Ultima™ 9: Ascension

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

when you have a p2 pc this is a good game

As many in the reviews have pointed out, this game is the unfitting end to a legendary series that culminated with Ultima 7 as the highpoint before everything went downhill from there. The newer audience might not be bothered so much if they've never played the earlier games, but there's a very good reason why Ultima 9 was not well-received when it first came out in 1999, and to this day. Spoony's Ultima 9 retrospective tells you everything you need to know: https://youtu.be/mQUVfo_kBMU

The title says it all to those who have seen this abysmal line. The Avatar of Virtue, asking the question. "What's a Paladin?" Yeah. This game was bad. Really bad.