Reviews of Ultima IX: Ascension continue to roll in. The first review is from The Adrenaline Vault and unsurprisingly follows the trend in giving the game high praise but ultimately giving it a low score due to the technical problems. Critics really seem to want to love this game but feel obligated to warn their readers not to buy the game until the patches are released. And in this vein, Blinkingdot.com has re-reviewed U9 after the 1.05f patch. With the improvements, they bump their initial score of 30% up to 75%, although they still recommend waiting for further patches. I suppose I concur with this assessment, but as I have stated before, certain types of gamers wont be put off by the problems and will have a wonderful time exploring Britannia.

This is evidenced by the next review over on The Reviewboard. The author apparently was so enthralled by the graphics and the environment that he didn't even notice any technical problems, citing a 'clumsy interface' as the only flaw. He ranks it a 10 out of 10 stars and summarily nominates and awards it their Editor's Choice RPG of 1999 award. It's interesting to note that he acknowledges the slow performance of the game, but chalks it up to computer performance. This is an attitude rarely seen nowadays. In the 80's PC market, if a game ran slowly on your machine, you were most likely to just start saving for a faster machine. Game designers were expected to truly push the limits of the day's machines thus creating better and better worlds to play in. Well, here at the end of the 90's the paradigm has shifted and today's gamer wants to be able to turn on all the graphic bells and whistles, crank the detail level, and go charging off into a fluid landscape. And there's nothing wrong with this either... but it can lead to disappointment when playing a game that doesn't provide this sort of experience, no matter how good it is. I believe the coming 5-10 years of gaming will be the most influential yet, and it will be interesting to see which paradigm wins out.

Lastly, there's a new interview with Richard Garriott (a.k.a. Lord British) up on Gamedaily. This is a more general interview than I would have hoped, only asking the standard questions and inducing press-release-type-answers from Mr. Garriott about U9. But as usual, the King is more than happy to talk about his past, the state of gaming, and other topics. Here's an interesting snippet

"GD: How do you feel about the buying and selling of Ultima Online assets on eBay? RG: When it first began to happen I was surprised but I understand it. In future games, I actually want to create features that allow people to earn a real living completely in the virtual world. For example, if you think about an online game, one of the hardest problems is to invent content to explore fast enough for the appetite of all the players. But if we created tools where players could entertain each other and good players, who createdgood entertainment, could earn real money for it, then the one out of a thousand people in the real world who are good at it, would be able to make a living full time in the virtual world and would never have to get a real job."

Sign me up! Read the full interview here.

I guess I missed it on Friday, but Planescape: Torment officially went gold, so expect to see it on storeshelves soon. To make up for my lack of vigilance, I offer you this link to a The Pit interview with Adam Heine, a new Junior Programmer and Ex-Scripter over at Black Isle Studios. The interview covers his job and various aspects of the game. It also contains a generous helping of actual game code, something more interviews could use. Read it here.

There's a new RPG Mythology column up on GA-RPG featuring the brains of BioWare, Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka. This time they focus on answering a variety of questions from their fans on all manners of topics. As usual, this is a good read, so surf on over.

As promised, Origin has released the first patch, version 1.05f, for Ultima IX: Ascension. Don't get all excited just yet. This isn't the 'big' patch to improve performance, that one is still at least a few weeks away. However they do claim that this one speeds things up a tad, as well as fixes a few bugs. This is mainly a patch for TNT2 and GeForce256 owners who previously had to use outdated drivers in order to play. You can read exactly what the patch does here, and here's the official blurb:

"We have completed testing on a small patch that addresses the TNT 3.53 driver incompatibility, as well as a few other items listed here. TNT owners are not the only users who will benefit from this patch, and it is highly recommended that it be downloaded. A larger patch is still in the works, which will address the D3D support, as well as a number of issues that we have discovered through following the posts of many in the community who have been kind enough to provide us with extremely useful information. We have also been successful in resolving many technical concerns through troubleshooting. For more information on those concerns and solutions to many common problems, see our support page and FAQ."

This patch does NOT invalidate older savegames, however they admit that not all the bug fixes will work on games which are already in progress. Grab the patch here.

Blizzard has released a new version of the Warcraft III trailer which came with the Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition. This version is exactly the same except it plays in fullscreen instead of a tiny window. It's not in a higher resolution or anything, but if you missed the previous version, then this one's for you. Download it from this page.

IGN PC has posted a preview of the new 3D action/RPG, Crusaders of Might and Magic. They are quite impressed with the visuals and also laud developers 3DO for mixing up the standard genres a bit. They say that if everything stays on track, that this game will be a winner. Read the full preview here.

Mythic Entertainment has released a demo of their upcoming combat-oriented RPG, Spellbinder. The 13.5MB demo allows you to play online with one of four pre-generated characters and battle other demo'ers. You can grab it on this Gamecenter page.

