The Ultima series has floundered in recent years, though even saying that is a bit of a stretch. The last mainline entry in the series was Ultima IX: Ascension, released in 1999. And while few can deny its importance in shaping Western RPGs or the weight of its legacy, the property does not seem to be treated with much respect. One could blame that on rights-holder EA, whose recent free-to-play MMO Ultima Forever has not reviewed well, or the general landscape of the games industry today, which would much rather have its hand held than play something as demanding as an old school CRPG, but those are just moot points at the moment because if you have an iOS device handy, you can play Ultima IV right now for free.
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar is fairly unique in all of RPGdom, even though it was released in 1985 (nearly 30 years ago!). Instead of having a central antagonist to defeat or cataclysm to deal with, your quest was to master eight virtues and become the Avatar, the mythic savior figure of the series and the protagonist of many of the other games. It's a game about doing good. You can see its legacy in the (comparatively simple) morality systems of BioWare's games and others, like Fallout.
The iOS version is a port from the Commodore 64 using the proven emulation software of Elite Systems, so there should be little to no technical problems. The game also comes with a plethora of extras including digital versions of everything that came with the original game, extras maps, and a history of Britannia where the series is set, among other things. It even includes in-depth gameplay guides courtesy of GameFAQS, in case you find playing such a vintage RPG daunting (I do).
This release is also timely because the most recent episode of Retronauts Pocket (the off-week mini episode) was all about Ultima IV. And the special guest was none other than former 1UP grump Scott Sharkey! So that's another reason to listen if you haven't yet. The episode covers the game, naturally, but also its impact still felt today as well as ports and other miscellany. Be sure to check it out!
There is no reason not to recomment Ultima IV. It's a landmark title with a free port that's faithful to the original. The only questions, I suppose, would be do you have the device and time to play it?
Additional Resources:
Announcement article on USGamer (Jeremy Parish's new stomping ground, though this one is by someone else)
You can also get this on gog.com for free if you're on PC. However... I can't play it because I've played 7 lol.
That's cool. Apart from not having a PC, though, I think I'd be more likely to finish a game like this if I can play it on the go.
Ultima and the early D&D games such as Eye Of The Beholder got my feet wet with western rpgs. Love the Ultima series!
I've never played one, so this will be a new experience for me.
I'd download the free version from GOG.com for the PC. I'd also get a utility called Pix's Ultima Patcher to patch some music and color into the game.
It does look pretty dated and I bet there's no way to do that on iOS 
But at least it's portal.
Nice. It was a pleasant surprise to hear Scott Sharkey's voice on Retronauts. His bad attitude makes mine better. Snarky Sharkey as I like to think of him.
Sharkey is a crusty curmudgeon for sure but ya gotta love him. He's bluntly honest in whatever he thinks and he does know an awful lot.
He's fun to listen to.
Uh, no. UK store only fellah.
I downloaded it from the US store, so I know it's there.
I see the problem now. It's your link. It goes to the UK store. There's one in the US store that I'm downloading right now. Thanks.
Sorry, my bad! I updated the link just now, so hopefully no one else will be confused.
I have never played it before, but seeing it is now available free both on IOS and PC, I think that may change :)
My thoughts exactly 
you forgot the Spoony One's Ultima retrospective on this game. He too holds this game in reverence. And he's the god damn avatar.
Nice! That was fun! Thanks.
So that's Spoony! Good stuff. I see why he's so popular.
Opps. My bad. I should've mentioned spoilers with that video posting. It was one of Spoony's videos when he was doing his Ultima retrospective. He did them because he wanted to show and help people understand why he felt so betrayed when Ultima IX came to be. This video along with his video series on Ultima even caught the eye of "Lord British" himself.
Funny!
Thank you so much for adding another game to my backlog! I'd never played any of the Ultima games, but my friend Eric in high school was really into them.
You're welcome! Hey, if I'm going to drown in unplayed games, I might as well take some people with me. Mwuahahaha! 