EverQuest II Review Game Review continues

When EverQuest II came out in 2004, some fans were wary because the game had different gameplay. Not to mention some fans were scared it would spell the end of the first game. Fast forward to today and both games are still being played and enjoyed by many people around the world. Not to mention EverQuest II (and also EverQuest) has added a free to play option for gamers to try the game out.

The best part about the game is installing and downloading it. Unlike with other free to play MMORPG video games, you don’t have to sit and wait for the game to download all day before you have a chance to play it. EverQuest II requires you to download and install 12GB of game data in total. Instead of waiting for the game to download, you actually have a chance to play the game first while the rest of the game data downloads in the background. This is a system that is being implemented in Sony’s upcoming PS4 console. We can be thankful that EverQuest II is one of the first games to introduce this helpful system in downloading large game files.

I do have to say, EverQuest II is a very demanding video game to play so it pays to have a powerful computer first before you decide to play this game. I played EverQuest II on my laptop and the game was lagging a lot. Even if I wanted to make my character walk for a meters, it feels like I’m playing the game on a dial-up internet connection. Not to mention this “free to play” version of the game has a lot of restrictions that paid subscribers don’t have to deal with. If you want to experience EverQuest II in its full glory, be prepared to pay for a monthly subscription...

Unlike the first EverQuest video game, the sequel looks much better. Even though both games are set in the same world of Norrath, you will not recognise anything since the graphics have improved a lot. EverQuest II looks shinier and more realistic compared to the original game. EverQuest II may not look as bright and colorful as World of Warcraft nor is it better looking as more modern MMORPG games released these days, but it’s still a great game to look at despite it was released back in 2004.

Much like other MMORPG video games, you are first prompted to create your own character you’d like to use. In this free to play version of the game, you can only get to play as a certain number of classes and races. If you wish to play as more, you have to fork out money for a subscription. At first you choose a type of archetype that include a “fighter”, “priest”, “mage” and “scout”. On top of choosing the archetype you want to be, you are then prompted to choose a class type as well. Overall there are 24 classes in total, but only paid subscribers will have access to all of them. Free to play users can only choose from eight classes.

After that, you can alter the appearance for your character. You can be either a male or female character plus there are different races you can choose from as well. There is a generous amount of customization options you can do to your character such as change the color of their skin, shape of their eyes, body type and more. It’s surprisingly in-depth and better than the create options that are seen in most games. Once you have done all that, you pick which city you want visit and you are ready to play the game.

The controls are simple as it plays like most other MMORPG video games do. You control your character’s movement with the WASD keys and you can change the camera view by using the mouse. This includes rotating the camera for a better view of the action plus zooming in or out. One thing you will notice when you first play the game is the popularity of it. Since the free to play option was introduced in Everquest II, the number of players has increased a lot since it was first released as a paid only game back in 2004.

Much like other games from the MMORPG genre, the main bulk of the game is accepting quests from non playable characters and completing them. This is essentially what you will do for the majority of the time while playing Everquest II. There are tons of quests to complete in this game and Sony Online Entertainment is always adding new content to the game to keep players occupied for hours on end. The best thing about the quests in this game is that each one has an interesting story to tell. It’s not the generic “kill this monster” type of quest all of the time like you get with most other MMORPG video games.

The combat system is similar to other MMORPG games where you point and click on top of an enemy and your character will start attacking automatically. At the beginning of the game, the combat is fairly simple because you only have one skill you can use to attack. EverQuest II becomes more fun when you learn more skills as you get a chance to see more devastating attacks. The animation during combat is a joy to watch as well.

EverQuest II is still one of the most famous and most played MMORPG games available right now. It’s great that Sony Online Entertainment decided to include a free to play option so more people get a chance to see how great this game really is. The only main problem I had with the game is that’s its very demanding on weak computers as I experienced a lot of lag while playing this game. Other than that, EverQuest II is a great game with high production values that offer hours of fun gameplay. Even if you rate World of Warcraft as the best MMORPG game ever, you may find this game to be just as awesome as well.