Trivia
Ultima IV was named #2 overall among the “150 Best Games of All Time” by Computer Gaming World Magazine (15th Anniversary Issue--November 1996).
Contributed by
PCGamer77 
(3051) on May 01, 2008.
Ultima IV was ranked # 32 in the 50 Best Games of All Time list published by PC Gamer Magazine in its April 2005 issue.
Contributed by
PCGamer77 (3051) on Mar 19, 2005.
Some of the town inhabitants in "Ultima IV" have the same names as famous historical figures. Or are they really those figures, magically transported to Britannia? For example, in one of the towns you meet a man named Shakespeare. In another one you see a person who looks like a philosopher, and when you ask him his name, he says: "I am Buddha".
The moral concept of the game was undoubtedly influenced by Buddhism. The number eight that appears in the game constantly (eight virtues, eight character classes, eight party members, etc.) is a sacred number in Buddhism (one of the most important concepts of which are the eight steps on the path to enlightenment). Shrines, meditation, mantras, the total independence of Britannia's moral codex from any supernatural power are all typical attributes of Buddhism. Lastly, the concept of the Avatar is nearly identical to the concept of bodhisattva, the Buddhist ideal person (although the word avatar itself derives from Hinduism and means reincarnation of God).
Jaakko Peltonen has organized an effort to completely remake Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar with an updated game engine. The remake will include isometric graphics (like Fallout and Baldur's Gate) and symphonic music tracks. You can check out the project at its homepage: http://www.hut.fi/~jtpelto2/ultima4/. This is one of the many ongoing projects to remake and update various older Ultima games.
Contributed by
ktchong (20) on Jun 13, 2002.
At the time of Ultima IV's development, RPGs were undergoing a bashing by right-wing extremists who claimed such fantasy gaming was amoral or downright evil. The concept of the virtues in Ultima IV were partially inspired by Richard Garriott's desire to prove otherwise.
There is no music in PC version, but there exist a freeware patch that adds all the glorious music from C-64/Apple versions to play properly with the PC version as MIDI. There are a freeware 256-color VGA graphics patch available as well.
Contributed by
Eisentel (5) on Jan 04, 2002.
In addition to home computer platforms, Ultima IV was released for both the Nintendo Entertainment System and (much to Nintendo's chagrin) the Sega Master System.
In the 200th aniversary issue of Computer Gaming World, this game was rated the tenth best game of all time by the staff.
This game is a member of Computer Gaming World's Hall of Fame.
In an interview with Computer Games Online (www.cdmag.com), Richard Garriott offered some interesting insights about the creation of the virtues for Ultima IV. Here's the excerpt:
“I started with a whiteboard and wrote down all of the virtues and vices I could think of, the seven deadly sins, many, many others. Obviously I wanted to talk about a few of these, but I couldn't address them all.
“As I did more research, I began to notice things like greed and envy would have some overlap, so I needed to create a core set. You can easily split them up into virtues and vices, and eventually arrived at three primary aspects, which became the principle virtues of Truth, Love and Courage. Truth became Honesty, Love became Compassion, Courage became Valor, and I created the eight possible combinations of these three. Truth tempered by Love became Justice, Love and Courage became Personal Self-sacrifice, Courage and Truth became Chivalric Honor. Truth Love and Courage was kind of arbitrary, so I thought, "What is the all-encompassing virtue?" I said, "Spirituality," whether or not you're doing good or bad deeds in the world.
”And what if you do none of the above? If not being virtuous is part of your psyche, I call it pride. Pride is not a virtue, so I decided to use the opposite, Humility. Since the eighth combination created a non-virtue, I began to create bits of pseudo-science I was pretty pleased with.
”Ultimas are big in mathematical pseudo-science and alchemy, so I invented the Codex of Ultimate Wisdom to graphically illustrate their relationship. Then I associated the cities with the virtues, with the eighth one - which I called Magincia, the city of Pride - destroyed. Having these seven positive things with one eighth one that had to be flipped made for a nice variety of quests you could create.
”Once the eight virtues were created, I needed to come up with quotes that expressed why each was important. And had to think of tests for people to see if they were supporting that virtue. Honesty was easy - I let you cheat shopkeepers and steal things, but the game kept a record where it could, later in the game, come back to haunt you. Just like the real world. Why is it you don't steal from people? Because if you do they'll throw you in jail or disown you. So that's how I designed the game - people will reject you if you're not honest.
”So I went virtue by virtue and tried to craft these types of experiences.”
Contributed by
-Chris (7378) on Dec 20, 2000.
Original boxes of Ultima IV included a metal ankh symbol.
Aradindae Dragon & Wiltshire Dragon, members of the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter, have created an upgrade for Ultima IV, adding upgraded 256 color graphics, MIDI sound, and other fixes. See the Links/Searches section for the URL.
In order to hype the release of Ultima Ascension, Origin made Ultima IV freeware, ie you could download it for free legally.
Contributed by
Alan Chan (3715) on Feb 21, 2000.
