Talk:Ultima IX: Ascension

The Ultima IX page needs a lot more objectivity. I know everyone dislikes the the game (myself included), but this is supposed to be an encyclopedia, not an editorial column. I did a quick update to get rid of all the most obvious bias, but it still probably needs some work.

Also, is it true that Garriott has said the game was a failure? I'm pretty sure he actually posted a letter to the fans on the Ultima IX website the day before it was released that piled on praise for the game. He also defended many of the apparent inconsistancies in the plot. I removed this particular piece of trivia yet, but I might soon if I don't see a source for it.

Sergorn 21:06, 5 December 2008 (UTC) I don't think Garriot has ever said that. The last time I've hard Garriott speak of Ultima was around the time when he formed Destination Games. He basically summed it up at "Ultima IX was a great game at its that could only be released due the dedication of a few peoples. I'm aware of its shortcomings, but I'm proud of what we've accomplished." Basically I'd say that he considers UIX the best they could have done under the cirumstances at EA, though I doubt this is the game he really dreamed of.

One thought about the music of the game. The article state : "While previous Ultimas would saturate gameplay with constant music, the music was restricted mostly to scenes in towns, castles and FMVs. It was also less conspicuous, and remained more in the background unlike the imposing scores that would dominate the scene in previous games."

Isn't this somewhat untrue though ? Ultima VII and Serpent Isle probably where the games where the music was the most in the background - the games often had silent moments based more on ambiant sounds and even when a music started it never "looped". This is true to some extent in Ultima IX, especially when in the Wilderness or Dungeons (at least when not combatting monsters because combat music did loop then), but all the towns had the music looping non stop, much like in older Ultima games.

So basically it's not that different from previous Ultima games, coming as a mix between the traditionnal approach, and what I'd call the Ultima VII (which really did break the mold in that domain I think)

Also while the article mentions that the music wasn't synthesis like in older Ultima games, it fails to mention the biggest different : that George Oldziey's music was played on a 40 piece orchestra, thus making it the first and only Ultima game with actual orchestral music.