Episode
DGC Ep 458: Ultima IV (part one)
- Podcast
- Dev Game Club
- Published
- Jan 28, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 5390
- Processing state
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- https://devgameclub.libsyn.com/dgc-ep-458-ultima-iv-part-one
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Summary
Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a series on 1985's Ultima IV . After talking about the recent Defeating Games for Charity, we set the game in its time, talk about our encounters in the past with the series, and then dive into the manuals and the start of the game. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: The first couple of hours and the manuals Issues covered: Defeating Games for Charity, the first pancake, our experiences with this series, an opaque franchise, mainlining a game, opacity being part of the point, performance characteristics of the PCs of the time, the importance of the manuals, entering the world as yourself, using the manual to reinforce the role-play, not requiring graphics, priming the player, describing the geography of different areas, imposing importance on a handful of pixels, the quest of the game, sublimating the quest of the game, a less traditional RPG experience, after reading the manual, the deep questions/dilemmas, tournament structure, choosing your most important virtue, getting the bard, series characters who can join your party, reflecting your beliefs, getting different dilemmas, the Venn diagram of virtues, the Tinker profession, symmetry in design, Buddhism and the Eightfold Path, countering the cultural zeitgeist, the Avatar and Hinduism, a deity's manifestation on Earth, finding your way into swamps, both hosts being poisoned and dying, death and rebirth, being unable to recruit early. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Dwarf Fortress , BioStats, KyleAndError13, Silksong , GreyFiery, Hollow Knight, Untitled Goose Game, Kaeon, Hitman , N0isses, Hades , Phil Salvador, MYST , RobotSpacer, Shadowgate, Unpacking…