Below the Cut: Ultima: Runes of Virtue I & II (Game Boy)

(Source: MobyGames)

Ultima: Runes of Virtue - Rating(9 RPP)
1) 2 - Character Advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 1 - Combat: character stats used for combat, additional combat options, turn based
3) 1 - Items and Equipment: store to buy and sell, equipment decisions, item decisions
4) 2 - Story: main story at the forefront; world full of hints and lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 2 - Exploration: open world from the beginning, visited locations remain open
6) 1 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

Initially I wrote this off as a Zelda clone. Now that I've taken a closer look, it's right on the edge of the scale. There are stats, but in the short time I played I never saw them increase. At the same time, it's not clear if str, dex, or int affect combat. Most enemies die to a single hit. There are four characters to choose as the hero. It's possible to collect money, but not to sell any items.

The most impressive part that I missed was how open the world was. There are a lot of puzzles in the dungeons, and many NPCs to help out with hints. While the game is light on text, it does well to fill out the world with a nice cast of characters familiar to those that have played Ultima. In the end though, I don't think this has enough trappings to fall within the RPG genre, even as an action-RPG.

(Source: MobyGames)

Ultima: Runes of Virtue II - Rating(9 RPP)
1) 2 - Character Advancement: practice/experience based advancement, stat or level increases, multiple classes or characters, customize characters
2) 1 - Combat: character stats used for combat, additional combat options, turn based
3) 1 - Items and Equipment: store to buy and sell, equipment decisions, item decisions
4) 2 - Story: main story at the forefront; world full of hints and lore; descriptions for objects, people, and places
5) 2 - Exploration: open world from the beginning, visited locations remain open
6) 1 - Quests and Puzzles: side quests not related to the main quest, puzzles and riddles to solve

It seemed to either do well enough to garner a sequel (also on the SNES), or the publisher had enough time with the license to pump out a second game. This one started out with a full length intro that described how the evil guy was bored and kidnapped somebody just to annoy Lord British. Again, I'm not sure the characters have any actual development. I'm sure it's possible to increase stats (at least health), but once again combat seems too simple for them to actually matter. I may be wrong about that, and if anyone has more experience with this game to explain how I'm wrong, then I'll revisit both. Even the idea of side quests might be wrong, but none jumped out in the first few minutes of the game.

Unrelated to playing all console RPGs, I've started playing through the Game Boy library as well. Once I play through the entirety of this game I might either post an update with a better description, or create an entirely new post to cover it. It's hard to judge something from the first 10 minutes, and I'd rather not play through all games considered by RPGs from random lists. If time permitted, I probably wouldn't even have a distinction, but as it stands I'm still not making headway on the list.