Nice to meet you all!

[MetroidHatchling]

Hello! It's nice to meet you!

My name is Bradley. I'm currently a level 5 High Elf Magician on Green named Faenaenon.

This is actually my first time playing EverQuest. I played EQ2 for a while at launch, and I was hugely into Star Wars Galaxies until the NGE came out. I played a ton of other MMOs during the early-mid 2000s, runescape, ragnarok online, FFXI, UO, and more, but somehow never played EQ1, which is a shame. I really like it so far.

On the positive side, I get to experience it for the first time in what seems to be a very good recreation of its early days.

I got it set up on my windows XP computer (for that authentic feel) that I rebuilt a few years ago to be like the one I had back in 2003 and despite some difficulties in getting it set up without any glitches at first, it seems to be running smoothly now.

I've been feeling pretty tired of most newer MMOs which, imo, generally feel like some variation of a wow clone. Not to say that wow is bad, I really enjoyed it during vanilla and bc, I just wish there was more experimentation done in game design like there used to be. I've been itching to play something from "the good old days" of mmos and I thought "I wonder what EQ1 was like", so here I am.

The role-playing elements being integrated with the game itself is really cool. Having to actually type back to NPCs, for example. I've never had to do something like that outside of a MUD. While it feels a bit basic in its execution, I think it's a great concept.

The idea of a game like this having no in-game map was almost shocking at first, but I honestly really like it now that I've gotten used to it. I can't really tell how big the world actually is, so despite however big it may be, it feels enormous. I have no way to tell (aside from looking online at maps, but what's the fun in that?) I have no idea what is beyond the next corner. I got lost a few times just wandering too far out in the greater faydark and it was a little mini-adventure I had trying to find my way back to the city gates without getting murdered by orcs. Now I can find my around most of the area and city without even needing or wanting a map.

I'll be playing when I can spare the time and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the world. I may be 20 years late, but I'm glad I have the chance to see what it's all about.

[magnetaress]

You have the perfect name to enjoy this game. /pras it and long life and love to you and your elf adventures.

[YendorLootmonkey]

Welcome (back) to Norrath!! If you see me in the GGreater Fay area, feel free to ask me for a few buffs to help out!

[iAmAbsurd]

Welcome! As a new (returning) player I share you general sentiment. This is the only state of EverQuest I know and it’s like coming home, though admittedly it’s been a very very long time.

I (Marvel) have seen you around a few times the last few days. Message me sometime and we can play. I will be starting a new character soon so I can level up with my wife (finally got our exemption approved!) while she gets the hang of things. Once we are similar level until I will get back on my enchanter who is almost 10 now.

[BlackBellamy]

On the positive side, I get to experience it for the first time in what seems to be a very good recreation of its early days.

So yeah welcome and also am jealous of that feeling you describe because I had that in 1999 and never since. The exploration and discovery is something that has been ripped out of modern games, replaced by waypoints and floating maps.

Curious to what the negative side is for you. You mention the positives, but what is a problem or disappointment for you?

[Mblake81]

Hello! It's nice to meet you!

My name is Bradley. I'm currently a level 5 High Elf Magician on Green named Faenaenon.

Hello.

This is actually my first time playing EverQuest. I played EQ2 for a while at launch, and I was hugely into Star Wars Galaxies until the NGE came out. I played a ton of other MMOs during the early-mid 2000s, runescape, ragnarok online, FFXI, UO, and more, but somehow never played EQ1, which is a shame. I really like it so far.

On the positive side, I get to experience it for the first time in what seems to be a very good recreation of its early days.

I got it set up on my windows XP computer (for that authentic feel) that I rebuilt a few years ago to be like the one I had back in 2003 and despite some difficulties in getting it set up without any glitches at first, it seems to be running smoothly now.

I've been feeling pretty tired of most newer MMOs which, imo, generally feel like some variation of a wow clone. Not to say that wow is bad, I really enjoyed it during vanilla and bc, I just wish there was more experimentation done in game design like there used to be. I've been itching to play something from "the good old days" of mmos and I thought "I wonder what EQ1 was like", so here I am.

