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Post by AxeMental on May 4, 2005 23:55:06 GMT -5
Anyone ever play this game online? What was your impression? (more RPG or more video game).
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Post by PapersAndPaychecks on May 5, 2005 3:05:24 GMT -5
I'm a former EQaholic. I quit the game when I realised that between my various characters and accounts, I had clocked up nearly a real life year on the game. The first thing you need to appreciate is that for some people - and I'm one of them - EQ can be extremely addictive. It was harder for me to quit than smoking was, and I used to smoke 40 a day. EQ isn't an online RPG, and neither is it a video game (at least not in the same sense that Baldur's Gate or Doom are). I say it's not a RPG because very little roleplaying takes place in Norrath, and the amount of roleplaying has decreased over time. When two Dark Elves meet in their gloomy underworld city, they don't go "Hail, Azaelin, and well met!"; they're much more likely to say "Woot John, how's it hanging? omg my guild killed (random monster) last nite and it dropped a really kewl piece of loot, lemme show u..." The game contains several frustrations, primarily that it is very difficult to achieve anything meaningful without the assistance of a group of six people which absolutely needs to contain a certain mix of classes, all of whom must be roughly at the same level. This can leave people spending lengthy periods of time "LFG" or "looking for a group"; for some classes this can be over an hour. Additionally the graphics are clunky and the environment is no longer so immersive as once it was. A feature of EQ is the existence of "raid mobs" or critters which it takes a huge horde of characters to kill; earlier in the game's history I personally took part in raids aimed at killing the toughest critters where there were over seventy (70) characters present because that was the only way of getting a reasonable chance of success. EQ1 is a game in decline. The number of people playing has dropped to half their former levels, and EQ2 is struggling against competition from newer rivals.
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Post by mistere29 on May 5, 2005 7:06:33 GMT -5
It sucks ass. I played it for a while when my brother was still at home. He put me through a crash course and it was alot like d20 or Magic. At first you gawk at all the options, but then you realized that it's so badly designed everything is pretty much the same.
It's a shame that ultima X got cancelled. that looked really kewl.
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Post by Lord Cias on May 5, 2005 9:00:43 GMT -5
I see a dismal future for EQ-like online "RPGs." Oh sure they will stick around, probably for eons, but the quality of the "games" and the type of "players" they attract is certain to decrease.
One major problem is that it is fairly common to buy the really kewl weapons, armor, other items, and even entire characters. When I say "buy," I don't mean spending gold pieces earned from stealing a dragon's hoard, I mean plunking down $50.00 US that you earned working a night shift at seven-eleven. Pretty soon most "players" (if they can be called that) will buy success, which means that the true players (the people who actually want to play the game and earn in-game rewards through in-game tasks) will not be able to compete with or even play along side dollar-enhanced characters.
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Post by geneweigel on May 5, 2005 9:14:26 GMT -5
I've got tons of video games but I shy away from anything that is internet interactive. Since the first bad free D&D online games (Early to mid-90's) were chockfilled with bard-playing poppinjays and "lady stories" there is no way I'm going to pay by month for the same Sh*t with better graphics!
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Post by PapersAndPaychecks on May 5, 2005 9:16:40 GMT -5
Heh. Never mind $50, I sold one of my characters for $800.
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Post by Lord Cias on May 5, 2005 9:27:35 GMT -5
Heh. Never mind $50, I sold one of my characters for $800. Nevermind what I said above! I see a bright and cheery future for EQ! Now gamers like ourselves can spend countless hours playing games and GET PAID WAAAAY TOO MUCH FOR IT!! Perhaps I should start an "EQ character factory" and just pump out as many "kewl" and "133t" characters and items as I can. Ah, a gamer's dream come true . . .
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Post by PapersAndPaychecks on May 5, 2005 9:35:20 GMT -5
I should clarify: That character was a former raid guild leader, maximum level at the time, huge AA count, and wearing gear which was pretty much state-of-the art, including rare/quested items and a whole pile of stuff I'd looted off dead Gods. Also, he was a cleric, and clerics sell well because few people want to bother levelling one up, so I did get an unusually good price. To put it into perspective, that character had over six months of real life time invested in him. $800 wasn't a lot for 6 months of my life. I didn't make a character like that for the money, I did it because I enjoyed playing/was addicted to Everquest.
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Post by PapersAndPaychecks on May 5, 2005 9:38:49 GMT -5
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Post by foster1941 on May 5, 2005 11:21:26 GMT -5
I have no first-hand experience with EQ, but one of the guys in my last gaming group used to work for Sony Online and was one of the original EQ developers. He was pretty horrified at what the game had become, and wheggi used to razz him by saying "it's all your fault, Patrick!"
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Post by AxeMental on May 5, 2005 16:57:01 GMT -5
I doubt any of you guys will know about this. Back in 1978 or 79 there was a huge computer (the size of a large cafateria) located at Vanderbuilt University (where my older brother was attending undergrad). They had what would be considered a very primitive AD&D computer program by our standards (had no graphics, only text, and printed out as you went). I was visiting and spent a few hours playing this game (I was like 11 or so). This game rocked! There was a large underground cave system and dungeon system were monsters popped up, treasure was collected etc. You couldn't interact with other characters except attack them (as well as monsters). Anyway, it seems like an early pred. to online gaming. It was hard core AD&D and I would consider playing something like this online. Does anyone know of an online game like EQ that has no graphics (or at least very similar) but room descriptions and other players roving around within it (along with monsters etc.)? Oh, and something very AD&Dish.
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Post by northrundicandus on May 5, 2005 17:29:49 GMT -5
Sounds like a MUD (Multi-User-Dungeon). They were/are quite the rage amongst computer geeks/RPG fans.
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Post by AxeMental on May 5, 2005 18:33:34 GMT -5
North do you know the names of any good ones?
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Post by Lord Cias on May 5, 2005 21:36:40 GMT -5
Oh man, I used to love playing those types of games on old BBSes back before the internet was the big thing. LoRD and Usurper were among my favorites.
I miss the charm of home made dial-up BBSes. I haven't found a decent (free) BBS since the late 80's.
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