Ultima™ 9: Ascension

I guess it kinda comes with the territory, I mean as much as we try to deny it Ultima IX is IN FACT part of the series canon. I just wish to God it wasn't. Say what you want about Ultima VIII, at least the game makes sense on a storytelling level. Hell, say what you want about games like Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect 3. No epic finale in the history of fiction has been so so irreparably butchered as that of Ultima IX: Ascension. The game seems to intentionally hunt down and destroy any amount of coherency, dignity and continuity that the series had, and it succeeds in that task quite well. No small feet considering the collectively astounding pedigree of all the games in the series that preceded it. I guess it's only fitting that such an honor belong to EA.

Firstly, I have to say that GOG is awesome. I haven't been able to play my copy in years because of issues with modern hardware & operating systems. This runs beautifully on my Windows 7 machine. Again, awesome job GOG! As far the actual game goes, it had some terrible bugs and story/canon issues. I'm not going to discuss these, seeing as most of them have been described (much better than I probably could) in some of the other reviews. Until I play through the game, I won't be able to say how much bugs are left in the GOG version, but so far, I was able to play around the starting area without any problems, and as I mentioned this has been impossible for me using my own copy. If you're not a fan of the series or just haven't played this before, I would highly recommend getting this game. If you're a fan of 13 year old RPGs, of course. It's important to remember that this was cutting-edge back then, and it probably also has something to do with a lot of the complaints (small world size, general "bugginess", etc.). Still, it's a fun game & possibly educational; people could do with some of the Avatar's virtues these days :) . For my fellow Ultima fans out there, I have the following: It is a well documented fact that Moongates can be a bit temperamental when influenced by an external source. For those versed in the lore of the Stargates, it is known that a powerful burst of energy can disrupt a Stargate connection, causing the wormhole to "jump" to another nearby gate. When influenced by radiation from a Solar flare, the wormhole can jump back in time. Could the Moongate then act even stranger under these conditions? One possible effect, IMO, fits better than the rest, travelling to alternate realities. The Moongate might have been corrupted somehow and sent the poor Avatar to an alternate Britannia. It explains why so many things doesn't make sense, yet most of it is so familiar. This is just the opinions of a mad man, but it does make that mad man feel a little bit better about the not-so-grand finale of his beloved Ultima

BEST GAME EVER; PLAYED IT DOZENS OF TIMES

I grew up in the 90's as a huge Ultima fan. I can't count the hours I spent travelling through Britannia whilst playing Ultima VII parts I & II. And yes, while it wasn't up to the standard of its predecessor, I even spent quite a bit of time hopping around in the world of Pagan (c'mon, Ultima VIII wasn't -that- bad, expecially compared to this awful entry to the series). I was a member of the official Ultima IX discussion boards and participated in numerous fan debates about how awesome Ultima IX would be. Ultima IX would be the second coming of Ultima VII and more, with fresh, 21st Century 3D rendering and a world that made Ultima VII pale in comparison. Much of this speculation was made thanks to promises we had received from Ultima IX's developers (especially and including Richard Garriott) about just how amazing Ultima IX would be. I was so enthused that I bought the $99 "Dragon Edition", the first Collector's Edition of any game that I had ever paid extra for. Then it actually arrived. Forget everything you loved about the great story established in Ultima VII: The Black Gate, because it's all forgotten in this shallow game that would be ultimately forgettable were it not responsible for the demise of one of gaming's most beloved franchises. The developers even went so far as to slap fans with bad jokes such as baking bread with a double click on a breadmaker (as opposed to the fully interactive world of Ultima VII where baking bread from scratch was just one of the many things that were possible) as well as including fan favorite character Smith the Horse as a hanging dead corpse after fans clamored that he be included in the game. That doesn't even touch on the retcons, inconsistencies with past established canon, and overall poor storytelling which many others have touched on. If you love Ultima but somehow managed to avoid playing this game, then I'd skip it and avoid the pain.

It was so bad I can't even justify spending $2.99 on it