Rating: 
Summary: 3DFX Needed
Review: Since I don't have a Viper, I can't comment on the other reviews, but I only have a P266 with 128mb of ram and a voodoo 2 card (minimum requirements) and it works ** FINE **. Granted I have to keep the detail settings down to the minimum levels but it's still a beautiful and enjoyable game.If you have the system requirements and, most importantly, 3DFX, then get it. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that, judging from all the complaints I've been hearing, none of Origin's beta testers used a TNT card (like, duh!)
Rating:
Summary: An Incredible, but buggy game
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 stars is overly optimistic
Review: Needless to say the game is unplayable in its current state.Fine, they'll patch it and everything will be OK, right? WRONG. Thegraphics engine is extremely dated, doesn't properly support mip-mapping or filtering, only supports 640x480, and runs at a CRAWL on the highest-end system you can buy (Refrigerated Cryotech 1Ghz Athalon) on a DDR GeForce. You can forget it if you card isn't Glide, because the DX-7 "support" is a slide-show. The game's glaring crashes and bugs may be fixed in time, but you're fooling youself if you think they're going to re-write the graphics engine. Just because the game could have been good without the bugs, not buying this product is the ONLY way developers will stand up and take notice.
Rating:
Summary: I guess I needed a new video card anyway!
Review: This game is really really beautiful. It is worth the upgrades I had to purchase to be able to play it, though that may kill it's mass market appeall. The Ultima team has been making really great games for as long as i can remember. And I remember Ultima I on the TRS80. Woof! Besides, if you get your system to the point where it can run this game, there isn't a game out there that you wont be able to play. (for a few weeks anyway!)
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed U9 very much
Review: Yes, of course, there were some bugs, and it was a little slow in parts. I have a PII 350 with 64 MB RAM, and a Voodoo 3 2000. Amazingly enough, the game ran very well, with the only exception being the capital city, but that happens to everybody. Ultimas have always been designed to last for a long time, and that means designing for a computer that will still be around in a few years. I have played the game all the way through, and only crashed 5 times or so...and there are very few games that don't crash at all, in my experience. Even with the detail settings set at the minimum, this game is beautiful. The story is kind of linear, but it is a good story. My bottom line would probably be to wait until at least the second patch is out--around Christmas--before you buy the game, because once all the bugs are taken care of, this game will go down in history. Edit: Now that it's 2003, I think that the only thing that will go down in history about this game will be the bug-filled release. However, I would like to urge purchasers of this game to download the fanmade dialogue patch (do a search on Google for it). This will make the dialogue more intelligent, improve the storyline, and actually tie in the previous games and their storylines. You won't be able to hear the voice acting, but you're not missing much. The graphics are still mostly compareable to today's 3D RPGs, so picking up a bargain copy of this game is worth it.
Rating:
Summary: -Another reason to own a console-
Review: It's frustrating, to say the least, to find out that a game you highly anticipated wouldn't run if you kicked it; even on your new PIII 600 w/ 256mb RAM and a Diamond Viper 770. In my honest opinion, this game is in no way worth the headaches it delivers. patches or no patches
Rating:
Summary: Ultima 9: Ascension.
Review: Ultima 9: Ascension, is undoubtly the slowest game engine I have ever seen. I have a p2 450 with 382 megs of ram and the Diamond Viper 770 and the game is painfully slow. Also Ulitma 9 is extremely buggy even after you install the 1.05f patch. Featuring random crashes and lock ups. (See Gamespot's news) There are numerous errors that prevent the user from completing quests and thus finishing the game. All this being said Ultima is an amazingly detailed outdoor environment, and beautiful graphics engine. The game is very fun and engaging, well worth the money. The bottom line is if you have the patients to dealer with an absurdly slow game engine, and frequent crashes get this game now. If not wait until Ultima has finally fixed most of the problems (I don't think they will ever get all of them fixed), and there is a system on the market capable of playing game reasonable well.
Rating: 
Summary: Must need a serious graphics card to run it
Review: One star only because I haven't seen it play--- Haven't had a chance to play it yet. The package says it needs an 8meg video card but it won't recognize my Diamond Viper 330 w/ 8megs. I sent an e-mail to tech support on the Ultima website a couple weeks ago to see if there was a patch or something to fix it and haven't heard from them yet. I guess this one will have to go on the shelf for awhile until I can get a Voodoo3 3000 card.
Rating:
Summary: Great game....suffers only from playability
Review: U9 is currently like the most beautiful woman in the world...but with a big, festering, hairy mole on the end of her nose. You just know it is amazing...but its hard to get past the glaring faults at first. On a P2-333 w/two 12 mb Voodoo2 cards (right now, 3dfx chipset cards seem to be the only bet, with the Voodoo 3's the best choice) with options turned down (but not all the way) I am getting pretty playable framerates, though. I am of the old school where Gameplay is the master of Graphics though...to some, my setup might be too "ugly" to be playable. The game itself, is immense, immersive, fun....and definitely worthy of the title "Ultima." Unless you are a diehard fan of the series though, I would recommend waiting a bit on this title, for many of the problems to be cleared up. Once things (graphic card support, AI, glitches, optimization, etc...) are fully tweaked, U9 will likely take the throne as "Best RPG of All Time." Either suffer through the wait for it to be fixed...or suffer slightly while playing it as-is now. Either way, the suffering is/will be worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: Ultima IX: Ascension
Review: Ultima IX is really a great game. It's graphics are fabulous, the gameplay is awesome. I really get involved, its also huge, this will take you quite a while to finish, i've been playing it for a long time and i feel like I havn't got anywhere. There is one huge problem with the game. The system requirements. If you do not have a top of the line computer, wait for a little while before getting the game. That way it can get patched up and you may be able to play it. I have a P-3 600 with 128 ram and a Voodoo 3 and it's still pretty slow. But, i'm actually considering buying more ram, just for the reason of playing this game in its full glory. Ultima is awesome. Trust me.
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