Ultima 9: Ascension

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Product Details:ASIN: B00002EPYD
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 24, 1999
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00002EPYD
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 24, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,625 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

When we heard that Ultima 9: Ascension was buggy, we thought, "yeah, yeah, whatever," assuming we'd be spared--and, boy, did we guess wrong. Frustration with the installation ran high, heavily tinting our impression of a game we couldn't wait to play.

In case you're still eager to jump into this highly-anticipated game, here's a sobering quote from the readme text: "Be certain you empty your Recycle Bin before installing the game." Or better yet: "We recommend that you not save the game while you're poisoned; this has been somewhat problematic in the current version." It's a bad sign when the readme announces bugs, but even knowing this, Ascension surpassed our worst fears and severely tried our patience.

With that caveat, if there was ever a game to go to the bother of installing a new graphics card for (as some have for this), it's Ascension. For those unfamilar with the series, it's a fantastic hybrid: a game with a mature rating (for gore and violence) with a plot based on a stalwart and moralistic quest for virtue. The purpose of battle is the archetypal fight to preserve good, and as the the accompanying journal explains: "when selfishness seeks to divide man from woman, parent from child, brother from brother... the power of virtue must be seeded in the minds of the people." In this Medieval setting, your battle continues, with spells and skills to protect you.

Designed by the Ultima creator Richard Garriott (known as Lord British), the newest edition boasts impressive artistic direction, including 3-D design and spoken dialogue between characters. For RPG players, Ascension is nirvana, but the price for entry--dealing with the "additions" of the game itself--is steep. --Jennifer Buckendorff

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description This is the ninth and final chapter in the famous Richard Garriott's Ultima series. As the heroic Avatar, only you can save Lord British and his people from the evil Guardian, who has devastated the landscape and tainted the eight sacred virtues. Valiant combat, magical prowess, and knowledge of the eight virtues are your weapons against evil in Ultima Ascension.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible, but buggy game, December 23, 1999

By 

Marc Pottier "Natal, the SPARC Instruction Se... (Seattle, wa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ultima 9: Ascension (CD-ROM)

I first played Ultima I on my Apple II back in 7th grade, and enjoyed it immensely. Since then (and the subsequent Ultima II - VIII games) I've always wanted to see a full 3D version of Ultima... and now Origin has released it. It's a mixed bag though... while the graphics and game-play are amazing, there are definitely some problems. Here's the good, bad and ugly of Ultima IX:

The Good

The game designers of Ultima IX spared no efforts in creating a rich world of fantasy and adventure. Every character you encounter has a story, and every town, hill, valley and beach has a unique feel. The game keeps you wondering what's around the next corner, and what new adventure might be lurking in the next cave. This is one of Ultima's strongest points... it really is tailored to someone who like to feel like they're adventuring and discovering new things. It'll take you right back to your dungeons & dragons days. The attention to detail that went into the plot/environment of this game is unparalleled.

The world of Ultima is beautifully designed, texture mapped and rendered. Trees, hills, mountains, beaches all look beautiful and realistic! Thanks to the fact that the Ultima world loads as you explore it, you really do get the feeling that the world is huge, and that you can go anywhere. You can walk out of a town, into the hills, through valleys, into a cave, down into dungeons, and back out again without ever encountering a "loading next level" screen.

The plot behind Ultima feels somewhat linear. While there are subquests, and small adventures you can embark on, the main plot to Ultima feels rigid.

The Bad

Unfortunately the visually rich world of Ultima IX comes at a high price. It's obvious from playing this game that the Quality Assurance teams at Origin didn't have enough time or people dedicated to ensuring the release of a quality product.

Ultima IX fails when it comes to the details... characters are inconsistently animated (some move their mouths when they speak, some do not), character animation is poor (why can't game designers use real-time 3d motion capture for animated characters?-animating them by hand looks awful), and the game has tons of little bugs/quirks. You'll come across weird things like floating daggers, wolves hovering over the landscape, arrows that you shot at monsters somehow magically suspended a few feet from their bodies and other such annoyances. While these are minor, they detract from the game and decrease the quality of the product. There are also more severe bugs which you may encounter which may cause you to lose your saved games, or simply cause the game to quit on you unexpectedly.

The Ugly

Origin made some big mistakes when designing and implementing this game. Rather than create a game which worked well on all graphic cards, they chose to focus all of their efforts on creating a release for the voodoo chip set. This basically means that half of the people who have TNT2 cards are unable to attain reasonable performance levels when playing the game.

I have a Viper v770 Ultra and have been unable to attain performance levels above 10-15 frames per second. So regardless of how beautiful the graphics may look, the game is almost unplayable. Origin continues to promise a patch to increase TNT2 performance, but has yet to deliver it (definitely check their site before purchasing to make sure they've delivered on that promise).

So all in all, I believe Ultima IX is worth the money, but prepare yourself for performance issues and a myriad of bugs... hopefully Origin will learn from its mistakes and not rush the release of future software titles until it has done an adequate job with Quality Assurance.

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent -- if you can get your hardware working right, November 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Ultima 9: Ascension (CD-ROM)

When I first got my Ultima IX, I set it to a resolution of 800x600, with the options set for 16-bit texture graphics, highest performance and highest quality. It crashed on me every 5 minutes.

Then I changed my resolution to 640x480 with all the rest of the settings left the way they were, and it worked beautifully! I almost concluded the software was buggy, but I guess it was the gamut of graphic components in my CPU that wouldn't cooperate with each other.

Anyway, I like the interface -- very easy to use. If you have played Ultima Online, you will find this game more interesting than people who haven't due to the similar objects in the game (e.g. backpack, pouch, music).

I have played the latest of Might and Magic, a definite competitor of Ultima IX, but I feel Ultima was much more immersing due to the more realistic weather, lighting, and sound effects. I found myself oftentimes enjoying the sky and the scenery! It is an experience one should go through to appreciate! The dungeons were wonderfully made, and creepy!

However, the manuals weren't very enlightening. For example, it says bringing up the map shows your location with a red push-pin. I didn't see a red push-pin for the longest time, causing me to get lost often in the game. I could've sworn I didn't see the red push-pin appear until I got a sextant, but the manual makes no distinction or warning on this.

I have to tip my hat to Origin though. Despite the frustrations they caused me in Ultima Online, I have to say they did a superb job with Ultima IX! If their coming Ultima Online 2's interface will be anything like Ultima IX's, I will definitely play Ultima Online 2!

I haven't finished the game yet, but I am certainly enjoying it immensely!:)

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ultima Ascension, November 28, 1999

By 

NeonDragonfly - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultima 9: Ascension (CD-ROM)

This game is breathtaking...graphics are beautiful, sound is as realistic as it gets, storyline just as good as the other Ultimas. This game would get 5 stars from me, however I had to buy a 3D accelerator and Sound Blaster Live sound card to get the game running without crashing (which is what I probably should have anyway) and the grand total of hardware additions alone set me back more then a couple of hundred spots...