EverQuest II

Probably my favourite game of all time. EQ2 has all the depth you could ever want from an MMO it's a shame it lost so many players to WoW early on and the place is a ghost town now. Quests that can take weeks or MONTHS to complete but are actually WORTH the time, I can't say that about any other game. There was never a better feeling of achievement than when I got my Mythical in EQ2, no other game has made me work so hard for something but also made it feel like it was worth all the time spent. I don't think I'll ever play another game as good as EQ2 and I'm proud to say I played the hell out of it for over 6 years!

Based on the original Everquest 1, with much better graphics, EQ 2 was supposed to lead the MMOs like its predecessor. But then WoW came out. EQ2 originally tried to keep up the legacy of non solo able content of EQ1 (even worse) you had to get a group (real hard) to do anything really. WoW had tons of solo content and PvP. So WoW became the new king of MMOs and still is. Things changed later for EQ2 but it was too late. Still, its a huge game, with tons of quests and nice community. Its graphics haven't aged well though.

EQ2 is a great example of trying to take something unique and make it like everything else. it's fine, it was fine when it came out, and its fine now. But there is nothing special about it.

Has been one of the best MMOs I've played and got me through A LOT of **** in my childhood - teen years, I have I lot of wonderful memories of this game, but.. this game has deteriorated over time. Used to be a fantastic MMO that was insanely overshadowed by WoW's undeserved success and the fact SoE, now Daybreak, never really advertised for it, Everquest II fell into obscurity rather quickly. No one my age knows about this game and it's..saddening to me. It was/is a wonderful MMO that used to have a lot of wonderful people but the EQ fandom is quite literally dying, most of EQ's fans are in their 50's - 90's, rarely anyone younger than that and it frustrates me so **** anyways.. here's the ****: Pros: -Lots of classes and races to select from, plenty to try out and enjoy. Can also choose to be evil or good. -15, nearly 16, years of content, would probably take you months, or years, to go through if you want. -Rather decent graphics if you're into that. -Story is pretty okay, it's not the best, but it's fine. -Can solo if you want to as Mercenaries have been a thing for a while Cons: -Outdated UI, everythings so clunky and cluttered. -WAAAAAAY too many skills, most players have to set up 8-12 hotbars just for all of their skills. -Newer Expansions are either meh or garbage, don't waste your money on them unless there's a sale. -Graphics are inconsistent, some areas look blurry and shows it age, and some areas look absolutely stunning and beautiful. -Two Races and Two Classes are behind a paywall and are expensive. Plus, the paywall'd races look absolutely hideous and definitely are not worth $25-$45. The classes are actually decent but kinda OP. -Leveling can be way too easy to some, can get to level 110 in a day if you tried. -Default appearance for the character models are god awful and the Alternate appearance looks way better, but, for some reason, most people prefer the default. Beast races don't have an alternate appearance so some you are stuck with this hideous creature.. like the Kerras. -Some races have very limited customization like the Ratongas -Questing can be really boring and tedious, a lot of going back and forth and "go kill that" kind of thing. -Combat is dull and lifeless, really outdated. -Some classes are nerfed so badly that they're basically useless and unenjoyable to play, like Bruiser. -PvP servers ruined class balance because PvP players loved complaining about non-existent problems, they simply just need to, as Dark Souls players would say "get good." -Animations are very stiff and robotic. -A lot of unnecessary things are paywall'd like the broker, gear and chat. It makes the Free-To-Play aspect absolutely pointless. -Despite being made in 2004, this game lags like absolute hell, even on high end computers. Anyways, don't get me wrong, I love this game, but DAMN, it has a lot of issues and I hadn't even touched on all of it.

I would like to start off with something totally positive. Compared to a s**t tone of other MMO/MMORPG currently on the market, Everquest II has an impressive selection of races. I played dozens of MMOs before and NEVER before were I able to control a half-dragon, rat or pixie. The selection of classes is equally good. We have 4 basic archetypes fighter, mage, priest and scout. However, each of them covers a whooping 6 classes. Another thing that really helped me to immerse into the game was the idea of character alignments (something like D&D, but only with the basic good, evil, neutral). The graphics, though outdated, look pretty much OK. However, on first glance that's it... The combat system is terribly outdated. It's a real shame how many games have to torment players with the 'click to attack' system. Addition of WSAD does add to maneuverability, true, but doesn't help much in the long run. Animations are extremely bad. I frequently found myself attacking a monster, dealing damage yet not really waving with my wand/rod/sword/hand. That hurt especially when playing monk. I really wanted to immerse into EQ2 as a Kerra monk, ferocious and wild. The problem was I just couldn't with all that irregular waving! Skill animations probably **** the most Unfortunately, the interface and written text seems unappealing as well. I hate when the text in-game is plain and/or is written in those default Word fonts, like Arial or Times New Roman. I've seen it in only 1 game before and hated it with passion, too ;P. The last thing I completely fail to understand is why the same company offers two games that are almost identical Everquest II and Vanguard? I tried Vanguard and then Everquest II, and later I suddenly realized the games are exactly the same thing graphic-wise and race/class-wise. Sure, there are some difference, but the first impression is rather discouraging... All in all, I'll give the game a 4/10. It is rather old, outdated and rough in overall. However, it gave me the feel that there actually are MMO games that have a lore you can really touch, and which aren't so ridiculously generic :P. Also, if you enjoyed WoW, Everquest II might be an interesting choice anyway.