Saturday was the final push and in the longest gaming session I’ve had since student days I finished off Ultima 9. This is going to be a seriously long post.

I’m starting off in Buccaneers Den. Raven sends me off to pick up some charts from the mapmaker and then to her house for a surprise. She’s had a bit of a change of outfit which is a surprise for a start.

Raven brands me with the mark of the guild before making it up to me.

This means I can finally get in the locked door of the guild here in Buccaneers Den. It doesn’t do me any good as the owner here is not happy with me about returning the silver serpent some time back.

I can now sail the ship myself if I want to but for the most part there isn’t much need and its much easier just to tell Raven where I want to go.

I want that blackrock sword/armour that I know I can get someone/somewhere to make so next stop is Trinsic. This town is made of of stone with long bridges over the sea.

I’m told by the woman outside that the people here have lost their honour – no surprises there then. This includes her husband.

The lack of honour isn’t the only problem around here. The chalice of honour has been stolen and as a result the ghosts of former paladins have taken over the Bastion to keep the unworthy from entering it.

They don’t take well to my presence either but there is at least one ghost here who helps me out. He says I need to speak to Dupre which isn’t going to be easy since his heroics in Serpent Isle.

In their current dishonorable state, the paladins here are not exactly looking after Trinsic. Some of the bridges are broken, shopkeepers can’t be bothered to run their shops and goblins are running around all over the place.

I was right about Trinsic and the local blacksmith here agrees to make me a sword out of blackrock although it is going to cost me a monumental 7000 in gold + I have to provide the blackrock.

He tells me to come back next morning. I talk to him again straight away and he whines about me giving him brittle blackrock and doesn’t give me either a sword or my money back. It looks like I’ll have to cleanse the shrine before I can get my hands on this thing.

I do find one paladin who seems to have some sense of honour although he is full of self-pity for all that. He does tell me about Dupre’s ashes which have been brought back from Serpent Isle and are somewhere nearby.

There is quite a lot of countryside to explore around Trinsic but I stumble upon a likely looking building almost straight away.

Sure enough Dupre’s ashes are in here so I grab them.

While I’m out here I find the entrance to the local dungeon. I know the score by now so I head on in.

This is a strange dungeon in that the whole place is pretty much one room, but you don’t realise that at first as its split into two levels. It’s full of giant eyeballs that follow me across the room and generally make life difficult for me in one way or another. These ones here close a portcullis if they spot me but I can shoot the target up here a couple of times to rotate them away from the doors.

This place is one puzzle after another. The first puzzles involve getting energy balls to hit targets. This room for instance has a couple of blobs of light floating about which shoot fireballs and energy balls at me alternatively. I have to stand in front of the target and dodge so that the energy ball hits the target and opens up the wall.

After a few of these puzzles I come across a room full of statues. Its not obvious but I have to touch each one while it is black.

I’m rewarded for my efforts by a globe that appears in the middle of the room.

This room is another energy ball puzzle but this time I have to bounce an energy ball off face targets one after another. I can activate one target at a time using all the buttons on the table so its just a matter of learning the sequence.

In this circular room I have to run around the eyeball pulling all the levers without letting the eyeball see me. The eyeball rotates around so I need a couple of trips around the room to get them all.

This gets me access to a claw holder where I place the globe I got earlier. This lowers the floor around me forming a giant stairway.

I now get access to the top part of the dungeon, the floor of which is effectively the walls of the rooms I’ve just been going through. For this stage of the dungeon I have to walk into three glowing areas.

Walking into one of these changes my colour.

I then walk back to the giant statue up here and touch that. This changes the colour of the statue. I have to do this with two more colours now.

These next two are a bit harder to get to. The red light is behind a force field which I have to click a button below the giant eye to lower. The problem here is that all the eyeballs up here are shooting fireballs at me.

To get to the final colour I have to press a button that is in a small stairway, only accessible from the top level. This takes some finding but summons a lift that takes me over to the final light.

After using this the big statue vanishes revealing a hidden teleport underneath it.

I arrive in a giant crystal. I’m asked to speak the mantra of honour. I’m not supposed to know this yet but I decide to say it anyway. The game isn’t fooled though and sends me back to speak to Dupre.

It’s time for some more exploring. I discover the shrine of honour in the middle of a load more goblins. The shrine keeper tells me that I should use Dupre’s ashes on the shrine.

Dupres ghost appears and tells me the mantra and sends me back to the crystal barrier again. I’ve just done this but do learn that the chalice of honour is behind this barrier.

It’s a long trek back to where I was before. This time the walls of the barrier vanish when I speak the mantra.

Before I head down to the column, there is a suspicious looking passage behind me which I head down and discover Blackthorn stealing the chalice.

He wants me to hand over the lenses in return for the chalice. I wouldn’t trust him in a million years and refuse – in revenge he destroys the chalice before teleporting away.

There are plenty of alternative chalices in here – I decide to just grab one of them instead.

Dupre’s ghost appears again on the way out. He tells me that the chalice isn’t a physical object but a symbol of the honour of the people of Trinsic. He gives me instructions to take a chalice from here and to bring the people of Trinsic around to imbue it with the necessary virtue.

Before I can do that, I need to head down to the column and get the glyph. On the way I find a lightning sword. This looks like it should be really effective but is really quite disappointing and does less damage than my old sword.

Another wyrmguard stands between me and the glyph. Since Dupre’s already dead its not one of my old companions this time around. They take a lot more strikes to kill than any of my companions did but this is probably due to the rubbish lightning sword that I’m still using.

Once they are down the column opens up and I fetch the glyph.

Back in Trinsic, the guard at the Bastion isn’t too impressed with my new chalice. He does tell me that I need to use the chalice at the feet of the statue here.

Before I do that I head off to meet the new resident in the inn. He has a problem with phase spiders attacking his house and needs a paladin to close off the portal letting them in.

The only likely choice around here is Lucero and I try to talk him into helping me out. He isn’t having it until Dupre’s ghost shows up again and talks him into it.

Spotting the right house isn’t a problem as I can hear the lightning and see the portal from a mile off. Lucero is already here when I arrive.

I just have to hold off the phase spiders while Lucero does the rest. These things are tough at least with my current weapon and they take a lot of hacking at to bring them down. They are pretty much the same as normal spiders except they have to ability to move at lightning speed and suddenly appear right on top of you.

Lucero stands there telling me how he has been mortally wounded after the portal is closed. He has at least shown honour which is all I needed.

I take the chalice to the statue and place it at its feet. The chalice is sucked up into the statues hands and transformed into the sigil.

I’ve got everything I need to cleanse the shrine. Thats 6 out of the way.

The ghosts are gone in Trinsic now and the shops have opened up. I head for the blacksmith and he apologises for his previous behaviour and hands me the sword + a 2000 refund. The blackrock sword is pretty much the games ultimate weapon and completely maxes out my attack bar at the top of the screen.

I don’t know what happened to Jhelom but next up is Valoria which is a new town for U9.

Valoria is a volcanic island which must have appeared since U7. I discover a dying knight as soon as I arrive who hands me a shield to give to his brother.

The entrance to Valoria is between two giant heads. Clicking on the heads lowers some spikes that guard the way in.

The town is actually inside the volcano itself, which is an act of courage if I ever saw one. The residents are scared of some demons that have moved into the area and won’t let me in as they need to guard the sigil of valour (a dagger). First I have to prove I’m the avatar by bringing a red dragons head. There happens to be a dragon in Destard – I’m told the entrance is frozen over with ice. I think I saw this ages back in my travels around Yew so I’ve got a good idea where to look.

There isn’t much else I can do around here so I head back to the ship after some exploring. Raven is being attacked by zombies which I take out on my way in.

