Hacki's Ultima Page - Ultima IX nitpicks in Lord British's Castle

“You’re the Avatar; you’re supposed to be fixing things.”

Here you’ll find inaccuracies in Lord British’s Castle in Ultima IX, where the Avatar wants to take Chuckles’ place as court jester with dialogue lines like “What are the Gargoyles?” Speaking of Chuckles: You won’t find any trace of him and many other former inhabitants of the castle in Ascension, which is a pity. The place feels empty and dead; a sharp contrast to Underworld II. From a worlbuilder’s point of view, Lord British’s Castle isn’t very impressive either: It is... large. But that’s about it. Ruuuule, Britannia, Britannia rule the waves...

Ignorance of predecessors (13)
Technical shortcomings (13)
General problems (15)

Ignorance of predecessors

When the Avatar brought the Codex to Britannia a long time ago, he stole it from the Gargoyles, out of ignorance. Years later, he destroyed their world, again out of ignorance, by rescuing Lord British from the Underworld. Yet some years later, he was almost killed by a Gargoyle priest. Then he fought the eight Shrines of Virtue back from the Gargoyles. Eventually, he went down to their world, where he learned that he was the most important figure in their prophecies. Finally, he brought Britannia peace between humans and Gargoyles. I know that the Avatar has experienced even more amazing things, but how could he just forget the Gargoyles?

“I’m sorry, but what... I mean, who are the Gargoyles?”

he asks Vasagralem with all given stupidity. If I was Vasagralem, then I’d answer:

“Excuse me, but to wonder... what to be an Avatar?”

(There is a possible explanation...)

(by Hacki Dragon)
In the patch, this incredibly stupid question has just been removed, or at least the offensive part was taken out, because the Avatar only asks for refreshing his memory now.
Mariah recalls how she and the Avatar “dealt with that corrupt fool Batlin”. Good Mariah seems to have a problem with her memory. In Ultima VII, she was just mad all the time first, then she just hung around in the Lycaeum. On Serpent Isle, she wasn’t even involved. Hah, “dealt with that corrupt fool”...

(by Hacki Dragon)
In the patch, Mariah speaks about different things.
It’s not only a mistake on the Tapestry; even Iolo himself believes he killed the Gargoyle priest at the beginning of Ultima VI with an arrow - It was a crossbow bolt, damnit!

(by Hacki Dragon)
This mistake, too, was corrected in the patch.
Where is Chuckles, the famous jester, who appeared in every Ultima since Ultima II?
(I fear, he is dead...)
(by Hacki Dragon)
Where is Nystul, the most valuable advisor of Lord British, who was essentially important for the plots of Ultima VI and Underworld II?
(Alas, he is most likely dead.)
(by Hacki Dragon)
The patch makers had the good idea to turn the unknown mage in Valoria into Nystul.
Where is Sherry?
(Did she die?)
(by Angelo)
In the patch, Sherry died. Sad.
Geoffrey had been Lord British’s bodyguard at the Castle for centuries. Does the Avatar not wonder why he’s suddenly gone? (See theory.)
(by Hacki Dragon)
Lord British owns a superb Orb of the Moons, which you can use everywhere and at any given time to travel to certain places in Britannia. (There’s just no comparison to the stupid Orb of the Moons of Nico). Too bad that in Ultima IX, it doesn’t appear in contrast to Ultima V, VI, and VII.
(Of course, the Orb did not work anymore at the end of Ultima VII, but in Ultima IX, all moongate-related problems seem to be fixed.)
(by Hacki Dragon)
In Serpent Isle, Lord British appeared in the realm of dreams and told the Avatar about a crack in the foundation of the castle. It seems Lord British had enough time to have workmen in his castle to repair the crack, in spite of the war against the Guardian.
(by Angelo)
Lord British must really be a very busy man. When the columns tore apart his land and stole the virtues from the people, he even had time to fill up the moat surrounding his castle and grow bushes and flowers in place of it! Well, the game tells us that the good king has lost contact to his subjects. This does not surprise me at all.
(by Angelo)
Gwenno is missing at the big farewell party at the end. Did the designers not know that she, too, is an old companion of the Avatar?
(by Hacki Dragon)
The Avatar attentively listens to Siona teaching him Stones and explaining that it’s a favourite of Lord British. He even writes the information down into his Journal!
The problem is that he knew Stones since the times of Ultima V, when he had to play the melody to open a secret door. (See theory.)
(by Hacki Dragon)
Not surprisingly, this has been corrected in the patch.
Why can’t Lord British heal you? Did the developers not know that he could do so in Ultima IV, VI, and VII? (In Underworld II, there was at least a good explanation.)
(by Dino the Dark Dragon)

Technical shortcomings

George Orwell’s horrible vision of “1984” has become real! Crystal spheres are installed on the big terrace of Lord British’s Castle, through which the good king can permanently watch every step of his people! I wonder if anyone else knows about them...

