I would be interested in the Everquest Lore, if they put it in a good game. EQ2 is so clunky and that engine is so bad i couldn't play it long enough to appreciate the good things it may have.
Except i do not agree with this .. Weak points: Low population; This is true but that is not the game's fault. bad graphics; This is really baffling,there are only about 4-5 games NOW several years later with better. bad animations;I feel they have rock solid animations bad engine; Well this is up n the air,bad engine or bad people working on it? HORRIBLE UI/skill bars layout(think WoW x5)...It is a typical layout that also allows you to change it around.As well just like Wow there are add ons that people used for years,i believe was called Prophet. Read more at http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/460803/why-does-nobody-mention-everquest-2-when-suggesting-mmos#9o1DkwCGdBHftJJD.99
IMO other than point 1 low pop.it does everything else better than Wow,the most populated game out there,so it is not the game that is the problem.
The truth is as it has always been,the MAJORITY of first time online mmo gamer's started with Wow,so that is what they know,that is where their heart is,has nothing to do with EQ2 versus Wow,they simply never gave EQ2 a chance,heading directly for Wow.
Yes i can agree on far too many abilities,but guess what,that other game known as Wow,people are using add-ons so obviously that game is too much to handle as well,so again i fail to see this point as an argument. Back on topic of graphics,again we use Wow as the example because it is the most populated.Wow's compression and resolution of textures is better than EQ2 but the quality of the actual textures is garbage.My point is it does not matter what Blizzard does with their graphics because the textures they use are crap.So again if millions accept sub part graphics in Wow this is most certainly NOT the problem with EQ2.
It is ALWAYS a popularity contest,that is why the first game people look at when deciding a ARPG/Moba is LOL or Blizzard,even though there are better options out there or at least equal options for less money.
My rating EQ2 is top 5 all time..a 7/10...Wow a 5.5/10.The rest of the clones are around a 2-4/10.BTW EQ2 is also a revamped better version of EQ1,does everything better and EQ1 was the msot populated game,so it is all about timing,the era and the popular destination at the time.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
My biggest reason for why it's not mentioned much... all the core EQ2 players can see Daybreak is trying to kill the franchise with shitty patches, expansions, and all around money grab techniques.
EQ2 was a great game and one that I use to recommend. The fact is there was really nothing wrong with EQ2 and it was for a long time the best MMORPG on the market. What happened to EQ2 was Sony pushing it to a F2P, P2W, Cash shop model. When they started to do this people left the game in hordes, then it wasn't self sufficient and it didn't have the funds to maintain it. Now expansions are laughable and the state of the game is pretty terrible. Daybreak just makes it worse.
I tried to get back into EQ2 a few years ago (i played for 2 months at launch). It really hasnt aged well at all, especially when you compare it to WoW which came out around the same time. I lasted 30mins before i was uninstaling. It felt clunky, dont really know how else to describe it.
EQ2 killed the franchise with it's clay fighter graphics, throwaway gameplay and terrible design decisions. EQ was at the height of it's popularity when EQ2 released, almost the same time as WoW. The game proved to be laughable and has been trying to badly copy WoW ever since.
It's like saying, "why don't more people like Terminator Salvation?" Because it's an embarrassing sequel that's why. Few games deserve your money or praise less than EQ2.
EQ2 was pretty awful. It was not worthy of the EQ name afaic. It started a little closer to the genuine article, but only got worse as more and more convenience and lazy mechanics were utilized. Going back and playing again a few years ago, I found it beyond bad that so much of the world was instanced and repurposed for other things. A place that was once a dungeon can now be entered in three different instanced modes, providing content for various level ranges.
That's lazy and unacceptable in a virtual world, especially one bearing the EQ name.
I played EQ1 for years, back when 'Evercrack' was a real thing, the trouble is that when they created EQ2, it was almost as if they didn't know why EQ1 was popular, it had the Everquest name sure, but you could almost imagine that whoever was responsible for EQ2, didn't really have much experience of EQ1, the EQ veneer was very very thin in EQ2, honestly you could have changed a few of the names for things and put the game out there and nobody would have known it was an Everquest game, instead Vanguard seemed to contain those factors that were more commonly associated with Everquest, its a shame that the game was never really finished, it had far more possibilities than EQ2 ever had.
I loved Everquest and I loved Everquest 2 too. I think you can love both without betraying the other .They are different games which even if they are set in the same universe are able to stand alone and proud and my god who does not love the housing in EQ2?
EQ2 is like having a game called Chocolate Cake Online II that is actually Lemon Cake I. Sure, there are people who like Lemon Cake, but it's still not what it says it is.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
Been there done that. And I hate questing. I very much hate the go out and kill ten pigs kinda questing. If I have to quest at all and I do not really want to I expect to be invested in a well written story that draws me in to the npc characters. But EQ2 was a shiny star in it's time and I had no problem with it's character creation. I am glad it still has it's following. I approved of it's furniture drops. Was fun to get random stuff for you housing. And I think it was a large mmo that could run on lower end pc's. I could play as a dark elf. Sad that Everquest Next died had hopes there.
