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aside from bugs(on patch 118f) it's not a total failure on a new machine(as of 07)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I once wrote saying this game would not work on newer operating systems and the only PC's capable WERE the new ones, yet XPPro still plays it quite well, you will need to avoid RAID however and ICD errors are more frequent. Some bugs are very bad even as of now but it is not a showstopper! Thier are unaddressed or unspoken except in a hushed wisper bugs not anywhere addressed online-much like microsoft's hiding there error message knowledge from the public. The Ultima bugs are not a big deal yet somewhat annoying if in the spirit of the game as Karma hits in uncalled for places jumping a chasm in "Despise" can knock you for a few points 1 if your lucky, 10 if your unfortunate! This can happen before getting the wurm armur in pit or after comeing back this way out. Defeats the purpose of being anything but a Ranger!(low Karma anyway). Also you are not SUPPOSED to be able to steal eggs from the Gargoyle Queen but you can just fly down her backside granny shorts(not a pretty site) and get one not incurring a Karma hit that LB made such a big deal about implementing in his clue book interveiw. more bugs-though more on laughable comedy but detracting, the avatar "kan sit in chairs" Kan? as in on the backs not the seat. I misspelled on purpose, herbert! The mines of My-nok also disengage your input devices(namely keyboard and mouse) and cause you to cntrl alt to desktop. Toolbelt disapearence possible(though unlikely). If Keagan doesn't sell you that third map, your seafaring days are over! Yep it's a bug without his charts(he must sell you Map 3 before hand) your captancy is landed and so is your game! Lubber! Freeromaing abilty is present but not a good idea, this game runs on a linear path of evnets if you traverse Magincia via swimming or "Yew' without the open pass you'll blotch up the plot as it isn't intelligent enough to accept this as an alternative! Very disney in game intellect! but most annoying is ICD error, a showstopper if you've reloaded as much as I have.(patch 1.18f and 1.19f unofficial). Makes your tired of playing. It happens more frequently as time goes on and eventually so often you don't have time to even save the game(once every 5 seconds at later stages). In Windows 98(another conspiracy bug) a white desktop cursor ackompanies your game gauntlet cursor(ugly) and the humility movie cuts out to a permanant condition of your PC(the white cursor shows up in ALL D3D/GL(non voodoo FX) games from then on!). I told EA of this in '99 and the punky boarish teen on the phone said as predicted, "well -I- ain't never saw nutt'n like that happen! What are you talk'n bout, dude?!..." the exact words! very evil.(EA is to games as Disney is to amimatinon TV! And Holiwood to moves and so on.)

What should have been a great game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: June 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this with the hopes of a fun, addictive and diverse roleplaying game. Unfortunatly that didn't exactly turn out to be the case. The only way I see fit to best describe this game is by listing the pros and cons.

PROS:
1. AMAZING graphics, makes you really feel like your in an actual world.
2. NPC's have sets of speech that actual actors speak.
3. Easy to play
4. Fully Useable Terrain, climb mountains, swim, get lost in the forest.
5. Day and Night Cycles and Rainstorms

CONS:

1. Huge Requirements, This required(s) a beastly system to play on otherwise it's really choppy or in some cases doesn't even work.
2. BUGGY, There is tons of bugs that managed to make it on here that can make you very frusterated while playing.
3. The main quest is almost always boring! Even worse most of the side quests pertain directly to the main quest. This makes almost everything seemed forced. When your doing something, your doing it because according to the quest your on you have to.

4. Combat is also very boring, Archer,Staff fighter, Swordsman, its all the same (just run up to what your fighting and click away BORING)
5. There is no "working up skills" The only advances your character gets are from completing part of the quest. ONCE AGAIN VERY FORCED PLAYSTYLE.
6. Sure the magic spells are neat, but most of them are useless. (I easily got through the whole game using minor heal and fireball)
7. The game is often to challenging to be fun, I cant count how many times I absolutly HAD to refer to a walkthrough because I was stuck. Most of the time the solution to being stuck was something i truely would have never found without looking at the guide.
8. Dungeons are almost all based on puzzles, Sure the puzzles were cool but with the exception of a few rats you might have to kill here and there the puzzles are all you do! BORING
9. Your Virture you get in the beggining of the game had nothing to do with anything! It may say you start on the path of a druid, but all that actually means is you will start with different equipment than that of a shepard. (I was a tinker, {did hat i start with have anything to do with a tinker NO})
10. I thought the ending was terrible, I played the game for about 80 playing hours for this!
11.. I Save the worst for last. ITS QUITE EASY TO SCREW THE GAME OVER. You have to do the quest exactly as your told or you can screw up the game and have to reload (this should never happen in a game.) In worst cases you may be following the quest and do something wrong withen it which causes the game to screw up. I vividly remember having to reload way back in time because i did the Sacrifice quest before the Justice quest, even though the option to do the Sacrifice quest was given to me, The game apparently wanted me to do the Jusstice quest first.

