Something gets lost in eq2 from the screenshots to the actual gameplay. There are some really nice screenshots, but once inside the game it just never really comes together.
You know this game was made 6 years ago right? You talk like it just released.
And so is WoW, but it has aged much better both graphic and gameplay wise.
Its you who are telling us that EQ2 have awesome graphics among the best in MMOs, and we are saying that it looks very dated and that the art style is very unatractive.
I dont play WoW so I dont know much about but can you please post a few pics so I can see how it looks? In Everquest 2 you get levels from Quest and killing mobs so how to you get levels in WoW? How has it aged Gameplay Wise?
Sure:
EverQuest II
World of Warcraft:
It's more about personal taste. If you like blocky cartoon style, then WoW is your game. If you like more realism, and a lifelike immersion, then it's EQ2. Each to their own.
I play EQ2 at max settings on a fairly decent gfx card and large monitor, and it looks like the screenshots for me. Acually, it looks better if anything, as you cant see all the light effects and spells.
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
And so is WoW, but it has aged much better both graphic and gameplay wise.
Its you who are telling us that EQ2 have awesome graphics among the best in MMOs, and we are saying that it looks very dated and that the art style is very unatractive.
I disagree with you Papadam about WoW's gameplay being better as it has aged. It was better in the old days. I dislike intensely the direction that WoW has been going recently with gameplay.
I dont play WoW so I dont know much about but can you please post a few pics so I can see how it looks? In Everquest 2 you get levels from Quest and killing mobs so how to you get levels in WoW? How has it aged Gameplay Wise?
You get levels in WoW exactly the same way with a difference: an out-of-the-box WoW character is more powerful than an out-of-the-box EQ2 character. You have to 'grind' more quests in WoW too than in EQ2 since EQ2 stops holding your hand once you hit level 20, and the difficulty goes up for the quests which get fewer in number in the higher level zones. In WoW, your hand is always held, so in fact it's a much easier game to get to max level in. The quest numbers go up as you go up in level to reflect the increased ease of play.
There's less customization too. You only have the talent trees, whereas in EQ2 you have all the traits, achievements, spell/skill tiers, different kinds of equipment stats, etc. There are strengths and weaknesses associated with each class in EQ2 whereas in WoW every class is pretty well-rounded.
As WoW goes along, it gets more arcade-like. As EQ2 goes along, it keeps true to the MMO genre and is more RPG-like.
I deleted my screenies unfortunately. WoW's textures, animations, and voice-overs are great. The art direction is great if you like over-exaggerated cartoon styles, which has its own merits. The graphics were updated in WotLK, so the environments in the newest areas of the game look pretty good in a cartoony way, but the older parts of the game have not aged quite as well.
Art and graphics are personal taste.. Saying that one is better than another is strictly subjective and one persona OPINION is just that.. Opinions are like arse holes.. Everybody has one.. I like EQ2 graphics far better than WoW. I have never cared for the cartoon look in my games. I keep playing for the content though.. There is tons of it and never have I had to wait around for something to do.. Probably why after almost 6 years and a few breaks to try something 'new' I am still playing EQ2..
To be honest, EQ2 have very ugly even grotesque character models and movement animations.
Not to mention this mindless system requirements to run it on maxed graphic settings.
If you want to know what unoptimized engine means, then check EQ2.
Seriously, WTF? For that graphics, it should run maxed on netbook. Not even worth it's 12gb size.
And please, don't post crappy screenshots, cus you can just look at some LOTRO landscapes shots (wich runs maxed with very good framerate on much wider variety of machines), and stay silent.
I am not seeing anything impressive with that picture. The water looks nice but other than that I am yet to see screenshots of a game that look better than the ones I posted of MY actual in game character. This is not 2004 so you dont need a mega machine to run Everquest 2 anymore. Everything about my computer is low spec. I have a Dual Core AMD 7750 CPU which is probaly worth less than $50 and a ATI 3870 GPU thats also worth probaly less than $50 and the game runs fine on my computer. Upgrade is planed for 1st of the year to prepare for the upcomming mmos next year. I have never liked the way LOTRO looked even the character models so to each his own. Thanks for the pic.
I am not seeing anything impressive with that picture. The water looks nice but other than that I am yet to see screenshots of a game that look better than the ones I posted of MY actual in game character. This is not 2004 so you dont need a mega machine to run Everquest 2 anymore. Everything about my computer is low spec. I have a Dual Core AMD 7750 CPU which is probaly worth less than $50 and a ATI 3870 GPU thats also worth probaly less than $50 and the game runs fine on my computer. Upgrade is planed for 1st of the year to prepare for the upcomming mmos next year. I have never liked the way LOTRO looked even the character models so to each his own. Thanks for the pic.
