I Roll Twenties: The Ultimate Avatar Tuner

The Avatar, of Origin's Ultima fame, has been through quite a bit over the years - that much is undeniable. He went to Britannia umpteen times as well as Sosaria and the islands of Fe, Fi, Fo, and Fum before Britannia even rose from the murky ocean depths, each time solving countless social, political, religious, and racial issues. He went also to Mars, to a prehistoric Earth, to the famed, multi-tiered dungeon known as the Stygian Abyss, and even to a labyrinth of fragmented, fractured worlds in a desolate, paranoid version of Britannia. The Avatar even tussled with the Guardian on Pagan, a planet not many from either Earth or Britannia could ever claim to see.

In fact, Ultima is unique in that it is a very long-running role-playing game series in which the main protagonist, the same one throughout the series, evolved very little in comparison to the world he often found himself in. Though he did technically evolve from one trilogy to the next - in fact, he did not acquire the "Avatar" moniker until after his moral questing in the fourth game - his unwavering character left little room for character development over the series.

The Avatar, for those not in the know, was one who embodied and followed all eight virtues in Britannia: Honor, Valor, Honesty, Compassion, Spirituality, Sacrifice, Humility, and Justice. As such, the Avatar became less of an evolving character and more of a moral symbol upon which the Britannians pinned their hopes time and time again. Instead, Britannia itself was the evolving character, the ever-changing land that this unflinching bastion of moral sense kept getting thrust into, and as such the Ultima series is quite a bit different than other RPGs, before or after.

So, yes, the Avatar was an unflagging beacon of goodness in an ever-darkening world. No one could deny his talent: each new foray into Britannia forced him to relearn the world, re-train his attributes and abilities, and re-learn ritualistic magic as presented in his new or changed surroundings. In this edition of I Roll Twenties, we started thinking: what if Atlus had been a bit more literal with the Japanese title of the Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga games. The Japanese title - Avatar Tuner - and the very odd setting of the game make it a perfect candidate for guesstimating just how large Ultima's Avatar is for adaptation. So, without further ado, let us imagine a world in which the Avatar, and not Serph, were brought into the Junkyard to lead the Embryon to victory against rival gangs.

To start off, the Avatar would be sitting at home, watching sitcom reruns as he was want to do in his off-duty, Earthling hours, until a moongate would appear; after all, the only moments in the Avatar's home life worth discussing were those precious few moments leading up to a new moongate appearance. This particular gate, though, would be different. The Avatar never really had any need for intuition. His path always seemed rather obvious once he appeared on Britannia.

But this time, something in his gut would tell him that this particular moongate was not what it appeared to be. But, hell, why not go anyway? He'd already watched all the Scrubs, Friends, Office and Seinfeld reruns he could stand. A mere "bad feeling" wouldn't stand in his way of going on a new adventure. So, he would step through the gate, and would wind up somewhere very, very unlike anywhere he had ever been before.

Right off the bat there would be problems. For one, the Avatar had been used to springing forth from those mysterious blue moongates fully garbed in medieval attire, sword and shield in hand, and ready to take on all sort of mythical foe ranging from lowly orc to powerful daemon - the irony of which would become apparent to the Avatar all too soon. Appearing in the Junkyard as such, though, would probably make him stand out a wee bit, especially if he did so in the middle of a firefight brandishing a reasonably useless blade.

Additionally, the Junkyard, known for its grey, drab, almost uniform fashion sense (except for the multicolored and stylized hairdos), wouldn't mesh well with a man sporting a full set of boiled leather, and the Avatar would be unable to keep from standing out among the denizens of this place that was very obviously not Britannia.



This wouldn't be the first time the Avatar would have to get his bearings in unfamiliar territory. Mars was certainly something different, The Valley of Eodon was rather strange, Pagan was a nightmare, and the Stygian Abyss was no picnic. Hell, even Britannia was fairly different every time he came back. But this? Even the Avatar's fully-developed resistance against culture shock would have a hard time absorbing the blow the Junkyard would land him.

Chief among this would be if, moments after appearing and apparently replacing the long-time trusted leader of those in his new proximity, the Avatar literally became a demon. And not your average, every-day, run-of-the-mill, winged daemon he was used to [a]ttacking in the wilderness and in swamps, but the kind that had to, well, cannibalize other human/demon hybrids simply to stay alive, but mostly to grow in power (and it is hard to say if one could stay alive in the Junkyard without growing in power).

Other than an unexplained system of Macca, usually granted by the Karma Temple as a reward for quickly resolving battles, the only currency in the Junkyard was flesh. This was troublesome for the Avatar who had only previously dealt in gold or cash depending on whether or not he was in Britannia or on Earth. There would also be the fact that eating the flesh of other demons, and being a demon himself, would seemingly come up against some of the virtues he'd striven to uphold for so many years.