If you want a good roleplaying game I really wouldn't recommend this. This game was hardly diverse, boring and virtually everything you did in it was forced.

An open letter to 1Software

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 22 / 29
Date: May 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

To Whom It May Concern;

On May 17th, I ordered a copy of Ultima IX from 1software through Amazon.com.

I paid $39.99 + expedited shipping fee for what I believed to be a new copy of this game. Now, let me provide a bit of background so you can know something about me. I would rather just pay some $30, and download full versions of these games online, and skip the box, the cardboard, the frilly stuff, etc. However since 1software (among pretty much all other gaming software companies, this isn't a single company gripe) forced me to have the whole lock, stock and barrel shipped to me, I was obliged to do so.

Now, as I began, on May17th I placed my order. Amazon told me the "delivery estimate" would be on the 27th latest. I've never seen this shipping estimate CENSORED before, although after waiting so long, I'm not sure why I even paid an expedite. Either way, I just received my long awaited treasure in the mail today, the 29th. As if the tardiness of delivery wasn't bad enough, the box arrived in a yellow shipping envelope, beaten like a red-headed step-child, missing the frilly "all cloth map" so boldly emblazoned on the front of the box which you people forced me to pay and wait for, there is no instruction manual, no paper cover on the CD jewel case, and the CD's appear scratched.

um.... WHAT THE CENSORED IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?!?!?!?! IS YOUR SHIPPING DEPARTMENT HIGH?!?!?!?

I do not see anything written on my order at amazon.com that says, "you're gonna get a beat up, CENSORED used copy of the game that won't even run in your CD ROM". I was able to get a brand, spanking new copy of DiabloII for only $15, took only two days to get to me, and wasn't beat up or missing parts! It even had paper manuals. As I said, I'd rather download, but not for $39.99, and to have spent the money, waited the time, and end up feeling so thoroughly fleeced is unimaginable, and has been an experience never duplicated at Amazon.com.

Now, either you people are going provide me with a personalized, engraved explanation as to why I have been so misled as to what I was purchasing (and it better be a d@mn good one...), or you people are going to send me a brand-spanking new copy of this game, right fast chop chop stylie, or...

#1 I never purchase a single piece of software even remotely associated with 1Software ever again, throughout the course of my mortal coil, and will actively and avidly campaign against 1Software whenever I have nothing better to do...

#2 I will not print a retraction on Amazon.com to this letter which has been posted in response to my purchase prior to having been sent to you

Sound like a plan? Does to me.

Your's Truly, Honestly, Sincerely, and Peevishly;
Mr. Irritated A. Customer

great game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

okay, so i've read the reviews here 2 years after i've purchased this game--just to see what people think. i probably have the slowest computer of the this lot and have never had a problem with this game. i have a 466mhz celeron and no graphics card (bought the computer in 1999)and the game runs perfect for me. it's not choppy, it's never crashed, and no bugs. maybe i've just been lucky.

as far as the game being linear, i rather enjoy it. one reviewer said that he did not go through the cave to get to yew, well, neither did i and i never had a problem with the game. yes, you do have to do things in a certain order, but that really never bothered me. i guess i'm not such a hard core RPG person.

i recommend this game, even now, in 2003. it's a lot of fun. if you're just starting out getting involved with RPG, start with this game--that's what i did.

Wow I liked this game a lot!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: December 05, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First i liked this game on several levels. but it also had its cons.
pros:
1. The graphic are aboslutly stunning the best i have ever seen in a game like that.
2. the commands seem complex but they are really simple.
3. i like the story line, it is very stait forward but very in depth and full of suprises.
4. also the main quest may be very liner but that is helpful so you dont get stuck thinking what do i do now? also having a world that big makes it so you hardly notice the liner main quest, IF you explore.
5. also the game was challenging from all the puzzles, but it made it so it wasn't a hack'n'slash that gets old in 5 minutes.
6. finaly the game made me want to wake up at four in the morning to play it so i could play it for 4 hours before my brother kick me off.
Cons:
1. the 3-D engine left very small seems and i fell in a couple of them and, um... ended up under the dungeon.
2. the dialogue stinks they said they had profesional actors do it but i dont think thats true.
3. some off the game is "faulty" like the falling through seems, or doors that wont open that should, etc.... anyway i sujest you the fly code to fix those problems or you will have to restart several times.
4. the game can only run nicely on rather good computers or at least on my good computers.
5.the game was too short. now that may seem like a shocker to any who played the game before but i beat the game in 6 days!!!
with a tinker.
any way this is a really good game despite the draw backs and is worth every penny of its cost if you can play it on your comp.

