The moment I have to used Excel to play a video game, is when I'll consider finding another hobby.
Haha it was better than handwritten notes with no search function to me... very helpful!
I just got Ultima 4-9 on Good Old Games and I'm very excited to jump into this series I've heard praised as long as I can remember. The fantastic thing about buying them through GOG is that the staff includes all the supplementary materials like the manual, map, history of Britannia, everything
Yeah! That's how I eventually played Ultima V and really enjoyed the port. I patched in some music and it was really worth it. Do you know if the version of Ultima IV from GOG has music already? It really improves the experience.
@@hungrygoriya I'm not sure, but I'm hoping so. I tried out the original Space Quest for Apple II and was very surprised with how sparse sound was
I just googled for SMS footage of Ultima IV and look where I ended up.
:) I'm not surprised, and I hope you weren't disappointed to plunk down here!
The nes version is my favorite game as a kid the graphics are great
I need to see what that version's all about someday. I haven't played it yet!
"It's something I can't stop thinking about." This exact same thing happened to me! I got this game two days ago and didn't think I'd actually put any real time into it, but now it's almost all I can think about.
I had Sega Master System as a kid. I've always been into tabletop roleplaying games, so naturally I was interested in being able to experience a fantasy world in video games too. Ultima IV was always on my radar, but my cousin strongly advised against it as neither of us spoke a single word of English. Later on, as a teenager, I sold away my SMS and games as it was severely outdated and I figured I had more use for money. A decision I'd come to rue.
Few months ago I got myself an SMS and I started reacquiring my lost games and buying some "new" ones that I was intrigued by back then but never got my hands onto. And, as one might guess, Ultima IV fell into that latter category. However, I don't want to buy these games to just sit on a shelf, but I want to actually use them for the money I put into them. In that sense, as one of the more expensive titles on SMS, Ultima IV felt like a bad investment as a tragically outdated RPG from the dark ages. What were the odds I'd not only play this, but enjoy it enough to validate buying it? Not that great. However, I've been very much drawn towards it this whole time, in which this video has played no small part.
Last week I bumped into what seemed bit of a risk, but turned out to be an amazing deal. As a result, I now own my very own copy of Ultima IV. After replacing the battery inside the cartridge, I jammed the game into my console and hit the power button. My god. What begun as simply testing if the game even works, soon turned into me now studying 'The History of Britannia' and 'The Book of Mystic Wisdom'. Lingering doubts have been replaced by looming obsession. Yes, it's outdated. Yes, it's clunky. It's exhausting. But something about this world just grabs you by the privates and won't let you go. And instead of worrying about wasted money, I'm now actually congratulating myself for getting this game. What an intriguing, fascinating, brilliant game this is. And Alakhai the mage will see it through.
This is great to hear! I'm so glad you're rediscovering the system, and especially this game. I hope it continues to keep you drawn in and feeling things, because I STILL think about Ultima IV no matter which RPG I'm playing, or whenever I see a quarter moon hung up in the sky. It's a cool game and I'm pretty thrilled at how good it was despite all the same concerns I had around it being an ancient relic that would kick my butt.
NES, take a stab at Ultima Exodus. LOVED it as a kid, because of the character gen and stuff, but as an Adult when I went back to finally beat it. WOW my perspective on the whole game was different. :P
How so?
@@hungrygoriya I think it's really not a well designed game, especially when you consider the rest of Ultima. think I just loved having so many characters as a kid. also the balance needed work lol. like a lot. 20 characters per save file, so up to using 4 at a time. that was cool. exploring the world was fun but.... careful leveling up lol
Dang, Goriya, I would love to see you do a playthrough of Ultima 7 (There's an Ultima 7: The Black Gate and Ultima 7: Part 2 Serpent Isle) for DOS or Ultima 6 (I recommend using the FM Towns version if you can find it, it's a Japanese computer but it has an english version with completely - badly but in a good way - english voiced conversation. The DOS Version and the FM Towns version can both be played easily on ScummVM.) Both of those games play on ultima 4 and greatly expand on it.
Ultima 5 is good too (FM Towns version is probably my favorite graphically though you'll have to figure out UNZ which took me quite a lot of time, though there is an NES version as well as various PC, Commodore 64, and an Apple version) - but Ultima 6 follows up on Ultima 4 and then the two Ultima 7s expand on that moreso than Ultima 5 does.