A few things have been going on in Britain in my absence. I’ve supposedly been in the bar getting drunk, buying drinks and not paying my bills. This has to be the work of my “biggest fan”.

I find him skulking in a ruined building near the shrine. He was actually trying to promote the virtues with his actions and in a painful exchange of words that sounds like it belongs in Sesame Street, I lecture him on being his own person and not to hurt anyone by not thinking about the consequences of his actions.

This restores my reputation back at the bar but doesn’t net me any rewards.

I get lumbered with another task. The undead are still escaping the graveyard, thanks to the keepers previous laxity and I have to go the house west of Britain to clear out some particularly nasty skeletons.

There are three of them to take out, including the leader who has a giant ruby for an eye.

This seems to have done the trick and Britain is safe again from the walking dead for the meanwhile.

My work still isn’t done. At the cathedral, I discover that the mayor has not returned charity money that was taken before the column was fixed.

The mayor is letting his assistant handle this but Killigan is less than apologetic and refuses to hand over the money right now.

I therefore take it upon myself to find his storeroom and return the money myself. His storeroom is just behind a tapestry. I locate it by noticing that the room he hangs around in is much smaller than the outside wall of the house. In here is a scroll revealing that Killigan is working for the guardian. In order to see this scroll, I have to use the conveniently provided ethereal sight spell that is in here.

I go back to confront Killigan and he eventually confesses. The guardian doesn’t take well to this and incinerates him on the spot.

Having sorted out Britain’s problems, I now have a long walk to find the entrance to Destard. I know roughly where I’m going at least and find the suspicious looking bit of ice fairly quickly.

I melt my way through this with a few fireball spells, then jump in and drop into Destard.

I walk straight into a giant floating eggshell surrounded by pillars. My task here is going to be to collect different coloured eggshells throughout the dungeon, then bring them back here.

I find a man who has been left in a room full of rats to die. After clearing out the rats he asks me to find the key which is in here somewhere to free him. The acting for this guy is just painful and the worst in the game yet. If he had spoken to me first I think I’d have left him to the rats.

The key takes a bit of finding but its on a rock in the middle of the room.

There is a ghost here who tells me a bit of the backstory about Destard. When the dragon first came here the town of Dawn was split in two between a faction that wanted to fight the dragon and another that wanted to worship it and thereby avoid any trouble. The man leading the second faction betrayed the first one and warned the dragon of the plans to kill it which might otherwise have succeeded. This sounds like the columns influence again. She wants me to bring her evidence of what happened to her husband so she can rest.

I find the column surprisingly easily in this dungeon. It’s guarded by the obligatory wyrmguard (presumably Geoffrey). I’m forced to hack my way through him.

This allows me to get the penultimate glpyh.

After having a fairly easy time of it in the last dungeon, Destard is much larger than those that have gone before and not entirely linear. I find a room full of giant eggs which looks a bit ominous especially given the very load snoring/breathing sound in the background.

I don’t see any sign of a dragon but do find my first eggshell piece.

Aside from the eggshells, I’m also going to be collecting the bits needed for a demon summoning spell (although I don’t know this yet). The first of these is a red skull. This side quest turns out to be entirely optional and ultimately useless but I don’t know this at the time either.

I work my way through a haunted area of the dungeon, complete with floating skulls, a liche and in the end a gigantic zombie that attacks me in its crypt. The blackrock sword makes short work of it and I get another eggshell piece for my trouble.

The second (and surviving) remnant of Dawn have a temple to the dragon down here. They don’t appreciate me being here much but don’t go so far as actually attacking me.

There is plenty of useful stuff around the temple, including a book describing the needed parts for the demon summoning spell as well as the area where I will be carrying out this summoning.

There is a binding circle and a stack of reagents and I take the chance to bind some of the spells I’ve been carrying around all game. I don’t really find that I need to use magic very often but it is an option for players who are more magically inclined than me.

I find one of the demon summoning ingredients sneakily hidden in the temple. The vial of blood is hidden among loads of other vials and behind some equipment.

I still don’t have all the things I need and head off exploring another area of the dungeon. I find a small gem mine – the miners are forced to work here by the dragon and its cult.

In a nearby area I find another eggshell piece among a load of spiders.

I go off exploring once more. I discover a journal in a room with a demon. This journal is made by the husband of the ghost I discovered earlier and shows he didn’t survive either.

Having discovered all of the things I require for the demon summoning spell I go off to perform this next. This proves to be a dumb move as the moment I do this it attacks me.

I am left with a summon daemon scroll in its remains which I can now bind into my spell book. I never actually use the spell though. The red candle I used as part of the ritual will be required later, if I knew this in advance it would have saved me a trip back to pick it up.

I find the final eggshell pieces and head back to the first level to use them all. On the way I hand over the journal to the ghost up here and get a karma boost for my efforts.

I have to match the colour of the eggshell to the colour on the top of each pillar.

Once done the forcefield straight in front of me drops allowing me to get to the dragon at last.

The dragon attempts to talk me into joining forces with it to destroy the guardian. This isn’t going to happen and we end up fighting.

My blackrock sword works to good effect and I dispatch the dragon with no trouble. It leaves behind a shrunken head which I can now carry back all the way to Valoria.

The way into the dungeon is still blocked. To get out I have to speak to a giant stone head and give it the word of power (inopia). This word is written (on its own) in a book in the dungeon. Its definitely one of the words of power from Ultima 5 but I can’t remember if its the matching one from that game.

I head back to Valoria and this time I get let through the front gate, although the guy on the far side still doesn’t want to let me in, fearing a trick of some sort.

Valoria is tiny. It has a grand total of 3 buildings. It isn’t going to take much exploring.

In the house of the local healer, I discover that her husband is gravely ill but she doesn’t have the courage to heal him herself in case something goes wrong. I talk her around and she manages to nurse him back to health. The guardian sees this and kills him off anyway as evidence of being able to undo my good deeds. He did manage to tell me about a tome of demonology that he dropped in a nearby glade.

I don’t achieve too much in Valoria and head back out to look for the tome. On my way a giant demon appears. The demon has struck a deal with one of the few residents here and he comes out and hands over the dagger of valour. The demon predictably rewards him by killing him on the spot.

The glade with the misssing tome is quite hard to find to say the least. Its SE of Valoria but is only accessible by jumping over a load of rocks from the outer ring.

The book tells me that to destroy the demon triumvirate, all three demons must be killed simultaneously. That means I’m going to need help. There aren’t many choices of fighters in Valoria. The place wasn’t exactly a bustling metropolis before two of them died in my last visit. I work on the guy guarding the gate first. He doesn’t want to help but I return his brothers shield and his ghost appears and talks him into it.

I work on Sir Artos next. By insulting him enough I manage to anger him into proving his valour by helping me. The dialog and acting are so ludicrous on both sides its impossible to take any of this seriously.

I get to fight the demon near the shrine. I get to see my two companions winning their battles after I kill my demon and I grab the dagger of valour off the corpse. I’ve now got everything I need to cleanse the shrine (although I don’t remember anyone giving me the mantra).

The knights of Valoria are apologetic about their former behaviour and another town is saved. That just leaves Skara Brae now but thanks to the guardians earlier proof of power there won’t be much left of it to rescue.

I’ll confess that the formula is getting a little stale by now but I do like that I had to persuade some of the towns people to help solve their own problems in the last few towns rather than just fixing the column and everything being ok again. I’m not entirely keen on the idea of the columns affecting virtue like this in all honesty and would prefer to think that people would just exercise free will. In U5 or U7 people were led away from the virtues with some subtlety and through choices of their own.

As any Ultima veteran knows you can only get to the shrine of spirituality through a moongate when the moons are full. However the moons orbit has stopped the moongates working. Raven tells me that LB is looking for me and suggests we see him next.

