An editorial by a geek who tirelessly played through every exausting element of Origin's Ultima IX: Ascension.

Introduction

One week after I bought my first PC back in 1993, I ordered a game which looked to be the ultimate in role-playing games. I was a big AD&D nerd back then; playing all nite with my stupid friends, arguing over references in the rule books; trying to out-wit each other. We were like sun deprived, pale skinned, geeks on crack.

Back in those days, the only computer I had access to, was the good ole' NES machine. In fact, the only impression of computer RPG's I had were of the early Zeldas, Dragon Warriors and Final Fantasies that came out back in the day… of course it was plenty to satisfy my nerdly, role-playing urges.

I paid $2100.00 plus $200 for the extended warrantee at Radio Shack for a Tandy Sensation: A 486 33mhz 4meg super wonder! My idea was simply out of exploration. I'd heard the games on PC's were a lot more advanced and complicated than their console counterparts. I wanted to be treated to a rich, medieval environment, where I could immerse into its fictional tapestry, and swordfight my way through hordes of dragons, and fiends, and such…

The advertisement lay quietly in the back of the 'Computer Shopper' magazine I bought a few days before I purchased my PC. There, in a 1/4 page ad in a Computer Shopper magazine, next to "Billy's Porn CDROM Archives": Ultima Underworld I & II for only $49.99. Wow! "Two: incredibly detailed better-than-NES-computerized-immersive-D&D-like games in one." Things changed, 5 days after I ordered it.

I took a week off of work the last week of November for Thanksgiving: to use up some built up vacation time. I had ordered the Ultima IX: Ascension CD from ea.com a week before: out of Interest generated from all the hype on the Internet over the game. The game was scheduled to be released on the 23rd, and unexpectedly, I received it that afternoon. The 14 days following that Tuesday afternoon have changed my perception of what makes a game, a game everyone wants to play.