EverQuest

Players begin by creating their EverQuest alter ego. Elements such as race (12 in all, including Dwarf, Ogre, Troll, Halfling, Gnome, Barbarian, Dark Elf, Human) and class (14 in all, including Bard, Magician, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Warrior, Wizard) determine your character's statistics and special abilities. For instance, the Warrior class of any race is inherently strong, though the Warriors of the Troll race are much stronger than, say, the Warriors of the Halfling race. Other races and classes favor intelligence or dexterity. Players can also customize their character's clothing, face, and name to further personalize their alter ego.

Vibrant graphics (particularly spell effects) and crisp monster and player models bring the EverQuest world to life. Game play consists primarily of combat against dozens of different creatures; defeating the varied beasts of EverQuest earns your character both coins (for the purchase of better equipment) and experience points (for improving skills, abilities, and power).

There's plenty of satisfaction in watching your virtual alter ego gain experience, power, and wealth. Though it takes an enormous amount of time to improve your character, EverQuest's addictive, easy-to-learn game play makes the effort worthwhile.

EverQuest's sense of community shines in the quests and battles you'll partake with other players. Taking on the more powerful monsters alone is suicide. But team up with a Troll player in Chicago and a Wizard player from Seattle, and you've got a monster-stomping gang sure to earn everyone fame, fortune, and friends. It's the sense of trust and teamwork that creates EverQuest's most endearing quality--and its most stressful: you never know if that Cleric you picked up in the local tavern is a talented healer or a worthless coward until you're mixing it up with a group of Minotaurs.

Most players find EverQuest's community atmosphere its best quality. Speaking with and questing alongside the thousands of players online provides good gaming, interesting conversation, and perhaps even real friendships. Verant Interactive listens to the community of gamers and constantly updates and changes the EverQuest world. Filled with monsters, dungeons, and fabulous treasure, and supported by an active developer and fan community, EverQuest is sure to live up to its name. Players will be adventuring in this rich online world for many years to come. --Doug Radcliffe

Pros:

• Sharp 3-D graphics
• Easy-to-learn game play
• Excellent sense of community
• Well-balanced and varied mix of race and class

• Monthly fee (approximately $10 for unlimited use)
• Improving your character requires a serious time investment

What I don't understand is how Sony expects people to buy this game when you can purchase many other similar games (Diablo 2, Baldur's Gate) that you can play online for no additional cost (or play wihtout having to log on at all). Spend your money on something else.


Commiting suicide has never been easeir!   April 26, 2003
David Moore (Boulder City, Nevada United States)
This game is unexplicably fun, it drives you insane when your character dies, it makes you go into tears when you acquire your spells. THIS GAME IS EVIL...First off you do one thing, kill, kill, and kill. Sure there are quests and of course tradeskills, but those two things are only possible by killing, and get boring and pointless. SO then you just end up killing everything, you keep going and going until it sucks your brain dry. DON'T buy this game...


Give this game to someone if you dont want to see them again   February 24, 2003
C. Devine (Fairfield, Connecticut United States)
I'd say it's actually 3 and 1/2 stars but they don't have that option so whatever. When I first played Everquest I was an extreme newbie. I had never played a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). It took me awhile to get used to it. Like a month or 2 maybe. Everquest is not very newbie friendly but once you get the hang of things it can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It can result in you dancing around the room and cheering in happiness having gotten your epic weapon after months of doing those massive quests. Or it can have you slamming your head against the keyboard as you get ready for another CR (corpse run as it's called in game) after dying once more and losing experience. However, I made GREAT friends playing Everquest, you can join unions of players called guilds and I still talk with some I met today (I recently stopped playing). EQ is extremely addicting, in other words if you're a husband than prepare to invest in large amounts of flowers and other gifts for your wife for neglecting her for several months.

The game is great fun though, but you need to watch your standing with the many different factions in the game. Killing a certain thing may give you good standing with some factions, but bad with others. There is a complex in game economy, including a zone called the Bazaar where more than 300 players can be found at any different time selling thousands of different items. I liked to go to that zone and stare at all the cool armor and weapons and stuff lol. The customer support people are all very nice. There's even a volunteer customer support program called the Guide Program for those over 18. I spent a couple of months in it before quitting EverQuest (had been playing for about two and a half years). The game can get boring however. Endless hours of camping (killing monsters and waiting for them to respawn to kill them again) can be tedious, especially if you keep dying. However, expansion packs keep the flow going with new zones, quests, items, and playable races and classes. The variety of classes and races in EverQuest includes classes such as Warrior, Wizard, Shadowknight, and Druid. As well as races such as Barbarian, Wood Elf, Troll, Human, and Dwarf. Sometimes you'll hear arguments being shouted in a zone and they sometimes can get nasty, that's what the Guides are there for, to handle those issues and issue warnings to offending players. But parents should keep in mind that this is an online game with real people and kids sometimes may hear things they're not supposed to hear.

But, all in all this is a good game and I recommend it for it's fun value and the aspect of making good friends like I did.