Then again, they weren't fully acquainted with EverQuest II. the blokes back at the guild never said adventuring would be this stressful. Could it be the errant result of a frost giant's bowel movement? Nay, there's an angry Earth elemental charging your way, and the only help at hand are two slovenly schoolmates currently posing as barbarian swordsmen. But before you or the rest of the party can react, a frothing clump of spherical objects bedecked in moss comes tumbling over the horizon. Keyboard clasped firmly, you resolutely reach for the hotkey that conveys puzzlement. Ominous rumbles echo throughout the Commonlands. That’s going to be a very important part of it but we're also going to have other non-confrontational methods of earning experience and gaining advancements." We’re in - pass the lute. Also, we're going to be supporting more gameplay styles so the game’s not going to be all about killing the biggest monster. The only choice you’re going to have to make when you first sign on to the game is what race you want to be. Is it just EQ with more pixels-per-beard? "We want to make the game as accessible as possible. OK, we’re sold on the graphics, what about the gameplay. "The variety of appearance options we’re going to have is just outrageous." He then zoomed in on a close-up of a human female to prove the point, adding that motion capture is being used to finish the illusion of realism. All this and you’re only going to need a GeForce 3 to play it.īill Trost, lead designer on EverQuest II seemed suitably impressed by our initial reactions to the game and decided to reveal a bit more about the playerĬharacters, obviously the most important facet of any online RPG. The game might be broadband-only but it looks as good as almost any offline game you can name, taking advantage of dynamic lighting (all objects cast shadows), bump-mapping and multilayered texturing. Fortunately, seeing the game running online at E3 shattered any misconceptions we might have shared. I mean c’mon, what game do you know that has a playable environment that looks like that? Puh-leaze!". Here’s a brief snippet: "OK, about those screenshots of EverQuest II. There’s a letter in Mailbox this issue that accuses Verant and Sony Online Entertainment of mocking-up early EverQuest II screenshots in order to create a buzz about the game. Some of the art direction might leave you a bit jaded ' a few of the character models especially - but in spite of that, EverQuest II is still a tremendous visual powerhouse. The textures, animation, and spell effects are all dazzling, but a lot of the wow factor comes from the smaller details, like the beautiful water or shadow effects. Never before have I seen this much detail and care put into a MMORPG's visuals, and never before have I had to stop and just take in the sights of a virtual landscape. PvP, likewise, is noticeably lacking in any shape or form, and if you delight in hearing your enemy's lament of agony after a hard-fought battle, you might want to steer clear of EverQuest II.įrom a technical standpoint, EverQuest II looks amazing. The rewards are nice enough, sure, but you'll find yourself doing the quests with just the reward in mind ' not because they're actually any fun. Quests, by and large, are simplified fetch tasks, and aren't dynamic in any sense. Better yet, the combo system flows over to the group setting, too, allowing you to pull off big combos with a coordinated effort from group mates. With a new combo system that's initiated through performing special abilities in a specified order, you can pull off a variety of powerful abilities. Combat, for example, is much more enjoyable than in most MMORPGS despite it still revolving around the stagnant auto-attack action. As you advance your character along the way (and bash in many a enemy's skull), you can then choose from a profession that specializes your ability set, and eventually, you can choose an even more defined sub-class.Įven if there weren't many revolutionary steps taken with EverQuest II, it does refine a lot of the core mechanics of the MMORPG genre. From the outset, you choose from the four standard classes: priest, caster, scout, or warrior. Now I find myself addicted all over again, with my feet planted in a world that feels so familiar, yet so estranged.ĮverQuest II, unlike the first EverQuest, doesn't bring a whole lot of new features to the table. Well, that is until EverQuest II came out.
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