Yeah, many PCs can run it. But can you run it on MAX settings (i mean with decent framerate)?
Graphically speaking EQ2 is clumsy game, no matter what you say. It's not bad game at all. But visuals and art style is not it's strongest sides.
Yeah, it have some nice lightening effects here and there, or some nice texture HERE and THERE, but it's lack of overall, organic polished feel in it.
It's like pizza with chocolate and fish or like someone said before - Frankenstein's monster among MMORPGs.
I played EQ2 for a year and a half when it first released (been thinking of trying the free version again sometime);
Art direction is a matter of opinion.
However, WoW's animations are very smooth and quite diverse, while EQ2's weren't; at least as a wizard, nearly every spell had the same animation and as a melee class, you'd often be swinging your weapon into clear air.
So unless they added more of those, I do agree.
EQ2 did have far more impressive effects though, but I heard they significantly nerfed those.
As for the mobs being 1 shotted, I did not experience that when I played back then, so I can't comment.
Yes, EQ2 have really bad animations. Wow are not that great either actually, all good animations are made with a motionssuit today. AoC have it (AoCs best feature), and so will TOR and GW2.
But nerfed or not, the effects are more than enough, heck, my dirge makes it hard to see at times because of all notes and light and Dirges aren't the worst.
But, yes. oneshotting mobs have been in since EoF, it lasts for the first 5-15 levels depending on which class you play.Over all is the first 50 levels or so not that fun anymore, they nerfed things so badly that it is easy street all the time. I guess they wanted to make the game more like Wow.
The game do still have some very good points and I play it just because I still havn't found anything I like better. But I think it fit horrible as a F2P game, SOE are too cheap for that.
I dont play WoW so I dont know much about but can you please post a few pics so I can see how it looks? In Everquest 2 you get levels from Quest and killing mobs so how to you get levels in WoW? How has it aged Gameplay Wise?
EQ2 is not AoC pretty but it looks fine enough with maxed graphics. LOTRO do look somewhat better except the avatars. Both games have pretty ugly clothes and armor.
And do you guys who post pictures heard of "Thumbnails"? the site has a good system for that.
No I cannot not run the game as max settings just like I cant run many other games at max settings. Did you not see my PC specs? I dont get your point. Again graphicaly speaking Everquest 2 is not a clumbsy game and I dont care what you say. I dont get any crashes, lag, or any type of problem graphic wise. The game runs great at the setting that my PC can handle. I play Extended every day and I am yet to see somebody in chat talking about the game not running good. Like I said before, this is not 2004. The game has been optimized and it shows. Everquest 2 was built to look good for years to come and its truly does today. The proof is in the pudding my friend.
I am Gold and so I can speak and read in chat all day. If I like a game I pay for it and support it. I am not looking for anything free because I learned many years ago that nonthing in this world is free.
The only people that could say EQ2 graphics are great lack artistic sense. Any EQ2 player with artistic sense just puts up with the graphical issues because they love the gameplay or history of the world.
EQ2 is not AoC pretty but it looks fine enough with maxed graphics. LOTRO do look somewhat better except the avatars. Both games have pretty ugly clothes and armor.
No, EQ2 isn't 'AoC pretty' but AoC is the game that really does require a good computer to run it. I have a decent (not top-of-the-line) computer that had some troubles with AoC in a few parts. Overall, it ran ok, but it was not as smooth as EQ2, not even close. I don't expect that either, because the graphics (not talking from an artwork point of view here) are better quality as AoC is a newer game that uses more up-to-date graphics technology.
Both games are similar in that when both were released, they required great computers with up-to-date graphics cards of the day to play them. Those players, who did not, complained profusely.
LotRO runs smoothly for sure and the environments are gorgeous, but the avatars, animations, voices, and other aspects of the artwork really leave something to be desired for me. I didn't like how any of the characters or mobs looked or moved.
Edit - normally I would play LotRO anyway if I liked the gameplay, but the gameplay also sucks. I utterly hated the lag in response to pressing buttons for combat skills/spells.
I am Gold and so I can speak and read in chat all day. If I like a game I pay for it and support it. I am not looking for anything free because I learned many years ago that nonthing in this world is free.
Ack, just because a person is not Gold or Platinum doesn't mean they're not financially supporting EQ2! I'm not Gold or Platinum but have already spent some money on the game.
I'm surprised you opted for Gold rather than having a normal subscription on the LIVE servers. You actually get less with Gold than you do with a normal monthly sub to LIVE.
