showing 2 games

namepublisher(developer)year arrow_downwardtagsdescription
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar  Origin (Origin Systems)1985 ♫rulebritannia 3.5disk 5.25disk adv-deeds adv-intermediary adv-objects adv-static aerostat alcohol amoeboids axes beggars beholders bizarrecreatures blackpearls bludgeons bodyarmor bossbattles bows cannons captives capturedresources children chiroptera chosenone color-2bit color-4bit cpu-8086 cpu-8088 crossbows cyclopes demonoids demons directionalforce directionalforce-wind display-320x200 display-cga display-cga-composite display-ega display-tga dos2 dragons encounters-neutral encounters-popup encounters-seen europeanfae femaleprotagonist forest fromanotherworld garlic genderchoice ghosts giantinsects giantseahorses giantspiders gog gremlins group healingitems healingstations hiddenattributes horses hydrae inbuilttraps incendiarygrenades insects inventory karma keyboard knives liches lockpicking lutris magic magicweapons meleeweapons mimics monsters mystics neutralnpcs ocean orcs otherworld pirates polearms present rats refwizardofoz resting resuscitation riding river rodents ruins sauroids scummvm-wip seaserpents shallowwater shopping shore skeletons slings snakes sorcery spectres spu-pcspeaker staves subterranean swarmers swords teleporting thrownweapons tornados town traps treants tripeds trolls ultima ultimaageofenlightenment undead walking wands watercraft watercraft-medium wetland willowisps willowtrees windindicator wordinput xp-deeds xp-kills xp-literal xp-multi xp-objects Comes on two 5.25' disks. In 1997 the full version of this game was 'made available for free download' at selected sites by Origin. However, it remains proprietary and not defined as "freeware" or "public domain" (these downloads can disappear or the priced raised at any time at Electronic Art's option). Several homebrew upgrades exist for this game that add features such as VGA graphics and Midi sound. The xu4 project allows this game to run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS 8, Mac OS X, and other operating systems. xu4 Also allows extensive modding of the graphics, enemies, items, and certain game logic.

The Ultima series continued to innovate with the release of each game in the series. With the 4th game released for Apple ][ and then ported to IBM-PC, the genre was taken to bran new places. There is no evil big bad enemy to defeat, and the point of the game is not to take advantage of people to get stuff to go defeat the enemy. Rather, the point of the game is for the main character to become a champion of virtue. The goals are literally honesty, humility, honor, spirituality, valor, justice, compassion, sacrifice, courage, truth, and love. Actions, inactions, even words can have less than apparent unhelpful or helpful consequences. Yes, there are still monsters to fight and treasures to find, but this makes up less than 1/8th of the game and the care and purpose in handling these things is more important than the end result.
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The Bard's Tale: Tales of the Unknown Electronic Arts (Interplay)1987 bardstale bardstaleengine christian combatmode demons display-cga display-cga-composite display-ega display-tga display-vga dragons dungeoncrawler ghosts giants gridmove group halflings hydrae leveleditor magic monsters shopping skeletons undead vampires weefolk xp-kills zombies Review for "The Bard's Tale: Construction Set". Reviewed again because of a problem in the review of #39 with black & white images.
[22]***Review for "The Bard's Tale: Construction Set"
[22]***Review for "The Bard's Tale: Construction Set"
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[52]***
[49]***The Bard's Tale: Construction Set
[37]***The Bard's Tale: Construction Set, released in 1991, includes the game in 256 colors VGA plus a level-editor tool.***Wizardry style first person RPG with a decent story. Roll your own characters or use the pre-made "A-Team" to travel through (and below) the town of Skara Brae which has been plunged into eternal winter by the wizard Mangar.
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