I had one other recommendation for you considering you were obviously born around the same time I was and experienced gaming in a similar way to me and liked the same and similar games. OH! La Mulana. The original is freeware and done in a great pixelart style, though if you need a gamepad like me you might have to use joy2key or something similar.
Great work on everything, I love your channel, and thanks for responding to me in the Drakkhen video!
P.S. There is an Ultima 6 and Ultima 7: The Black Gate for the SNES, but stay away as these are heavily dumbed down unlike the other ones I recommended. I mean, check them out if you want, but take it from someone who started out wanting Ultima: Exodus for Christmas on NES at 5 years old and hasn't stopped since and don't choose them as your go-to versions.
I created my Lurkatar for Ultima 4 I’m probably going to start a playing it seriously soon. Thanks for the video and streaming Ultima V.
As a kid I remember I kept a big binder l of notes! It was awesome!
You'd almost have to with a game like this. Great to hear!
I really enjoyed hearing about your feelings evolving on this one! I'm still on the fence about whether to play through this version which I'm made to understand is fairly loyal to the original, or through the NES port, which I understand to be a bit more JRPG-ified (possibly to the detriment of available game features?)
I'm glad you liked my thoughts on Ultima IV. I haven't played the NES version so I'm not sure how far astray it goes from the original or the more loyal ports, but I think any excuse to play Ultima IV is a good one! I wish I knew more about the differences between versions, but I can definitely recommend the Master System game as long as you can be patient with the learning curve at the beginning of the adventure. I'm almost curious to try out the NES version just to see how different it is. Why not try both?
I'd recommend PC, these games were designed for a keyboard with every key being a command shortcut, not menus, MUCH less tedious I'm sure.....D Lord British definitely directly worked on those versions too, including the graphics, which look okay here, but obviously have to be adapted to sprite based consoles.
Playing Ultima while perfectioning Excel. The REAL way to do ir XD
I needed some searchable notes! I would've probably spent more time searching for names in my notes with pen and paper than it would've taken me to return somewhere in-game to follow up with them, haha
@@hungrygoriya Exccel and drawing maps, these little details i miss today in modern releases. That gave every game a wider sense of adventure.
You can attack in diagonals in the SMS version!?
Yep! I've heard that's not possible in other versions of the game, but it made combat here a lot quicker.
One of my favorite games of all time! Played it when I was a little kid and had so many handwritten notes.
Oh I bet! How did you keep them all straight? The "find" function in the spreadsheet I used was so helpful!
@@hungrygoriya I didn't basically, there was a lot of backtracking around the world =P I mostly referenced it for things like reagent prices or mantras.
It is odd you would play this on a console. The Ultima series in general is very much a computer RPG, and the conversions from the original are odd since they are trying to put square pegs in round holes. It really did strike me that you're coming at this from a console perspective. This was published almost 2 years ago, so you might have come across other classic computer RPG's since then.
I'm aware that this series started on computers but I actually acquired this game alongside a bunch of other RPGs for the Master System, and this was my first step into Ultima's world and lore. I've played a few "made for PC" games on console (King's Quest, for example) and tend to enjoy them just as much despite some of the limitations that come with porting something like those to a controller/menu system versus a mouse and keyboard.
@@hungrygoriya Do not misunderstand me, this wasn't supposed to be a snooty response, just an observation. Yeah Ultima and C-RPG's in general in this era were very much a "go figure it out yourself after reading the 90 page manual". Having grown up with that as the basis for my computer/console RPG's the Ultima series seems very obvious on what to do. But I can imagine that if I were coming from a console perspective in 2018 the game would initially seem very confusing. The journey you discussed highlighted that is all. :-) I've played all of the Ultima's except IX and honestly I, personally, didn't like IV that much. I did like V, VI, and especially VII. If you end up playing any of these I highly recommend playing the version on your PC and not on the consoles... the console versions are.... rough. :-D
@@JohnSmith-ch9sm I didn't take it that way at all, so no worries! I honestly didn't have a great PC growing up and only had a few consoles to play, so even now I tend to gravitate towards console games. I am up to play Ultima V in not too long from now and I'll be enjoying that on PC with the Ultima Collection compilation. I've heard the NES port of that game was just awful!
And yes, I'm very, very late to this kind of gaming experience. I got into RPGs quite a bit later in life since I didn't have a lot of variety in what I had available to play when I was a kid, and most of my games on NES and Sega Genesis were platformers or action games. I only got into RPGs in 2002-ish, and my first turn-based one was Final Fantasy X. I was hooked after that, and was incredibly humbled to take some steps back when I played Ultima IV. I can't wait to experience the others in the series!