This is an experiment for me to see if I like a more a la carte style of payment scheme. If not, I'll be back in LIVE at some point. I'm not totally sold on Extended yet. Will have to see...
Since EQ2 went free, i figure i will give it a try. Very disappointed. The restrictions on the free game is fine with me (developers have to make money somewhere) but the game itself is VERY dissappointing. I am playing WOW, LOTRO f2p beta and DDO so those will be used as point of comparison.
Graphics is horrible. I am talking about art design here. Animation, environmental design, character, mob .. none looks very good. WOW has MUCH better animation & art design, despite the low poly count, and LOTRO has much more detailed graphics. Even DDO, which is the weakest in graphics, look better than EQ2.
I played a Wiz for a few hours. I used to play a Wiz in EQ. I play wiz type toon in all my mmos (mage in wow, sorcerer in DDO, rune keeper in LOTRO). So i am familiar with that class. The mechanics and balance is horrible for teh EQ2 wiz at low level. Every mob is a one shot. I am sure someone will tell me it will be better at higher level. Well, i don't incline to "suffer" a game for the low levels before i get to the good parts.
Given more and more MMOs are free, i don't think i will spend any time at EQ2.
My biggest issue with Everquest II was always the armor graphics. The character models and environments were fine, though I'll admit that many areas in the latest few expansions are pretty shoddy looking. That said, many areas in those expansions look nice also. It's just easy to see that the game doesn't have the budget it once did when you walk through Willow Wood (old Wood Elf starting village) then instantly port to New Halas (new player starting area).
I am Gold and so I can speak and read in chat all day. If I like a game I pay for it and support it. I am not looking for anything free because I learned many years ago that nonthing in this world is free.
Ack, just because a person is not Gold or Platinum doesn't mean they're not financially supporting EQ2! I'm not Gold or Platinum but have already spent some money on the game.
I'm surprised you opted for Gold rather than having a normal subscription on the LIVE servers. You actually get less with Gold than you do with a normal monthly sub to LIVE.
This is an experiment for me to see if I like a more a la carte style of payment scheme. If not, I'll be back in LIVE at some point. I'm not totally sold on Extended yet. Will have to see...
I never said anything about anybody else. I said why I choose to go Gold. Everything is not for everybody and having a family myself I totally understand the value of money. I have played on Live before and its a ghost town compared to Extended. Extended is so packed with people you cant go anywhere without seeing people. I love playing with new people hearing how they just started playing the game and how they are loving it. I love being able to hop on the game and have a group for anything in less than 5 minutes at anytime of the day or night. To me a game is only as healthy as it population so thats why I choose Extended. What more are you getting on Live? Sure they may have all the races alreeady unlocked and thats one thing I have said that should be included with gold but there is nonthing thats going to make me play a dead game and thats what Live is.
I never said anything about anybody else. I said why I choose to go Gold. Everything is not for everybody and having a family myself I totally understand the value of money. I have played on Live before and its a ghost town compared to Extended. Extended is so packed with people you cant go anywhere without seeing people. I love playing with new people hearing how they just started playing the game and how they are loving it. I love being able to hop on the game and have a group for anything in less than 5 minutes at anytime of the day or night. To me a game is only as healthy as it population so thats why I choose Extended. What more are you getting on Live? Sure they may have all the races alreeady unlocked and thats one thing I have said that should be included with gold but there is nonthing thats going to make me play a dead game and thats what Live is.
There are SOME servers with healthy populations on Live. I happen to play on one. They do need to have server merges because there are some servers lacking in people. They aren't all that way though so not sure why you keep singing this tune.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I use to play on Antonio Bayle which is the most populated server on Live so I know how it is. Its nonthing compared to the population on Extended. I am not singing any tune. He came in and quoted my post asking why play on Extended and I simply told him.
Live is dead, anyone saying otherwise is making a futile attempt to breathe life into there once prospering server.
2X is the place to be, which is why most Live players have copied at least a single character over to the new server, the population on Freeport exceeds that of every single Live server available. Who wants to play on Live when you can play with tons of active people on 2X? I know I sure don't, I can only speak for myself though obviously.
Live is dead, anyone saying otherwise is making a futile attempt to breathe life into there once prospering server.
2X is the place to be, which is why most Live players have copied at least a single character over to the new server, the population on Freeport exceeds that of every single Live server available. Who wants to play on Live when you can play with tons of active people on 2X? I know I sure don't, I can only speak for myself though obviously.
I'm not making an attempt at anything. I haven't had problems with grouping and there seem to be plenty of people running around on the server I play on.
