EverQuest II Preview

This ain’t your daddy’s EverQuest.

The world of Norrath has been around since the late 1990s, and still maintains a huge online community. But just as it progressively pursues the leadership role in gaming entertainment, Sony Online Entertainment is taking the game to the next level with the release of EverQuest II. 

This is a game that is amazing graphically, and boasts a variety of new features guaranteed to sate the appetites of fans of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game genre. SOE was showing off the title at the Electronic Entertainment Exposition in Los Angeles Thursday.  

The world is stunningly rendered. The game sports dynamic lighting and shadows. The player models are customizable, including outfitting your avatar with piercings and tattoos, but also aging them with a slider bar. Character do not all have to look as though they were 20, but instead can take on the visage of a battle-harden veteran.  

The first look at this PC title was one of wonder. Imagine a dragon towering over a company of players. It eyes them menacingly, then rears and sends a stream of its fell breath to wash over the players. They stiffen and then all is stripped away, leaving only skeletons, which crumble to the ground.  

Every new player to the world will receive an apartment and players can actually work up to owning houses and mansions within the town. The latter properties are not virtual, but instead other players will be able to see them. The game also has instanced dungeons so that players and groups of players will have the opportunity to experience dungeons and mob boss encounters without having the mob camped.  

The mob AI is geared to be almost make it seem as though they are being controlled by players. The mobs have “encounter brains” which they will use to react to attacks. Mobs will work together in groups. 

Other features include: 

• Voices for almost every non-player character (NPC) in the game, a huge project encompassing almost 100,000 lines and 130 hours of dialog
• 16 races  and 24 classes with a branching system that allows players to choose their class as they advance
• No race/class combination limitations, allowing players to truly choose who they want to be in game
• New user friendly game mechanics with reduced learning curve for both new and seasoned players
• More than 160 unique creature types, from Orcs and Goblins to huge dragons and menacing Living Statues
• Incentives for current EverQuest subscribers
• A state-of-the-art, cinematic quality 3D graphics engine capable of improving as hardware technology advances
• State-of-the art combat, spell and skill systems
• Trade skills available to all player classes

This is a game that will be PvE (player versus environment) upon release and players will only be able to attain level 50.   

It is apparent that the designers of EQ2 have put a lot of time into their product. The game looks great, with splendid graphical elements. Spells, character movement, mobs, and even environments are remarkable to the eye.  

This was only an abbreviated first look, but EQ2 is not merely content to barely hurdle the bar, it seems intent in raising it where MMPs are concerned.

For All E3 2004 Previews