What I have to say here is likely as unimportant as any sort of fanboy blather can be, but I want to say it just the same. While a good many people had their first RPG experiences with the D&D games of TSR and related experiences, the Ultima series, starting with Ultima VI: The False Prophet, was my gateway to those strange and wonderful worlds that fantasy RPGs can deliver. That it placed particular emphasis on universal virtues as well as tackling (in very subtle ways) the issues of environmentalism, racism, false religions, and the worth of alien cultures was a bonus to me, still making it stand out after all these years.

Some of my most treasured moments involved me exploring a dungeon to not slay the evil wizard but to save someone else's life or make peace between enemies. By the time of Ultima IV, it was a series that was beginning to truly think outside the box and I'm glad to have played it. It certainly suggested no shortage of possibilities when it comes to gameplay.

Ultima IV was my first, and still favorite, Ultima game. My first RPG experience was Bard's Tale on the Commodore 64. Ultima remains one of my favorite series, but I had never played U7, U8, U9 or either of the Ultima Underworld games until recently getting the entire series on GOG.

Ultima IV - VI really challenged players with a different story than just kill the big bad foozle at the end of the game. Ultima V and Ultima VI started out with a "bad guy" you were supposed to stop, but then changed it up to stories or redemption and co-existence. Definitely very different stories than the typical RPGs of the time.

Flynn