Ultima™ 9: Ascension

I thought this game was very cool when it came out. In no way is this like any other Ultima, but still a very entertaining title. I liked how they made the world seamless without loading screens for every cave, room, building , etc. Here's looking at you Elder Scrolls. I wish more games would do this. Graphics were top of the line for 1999. The only other game that looked this good back then was Outcast, another fantastic action RPG and get that one as well here on GOG.

Ultima 9 is an odd duck to write about and I will attempt to be brief. It goes beyond simply being a mediocrity and flies past bad into being one of the great disasters of CRPG History (Others being Decent to Undermountain, the Pool of Radiance Sequel, Gothic 3 Forsaken Gods, and Arcania, possibly Might and Magic IX, take your pick). Despite this all, I could still recommend it to someone willing to delve deep into the depths of CRPG history. Where the players saw an awful, terrible, buggy game packing ideas far ahead of its time into a tight development schedule and tacked on fan-service, other developers saw wasted potential they could use on their own projects in the future. This went on to give us games such as Morrowind and Gothic (Strangely I feel like the Witcher 2 Plays Like the game Ultima IX tried to be). Now, if you didn't like either of those games, this is the responsible turd. If you did, this buggy nightmare was what spawned the games you dearly enjoyed.

I didn't play this GOG version. But It was love at first sight. I don't understand why everyone bashes this game, that's probably because i never played the games that came before. This game provided you with an epic adventure, with mystery, magic, and a realistic medieval world. You could even consider house yours to keep and store your items in there. ( They would be there forever ) Kinda like the Elder Scrolls. The Story is great and keeps you sucked in. I get that it probably strived too much from the Ultima Franchise, but if you look at it outside the box, outside de fan aspect, It really is a Gem, try it.

I've yet to play this all the way through because when I had bought it originally there were so many game breaking bugs it was impossible to progress beyond the shrine of compassion (step one on the main plot) because certain game critical items spawned and got stuck in the sky. Even following the many user created patches there were still game breaking bugs and it crashed frequently. I do not know if those issues have been rectified in the version sold on GOG, and I would be wary of spending money on it until I knew. That's the chief reason I'm giving this one star. The other, more important reason, is that the only conceivable reason a lot of people will buy this is because they have enjoyed the rest of the Ultima series. If you have, and do love them, all that likely awaits you in this game is rage and disappointment. I suggest giving this a miss. If you are a fan of RPGs in general I would suggest any other Ultima over this one, in particular Ultima 4, which was provided for free when you signed up.

This is how EA kills franchises. They buy them, and then release half-finished products and hope to soak up some money via the franchise name. This is a buggy mess of a game where the writers seemed to have little interest in keeping with the lore and story of the rest of the series. The whole product is amateurish from start to finish. R.I.P Ultima.