EQ2 Origins

[Ciderpress]

Yeah I absolutely loathe the "revamped" zone architectures like ro and freeport and highpass and stuff.

For one thing, they look super generic and way different than the original game, but it's mainly annoying cause it's totally scattershot which zones were redone and which ones weren't, so you're constantly being jerked around between a vastly different visual look depending on where you are.

[Bisonzabi]

Originally Posted by Ciderpress [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah I absolutely loathe the "revamped" zone architectures like ro and freeport and highpass and stuff.

For one thing, they look super generic and way different than the original game, but it's mainly annoying cause it's totally scattershot which zones were redone and which ones weren't, so you're constantly being jerked around between a vastly different visual look depending on where you are.

I think it varies and all comes down to how well its done. Nothing is wrong with revamped zones as long as you can nail an atmosphere. Obviously SoE diverted a lot of their more seasoned developers into the development of EQ2 in early-mid 2000's and we saw a lot of newcomer level designers fill in the ranks for EQ1. Or at least that's how I recall it. Either way the worst offender back then was Nek Forest 2.0 and and a distant second being Freeport. Layout was atrocious and far too spacious for Freeport, meanwhile Nek 2.0 was so bad that it got a second revamp that is actually pretty faithful. Same with Innuthule Swamp which got a revamp somewhere down the line. Though it is very jarring that half of the old zones are a mixture of old and "new"

[Jimjam]

Originally Posted by Bisonzabi [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think it varies and all comes down to how well its done. Nothing is wrong with revamped zones as long as you can nail an atmosphere. Obviously SoE diverted a lot of their more seasoned developers into the development of EQ2 in early-mid 2000's and we saw a lot of newcomer level designers fill in the ranks for EQ1. Or at least that's how I recall it. Either way the worst offender back then was Nek Forest 2.0 and and a distant second being Freeport. Layout was atrocious and far too spacious for Freeport, meanwhile Nek 2.0 was so bad that it got a second revamp that is actually pretty faithful. Same with Innuthule Swamp which got a revamp somewhere down the line. Though it is very jarring that half of the old zones are a mixture of old and "new"

The old new nek forest did work really well for the monster missions though! It did a good job of being a spooky fay forest, which I suppose Nek forest technically is, but it just wasn’t good at specifically being Nek forest.

[Castle2.0]

Crafting was cool, but linked mobs and other things were lame. After EQ1, it really could have been epic, but just wasn't it.

[putrid_plum]

Never played eq2 but I tried it. Enjoying. Timing killed this game if it had launched not days before WoW and if you didn’t need a super computer to run it, would had done well. The game is good and looks good. Sadly, fate had its hand in it!!

[Lune]

I've been trying my hardest to upload my consciousness into Elder Scrolls Online. It's kinda working, pretty fun tbh in a 'something to do while my ankle monitor is plugged into the wall charging' sort of way

[patrickwiley]

Originally Posted by Evia [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

EQ2 recently launched a new server that's trying to be as 2004 as possible (think it's 2006 client?) And even though EQ2 sucks compared to EQ1, this might be the best way to play it. It's pretty group centric in this state and very difficult to solo. They even outlawed Krono on this one in an attempt to make it as "authentic" as possible.

https://www.everquest2.com/news/eq2-anashti-sul-is-live/slope game

Idk if I'm going to try it or not...but it seemed interesting enough to share. I thought maybe someone here might be intrigued enough to try it out.

I went back to Whoa, I feel like a loser today. I now like to use low-level alts to play that game by myself.