The role-playing elements being integrated with the game itself is really cool. Having to actually type back to NPCs, for example. I've never had to do something like that outside of a MUD. While it feels a bit basic in its execution, I think it's a great concept.

The idea of a game like this having no in-game map was almost shocking at first, but I honestly really like it now that I've gotten used to it. I can't really tell how big the world actually is, so despite however big it may be, it feels enormous.
I have no way to tell (aside from looking online at maps, but what's the fun in that?) I have no idea what is beyond the next corner. I got lost a few times just wandering too far out in the greater faydark and it was a little mini-adventure I had trying to find my way back to the city gates without getting murdered by orcs. Now I can find my around most of the area and city without even needing or wanting a map.

I'll be playing when I can spare the time and I'm looking forward to seeing more of the world. I may be 20 years late, but I'm glad I have the chance to see what it's all about.

pre-Vista computer, +1 REP to you.

We used to print the maps and put them in 3-ring binders back in the day because you couldn't alt-tab out of EQ. Scribble your own notes for locations, mobs, placeholders, loots. But doing it this way has the player learn the world around them, landmarks etc to help navigate alongside sense heading skill and /location.

As far as typing goes for NPCs and players, it's the only way to do an online role playing game imo.

I will not address WoW in this greeting post or else I will start ranting.

Post Windows XP computer world... [Toilet Flush].. enter Games for Windows. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_for_Windows)

[Drakoz]

Welcome to p99! This is my first time on a p99 server. Usually played the daybreak version which is horrid compared to this so far.

[MetroidHatchling]

Welcome! As a new (returning) player I share you general sentiment. This is the only state of EverQuest I know and it’s like coming home, though admittedly it’s been a very very long time.

I (Marvel) have seen you around a few times the last few days. Message me sometime and we can play. I will be starting a new character soon so I can level up with my wife (finally got our exemption approved!) while she gets the hang of things. Once we are similar level until I will get back on my enchanter who is almost 10 now.

Oh cool! I think I have seen you a few times too. Sure thing. That would be great!

We used to print the maps and put them in 3-ring binders back in the day because you couldn't alt-tab out of EQ. Scribble your own notes for locations, mobs, placeholders, loots. But doing it this way has the player learn the world around them, landmarks etc to help navigate alongside sense heading skill and /location.

That's a good idea. I might do something like that. I never realized how much you miss when you're not staring at an overlay map auto-running to wherever you're trying to go.

Curious to what the negative side is for you. You mention the positives, but what is a problem or disappointment for you?

Hmm. Well, the many difficulties I had in getting it to work right was frustrating. I spent nearly two days trying to get it to run without any problems. First the models were all stretched out, then there was no music, then my character would randomly start moving in slow motion, then there were random freezes for a few seconds every few minutes. I was also having issues with fullscreen for a bit just being a blank black screen, even had an issue where it would login but wouldn't show any of the servers, but I think I've managed to get it running perfectly now. Haven't noticed any issues today.

As for the gameplay itself, It would be nice if you didn't have to make macros just for pet commands, and it would be nice if there was a pet hp bar. I have a /pet report health macro keybound so I can check it often so it's not really a big issue, it'd just be nice. It would also be nice if there were more sound effects in combat. Critter noises, attack sounds, hit sounds, death cries, that sort of thing. As far as I can tell, I just swing my dagger in silence. The only thing in combat that has any sound is my spells. Sometimes the UI can be a bit difficult to read without changing windows to a solid texture, but at least you can do that, so it's not a big issue.

The game can be very daunting to a new player at first. It really just throws you out there. Luckily I have a physical copy of Everquest Trilogy which has a big manual, so I was able to figure it all out by reading that first. If I didn't have that manual though, I'm sure I'd still be confused and unaware about what a lot of things are or do, or what I'm supposed to be doing. Like making macros for my pet, or what sense heading is, how to determine the difficulty of an enemy (/consider), or how to talk to NPCs. I only knew about those things from reading the manual.

I made a dark elf to see what it was like but I ended up wandering around their city for over an hour having no idea where the npc I had the pamphlet for was, or even where the city gate was. I eventually gave up and went back on my high elf. I suppose that's a negative. I had no such trouble as a high elf, however. Their city is easy to navigate.

