Way back in 1985 the "Age of Enlightenment" began. This isn't a reference to the recording of "We Are the World" or when Coke released the ill-fated New Coke. Rather, this was when the Ultima series of role-playing games continued with the release of its greatest achievement to date, in both gameplay and pop culture status, Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.
You know about the three principles of Truth, Love and Courage. You know about the eight virtues of the Avatar. You know about the conversation system that was introduced in Ultima IV. The game is part of the Generation X sub culture. Out of all my scattered childhood memories I distinctly remember going over to my friends house in the late 1980s to play Ultima IV on his Commodore 64.
While initially released for the Apple II, the game eventually made its way to the NES in 1990 (I had that version, which negated the need to watch my friend play for hours) with changes to the graphics and soundtrack. In 1990 Ultima IV was on the Sega Master System as well. And in August 2011, it was made available for free download on Good Old Games.
Now, BioWare Mythic (a division of Electronic Arts, which owns the Ultima franchise) is bringing back Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar in a big way. Coming via an early announcement at Comic-Con, Bioware Mythic will be releasing Ultima IV as an online (downloadable client-based) free-to-play reimplementation called Ultima Forever (it will also be available on the iPad).
Comic-Con is sure to be chock full of amazing announcements especially related to gaming, but this one is my favorite so far. That's easy to say, as it's the only one that I know of so far. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar was one of the building blocks of my gaming education. It was the first RPG that drew me in and I think it's fantastic it is now available online for a new generation of gamers to enjoy.
The Ultima Forever beta is taking names now, so head over to Ultimaforver.com to sign up.
Welcome back, Avatar.
[Editor's note: GeekDad Managing Editor Matt Blum happens to work for Bioware and was involved in this project. However, he had nothing to do with this post other than fixing Curtis' typos. ~KD]
