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A role-player's dream come true

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 44 / 58
Date: December 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

EverQuest is a hugely popular multi-user online role playing game, where players buy the base software and then pay a monthly fee to connect to the server. The server holds the worlds that the players explore 24 hours a day - a world populated by computer-controlled people (NPCs, or non-player characters), by monsters, and by many, many other gamers. It is in many way a role-player's dream come true.

Where Ultima Online uses a top-down, isometric view a la Baldur's Gate, EverQuest goes for the in-your-face style of Doom or Thief. You can rotate through to other views, but the character-point-of-view seems to work best, truly immersing yourself in your world. You begin by choosing a server to play on - each server hosts a set of characters, quests, and NPCs. A given CD can allow up to 8 characters on each server. If you don't like a character, you can immediately delete it and make a new one - a nice feature compared to some of the other gaming systems that make you wait a week or more. On the downside, your new character only starts with a weapon and some food. The other gaming systems start you with a good amount of cash, which is why they don't let you simply cycle through characters in an attempt to build up wealth.

With the characters being polygon-based, they have done a nice job of allowing different facial features on the characters. You can choose from a wide variety of races. The traditional human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, etc. are here, but they throw in a lizard race, ogres, trolls, and intelligent black "erudites". On the downside, only the erudite is of color - everyone else is a "tan" with fixed hair and body. With Ultima Online, you can fully customize your hair color, length, and style, and skin color.

Classes (or professions) are done in the D&D-2 style instead of the new edition. This means that choosing a certain race limits which classes are available to you. The typical classes of paladin, warrior, wizard, ranger, etc. are available. You can choose from being an axe-wielding dwarf, a elven bowman, a human wizard, or many other combinations. You then customize your various statistics - strenght, charisma, intelligence, etc. to finalize your character.

There can only be one character of a given name in each world, which cuts down greatly on confusion between characters. Where some other gaming systems might have ten "Bilbos" running around, some good and some bad, in EverQuest you are the only character of your name in your server.

You start out in a city that promotes your race and profession. You can talk to the guild leader there, get some initial training for free, and maybe hear about a quest or two. You can start talking to other characters that roam the city, finding where the best lairs of monsters are, or perhaps of other interesting goings-on. Once you practice moving about in the city, it's time to head out into the Real World.

The world of EverQuest is *huge*, and as in most of these on line servers, it can literally take hours to walk across the continents. With the frontal view of EverQuest, you walk amongst the trees, past the shrubs, and see the monsters fly and wander right past you, scaled appropriately to size. The small snakes slither underfoot, while bats fly past your head and larger beasts tower over you. This is one area where EverQuest clearly shines - the immersive quality of exploration is fantastic. You have to learn 'sense heading' as you go. Each time you use any skill, be it swimming, fishing, clothes making, direction finding or fighting, you gain experience and knowledge in that skill.

After killing a few of the vermin of the forest, you gain items and money, which you can trade in for better weapons, armors or spells, and on you go. The beauty of the system is that it is open-ended, and that there are always players to interact with, no matter what your schedule is. If you work third shift or are an early riser, there are players there. If you're a night owl or have a few hours free in the afternoon, there those players are. You can leave your character when you're done, and when you return, your character will be exactly as you left it. The world around you, however, will NOT be - it has been growing and changing in the hours you were away! It's an incredibly dynamic system, constantly changing, with real life people interacting with it.

The ability to learn trade skills (like fishing, or cooking, or clothes making) greatly helps you become 'self supportive' and even create things for other characters. The inventory system has its good and bad points. The graphics are great, letting you see large, 3-dimensional images of the swords, backpacks, spell books, and other items. They are easy to keep track of and use, compared to other on line systems. On the downside, you can only carry 8 types of objects other than what you are wearing. If you get a backpack or sack you can increase this amount, but that is a bit limiting in the beginning.

Highly recommended because of the large number of roleplayers that help populate this world, and because of the high quality first-person graphics. Downsides include the integrated player-vs-player combat, where other systems keep pvp in its own 'area' so those who do not wish to fight players do not have to. Another downside is lack of detailed customization of a character's appearance.

I love it already.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 40 / 54
Date: August 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Well, it is still August and this software comes out in December, but I love it aready. Everquest has become my favorite game...ever.

I have read some of the bad reviews about this game being based on good 3-D graphics that aren't really that good. I disagree. The graphics in this game are wonderful. The different areas of the game look very different. Aside from the basic square design of the 'zones' they usually aren't very alike. The suroundings and NPCs look very different.

