Ultima IV: First steps

 

A few technical notes on emulating Ultima IV before I start -

As with all of Garriott's games up to this point, Ultima IV's lead platform was the Apple II. I am playing a copy from the Woz-a-day collection, of which I have some confidence that their images are accurately dumped and unmodified, as opposed to the cracked DSK images which are often unreliable pirate copies.

With this copy, I found AppleWin should be configured to emulate an Apple ][+, not an //e, or else it may not boot correctly.

Ultima IV is one of only a few Apple games that supports dual Mockingboards for true stereo music, but this must be configured ingame as well as in the emulator. The ingame configuration can be accessed from the main menu; to align with AppleWin's expectations, you'll need to set both devices to Mockingboard A/C, with the first in Slot #4 and the second in Slot #5.

We also have the option to use dual floppy disk drives, which eases the pain of disk swapping a bit. The game came with two disks originally, but had to be manually flipped to access the reverse sides.

• Disk 1
• Side A - Boot
• Side B - Town & castle data
• Disk 2
• Side C - Overworld data & saves
• Side D - Dungeons & underworld data
  

Because Apple II emulators lack a "disk flip" function, this setup is emulated as four single-sided floppy disks, and you'll still need to swap A/B in drive 1, and C/D in drive 2. But since side C+D are physically on the same disk, the game did not expect it to be possible to have both sides inserted at the same time, and saving your game while in a dungeon is not possible.

 

I started a new game.

 

Rather than opening with a character creation sheet, Ultima IV opens with an illustrated prologue - and unlike Wizardry III, it doesn't merely recap the events of the manual, but follows them. Lord British has sent out a call to adventure through time and space, and you, an ordinary person from 20th century earth, have answered the phone. While going for a walk in the woods to distract yourself from the stresses of modern life, a moongate briefly appears within a mysterious circle of stones, and splurts out a gift - a silver ankh amulet, cloth map, and books. The same ankh, map, and books found in the game's packaging.

A subtle reminder to RTFM.

A renaissance fair beyond the hills, somehow unnoticed until now, catches your attention, and a strange compulsion draws you to a fortune teller's wagon, where Ultima's famous character creation sequence is seen for the first time.

I mentioned that Ultima IV doesn't really make you engage that much with its virtue system throughout standard gameplay, but here, as commenter Josh Lawrence notes, we're actually presented with a series of ethical dilemmas that have no right or wrong answers, and even though the questions are hypothetical, your choices will have tangible consequences - namely, your class and starting stats. It's just too bad that the themes presented here don't really hold up once the game starts in earnest. We'll see this system return in later Ultimas; disappointingly, the questions do not change.

In the spirit of roleplaying, I really should answer the questions as I would, but I did that the first time I played and already know what's going on here. I want to play as a Mage this time, and to do that, you must choose Honesty above all others.

I have to break character for this one.

The final card is cast.

And with that, I'm magically whisked away to another world.

Well, no better place to start searching for answers than the nearby town, which turns out to be Moonglow.

The mage "Calabrini"greets all newcomers to Moonglow

The town greeter advised me of Moonglow's noted inn and healer, and that I would perhaps be interested in visiting a shrine on an island to the north.

I mapped out the town using some new techniques - forgive the visual artifacts, as I'm still working out the system.

In a zig-zag pattern, top left to bottom-right:

• Mariah stands over a chest. Taking it wouldn't be very virtuous, would it? She yearns for adventure, but can't join me - one mage is the limit.
• Dekker the Jester doesn't know any jokes.
• Cromwell the paladin hangs out at the inn's lobby, preaching the virtues of honesty, and from him I learn that the mantra of honesty is AHM.
• Rogues try to rob me at the inn. I teach them a lesson in honesty as I crack my staff over their heads, and then a lesson in compassion as I let them run.
  
  
  
• South of the inn, the mage Tyrone searches for a blue stone in the dungeon of Deceit.
  
