I’m going to comment more on this awesome interview that Rock, Paper, Shotgun! did with Richard Garriott about Shroud of the Avatar…probably tomorrow. But because there hasn’t been a lot of Ultima Forever-related news in recent weeks, I wanted to draw out something that Sergorn Dragon actually brought to my attention in the interview:

RPS: Did Shroud of the Avatar start life as an Ultima game? Did you sort of envision it that way in your head?

Richard Garriott: Oh, I’ve made no secret over the years that I’ve talked to EA about collaborating on that property. I think it would be good for them and good for me. But we haven’t managed to put anything together on that down through the years. I was off doing other things, also, these last few years. Now is the time, though, so I’m going back with or without them.

RPS: Why weren’t you able to get the old band back together?

Richard Garriott: I think that it’s because they already have their own people with their own plans for that property. Let’s suppose you had been the person who was given charge to go build an Ultima game and you’re already two years into it. Then the guy who invented that wants to take it back over. Who knows? But that’s my speculation. They’re doing their own thing with it now and they want to continue their own work.

RPS: Theirs is a pretty direct successor to Ultima IV. Have you seen it?

Richard Garriott: I have. By the way, I know the team well. I’ve talked with them all in detail. I believe those guys are passionate Ultima fans. They’re passionate believers in the work that I’ve done. They very much want to fulfill the legacy of Ultima IV in particular. So I wish them great success. They are really doing an Ultima IV. I don’t see it as competitive to or in conflict with what I’m doing. I’m really trying to do the next step.

Those are very kind words, and I think it’s significant that he goes so far as to say that Mythic “are really doing an Ultima IV“, which I hope indicates that to his mind, there is something of the Ultima spirit, more than just the namesake, to be found in the upcoming multiplayer RPG from Mythic Entertainment.