Is it even close to as packed as Freeport? Of course not...never will be. All I'm saying is that this notion that if you sub to the Live game you're setting yourself up for failure is ridiculous. Unless you do pick one of the servers that has an extremely low population.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Comments
Something gets lost in eq2 from the screenshots to the actual gameplay. There are some really nice screenshots, but once inside the game it just never really comes together.
Sure:
EverQuest II
World of Warcraft:
It's more about personal taste. If you like blocky cartoon style, then WoW is your game. If you like more realism, and a lifelike immersion, then it's EQ2. Each to their own.
I play EQ2 at max settings on a fairly decent gfx card and large monitor, and it looks like the screenshots for me. Acually, it looks better if anything, as you cant see all the light effects and spells.
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
I disagree with you Papadam about WoW's gameplay being better as it has aged. It was better in the old days. I dislike intensely the direction that WoW has been going recently with gameplay.
To each their own.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
You get levels in WoW exactly the same way with a difference: an out-of-the-box WoW character is more powerful than an out-of-the-box EQ2 character. You have to 'grind' more quests in WoW too than in EQ2 since EQ2 stops holding your hand once you hit level 20, and the difficulty goes up for the quests which get fewer in number in the higher level zones. In WoW, your hand is always held, so in fact it's a much easier game to get to max level in. The quest numbers go up as you go up in level to reflect the increased ease of play.
There's less customization too. You only have the talent trees, whereas in EQ2 you have all the traits, achievements, spell/skill tiers, different kinds of equipment stats, etc. There are strengths and weaknesses associated with each class in EQ2 whereas in WoW every class is pretty well-rounded.
As WoW goes along, it gets more arcade-like. As EQ2 goes along, it keeps true to the MMO genre and is more RPG-like.
I deleted my screenies unfortunately. WoW's textures, animations, and voice-overs are great. The art direction is great if you like over-exaggerated cartoon styles, which has its own merits. The graphics were updated in WotLK, so the environments in the newest areas of the game look pretty good in a cartoony way, but the older parts of the game have not aged quite as well.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
Art and graphics are personal taste.. Saying that one is better than another is strictly subjective and one persona OPINION is just that.. Opinions are like arse holes.. Everybody has one..
I like EQ2 graphics far better than WoW. I have never cared for the cartoon look in my games. I keep playing for the content though.. There is tons of it and never have I had to wait around for something to do.. Probably why after almost 6 years and a few breaks to try something 'new' I am still playing EQ2..
To be honest, EQ2 have very ugly even grotesque character models and movement animations.
Not to mention this mindless system requirements to run it on maxed graphic settings.
If you want to know what unoptimized engine means, then check EQ2.
Seriously, WTF? For that graphics, it should run maxed on netbook. Not even worth it's 12gb size.
And please, don't post crappy screenshots, cus you can just look at some LOTRO landscapes shots (wich runs maxed with very good framerate on much wider variety of machines), and stay silent.
I am not seeing anything impressive with that picture. The water looks nice but other than that I am yet to see screenshots of a game that look better than the ones I posted of MY actual in game character. This is not 2004 so you dont need a mega machine to run Everquest 2 anymore. Everything about my computer is low spec. I have a Dual Core AMD 7750 CPU which is probaly worth less than $50 and a ATI 3870 GPU thats also worth probaly less than $50 and the game runs fine on my computer. Upgrade is planed for 1st of the year to prepare for the upcomming mmos next year. I have never liked the way LOTRO looked even the character models so to each his own. Thanks for the pic.
Yeah, many PCs can run it. But can you run it on MAX settings (i mean with decent framerate)?
Graphically speaking EQ2 is clumsy game, no matter what you say. It's not bad game at all. But visuals and art style is not it's strongest sides.
Yeah, it have some nice lightening effects here and there, or some nice texture HERE and THERE, but it's lack of overall, organic polished feel in it.
It's like pizza with chocolate and fish or like someone said before - Frankenstein's monster among MMORPGs.
Yes, EQ2 have really bad animations. Wow are not that great either actually, all good animations are made with a motionssuit today. AoC have it (AoCs best feature), and so will TOR and GW2.
But nerfed or not, the effects are more than enough, heck, my dirge makes it hard to see at times because of all notes and light and Dirges aren't the worst.
But, yes. oneshotting mobs have been in since EoF, it lasts for the first 5-15 levels depending on which class you play.Over all is the first 50 levels or so not that fun anymore, they nerfed things so badly that it is easy street all the time. I guess they wanted to make the game more like Wow.
The game do still have some very good points and I play it just because I still havn't found anything I like better. But I think it fit horrible as a F2P game, SOE are too cheap for that.
