I've always come across that claim about Final Fantasy and Ultima - is there any evidence supporting that other than anecdotal? Not that I find it hard to believe since the Ultima series is still pretty mindblowing even to this day.
Yes, there is.
Dragon Quest, the VERY first Dragon Quest, used the same graphics and interface as the early Ultimas. Specifically, Ultima 4, but those that came before it played a role. Ultima was out for 5 years before DQ.
Ultima had a clunky interface for its sprites where the sprite did NOT change direction when you moved. It was just a static sprite, maybe it moved its arms and legs a bit.
Note the similarity to DQ's King room.
DQ1 used the same flat sprites that did not change with the direction you moved. Later versions of DQ incorporated the now-standard jRPG 2d sprite movement.
Original version on left, newer on right:
Most people do not know that DQ started that way, because they're so used to the American version which created the standard.
There's also the world map interface:
The tile-based map and small-town-graphic = larger explorable town is a jRPG standard now, but it definitely started before DQ and FF. Ultima was one of the first, if not THE first, to popularize this style.
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070223a/barton_pfv.htm
Sure, Ultima wasn't the ONLY rpg that did this, but to deny the influence the Ultima series has is just dishonest.
And I don't even like the early Ultimas, they're completely unplayable. In fact they're all unplayable before 6, early gamers must just have had far more time and patience.
