What our customer's say!

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

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Too much work for too little reward", I have never played Ultima before, so this was my first impression of the series. The installation went fine. Having to re-install the game after EA sent me an updated, non-crashing version of the game was a bother. The graphics were choppy, but I could deal with that since they looked so beautiful. What really ticked me off was that I would be playing the game for a while and getting through some pretty rough sections of it and all of the sudden, my "avatar" would fall through the floor or the game would just freeze, causing me to have to restart my game and sometimes the computer and continue the game from the last point at which I saved. This is a very long, not addictive and really, not fun game that I would not reccomend to anyone unless you are interested in looking at pretty 3D graphics and paying this much and going through this much trouble to see them.

"OOOO Thats not good...", This game would be SO GOOD if it wasn't so CHOPPY. It takes about 5 seconds to run 4 feet. It was difficult to do ANYTHING much less get deep into this game. It truly looks like a TON of fun, but a 400 mhz processor won't cut it. Maybe a 900 or a 1.5 Ghz. If you have a fast computer, this is the RPG for you. If you have a Pentium II, pass this one up, play Ultima Online instead.

"Is it worth it, 1 year later?", Definitely. Most people will agree that Ultima 9 had the makings of being the best RGP of all time, if it weren't for the insane system requirements and the frustrating bugs. So, how does the game play now that technology and patches have caught up?

Well, almost exactly the same. The game is still the most beautiful I have ever seen, even compared to today's standards. Some FPS are put to shame, and no other RPG comes close. The rendered backgrounds of Baldur's Gate are nice, but the 3D environments in Ultima 9 give you a sense of size and granduer that BG can never communicate. The story is also fascinating and deeply satisfying, one of my top 2 RPG favorites. The characters and themes are the most human I've ever experienced. To see the already rich world of Britania made deeper and more wonderful (by a factor of 10, easily) is fascinating.

The system requirements are still steep. I have a P400, 256MB ram, and a Voodoo 5500 AGP. I like to run the game on maximum settings with FSAA x4 (stunning, BTW), and it still chokes in a city. Changing the resolution, turning off FSAA, or reducing the detail has no effect in the framerate. Only by shortening the fog distance can I play effectively in a town like Britan. I also tried playing with 128MB ram, and noticed no improvements when I moved to 256MB. I would guess that 800Mhz CPU is the minimum required to really enjoy this game. You can still play it on something slower, and still see the utter beauty of the game, but you'll have to fiddle with the settings often.

Finally, unfortunately, the bugs are still there, although greatly reduced. The game rarely crashes, no more often than most other games these days. However, I did find a show-stopping bug where an NPC refused to acknowledge a quest I completed. I couldn't continue, and none of my saved games helped (I had a lot of them). I was forced to start over from the beginning, after making it halfway through already. Infinitely frustrating. I had the latest patch, too, and since Origin has stated that they will no longer be supporting the game, we can expect no more patches, ever.

So now what? If you are a big Ultima or RPG fan, and you have a system similar to mine, definitly get this game now. Otherwise, wait another year and play it a 1.5Ghz machine with 512MB ram and a Voodoo 10000 - it will still be beautiful next fall. But definitely play this game!

"Typical of Origin", They make a game that surpasses the power of most if not all computers of 1999(the year it was made) and probably for many years to come. Like Wing Commander III it was Unplayable when it was out and it is now... But for different reasons. Yeah, in a couple of years you'll have that nice P9 /9 ghz with a Voodoo 7/75000 and whatever but will your operating system be compatible? No. These showy graphics games like this are useless. No computer can run them. Not now. Not ever. If I had a super-duper Voodoo 7/7500 ect. I could probably give you an acurate review. Who has that?(with windows 98). As for graphics they are excellent, stupendous, never seen anything like them; but since they are like a slide show I just see them as adequete. I imagine butterflys and what not flying gracefully and that would be "stupendous" but it's just stupid on my machine. The acting is not as bad as people make it out to be... It is... Well.. Adequate... For a game. Not as bad as Animae cartoons... Almost not. Dungeons are fun and beautiful but are like tome raider(a lot of people say that and now so do I). It's pretty though and has dialogue. Raven's fun. Get Redguard(not at-all bad acting) or Tomb raider they will surely work on most computers. The only difference is this one does not.

"An incredible game! (even with all the bugs)", Being a fan of the Ultima series, (especially the Ultima Underworld games) I had to buy Ultima IX. I was a little disappointed when I received an "illegal operation" error during the installation program, but after installing the most recent patch, I was able to set up my video card and begin playing.

I was satisfied with the performance on my computer (Pentium III 500Mhz, 192MB RAM, Diamond Stealth III S540 AGP.) Running at 800x600x32 with the game's MIP mapping option set to high, the frame rate was fairly smooth, slowing only occurred in complex areas such as cities.

I was simply amazed at the quality of the game world. Days and nights pass gradually with colorful sunsets and sunrises. The weather varies from sunny to cloudy to rainy. There are mountains, swamps, beaches, hidden caves and shipwrecks to explore. The non-linear gameplay gives you full freedom to explore wherever you want, while at the same time providing a solid plot. Even if you lose your way, you will still enjoy finding secrets and exploring the world.

A few tips for anyone who buys Ultima IX:

1. Install the most recent patch before you even start playing! This fixes most of the quest-stopping bugs. (I learned the hard way)

2. Save your game frequently! I have had problems with the game suddenly (and without warning) dumping me back to the windows desktop. This can be very frustrating if you haven't saved for an hour or two. (I also learned this one the hard way)

3. Keep multiple save files. I would suggest creating a new save file each time you complete a quest before moving on to the next one. There are a couple of bugs that might force you to restart the game from the beginning. I think the patch fixes these, but keeping multiple save files is always a good idea in complex games like Ultima IX.

4. If you only have 64MB of RAM, upgrade to at least 128MB. It will improve the performance significantly.

In summary, I would recommend Ultima IX - Ascension to any fan of the the Ultima series or anyone who enjoys RPG/Adventure games. Ultima IX contains some references to the previous Ultima games, but nothing that will stop you from enjoying the game if you haven't played them. Without all the bugs, Ultima IX would deserve a solid 5 stars, but even with them, it is a brilliantly designed game and an excellent ending to the Ultima series.