I'm guessing that, against any Lich, this would be disastrous since they would be changed into their pre-lich form, thereby making them a little easier to kill.

Lich is not dead :)

And even if that would apply, you would still have to pacify him for an hour of casting the spell, ending with a melee spell touch to hit him.

you may be right regarding dead vs undead (I'm an osr player and raise dead used to "kill" undead), but I've never heard anything about pacification being needed.  Please explain.

Only if it’s younger than 200. Which is like an elf before their midlife crisis.

The spell has a casting time of one hour - lich would not voluntarily wait for you to do that. Or wait for your hour of casting to be prepared to be touched exactly as you finish the casting.

I see your point regarding vs a lich.

this is expensive, diamonds worth 25,000+ GP, which the spell consumes!

Quote from Dangerdane >>

Only if it’s younger than 200. Which is like an elf before their midlife crisis.

 It says that if ITS BEEN DEAD for more than 200 years not if its been alive for 200 years

Yeah, using a Level 9 spell with a casting time of 1 hour to make things a little easier is probably not a good choice.

It says you touch a creature but then later it says the spell can provide a new body if the original no longer exists. if the body no longer exists how do you touch the creature? ash? body goo?

Quote from Sneakyfox007 >>

It says you touch a creature but then later it says the spell can provide a new body if the original no longer exists. if the body no longer exists how do you touch the creature? ash? body goo?

In that case, you don't touch the creature; you speak the creature's name, as the spell says.

This says for any reason, somewhere else it says that a soul given to a devil can only be freed with divine intervention or a Wish spell. Which one is right?

Quote from Mikeim520 >>

This says for any reason, somewhere else it says that a soul given to a devil can only be freed with divine intervention or a Wish spell. Which one is right?

This isn't divine intervention or a Wish spell, so you can't use it to resurrect someone who can only be resurrected through divine intervention or a Wish spell.

Quote from Sneakyfox007 >>

It says you touch a creature but then later it says the spell can provide a new body if the original no longer exists. if the body no longer exists how do you touch the creature? ash? body goo?

 Think ghosts. 

This, and "Detect Poison and Disease," are the only spells that interact with Magical Contagions directly; you'd think you'd see more interaction somewhere in the game (between spells/class/subclass features) beyond that, lol.