When I get to the castle, the first thing I plan to do is to learn my final sword move from the trainer here. I learnt the 3rd from a guy in Valoria. I’m too late though and he won’t train me from here on out. He does tell me that LB has gone to confront Blackthorn himself.

The seneshal gives me more details and tells me that Blackthorn and British and both at the abyss.

We don’t know how to get to the abyss apparently so Raven suggests we head for Skara Brae.

The guardian wasn’t kidding about destroying Skara Brae. A statue has survived and Shamino speaks to me for the first time since the early stages of the game. He tells me that he set off on a spiritual quest but was prevented from returning to his body by the guardian. He needs me to break the guardians spell using the bell, book and candle. He also tells me that his body is in the well of souls and I will need the ankh of spirituality to get in here. LB was reputed to have this.

I meet yet another talking stone head which is all that is left of the sentinel of Skara Brae. It tells me the mantra of spirituality and also offers me a blessing if I stand in its hand.

I can see the likely location of the well of souls poking out of the water at the far end of Skara Brae. I swim through an underwater entrance to get inside.

Shamino wasn’t kidding and I can’t get any further than this for now due to a forcefield blocking my way.

I head back to LB’s castle and talk to the woman on the harpsichord again and she gives me the sheet music for Stones.

I have to place this on the harpsichord in LB’s room, then when I click on the keys I play Stones myself.

The sandalwood box evaporates to reveal the ankh. I’ve seen this puzzle before although in U5 you had to actually learn the notes and play them.

I now head back to the well of souls again. This time the forcefield fades away as soon as I get near.

The well of souls is a great looking ghostly environment and really shows what the engine is capable of.

There are a few restless spirits around. These people act as guides to the three primary principles of virtue and if I help them give me a clue to the location of either the bell, book or candle. I just have to talk through the problems of the first one and he guides me to the book of truth. I already have the book from the Lycaeum so I don’t need the advice.

There is a wailing baby down here which I hunt out. It doesn’t look much like a baby and is the same model as the doll I found earlier but I pick it up and this quietens it for now.

Shamino is inside the giant head behind a load of cobwebs. There is a book here detailing the ritual to free him but I will need the bell and candle first.

There is a ghostly tavern and I find an ex-fighter in it. He tells me how he didn’t want to be a fighter and ran off when he was sent for training. His lack of courage cost his village, however, when he was unable to defend it. I show him the error of his ways and he lets on about the bell of courage which is in the ruins of Serpents Hold.

That just leaves the principle of love. I find the owner of the crying baby I found who in life let it die through lack of care and then committed suicide. We have a ludicrous conversation where she asks me “What is love?”…. This is half Star Trek, half Kings Quest and 100% nauseating.  I show her what love is by handing her child back and she then proceeds to tell me about the candle of love. I’m less than shocked to find out that the candle of love is to be found in the ruins of Empath Abbey. She does at least give me a clue that this is somewhere near the floating glaciers.

I remember seeing these in my travels around Yew. It’s a lot of running around to find them again but I know them when I see them.

I climb out to the far end and kill off an ice dragon while I’m here. There isn’t much reward for this other than a big pile of gems. I’m collecting money so fast that these are an irrelevance.

Once I’ve got this far I find the ruins of the abbey very quickly.

There is one monk still here who tells me that only the pure of heart can have access to the candle.

I have to go up the valley and light 3 braziers. This summons a big flame which I have to stand in and prove myself pure. Once done a series of platforms rises out of the hill behind me.

I clamber onto the middle platform and the candle rises out of a small hole in the middle.

That just leaves the bell. Raven can’t sail me to Serpent Hold as she doesn’t know where it is. This is the only time in the game where I actually need to take control of the ship myself and sail SE of Trinsic. The engine isn’t quite up to coping with sailing as by the time its zoomed out I’m enshrouded in fog.

Finding the entrance to the hold is really, really tricky and it takes me a while. You need to look for a castle turret under the water and the entrance is through a rectangular hole inside it.

Even when you find it, this area is slightly bugged and I find myself suddenly drowning when swimming down it. I can just about survive (sometimes) by using the mana breath spell.

After swimming through a magical barrier, I’m in an air bubble again. It’s still not safe as this place is full of ghosts. I can’t seem to kill them off no matter how much I hack at them so I end up just having to run away.

After finding the required key I open the door to a room with an archmage. I close the door behind me and block the hordes of ghosts out then turn to dealing with the mage.

Despite his bragging he isn’t all that hard. The only tricky bit is that he is on top of a platform I can’t get to so I have to take him out from a distance with fireballs and arrows.

As soon as he dies the wall outside fades away.

A warrior is in the new area guarding the bell. She tells how the security system closed the wall when the bell was threatened and how she stayed here as she was not strong enough to take on the arch mage herself.

I take the bell. Getting these items has been a long quest even when I already had the book. I now go all the way back to the well of souls and perform the ritual to release Shamino.

The ritual works and Shamino is returned to his body.

Shamino’s quest proved fruitful and he has some disturbing news for me. He tells me that the guardian was once part of me and was formed from the parts of me I let go when I became the avatar. He says this isn’t a judgement on me but if anything proof of my virtue. The evil energy has to go somewhere and this is evidence that one person shouldn’t be all things good for a whole people.

I completely disagree with the whole notion of this idea and it annoys me more than anything else in Ultima 9. It appears to imply that no one should try to be too good a person as the bad parts of yourself will just drift off and cause trouble elsewhere. We should all just aim for utter mediocrity instead presumably. Just how evil must the avatar have been before Ultima 4 anyway – the guardian is clearly massively more powerful than I am and has conquered countless worlds if UW2 is to be believed. I could possibly live with some sort of alternate world idea where the guardian was in effect an anti-avatar but this just doesn’t work for me. It doesn’t fit with the guardian from earlier games and it belittles the earlier titles in the series also, especially Ultima 4. As the last in the series, I’m wanting some sort of conclusion and explanation from Ultima 9. I may get the conclusion but this explanation doesn’t make any sense as far as I’m concerned.

I may not like it but I’ll have to get used to the idea of the guardian being my dark half. Shamino tells me next about LB going off to the abyss to confront Blackthorn. He has sealed the abyss behind himself so I won’t be able to get in. The spell can only be broken from within which means I need to summon a creature native to the abyss.

To this end, Shamino summons a ghost of one of the characters from Ultima 8. He was killed by Pyros flames and claims that they burn him still. Shamino tells him that the burning is actually his hatred for me and that he needs to forgive to find piece and he can start by telling me how to summon Pyros. This actually works and he tells me the necessary ritual to call Pyros, bind him and then he will be able to let me into the abyss.

I get to see a pentagram magically appear on the Isle of the Avatar. The ritual uses fairly standard items except for some blackrock and the red candle which are only in specific dungeons.

Raven sails me off to the Isle of the Avatar. LB’s ship is in the harbour so he has definitely been here first.

I realise at this point that I’m missing a daemon skull. I can get this from Valoria where I killed the demon earlier.

I go back and cast the ritual. There is a nice cutscene showing Pyros appearing and magicing me down through the rock. I’m not entirely sure how Pyros is a native of the abyss although it does make some sense given that the dungeon (in U9 at least) is split into the four elements.

The abyss is a dungeon on a whole new scale to anything I’ve seen before. It starts out with a fiery room complete with dragons where I just have to make my way to a central hole and jump in it.

This gets me to a long vertical shaft. There are four platforms on the way down, most of which have force fields around them.

At the bottom of the shaft is a teleporter which is currently protected by all four elements. The aim is to play through four zones, each representing an element, kill off some creature or other and open up the teleport. Thanks to a bug in the game, the blocked teleport, actually lets me teleport anyway and I skip most of the dungeon at this point. I realise something is up pretty quickly and go back and try to do things properly.

