Everquest Review (95%)

Several years ago, 989 Studios (a division of Sony Computer Entertainment Group) along with Verant, began work on an online epic role-playing world, Norrath. 989 studios set their sights to a new and a sometimes precarious place, the online gaming world. One of the first to hit big in this genre was Origin which released Ultima Online (UO). Despite the lag, the bugs and the immature player killers (Pkers) that haunted every wood and thicket, UO was a hit. As the world of Norrath began to take shape, the developers began Beta tests (called phases of which there were four). Slowly but surely, they began to crack down on bugs, tweak things and other assorted things.

On March 16, Everquest was released and adventurers began to flood into the servers. Then of course, the unexpected happened. The God of Bad Luck reared his ugly head and a period of downtime began. Apparently, one of the ISPs that the servers connect to, Uunet experienced some trouble with their routers. Not only that, but also many people complained that the login time was way too long. During this dark period for Everquest in which Verant was being slammed with tons of hate mail, and people dubbing it "Neverquest", they along with Uunet worked around the clock to fix many of the problems.

Several weeks have gone by since the disaster of its release and I’m sure people are wondering if they really should get it. That can’t really be answered with a Yes or a No. There are still some little problems in Everquest but the EQ team is continually working to improve and to add to Norrath. So the Everquest that you buy several months from now will not be the same as the one that was released in March. Of course, you will have to spend some time downloading the patches from the patch server but it is worth the wait.

Okay, on to gameplay. There are twelve races along with fourteen classes, unique if limited amount of faces, and religion to choose from. Depending on your race, your starting location will vary. If you're a half elf, you can call Freeport, Kelethin, or Qeynos your home. Most races are limited to only one starting location. The "evil" races such as the Dark Elves, Orges, and Trolls cannot travel inside goodly towns without getting the snot beaten out of them by the guards that patrol the streets. The same goes for the good races.

When you start out, you're given some food, a weapon (this varies depending on what class you are), a note to the town guild (again this varies depending on your class), and a book of order which you can give to the Priest of Discord to become a player killer. Thus you begin your life in Norrath, and it’s pretty dull. As a level one character, you suck. The only foes you can grapple with are bats, rats and snakes. Try anything other than the ones previously mentioned and you will be destroyed. Life for a low-level fighter consists of hack-n-slash, running for your life while screaming at the top of your lungs and selling all sorts of loot from rat’s whiskers to skeleton bones. As you fight and kill creatures, you gain experience and when you have enough experience you go up a level. As you progress, you gain more hit points, more mana points (if you're a magic user) and the ability to learn a few new things like riposte, bind, dodge among other things. You will also be able to go further and further from your starting location. You can go as far as you want as level one but that wouldn’t be advisable since the creatures get tougher as you move away from your starting location.

Each race/class combination is ranked by difficulty like a warrior, which is low difficulty (anyone can swing a sword), and a magic user like an enchanter which is high difficulty (magic is not for everyone). Play whatever fits your personality. I chose a warrior because I cannot see myself with my nose buried in a tome. I love magic but I'd rather be in the thick of combat.

Magic plays a big role in most fantasy world’s and Norrath is not an exception. Each class that manipulates magic has their own set of spells and if you add them all together, there are more than 700 spells in the game. The spell effects are quite excellent, as is the variety of spells. As a Necromancer, you can summon a pet Skeleton to attack for you or to aid you in your attack. Magician’s also can summon pets, either air or fire elementals.

In order to play Everquest you must have a 3D accelerator that I believe most people have. Everquest is a beautiful world filled with great buildings from Temples to Arenas and the scenery is quite good. The graphics in Everquest, while stunning cannot compare to the graphics of Valve’s Half-Life or other excellent 3D shooters. However, Everquest blew both Ultima Online and Meridian 59, whose graphics pale in comparison, out of the water. Norrath is a vast world with three continents, each teeming with its own set of monsters (although some are the same especially near the cities like the rats, and the bats), quests and fantastical sights. They are many enemies from the all-powerful (and invincible) Griffins, Putrid Skeletons, and Orc Raiders to many other unsightly creatures. Also beware for certain npc’s that will attack you if you harm wolves and other forest creatures in front of them.

Verant should be commended for their attention to detail from the cities to the cool weather effects. I haven’t gone north of Qeynos or Freeport so I don’t know if it snows but the rain and lightning effects are really cool as are the other sounds that you might hear in your travels. Also, the music in Everquest is done quite well and it sets the mood perfectly, from the bustling city of Freeport to the dreary land of the Dark Elves. Everquest isn’t just a hack-n-slash game; it also features a variety of quests in each city. To perform a quest you have to speak to a npc (non-player character) and help them with their problem. In some instances you receive money, an item, or experience.

Suprisingly, there are not a lot of problems in Everquest, at least not from what I can see. My only major complaint is the lag because some areas are so crowded it becomes a chore to even move two steps. Black Burrows, a gnoll stronghold near the human city of Qeynos is so popular that more than seventy people enter to fight. There are no doubt other problems with Everquest but considering that Everquest is a work in progress, most of the bugs (however minor they are) will be taken care of. A bug that comes to mind (if you can really call it a bug) is that there are spawning points in which after a monster dies, another one appears. I spent an hour by one such point, with a few other people hacking and slashing as one monster after another appeared. It’s not really a bug but it sure makes leveling up easier.

Like most online games, you have to pay to play and many gamers ask "Is it worth it?" I can’t really answer this for you but I tell my reasons for paying to play. Unlike some gamers I know, I buy perhaps one or two games a year. I think it is a waste of money to buy five or six games a month. That is just plain ridiculous. I wanted something that would last a long time and Everquest fits that requirement. Not only is it a vast role-playing world, it’s a living breathing world that is constantly evolving. The EQ Team is sure to add more features to Norrath and as I said earlier, the Everquest you buy several months from now will not be the same Everquest that I bought. Everquest is definitely worth the money because it is immensely fun and in-depth (if not time consuming :).