"The introduction of the term 'avatar' which is now pervasive, the introduction of virtues, and "role-playing" versus level grinding," all of these, according to Garriott can be traced back to Ultima IV. According to Garriott the game represents "a clear milestone in RPGs" that saw a number of firsts both for the series and the genre. "I do believe Ultima IV is my most important work," said Garriott, responding to questions from The Escapist. The Escapist has a short interview with Richard Garriott about Ultima IV. They packed their cars with their personal possessions and rented two trucks to fill with supplies, computers, and other equipment - most notably the precious shrink-wrap machine - and headed northeast just weeks later. Young, unattached, and ready for adventure as they were, just about everyone agreed. Would Richard and the rest of the fledgling company agree to move to North Andover for three years? After that Marcy expected a promotion that should make it much easier for she and Robert to move, and, assuming the company was still alive, they’d then move wherever Richard and the rest liked. It wasn’t, to say the least, an ideal way to run a marriage. Robert, you may remember, had for months been commuting via his private Cessna between the Garriotts’ family home in Houston, whose garage served as Origin’s development studio and assembly line, and North Andover, Massachusetts, where his wife Marcy worked for Bell Labs. Late in the fall of 1983, when it was clear that Ultima III was turning into a huge success and thus that their new company Origin Systems was going to be a viable operation, Robert Garriott came to his little brother Richard with a forlorn plea. The Digital Antiquarian has posted a new retrospective for Ultima IV. I was shocked to see what those letters contained." For the first time, I actually could see what was happening in the heads of people playing my games. "There was a story, but it was pretty much go 'save the princess' or 'kill the big, evil wizard.' Ultima 3 was the first game I published myself through my own company, Origin, so it was the first time I started to get letters from people who had played the game. ![]() "My earliest games really were just about fighting monsters and collecting treasure," says Garriott. What could the series become? Was there room for more than combat and looting? With his game design formula locked down, and freed of the need to continue some overarching narrative, Garriott took the opportunity to reconsider the very concept of the Ultima franchise. Not only did Exodus lay down the foundation for the workings of future Ultima games, it also brought the series' story cycle to a self-contained stopping point. Throughout the initial Ultima trilogy, Garriott experimented with a variety of narrative and mechanical concepts before settling down into a comfortable groove with Ultima 3: Exodus. ![]() USGamer looks back at the era of Ultima IV and Wasteland and how it ushered in a new era of maturity for the genre.įittingly, the first meaningful attempt to bring greater depth to PC RPGs came from Ultima’s creator, Richard Garriott, by way of 1985's Ultima 4.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |