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EverQuest II PreviewSOE promises the future of MMOs. So far it looks like they may deliver just that.Available: November 9, 2004
PREVIEW by Howard Brown Everquest II has recently launched, promising gamers the future. Having participated in the beta for a number of months, we’ve seen how EQ2 has grown both from a technical standpoint and content wise in preparation for its launch. Smooth launches of Massively Multiplayer Online games are very rare these days. For this reason, we’ve decided to give you our hands on impressions from the final beta build while the final retail version that recently shipped gets time to get on its feet and iron out any issues that may need to be sorted. A review of a MMO on launch day just wouldn’t be fair. For those of you that haven’t played EQ2 in beta or are still sitting on the fence, what should you expect from the new title? Let's find out. EQ2 has been in development for quite some time and it shows. First we’ll start off from a technical standpoint. This year, everyone in the PC Hardware industry has been watching and talking about Doom 3 and Half Life 2 as the games coming out that represent the next generation of graphics technology. EQ2 should be in that list as well. Just browsing through all the various options in the graphics setting seems like visual overkill. You won’t find anything as simple as just quality of shadows. In addition to that, you’d have options such as shadows appearing from objects off screen, specular highlights inside of shadows and all sorts of other nuances. To make things easier for the user, there are a number of presets available to tailor the gaming experience to their level of computer configuration. These range from Extreme Performance which sacrifices the most visual quality for a faster and more responsive experience for slower machines all the way up to Extreme Quality for the cutting edge machines. Funny thing about it is that even when set on Extreme Quality, the game is still being conservative, by not even setting every option to the maximum even at that highest setting. The system we used for playing EQ2 is a beast. It houses a Pentium 4 3.4 Ghz 775 pin processor, an Intel 925 mobo, nVidia 6800 GT PCI-E card running at Ultra speeds, 1 GB DDR2-533 Mhz ram, 2 X 250 GB Maxtor SATA II hard disks with 16 MB cache each running in RAID0, Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS and all the fixings. With this rig, we were able to run Star Wars Galaxies in the background while playing Doom 3 at 1600 x 1200 resolution with all details on max without it breaking a sweat. Naturally we’d be able to max out EQ2’s graphics options no problem right? Well, not quite. We put EQ2 up at 1600 x 1200, set the overall graphics quality to Extreme Quality, and then put every slider up to the maximum. Simply stated, it brought our machine to its knees. What does this mean? Well, it means that when SOE says the engine will scale well with future technology, they mean it. One downside to EQ1’s success is that the title has been around for quite sometime and naturally the graphics are looking dated. This time around, a goal was to make sure that EQ2 was so advanced visually that the engine could stand the test of time. With so many graphical options available and such a hugely scalable engine, EQ2 offers an aesthetically pleasing experience from top to bottom throughout the different quality settings. Even at settings lower than the highest available, EQ2 looks great. Mid range systems will be able to get by on the balanced quality setting and even dabble in the high quality settings. Gamers that invested in more beefy systems will be rewarded for that money spent however. Being able to play EQ2 as close to the maximum settings available is truly a sight to behold. You’ll see sights such as seeing a paladin walking around in a full suit of mythril armor, with its polished yet slightly brushed surface emanating a soft, warm glow thanks to the atmospheric bloom effects of the engine. The ocean which properly reflects all objects (including particle effects) and refracts light in a convincing way that distorts images as you would expect them to appear. The textures are greatly detailed even upon the closest of inspections. Various types of armor looks like the materials they’re made out of. Clothing flows in the air with movement. Pixel shader effects are used on skin to show age, scars and various deformations on characters. The lighting and shadowing models are very precise and interact with both characters and landscapes convincingly. The details are so great that you’ll even see particle effects appearing on reflective surfaces. On the sound front, SOE has spared no expenses either. Just about everyone you speak to has full voice. Over 130 hours of dialogue have been recorded and some of those voices are from Hollywood talent such as Christopher Lee and Heather Graham. Enemies you encounter on the battlefield communicate with each other vocally and taunt you and your party. You’ll walk down bustling town streets with various NPCs hailing and speaking with you as you pass by. An example of the small details that add up in the total package are the sounds of armor clanking as you walk. Supporting standards up to EAX 4.0, EQ2 will keep your sound card and surround sound system occupied. A Massively Multiplayer Online game can look and sound as good as it wants, but it will ultimately be judged by the content to be had. This is one of the trump cards EQ2 has going for it. Even in the beta phase, EQ2 had more content than most MMOs have after their first expansion packs. There are tons of NPCs throughout the land and a good majority of them will give you quests and other tasks to carry out if you speak with them. You’ll be able to do quests of varying types that range from simple errand quests, to exploration quests, guild quests, class quests and many others. Whether you get your quest from a rare loot drop or from speaking with an NPC, there is always something to spur you on to furthering your adventures in EQ2. The instanced zones and locking of enemies that you’re engaged in battle with are welcome additions too. These measures allow you to explore and adventure with your friends and help to ease camping and lessen the competition for certain quests, items and rare spawns.
As it is now, EQ2 is shaping up quite nicely. The presentation will really make you feel like you’re playing in a fantasy realm and should stay at the head of the pack for quite some time to come. On the other end of the spectrum, there is a ton of content in the game to help keep gamers engaged and entertained. The inclusion of prestige classes and a greatly expanded level cap in addition to many lands to explore with greater challenges will keep even the power gamers intrigued and busy. The launch of EQ2 has been going pretty nicely the past couple days and as soon as it’s ready, we’ll bring you our full review on how it ultimately stacks up. | |
