Ultima V: Lazarus

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Ultima V: Lazarus

Developer(s)	Team Lazarus
Publisher(s)	N/A
Engine	Dungeon Siege engine
Latest version	1.2 (Final), 1.0 (French Localisation)
Release date(s)	December 22, 2005
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	N/A
Platform(s)	Windows, Mac OS X
Media	Download
System requirements	(Minimum) 300MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, 520MB HD
Input	Keyboard and Mouse

Ultima V: Lazarus is a fanmade remake of Ultima V. The game uses Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege engine, and that game is required to play the remake. It is a highly detailed attempt to reconstruct the original title, including an enhanced and more elaborate plot, and adds on significant strategy elements (mainly in the form of profession-linked skills and skill increasing quests) and updates conversational mechanisms to resemble modern game dialog systems.

The developers of Ultima V: Lazarus are Team Lazarus: including volunteers from over six different countries, and include writers, musicians, artists and programmers from America, Australia, England, Finland, Japan, Norway, and Slovenia. Several members of Team Lazarus are professional game designers in their own right, and many of the developers are also members of UDIC, the Ultima Dragons Internet Chapter.

The director of Ultima V: Lazarus is Ian "Tiberius" Frazier, a game designer currently working at Iron Lore Entertainment. He is noted for having a physical resemblance to the original Ultima V's creator Richard Garriott, (who is also known as Lord British). As a tribute to his efforts, Ultima fans bought for him a crossbow made by David R. Watson, the real world inspiration for the recurring Ultima character Iolo.

Notably, Ultima V: Lazarus received significant attention from the mainstream gaming press, including publications in America, Britain, Italy, Germany, and Finland.

Lazarus was nearly six years in the making, and the final version of the game for PC, 1.20, was released on April 1, 2006. The Mac version was released on 13 April, 2006.

The French localised version of Ultima V Lazarus was released on 21 September 2006. A German localisation is currently in development.

[edit] Differences from the original

The original Ultima V game was a stand-alone game for the Apple II, DOS, Atari ST, NES, Amiga & Commodore 64 platforms. Ultima V: Lazarus is a modification to the popular RPG Dungeon Siege.

The original game featured a tile-based 2D world to explore, whereas the world of Britannia in Ultima V Lazarus was entirely re-constructed in 3D. Several spells from the original could not be supported by the new game engine; Among them were "Des Por", which caused the party to move to the next lower level of a dungeon, and "Uus Por", which caused movement to the next higher level. The "In Por" (Blink) spell was removed from the final patch due to a bug referred to as "Blink Blindness". Many objects from the original Ultima V which could be moved, such as chests, barrels, and mirrors, are immovable in Lazarus. Naval combat is also different, as the few NPC ships are immobile, and cannons are absent.

The Ultima V Lazarus community has also produced several mods for Lazarus, including different fonts and graphical mods as well as more complex hacks. To date, there are over twenty different mods for Ultima V Lazarus.

[edit] Multiple Endings (Evil Ending)

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

There is at least one more possible ending whereby the Avatar decides rather than to rescue Lord British, he will ensure the missing monarch's disappearance is permanent.

There is also a non-canon ending made possible with the "Six-Score-And-Ten Oblations To A Malefic Avatar" walkthrough from Doug the Eagle, who has produced anti-walkthroughs for several different computer games.