Ultima IX: Ascension

The Good
I'm a big admirer of Ultima. I love the open-ended worlds, the meticulous interaction, the flexible role-playing. However, the hardcore elements of the series have declined over its course. Already the seventh game was less of an RPG than the sixth; and the eighth decisively shifted towards more streamlined action. Ultima IX is even less of an RPG: it is an action-adventure game with RPG elements - in fact, something not dissimilar in concept to Zelda games.

But to me personally, the Ultima experience never really depended on what you'd call core RPG traits: leveling up, combat, etc. When I want more dedicated role-playing (and that's what I always want) , I turn to something like Might and Magic. For me, Ultima was (and is), above all, about having my own adventures in a detailed, lovingly crafted world. When I play an Ultima game I want to do things just because I feel like doing them, playing with items and visiting every corner. In that respect, Ultima IX does not disappoint: it is a rich playground full of stuff to fool around with - only this time, realized in marvelous 3D.

Much has been said about the reduction of the game world; but did anyone seriously expect the developers to render in 3D the same amount of terrain as in Ultima VII? It's a wonder they managed to create what they have created using such an advanced engine. At the time of its release, no other 3D game came close to the sheer scope and magnitude of the world of Ultima IX. It was the most detailed, awe-inspiring fully polygonal world ever created for a game.

Ultima IX is the realization of a dream: this is probably how Britannia looked in the imagination of Ultima players, when they were playing the first Ultimas with CGA graphics back in the early eighties. Houses, forests, dungeons, mountains, rivers, seas - everything is absolutely gorgeous. There is an internal clock in the game, so you will see how the sun rises in the morning, or how the first stars appear on the sky, and so on. It is wonderful to see how everything moves and breathes in this world; butterflies fly around, skeletons wander near a dungeon entrance, waiting for their victims; people walk around in towns, the night comes upon Britannia; it rains, and the Avatar, equipped with his sword, is resting on the bed in Lord British's castle, gathering the force for his new quest. I really didn't want to leave this world. It was a pleasure just to run around, listening to the sweet orchestral music, and looking at everything around you.

Following the great Ultima tradition, Ultima IX is wonderfully interactive. Everything that is not nailed down can be examined, pushed, removed, and taken. You can interact with pretty much everything you see, exactly like in the previous Ultimas; the difference is that it feels absolutely awesome when it's all done in 3D. In addition to that, you also have physical abilities: jumping, climbing, and (for the first time in Ultima series) swimming. Every part of the game's world is therefore open now, and you can explore it physically. In every corner there is something to find and try, and at any point during your quest, no matter how linear its design is, you can just wander around and explore, admiring the lovely graphics and enjoying the amazingly high level of interaction.

You can jump whenever and wherever you want to. You can swim and dive everywhere there is water. You can climb on anything which can be climbed on. Most of the game is entirely physical; the dungeons are full of jumping or diving puzzles, but they are not nearly as frustrating as in some other games of this genre. Each time you are facing a puzzle you have to solve, like "how do I enter this dungeon if the entrance is sealed?", you can try many things, look for secret passages, underwater areas, try to cast spells, or anything else that comes to your mind. The new engine makes the game world physically immersive like no other game before it.

It is true that the gameplay is not as non-linear and open-ended as in earlier Ultimas; but it is still very much so for an action-adventure. There is plenty of ground to cover, and if you wish to see everything the game has to offer, expect to dedicate some time to it. The difference between its world and the much bigger playing area of, say, Daggerfall, is the fact everything in Ultima IX is hand-crafted. Every area in the game feels different, and you can feel how much love was put into details such as character animation, beautiful art decorating many rooms, atmosphere-enhancing objects in dungeons, and so on. Even in terms of quantity, the game trumps most of the competition. You'll be restricted at first, but once you get your ship, it's off to explore and have fun like before.

Combat is simple, yet dynamic and more rewarding thanks to the new engine: it doesn't have the intelligent elegance of earlier Ultimas, but I'd take it over the chaotic skirmishes of the seventh game and the frustrating clicking of the eighth any time of the day. The enemies look impressive and range from goblins and spiders to dragons and lyches, as well as cool creatures such as hellhounds and skeletons that fall apart and combine their bones again if you don't take some into your inventory.

There are lots of weapons in the game, also many secret ones, and most of them look cool and are worth looking for. In addition, you can cast spells using the complex system reminiscent of earlier Ultimas. You can memorize spells you find using the classic Ultima system of combining various ingredients scattered throughout the game. There will be surely many things you still haven't tried out after you have finished the game for the first time. In each town there are sub-quests to perform. Each location is full of unexplored areas, which you can search for some items, spells, or other things. Since the game offers you full contact with its world, there is always plenty of things to try.

The Bad
It is quite clear that the most glaring flaws of Ultima IX are, for the most part, a result of the unfortunate rushed release of the game. Given the proper time, its problems could - and should - have been ironed out.

Interaction with NPCs has been greatly reduced, sometimes to the level of rather pointless information-hunting reminiscent of much earlier installments. While there are still a few interesting dialogues and books in the game, most of the writing lacks the depth and the refinement of the conversations in previous Ultimas. The dialogues in Pagan weren't better, but there, the writers had the excuse of setting the game in a hostile world. Back in Britannia, it looks like most characters have lost any charisma they might have had before. The poor voice acting didn't help, either. The formulaic, thoroughly old-school storytelling harks back to trite fantasy cliches, neglecting the clever touches of the Age of Enlightenment Ultimas.

