Richard Cobbett’s editorial about Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar can’t really be called a preview or interview, per se. It can, however, be called darn funny:

In practice, basically everything that goes wrong in Ultima is actually the Avatar’s bloody fault – a string of disasters that spans literally centuries, kickstarted by a pompous git too stupid to lock his door when he goes adventuring, and whose dialogue mostly revolves around the words “Name”, “Job” and “Bye”. The man…or woman, until Ultima VIII when they couldn’t be bothered/afford to make female sprites any more…is a walking disaster area. This then is a summary of the Avatar’s principle deeds over the series…

Okay, now for actual coverage.

The Verge: ‘Ultima Forever’ will be ‘very respectful of the original’ says BioWare

[It] may sound like an unwelcome revival of the franchise for Ultima fans who remember the influential RPG series fondly and hope for something grander than typical free-to-play fare. BioWare Mythic says it’s well aware of Ultima’s storied history and hopes to deliver a “respectful” sequel to Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar.

“We’re very respectful of the original work,” Ultima Forever lead designer Kate Flack told Polygon at Comic-Con. “It shaped our industry and it shaped RPGs. It’s people’s memories. It’s important that people who played the original games don’t feel like we’re trying to overwrite their memories.”

Joystiq: BioWare aims to reinvent Ultima with Ultima Forever

As we’ve heard previously, the game is a reboot based on Ultima 4, so it will include many of the same situations and quests, but also updated content. Flack said the map is generally the same, though “we’ve expanded some things, we’ve moved a couple of things around on the map. We have quite a graphical fidelity now, so we’re able to go into more detail on what things look like.” The conversation system has changed as well. “You won’t sit there and try to get keywords when you’re clicking on things,” Flack said.

I got to see a few gameplay shots at Comic-Con (though, unfortunately, EA’s PR declined to approve those for posting), and the game does look like Ultima 4’s flattened isometric view, albeit with the generous additions of next-gen resolutions and models. Some of Sosaria’s original landmarks are in there as well, though they look more like later games in the series than Quest for the Avatar specifically.

The article also seems to imply that the iPad release of the game will precede releases on other platforms, which seems to contradict what we have heard about the game from other sources. Make of it what you will, I suppose. One promising note, I think, is that the iPad client will not feature the dreaded “virtual stick” that is loathed by many.