There is a globe holding claw at the bottom of the shaft. Before I can get to each zone I first have to get a globe and use it in this claw to open up the gateway. Each floor has a couple of rooms with a minor puzzle or two to solve. These are all fairly simple and usually involve pushing brick switches and the like. The first zone is air and doesn’t take much solving.

The fire zone is marginally trickier but doesn’t take long either. I have to douse a couple of braziers which is simple enough but its been a long time since I had to use the douse spell so I don’t think of it straight away.

Next its the earth zone. This is more complex and involves pressure plates and a bit of climbing.

I see a floating ankh just like the ones I got in the intro back on Earth. Clicking on this, I discover a book from Hawkwind where he reveals himself to be the timelord. Assuming I’m remembering this right, Hawkwind was the guy that judged my virtues back in Ultima 4. This is another completely unsatisfactory explanation although its a lot less fundamental than the guardians identity.

The final zone is water which has both a watery area full of fish and an ice area. The globe I need is in a giant ice crystal. I have to fireball it to get the globe.

I use all four globes one after another at the bottom of the shaft.

This doesn’t obviously do anything but each zone now has a new area when I go back to it. The air zone here has some platforms letting me climb up to a portal in the wall.

I step through the portal….

… and find myself in a huge open space. Each of the elemental zones will be something like this and for a 1999 game they really do look impressive. The abyss is not disappointing as a final dungeon.

As mentioned before, my goal in each of these zones will be to kill a creature representing the element. Here I have to kill a gigantic dragon.

When it dies a teleport is revealed which gets me back to the central shaft.

Once back, the air element (lightning) vanishes and the teleport is slightly less well protected.

Next up its fire which as you might expect means wall to wall lava, demons and hellhounds. This is quite a hostile place – I resort to running past most of the demons.

At the far end, is a king-size demon who I have to kill off to complete the zone.

Next its the earth zone which is giant crystals and the like. This is a lot easier to survive in than the fire zone was.

The final boss is so easy that I don’t even realise its a boss at the time. It’s a large plant which takes one or two hits to kill. Behind it are a load of chests. All but one are mimics. It goes without saying that there must be something good in the other and it nets me a blackrock chest plate.

That just leave the water zone which is not as watery as I expected.

There is a sea serpent waiting for me this time. The problem with fighting this thing is getting to it with my sword. I try a few range weapons but it doesn’t seem to get me anywhere and I eventually kill it with my sword by getting as close to the waters edge as possible.

The final barrier to the teleport vanishes and I can now legitimately get through to the next stage.

Blackthorn and British are outside the column entrance and about to fight. I volunteer to fight myself but LB isn’t having it.

LB blocks me behind a barrier. He says that he has sat back too long and let me deal with all his problems. LB and Blackthorn precede to try to blast each other out of existence.

LB emerges triumphant and thats the last we will see of Blackthorn.

LB tells me how I was supposed to be an example to the people of Britannia but they have come to rely on me to solve their problems too much. This has been far more true in Ultima 9 than earlier games but he does have a point here. He then hands over the codex which I presume he took from Blackthorn.

Before we can leave I have to pick up the last glpyh. LB then teleports me back out to the Isle while he returns to Britain. He says he can move the moons from their orbit using magic and allow me access to the shrine of spirituality. He won’t do this until everything is in place though as it may hasten their descent to Britannia so he sends me off to consult the codex to learn how to defeat the guardian.

To do this I have to find the appropriate place on the Isle of The Avatar. This is actually quite easy as it makes a sort of choral sound which I can hear from a mile off so I just follow the sound in the right direction, through a cave until I get to the altar.

Using the two lenses I consult the book and it reveals how to destroy the guardian once and for all. The plan basically involves committing suicide using the armageddon spell but first using the talismans of virtue to create a barrier to keep this spell from the outside world. There may be elements to the plot I don’t like but I have to say that finishing the series by having your lead character commit suicide to save the world is a pretty brave ending as it was never going to be popular. I do like the fact that it involves a use for the armageddon spell which has been a feature of many earlier Ultima games.

Now I know what to do I head back to Britain. I’m told that LB is waiting for me in the grounds.

LB performs his magic on the moons and changes their orbits just long enough for me to dash through the moongate and reach the shrine of spirituality.

The shrine looks a bit like the well of souls I was in earlier.

Any of my companions which I’ve killed off along the way are here. They are all forgiving of what I did and are even apologetic for allowing themselves to be corrupted by the columns in the first place.

I hop along the platforms to the shrine and perform the cleansing ritual. Thats all 8 columns done which just leaves the guardian to deal with.

Before that I get to say a final farewell to all my companions. Cleansing the final shrine has restored them all to life – I think Dupre would have explained this to me at the last shrine but I never actually saw him while I was there.

I wander around LB’s castle meeting all 8 of my companions and LB one last time. This is actually quite sentimental and one of the better points in U9’s storyline.

Raven takes me over to Terfin. We say our final goodbyes and she directs me to a secret entrance over on the west hand side of the island.

The entrance is behind a force field which vanishes as soon as I walk up to it.

Terfin is on 2 levels, the first of which is full of hostile gargoyles. These guys are nasty, especially the wingless ones. They can kill me in 3 hits and since the first one can stun me into inaction long enough for them to get the final 2 hits in, I can die in one hit in effect.

It has to be said that Terfin is one of the least interesting dungeons in the game. It’s not easy and fits in as the final dungeon in that sense but compared to playing through the abyss it seems mundane by comparison. It’s very non linear which makes it tricky to complete. My task here is to collect four power cubes which will allow me access to the guardians chamber.

I come across a child who has been poisoned by the guardian and is allegedly in terrible pain and wants me to kill her. This is a moral choice that is just thrown in for the sake of it as far as I can tell and makes no difference to the game. I don’t dislike the idea of having to make a choice like this but I’d like to see consequences and/or buildup to give it context. This is just thrown in there for the sake of adding some interest to an otherwise dull dungeon and I could just ignore her altogether if I wanted.

The second level of Terfin is full of wyrmguard rather than gargoyles and is subsequently much easier than the first one.

Just in case I’d forgotten one of my least favourite games in this blog, I’m reminded of Knights of Legend by a book in here. I’m sure this book is straight out of Ultima 7 and it wouldn’t mean much to many Ultima 9 players I expect.

I find a treasure hunter down here who wants me to give her the key to the treasure room in return for one of the coloured power cubes I need. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be another moral dilemma or not but I fetch the key and hand it over anyway. As far as I’m concerned she’s welcome to the guardians horde. I think this is supposed to make me consider the ethics of taking all the treasure in these dungeons for all these years.

In another one of the dilemmas, which seem to be Terfins theme,I’m attacked by a guy who seems to have lost his marbles and thinks I’m Blackthorn. He’s pretty handy with a lightning spell and I’m forced to defend myself. This gets me the treasure key I need to exchange for the red power cube.

I’ve not got all the cubes yet but the red power cube allows me to get to a room with a small throne and four gem holders. One already has a red cube in – I just need the other 3.

I find another one at the far end of Terfin but get locked in the room as soon as I pick it up. I have to use the teleport in here to take a circuitous route out through a cave system.

I return back with all the power cubes and slot them into place.

A platform rises up with a meteorite on it. I pick this up and slot it onto the throne and it slides down into place and summons a teleport.

The teleport drops me right outside the guardians room.

The guardian is nowhere to be seen. I take the opportunity to place all the sigils on the handily placed pillars around the edge of the room.

Once they are all in place a glowing light appears in the middle of the room.

I walk into this and say the appropriate phrase which I learnt from the codex. This raises the barrier around the edge of the room which will hold the armageddon spell back.

