It must be confessions week here at Giant Bomb for me, as I'm forced to admit I've never played an Ultima game before. I have my reasons, chiefly that I didn't own a PC until 1994, when DOOM II came out.

Before that game, almost all of my gaming was done on the NES and SNES. Ultima had largely come and gone at that point, with Ultima VIII: Pagan arriving the same year.

Maybe it's time to time travel, as Good Old Games revealed today Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar is now available for...free. Slowly, Electronic Arts seems to be stoking the flames of Ultima nostalgia, which would suggest the publisher is leading towards some sort of announcement eventually.

Ultima IV was actually released in 1985--the same year I was born!

Looking over the profile page for Ultima IV can cue a bought of depression, though, since the developer was Origin Systems. We all know what EA has since done with that name. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

Still, credit where credit is due. Ultima IV is online, ready to download, and you don't have to pay a thing.

It must be confessions week here at Giant Bomb for me, as I'm forced to admit I've never played an Ultima game before. I have my reasons, chiefly that I didn't own a PC until 1994, when DOOM II came out.

Before that game, almost all of my gaming was done on the NES and SNES. Ultima had largely come and gone at that point, with Ultima VIII: Pagan arriving the same year.

Maybe it's time to time travel, as Good Old Games revealed today Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar is now available for...free. Slowly, Electronic Arts seems to be stoking the flames of Ultima nostalgia, which would suggest the publisher is leading towards some sort of announcement eventually.

Ultima IV was actually released in 1985--the same year I was born!

Looking over the profile page for Ultima IV can cue a bought of depression, though, since the developer was Origin Systems. We all know what EA has since done with that name. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

Still, credit where credit is due. Ultima IV is online, ready to download, and you don't have to pay a thing.

Nice

Maybe they're going to remake Ultima ONline, the best MMO ever.

Wait, Ultima? What is that? I, BENJAMIN PACK, have no idea what that is.
  

While you're there you might as well grab the other free games that they offer as well.

Can somebody explain how to play Ultima in general? I've tried several times before, but it always ends the same way: I have no idea what I'm doing and, realizing that I probably didn't make much progress (not that I can tell), I quit.

GOG kind of had to release it for free, since EA previously offered it as a free download for years. It would be pointless to charge for it, since most of the the people who would have been interested probably downloaded it before, and the people who didn't get to it earlier would just complain if they tried to charge for it. 
 
As for Ultima IV, it may be worth checking out. This is when the series switched from the generic "stop the bad guy (and go to space for some reason)" to something more original. Ultima IV saw the creation of the virtues religion, and the Avatar's quest to become a sort of messiah figure that embodies all virtues.

Released the year you were born? You know what was released the year I was born? Pong. I feel so old......

Looking over the profile page for Ultima IV can cue a bought of depression, though, since the developer was Origin Systems. We all know what EA has since done with that name. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

Still, credit where credit is due. Ultima IV is online, ready to download, and you don't have to pay a thing.

Maybe they're going to remake Ultima ONline, the best MMO ever.

Predictably, this is not available on EA's Origin service. I mean, what sense would that make?

While you're there you might as well grab the other free games that they offer as well.

@louiedog said:

Predictably, this is not available on EA's Origin service. I mean, what sense would that make?

Because GOG's deal with EA is specializing in the old stuff from their catalogue. Of course EA's not going to compete with GOG, since they're the ones modifying the games to work properly, and it's probably in their contract.

Great news. I've really wanted to try my hand at some ancient CRPGs. I feel like I've missed the earliest decades of gaming, but have no way of accessing them. I'm downloading Ultima IV as we speak!

YEAH! I was born in 1985, man. I don't think there's a lot of us in here, but I hope I'm wrong.

Was excited to see this, until i saw that it required setting up an account with gog. how lazy (stubborn?) am i?  I loved Ultima games. Not sure I ever played this one though.  Steam, please spoon feed me free classic games. Thanks.

Eh, I've never played an Ultima game either, except Martian Dreams, and only because that one features steampunk space ships and Sigmund Freud counseling aliens on Mars.

I hear the fourth one is the best one, though, so that's alright.

Can somebody explain how to play Ultima in general? I've tried several times before, but it always ends the same way: I have no idea what I'm doing and, realizing that I probably didn't make much progress (not that I can tell), I quit.

@GreggD said:

@louiedog said:

Predictably, this is not available on EA's Origin service. I mean, what sense would that make?

Because GOG's deal with EA is specializing in the old stuff from their catalogue. Of course EA's not going to compete with GOG, since they're the ones modifying the games to work properly, and it's probably in their contract.

Plenty of publishers have old games that don't run on modern hardware available on GOG and other services as well. Any idea where I can read these specifics of EA's deal with them that are different? I'm curious to find out more.

Anyway, my comment was more about how EA took the name Origin for their distribution service and you can't even get this free Origin Systems game on it.

I won a little league trophy that year!

Umm.. Ultima IV has been free for a very long time on various legal sites dedicated to Ultima and/or retrogaming. The last time EA themselves were involved was with the launch of ultimaforever.com, which happened earlier this year if memory serves me right. 
 
Sadly I bet that most GB users who download it will give up rather shortly since the Ultima games does not hold your hand or direct you to what you are supposed to be doing when you first set out. A lot of the charm of those games was to figure that out for yourself (with a little help from the manual, maps and history books that usually came with the games), but in modern time this method is, granted, a bit archaic for most gamers.  If you manage to complete Ultima IV on the other hand, then Ultima V awaits... and that one's truly massive. Also, utterly and insanely great. ;)

Sweet, I was born in '85 too. Seems to be the year that spawned a ton of gamers.

Try posting a link. That might be a good idea

I was born in 89, and even I know this game.  You have no excuse!

