Ultima™ 9: Ascension

I got this game for the design documents. The features may not be implemented but at least we now know how the story really ended. On the other hand, this game is the reason why good graphics aren't everything, because we almost got the Ultima we deserved, but EA decided to go beyond graphic wise and start over from the ground up taking away game play features. It still would have, eh, been ok. No more party system kind of killed it but at least we would still have the story. But no, EA wanted it released by Christmas because somehow parents would be buying their children M rated games. So now we don't even have the story. Hey, but at least we have the graphics. I DON'T CARE ABOUT STUPID GRAPHICS. Ultima games are supposed to be about the imagination, graphics should come last. EA was clearly targeting 21st century children (with an M rated, ninth sequal of all things) than us true, faithful Ultima fans. EA should stick to console games and buy out all those companies. Buy this for the documents, or at least install the dialogue patch. Or if you just can't stand tragedy, don't buy this or VIII at all and pretend it all ended at VII. Good luck.

I won't go into great detail about why this game is bad. There are several great detailed reviews that delve into that here already (as well as Spoony's very long but very accurate video you can find on his site) so if you still need to read a list of the broken features this game has keep scrolling, you will find it. Instead I have a story about why I own this game. You see I never bought Ultima IX. Now don't misunderstand me, I didn't steal or pirate it, and I owned several of the prior games before this so I am in fact a fan. It just happened to come out at a time when there were other games to play and the early reviews in PC Gamer and CGW were quite harsh. Now my friend, we'll call him Bob, was an Ultima superfan. Bob had been a fan of the series since a small kid, owned all of the games, and it's no exaggeration to say that his love for this series and the King's Quest games (which also met an gruesome death from a bad couple of games) lead him down has path that set him into computer science. Bob ignored the bad reviews and bought the game anyway. For the couple of weeks he played it I talked very little to him about (it was High School, we did have other things going) but I did make sure to ask to borrow it from him when he was done. So one day he comes up to me after class and hands me the disc and says "Keep it". Weird but okay I'll take it. My own play experience was similar to that of people here. Constant crashes, terrible gameplay, and shock and horror over hearing the goddamn Avatar ask what a paladin was. I was unable to complete the game; too many crashes and frankly there was too much else good to play at the time. I decided to return the game to Bob. I went over to his house, we hung out and commiserated over the death of poor Ultima. When it was time for me to leave I left the game sitting on his desk, really thinking nothing of it. Before I got in my car I walked down the block to a place where a friend of ours worked to say hi. When I returned there was U9, sitting on my car. Naturally I marched right back to his door to give it back. "I don't want it back" he said "that piece of shit is like a disease." For months we passed it back and forth trying to sneak it back into the other's possession. I'd find it under the seat of my car, then put it in his backpack the next day. Bob would slip it in my house with the help of one of our friends, I'd go to Bob's when he wasn't home and leave it with his Mom hoping she'd guilt him into keeping it. Eventually though attrition he won. I moved off to college and the game was boxed up along with my stuff. I would never try to hurt GoG or take sales away from them so let me put it this way. There are dozens of fantastic RPGs here, if you are even the least bit curious about buying this game I beg of you to please go find another game in this catalog here and get that instead. You will not regret it. Just recently I found a box of stuff in my Dad's garage. In it was that copy of Ultima IX. Once it's yours you can never get rid of the disease.

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