Name: Ultima IV: The False Prophet
Developed By: Origin Systems
Published By: Origin Systems
Year: 1990
Description: A classic "swords and sorcery" RPG. It's played on a map from an overhead perspective, with tactical-style combat. The plot details a conflict between the human race and the previously-unknown gargoyle race in the land of Britannia. The gargoyles have used moongates to enter Britannia and overrun the eight sacred shrines. The Avatar's task initially is to free the shrines, but the player will discover that something much deeper is going on, and the fate of both races depends upon mutual cooperation.
Notables: This was the first Ultima written specifically for the PC, and utilized 256-color VGA graphics, mouse support, and MIDI music. Character portraits finally allowed longtime players to see the companions they had interacted with since Ultima I. The entire game is played on one map with one scale - previous games of this type had a different maps for the world and cities. This game also had very good world modelling, and many items in the world were usable - some on each other in surprising ways!
My Opinion: An excellent RPG that stands the test of time. While not as graphically engaging as, say, Baldur's Gate, it combined a deep plot and memorable characters with a well-designed game engine (once it got debugged).
Notes: The original version of this game was for the PC. Conversions were done for the Amiga and the Commodore 64(!). A revised version was also created for the Super Nintendo - it was simply called Ultima: The False Prophet.
Links:
Encyclopaedia of Computer And Video Games