At this point the guardian is supposed to appear but due to yet another bug he doesn’t. In this bug, my view keeps cutting away to where the meteor appeared a few minutes back. It’s as though the earlier cutscene is being triggered over and over. This stops the next stage of the current cutscene triggering. I end up getting around this by loading a save game from before I found all the gems and floating my way through to the guardians chamber. This is a bit unsatisfying having got this near to the end of the game.

It does at least work this time around. The guardian appears through the black gate. The gate is destroyed behind him trapping the two of us in here.

I have to run round fetching 3 pieces of blackrock from the gate and drop them in the middle of the room.

After dropping the first piece I see my companions placing the runes of virtue into the columns thereby making them nurture the virtues. I’m not sure I like this especially as I prefer freedom of choice for the people of Britannia.

After placing the second piece, I do learn that the new columns have averted the moons collision.

I place the final piece and then speak the armageddon spell.

The avatar and guardian are destroyed in the spell and reduced into swirling light. This combines and sends out a cloud over Britannia which sucks the columns into space. We then see LB and Raven picking through the wreckage and Raven discovers my ankh which matches a new constellation in the sky.

The end credits start and have some appalling and completely inappropriate electronic music playing over them which is so out of place I can’t imagine how anyone could have thought it was a good idea.

That finishes the final game Origin made. If I bring myself to accept the idea of the guardian being my evil half then I do actually quite like the ending. It’s heroic & touching while remaining very ambiguous and open to interpretation. The notion of ascension is barely mentioned in the game and you are left to make up your own mind as to what exactly happened. The fact that the cloud travels over Britannia removing the columns but leaving everything else unharmed suggests that the avatar (combined with the guardian) cleanses the land before he leaves and hints at some sort of continuation as a super powerful being but it could easily be interpreted as simply the end of the avatar depending on your point of view. No ending is going to be anything but an anti-climax after 20 years of games but I do actually like the way this turned out – at least until the adlib style credit music kicks in and ruins it.

That finishes nearly a year of blogging Origin games and I’ve got mixed feelings now I’ve finally got there. I’m glad to have reached the end but its been a lot of fun along the way and its a shame there aren’t more to go at. I’m not going to attempt a summing up now, as I’ve spent far too long writing up this final day already so it can wait for a bit. It’s definitely not the end of the blog as I start to pick up some of the fan games next and maybe a few other bits and pieces. I think I deserve a well-earned break first so it may be a week or two before I get started.

The first place I see on my way into Minoc is a small shop just outside town (the shrine is right next door so I won’t have any trouble finding this later). The owner tells me how there were riots in the town until the new first citizen brought order. The prices in this shop are a bit poor, no doubt due to the anti-sacrifice column nearby.

I head into town to see the leader. I don’t know if I have to bribe the guard or not but its only 10 gold so I pay my way in.

I think Raxos has stopped by the anti-humility column on his way here.

H e sees himself as the saviour of Britannia and his grand plan is to sacrifice people until the shrine is restored. I could easily provoke him into a fight but I back off for now. He tells me I’m actually in Cove now which is a bit confusing. It turns out that Minoc is just a gypsy camp next door to Cove.

Raxos has my long sought after reagent seller locked up in the jail. He talks to me through the window and tells me how he came here to help his brother and has been locked up without cause. Raxos has the key though so I can’t get him out for now.

When I get to the real Minoc gypsy camp Blackthorn is here and making a speech.

He wants the blue lens and when he can’t get it takes out half the spectators with fireballs to try to persuade the gypsies to help.

I wade in and try to stop him. Before he goes he pronounces a curse on the village that anyone who helps me will be consumed in flames. This sounds like an empty threat at the time.

The gypsy leader isn’t going to help me anyway. He does have the lens but he quotes straight out of the godfather about me showing him respect then asks me to fetch him a blackrock crystal ball out of Covetous. This crystal ball has been stolen by a liche.

Julia has been here before me and appears to have been camping out in a cave behind the waterfall.

Her journal is in here and in the course of the 3 days shows her own sacrifice declining as the column takes effect. A doll she stole from a child is in here and I pick it up.

No two dungeons are ever the same and Covetous is a mine for blackrock. The entrance is quite near to Minoc and I don’t have a huge trek over the mountains this time.

Magic doesn’t appear to work in this dungeon – presumably something to do with all the blackrock. This isn’t going to make life easier but there are healing pools down here which I’ll need to make liberal use of.

Yet again, the dungeon looks great. There are tracks for mining carts everywhere and the rock looks as though it has been cut out.

I remember this dungeon better than some of the earlier ones for some reason which is just as well. I know I’m supposed to take this cog with me for example but that really wasn’t obvious at the time. I mean its twice as big as I am and really shouldn’t slip into my backpack.

I find the machine where I need to use the cog. I need to shut off the water before attaching the cog, then starting the water up again. This will fix a lift I’ll be using to travel down into the mine.

The lift is guarded by a sword wraith. He tells me he can only be defeated by the avatar wielding a ghost-killing sword called Gringolet. He gives me a vague hint about searching the SW of the island for this sword.

This is another bit I remember from before which is just as well as finding this sword is impossible. The river around Minoc runs through a cave for a while and the sword is in here. I know this for certain and I still spend about half an hour trying to find the thing. I’m expecting it to be underwater but its on this ledge and barely visible.

I take out my sword hunting frustrations on Raxos and get the key to the jail from his corpse.

Nico assures me that my actions were justified but he would say that since I just let him out of the jail. He also gives me a moonstone and a new spell which I’ll be able to use to quickly travel between shrines. This could be useful as walking around the world can take a long time.

There is a haunted house in Cove/Minoc  with a young ghost who wants her doll. I’ve already picked this up and hand it over for a karma boost.

I also find a gypsy caravan. Morgana is in here and much more helpful than the rest of the gypsies have been. She tells me that the Isle of the Avatar has sunk into the ocean.

She also gives me the mantra for the shrine.

She pays a heavy price for this and it turns out Blackthorn wasn’t kidding about that curse.

It’s back to Covetous now with my new sword. I make light work of the skeleton and get a key from his body.

This key allows me to open up a giant trapdoor under the lift and descent to level 2. There will be 4 levels and each time I’ll have to open a further trap door before I can descend.

The mine theme continues throughout these levels. Here I have to push this cart so that it breaks through the wooden barrier at the end of the tunnel.

There is a upper-class talking skull down here who wants me to take him to his grave. Its an unusual request but I can’t see why not so I pick him up.

I also find a piece of blackrock. I remember that somewhere in the game I get the chance to have blackrock armour or a sword made so I’ll be picking up any of this that I see on my way around. The key to the next level is around here also and I backtrack and use the lift to go to level 3.

I discover a highly useful helm of radiance down here by jumping over some rocks while looking for an exit. This is a lot better than my light spell.

I find some powder kegs next. I just have to click on these to explode the rocks they are next to creating a new passage.

Skully’s grave is in here and I drop him off to be rewarded by the key to the next level.

Level four is mostly flooded.

Finding the column is a simple task, I just have to follow the tracks. Swimming the whole way takes a while and I have to watch my air supply though.

Julia is here and reveals that she fell in love with me during our previous adventures. I manage to talk her into not attacking me for now and head off to find the glyph.

I have to dive into a pool of water behind the column and swim up to get the glyph.

There is still the matter of the liche and the blackrock crystal ball. In order to get to the liche I have to sacrifice Gringolet on the way in. I’m not that impressed with the sword anyway so its no big deal. I’m sure there was a way of getting around this using powder kegs to blow up a grate on an earlier level.

The liche is looking ominous right from the start. I’m a bit short on health and end up having to backtrack to the last healing pool before I take him on.

