Posted November 14, 2020
I have actually completed Ultima 9 a few times during the years. I could say I was a newbie in relation to the series myself so was not exactly biased when it got to the story line or map size, missing places and the like. Such stuff left aside, this particular game could have been good, like really good, but ended being confusing and frustrating.
The main issues that I have spotted myself were:
* Frequent crashes, like really frequent crashes. This game has some sequences where it "catches" you and later in the game when you're harder to kill by most enemies you can simply achieve a lot and forget about saving for 10-20-40 minutes in a row. And then you have to start over.
* Bugs that require loading older saves. I have encountered issues with Avatar refusing to climb stairs or going into some "no clipping" mode (walking in the air or through buildings) after casting a teleport spell.
* Spell issues: with the latest patch, "levitate" no longer works. "Day" (extra light) works for some time, but still keeps draining mana. Drinking black potions gets you invisible, but Avatar stays translucent even when he's not invisible any more in the eyes of monsters.
* General world issues: you're the only one that moves around. Everybody else stays put, day or night, shops are open 24/7, going off the beaten path may get you some more monsters to kill but the reward is many times debatable. E.g. why would you go to the giants village NW of Paws? Why would you explore the eastern coast of Brittania up to the broken bridge to Wrong? On the same theme, I would expect that once the tunnel path to Yew is open, more roads would also "magically" become available, e.g. from Paws to Destard or up the mountain from the castle where a large stone blocks what could have been the straight road across the mountains. Oh well, details.
* Unfinished or incomplete portions, e.g. by a fisherman's house NE of Yew, one can climb up a mountain where there is a platform with a telescope that points to a mushroom on the other side of the bay. That mushroom jumps around when clicked, but what's the significance of that? Or of the black mirror that you break in Lord British castle? Or the nicely finished roof with teleporter at Stonegate that you can see with Wizard Eye spell? All point to abandoned plots and loose ends.
Oh well.
The main issues that I have spotted myself were:
* Frequent crashes, like really frequent crashes. This game has some sequences where it "catches" you and later in the game when you're harder to kill by most enemies you can simply achieve a lot and forget about saving for 10-20-40 minutes in a row. And then you have to start over.
* Bugs that require loading older saves. I have encountered issues with Avatar refusing to climb stairs or going into some "no clipping" mode (walking in the air or through buildings) after casting a teleport spell.
* Spell issues: with the latest patch, "levitate" no longer works. "Day" (extra light) works for some time, but still keeps draining mana. Drinking black potions gets you invisible, but Avatar stays translucent even when he's not invisible any more in the eyes of monsters.
* General world issues: you're the only one that moves around. Everybody else stays put, day or night, shops are open 24/7, going off the beaten path may get you some more monsters to kill but the reward is many times debatable. E.g. why would you go to the giants village NW of Paws? Why would you explore the eastern coast of Brittania up to the broken bridge to Wrong? On the same theme, I would expect that once the tunnel path to Yew is open, more roads would also "magically" become available, e.g. from Paws to Destard or up the mountain from the castle where a large stone blocks what could have been the straight road across the mountains. Oh well, details.
* Unfinished or incomplete portions, e.g. by a fisherman's house NE of Yew, one can climb up a mountain where there is a platform with a telescope that points to a mushroom on the other side of the bay. That mushroom jumps around when clicked, but what's the significance of that? Or of the black mirror that you break in Lord British castle? Or the nicely finished roof with teleporter at Stonegate that you can see with Wizard Eye spell? All point to abandoned plots and loose ends.
Oh well.