There would also be the question of why the Avatar had even been brought here. Usually, some great, new peril on Britannia called him from his cushy Earth home, and while a negligible amount of time had usually passed in his own life, Britannia had always changed and evolved vastly from visit to visit: he was only called upon in times of great need for moral (and physical) leadership, so the Avatar would most likely believe he was called here for the same reason. And while it might have taken Serph and company at least sixty hours to uncover the mystery of the Karma Temple, the Avatar was no knave when it came to imposing, ominous, and well-permeating religious institutions that at first glance seemed benevolent but, in digging deeper, were anything but.

After asking Heat, Argilla, Cielo, and Gale to [j]oin him in uncovering the Karma Temple's secrets as well as the significance of Sera - the black-haired girl that appeared shortly before the Avatar did - and the role she was to play in all this, he would probably tell them his theory: that the Karma Temple was, most likely, bad news. He had dealt with the Fellowship once, and he would deal with the Karma Temple now.

To go about that, though, would prove to be an entirely different feat. He would have to admit, though, that Argilla, Gale, Heat, and Cielo made more interesting and useful companions than the usual fools he had often been encumbered with over the years, particularly as they aged into doddering old fools. Iolo had grown well beyond his usefulness last time the Avatar saw him, and while the other disciples all had their respective uses, their constant yammering about the virtue they personally represented kind of irritated the Avatar more often than not. These four, though, would show the Avatar that companions could be independently ferocious and useful. They would be morally depraved companions, of course, but then again, even the Avatar's own virtues would have little purchase in the Junkyard.

For instance, the Avatar always had something of a complete mindwipe every time he left Britannia: his abilities, his skills, and his power in general vanished each and every time, requiring him to relearn everything on each, successive return trip to Britannia. Training in Britannia, though, was a fairly natural and casual process in most of his adventures: fight an orc or a kraken here and there, gain some experience at fighting, rinse, and repeat as he forged ahead. Here, though, the demons fighting to eat at the Avatar and his new companions would prove quite tough, and would require some rather focused training.

Additionally, the Avatar would have decided to forego all the drama present in the Junkyard. As his new companions and the warmongering Karma Temple would have explained, life in the Junkyard consisted of one, overriding goal that overcame any other pursuit: to kill the leaders of the other gangs and thus gain control of that rival clan as well as their territory. Since this directive would come from the Karma Temple, and the Avatar (with his outside opinion) was convinced rather early on that the Karma Temple was up to no good, he would probably decide to go straight ahead and storm their tower.

Which would prove, again, quite difficult considering they could ban his puny butt with a snap of their fingers and without breaking a sweat. So, he would have to do what Gale - the logical one - would recommend, something the Embryon apparently did quite often anyway to keep themselves in shape. They would have to go to the sewers, run back and forth, and fight over and over and over for Macca and fresh demons to devour to increase their abilities.

In addition to the fact that the Avatar would be bored to tears at running around a drab sewer for nigh forty hours just to become powerful enough to take on the Karma Temple and its goons, the number of skills he could choose from would also prove a little daunting. After all, aside from commandeering a pirate ship and a few spells here and there, the Avatar had hardly ever had to trouble himself with such abilities.

Combat, too, was a really confusing affair in the Junkyard. Normally, in his past adventures, the Avatar would simply walk a few steps toward his opponent, the opponent would do the same, and so on and so forth until they met and fought on the battlefield. Here, the Avatar wouldn't need to move. Instead, battle was very quick-paced, but also very staccato. He would be able to plan out every move, but it became apparent very early on that he had to have the right skills mapped out, or the fiends he fought would (literally) rip him apart, a fate the Avatar would most certainly not relish. Tactics here were quite different. He would be very thankful to have someone like Argilla and Gale here rather than fools like Geoffrey and Janna who just wanted to dart in with their swords and sorcery and wouldn't even entertain anything else.

Sadly, though, when all would be said and done, and the Avatar had led his new companions to victory, it would be a bittersweet one at that, and the Avatar would not be going home straightaway. He always fancied himself a particularly pious individual. And the fact that he would have to not only relearn his skills again, for the umpteenth time in his existence, but would now have to chase after a hermaphrodite antagonist and, eventually, a wrathful God, was one that he would not at first relish. Over time, though, the Avatar would realize to what degree his most precious virtues would have eroded, much like the Junkyard apparently had, and his ethical sense would be as desolate as his surroundings.

All in all, it would probably be somewhat liberating for the Avatar who had been shackled to geezer companions and their sickeningly virtuous comments and criticisms for far too long. He had never really forgiven Iolo for admonishing him for taking potions and other items out of various cabinets in Trinsic.

If only he would have been in the Junkyard. The Avatar probably would have eaten him.

[Roger Helgeson, avid game player and journalist extraordinaire, loves a good challenge, on or off the console. He also loves long walks on the beach... with his Nintendo DS. As he is fond of saying in competitive matches: "don't hate the player, hate the game."]

Jun 26, 2007 - 12:09 pm | 0 comments
Roger Helgeson