An amazing game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I have been a fan of the Ultima series since the first one came out, and I was thrilled to get my hands on this finally installment when it was released. This game is simply beautiful; the breath and depth of the world is simply amazing. The voices are very well done, and the characters are interesting and compelling. Very few games have a story that is as rich and rewarding as the one found in this game. I could go on and on about how great this game is, but let me just say this one thing: "Ultima 9" is probably one of the best RPGs released for a computer in recent years. I have noticed the complaints people have made about the game being buggy, but I have never had a single problem from the initial installation to the end of the game. If you are a fan of the Ultima series, this game is a must have for you.

Doesn't do justice to Britannia and the Ultima series.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 25, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Good:

3D graphics are amazing. You really do feel like you're walking around Britannia, spelunking through caves and dungeons, etc.

Puzzles (mostly in the dungeons) are quite difficult.

Bad:

Game is ultra-linear. You must complete each quest in a more-or-less prescribed order, in exactly the manner you are told.

Characters and plot are not very compelling at all. Your mission is very clear from the outset--cleanse the shrines, defeat the Guardian.

Ugly:

Graphics are choppy, even with a 1.3 GHz P4/128 MB/GeForce 2 Ultra (!). I've heard that this game really needs a 3dfx card to run well.

I'm running this game on Windows Me, and for some reason, every time I save or load a game, Windows runs another copy of the game. With two copies of U9 running, the game is unplayable. It's really irritating to keep having to exit the game and restart it every time I need to save or load a game. I don't know if anyone else has this problem. Maybe I should downgrade to Windows 98 or something.

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!

Incredible graphics, lots of potential, too many bugs.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 29, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Okay, there are lots of discussions about the graphics of this game and whether or not they're too much for the average system. I don't know -- I'm playing at 1GHZ/512MB/GeForce2Pro so the game has never been slow for me, and the graphics are LIGHT YEARS AHEAD of any other 3D-accelerated game on the market, anywhere. Nothing competes with the scale of the Ultima IX world and the detail you'll find in it and I don't see anything scheduled for release over the next year that looks like it will compete, with the possible exception of Myst III:Exile.

However, it's probably true that slower systems will experience major graphics slowdows... Some would say that this is an unfair marketing strategy that cuts out people with low-end computers, but what about me? I bought a high-end monster system because I wanted immersive gameplay, and it's nice to have a game [for a change] that will really let me see what it can do.

The gameplay is great fun... Everything you could possibly want in a mix between questing and combat -- neither overwhelms the other. Ultima IX makes games like King's Quest: Mask of Eternity or Omikron: The Nomad Soul just look silly and underdeveloped. (Yes, I'm a fan of the much-hated action/adventure genre.)

And the game's 3D engine makes it more immersrive than anything I've played. You're not limited to certain "paths" in the environment -- you can climb onto the rooves, jump off of the bridges, swim in all of the water, cut across vast meadows instead of staying on the path, wander through the forests and get lost... For a change, the map is actually a MAP that you can fully explore, rather than scenery surrounding a few pre-defined paths that you can't deviate from.

So why not five stars?

Because there are serious gameplay bugs. For example, if you don't finish a quest in exactly the way the game expects you to, the game doesn't realize you've finished the quest. At one point in the game, Lord British told me to go to the town of Yew through a tunnel under a mountain. However, I thought I'd already seen a better way to get there, so I climbed up a mountain (yes, in this game such things can be done) and wandered around until I found a place where I could slide down the other side into Yew. It was only later that I realized that when the game had told me to go through the tunnel, it MEANT that I needed to do so. I had played for many hours when I realized that the game hadn't registered my trip to Yew properly; I had to restore from a much earlier save and fight my way through the tunnel instead of traveling over the mountain before the game would recognize my journey. These sorts of gameplay problems proliferate in Ultima IX and make it much more linear and less immersive than it otherwise would have been.

But even so, if I look past my criticisms for a moment, I am forced to admit that none of the other 3D-enhanced games I own come close to Ultima IX in entertainment value [and yes, I do own Q3A, UT, SOF and I've just ordered Tribes 2, so I do know about the FPS genre].

Buy Ultima IX if you have a nice system and ENJOY IT, but remember -- if lord British sends you on a quest a specific way, you'd better do it the way he says, or you'll be restoring from old saves later on...

astonding graphics, now they need to design the game.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: February 06, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Since I have a fairly new 733 pentium III, I had no problems getting a good frame speed. Even playing at full speed the graphics are wonderfull. The landscapes in this game reminded me of the German alps. No game I have ever seen comes even close to matching the visual quality of this game. Unfortunatly, this is the game's only real strong point. The quests are often long and tedious. Places are hard to find, with too much travel time. The fighting in the game is boring at best, and the puzzles are second rate. Spending the time to beat this game is simply not worth it. There are too many other RPG's out there for anyone to buy this game. Unless you are the type of person who likes playing games where you run around for 30 minutes to complete one fairly simple task, all the while fighing simple creatures by clicking the left mouse button as fast as you can, this game is simply not for you.

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