My second argument is that game is not BASED ENTIRELY on good graphics. This game is based on the interaction of real people from all around the world. When your character reaches higher levels it gets harder to do battle by yourself. They planned it this way so you would want to group with people and make friends. You don't have to group, but it is much easier to play and is, in my opinion, a lot more fun. This is a role playing game. YOU make it fun. Not the graphics or the sound. YOU. The great graphics sure make it a lot easier, but there is no substitute for good ol' friendship.

This game has so much variety already. Now they come out with the 2nd expansion which has another whole new continent! I don't see how this could be a bad purchase.

Have fun, Happy gaming!

Verant Stinks-But EverQuest is Awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 43 / 61
Date: October 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Okay, I run a [website] based in part on EverQuest. I am not a big fan of Verant and some of thier decisions regarding the game play are downright idiotic. However, this is still the best online game on the market by far and away. It's not Verant that makes this game good it is the interaction between people that makes it good. The broken quests in the game are few and far between. And sure there are a lot of bugs in it. Most of these bugs are documented and well known and the few major bugs that are left are in the game engine. The Major problems with the game are really only two... The spindoctoring/poor customer service of the game issues by Verant and finding enough time to play the addictive thing. Now, on to Scars... Scars of Velious you will find to be a Linear Dungeon... You must complete point A before going to Point B. They first tried this format with the keys being required to go into Selibus, Veeshan's Peak, and Howling Stones in Kunark. The Format works well in one respect. It reduces the amount of People in a given zone. The graphics are supposed to get a lot better in Scars because they are requiring a upgrade in your DirectX software. As with any major Verant Release expect this one to be buggy the first two or three weeks, after that they will have most of the major bugs ironed out and Patched.

Comblast Fizzes 54 Druid Prexus

The Only MMORPG!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 27
Date: November 21, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have played this game since the second month it was released in 1998. It is an amazing experience. You can decide to play however you like, some play for power, items, weapons, and armor, while others play to chat and talk to their online friends, much like you can in a program like the Palace.

You can work on skills like Swimming, Tailoring, Blacksmithing, Alchemy, Poison, etc... It takes a little while, some perseverance and time to become a master, but once you do yo uwill reep the rewards byt being able to sell the items you can craft and yo uwill make alot of friends if you have some of these skills ;)

Although I usually only focus on the skills I need for my personal characters, you can create up to 8 unique characters per server in Everquest! You can create these mules (toons) to hold extra lore items or to just have an arsenal of characters to play whether your guild or friends in a guild need a specific class for a raid (killing dragons, adventuring into difficult dungeons or even Altered Planes (Hate, Fear, Sky and more))!

I love this game!

It has taken more hours of my life away than any single activity in the past two years (almost) than any other.

You can now customize the color of the different types of text on screen to your liking, use Voice commands, Move the different on screen info panels around and resize them etc...

It is truly becoming better and better every time they patch it. But dont be dissuaded as stated here, the game is not perfect or without flaws, but overall its the best game I have EVER played. And thats saying ALOT.

I am 30 years old and some people dont understand how I can spend so much time playing EQ, but I just tell them they will never understand until they try for themselves.

Good Luck, and see you in Norrath or Kunark or Vellious!

You only need to have the first Everquest installed

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: October 17, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Sharon Mach, in order to play this expansion, you will only need to have the first CD of Everquest installed on your computer. You do not have to have Ruins of Kunark on your computer to play this expansion.

The Ruins of Kunark expansion gave you the ability to adventure on a new continent as well as allowing you to level your character to 60 instead of the previous cap of 50.

The Scars of Velious will be another added continent based on an ice landscape with approximately 16 to 17 zones. The lowest level zone (and the most accessable zone) in Velious has been designed for characters level 30 to 35. There are rumors of a zone that will give level 60 characters a run for their money.

Everquest - the expansion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 27
Date: November 21, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I've logged 187 play days to date in EQ....that's 187 x 24 hours....a wee bit more than the blurb's "several hundred hours"....why? Cause it's fun...it's immmersive and yes..your family will wonder where you've gone and why you are "still playing"?

EQ to date has been amazing. The world is huge and there is pretty much always something to do. I expect the new release to be interesting because it will be deviating from the current pattern in the game and will be a nice change.

I have pre-purchased and expect to enjoy it. RoK helped alleviate boredom in the game and gave us much more "stuff to do"...I expect the same from SoV.

Enjoy =)

A 60th level Sorceress on The Rathe.