• The alchemist on the same street advises me that sleep spells require only one part of spider silk - contrary to the spellbook which states we need two.
• A kid enjoys a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the deli, and offers me a bite.
• North of the apothecary, a strange old man rambles about the sun and moons and the end of time.
• The apothecary's goods are a bit expensive for me right now. The shopkeep is blind and can be short-changed, but you really don't want to do that.
• Outside the healer's, a man claims to be Shakespeare, and writes "tales of honesty" for a living.
• Also outside the healer's, a fortune teller reads my palm and prophecies that I will seek the Codex in the Abyss.
• Inside the healer's, a wounded wizard tells me to seek Nigel at the Lycaeum.
  

A few leads here, but I need my bearings. I map out my surrounding area and determine that I am on Verity Isle, far to the east. In the course of exploring, though, I discover the Lycaeum, and take a detour inside.

The guards aren't much for conversation.

 

And I mapped out as much as I could.

 

A lot of people to talk to here!

• A nameless pilgrim by the entrance seeks "truth" and advises, "MEDIDATE AT EACH SHRINE FOR 1, 2, AND 3 MINUTES, THEN SHALT THOU KNOW THE PATHS OF GOODNESS!" Quite a few of the NPCs within follow the same script.
  
• A guard, Catriona, mentions treasures that are her duty to guard.
• Father Antos, up north outside the observatory, claims to hold great knowledge, but demands I be more specific when I ask him about it, and pleads ignorance on all topics I can think to inquire on.
• The observatory's telescope isn't for peering at stars, but for peering at maps! 16 settings on the knob give different maps, and one corresponds to the Lycaeum itself.
  
  
  
  
• The throne room guards are both named Jon. And they both follow the same script. They explain that the eight virtues are derived from three principals, and correspond to the eight cities.
• Scatu the advisor recommends I visit the seer often.
• Baron Rob and Lady Beth are chatty but dispense little useful information.
• Wounded fighters at the healer tell me that the dungeons' altar rooms connect to each other.
  

I think that what I want to do next is to seek out Lord British, and the cloth map tells me that his castle is on the north bank of Britannia Bay. The easiest way off this island is by moongate - Britannia has two moons, whose phase are always visible onscreen, and which determine where the moongates come and go. The left moon's phase determines when and where the moongate appears, the right moon's phase determines where it takes you. And one possible destination is right next to British's castle!

I approach the peninsula marked with a new moon on the map, and as both lunar discs fade, the moongate opens.

 

The moment the secondary moon shifts phases, I step inside.

A little to the west...

My map so far:

Game 440: Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

Read the manuals here:

https://www.mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=u4

 

Anyone with a modicum of interest in CRPG history knows what a watershed moment Ultima IV was - for the first time outside text adventures, we see rich worldbuilding, a backstory that plays more of a role than simple window dressing, and two mainstays of the genre; choice & consequence and morality systems. It's these last two which are best known as Ultima IV's raison d'etre, and in time, perhaps the defining elements of the late 90's CRPG renaissance.

Truth be told, when I played Ultima IV for the first time 15+ years ago - I used the xu4 port with modern enhancements - I couldn't help feel I had been oversold on its momentousness. Certainly it deserved plenty of credit for introducing the concept of ethical decisions to the formula, arguably the only thing that justifies the "RP" part of the CRPG initialism. But in practice, I never felt like I was making any sort of ethical decisions at all; the virtues are little more than semi-visible stats which you'll need to max out in order to win the game, and the gains or loss of virtue points is the only consequences you'll ever see for your actions. Some got there through normal play, but most had to be grinded out through repetitive actions - for instance, the only way to raise Honesty is by paying your apothecary bill correctly, and I'd reach the necessary levels by making lots of small purchases over the course of several minutes.

This time, as with previous Ultimas, I'm playing the Apple II version, with unmodified copies from the Woz-a-day collection. Ultima IV also goes a step further than Ultima III's Mockingboard music board support, already an uncommonly supported feature in the system's library, and supports stereo-format music on systems with dual Mockingboards. AppleWin, of course, supports this configuration just fine.

Once again, Origin Systems gave Ultima a deluxe packaging treatment on its initial release, including a useless but fancy-looking pewter ankh amulet among the goods. The cloth map now depicts Britannia more or less as it would be for the rest of the series. A 60-page spellbook offers elaborate descriptions and full page illustrations for each of the magical reagents and spells, which are no longer split into mage and priest types. Lastly, of course, is a lengthy manual, front-loaded with history and lore.

