Ultima™ 9: Ascension

If you can untether this game from its Ultima pedigree, Ascension can be enjoyed as an okay 90s action RPG. Much of what is on display here anticipates what would become standard most of the contemporary RPG we so love these days. It has a large open-world with plenty of nooks and crannies and simple third-person action combat (as opposed to the beloved turn-based combat of the earlier entries in the series). There is also a lack of hand holding in the puzzle-based dungeons that many old schoolers might enjoy. Nary a quest arrow to be seen! That said, the game is a glitchy, poorly written mess that does a disservice to its roots. Just forget about the story and think of it as a collection of loosely connected RPG challenges (both in terms of gameplay and just getting the thing to run without crashing) and you might enjoy it like I did.

As someone who did not play the entire Ultima series (only Ultima online in 2001-2005), I appreciate this game for what it is by itself. I understand the critiques of those who had a relationship with the series, but for me, the only thing better than this was Diablo 2. By today's standards, this game is totally lame, but for me, the whole Ultima experience is epitomized in this game. The map, the music, the storyline... Again, as a UO player not familiar with the original series. I have played this through again now several times in the past few years after picking it up again in 20 years. I recommend this for any Gen Xers who like a good PC game.

Okay. Hold your horses before you hate this game. Take a review a review from back in the day. Game Revolution state Ascension has "Fantastic gameplay, excellent design, astonishing graphics, epic plot," but "A mount of bugs which ruins everything," exemplifying "capitalism gone bad." Today, the bugs are fixed. The performance issues are irrelevant, allowing the game to really shine. In a lot of ways, this game is still in a vein of its own. The beginning is ingenious. Avatar starts on Earth and travels to Britannia, cementing our world to the game's, and ultimately makes the experience more believable and immersive, as if you yourself could be taking the journey. The graphics in my opinion are still amazing. The art design is incredible, and the game transitions seamlessly from indoor to outdoor, something not even Skyrim does. The world feels very loving crafted and worthy of exploration. There's something here that's really special. Upon it's release, Ascension was heralded as both the best and the worst game ever . Now, it's finally experiencing some Redemption with this fine-tuned, fully patched release. Still on the fence? It's better than a lot of games on GOG. But don't listen to me or anyone else. Go find out for yourself. You're not risking a 60 dollar game. It's 4 dollars. Just go find out for yourself.

Ultima IX is the end of an amazing saga where the player portraits the Avatar, the champion of Virtues. I've loved the plot and the idea of playing Ultima in a 3D world, which still looks beautiful by today's standards, but the execution was poorly managed and they ended up releasing a product full of bugs and shallow quests. I'd say that Ultima IX is more of an Action/Adventure game than a CRPG one. Character progression is almost 100% linear, tightly tied to the progress of the main plot. Most advancements in combat are useless, and you will only need 3 or 4 spells throughout the entire game. This isn't to say to Ultima IX is a bad game. It's just that, for every great idea, there's a usually horrible mechanic implementation to spoil the fun. Do you like exploring dungeons? Great, there're plenty of them in this game; but be prepared to go through some pretty annoying ones (Hythloth is the worst, in my opinion). The soundtrack is usually great, especially after cleansing a shrine (which is what you'll be doing most of the time, btw). The city feels peaceful and people change their behaviour towards your hero, although most monsters will keep respawning, so "peace" isn't exactly the word here. Some quests are almost useless, so any side quest is only worth doing for the sake of completeness. One particular lengthy quest that involves finding rough gems scattered all over Britannia only rewards the player with 100 gold pieces, which can be the price of a potion in a merchant! That's the level of laziness that one can find playing Ultima IX. But, even with all the issues, I still had a great time exploring the game's world, especially due to some cool places such as icy mountains, forests, caves etc. Several places seemed carefully designed. I remember the path from Yew to Wrong: it felt like a proper adventure all the way through. Added with the nice weather effects and day/night cycle, it can really become an immersive experience. Fare-thee-well, Avatar!

Once upon a time, in the mythical land of late '90s PC gaming, a brighteyed lad opened a glorious cardboard box containing a cloth map, some cards, a manual thicker than most modern novels, and a disk that promised adventure. What did I get?.... Bugged to hell. Save file corrupted faster than my hope. Cheesy voice acting that could peel paint. Perfection. So here I am again, voluntarily launching myself headfirst into the digital dumpster fire that is Ultima IX: Ascension. The controls feel like someone mapped them during a seance. Combat? Like wrestling a baguette underwater. Dialogue? Voiced by what I assume were the devs' cousins after a couple of pints. And yet… I’m here. Smiling. Because despite the jank, the chaos, and Lord British talking like he just woke up from a nap he started in 1994, this game had heart. The world felt alive. You could pick up objects! Objects!! Back then that was black magic. And when it worked (rare, sacred moments), it was majestic. Like watching a unicorn gallop through a swamp of bad framerate. This was supposed to be the epic finale to a legendary RPG saga. And in many ways… it was. Just not for the reasons anyone intended. It was ambitious. It was a mess. It was the last hurrah of the pre-modern era, a monument to a time when devs swung for the stars and occasionally hit themselves in the face. In summary: Cloth map: 10/10 Save system: why Voice acting: gloriously awful Controls: invented in a dream Heart :way more than most AAA titles today Would I recommend it? Absolutely. If you want to laugh, cry, and question your life choices Ultima IX delivers. Now if you'll excuse me, I’m off to get stuck on a rock texture for the fifth time today.