History VideoGame / UltimaIX

* DumbBlonde: What the game also turns the Avatar into. To a lesser extent, Gwenno, who gets turned from an ActionGirl into a housewife for this game, and for some strange reason now has blonde hair instead of brown.

* GrandFinale: This game was intended to be the grand cumulation of the entire series, but suffered serious ExecutiveMeddling by Electronic Arts during development. Let's just say that many fans consider the final product to be a letdown.

** Lord British [[MemeticMutation is not entirely sure]] why bad things are afoot in Britannia. This despite the fact that he learned about Guardian and his plans to invade Britannia several games ago and now there is an enormous stone carving of the Guardian's head at the entrance of his main fortress.

** The Avatar comes across as one, due to seemingly knowing absolutely nothing, even basic facts, about the world he's explored and been the savior of for the past dozen games. While his dialogue was obviously scripted this way to avoid ContinuityLockout for new gamers who haven't played any of the other games, it makes him come across as a complete moron (earlier games handled this much better with AsYouKnow dialogue instead of giving the Avatar a sudden onset case of complete amnesia).

* ObviousBeta: The bugginess of the game is legendary. One humorous game review magazine (''Games Accelerator'') posted a fatal error message as one of their screenshots for the game instead of a shot of the gameplay, with a caption, "Lord British and Electronic Arts defeat you with the ultimate foe."

** In one cutscene, Raven makes sure the Avatar has a [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids non-optional sexual encounter]].

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' succeeded where this game failed.

* ContinuityLockout: {{Averted}}. Nearly every character will be happy to tell you just how the many things in the world of Ultima work if you're just a newb. However, it's too bad that the person they're telling it to in the game is the Avatar, the protagonist for the past eight or so games and should know all this stuff, which puts him in the IdiotHero position.

* InNameOnly: For many in the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' fan community.

* LoonyFan: See CostumeCopycat above.

* PolygonCeiling: This was the first (and in the end, only) game in the main series to be 3D. It encounters problems with this, as the game world, which was massive in ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'', has had to be reduced to the size of a shoebox.
* PurityPersonified: ''Ascension'' would have you believe this about the Avatar despite the games having mentioned: "No soul in life can be purged completely of virtue or vice." This, by the way, was used as [[spoiler:the origin of the Guardian. As in, he's the Avatar's dark half.]]

** The Time Lord is Hawkwind the Seer. In the Bob White plot, the Time Lord is the last of an ancient race of beings, and created The Codex of Ultimate Wisdom.

* TellMeAgain: Infamously used, see IdiotHero.

* WretchedHive: Buccaneer's Den, of course. Where else?

!!!It averts:

* ContinuityLockout: Nearly every character will be happy to tell you just how the many things in the world of Ultima work if you're just a newb. However, it's too bad that the person they're telling it to in the game is the Avatar, the protagonist for the past eight or so games and should know all this stuff, which puts him in the IdiotHero position.
* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: Most of the "team" from the previous games are present in this one, but unlike other games in the main series (''Ultima VIII: Pagan'' excepted), you can't actually get any of them to come with you.
* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: It's the first game in the entire ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series where none of the characters speak like this.

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* SmallStepsHero: The Avatar professes to be this, but suffers too much MoralDissonance to make it remotely believable.

* CampGay: The Avatar's biggest fan, who was given the FanNickname "Gay-vatar".

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Its the first game in the entire ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series where none of the characters speak like this.

* PlotHole: The game is riddled with them. A few examples include the Time Lord's warnings in ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'' that the Guardian will be unstoppable upon entering Britannia, the circumstance surrounding the summoning of Pyros (which should be impossible for a variety of reasons, the least of which is that the Avatar ''killed'' Pyros in ''Pagan''), the whole issue with magic and the appearance of several things which shouldn't be possible owing to the fact that they've ceased to be (i.e. Mondain's Skull, Korghin's Fang, [[spoiler:Dupre's Ashes]], Stonegate, etc).

* SequenceBreaking: Using the Avatar's normal jumping abilities, and a little bit of trial and error, it's actually possible to scale whole mountains, and therefore skip two-thirds of the game. Elsewhere the game uses ridiculously narrow spans of water as barriers, which can be crossed by laying down items to float on the water and use as stepping stones.

** Early on, the Avatar says he should have known Blackthorne was behind Brittania's corruption. The scene immediately previous to this has one of Blackthorne's soldiers explicitly state so.

* BlatantLies: Technically, as the Avatar is promised that his "knowledge of the land shall be great" once he reaches Britannia. However, most of the game has him being clueless about just about everything and needing [=NPCs=] to constantly enlighten him.

* CostumeCopycat: One of these can be found in a hut outside Britain, claiming to be [[LoonyFan the Avatar's biggest fan]].

* DumbBlonde: What the game also turns the Avatar into. To a lesser extent Gwenno, who gets turned from an ActionGirl into a housewife for this game, and for some strange reason now has blonde hair instead of brown.

* GameBreakingBug: More than a few of them too, even after patching.

* DummiedOut: Large sections of the game were hacked out of the finished product. Many of these missing areas are still present in the game code, and enterprising hackers have discovered ways to access them.