(by Hacki Dragon)
The affair with the crystal spheres on Lord British’s terrace poses another problem: Through one of them, you can see the entrance of the Guardian’s keep on Terfin. This seems strange to me: If Lord British knows that the Guardian is on Terfin, why doesn’t he do anything?
(by Hacki Dragon)
In the patch, Lord British tells you how Britannia made war on the Guardian without success. Therefore, you can’t blame him for being inactive.
When you ask Lord British to make the path to Yew accessible, you witness a true miracle: By nothing but the sheer power of his mind, the good king can make a rock out of the town, somewhere in the wilderness, disappear. No surprise that nobody dares to overthrow such a king!
(by Hacki Dragon)
The rock still just disappears in the patch, but nobody claims that Lord British made it disappear.
It’s none of my business, but why has Lord British a magic firesword hidden in his garden?

(by Hacki Dragon)
A teleport platform near Stonegate takes you directly into Lord British’s Castle! Is it really that easy to create one of those fashionable platforms? Where does this one come from anyway? Isn’t Lord British worried about strangers entering his castle?
(A certain theory can be based upon this point.)

(by Hacki Dragon)
It’s still strange, but at least we are told that Shamino somehow created the platform, thanks to the patch.
It seems that Lord British was forced to sell the crown jewels due to the expensive war against the Guardian. It’s a shame, because we know about the magical energies of those precious historical items from Ultima V. In addition, they are symbols for power and virtue of the Britannian kingdom, and they certainly possess a personal aura from which the people are able to build up their inner strength...
Who knows what happened to the crown, the scepter, and the amulet. In Ultima IX, all of them have disappeared. The good king did not replace the amulet and scepter, but at least he got himself a new crown, which unfortunately is not similar at all to the previous one.
(What a waste of a good joke, but the appearance of the crown did already change more than once in previous Ultimas.)

(by Tribun Dragon)
In the cutscene with the moongate, Trammel and Felucca are both white. In the game, Trammel is colored slightly orange.
(by Tribun Dragon)
The moongate we are shown in the cutscene with Lord British sending the Avatar into the void looks like in the classic Ultimas. Why? It has the proper color, doesn’t flicker, and it is quiet and motionless.
(by Tribun Dragon)
There is a problem with Lord British’s appearance: Why does he suddenly look so old? In Ultima VII, he was still a relatively young man. How come he aged so much? One white hair for each inaccuracy in Ascension? (And for each hate mail from furious fans...)
In the original plot, by the way, this was explained with the columns draining Lord British’s vitality.
(by Tribun Dragon)
When you light the candle on the table in Lord British’s Castle, the table’s immediately laid by magic. Problems:
1. Britannia has huge problems with magic, but gimmicks like this work?
2. The “Create Food” spell belonged to the First Circle in all Ultimas in which it appeared. Strange thing that the table is laid even before the First Circle is reactivated.
3. That spell doesn’t even appear in Ultima IX... How is the table laid then?
4. In Ultima VII, you were allowed to attend dinner at Lord British’s Castle and were served all kinds of exquisite delicacies. In Ultima IX, the food is summoned through magical means. Why magic, why so complicated, why so extravagant? It’s sad that Ultima IX uses magic as an excuse or explanation for just about anything...
5. Why is there a kitchen when food can be created infinitely by magic?
(by Tribun Dragon)
In Lord British’s bedroom, there’s a teleport platform installed, which leads to the lab of the young and attractive female court mage. Being king pays off.
...
OK, even if we put this idea aside, we still have to wonder why Lord British tolerates all the traffic through his bedroom every day. What did the worldbuilders think they were doing?
(by Tribun Dragon)
The worldbuilders of Ultima IX must take some beating: It’s already a bit strange that the guards’ rooms are hidden behind secret doors, but the kitchen (which is also quite small, by the way)? What’s so secret about the kitchen?
(by Tribun Dragon)
When you are thrown into prison by the dungeon guard, the gate automatically opens after a short while. For lack of imagination, that’s hard to beat. No trace of logic (think of Ultima V), no trace of humor (think of Underworld II).
(by Tribun Dragon)

General problems

Does Lord British know that one of his eight big towns has been razed to the ground? The Avatar, of course, doesn’t tell him either, because he wants to spare Lord British’s nerves.

