Now might be a good time to explain RPG's to the layperson real quick. See, RPG computer games were a digital spawn of Pen and Paper tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and Warhammer. Basically, you assume the "role" of a character in the story. Aklabeth was a mere dungeon crawler with RPG elements, but Ultima I is a true RPG. You assume the role of a lone traveler who is sent out to defeat the evil Minax. So you build your strength and wealth to power up and gather the essential items needed to defeat Minax by traveling all around, fulfilling quests for Lord British and other Kings in the world of Sorsaria. At this time there were no character occupations or classes, just you, a lone traveler from another world, entering into the kingdom to become a hero. Richard would later, not really condemn, but mention how simplistic these first three games are as they follow the typical trope of "level up, get the special items, defeat the evil bad guy (who did nothing to you directly), win the game". One of many issues he would address in Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1984).

Over the years, I've been pretty good at this, but it is pretty much a "grind and fetch quest". Basically, the whole code of Akalabeth was wired into Ultima I as the cave subsystem. So you enter a cave and fight rats, theives, skeletons, and gelatinous cubes once again, same line-drawn graphics, same crazy digital Weed Eater attack noises. Difference is, apparently, we don't have a glutton for your character, I can actually walk 2 blocks without needing to eat the entire contents of a local Pizza Hut kitchen to continue another 2 steps to the King's castle to get my mission briefing. I've still not beaten it yet.