Ultima™ 9: Ascension

As someone just posted on this forum : Ultima IX is very much the exemple of a game judged by what it isn't instead of what it is. I am a veteran player from the early Ultima games (started with 3rd one in early 80s). At the time of this game release I did not have the PC to make it run it was also plagued by bugs. But I could play it later when all was fixed like this release and god, what an adventure : yes this IS a great RPG game, with nice lore, great graphics (for the time) and still decent. I had memorable moments in this games (some for being used to the Avatar lore, most due the the game itself). So do NOT listen to the haters and get the chance to play one of the greatest rpg of all time and also under rated one.

If you are a fan of Ultima Online, I guarantee you will appreciate this game. The older Ultima CD ROM's are not nearly as cool as this one. I feel like this is an old-school Skyrim. I am absolutely in love with this game.

German below. As I never played the other Ultima games, I was not biased in any way; I had no specific expectations. I am indeed more inclined to compare Ultima IX to King's Quest: Mask of Eternity from 1998. If you keep in mind that Ultima IX is a game from 1999, it holds up extremely well against e.g. MoE in every respect. I had (and still have) great fun playing this game. I do, however, understand that for passionate Ultima veterans Ultima IX was a disappointment. But as I already said: For me this simply did not matter. As for the infamous 'Spoony Review', I think this is rather meant to be comedy (at least this is the category he himself gave his Ultima IX review videos); if they were serious they would be the most pathetic reviews ever ('cry me a river!'). Da ich die anderen Ultima-Spiele nie gespielt habe, war ich Ultima IX gegenüber nicht voreingenommen; ich hatte keine speziellen Erwartungen. In der Tat bin ich eher geneigt, dieses Spiel mit King's Quest: Mask of Eternity von 1998 zu vergleichen. Wenn man bedenkt, dass Ultima IX ein Spiel von 1999 ist, schlägt es sich z.B. gegen MoE in jeder Hinsicht extrem gut. Ich hatte (und habe) viel Spaß mit diesem Spiel. Ich verstehe jedoch, das Ultima IX für passionierte Ultima-Veteranen eine Enttäuschung war. Aber wie ich schon sagte: Für mich spielt das einfach keine Rolle. Was die berüchtigte 'Spoony-Rezension' angeht, so denke ich, dass diese mehr komödiantisch gemeint ist (zumindest ist dies genau die Kategorie, die er selbst seinen Ultima-IX-Rezensionsvideos gegeben hat); wären sie ernst gemeint, dann wären sie wohl die jämmerlichsten Rezensionen aller Zeiten ('heul doch!').

This a big classic RPG adventure. Lots of atmospheric dungeons and areas to explore. Lots of puzzles to solve (pressure plates, hidden buttons, teleportation pads etc.). Many quest items to find. Baddies to whack or zap. Very atmospheric. Really reminded me of why I love RPG / adventure games. It did however take some tinkering with the configuration (e.g. graphics, keyboard mapping) to get it working just-so. Additionally, I did have lots of crashes but the game reloads in a few seconds so not a major issue if saves are done very frequently. Well worth the effort to put up with these issues.

To understand why Ultima 9 is so bad you need to understand the drama behind it. First off... the economic climate in the 90's and 00's was very different. Richard Garriott has said himself that he rushed the Ultima 8 project to appease investors. He fell on his own sword concerning this project. I don't think it was entirely EAgames fault. and yet..... and yet it was. When a creative project of this magnitude is on the work-bench getting ironed out, its important to get all the details right. The plot was garbage. The plot of this game was cobbled together not by the team of creative individuals Garriott had at his back, but by the remnants of the writer's room trying their best to put together an IP with an impatient giant of a game company who would rather pump money into the next Madden game then give lip service to a work of art. "is it done yet? is it done yet? I want it on the shelves on Monday... blah blah blah" so corners got cut, plotlines got dropped, things don't make sense, an entire species got betrayed ( gargoyles are 100% wrong and are the Jar Jar Binks of the Ultima series ), and details got overlooked ( like Dupre's soul being fused with the Earth Serpent for eternity and thus incapable of ever coming back in the form of resurrection )…. the creative team that finished the game were not the same people that started it. https://ultima.fandom.com/wiki/Bob_White_Plot for more details on what the plot should have looked like. With that being said, the scene where the Avatar confronts the Guardian is powerful, and the end-game is actually one of the best. Bob White had Brittania being blown up, which is abit like cutting your nose off despite your face, or drinking cyanide to attempt to cure cancer. The whole point is to save Brittania not destroy it utterly. So I think the practical release ending is far superior than the intended ending. But beyond that.... many details were lost in translation when Garriott was fired.