Though I cannot go into depth about the speech in this game as I had to turn it off for better performance, what I heard, I liked. For those with better systems, there are over 30,000 lines of professionally recorded dialogue for you to enjoy. The game is controlled via mouse and keyboard. To move the Avatar around Britannia, the mouse is used for control, while several keyboard characters are linked to certain actions. The Avatar can walk, run, fight, strafe, moonwalk, jump and swim.
Inventory is controlled by means of the familiar backpack as well as a new addition, the tool belt.
The tool belt adds an extra 12 slots of storage space that allow for instant-access to an item since each slot is linked to a function key. The tool belt, like the backpack, must be found, though this is not at all taxing since they are hidden in your house and the tutorial explains to you where they can be found and how to equip them. The same goes for the compass and your journal. Although the compass is self explanatory, the journal in Ultima IX serves as more than just an options screen when you access it. Though you can save or load, alter you game options or quit the game from within the journal, there are several new features added.