@@hungrygoriya I look forward to seeing those at some point then. :-) Yeah the Final Fantasy series and J-RPG's took a left turn from C-RPG's and they have a very different point of view on the games. C-RPG's are more sandbox-like, and J-RPG's are typically more narrative driven. The lines are much more blurred now-a-days, but going back to anything before 2000 you'll definitely notice the distinction.
Concept = A+
Execution = F
Summary: "I used Game Genie and a walkthrough and still had a frustrating time. But still not as bad as YIIK."
I find it interesting how closely the SMS version of this game stuck to its PC counterparts, while the NES version streamlined itself to better fit the console. I'm not sure which approach is better -- the SMS version seems like it might've been a turnoff for me due to its clunkiness were that to be the one I played, whereas the NES version remains one of my favorite 8-bit RPG experiences for much the same reasons you fell in love with the SMS version.
I really should play through one of the original versions of Ultima IV sometime, just to see how different an experience it really is. I suspect it may not be as different as I'm anticipating.
I'd be curious to see what you think you of the NES version, too, being more familiar with the original. It's not exactly stripped back, but as I mentioned, it does streamline quite a lot -- there's no dialogue tree system in the NES version, for example, so NPCs just have a single line of dialogue like in any old Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game. I don't know how much negative effect that would have on the overall experience, though -- and I suspect the greatly improved graphics and music of the NES version might make up for it, as they really help give the game a more immersive atmosphere (as best as I can tell, anyway).
The one major downside of the NES version, though, is that it's been translated to Japanese, then translated back to English. And while most of the text was handled well (you'd never even know it was translated), there are a few crucial Yes/No questions over the course of the game where the Yes and No prompts are swapped due to a translation snafu (presumably), which makes acquiring some of the stones a bit frustrating.
I've had the NES version hanging around for a long time and just haven't gotten around to it just yet, but I absolutely adore the aesthetic that it brings. That was the biggest draw. I understand the game's different in that you can only bring so many people with you versus the full party of eight among other things, but I'd still definitely like to play it sometime!
And good to know about those yes/no option blunders. That sort of thing can make or break a playthrough if you just don't know.
I played them both but only the NES version to the end. In the SMS, I became the avatar and then found that I had to go through a bunch of dungeons after that. Couldn't' work up the gumption after that.
I played the Commodor 64 version, the best IMO. The SMS one looks really good, too. I've played the NES and I'd sum it up as a mockery of what the game is supposed to "feel" like. Cartoonish, couldn't take it seriously.
@@tohitAC0 Cartoonish is definitely not a word I'd use to describe it. It feels gritty and "lived-in," to me. And considerably more polished all around than the other versions, from what I've seen. You should give it another try sometime! I think you may have judged it a bit too harshly, or a bit too quickly.
@Wyrdwad I looked it up on youtube and again, shaking my head. Guess it's just not my style, not for a game like this. Looks and sounds ridiculous. It's the terrible music and JRPG style.
Great video! I'm probably never going to play it (I don't have a lot of patience) but it's always fun learning about old games from decades past
Yeah, these games and others of the time are not always going to be approachable for everyone, but I was grateful to have the experience. Thanks for checking out the video :)
Nice that you could have more than 4 party members. I didn't know that; I played it on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Yeah, I heard that the NES version limited you to only half the party. But you could recruit all 8, right?
@@hungrygoriya Not the character from your own city; you could only talk to them.
@@infinitecanadian Right right... I remember now.
@@hungrygoriya I often don't finish roleplaying games, because the most fun is when I have to level up the character. The exception is in roleplaying games with an involved storyline like the Trails of Cold Steel series that I am playing.
best version
pride is not a virtue, humility is. Justice is truth tempered by love. Compassion is unyeilding love.
Ultima VI on SNES was my first exposure to the series. The open world and unrestrained exploration, and thousands of lines of dialogue made it a world I lived in at times, rather than a game to beat. Despite the basic graphics, brutal difficulty, and absolute lack of handholding, I spent a long time playing it over a year or two, and only beat it once. One of my favorite games ever.
I really do need to play Ultima VI. I played V on PC this past summer and loved it, and I have the SNES version of VI to try. I'm glad to hear it's worth playing through in that form.
I like to go back and play this game every couple of years (though I prefer the NES version). Whereas I never play the old Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy games, even though I like both series. There's just something special about Avatar. It really is genius.
This was a wonderful retrospective. You're becoming a favorite channel.