Slim pickin's today. Nothing to speak of except some more Ultima IX: Ascension resources. The ever growing Troubleshooting FAQ on Bluesnews has been updated again. You may also access it here or here.

Also of note, Lead Designer, CapnBill made the following status report on the official boards today on how work progresses on the various patches to U9:

"More stuff to do than I have time for! We found another crash bug, thanks to help from you out there! D3D update: The TNT2 Detonator driver fix is being tested; we ran into another problem on the TNT2 that we're trying to fix too. Some vendors are helping us with performance, and we've got Microsoft involved too. I trust we'll be able to improve performance, but cannot provide any estimates as to how much, depending on just what the performance problems are! List of things fixed in the patches: I looked this over, and WOW we've fixed a lot. We're dying to get these fixes out there -- we're going as fast as we can. Random crashers: We've tried to repeat them here (again) and can't. But, we have identified a couple of employee home systems that have crash problems, and we'll work on those to find out what's up. We still want to hear from you when you have crash problems, lockups, or plot-stoppers; it is helping us to find & fix these problems. Also, you should contact EA Customer Support so they can keep these bugs in their database; they have been able to help just about everyone who's called. That's about it for now!"

Let's hope they keep the pace moving a finish up those patches so everyone waiting to buy this game can do so already! Thanks to The Vault Network for the heads up.

Today SSI Online launched the official website for Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor. This RPG set in the Forgotten Realms and using the newly announced AD&D 3^rd Edition rules, marks a milestone in the history of official D&D computer games. Way back in 1988 (I think) the original Pool of Radiance was published as the very first game with an official license from Dungeons & Dragons creators TSR, now a part of Wizards of the Coast. It was a great RPG for the time and was the first to implement a modern party system. It will be interesting to see what this sequel will bring. Here's a clip from the FAQ:

"Q: Where is PoR set, exactly? A: PoR is set in the Moonsea region of the Forgotten Realms, and starts in the port city of New Phlan, the original site of the first Pool of Radiance. From there, the characters go to the ancient elven city of Myth Drannor, located in the forest kingdom of Cormanthor. Q: How many areas will we have to explore? A: Aside from the tutorial section in New Phlan, the sections of Myth Drannor that the characters explore contains several very large sub-dungeons. Some locations have towers, overhead walkways, mystical teleportation devices, and more. Right now there are more than 8 new major areas as well as several smaller locations to explore. Q: What are they like? A: Myth Drannor was the first city where many of the races were able to co-exist peacefully, so there are several different environments in which to adventure: the once-majestic towers of the elven Castle of Cormanthyr, mysterious forested glades that were once a part of the city, and a dwarven stronghold called the "House of Gems," to name a few. Also, we've taken all of the maps of Myth Drannor that we could find and built a 3D map of the city from the ground up. For all intents and purposes, we have buildings that are accuracte in every way to the D&D information we have. "

The target release date for this game is late 2000, so if you're into pining over games you won't be playing for a while, let the torture commence. There's more information and a few screenshots on the official site, here.

For those of you following the progress of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, be sure to check out the newly updated FAQ for your perusal. There's a slew of answers to all kinds of questions ranging from broad to specific. Read up before you run off to BG2 forums and ask if Minsc and his magic hamster, Boo, will be making a return.

More Ultima IX: Ascension news continues to pour in. Not oblivious to the anguished cries of those having technical problems with the game, the U9 team has been busy posting all sorts of resources to help get them up and running. There's a helpful new Performance Tips guide up on the main site which is much more helpful than their previously released support FAQ. And Designer CapnBill has been posting away on the official message boards discussing the various problems people are having and what they are doing to address them. A good reprint of all the posts can be found here over on The Vault Network. Most of the biggest issues have supposedly been fixed in a patch that should be coming to us within a few weeks. There is another patch coming much sooner that should fix several compatibility issues with TNT and GeForce video card. Then way in the distance, partially obscured by a foggy clipping plane, there is talk of a major engine patch which will significantly increase game performance on D3D cards. There is still no word on whether old savegames will work once these new patches are applied. Also, be sure to check out the excellent and abundantly lengthy Troubleshooting FAQ over on Bluesnews, which received another major update today.

I should point out that not everyone is having problems at all. It just seems that those who have serious bugs affecting them have LOTS of bugs affecting them, and those who do not are okay. I, myself, have a fairly powerful system, but the wrong video card for the game. Yet after a bit of tweaking, I got the game to run quite satisfactorily. It's not perfect, but it kinda reminds me of just about every other Ultima game I played which pushed the limits of the hardware of the day. And in a way it makes sense. This is a game designed to last a long time. It will still be on store shelves selling copies for years. And it's good to know that we will be able to crank up the resolution and details, and still have an engrossing game that will look great by the standards of the day. Too many companies make games for the moment. No matter how fun they are, you play them through and then put them away forever. I don't see that happening with U9. Every year or so, my dad asks me to show him how far computer games have come since the last time he asked. This is a game which I think will blow him away both now and in years to come. (He could hardly wrap his brain around Super Mario Bros. 2).