He summons zombies as well as casting lightning and turning invisible. For all this, he isn’t as tough as I might have expected and he goes down in a storm of lightning.

A new door opens up, and I get the crystal ball, I’ve been looking for.

There is a shortcut to the exit from here. I can drag a powder keg onto this grate, then blow it up and swim straight out of the dungeon.

I take the crystal ball back and we bargain about what my reward should be. I expect Rom Baro to just hand over the lens and sigil despite the fact that it will mean his death. I get him to look into the crystal ball to see what will happen to the gypsies if he doesn’t help me.

I think my game has crashed for a moment but this triggers a rerun of the cutscene I saw earlier in LB’s mirror.

He agonises about the decision for a minute.

But decides to hand over the key to his wagon.

In here I get both the codex lens and the tear of sacrifice.

I cleanse the shrine. Both my strength and dexterity and maxed out now so I have to increase my intelligence this time around.

There doesn’t appear to be any new music for Minoc after the shrine is cleansed. Julia is here now and apologises for her earlier behaviour.

There doesn’t seem to be anything else to do here so I go back to Raven. She thinks I’m ready to sail the ship myself but wants to go back to Bucaneers Den first to get some charts.

Something takes over our ship on the way though and we end up landing at a mysterious island.

This doesn’t look good…..

And the view doesn’t get any better when I step through the giant doors.

This is clearly the guardians home in Terfin. I’m allowed to walk straight through it into his chamber.

The guardian is here waiting for me and has Samhayne held.

Samhayne just has time to tell me that Raven was his daughter before the guardian finishes him off with a giant fireball.

The guardian sends off Blackthorn in order to have a private conversation.

He gives me chance to take a swipe at him but any damage I do just hurts me.

As if not being able to hurt him wasn’t bad enough, he then takes out Skara Brae and I get to see it through his magic mirror.

He then teleports me straight back outside.

I give Raven the news and she manages to talk me into carrying on the quest. Next stop Bucanneers Den again.

Minoc/Cove has been the weakest of the towns so far and definitely felt a bit rushed and thrown together. The dungeon itself was great though and the most challenging so far. The little detour to Terfin was a nice touch at this stage and gives me something to think about and another reason (if I needed it) to beat the guardian. As soon as I get control of the ship I’ll be looking to head to Trinsic. I’m guessing that this would be the place to get some blackrock weaponry made (although Jhelom must be a possibility also).

I’m glad to say I had an entirely bug free day on Ultima 9 yesterday. Whatever the problem in Moonglow was, it stayed in Moonglow. I was wrong about the reagent seller being in Yew unfortunately so I’ll have to wait a while longer. I really could do with something to spend my money on as I can only carry 9999 and I’m getting close to my limit now. There is always Duncan back in Moonglow who will teach me a new two handed sword move for 2500. I’ve been concentrating on raising dexterity so I should be able to learn most, if not all, of the new moves now. Whether or not they are any use I’m not so sure yet. I’ve picked up a couple of new moves so far. My new sword strike seems to do more damage against some opponents but its not hugely useful and I’ve got a feeling that most of the other moves will be the same.

I start out by carrying out a few of the odd jobs around Britain that I’ve been leaving off. First off I give some serpentwyne to the women outside the abbey. I then sell my gems at the local shop.

I head for LB’s hall next to try to hand over the queens egg but Vasagralem in nowhere to be seen. I talk to LB while I’m here though and he opens up the way to Yew for me.

He also tells me that the columns are dragging the moons out of their orbits towards Britannia.

There isn’t so much of a rush that I can’t bind a few spells while I’m here. If nothing else this clears out my bulging inventory a bit.

Then its off to Yew. I find the newly opened goblin cave without too much trouble.

The area around Yew is going to mark a big increase in monsters and from this point on combat becomes a bit more serious than earlier in the game. I particularly like the mimics in this game which spring giants legs as soon as you try to open them. Along with the tougher monsters comes much larger amounts of dropped gold. I’m getting seriously wealthy by the end of todays session.

The goblins aren’t the biggest problem in this cave, as it has some monumentally big spiders.

I emerge at the other side in a wooded area

I’m not in Yew yet though and there are more goblins here than there were in the cave.

That includes this guy who towers above me and can cast fireball. He isn’t quite as tough as he looks thanks to a new axe I picked up off the last goblin. This doubles my attack power and I can kill most things in a single hit with it.

There are a myriad of directions to go in from here. This is like the Ultima of old. The rails have gone and I just have to explore. I notice a column and decide to try for the dungeon first. This leads me to a barren, scorched area full of hellhounds.

I also encounter my first zombies. These are quite tough and carry on attacking even when they have been chopped in two.

I find what looks like a dungeon entrance but its blocked up. I’m beginning to think I shouldn’t have come here first after all.

There is a burned up village nearby with just one resident left who doesn’t want me around. I’m told that the people of the village became prey to a dragon who lives in the nearby dungeon. She doesn’t actually tell me where I am, although I guess I could work it out if I got my map out but this is clearly the wrong dungeon.

I carry on exploring and run into another new enemy – some sort of ice hound. This can freeze me to the spot with one of its attacks but it wears off after a few seconds.

Further wandering around leads me to a camp out in the woods. This is full of bandits but I do appear to get a karma boost for killing them all off.

Eventually I find Yew. Predictably enough their idea of justice is a little off these days. Worse still, I discover that they have captured Raven and she is being tried later today.

As ever Yew looks completely different to every other town and most of the houses are up in the trees.

The first building I go is a library and has a notice to return books to the shelves which has been ignored by the last person in here. Returning the books reveals the book of justice.

This book tells me the mantra + gives a clue to the location of the sigil.

There is a complex system of lifts in Yew to get about between all the houses.

I find the local pub but I can’t have a drink without signing a waver incase I get drunk, hurt myself and sue.

I also find a house with a gargoyle but he just ignores me if I try to talk to him. I guess I’m not supposed to be here yet.

The court is a little out of town and takes me some finding but I get there in the end.

The local tavern keeper is being put away for allowing his customers to get drunk without forewarning. This guy can’t act to save his life but he only has a couple of lines thankfully.

Vasagralem then shows up with Raven for the next case and accuses her of destroying the gargoyle race.

I try to intervene but the judge isn’t having it.

The punishment for contempt of court is a little on the harsh side around here.

Predictably enough Raven is sentenced to death. Justice like this would explain why all the towns in U9 are so much smaller than in U7.

I run into another gargoyle, when I leave the court who has a go at me for killing off his race. I plead my innocence and show him the queens egg as proof.

He tells me to take the egg to Vasagralem. I already know where to go – maybe he will talk to me this time.

He does talk this time and after a bit of protestation I convince him that I’m telling the truth. He even offers to help me get into Wrong and rescue Raven.

He also has the red lens which he hands over without making me complete a quest first.

He makes it sound as though Wrong is just next door – its actually a long trek over the mountains but there are at least a few signposts to keep me on track. I pass Stonegate on my way. The world in U9 is probably smaller than it feels as I get within viewing distance of places like LB’s castle and the like fairly often while I’m up here.

I get to see the sun rising while I’m out here. The passage of time like this is one of the best things in U9. I also see a dragon on a distant rock. It look enormous even at this distance – I’ll be steering clear of this for now.

On my trek through the mountains, I see a symbol for justice on one of the side paths and go to take a look.

Right up at the top of the mountain is….. a talking vulture. I really do feel like I’m in a Kings Quest game now. Not only is it a talking vulture but it lectures me (the avatar) on the nature of justice and tests me by asking me three questions. They are at least easy questions and I get the quill of justice without any problems.

The jail Wrong is obvious when I find it and looks quite foreboding at a distance.

Vasagralem is just off the side of the bridge and has a boat ready for me. I need to take this boat to get to a secret underwater entrance to Wrong.

