I’ve always been quite the computer geek, and never was this more apparent than from the spring of 2002 into that summer as I played Everquest for (unnecessarily) long periods of time everyday. Eventually it bored me, not to mention it was outdated (even with the Luclin models) and there were quite a few things I disliked about it. At the time I decided to leave the game, my main character was a Level 30-something (or was it 20-something?) Wood Elf Ranger. I had a guild that I was the leader of; which I later disbanded during one of my four-hour-long returns to the game (there were very few of these). I had gotten tired of it – I couldn’t find anything new to do.
Fast forward to last night. I’m at Walmart, picking up some valve caps for my tires (someone decided they wanted mine, apparently). I decided to see what there was in the way of games.
Right there, for $30 (with the obligatory 30-day subscription included) was Everquest II. I debated purchasing it for a good 20 minutes, to be quite honest. I wanted to see what had changed. Then I thought, if I’m going to get an MMORPG, it should be World of Warcraft (I have friends who play it). But alas, WoW was $20 more – and I wasn’t willing to pay $50 for a game that I might want to sell when the inluded 30-day subscription expired. So Everquest II it was.
I came home. I installed it. I played it for a good couple of hours last night (recreating my character at one point). Dredije has returned (though, he hasn’t earned a surname yet – whether or not I’ll stick with Pathweaver, I don’t know). He is, of course, a Wood Elf. Only a scout (class)…but as I progress he will become a ranger (subclass); as before. I have to say, I’m rather impressed by the changes since the original. The most obvious thing is a great improvement in graphics, which I’m not going to bother trying to describe so I’ll just give you some screenshots I took:
- Dredije standing near a tower [PNG] – note the character detail.
- Dredije on a block in some pool style thing [PNG] – check out the water texture, and reflection.
- Dredije taking a swim [PNG] – note the reflections, distortion of objects that are under water, and rippling.
All of these screenshots were taken in “balanced” graphics mode, which is a mix between performance and pertiness. Actually, some might be from the setting just slightly more towards graphic quality than perfomance. That is, these aren’t even the best the game can look and they’re still damn good! It runs well at this setting, note my hardware: AMD XP 2400+, Geforce FX5600 256MB, 1GB DDR RAM.
On to features of the game. Note I’ve not made it out of the first zone yet, so this is completely from a “newbie” point of view – but with much experience in the original EQ. First, character creation includes the ability to modify your apperance – right down to your eyes, nose, and mouth. I wish they gave more options regarding your body appearance, as it is you can only choose your height – but it isn’t that big of a deal. Right from the start you have quests, and they Quest journal is very well done – seperating quests up into categories, and some even have waypoints – markers of places which are part of the quest. And then there’s the paths…not as in trails, but an actualy yellow, glowing line that extends out in front of you to help you find your way. This is used for waypoints for quests, leading you to them, and also if you ask a guard where you can find a certain NPC. It’s even integrating into the tracking ability of the Scout class, which is a great improvement over the “target is straight ahead”, “target is to the right” guidance that we got in the original.
Inventory slots seem to have been reduced, which is disappointing. No more carrying of tons of stuff that you don’t particularly need. But the shared bank slots are great – allowing you to share items between your characters (on one server). I haven’t experienced the griffins yet, one of the new methods of traveling around Norrath, but they sound like a very good idea. And, hopefully later this evening, I’ll have acquired the initial domicile that your character is given. I believe you can store items here, but I’m not sure. It should be interesting to see.
Overall, I’m impressed with this game. But I will have to see if it stands the “test of time”. I won’t be letting myself get so engulfed by this one, I have a life now so it’s going to have to come second, but when I’m at home after work I don’t really have much to do – so it’s perfect for then.
Well, that’s about it folks. My posts are getting longer, and I really need to fix the alignment of the “Next Page” thing so I can make use of it. Maybe I’ll get around to that later tonight.