EQ2 is not AoC pretty but it looks fine enough with maxed graphics. LOTRO do look somewhat better except the avatars. Both games have pretty ugly clothes and armor.
And do you guys who post pictures heard of "Thumbnails"? the site has a good system for that.
No I cannot not run the game as max settings just like I cant run many other games at max settings. Did you not see my PC specs? I dont get your point. Again graphicaly speaking Everquest 2 is not a clumbsy game and I dont care what you say. I dont get any crashes, lag, or any type of problem graphic wise. The game runs great at the setting that my PC can handle. I play Extended every day and I am yet to see somebody in chat talking about the game not running good. Like I said before, this is not 2004. The game has been optimized and it shows. Everquest 2 was built to look good for years to come and its truly does today. The proof is in the pudding my friend.
Maybe because you cant speak (or read) in chat without spending money on it?
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
I am Gold and so I can speak and read in chat all day. If I like a game I pay for it and support it. I am not looking for anything free because I learned many years ago that nonthing in this world is free.
+
Yea, something must be wrong with these people.
Obviously
Wizards don't one shot anything at low levels...
No, EQ2 isn't 'AoC pretty' but AoC is the game that really does require a good computer to run it. I have a decent (not top-of-the-line) computer that had some troubles with AoC in a few parts. Overall, it ran ok, but it was not as smooth as EQ2, not even close. I don't expect that either, because the graphics (not talking from an artwork point of view here) are better quality as AoC is a newer game that uses more up-to-date graphics technology.
Both games are similar in that when both were released, they required great computers with up-to-date graphics cards of the day to play them. Those players, who did not, complained profusely.
LotRO runs smoothly for sure and the environments are gorgeous, but the avatars, animations, voices, and other aspects of the artwork really leave something to be desired for me. I didn't like how any of the characters or mobs looked or moved.
Edit - normally I would play LotRO anyway if I liked the gameplay, but the gameplay also sucks. I utterly hated the lag in response to pressing buttons for combat skills/spells.
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
Ack, just because a person is not Gold or Platinum doesn't mean they're not financially supporting EQ2! I'm not Gold or Platinum but have already spent some money on the game.
I'm surprised you opted for Gold rather than having a normal subscription on the LIVE servers. You actually get less with Gold than you do with a normal monthly sub to LIVE.
This is an experiment for me to see if I like a more a la carte style of payment scheme. If not, I'll be back in LIVE at some point. I'm not totally sold on Extended yet. Will have to see...
Playing MUDs and MMOs since 1994.
My biggest issue with Everquest II was always the armor graphics. The character models and environments were fine, though I'll admit that many areas in the latest few expansions are pretty shoddy looking. That said, many areas in those expansions look nice also. It's just easy to see that the game doesn't have the budget it once did when you walk through Willow Wood (old Wood Elf starting village) then instantly port to New Halas (new player starting area).
I never said anything about anybody else. I said why I choose to go Gold. Everything is not for everybody and having a family myself I totally understand the value of money. I have played on Live before and its a ghost town compared to Extended. Extended is so packed with people you cant go anywhere without seeing people. I love playing with new people hearing how they just started playing the game and how they are loving it. I love being able to hop on the game and have a group for anything in less than 5 minutes at anytime of the day or night. To me a game is only as healthy as it population so thats why I choose Extended. What more are you getting on Live? Sure they may have all the races alreeady unlocked and thats one thing I have said that should be included with gold but there is nonthing thats going to make me play a dead game and thats what Live is.
There are SOME servers with healthy populations on Live. I happen to play on one. They do need to have server merges because there are some servers lacking in people. They aren't all that way though so not sure why you keep singing this tune.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
I use to play on Antonio Bayle which is the most populated server on Live so I know how it is. Its nonthing compared to the population on Extended. I am not singing any tune. He came in and quoted my post asking why play on Extended and I simply told him.
Live is dead, anyone saying otherwise is making a futile attempt to breathe life into there once prospering server.
2X is the place to be, which is why most Live players have copied at least a single character over to the new server, the population on Freeport exceeds that of every single Live server available. Who wants to play on Live when you can play with tons of active people on 2X? I know I sure don't, I can only speak for myself though obviously.
I'm not making an attempt at anything. I haven't had problems with grouping and there seem to be plenty of people running around on the server I play on.
Is it even close to as packed as Freeport? Of course not...never will be. All I'm saying is that this notion that if you sub to the Live game you're setting yourself up for failure is ridiculous. Unless you do pick one of the servers that has an extremely low population.
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.