I’m tempted to suggest treating this with some skepticism, but it would appear that the Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar soundtrack has been listed on Amazon.com, at a list price of $9.49 USD. Additionally, the pre-order page labels this album “Part 1”, suggesting that one or more follow-up albums may be released in the near future.

What’s odd is that there’s no mention of this impending soundtrack release on the game’s Facebook page, Twitter timeline, or official forums, nor can I find any indication that the soundtrack is also coming to iTunes. Of course, it’s possible that the appearance of the soundtrack listing on Amazon.com is just a quirk of said retail website’s listings process, which has inadvertently given away the fact that yes, we will finally see the Ultima Forever soundtrack released publicly. It wouldn’t be the first such case, if so…in which case, we might well expect to find the sweet fantasy stylings of Nick LaMartina in the iTunes Store come next Tuesday.

Here’s the complete track list, at any rate:

And here’s the cover art:

If in fact the Ultima Forever soundtrack is going on sale next week, I’d recommend getting it. Even among those who (on e.g. the official forums) voice their displeasure with Ultima Forever the game, the soundtrack tends to earn conspicuous praise. It’s definitely a departure from the traditional Ultima musical fare (note, for example, that Stones isn’t listed anywhere above), but it manages to retain a lot of thematic connections to the music that characterized the original games even so. And a number of the tracks are excellent in their own right; the good Mr. LaMartina is no slouch as a composer.

And if you’d like a preview of some of the tracks, might I suggest hitting up the Ultima Forever Soundcloud page? The last time I checked, they had released three tracks there.