You know why they call it “EverCrack” don’t you? Because hundreds of thousands of people just can’t stop playing.  But let’s be honest here, EverQuest is starting to look a little dated.  Ok, not just dated, ugly. So with the obvious intention of creating the next great massively multiplayer online RPG, Sony has unleashed EverQuest 2.  And it’s quite an improvement, not just graphically, but everywhere else as well.

Same World. Different Story.

Forget what you know about Norrath. Set 500 years after EverQuest, the world in EverQuest 2 is an ungodly mess.  A great cataclysm has practically torn the world apart leaving much of the land in a state of disarray.  But the forces of good and evil are gathering their followers in the cities of Qeynos and Freeport.  As a new inhabitant of Norrath you much choose who you wish to align yourself with.

Champions of the N00b Zone

EverQuest 2 has learned the lessons of past online RPGs very well.  Gone is the directionless wandering and constant pleas for help that peppered the early levels of EverQuest.  In its place is a wonderfully crafted newbie zone known as the Isle of Refuge.  After a quick tutorial during your ship bound passage, you’re dropped off on the Isle where you learn the finer points of the game, interact with other new players, and get a chance to zip up five or six levels.

EverQuest 2 does an excellent job easing the player into the game.  And you’ll find that the interface is much easier to handle.  Almost every function in the game is accessed through on-screen buttons and menus as opposed to slash commands.  It’s not nearly as streamlined as City of Heroes, but there are a lot more things to keep track of in this game. 

Good vs. Evil

This becomes painfully apparent when you finally reach your home city.  Depending on your choice of good or evil, you’ll either end up in the ridiculously mean-spirited Freeport, or the incredibly fruity Qeynos.  The game’s not subtle.  The good people are all sickeningly sweet, and the evil folks go out of their way to be jerks.  Whichever path you choose, prepare to spend a lot of time in the major cities because they are huge.

New players are dropped off in ghetto neighborhoods.  These areas serve as yet another training area, allowing players to come to grips with the more advanced features in the game, like housing, crafting, and special kinds of quest that allow character advancement. Eventually you gain access to the rest of the city and here’s where you’ll fully understand the scope of what EverQuest 2 has to offer.

They don’t Call it EverQuest for Nothing

EverQuest 2 is not just big, it’s an enormous wad of content.  At release, most games of its ilk are a little light, but not EQ2.  As you wander the dozens of districts, boroughs, alleyways, and sewers (hey, it wouldn’t be an RPG without ‘em) practically every non-playable character you encounter will be calling out for your for help.  And in EverQuest 2, they really do call out for help.  Almost all dialogue is spoken.  Not only that, the voice acting is pretty good.  It does begin to grate on your nerves when that bard you’ve passed 20 times within the last half-hour asks you to listen to his song again, but what the developers have managed to pull off here is impressive.

The quests aren’t terribly deep, but they are often long and challenging.  They also do a good job keeping you focused on doing something other than just standing around killing snakes in a field to level up.  In fact, we hit 10 levels just by wandering around doing quests. It was painless, which appears to be an exciting new concept in online RPGs.

Character Growth

The basic gameplay mechanics aren’t innovative, but do function well.  Players start as one of four basic classes.  As you progress you are given the ability (through questing) to pick from one of several subclasses, which can then be further modified as you gain levels.

Combat and questing follow the same basic gist as other games.  Once in combat, you can use different moves and attacks you’ve learned.  A nice addition is the new heroic move system.  This allows groups of players to execute special combos that result in extra damage for different status effects.

Funky Graphics

The graphics in EverQuest 2 are undeniably state of the art. But there’s something unpleasant about them.  Characters look like plastic dolls, and the fine facial details are often obscured by the over aliased look of the entire game.  Often, you’ll find yourself squinting at the screen because things look out of focus.  That said, the environments and architecture are amazing.  Both Qeynos and Freeport feel like living, breathing cities.  And when you finally start exploring the great outdoors, you’ll find that just as detailed.  No more miles and miles of boring, empty terrain a la Star Wars Galaxies.

It’s too bad the game slows to a crawl in congested areas of both major cities.  There are a multitude of graphical setting you can tweak, but isolating the one thing that’s causing your PC to go into convulsions is a pain.  So it’s easier to just turn all of the global settings down.  This, of course, makes the game look significantly worse.

Missing in Action

For such a complete game, the lack of player versus player optiosn is puzzling, especially when you’re basically told to pick a side from day one.  Not only that, but the whole back story appears to be pointing to some grand conflict.  But that’s not currently in the cards.

This greatly reduces the amount of things players can expect to do once they reach higher levels. Quests or no quests, you can only kill that giant she-spider so many times before you begin to wonder what it’s all about. Late game adventuring appears to focus on keeping the status of your guild higher than any other guild.  Frankly, that’s pretty disappointing.  We suspect Sony will have to rethink the high-level content to keep players happy, especially with so much competition.

Get Questing

EverQuest 2 is an undeniably polished game.  It will offer you months and months of new things to do and experience.  The development team clearly did its homework and delivered a game that addresses many of the problems inherent in most online RPGs.  If you’ve previously taken a pass on the likes of EverQuest because games like this seem a little too daunting it’s time to bite the bullet.  It’s newbie-friendly, but it’s got plenty of content for hardcore players as well.