Ultima Online 9th Anniversary Collection

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Ultima Online - The Second Age introduced the Lost Lands & the first in-game chat system
• Renaissance doubled the size of the game world, introducing new enemies & scenarios
• Third Dawn brought in 3D gaming, with a new 3D game continent, Ilshenar
• Lord Blackthorn's Revenge brought in darker characters, improved game AI, in-game help and more
• Age of Shadows unveils the new land of Malas, with new character classes like Paladin and Necromancer & the ability to customize house designs

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000I644G2
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 31, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #25,950 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Product Features Ultima Online - The Second Age introduced the Lost Lands & the first in-game chat system Renaissance doubled the size of the game world, introducing new enemies & scenarios Third Dawn brought in 3D gaming, with a new 3D game continent, Ilshenar Lord Blackthorn's Revenge brought in darker characters, improved game AI, in-game help and more Age of Shadows unveils the new land of Malas, with new character classes like Paladin and Necromancer & the ability to customize house designs The Ultima Online 9th Anniversary Collection compiles all the expansion pack for Ultima Online. Explore a massive game world and everything it has to offer -- it's all available to you, for the first time ever. It also includes some all-new bonuses, including new furniture and housing styles. Samurai Empire brings ancient Asian mythology and folklore & the Tokuno Islands, along with two new character classes - Ninja and Samurai Ultima Online - Mondain's Legacy introduces the Elves and their all-new spellweaving powers - along with several new dungeons

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, May 25, 2007

By 

Zach T. Hobbs "Soopaman" (Greenwood, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ultima Online 9th Anniversary Collection (CD-ROM)

I left Ultima online when UO 3D was starting and didnt like it. I since have returned and love all the changes they have done to it. After a 5 year avsence it has been hard learning things over again but I have fallen back in love with the game.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Live your character, February 14, 2007

By 

A. Seering "Devil Rose" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ultima Online 9th Anniversary Collection (CD-ROM)

Ultima Online is a fun interactive role playing game where you get to live the life of your character. You improve your skills, learn a trade, sell your wares, join a guild, and build a house. It's a great game to share as a family, with friends, or make new friends from all over the world. 2D is way better than 3D! CAUTION: THIS GAME IS ADDICTIVE

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Mother of all MMO's but now she lives in the retirement village!, May 30, 2010

By 

Elite Gamer - See all my reviews

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Ultima Online 9th Anniversary Collection (CD-ROM)

Ultima Online - the true first MMO of it's kind that spawned Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, and World of Warcraft. Ultima Online was a MMO of the purest form. This was before cool downs, damage caps, and many other restricting elements that we players face today in game. In short it was AWESOME!!!

Opening review = 5 Stars across the board!
Current review = -100 stars! Boo - just let it die in peace already!!



**PvP Overview - Early years**
Gaming today has changed greatly since the original release of Ultima Online. Mostly catering to slower and sensitive players. Ultima Online you were able to use as many pots as you had in your back pack. You were able to bandage without a cooldown and without being interrupted by damage. One man could be a unstoppable force to other players that were unfamiliar with the games dynamics. But all in all it was fair. Fair and balanced in it's purest form, because any player could achieve this at will. Of course the ultimate penalty in Ultima Online was death. All of your goods on your corpse are open to be freely looted by any passer-by. It was a lesson well learned - which sharpened your skills. It was a true challenge of reflex and wit. The adrenaline rush was both intoxicating and addictive. What happened to games like this? This was online gaming at it's peak. Everything since has been a far cry from the pure untamed heights of excitement you could reach with UO. I remember camping Minoc Mines with my Archer Template Drake The Evil with the hide ability, shooting any unsuspecting crafter that came my way. I remember fondly living it up as a villain in Buccaneers Den with my pals as my Fencer/Kryss Template Drake. But it all came to a screeching halt.

**PvP Overview the death of Ultima Online**
When Ultima Online opened their doors to the Orient and Euro countries it opened up a huge bag of bad on all of us Ultima Online gamers. With the Orient gamers came several game exploiting and crashing hacks. With the Euro players came "gank squad" pvp. That and the additional features of the expansion Ultima Online: The Second Age. Which implemented a more gear dependent aspect of the game. These were the sparks for disaster. The game quickly spiraled down hill. With the gear dependent additive veteran players became even better and for a time we were able to cope with the gank squads and exploiters. Even with the addition of this new feature known as a "cool down". We were still able to hang on but it seems that we may have killed just one to many Devs. UO released faction PvP in order to slow or irradiate all solo pvp. A few months after this was implemented it was game over. Ultima Onlines shard populations had a initial massive drop followed by a slow bleed that would finish it off.

