We're doing Ultima V specifically, rather than, say, IV or VI, for three basic reasons:įirst, U5 is old enough that its technology is completely obsolete. One of the developers of Lazarus explains the reason for re-making the game: It was not good timing for a game's posterity, because at this time people were already replacing their Apple IIs and Commodore 64s for Macintoshes and PCs. The original Ultima V was published in 1988 on the Apple II.
But it was ultimately a generic and repetitive hack and slash game with a threadbare plot.īut today I am extremely glad that I have a copy of it, because it enables me to play Ultima V: Lazarus (which I'll be referring to as just Lazarus), which recently been finished for the Mac.
The music and the landscapes were well done, as were the goblins with machine guns and flamethrowers - except that there were too many of them. The mule for carrying extra equipment and loot was an inspired invention. I liked the free form class system - where characters would specialize according to the ways they used their abilities.