@Video_Game_King said:

Can somebody explain how to play Ultima in general? I've tried several times before, but it always ends the same way: I have no idea what I'm doing and, realizing that I probably didn't make much progress (not that I can tell), I quit.

Well... That's Ultima IV for you... it is a really slow starting game...
 
1) You really need to hunt down the documentation since this is before the time when how to play the game is given within the game. Here.
2) Be prepared to spend a lot of time talking to everyone and making detailed notes (for several hours) before you figure out where you need to go and what you need to do.
 
@Albedo12: 
The year I was born Spacewar! came out. :-)

Umm.. Ultima IV has been free for a very long time on various legal sites dedicated to Ultima and/or retrogaming. The last time EA themselves were involved was with the launch of ultimaforever.com, which happened earlier this year if memory serves me right. 
 
Sadly I bet that most GB users who download it will give up rather shortly since the Ultima games does not hold your hand or direct you to what you are supposed to be doing when you first set out. A lot of the charm of those games was to figure that out for yourself (with a little help from the manual, maps and history books that usually came with the games), but in modern time this method is, granted, a bit archaic for most gamers.  If you manage to complete Ultima IV on the other hand, then Ultima V awaits... and that one's truly massive. Also, utterly and insanely great. ;)

I'm 26 and what is this?

That's Mah baby!

Ultima 4, maybe the only RPG I truly loved.

I don't think I ever actually finished it, but damned if I didn't make my own map for the game.

I actually played the NES version of this game on a rental 20-something years ago and loved it. On the other hand, I had no idea what I was doing and was basically playing it completely wrong.

Oh wow! I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing this on the C=64 when it came out. I seem to remember getting stuck for several days, only to (much later) discover that there was some kind of bug that would cause the red stone to not appear where it was supposed to be, and that was the last major thing I was supposed to find.

Yeah, I had pages and pages of notes too... ;)

I didn't want to wait, so I tracked the resources down my self. This should be helpful to all other n00bs who want to try their hand at this game: 
History of Britannia 
The Book of Mystic Wisdom 
Maps 

Patrick is a younger YOUNGER than me?

Wow. Way to make me feel like I haven't done anything with my life...

You usually don't have to hunt down any documentations because a digital version of the manual and other extras are always included with GOG game.

You were born in 1985? Jesus Klepek, you're a goddamned baby.

@GreggD: if EA's Origin started giving away free stuff, then people would start to expect free stuff from Origin in the future. EA can give out the game for free (they own the rights) and not have to use up bandwidth.

wooHoo!

and FYI, GOG.com has manuals, maps, spellbook, hint book etc all for download alongside the binary. As usual. GOG does it right guys.

@ProfessorEss said:

@JackG100 said:

Maybe they're going to remake Ultima ONline, the best MMO ever.

You know as well as I do that a UO remake can never be. That game existed before (possibly created?) "THE GRIEFER" and no multiplayer game of today (aka: 10 years ago) will ever be able to grant you the freedom that game did ever again. Sad? Yes. True? You know it is.

There was griefing for sure, but that's what made the game EXCITING! Where's the excitement in todays MMOs? "Are we going to wipe due to player X not doing his job properly... and lose.. precious... time?!"... man, todays generation of gamers is such a sad affair... I miss Uo pre-trammel-days.

wooHoo!

and FYI, GOG.com has manuals, maps, spellbook, hint book etc all for download alongside the binary. As usual. GOG does it right guys.

That's... great? Ultima IV is from an era that even I have trouble dealing with, in that any or all information is found in extraneous documentation. Certainly, it's an extremely important game, and certainly it should be given credit where credit is due, but that doesn't mean I'm capable of playing it. I'll wait for them to release Ultima VII, I guess.

Bout not bought
. .....
ultimate VII was still pretty popular in 94

Ultima sorry damn droid

I wonder if they'll release Ultima IX for free.
 
I really hope they don't do that.

Can we expect an Endurance Run of this game, then?

@sephirm87 said:

@GreggD: if EA's Origin started giving away free stuff, then people would start to expect free stuff from Origin in the future. EA can give out the game for free (they own the rights) and not have to use up bandwidth.

Yes, there's that, too.

@louiedogsaid:

@GreggD said:

@louiedog said:

Predictably, this is not available on EA's Origin service. I mean, what sense would that make?

Because GOG's deal with EA is specializing in the old stuff from their catalogue. Of course EA's not going to compete with GOG, since they're the ones modifying the games to work properly, and it's probably in their contract.

Plenty of publishers have old games that don't run on modern hardware available on GOG and other services as well. Any idea where I can read these specifics of EA's deal with them that are different? I'm curious to find out more.

Anyway, my comment was more about how EA took the name Origin for their distribution service and you can't even get this free Origin Systems game on it.

I wasn't saying that I necessarily had the documentation, but one would assume that this is the case, considering they do have Origin, now. If your company had their own service for DD of your games, would you sign a deal with a store/company that deals exclusively in old games, and then go on to release said old games in your catalogue on your own DD service? Wouldn't the point of it all be lost, and subsequently your ability to say "And now, exclusive to Origin, the entire Ultima series, plus these EA classics!"?

Such nostalgia! No internet to look up solutions when you got stuck -- figure it out yourself or don't progress. This was the game that got me hooked on RPGs.

I wonder if they'll release Ultima IX for free.  I really hope they don't do that.

Im younger then you, and i owned an apple II when i was 4. i would play the wizard and the princess.

For a good history lesson on the ultima series, I suggest Ben and anyone else interested check out  Spoony's retrospective of the series.
http://spoonyexperiment.com/category/game-reviews/ultima-retrospective/page/3/