Ultima IX: Ascention - Review

Worse Than Liver...

By: Kuno

Review Breakdown
Battle System	5
Interface	5
Music/Sound	8
Originality	4
Plot	4
Localization	2
Replay Value	1
Visuals	8
Difficulty	Medium - Hard
Time to Complete	25 - 40 Hours
Overall
Criteria

   If I said that I was sad to see this series end I'd be lying. If I said that I was sad to see it end this way, well thats the gods honest truth. Ultima IX is the last of the Ultima games and the last in the Guardian Trilogy that started with Ultima VII: The Black Gate. The Ultima series was created by Richard Garriott, who was the President/CEO of Origin Systems until just recently when he stepped down. Truth be told, I really shouldn't have had high hopes about this game. First it was coming from a company that apologized for the pervious game (Ultima VIII: Pagan) and second it took them 5 years to bring this one to light.

   If you can point and click then you can fight in Ultima IX. One of the good points of the game is that your fighting style changes with the type of weapon you choose to fight with. Unfortunately this is the only good point, for there is alot of clicking that goes into killing a monster. Combat starts if you walk to close to a monster, you'll know because the music will change. Once engaged you can move around while attacking or you can run away if your really hurt, but be warned some monsters will follow you. Like I said before all you have to do is point and click. If you find someone who will teach you, you can learn different weapons and train in a weapon that you already know. You also gain weapon experience by fighting too. The battle system isn't the worst I've seen (The Elder Scrolls series has won that award), but its also nothing to write home about either.

   The interface is pretty basic. Like most 3D games you point and click. The tool bar at the bottem lists all the info you need to know. It has your compass, your inventory, the quick spell bar, your journel and spellbook. There are also 2 other bars a blue one (your Karma) and a red one (your health). One nice thing about the interface are all the quick keys to help you navigate the game with. So instead of clicking on the bag to open your inventory you can just press the 'I' key to bring it up. One good thing about this interface is that it doesn't take up much of the screen, which leaves the rest of the screen free for you to gaze upon the beautiful landscapes.

I want this wall painting

   Here is one area where this game shines. The music and sound are very mood setting. First I'll explain the music. Each town has its own theme, as did the battle scenes. The tunes when very well with what was happening in the game. Which helped the game flow smoothly, as for the sounds they are what added the spice to the game. These made you feel like you were really there. I've jumped one too many times while walking in a dungeon. What gave this area an 8 was the voice acting. The dialogue wasn't the greatest and it not syncing well didn't help the game either.

   Originality. This one's sometimes easy and sometimes hard. As an example: The Suikoden series has a high originality, but both games have the same general gameplay, and though the story is different you do a lot of plot points (like gathering characters) in both. It is highly original, but it's done repeatedly, so it could be seen both ways. Always try to look if there are two views and it'll make your review reflect the game better. Always stand up fpor your point and don't argue both sides in one review :)

   Britannia was created in Ultima III, and it was your job to save it. It wasn't until Ultima IV that you became the Avatar and your job was to protect Britannia. You did this again in V, then in VI and once again in VII. Do you see what I'm getting at. Atleast VIII gave you something new and refreshing (shutter). Although its the same thing over and over again, they make the plot flow very well. But that aside, they didn't introduce the characters well and there were only a few surprises along the way.

   As far as the translation goes, The PC was the best choose to bring it out on. That is if you can get it to run. Besides the normal problems with PC games, the game was also plagued with various game stopping bugs. And after several patches, some bugs were squashed and other were introduced. One bug in particular required me to uninstall the game and reinstall it without any patches to continue the game. This is not a good thing.

The other high point in the game

   The replay value of this game is only for the most die hardest of fans. I'm talking you eat, breathe and sleep Ultima. You've named your children and the dog after characters in the game. You write and read the runic language of Britannia. You introduce yourself as the Avatar when meeting new people. This is most definitely not me. This game is so bad the Origins shutdown there forums after the last patch came out so that they wouldn't have to keep reading all the post about how this game still doesn't work, even after all the patches were applied. This is not how a PC RPG should be made. You'd think they would have learned there lesson from VIII. Sadly they have not.

The other good point of the game were the visuals. Tney didn't make you drool, but they were beautiful to look at. The backgrounds, buildings and people were crisp and clean, and very detailed. But a few things were blocky though which is why I gave this an 8.

If you've played an Ultima before then this should be a coffee and cake run for you. If not then you'll have a hard time with the game.

Talk about your bad luck

I beat this game in a little over a month, but I was playing it on and off when I wasn't working. Had I played it straight through non-stop I'd say that I could have beaten it in about one week. Two and a half weeks if I wanted to max out my stats.

All in all this was the worst Ultima I've ever played. There are two reasons I finished the game. One is because its an Ultima game and I kept thinking that it would get better and the other reason is because while I was playing it I was also writing a Walkthrough for it. This is not how I pictured the Ultima series ending...