Aside from those things, which I suppose are mainly technical issues and nitpicks, not much has really bothered me. The graphics are definitely fairly primitive 3D but I don't mind. I like the d&d style spellbook memorization system even if it does slow things down. I like the way you interact with NPCs, though so far I've found a very limited number of NPCs I can interact with outside of vendors. I like that the game doesn't railroad you. It just expects you to explore things at your own pace. Though I wouldn't mind having some quests with a bit more depth than "bring me 4 bat wings". It would also be nice if I could figure out how to examine items in my inventory. So far I seem to only be able to examine items in a vendor window.

I feel like there are a lot of hurdles to overcome for a new player that could easily dissuade someone from really giving it a chance if they weren't willing to put in the effort to get past the introductory disorientation. Luckily I like old games that are inconvenient and difficult as long as they have heart. The game definitely has the feel of being made by people who actually cared about what they were making. Much more than can be said about many newer games.

[Mblake81]

That's a good idea. I might do something like that. I never realized how much you miss when you're not staring at an overlay map auto-running to wherever you're trying to go.

yep.

Hmm. Well, the many difficulties I had in getting it to work right was frustrating. I spent nearly two days trying to get it to run without any problems. First the models were all stretched out, then there was no music, then my character would randomly start moving in slow motion, then there were random freezes for a few seconds every few minutes. I was also having issues with fullscreen for a bit just being a blank black screen, even had an issue where it would login but wouldn't show any of the servers, but I think I've managed to get it running perfectly now. Haven't noticed any issues today.

computer life.

As for the gameplay itself, It would be nice if you didn't have to make macros just for pet commands, and it would be nice if there was a pet hp bar. I have a /pet report health macro keybound so I can check it often so it's not really a big issue, it'd just be nice. It would also be nice if there were more sound effects in combat. Critter noises, attack sounds, hit sounds, death cries, that sort of thing. As far as I can tell, I just swing my dagger in silence. The only thing in combat that has any sound is my spells. Sometimes the UI can be a bit difficult to read without changing windows to a solid texture, but at least you can do that, so it's not a big issue.

Might be a sound issue, there are sounds in the game for all of that. Everquest had a Sound Blaster sound card compatible requirement back in the day.

The game can be very daunting to a new player at first. It really just throws you out there. Luckily I have a physical copy of Everquest Trilogy which has a big manual, so I was able to figure it all out by reading that first. If I didn't have that manual though, I'm sure I'd still be confused and unaware about what a lot of things are or do, or what I'm supposed to be doing. Like making macros for my pet, or what sense heading is, how to determine the difficulty of an enemy (/consider), or how to talk to NPCs. I only knew about those things from reading the manual.

I made a dark elf to see what it was like but I ended up wandering around their city for over an hour having no idea where the npc I had the pamphlet for was, or even where the city gate was. I eventually gave up and went back on my high elf. I suppose that's a negative. I had no such trouble as a high elf, however. Their city is easy to navigate.

Drow city is three zones big and can be confusing. Cool city though. The Menzobarranzan (https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Menzoberranzan) of Everquest.

Aside from those things, which I suppose are mainly technical issues and nitpicks, not much has really bothered me. The graphics are definitely fairly primitive 3D but I don't mind. I like the d&d style spellbook memorization system even if it does slow things down. I like the way you interact with NPCs, though so far I've found a very limited number of NPCs I can interact with outside of vendors. I like that the game doesn't railroad you. It just expects you to explore things at your own pace. Though I wouldn't mind having some quests with a bit more depth than "bring me 4 bat wings". It would also be nice if I could figure out how to examine items in my inventory. So far I seem to only be able to examine items in a vendor window.

Hold right click?

Original retail EQ was of course more spit polished with its presentation, this emulator is the best out there.

I feel like there are a lot of hurdles to overcome for a new player that could easily dissuade someone from really giving it a chance if they weren't willing to put in the effort to get past the introductory disorientation. Luckily I like old games that are inconvenient and difficult as long as they have heart. The game definitely has the feel of being made by people who actually cared about what they were making. Much more than can be said about many newer games.

So many things changed. Console compatibility, ease of use, control, focus on tech shifting to convenience, identity politics later.