**A lesson to be learned?**
For games such as World of Warcraft, DAoC, Warhammer Online, and even Aion. Do not turn your backs on your solo pvpers - They are your most loyal of all customers. We're all adrenaline addicts and you supply the drug at a inexpensive monthly rate! ;)


**PvE Overview**
Ultima Online literally set the bar for MOB/AI Tech. Which gamers playing in World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online enjoy today. It was not a easy task for Ultima Online - they had several bumps in the road. Especially with the exploiters that came with the overseas releases. Overall it was great. You were able to visit several dungeons such as deceit and hate. Battle undead skeletons and lichs. Battle giant ogres and daemons! Your imagination quickly was sucked into the land of Ultima Online and it was like you were there. Another feature that if you have read my other reviews on other websites or on this one - you would know I am a huge fan off. Housing - I love it!!! Nothing like wiping out the local townsfolk solo and coming back to the old keep to kick your feet up. One of my favorite aspects of Ultima online that came with pvp was the ability to cut up corpses. I know it's a little morbid but the bounty system was great to say the least. If you walked into my Keep you would quickly notice my collection of player heads plastered all over the wall. Hah! But enough of that. You were able to keep yourself well stocked on bandages, potions, mounts with alts all in the comfort of your own home. You were also able to collect rare items, armor, weapons and happily display them. As well as craft furniture to decorate your home and even hire a vendor outside to sell your goods(which is another aspect of gaming I go crazy for). But in the end - even with housing/ships/treasure hunting(which I loved them all) - due to the PvP changes I had to hang up my kryss above my Keep door and forever leave the land of UO in search for greener pastures. Which I would not find until the release of Dark Age of Camelot three years later as a Infiltrator.

**Customer Service Overview**
The Customer Service of Ultima Online was mixed. I dealt with good GM's/Devs and bad GM's/Devs. It was really just luck of the draw of who you got and with the anything goes mentality of the game in it's youth there was actually very rare situation where you needed one. All customers remember their bad experiences more than the good. I guess it's just human nature. One of my bad experiences with a GM - I was killed due to a bug. My character was flaming red which many of you know it's bad news when you die. It means countless hours of using macros just so you can spend up all the game time required for you to be resurrected again. This was one of the earliest penalties for PvP'ers. What had happened is I had gotten stuck in a door in Deceit. I opened and closed that door like mad but I was stuck good. Even tried to teleport and gate out of it with the effect of both spells failing. Sure enough here comes a group of players and they attack. Because I am stuck in the door I was unable to turn around or run in range of them so they were able to pick me off effortlessly. I am sure they all enjoyed the bounty on my head that would have made Bill Gates blush at the sight of it. So I petition a GM and he pretty much just tells me tough crackers. GM's did have the ability to resurrect players under certain circumstances which this definitely fit one of those situations. This is when I clued in on the Anti-PK mindset of Ultima Online. He left me to macro 119 hours but that's not the end of it! Oh, no - Drake got to have his day! ;) After my "dept to society" had been fulfilled I called upon this GM again. I asked for him by name in the appeal - to my satisfaction he appeared in front of me! He stated "Oh, glad to see that you have returned to the land of the living...." I promptly responded "Yes, and no thanks to you!" Which at this time I went into combat mode and two shot him. He quickly resurrected and I killed him again. By his third death, another GM appeared and promptly teleported me to a prison cell in Britain Castle. Which I had to remain for seven days but it was well worth it. Shortly after they implemented safe guards for GM's so that they could not be attacked.

**Current Customer Service Overview**

Since the days of old Ultima Online has not changed hands to EA. Which I am not a fan of. I recently reopened my Ultima Online account as well as a Dark Age of Camelot account to overall rate EA customer service for other review sites. The rating is pretty basic, it's just typical problems that common players would run into and with Ultima Online I got the same results from DAoC which was no surprise. Little to no help with common everyday issues. Loot recovery, stuck characters, naming policies, etc. As with DAoC I received several emails from representatives that clearly did not understand the English Language. When I finally got in touch with a US based rep the answer was always either "I do not have the power to correct your issue. We do apologize for the inconvenience" or I received a flat out "no". What ever happened to the days when reps went out of their way for the customer? I know it can be rough to say the least to handle so many appeals a day but in the end - They're the people paying your salary. EA has forgotten that on every level and have received a flat out "F" in customer service in every possible field. The only current online game that gives quality customer service is World Of Warcraft. But I am not a 100% fan of the game right now. It's becoming a little to "user friendly" but customer service they have down pat!

**Ultima Online today**
Instead of being the bar setter that it once was - UO now tries to mimic other popular games that are currently top market, sadly tries at that. Which is a sad reflection of once was. They just need to let the game go the way of the dodo and let us old timers remember it for what it was. While deep down we all secretly hope that we will see it's like as it was released return to us again.