The boat takes me right to the entrance so its no trouble finding it.

I’m dropped into a guards office and find a book here with a bit of a clue about how this place is going to work. This being a jail it is of course full of guards. If these guards catch me I’m instantly put in jail without my possessions and have to break out. This is another conceit but at least it’s something new. U9 has managed to come up without something original like this for every single dungeon and this sort of sneaking gameplay makes this a new experience yet again. I’m of course going to be taking the more direct approach – you can kill the guards off as long as you don’t let them get too near. So I just strike once, back up, strike again and repeat until they are dead.

I find a woman locked in a cell, who wants me to release her. She is guilty of killing all the horses which is ludicrous so I agree to let her go.

She tells me that Smith is in a tree next to Paws. I don’t think Smith is in U9 but I’d like to find him if he is.

Like every other good jail cell in a fantasy game, this one has a secret door but there is just a bit of equipment behind it and it doesn’t get me any further.

A lot of searching later and I discover that clicking on a painting in the office I was in earlier reveals a button.

This button opens up one of the cells which has the obligatory secret door to get me further into the dungeon. This cell is actually the one that I’d get locked up in if I got picked up by a horse.

I find Raven is a spooky looking cell and let her out.

The moment I step in Raven turns out to be some sort of mega-zombie who takes a bit of killing.

There is a book in here which gives me a combination I’ll be needing later.

I find my first skeleton down here. These things are a real pain. They are fairly tough in the first place, but don’t stay dead and reform afterwards. The only way to keep them dead is to grab a bone and stick it in my inventory.

I find a flame filled room with a load of skulls on the door. I use the combination from earlier to open this up.

Turning the valves in here turns off the flames and raises Raven up out of a pit. She gives me a key and says she is going to hide up until I clear her name.

I carry on exploring and find another cunningly concealed button under an inkwell.

I find another cell through here with a woman who wants to be released. She is in here for slaving but says it is legal in Buccaneers Den. I decide on this occasion not to release her.

There is a room just down from here with a narrow stone bridge in the middle and water on each side. The bridge drops shortly after I go in letting all the carnivorous fish feed on me. If I’m quick I can run to the ledge at the far side of the room, stone the fish to death, then plunge into the water. I have to turn a tiny valve to open up the portcullis to get out of the room.

Jaana is down here and has been subverted by the guardian also.

Since I know for sure this is one of my companions I’d prefer not to kill them off. As luck would have it she is standing under a giant cage and I trap her in it. The snag here is that only she can open the portcullis to the column. I bargain with her to let her out if she opens it first. She agrees to this and then attacks the moment its open. I still haven’t let her out at this point so shes a bit premature. I keep my word and let her out anyway but just avoid her rather than killing her off.

The column looks to have sprouted right through the building and there is rubble around the entrance. I can just about climb over it to get and grab the glyph.

I make my way back outside now. The jail has a bit of a courtyard with more guards to cope with.

I now need to find the shrine. I do a lot of searching around Yew. I find these giant statue heads which let me into a cave if I light the fires in their mouths.

The shrine is just down from here and I go through the usual procedure to cleanse it.

Yew now has new music and the people here are all apologetic about their previous actions.

I head to the court and Vasagralem is pleading Ravens innocence.

The judge concurs and she is pardoned. I now have a long trek back to Britain to get to her boat.

There is a bit of banter with Raven when I get back. She tells me how she was raised by Samhayne and how he has used the business to help orphans.

I suggest “relaxing” for a few hours but Raven thinks we should get on with the task at hand.

So its off to Minoc next.

Today has been the best yet as the game has started to open up a bit and I got to explore the world. This is where Ultima 9 really shines and the detail and variety of Britannia is amazing for a game of this age. I could have done more exploring but I’m trying to do a shrine a night which is challenging enough as it is. In all honesty, Wrong was probably the least interesting dungeon so far but it was still enjoyable.

I didn’t expect to enjoy U9 anywhere near this much. I think all the negative reviews must have sunk in since I originally played it until I believed them all. I should bear in mind that the version I’m playing has dozens of bug-fixes compared to the first American release which immediately alienated a lot of people. I was caught by this one myself as I ordered the Dragon edition (at huge postal expense) on pre-order to get the game as early as possible. This edition was never going to be made available in Europe so the only way I was ever going to get a copy was to import it.

You could argue U9 isn’t a true Ultima I suppose as the RPG elements are very toned down, but they haven’t really been all that significant since Ultima 5. After playing through the entire series, its pretty difficult to say what constitutes a real Ultima game anyway. We’ve got stats of a sort and combat here. The magic system is nicely done – combined with the option to drag spells to my toolbelt for quick casting it works really well. The virtues and dungeons are central to the game. This still feels like an Ultima to me.

I’m actually quite happy with U9’s gameplay as it stands – it could be better but its still fun. Given another few months to squash bugs and another few months (+ an extra CD) to improve the dialog and make a few tweaks and this could have been the series finale everyone expected with the dungeons and world left exactly as they are. What we are left with here is still a brilliant game apart from the bugs. It ticks all the right boxes gameplay wise but ultimately doesn’t really provide the narrative and final conclusion that Ultima fans expect. There are also aspects of the story that I strongly disagree with, but I’ll deal with them when I get to them.

There was a fan made dialog patch for U9 which I’ve never actually tried but I think I’ll add it to my list of Origin related games to have a look at. I’m not sure how much latitude there was for changing the dialog – I know you had to turn off the speech (but this isn’t a bad thing) as it only replaced the text. I don’t know if the patch actually added lines of dialog or just replaced one line for another. If its the former then it would have the potential to transform U9 into the game it should have been.

Today, I start out by going back to Samhaynes. This triggers a cutscene where he turns me over to Blackthorn and I’m dragged off with alarming ease.

I’m then thrown in a jail cell.

Things are looking bad but what good jail cell wouldn’t have a secret door on one side of it?

There is also a giant spider. This thing changes colour when I use it. It appears to swap me in and out of phase.

This allows me to walk through the portcullis holding me in my cell. I have to swap the colour a couple of times to allow me access to different rooms.

I should point out that I lost all my stuff when I was being dragged from Samhaynes so I’m now faced with the prospect of another dungeon with no stuff at all. I don’t even have my weapons or spellbook. Thankfully, this dungeon is more about puzzles than combat. This puzzle here involves moving statues and a big coloured ball of light. I’d be lying if I said I had any idea what this puzzle was about but I click on things until the locked door unlocks itself.

This gets me to a lava filled area in what I’ll later find out is Deceit. Clicking a button in the entry room makes an invisible bridge over part of this lava.

This room is another puzzle. This statue here can be moved using buttons on the wall and then will shoot a ball of energy which summons a platform to carry me over the lava.

This gets me to a wall full of buttons. They vanish each time I press them so I just press them all. I have to cope with a second statue shooting fireballs at me the whole time.

Pressing all of these raises a new set of pillars, the end of which has another target I can shoot with the first statue. Doing this removes a forcefield from around the central teleport. I can now get to this from the new platform.

This gets me to another lava filled area – much larger this time.

The first puzzle here involves moving this target so that a statue when used will hit it with an energy ball. This is a trial and error puzzle really.

When done this summons a platform which carries me over all the lava to a teleport.

This gets me into a small room with yet more puzzles. Using the statue here nets me some arrows.

Picking up the arrows, triggers a bow fading into view.

There is also a mirror down here which restores my health when I use it.

I have to use the bow to shoot a target at the top of the room. This triggers the creation of a load of steps.

I climb up these, stand on a switch and another target pops into view. Shooting this fades in a long plank which I have to quickly run across to get back to the teleport I came in on.

This whole section had been about getting the bow. There was a target I saw earlier on which I shoot now and this triggers a bridge.

