Ultima IX: Ascension

Ultima IX: Ascension is the tenth (and most likely final) installment of the main series, and the fourteenth in the entire series, if Worlds of Ultimas and Ultima Underworld I and Ultima Underworld II are counted. It was released and published by Electronic Arts for the IBM-PC in 1999. It is part of the "Age of Armageddon" saga.

In many ways, Ultima IX is the most controversial of all the Ultimas released. It was released incomplete and buggy, requiring patches immediately to even function with Direct3D.

Included with the game
The release of Ultima IX included these things with the game:
 * The Book "Journal".
 * The Book "Spellbook".
 * A cloth map of Britannia
 * The eight Cards of Virtue (same as in the game)

Differences between the ports
Ultima IX was exclusively produced for the PC, therefore other official ports of the game do not exist.

Upgrades
Due to a rushed release, Ultima IX pretty much requires an official patch to version 1.18f for improved D3D performance ... at the very least. There is also an "unofficial" patch to 1.19f (rumored to have been written by one of the original developers in an act of frustration) that provides increased performance, bug fixes, and removes the SafeDisc copy protection from the game.

Fan-made economy, dialogue, and monster patches are also available as a combined patch. These patches address economy issues, re-work the dialogue and plot to some extent to make Ultima IX more cognizant of previous Ultimas, and tweak monster settings. See the external links for downloads.