Reviews / previews
Its been over three years since the launch of the groundbreaking original EverQuest, and now Sony is ready to show EverQuest II. Set in Norraths future, EQII will be a huge step forward with more intuitive gameplay, more tactical combat, a branching character development system, and a tradesman class that enables peaceful players to advance without combat. The sequel will also feature player-owned boats, horses, and even real estate, so youll have a place to call your own.
-- 0 / GamePro
For almost a year now, there hasnt been much of substance to say about EverQuest II, other than the fact that it was one of the coolest games at E3. That was before Sony Online released the full class tree for the sequel to the big papa of the current MMORPG crop and gave a glimpse into how the game will play.
Players will start out as commoners and will play as simple folk until Level 5. At that point, youll be given a choice to become a fighter, mage, priest, scout, or artisan. At Level 15, youll have another choice within each category. Fighters can choose among Warrior, Crusader, or Brawler, for example. Then, at Level 30, you can further specialize into what appear to be good and evil versions of each (Paladin vs. Shadow Knight, Ranger vs. Assassin).
Counting all the base classes, EQII will feature 47 classes, more than any other class-based MMORPG on the market. Some look like new versions of old favorites (Warrior, Monk), while others look like original EQ classes split in half (Enchanters become Illusionists or mind-controlling Coercers). Of course, the Artisan class tree is specifically noncombat and exists for those who want less hack-n-slash and more social interaction.-- 0 / GamePro
Seeing EverQuest II for the first time at last years E3 was a revelation, but some questions nagged us: Could an MMORPG really look that good? Could Sony Online really remove itself from the established weirdness of EverQuest to produce something thats not only different but also better?
You Have Become Better at MMORPG Design (201)!
We played EQII at the EverQuest Fan Faire in Las Vegas in front of a crowd of jealous, plotting EverQuest fans. Despite the fact that we got in for free and the Faire attendees paid tons of money to be there, we had a good, solid four hours or so with the game, and with some exceptions, its fair to say that the answers to the above questions are in the affirmative.
Working under the belief that MMOs had to be graphically simpler than the average contemporary single-player game, EQII players will find their expectations trounced in the first moments of the game. The early version included a ship-board tutorial that not only introduced the basic concepts of the game (how to speak to NPCs, buy things from merchants, and kill monsters and take their stuff) but also the cool graphical tricks EQIIs designers are using.
Besides the sweet graphical look, the game itself is actually quite different from the EQ some of you know and love. Emphasis is now on small encounters rather than huge raids, and once you engage an enemy, youre locked into that fight until one of you dies. No one can attack your foe unless you call for help, but in doing so, you surrender any reward for the fight in exchange for an increased chance of survival. This keeps kill-stealing to a minimum while also emphasizing pre-encounter preparednessmagic users can no longer sit and regain mana during a combat, so they have to fight smarter while the battles are going on.
BetterQuest
In the version we played, there were a few snags. Low frame rates made the game chunky when tons of characters were around, and on some PCs, the visual options had to be rolled back quite a bit, even with 512 MB of RAM. Still, those are the things developers fix last, so you can expect the game to perform better when it launches this fall.-- 0 / GamePro
After seeing EverQuest II in action at the recent Sony Online Entertainment press demo, one thing is clear--the designers behind EverQuest II take the EverQuest name seriously.
Very seriously.
The storyline picks up 500 years after the events depicted in the first EverQuest. As the characters in that game grew more powerful and their abilities more divine, the gods of Norrath felt increasingly threatened. Thus, they plotted a cataclysmic event that would halt the ascension of man--in this case, an earthquake. Upon starting a new game, players awaken on a tropical island--a sort of way station for refugees.
Sadly, you can't port over old characters from the first EverQuest, but you'll be able to take advantage of family heritage to continue your original character's blood line. Though you must create your characters from scratch, the character creation suite in the beta already looked amazing. Besides the new playable race (the dexterous rodent Rotangas), EverQuest II is shaping up to include far more character-building tools than ever before. Players can now bestow tremendous detail upon their avatars, including wrinkles and other subtle facial details.