I have the NES version kicking around here and I'm hoping to play it some day sooner than later... I need to play this game again!
And thank you very much for the kindness. This game was really special to me, and I'm glad you're enjoying the channel!
Ultima would be a good IP for other types of media.
Oh? Like a TV show or something?
@hungrygoriya yes. Film and literature, including comics.
I love how you detail your nerd rage.
Which port is better? SMS or NES?
I wish I could say! I haven't played the NES game before, but from what I've heard, this port is much more faithful to the PC game. I don't usually hear people praising the NES version, but that might just be the people I've spoken with.
I tried to play it today but couldn't get past the main menu. When I have to look up that I have to press I for 'Initiate Game' (so intuitive!), just to get past the main menu, then it's a hard pass for me. Nevermind trying to figure out the rest of the controls for everything else. UI design has come a very long way since then.
Were you playing the PC version? I'm not familiar with any of the keyboard commands, but I can imagine there's a learning curve. The menu interface in the SMS game wasn't the most intuitive either, but the game's honestly worth it if you can stick it out!
One of my all time favorites, although I played it on PC a long time ago (but way later than its release date). A fair and well presented review!
Thanks so much! Always glad to meet another fan of this game. I'm curious to try it out on PC someday, just to see what it's like. I did really enjoy my time with it on the Master System though!
I bet you'd really like "Treasure Hunter G"
That's a Super Famicom game right? I think I have it! I haven't played it yet though.
@@hungrygoriya Yes. IIRC, it plays close to the same in battle, but I don't think you get the Avatar system of virtue. As far as I know, only a few games out there really keep that big a score on how you play. Ultima IV, Ogre Battle and to a certain extent, Fable. Most just give minor gifts based on play. Ogre Battle in particular the way you play WILL effect the ending, and the way you answer the questions at the beginning of the game can have a rather large effect on it. That was always one of my SNES faves. The PSOne version took too long to load battles, which messed up the pacing of the game itself.
@@dethaddr I think I have both versions of Ogre Battle so it's good to know about the loading troubles. I'll have to play Fable one of these days too. I always enjoy games where choice actually matters!
Love your videos, just joined in the last couple days and been binging since. Thank you so much, and cant wait till the next one
Thanks so much for watching, and glad to hear you're enjoying the channel so far.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I played the game on my Atari 800XL soon after it came out. I didn't watch all your videos, so I hope you don't mind me asking, is there one in which you travel in the hot-air balloon?
You're quite welcome! I'm glad you dropped in to watch this one at least. I did do a full Let's Play of the game and the hot air balloon antics are in Part 23: th-cam.com/video/e0b6sK8n4FY/w-d-xo.html if you want to check that out. The balloon part starts after escaping Hythloth.
@@hungrygoriya
Thank you so much. I have to say my two fondest memories were discovering new places with the Blink spell and by the balloon.
@@paulthompson9668 My pleasure. Don't mind my grumblings about the balloon. It was trouble, haha! Enjoy!
I remember playing this as a kid/young adult, on an Atari 8 bit. I remember the game costing $54.95 in 1985 (wow, people bitch and complain about games costing $60-$70 today). I remember spending over a week on the game, not fully understanding the virtues, and once I did, feared I so completely screwed my character up, that I completely started over. It wasn't a 100% loss of time, however, because I figured out to manipulate the tarot card character creation to create the character I wanted. I just hope EA sells the Ultima franchise to a developer which has a few Origin alumni, so that something good can be done with it.
Interesting! I suppose you could've come back from wherever you'd gone in the other direction on the morality scales but it's cool that you decided to start with a clean slate as well. It'd be nice to see Ultima in the right hands. One can only hope!
You have 100 times more patience than i do. First of all i RARELY EVER read the manual and only sometimes read the intro. Have you played old PC Adventure Games like Kings Quest, Space Quest and Monkey Island? i havent since i was very young but i assume you know about these epic adventure games.
I'm a huge fan of manuals and really enjoy diving into the backstory for games, especially from this generation since there's not always a ton of in-game worldbuilding. I grew up with King's Quest V/VI and Curse of Monkey Island, and since back then I've played the other Monkey Island games and a few other Sierra adventures. There's so much good PC gaming!
Great video. On e of my favourite games. from childhood. The music is special.
The soundtrack is great! I've heard other versions but the shrine and seer/shop music are really well done here.
I should re-visit the ST version.. never knew that you could use a midi setup for better music
That's pretty neat! Sounds like a brand new way to enjoy the game.
