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A lot has been said about this one

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I pre-ordered Dragon Edition and took one week out of work to play. I wasn't dissapointed.

Lots of people criticize the game, because the world is small, the voice acting poor, the characters are not deep enough... Just a few games stand so high that these are their only (minor) faults.

I enjoyed the adventure feeling, the compelling environment, the quests, the exploring (yes, even a "small" world has lots of things to explore).

I had player Baldur's Gate to the end before playing Ultima. I consider BG a great game, but it lacks depth, limiting itself to combat. This is exactly what Ultima isn't.
Ultima makes you think. A sensation I thought forgotten when playing RPGs (sorry Diablo fans).

Buyer beware...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 23, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Well, I thought this would be a cool game, and it was - as far as graphics are concerned. But the bugs in the game (not to mention the lack of tech support) quickly set me straight.

1.)GAMEPLAY - The ability to go from 3rd person to 1st person is a great idea. Manipulating your enviroment can be a pain (moving objects, placing them in your backpack, etc.)Movement can also be tricking. Barely touching any object (especially when swimming) can cause you to stop in your tracks. Which can be a bummer while underwater. There are waaaaay too many keyboard commands. I ended only using about 1/3 of what's listed.

2.Graphics - Excellent in my opinion. But I'm still trying to tweak my Voodoo 3 and game settings. Running with 16Mb Video/128Mb RAM/PIII 500, I still can't figure out why the game gets choppy sometimes.

3.Tech Support - Fagetta 'bout it. I used the EA support program (automacilly loaded when game is intstalled), which automatically generated and sent an email. Well, two weeks later, no answer to my questions. So a second email later, I got answers, all or which, did not help. Problems I had were:

Problem: A specific error message.

Answer:I was told was due to Anti-Virus software on my computer. Shut down program and run game.

Why I laughed: I uninstalled my Norton's weeks before buying the game. And after checking for orphan files (which there weren't any) still couldn't figure it out.

Problem: Game crashing.

Answer:Revert to a previously saved game, and then save again (corrupt save game file). Shut down Anti-Virus program, blah, blah, blah

Why I laughed: The Anti-Virus shtick again? I figured that the save game would be corrupt, but even after saving at different points in the game, and saving over the suspected corrupt file, the game would still crash after 40/50 minutes of continuous play.

My advice, avoid this game. Graphics are important, but they aren't everything. After countless hours making sure all my drivers (Direct X, Voodoo, etc.) were updated, sending a couple emails, saving countless games, tweaking parameters, and checking for patches, I've given up. The game has become more of a chore than a fun experience.

Biggest dissapointment ever

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have played all the Ultimas in my time and for the most part loved them all. I was one of the people standing in line for Ultima 9 when it came out. When I got home I put it on my computer right away. After about 2 hours I finally got it to install correctly, and found nothing but bugs and bad game play

1) You have to do every quest exactly as your told to no matter what.

2) Nearly every quest had a bug that made me reload at least one time usually ten times though.

3) Where are these stuning graphics in this game. They were ok but nogthing compared to other games that came out at the same time.

4) This is my biggest complaint. The game is choppy.... and Neither of the computers I put it on were .... The first one was a PII 400 with 320 Megs of SDRam and a TNT 2 graphics card, and the other is a PIII 1000 with 256 Megs of Ram and a Geforce3 and its still choppy!!!!

So my edvice is to avoid this game like the plague!

3 stars is overly optimistic

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 10
Date: December 20, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Needless to say the game is unplayable in its current state.Fine, they'll patch it and everything will be OK, right? WRONG. Thegraphics engine is extremely dated, doesn't properly support mip-mapping or filtering, only supports 640x480, and runs at a CRAWL on the highest-end system you can buy (Refrigerated Cryotech 1Ghz Athalon) on a DDR GeForce. You can forget it if you card isn't Glide, because the DX-7 "support" is a slide-show. The game's glaring crashes and bugs may be fixed in time, but you're fooling youself if you think they're going to re-write the graphics engine.

Just because the game could have been good without the bugs, not buying this product is the ONLY way developers will stand up and take notice.

If there was a ZERO star rating,I would use it.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: February 17, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is a joke.Let me tell you why.It took me 4 tries to install it on my computer.It crashed 3 times in ONE day.I am `running` it on a 800mhz athlon with 256megs of ram and a geforce ddr,and it is a TOTAL S-L-I-D-E S-H-O-W.If I had a intel 1.5 gigahertz,512 megs of ram,and a next gen 3d card,i might get 30 frames per second.I hear all this stuff about how good of a rpg this is if you look under the `bugs` {these are not mere `bugs`,these are supa` bugs of the worst kind,i.e.crappy programmers and rushing pr people dont mix} I cannot see past the bugs,because i dont work at intel and i do not have access to a prototype gig plus CPU. I keep my system in top shape,so I know its not my cpu.if you have anything less than a athlon 800,256 ram,geforce,forget it.wait for some miracle patches,hope they work,and wish you saved the money for Diablo 2. A BIG BIGG BIGGG U-P-S-E-T.I am quite upset to see this series go to the dogs. {mouse64 cries] :[ REVIEWER: Mouse64.look for my Quake 3 and asheron`s call reviews! look for me in the THISTLEDOWN server in asherons call! I am mouse the sick,and i will hook you up with weapons! DIABLO 2 DIABLO 2 DIABLO 2 DIABLO 2....