“Milord, Shamino has been captured in the Netherworld for years - but now, he is saved, and everything is OK -- well, except of one thing: Skara Brae has been destroyed. I’m sorry.”

(by Hacki Dragon)
When the player chooses to visit Skara Brae immediately after the short intermezzo on Terfin (which is graciously allowed by the plot), Shamino asks the Avatar to get an ankh, which is being kept by Lord British in his castle. After this, the player will consequently visit the king in order to ask him for the ankh. But then, you are brutally confronted with Ascension’s linearity, because the Avatar doesn’t ask Lord British for the ankh although his friend’s life is at stake.
(by Hacki Dragon)
The eight companions of the Avatar (except of Katrina, maybe) disappeared, and Lord British doesn’t tell the Avatar? Does he even know that they disappeared?

(by Tribun Dragon)
Vasagralem says that the red lens disappeared. Lord British does not mention that the same happened to the blue one!

(by Tribun Dragon)
Isn’t it a bit complicated to play Stones in order to open the Sandalwood Box? It’s crucial to save the life of Shamino, so the Avatar could also try to break the box first, couldn’t he?

(by Hacki Dragon)
After having cleansed the Shrine of Spirituality, you are told that Dupre has been resurrected for some reason. When you return to Lord British’s Castle afterwards, it’s already the most normal thing in the world that Dupre is back.
I don’t mind Iolo’s passion for joking, but it’s utterly incredible that he blabs something about why Dupre isn’t visiting a tavern yet. To make this a little more plausible, Iolo should give him a hug and cry tears of joy, heck. Most of the companions don’t even care that Dupre has returned to life! Does nobody wonder about afterlife? Does nobody mind that a good old companion is alive again after twenty years of death? It’s just hilarious, and a slap in the face for every true Ultima fan.

(by Hacki Dragon)
Actually, you can’t create good dialogue for a silly event like the resurrection of Dupre, but the patch makers at least tried.
Does the Avatar not wonder what Vasagralem is doing in Lord British’s Castle? (I wondered, but as we know, I wasn’t asked.)
(by Hacki Dragon)
When you ask Raven to take you somewhere else after Lord British has assigned the job of going into the void to you, she knows exactly what the Avatar should do - How?
(by Hacki Dragon)
Give me a second! Lord British has cut off the important trade connection between Britain and Yew just because of some harmless goblins? Wouldn’t it have been better to send a few guards into the cave to drive the goblins away? No surprise that the people in Britannia start getting weary of such a king...
(I know, the goblins aren’t actually that harmless. At the other end of the tunnel, an entire horde of axe-swinging monsters awaits the Avatar, including a spell-throwing leader... However, I remain at my opinion: this should not be a problem for a heavily armed group of guards. Besides, Lord British alone would probably be powerful enough to get rid of all the beasts at once.)

(by Hacki Dragon)
Yet again, Lord British doesn’t equip his hero well enough when that hero starts an adventure that is going to save Britannia. Where are the glass swords, magic armors, backpacks full of reagents and potions, which the Avatar is entitled to? Of course, you get useless stuff, but I bet the really fine items are hidden somewhere in the castle by the good Lord each time, so that the Avatar won’t find them and he can keep up the appearance of the noble ruler...
(by Hacki Dragon)
In the patch, the journal tells us that most of the equipment, weapons, etc., was needed for the war, and that’s why you just find little of it left in the castle now.
A real plot hole. Why don’t we see Vasagralem’s servant Desbet before travelling to Yew? Either he had been in Yew from the beginning, which would not be very logical, because what should he have done there all alone? Or he was always at Vasagralem’s side but had accidentally swallowed a black potion so we didn’t see him at Lord British’s Castle...

(by Tribun Dragon)
What’s it with that mysterious mirror of darkness in Lord British’s Castle? It shows you the destruction of Britannia, but the Avatar doesn’t seem to care about it, and of course he doesn’t ask Lord British either. What’s going on here, Mr. Virtue?
(See original plot.)
(by Dino the Dark Dragon)
The patch tells us that the mirror came from Wyrmguards, and that Lord British investigated it.
Is there a reason why the people in Lord British’s Castle have not become mean scoundrels, too? What’s up with the Column?
(by Tribun Dragon)
In the conversation with Siona, the Avatar once again proves his eloquence. Siona says she is a musician. Our hero replies:

“I take it that you’re quite a music lover.”

Oh, how could he tell?
(by JBO Dragon)
On the topic of stupid Avatar lines:

“What evil has been unleashed in Britannia?”

Man...
(by Darlon)