How did you complete this game? 30 mandrake root - could never get it...just how? Couldn't find the last stairs in the abyss, spent hours moving all my chars looking for the stairs with that music going for hours. And I searched that poison spot for mandrake root too and got nothing....how did you finish this?
I played it through twice... it took a long time to figure out what the game wanted from me, but once I got a feeling for it, it became a lot easier to get through some of the puzzles. I hear you though... there are some very tough sections of the game that are very demanding.
Just found your account. Loved this video. Starting on your LP now.
Glad you stumbled upon me here. Thanks very much! I hope you enjoy the LP!
Please get a hold of me I think I love you.
This review put me to play the game and now is one of my favorites RPGs ever!!! Thanks for such agood work with your content!!! Keep the good work!!! 👏👏👏
Awww I'm so glad you enjoyed it too! It has truly changed how I play every RPG since so it's pretty special to me.
@@hungrygoriya for me too! Like you, I didn't have the opportunity of playing all these games when I was a kid. I've been discovering all these games and submerging in the vast world of RPGs.
I've been looking old school games that where godfathers of genres and mechanics used today by AAA games. And then I found Ultima IV.
After seeing your video and the way you manage the description of the game just impressed me and started playing it right away. While playing, I was thinking in all the ideas of Ethics and Morals that Garriot brought to the table in this game. It blew my mind! This game was ahead of its time and clearly a reference for all other RPGs done after this one. A truly unique game where you truly write your own story based in your own morals and decisions. Nothing can come as personal as this. As I said before, it turned in one of my favorites RPGs ever!!
Again, thanks for that review and just keep the good work!!! 🏆🎖🎊
Your frustration at this game is an example of why so many folks just...didn't play RPGs for the longest time.
So many of the earlier ones were so obtuse, and relied on the player having been *into* table top RPGs that the experience sucked.
Yeah, I'm glad I was encouraged to stick this one out but as a totally new person coming to the series without that, I don't think I would've stuck with it!
@@hungrygoriyaI'm glad you were as well and love this video and your vids in general.
i like your notes on the side. reminds me of playing the gold box dungeon and dragon games on my tandy 1000 as a kid! i used to do the same thing,
I started with pen and paper and decided absolutely not... I needed a searchable document! I love taking notes for games. I have a very messy notebook!
@@hungrygoriya thats really smart!
What’s a paladin?
What a great video. I started playing Ultima in 1998 in Ultima online. I’ve been a huge fan ever since. But, I have yet to play any of the old all the most. I plan to buy some soon. But, this is the one video that could help show others in my life why it is this game is so compelling to me still. And why I’m looking back and playing games and it’s history that led up to the one I know in Lavelle‘s but online. But alsoAll other CRPG is after it.
It's always great to meet another Ultima fan! I still have yet to dive further into the series, but this game has stayed with me since I played it. I play a lot of RPGs and I'm constantly thinking about how much this adventure resonates in every single one of them. Hopefully you'll get a chance to go back to the older games some day!
@@hungrygoriya very soon. I’ve decided to start with Ultima IV. What platform do u recommend? I only have a pc. I’m not watching too much gameplay . Don’t want spoilers in a game like that. Although I see 4 has some tedium. Could be an issue. But on to 5 then. It seems Ultima underworld is very well liked.
@@Kidge.6081 I have only played the Master System version of IV but people love the PC version. I wouldn't be too intimidated by it honestly... After you get going, you start to really get to know the ins and outs of how the world works. It's hard but manageable.
This is the sound of a player graduating into being a real RPG player. Wonderful listen.
What's the deal with the books that were included with the Master System version, that couldn't fit in the box? I'm guessing those were just copies of the ones for original PC version, but it's still a bit odd.
Anyway, since I found your channel I've fallen deep into the Master System hole, and this was my latest pickup last friday. Having been a Nintendo kid it's extremely fun finding out all the stuff I could've been playing back in the 90's. Although, these titles sure are starting to get up there in price! Anyway, thanks for getting me hooked on the system!
Although I don't own them, I think they must be the spellbook and the History of Britannia. They're both extremely important for establishing foundations to build on for this particular game since the game itself does very little to guide you. It would've been nice if they fit in the box, but they're very important reading material!
And I'm glad to hear you've fallen under the Master System spell. There are so many good games for the system that I've only recently found out about too, so I'm glad to know there are others taking the plunge right along with me!
I had the same effects of frustration at that time...
Did you ever come back to it and finish it?