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The stakes do not get any higher: After several torrid years in development, the ninth game in the Ultima series is nigh. Origin has decreed both that Ultima IX: Ascension will be the last game in the Ultima series as we know it and that it will be the company's last single-player game altogether. Furthermore, as a role-playing game, this new Ultima is faced with fierce competition the likes of which it has never seen, including Blizzard's highly anticipated Diablo II and Square Soft's Final Fantasy VIII, a game that has already sold well over three million copies on the PlayStation console. In order to succeed, Ultima IX: Ascension must appease a huge contingent of hard-core fans that have grown restless or even given up waiting for a new Ultima since the disappointing mid-'90s release of Ultima VIII: Pagan. At the same time, it must be accessible and attractive enough to encourage new role-playing gamers to give it a try.

Lord British's castle overlooks the city of Britain.

Ultima IX: Ascension now stands poised to accomplish both these goals, and whether or not it stands a chance of living up to its fans' almost hopelessly high expectations will be decided before the end of the year, because Ultima IX, at last, is almost finished. And yet some Ultima players are already convinced that this new game cannot recapture the style and attention to detail of older games in the series. In fact, few games have generated as much skepticism as this one. Even so, a close inspection of the near-finished product yields that this ultimate conclusion to a series that has lived on for two decades will be a suitable finale to one of the most cherished, most important computer games of all time. Against insurmountable odds, Ultima IX is a game that Origin claims is bigger, longer, and more intricate than its predecessors are.

Defeated in his attempt to rule Britannia, the Guardian's intent is to destroy it.

At the same time, Ultima IX: Ascension promises to weave an epic plot, filled with memorable characters with believable intentions and motivations, into a classical tale of good versus evil. This final showdown between the Avatar and the mysterious Guardian marks the culmination of two decades of computer role-playing games, and so Origin has every intention of making Ultima IX as satisfying a conclusion to this important series as possible.

Next: Britannia 20 Years Later