As for the different character classes, there are five main character archetypes in EverQuest II: mage, priest, fighter, scout and artisan (which includes many of the non-fighting classes so popular from the first game). Later in the game, as characters gain experience and learn new skills, they'll come across branching paths that allow for extra skill specialization. Ultimately, this breaks down to 24 "action" classes and nine different vocations.
Sometimes, it's the little things that count. The designers aren't just blindly adding to the cherished EverQuest II mythos. Many additions and changes are specifically designed to address particular gripes with the first--and still extremely popular--EverQuest. One major change is the fact that you'll never lose a character level upon dying. Instead, you'll assume an experience point debt, which will lift almost entirely if you can retrieve the Spirit Shard left at the site of your death. Fear not--even if you can't reach your Spirit Shard, you'll automatically re-absorb that missing experience after three days (even if you're offline).
Other, smaller penalties that come with dying include a small hit to your stats (like health), plus some extra item wear-and-tear. Another huge improvement comes with the tweaked healing and rest system. No longer will players be forced to wait ten, twenty, or even thirty minutes simply to recover hit points. Now, healing takes place on a percentage-based basis--the longest you'll ever have to wait to recover your health is one mere minute. Hallelujah!
As for graphics, the beta version of EverQuest II shined with vibrant textures and shockingly detailed character models. It was even possible to make out fine facial details like lines and wrinkles. The expansive environments have also seen a tremendous upgrade--you can see enemies when they're yards in front of you, unlike the last EverQuest. There were also some amazing spell effects on display, such as the Thorn Shield spell, which made 3D volumetric spikes sprout from the player's skin in real-time. Visually, the most impressive aspect is that the game's graphics were only set to roughly 65% of the highest possible settings--it looked amazing as it was, but we can only imagine what the game looks like at its highest settings. Of course, you'd need some seriously powerful hardware.-- Vicious Sid / GamePro
EverQuest II is a lot like its father-a dense and complex RPG set in a rich world that almost requires a lifetime to fully enjoy. But for all the improvements, the game is still very much rooted in old MMORPG philosophies. The ebb and flow will feel very familiar to people who've been playing these kinds of games for a while.
Fire and Ice
The game's key strengths are group combat, character development, and immersion. Soloing in EQII can be a drag if you're not careful and patient, but once you have a group of like-minded adventurers with you, it's extremely entertaining (especially with the Heroic Opportunity "group combos"), and the character animation and spell effects are startling in their fluidity. Each player in the game looks unique thanks to the superb character generation, and the game lets you branch off into a number of specializations as your level progress, making you feel that much more special. The designers do a good job making you feel like you're "living" in Norrath rather than just playing a game there, with fully voiced NPCs, lots of flavor text and historical footnotes, and a quest system that forces you to fully explore instead of leading you around by the hand. The "newbie experience" is also worth noting, as the intro bits do a great job explaining the nuances of MMOs to people who find themselves in unfamiliar territory.
The game's two key weaknesses are the art direction and the pacing. While EQ II is technically hyper-impressive (it probably won't look outdated for a couple years at least thanks to the crazy number of customization options), the artists didn't quite utilize the technology to the fullest. Many characters and enemies look superb, but the world they live in looks drab, depressing, and under-designed. The user interface is simple and clean, but the icons and frames are extremely dull. Quests are just about pouring out of every orifice in the game (simply look for someone to "wave" to you to know if he or she's got one), but you spend too much time running from point A to point B and back again or looking for hard-to-find NPCs or too-specific creatures in a field full of similar-looking monsters.
Continental Shift
EverQuest II a metric crapload of game, to be sure-complex, huge, versatile, and lots of fun with friends, but slow-paced and visually schizophrenic. When Norrath calls, you'd better be prepared to give a very long answer.-- 0 / GamePro
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