The realistic character behavior of Ultima VII is gone: characters often don't move at all and don't seem to depend on the game's internal clock. Britannia is also severely underpopulated; combined with the lack of AI routines, it almost looks like the Guardian has not only deprived the inhabitants of Britannia of their virtues, but also reduced them to the "signpost" status they have enjoyed in Ultima IV. It's not even the smaller size of the world that hurts the hearts of fans, but the coldness and indifference of the characters populating it. I'm sure that, with a little more time in development, those issues would have been addressed.

The initial release of the game was infamously buggy, to the point of refusing to run on many machines. Subsequent patches helped greatly: but even with the latest patches installed, sudden freezes, collision detection problems, awkward movement, and an occasional corrupted saved game are not too uncommon. Be sure to install the community patch as well as fan-made enhancements to the poor dialogue.

The Bottom Line
Ultima IX fails to reach the level of its predecessors in gameplay depth, losing many essential design elements in transition. And yet, it blows every other 3D game of its generation out of the water in terms of interactivity and physical immersion. That says a lot about the incredibly high standards Ultimas had us accustomed to; but it also speaks for a game that was ahead of its time, breaking its own legacy to pave the way for modern 3D game design.

The Good
Chances are pretty good that many of you have never played an Ultima game before. So, I will attempt to concentrate on this game’s good and bad points as if it were a stand alone game rather than comparing it with those before it.

(Note: I played using the official Origin patch (v1.18f) and several “unofficial” patches from fansforultima.com. I elected not to use any cheat codes, but did consult walkthroughs for help in finding some of the special weapons and armour and finishing side quests.)

Story
I thought the story was wonderfully engaging. Basically, huge magical columns erupted from the earth and the 8 Shrines of Virtue were destroyed. Thus the beliefs and thinking of the people of Britannia reversed over time. They became uncompassionate, greedy, dishonest, unjust, and totally disagreeable. To make them see the error of their ways, the 8 shrines must be “cleansed” by reuniting the Sigil and the Rune (glyph) and speaking the proper Mantra. Naturally, those three things are scattered, and finding them is your primary goal. In between, numerous other situations occur to diversify the plot (such as saving the Gargoyle race and restoring the Moongates).

The linearity of U9 didn’t bother me in the least. Sure, certain things must be done before other things happen, but that leads the plot towards the proper direction. There is plenty to do, loads of places to explore, numerous people to meet, and hundreds of monsters to fight so I was never bored. Whenever I got stuck, reading the Avatar’s Journal helped with the adventure aspects of the game.

One of the coolest things brought out in the plot was love. At least 2 women told the Avatar they loved him (one from his past and one from his present). Although he never really reciprocated, it was an interesting twist to an already great story. (The cut scenes of him with Raven sizzled … literally.)

Gameplay
The gameplay as a whole reminded me very much of Redguard and even Sierra’s King’s Quest 8: Mask of Eternity, although your character cannot perform as many actions. He can walk, run, swim, strafe, climb and jump, but he cannot crouch, sneak or hang from ledges. I liked the beginning in-game tutorial which I thought was an innovative way to get familiar with the game controls.

When saving a game, there is plenty of room to type your own description and a picture appears at the top showing where you were when you saved. Assumingly, the number of saved games is only limited by your hard disk space as I had no problems saving anytime and anywhere I wanted. You always restart the game from your last save.

Graphics
The world as a whole was creatively drawn and lovely. The many islands and cities all have their own unique settings, terrain and building types. Nice as the graphics are, they are no more detailed or groundbreaking than, say, those in Outcast. They did a good job inside the dungeons and caves, which looked more realistic to me than some of the other areas. I would have liked a change of view to “top down” for the dungeons, since I was continually getting lost. Even a self-mapping feature would have been a nice addition.

When day turns to night, the sunsets are beautiful. The night skies are filled with stars and a big, bright moon. A rain storm can happen at any given moment during the day, turning the whole area appropriately dark. The storms are complete with lightning, thunder, raindrops and puddles. (I have never been fond of weather in games, but I admit that the effects were done very well in Ascension.)

However, monster and character graphics were only so-so, in my opinion, and appeared blocky and unrealistic. The Avatar’s face looks different in the video cut scenes than he does while you are actually playing him. (I thought he was more handsome, albeit angled, within the game than in the cut scenes.)

Music and Sound
The music was nicely orchestrated and different for each locale. The songs even changed after you had “cleansed” each shrine. I never got tired of it, and it did not interfere with sound effects or voices. All of those can be adjusted in the options menu.

Sound effects were appropriate for various actions and environments. When the Avatar walks on a wooden floor or a sandy beach, for instance, his footsteps sound correct. When you hurt an opponent, he/she/it will grunt, whine, groan or gasp. Sounds inside the dungeons were especially spooky and mood enhancing.

The character scripts were really good, and I liked the way they handled each of the virtues before and after the shrines had been fixed. The majority of the actors did a great job with their speech, incorporating the proper inflections and tones, and most of the voices were appropriate to the character you were looking at. I thought that some of the children were a bit stupidly portrayed though.

The Bad
Most of these things involve actual gameplay aspects. Some of them were merely irritating and just required getting used to.

The Good
An ambitious, quantum leap in scope; free-form movement indoors and out to an extent not attempted before. Next-generation graphics including spacious outdoor scenes, highly interactive, beautifully rich textures. Rich story, as with all Ultima's.

The Bad
Buggy and unplayable on systems at the time due to impossible system requirements. This game was released under pressure, full of bugs including (from memory) frequent crashes. But that hardly mattered, as virtually nobody could play this game on release due to absurdly high system specs. I had a reasonably high-end PC and it was virtually impossible just to move around. A workmate had a very high-end PC and it was hardly any better.

The Bottom Line
Beautiful, free-form role-playing game light-years ahead of its time (in 1999), but it's own ambitiousness was its ultimate downfall.