About Ultima IX: Ascension

The Dragon Edition was a collectors pack containing the 2 Game CDs plus The Ultima Collection CD (the 1st 8 Ultimas), 8 virtue cards, an Ankh pendant, an Ascension poster, a cloth map, a leather Game Journal, a leather Book of Magic (animals were sacrificed for this entertainment), a certification from Lord British, and an Ultima Collection reference card. Believe it or not, this is intended to be the finale of the Ultima series. Officially, the 3rd game of the Age of Armageddon trilogy which is the 3rd age, and the 3rd game of Ultima Underworld series. Fans who have been paying close attention would have noted some requirements in prophecy doled out in the previous games. Players will not find the vast majority of these prophecies fulfilled in this game. It is not a spoiler to say ascendancy occurs, the game makes it obvious in title, box art, and in-game, from the very beginning. The Ultima universe is a different one from ours where the protagonist is from Earth. The protagonist, sort of, fulfills his roles in this game that were set when Lord British chose him in Ultima IV to become the Avatar. It is blatently shown that is indestructible which had been alluded to in the earlier games. Pirates play an important role in the main plot and several side-quests and plots. But, officially, it is set in the Ultima universe and ends the Age of Armageddon. The setting is consistent with a late medieval-theme. Cannons, machines, weapons, ship technology and the artwork in the game place it on the cusp of a Renaissance-theme; but does not quite qualify. Archery of a sort occurs. This game was originally designed for Voodoo Graphics/3Dfx cards, which utilized the Glide3D API. The released game also contained various options to use DirectX technologies. The Direct3D option was barely passable. Official patches brought the requirement of DirectX 6. An unofficial patch from members of the development team require DirectX 7. There are people being held prisoner,at one point. The ever present Rule Britannia music accompanies Lord British's castle. Widescreen is not officially supported but the config file allows the horizontal and vertical resolution to be manually specified. So if the provided numbers match a resolution supported by your card and monitor, it works. Although to wide an aspect will cause controls for inventory and books to be off-screen. It supports vertical screen in this way also. It does not support alternate projections (anamorphic), so if your monitor projects the given mode anamorphicly, the image will be distorted the same.