"BOOM"

In counter to Badgerboy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 19
Date: October 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

While this game is not yet out and so I don't reallyhave the knowledge to review it, I would like to counter the review written in here earlier. Everquest is the most dynamic game that I have ever had the oppurtunity to play. The graphics are awe-inspiring at times to behold. The gameplay is very well laid out and improvements are made in the game on an almost weekly basis via patches. To all the negatives mentioned in the other review, yes, sometimes Everquest can be tedious doing the same thing over and over. But i think that this person did not play extensiviely on EQ to reach those higher levels. Of course at an early level you find your self doing the same thing. You have to do that in order to gain levels and reach adulthood (lvl20 where u gain your surname). After that the fun is exponential. There are so many zones to visit in the game and so many other interesting players to meet and group with you will never be bored.

I do hear a lot of complaints in game, on the chats, and on webpage forums by people complaining about class balance, why they dont have better armor/weapons all the time. It's these 'power-gamers' that gives this game a bad rep. The fun to be had in Everquest is not to see how many cool weapons, sick armor, awesome wands, etc. that you can get-but instead an immersion in a world of Dynamic proportion. If you want to powergame go buy Baldur's Gate get all the cheat codes then go on your merry way with plate+4 and a holy avenger...If you want to have fun in a multiplayer immense world that is the closest resemblance to the pen and paper games I used to love playing as a teenager, buy Everquest. This new expansion pack brings more exciting developments into a game that I've played for 10 months and still haven't seen everything there is to see. Woo boy now another whole continent for my 30+ characters to explore? Wow and I thought I was an addict before =) Do yourself a favor if you never want to spend time on any other games and don't buy EQ. Otherwise, grab EQ, Ruins of Kunark, and this new expansion and get ready to have the best time you have ever had in a game.

Kiss your Real Life goodbye!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: November 17, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Kiss your Real Life goodbye... Enough said!

Whining and complaining...GIVE IT A REST ALREADY

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 23 / 41
Date: November 02, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have got to say, I have also heard all the "horror stories" about Verant and their supposed lack of respect for players. All I can say is "If you don't like it, QUIT playing". You're ruining it for the rest of us. I for one have had NO problems with the game or it's GM's. When I've petitioned I've followed their guidlines and had satisfactory responses EACH time.

Now onto the game itself. One word....FABULOUS. I began playing this game almost a year ago. And in that time I have gone from the typical 'addict' to a more reserved game player. I got so wrapped up in the "reality" of this game that I almost forgot I had a real life. This game has the ability to transport you into such a dynamic and fascinating fantasy realm that you will actually loose touch with the real world. It is by far the greates RPG I have ever experienced online. It's depth of fantasy is only out matched by my own imagination.

One of the best aspects of this game is the grouping. I enjoy meeting different people and talking with them. I'd even classify some of my adventuring partners as close friends. I play a cleric and I cannot even begin to think what my experiences in this game would be if I decided to go *solo*. It is out of the question for me as I like the fact you are required to group with others. How fun is a game where you are *uber* and alone? You might as well just climb in a closet if you like playing this way. I for one enjoy this aspect more than the graphics (which rock) and the other outstanding features of EQ.

I cannot wait for Scars to arrive. My wife has already promised me an early Yule present and I am so nervous as each day passes and it's release comes closer.

Greywolffe, 36th seasoned Cleric

REPETITION WITH MARGINAL GAIN

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: December 16, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Overall, I enjoy the game (thus the three out of five rating).

SoV has added some new adventure and reward to the game and is a pretty decent value if you are already immersed in the game and have the basic game (required) and Kunark expansion (optional). SoV is easy to get to in the game and has a relatively short boat ride. I especially like the availability of experience hunting for outdoor targets in the 30-40 range that it offers as soon as you get off the boat, for those that don't like to fight in dungeons. There are numerous indoor and outdoor zones in the expansion and the level 30-45 plus adventurer will find a target rich environment appropriate for his or her level on the frozen continent.

Why not give the SoV expansion five stars? Everquest in general is a bit of a disappointment as you increase in level. You must invest an ever increasing amount of time (larger number of quests and kills) to gain a level, yet gaining the level adds only minimally to your ability to survive. Some classes cannot survive solo battle with monsters even two, three and four levels below their supposed equal, while others seem to plow through the competition (I have level 30-40 characters in the warrior/monk and druid/mage classes I am referring to here and understand the differences especially when combined in groups).

I have developed a large circle of friends online and have friends and coworkers to compare notes with offline. The game is addictive and continues to keep my interest, yet my level of frustration was rapidly increasing with similar detractors as mentioned in the previous reviews....

I am optimistic that this expansion will erase some the recent frustration and open the door to countless hours of interactive online entertainment. I really like the loot I have gotten in SoV, and hope some of the earlier zones will not be quite so crowded as the EQ universe has again expanded.

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