I used to know some of the SOE employees when EQ2 launched. I worked in the same building at the time. The story I heard was that the techs were telling Smed that the engine was not ready for launch and Smed just said they had to beat Wow to release. Hence EQ2 was really hurt by a poor release, you just could not run the game unless on a high end computer for the first year. It just never recovered and now is quite dated. At least Blizzard made enough changes to keep Wow somewhat current, while EQ2 has never had that luxury.
I loved the housing, but that didn't compensate for the sub-standard elements. Like others have said, the combat was not good (not up to EQ1's standards even).
The absolute worst part for me was the overuse of loading screens. My impression has always been that it seemed to have more loading screens than any other game. On top of that, loading can be a slow, laborious process even on modern machines. The perceived result is that I simply end up watching loading screens more than controlling my character. To me, that's not playing, at least not satisfying game play.
Once the horrid performance and extreme hardware requirements are factored in, EQ2 wasn't nearly as good as EQ1, and certainly not as smooth or polished as WoW. EQ2 was immediately a 2nd class citizen in the MMORPG universe, and never really overcame its lackluster design.
I won't recommend EQ2 over EQ1 in their current incarnations.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Except i do not agree with this .. Weak points: Low population; This is true but that is not the game's fault. bad graphics; This is really baffling,there are only about 4-5 games NOW several years later with better. bad animations;I feel they have rock solid animations bad engine; Well this is up n the air,bad engine or bad people working on it? HORRIBLE UI/skill bars layout(think WoW x5)...It is a typical layout that also allows you to change it around.As well just like Wow there are add ons that people used for years,i believe was called Prophet. Read more at http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/460803/why-does-nobody-mention-everquest-2-when-suggesting-mmos#9o1DkwCGdBHftJJD.99
Seriously, you think there is only 4-5 games now looking better? Come on, Vanguard looked far better when it released already. EQ2 looked great in 2004 but it have not aged as well as more cartoonish games and almost all modern MMOs look better. When AoC and WAR released 2008 it was no question that the graphics were dated already then.
As for the engine it have always been laggy (particularly in the cities) no matter what computer you have. That a game like GW2 or ESO that looks miles better have way higher FPS on the same computer is just sad. The engine have always been EQ2s weakest point and is one of the more important reasons Wow beat it so badly.
I never thought the animations were bad though and while the standard UI is rather uninspired I seen plenty worse, and as you say it can easily be customized.
EQ2 was a pretty good game but that was years ago, it was best around 2005-2007.
Honestly, not to make this about WoW...but its because WoW is better for a themepark game. Honestly, WoW vs EQ2 is a fair match up, both came out about same time, both themeparks. However...
EQ2 is like vanilla WoW, but take out all the lore and stylized graphics and replace it with very hard to find lore and crappy graphics that run worse than WoW does despite looking fugly as hell
Take WoW today, and WoW is like a cinematic story experience. The questing is intense and fun, the lore is great, the story is great (for an MMO) and the world is very immersive. It also has a lot less loading screens and runs a lot better. WoW I get 60 FPS, EQ2 I get crappy graphics and have a VERY hard time running it.
EQ2 has its upsides. The community is good (though a bit elitist and snobby), the housing is 3rd best in MMO genre (only SWG and UO beating it out), its about PVE and doesn't focus on PvP (an MMO should focus on one or the other) and there is a TON of content
However. That content is pretty boring. If I want to play a themepark with fun gameplay and content, I go to WoW. Crafting is overhyped, SWG has way better crafting. SWG and UO have way better housing. The crafting classes aren't fun at all (WoW has far more fun crafting, as an Engineer I can make explosives, robotic pets and all kinds of fun things. Alchemy gets a TON of fun stuff. Cooking in WoW is also very fun) or in SWG which doesn't have that fun craftables as WoW, is still far better than anything else as far as crafting goes.
I tried EQ2. Got to level 20 and was left in a world with no direction. There was no grand story line like in WoW, no fun combat like WoW, nothing at all cinematic about the game. Then there was no awesome virtual world like in SWG. In WoW, I'm bombarded with so much lore about the world, so much knowledge...each race has a TON of lore. In EQ2, each race (and this was the biggest reason for me not liking it) felt like a no name race with no background history barely. Maybe it was out there in EQ2, but the race lore was nearly non-existent. WoW did their race lore a lot better, and maybe it wasn't better, but they sure made the lore easy to find and easy to follow compared to EQ2.
And that is why I play themeparks, for lore, fun, cinematic experience. EQ2 had none.
Then EQ2's big selling point of housing...well...SWG is far better for that. And SWG has a far better virtual world.