But I digress...

Well, if you still don't have your fill of Ultima yet, then here's some more content freshly picked from around the 'net: Blinking Dot.com has published a Spoiler-Free Review in which the author states that he just couldn't stop playing despite his low tolerance for its poor performance. He goes on to highly recommend to wait for the patches before playing the game. Next is a Review from the Daily Radar. They follow the trend by rating this game a 'HIT' despite much displeasure about it technical downfalls.

Lastly, if you're one of the many Swordplayers addicted to (or just interested in) the RPG/Adventure title, Age of Wonders from The Gathering of Developers, then check out this review from the gang at PC Gameworld. They give the game high marks for its compelling story and attention to detail. Check it out here.

Huh, what's going on? Where am I? Oh yeah, I'm back on Earth. *sigh* Not nearly as exciting as Britannia. Well, shoot. What can I say? I'm in love with Ultima IX: Ascension. No, it's not perfect. It's clunky even on the most powerful of systems, and it's got some bugs ranging from minor to show-stopping. But it's also got first rate gameplay, a huge and compelling world, a captivating plot, and TONS of stuff to keep would-be adventurers busy for hours on end.

Now a word of caution. As the game stands now, it's not for everyone. Long-time Ultima fans will love it. RPG fans with a little patience will love it. And people with the heart of an explorer will love it. However, people expecting a visceral and action-packed race through a fluid 3D world (ala Quake) will hate it. People with anything less than a PII-400 with lots of RAM and a powerful 3D accelerator will find it frustrating. And people who want just a light RPG to pass the time, should look elsewhere. But if you are anything like myself or Rao, you will love this game and never want it to end. I loved it so much I couldn't even tear myself away to post a news update. Luckily the past several days were devoid of any important news in the swordplay world. =P

So what do we have to show after spending so much time with the game? Well, first Rao has written up an article giving his thoughts after playing through roughly the first third of the game. He attempts to answer the question burning in the minds of those who haven't played: does the game live up to it's name of Ultima? Obviously, a certain degree of latitude must be given in answering that question. Of course the move to a fully 3D world means that it's a totally different ballgame. However at its core, there is just something a cardinal Ultima evokes that makes players want to explore every nook and cranny, fix all the world's problems, and just generally be a good and virtuous person. Rao tries to see if Ultima IX: Ascension lives up to those standards in his article.

Also for your enjoyment, I've added another feature to our Stuff section: Wacky Ultima IX Pics! That's right! With a realistic physics system in place on top of a fabricated world, weird stuff can happen. We're asking that anyone who sees some particularly humorous visual glitch to snap a screenshot (ctrl-p, then search your Windows directory for a .tga file, and PLEASE convert it to .jpg's first) and send it in! See what we have so far.

Several resources have also been popping up around the 'net to help get you up and running in Britannia. The Official Site has been updated with a technical support FAQ to help get you playing and peak performance. And an even more helpful FAQ has been posted here over on Bluesnews.

And if you need help with the adventure itself, there are two sites up with maps, hints, and just plain spoilers, here and here. Take your pick!

Man cannot live on Ultima alone. (I don't think Woman can either... but if I meet her I'm gonna drop to one knee and propose right there). Thusly, since it is Tuesday, I am pleased to present the latest Diablo II Screenshot of the Week. This one features the Paladin in combat with natives of the Jungle of Kurast. And be sure to read the full write-up over at DiabloII.net (once they post it).

Wave the sails, and save the whales! I got Ultima IX: Ascension. It's sitting in a box at my house as we speak. In six minutes I shall be leaving work and begin a four-day nonstop orgy of Ultima and turkey. So if this page does not get updated until sometime next year, don't be too surprised.

Aw, don't look so scared. I'm just kidding. I wouldn't abandon all of you and your swordplay news needs. Rest assured if something interesting happens this weekend, I'll post it. However it's also possible that all the newsmakers will be too busy playing, themselves, for anything to happen. =Þ

Just when you thought it might not be Tuesday, Blizzard proves you wrong by publishing a new Diablo II Screenshot of the Week. This time, taking a look at the shopping interface from the game. As usual, look to this page over on DiabloII.net to get a full analysis of the shot.

Two brand, spankin' new music tracks from Ultima IX: Ascension have been released on the official site's download page. These .mp3's are presumably the same as those heard on the orchestral CD being included with the Dragon Edition of the game, which in turn contains rearranged versions of what's in the game itself. You can grab local copies here. The first is the classic Ultima tune, Stones (4.3MB), now in full orchestral glory. The second is a new piece called Good vs. Evil (3.6MB).

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