This allows me access to a valve which drops the lava level of the whole cavern.

I can now see obelisks poking out of the lava. Using these drops the lava to nothing but only for a short time so I have to quickly make my way between raised sections while the clock is ticking.

The goal of this bit of dungeon is going to be collecting and using coloured spheres. This one is hidden in the lava until it is lowered. The chest must be made of asbestos or something.

I drop the globe into a claw pedestal and it pops one segment of a bridge into existence. I’ll need to do this 3 more times.

With the lower lava level, I’ve got access to several new areas. They tend to have a similar theme. In this one I have to run around a small maze shooting targets.

If I’m quick enough a globe pops into existence.

The teleport to the next section is by a crystal ball that shows me goats walking on the ceiling and I have no idea what this is about.

This is a small room with a moving target on the far wall. It moves faster when I shoot it and the goal seems to be to shoot it twice quickly in succession which nets me another globe.

The final globe is in a very similar room except this time targets appear all over the walls and I have to shoot them all quickly within a time limit.

With the last globe in place, I now have a bridge to a giant teleport.

This gets me to a cavernous new area.

There is another wyrmguard here on a distant island.

She sees me and sets her pet on me.

Thankfully this pet isn’t too tough and once its dead a load of stepping stones come out of the lava to get me to the wyrmguard.

She splits into 3 at this point and I have to kill her several times but she’s down in one blow so its no trouble. I’m fairly sure this was Mariah I just killed although you wouldn’t know it at this stage of the game. I’ll get a chance to right this later on but this idea of killing off all my companions throughout the game is a bit disturbing.

Once she’s dead a platform pops up which carries me to the column and I get the glyph.

The platform then carries me to another island and a teleport that gets me out of here. Thats another dungeon down. Again it was completely different to the ones before it. I’m really liking the dungeons in U9 – the engine coped with the large cavernous areas with ease and it felt nothing like anywhere I’d been earlier in the game.

I’m met by an angry knight called Duncan as I leave the dungeon. He had been told that I would be carrying his missing dagger but I let him search me to prove I don’t have it. It turns out that someone in Moonglow lied to him and that no one is to be trusted there any more. This figures given that it will now be the town of Deceit until I sort things out.

It’s not just the dungeons that have all looked different in this game. The towns are each unique and Moonglow has its own style with magical lighting and everyone living in towers. It’s only about 7 or 8 buildings in size but somehow its large enough that it doesn’t matter.

When I enter the town, I’m greeted by a child who wants me to rescue his father. When I run to his house there is no one there of course.

Next I talk to Tybus – the keeper of the Lyceum. He knows I want the mantra… This whole next section of the game is going to be about getting a mantra which I of course already know. I don’t want to skip it but I;m sorely tempted.

He won’t let me see the Lyceum unless I fetch him a staff from a cave down the the South. It’s about this point that I really started to struggle with the game crashing. After a lot of trial and error I discover that talking to this guy about the cave crashes my game every single time and there is nothing I can do about it. Unfortunately, I can’t get access to this cave without talking to him as it moves a giant boulder blocking the entrance. The only way I can find around this is to cheat. I guess I should have expected this at some point – the odds of playing all the way through U9 without having to cheat your way through a bug at some point are very slim indeed.

I carry on looking around Moonglow. This mage wants me to fetch her a shield from Mariahs house in return for the sigil. I don’t have much choice here.

I head for what I guess to be Mariahs house and find a trapdoor in the floor.

Sure enough I find a shield, but its behind two forcefields. I have to open up two hidden doors in the walls and put barrels on pressure plates to lower the fields. I take the shield back and get the sigil. I’ve clearly been lied to about the motives for wanting the shield but there is nothing I can do about this.

I go looking for the cave next. I notice this ship and swim out to have a look.

I find a hostile thief + the arms of the Magi in here. The cave I was supposed to enter to get here is just to the North. I have to cheat my way through the boulder and into the cave. This sets off a trigger which marks this task as done and allows me to move onto the next one. I still have problems with crashes around Moonglow and won’t be sorry to see the back of this place. I don’t find the missing staff and get sent off to another cave by Tybus.

This cave has a demon in it who wants me to trust him and drop my weapons. I do so and he gives me Tybus heartstone which holds control over him.

On the way back, the boy who hassled me about his Dad before comes running again.

This time he’s actually telling the truth and I kill off some bandits to save his father.

His father has more work for me as he has had his journal stolen by bandits and wants it back.

Tybus tries to talk me into handing over his heartstone but I refuse until he reveals the Lyceum.

It’s a lot less grand than it used to be and is just a small floating building in the middle of town.

He reveals a small boat along with the building. This floats me between all the buildings and eventually up to the Lyceum.

There is something called the Oracle in here. I have no idea what this is but it gives off a lot of light. It tells me to look to the heavens for my answer.

I look through the convenient telescope and see a not so subtle mantra in the sky.

While I’m in here I notice a book which I try to use. This triggers the Oracle again who wants to know who is to blame for the destruction in Britannia. I get a choice of me or the guardian. To get the book I have to say its me. I admit that I don’t know this yet but I’d prefer not to have to come back here and have the game crash on me every couple of minutes again if I can help it.

To be fair, I’d have just picked both options even if I didn’t know the correct answer. I now have the Book of Truth. I won’t be needing this for a long time but it will save me a bit of walking later on.

I now have a couple of errands to complete while I’m here. I return Duncan’s missing dagger which I found in the thieves cave. He trains me with a double handed sword move. I don’t have a double handed sword to try it out right now.

I return the missing journal in return for a couple of scrolls. This journal describes how Britannias moons are going to crash into each other. I’d better get on with sorting out these columns and hope it fixes it.

I also go to the shrine and cleanse it. This time I increase my dexterity as my strength is maxed out already.

Once the shrine is cleansed, Raven’s ship appears in the docks here.

She tells me that Samhayne had no choice about handing me over and we make up. This is a really forced love interest. The whole of the games dialog is a bit like that – the basic story is there but none of the detail required to flesh it out. We’ve barely exchanged more than a few words at this point. Raven hands over all my missing equipment which I’m glad to get back.

He tells me that Blackthorn can’t view the Codex without the lens. This is a load of rubbish – the lens was to see the codex in the void. Since it isn’t in the void any more he could just read away. Is him reading the codex a problem anyway? It only ever gave me advise on the virtues and it strikes me he could do with this.

I will need the lenses it seems to advance the plot. Raven tells me one is in Yew and the other in Minoc. She can’t sail me any nearer to Yew than Britain but I decide to go for this first. It means I can finish off a couple of the subquests in Britain on the way + I was told that the reagent seller in Britain was being held in Yew. I’d like to release him and start filling up my spellbook a bit.

I’ve had a lot of trouble today with the game crashing and I really hope that I’ve seen the last of it. I’m being careful with keeping loads of savegames but I really shouldn’t have to cheat to get around bugs in the game. U9 must have crashed at least 50 times in Moonglow and it also corrupted some savegames so I had to delete them, then replay the start of the game to get the journal and load up the previous one. I even had to replay the whole of Deceit when this happened the first time.

It’s not put me off too much and I’m still enjoying the game but I’d like it to be stable from here on out. Being realistic I’ll be lucky not to run into more major bugs before the end.

U9 is turning out to be a truly huge game. This could easily be the largest of the Ultima’s at least in terms of how long it is taking me to play. I’m only 3 virtues in and I must have spent going on 15 hours on it already. There is no danger of me getting bored with it yet either which is more than can be said for Dead Space which I think I’m going to abandon. I cannot believe how good the reviews have been for a game that is so deeply unoriginal as to offer no incentive to play it whatsoever over the any of the superior titles it steals from.