mcmagi: It seemed there were a lot of people who didn't like the first review. I don't know why. I for one thought it was hilarious. I did have many of the same reactions as Spoony when I first played the game (though not with as much angst). And the Benny Hill moment in the second one was just priceless. :)

DCT: Don't you mean that they liked Ultima IX and he shat all over it? As honestly that seems to be the case, everytime someone rags on Ultima IX(or any other despised game like DA 2, Invisible War, Banjoo Kaziooie Nuts and Bolts and even Sonic Next gen, no joke I seen people defend that pos) your bound to see white knights popping up to defend it because they liked it and get offended that other people hate on something they like. Which is stupid to say the least since really who cares what someone else thinks of something you like?
The only opinion that should matter is your own but this is the internet and heaven forbid people not care about what others think when there opinion is different from their own.

timmer919hep: To be fair, I don't think it's right to put DA2, Invisible War and Nuts n Bolts in the same category with Sonic 2006...those are definitely different levels of suck...

But no, I meant Pagan...i'm sure the amount of people who like Pagan greatly differs from the amount of people who like Ascension...just look at the Pagan store page on GOG (i'm still surprised it has the amount of stars it does)...

He went back to talk about all the Ultima games just so he could review Ultima IX, to show everyone why it's a monsterous mound of poops. I'm pretty sure he bashed IX through out the entirety of the series, so it wasn't like people were surprised when he got to IX...I certainly had no idea about Ultima VIII Pagan being bad before he talked about it though...

There will ALWAYS be someone on the internet to try and counter ANYTHING someone says...whether they really believe it or not...that's just the way some people work (and it's best to ignore them...otherwise known as "don't feed the trolls")

downphoenix: I have been an old fan of Spoony's reviews, but he really hasn't delivered lately. I don't know if its due to it being a job for him now rather than a hobby that he has to force through a review instead of creating it in a more relaxed manner, or if its been the personal issues he's been dealing with the past couple of years, but I just don't dig them. He thoroughly makes his case that the game is bad, but doesn't do so in an entertaining manner like his old reviews, or an objective manner like a professional movie critic would. Its a good review, but it is WAY, WAY too long (all of the points he made could have been done in about 1/3rd of the time, or even less if he was willing to cut out a few things for the sake of shortness) and just doesn't measure up to his previous Ultima reviews or some of his past work from back in the day.

Still, even though its supposedly a really bad game, I would not mind giving it a go if Gog and EA would put it up here. Maybe include it with Ultima 8 or something?

As far as my personal favorite Ultimas, Im gonna go with 4 and 6 here. I know 7 is considered the ultimate Ultima game, but I didnt play it back then, so that probably contributed it to me not liking it as much as 4 and 6. Other reasons I dont like it as much is the combat is just too hectic, and the inventory system, while pretty innovative, was too overbearing and made it difficult to find the exact item you're looking for sometimes since it could be buried by something else, so I will have to give it #3 for me.

9 could have probably been a really good game, but the game had a hellish development cycle due to Ultima Online's success, EA was more interested in Ultima Online than the main Ultima series since it brought in monthly revenues, allowing greater revenues despite smaller sales figures. If EA took good care of the single player side of the franchise, U9 could have been the 3D Ultima that Garriott wanted it to be, they should have gave Origin a bigger staff so they could properly handle making the new game while still being able to support Ultima Online, and Origin could have been one of the old school RPG makers that were great and still around, instead of the name of EA's digital distribution services, completely spitting on the ashes of this once great company.

This franchise deserves better than becoming some crummy Online series. I know some are excited for Bioware's upcoming Free-to-play Ultima Forever game, but Bioware isn't a great company anymore, their last good RPG was Dragon Age Origins (Mass Effect series is a shooter with RPG elements, not an RPG) and will probably remain that way, soon they will be another RPG company smashed by the might of EA. EA should sell it off to Bethesda or NCSoft back into Garriott's hands, or allow some kind of licensing deal with dedicated fans that want to make their own remake or sequel.