Honestly, Blizzard killed EQ2 in every way. They designed WoW with better art style (which EQ2 art style is crap today), and just far better lore, story and fun combat.
Plus honestly, while EQ2's community isn't really bad. If you are an outsider, they REALLY drive those types of people out of the community if they act in any way the EQ2 players find weird or odd or different than them...very...secular, elitist and snobby feeling community. I didn't like it.
Plus when I joined a guild in EQ2, the players acted TOO nice. The whole community felt creepy to me. As in, it felt like they were faking being nice and the whole community honestly felt like one of those Twilight Zone kind of things lol. Like I just entered a small town in the US which is really a weird cult that doesn't like anyone not part of their cult or act like them, but they still act overly nice to win you over.
That is nothing more than a matter of opinion. I hate WoW and it's community of children.
IIRC EQ2 devs looked in the wrong crystal ball and developed the EQ2 engine to be future proof for a technical evolution that never happend (focus on single core CPUs and these taking the main load instead of multicore CPUs and powerful GPUs). That was the major reason that even high end PCs crashed & burned at EQ2 at release and also stunted a lot of future development.
I'm pretty sure if they had that little insight done right the whole MMO landscape would look a bit different by now. Probably even with a SOE being intact.
The only part of EQ2 that I truly do enjoy is the Shiny collectibles. It's an interesting distraction where you collectibles scattered throughout the world for gear, furniture, AA xp, and other interesting items.
Comments
Weak points:
Low population; This is true but that is not the game's fault.
bad graphics; This is really baffling,there are only about 4-5 games NOW several years later with better.
bad animations;I feel they have rock solid animations
bad engine; Well this is up n the air,bad engine or bad people working on it?
HORRIBLE UI/skill bars layout(think WoW x5)...It is a typical layout that also allows you to change it around.As well just like Wow there are add ons that people used for years,i believe was called Prophet.
Read more at http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/460803/why-does-nobody-mention-everquest-2-when-suggesting-mmos#9o1DkwCGdBHftJJD.99
IMO other than point 1 low pop.it does everything else better than Wow,the most populated game out there,so it is not the game that is the problem.
The truth is as it has always been,the MAJORITY of first time online mmo gamer's started with Wow,so that is what they know,that is where their heart is,has nothing to do with EQ2 versus Wow,they simply never gave EQ2 a chance,heading directly for Wow.
Yes i can agree on far too many abilities,but guess what,that other game known as Wow,people are using add-ons so obviously that game is too much to handle as well,so again i fail to see this point as an argument.
Back on topic of graphics,again we use Wow as the example because it is the most populated.Wow's compression and resolution of textures is better than EQ2 but the quality of the actual textures is garbage.My point is it does not matter what Blizzard does with their graphics because the textures they use are crap.So again if millions accept sub part graphics in Wow this is most certainly NOT the problem with EQ2.
It is ALWAYS a popularity contest,that is why the first game people look at when deciding a ARPG/Moba is LOL or Blizzard,even though there are better options out there or at least equal options for less money.
My rating EQ2 is top 5 all time..a 7/10...Wow a 5.5/10.The rest of the clones are around a 2-4/10.BTW EQ2 is also a revamped better version of EQ1,does everything better and EQ1 was the msot populated game,so it is all about timing,the era and the popular destination at the time.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I lasted 30mins before i was uninstaling. It felt clunky, dont really know how else to describe it.
It's like saying, "why don't more people like Terminator Salvation?" Because it's an embarrassing sequel that's why. Few games deserve your money or praise less than EQ2.
EQ1, EQ2, SWG, SWTOR, GW, GW2 CoH, CoV, FFXI, WoW, CO, War,TSW and a slew of free trials and beta tests
MAGA
The absolute worst part for me was the overuse of loading screens. My impression has always been that it seemed to have more loading screens than any other game. On top of that, loading can be a slow, laborious process even on modern machines. The perceived result is that I simply end up watching loading screens more than controlling my character. To me, that's not playing, at least not satisfying game play.
Once the horrid performance and extreme hardware requirements are factored in, EQ2 wasn't nearly as good as EQ1, and certainly not as smooth or polished as WoW. EQ2 was immediately a 2nd class citizen in the MMORPG universe, and never really overcame its lackluster design.
I won't recommend EQ2 over EQ1 in their current incarnations.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
As for the engine it have always been laggy (particularly in the cities) no matter what computer you have. That a game like GW2 or ESO that looks miles better have way higher FPS on the same computer is just sad. The engine have always been EQ2s weakest point and is one of the more important reasons Wow beat it so badly.
I never thought the animations were bad though and while the standard UI is rather uninspired I seen plenty worse, and as you say it can easily be customized.
EQ2 was a pretty good game but that was years ago, it was best around 2005-2007.
I'm pretty sure if they had that little insight done right the whole MMO landscape would look a bit different by now. Probably even with a SOE being intact.
This times 10 again.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다