Tons of potential, but desperately needs finishing patches

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 04, 1999
Author: Amazon User

After playing approximately 1/2 of the game on a very powerful, fairly new system, I would like to reiterate that the game is visually stunning and the sounds (music and game sounds, including character speech) are done extremely well. Although I am not normally a fan of non-FPS (first person shooter) games, I got used to the look and feel and now find it a little more appealing. If you want to know what it looks like, it has a similar look and feel as Heretic 2 or the Tomb Raider games, in my opinion. As a fan of this long-running series, I was eager to play what has been billed as the conclusion to the Ultima line.

I rated the game as 4 stars, but I feel that it has the potential to go to 5 stars, once it has been patched appropriately. There are numerous bugs (that have been acknowledged by the developers, to their credit) that affect basic gameplay (crashing to the Windows desktop and freezes, etc.) as well as bugs that affect the storyline. One patch has already been released and more are on the way, as of early December 1999. There is also a good user community that answers questions for novices online (this is also true as of December 1999) at the official website.

Your experience with the game's performance will probably be dependent on how new and powerful your system is. I won't lie to you: there have been times that I have been very frustrated by the bugs I have encountered, but I am encouraged by the patch that has been released and the patches that are coming down the pipe.

To summarize: if you are a fan of the Ultima series and you like games that are beautiful with deep, rich, immersing content that take a long time to play, this one is for you. I would recommend buying this game, but I would wait to start playing it seriously until after the second (or later) patches have been released. Just make sure you have a modern, VERY robust system!

A Diamond That Needs To Be Dusted Off A Little

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 05, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This review for the final release version of Ultima IX would have been 5 stars had it not been for the buggy state the game was released in. Some examples are a few broken quests, wolves strangley floating backwards in midair during combat, some game crashes. This is a lesson to be learned by the game companies that try to push software out just to make the seasonal buying sprees. Fortunately, a patch (and future subsequent patches) has already been released to fix some of the problems. Technical support has been quick to acknowledge and correct bug reports from the game players.

Be forewarned that a full install of Ultima IX will take up approx. 900 Megs of hard drive space and is the preferred install method out of 3 choices. Also, there have been some issues with Direct3D that are being ironed out but 3DFX users should have no problems. Finally, if you don't have a 350mhz or above computer with a minimum of 128M of RAM, this game will crawl. Hopefully, future patches will speed up performance.

With all bug issues aside, Ultima IX concludes the epic RPG series with spectacular graphics and, most importantly, an immersive story and excellent gameplay. I have enjoyed playing the game for the last few days and can't pry myself from it. Once some of these issues are fixed, it will definitely become a classic.

After 11 years of playing Ultimas, I've fallen in love again

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 03, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I built a computer this fall knowing that U9 was coming out, got all the recommended things, and I am HAPPY I did. I have had no trouble with crashing, only a little lag at the highest settings. I find myself playing U9 like I used to play games as a kid--for hours on end without even realizing time has gone by. Just looking around is a treat; being able to play with everything in sight has me waiting to see what I can do next. This is the cure for all those lame pseudo-RPGs since the last serious Ultima--move over, non-tactical combat and set-in-stone storylines, Lord British is finally back!

Good, but not great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Ultima Ascension is a good game, but do not expect it to live up to the standards set by previous Ultimas (Black Gate and Serpent Isle in particular). Also, the Direct3D support for this game is very poor. Make sure that you have a Voodoo-based card installed in your system before playing the game. Finally, make sure you have patched the game to its latest version (1.18f) before playing. Otherwise, you are in for an extremely frustrating experience.

Great graphics, OK bugginess, poor role-playing

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 25, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First off, this is without a doubt the best graphics I have seen in a fully interactive game. There are times when you will actually stop and find a place to watch the sun come up.

Be prepared, however, to have a lot of hardware. At times, the game becomes unplayable when it is trying to load terrain. It is especially bad in cities. Running a 350 with 128 of meg and plenty of hard drive space (oh, only a Vodoo 2), I would say I have a sixty percent playable experience.

The worst part of the game, however, is the role-playing. As Avatar, you have no character generation and little customizablity. The game does not remember earlier encounters, monsters regenerate at exactly the same spot, and you can do things like walk into a jeweler's shop, pick up a gem off his counter, and sell it to the guy without repercussion. The same thing would get you killed in Fallout/Baldur's Gate type game.

But the graphics are GREAT!

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