 

The manual opens with a heavily redacted recap of Ultimas I-III - now that the series is invested in its own continuity and cohesion, it's got to revise or remove everything from past games that doesn't fit, and this would be the last time that the series needed to do this. The past is declared the Eras of Darkness, a feudal period in which the unincorporated land of Sosaria was thrice threatened by evil, and thrice saved by heroic adventurers - not necessarily the same adventurers, nor necessarily the Avatar. The time-traveling shenanigans are downplayed, the twist about Exodus' true nature is lampshaded but not explained, the fact that Ultima II was set mostly on Earth isn't brought up at all, and the totally inconsistent geography of Sosaria is handwaved; it is what it is and the events of Ultima III reshaped the world into the way it is now and will always be. Honest.

With the fall of Exodus, an era of relative peace begins. Eight kingdoms unite under the benevolent rule of Lord British, making the city-state Britannia the capital of the newly unified empire. The lands are charted, the remaining enclaves of evil routed, and academies of science, spirituality, and militarism are opened. Britannia-by-the-sea, overlooked by Lord British's castle, becomes an epicenter for culture and art. The seven other former kingdoms each have their own geographical features and respective capital cities dedicated to a craft or trade. Life, it seems, is good. Evil of course cannot be completely vanquished - orcs, highwaymen, and even wild animals make travel in the wilderness dangerous, pirates remain a nuisance at sea, and true horrors still lurk deep in the unexplored subterranean realms, but for most, day-to-day life is one of stability and prosperity.

The manual explains gameplay mechanics, which are for the most part similar to Ultima III, but there are some notable changes and additions. Your party is recruited from willing companions met during the game - a feature mentioned in Ultima III's manual, but not actually present. Conversation is greatly expanded, with townsfolk responding to keywords, namely NAME/JOB/HEALTH, but also to topics which can be discovered through investigation. Magic requires mixing reagents, which can be purchased at any town's herb shop, though some of the rarer reagents needed for the most powerful spells must be sought out in the wilderness.

The final chapter alone touches on Ultima IV's objective - humanity has survived, great evil is at bay, now what? Society needs principals to last in the long run, and people need inner fulfillment to make life worth living.

A group of philosophers at the Lycaeum have discovered the eight virtues that make the path to enlightenment. Many have dedicated their lives to a virtue or two, but the people must know and strive to attain them all. Therefore, Lord British seeks a champion - to become the Avatar and be the paragon of virtue for all to follow, you must visit the eight cities, learn of the virtues, their mantras, and meditate on and practice them. Only then, after achieving mastery in all eight virtues, in both understanding and practice, can one seek to discover the secrets of universal harmony and usher in the Age of Light.

This symbol on the back of the manual illustrates the cycles and connections between virtues.

 

Personally, I find this to be a lot of wooey nonsense, even if the video game world had certainly not seen anything like it before, and perhaps not very often since. The actual philosophy on display here is pretty juvenile - the selection of eight virtues is a bit arbitrary, and the convenient geometric symmetry that governs it contrived and mostly superficial. It strikes me as a new age syncretism of ancient moral and mystic frameworks, with aspects of Tantra, Tao, and Kabbalah, but without the cultural context needed to even begin to follow any of them, and shed of all aspects of the supernatural and divine apart from pantheistic-like reverence for the abstract concept of virtue itself.

Nevertheless, it's clear that Ultima IV became a launching point for ethics as a gameplay mechanic, which is something that's not just been ubiquitous in Western RPGs but has transcended into other genres. Quest for Glory is one example that stuck with me in real life - do good things and your honor score improves, do bad things and your honor score diminishes, which has real consequences for paladins, whose powers depend on honor, but for other classes it is merely a point of personal conscience, as it is in real life. No game to my knowledge has attempted the superficially complex ethical system of Ultima IV, not even its sequels. Some games, such as the Elder Scrolls and Fallouts supplement it with a complex reputation system, where actions can raise and lower your individual approval ratings among individuals and factions, but as far as the omniscient game world is concerned, there's good karma and there's bad karma. And honestly? I find that easier to swallow.

Next post, I'll actually start playing the game.