"D&D done right"

I am an avid RPG player since Zelda: a Link to the Past was published for the SNES, and things just got better and better with Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy VI (III in the States), and Chrono Trigger. But after the holy Square Triad I just mentioned, things started to go wrong with the way RPGs are made. I still got FFVII, and the rest of the FF series (Tactics, Tactics Advance, X-II, etc. but not XI), as well as other fine games like Shadow Hearts, the Nippon Ichi games, etc. But at best they just told good stories, I wasn't able to regain the sense of immersion I felt when playing my first RPGs.

Back in 1999, I got into playing EQ1, and that game was a like an Oasis in the desert of RPGS awash in anime glitz and J-pop theme songs; I played EQ1 for 3 years and ended up with a lvl 59 character (casual player :p), and eventually it burned me out.

I've been playing EQII for about two weeks now, and I'm feeling it again, that sense of immersion. If I had to break this sensation down, this is probably how I would explain it:

Graphics: Hands down the best graphics for an MMoRPG out there. Initially Penny Arcade convinced me that the art direction sucked, so who am I to argue with Gabe and Tycho? But after seeing EQII on my computer I have to respectfully disagree and beg them not to unleash Chtulhu on my hiney. Each race was rendered in loving detail by the graphics designers: humans look like the noble Men of the West in the Lords of the Rings movies, wood elves look like wild, savage Native Americans with their leaf and feather ornaments and tribal tatoos (or some sort of hardcore version of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys), dark elves look awesomely grand and ridiculous at the same time with their way-out-there hairdos (this is a good thing), the new race, the rat-like Ratonga, twitch their noses while the iksar eerily swivel their eyes abruptly this way and that; I could go on and on about the character graphics, and I've probably only seen about 5% of the game's content. Likewise, environmental graphics is top notch; forests are a-twirl with autumn leaves and butterflies, while catacombs glow with weak lighting, casting shadows over the remains of long-dead beings.

Sound: The majority of NPCs have been blessed with well-done voice overs, which complement the excellent and varied soundtrack and decent sound-effects (I haven't really been noticing the sound effects, but can recall that there's nothing to complain about). At the end of the day, the overall effect is that it's easier to believe that you really are a half elf bard strumming a cheery song, trying to remain lighthearted in the depths of the Qeynos catacombs, in the midst of all that doom and gloom. The sounds of this game are light years ahead of EQ1, and comparable to some of the better RPGs on PCs and console systems.

Gameplay: I can only comment on the gameplay of two archetypes, the fighter and the scout, both of which I've gotten into their late teens, and I can say that there's nothing really amiss here. The Heroic Opportunities really make combat so much more enjoyable than combat in EQ1 was; basically you start a heroic opportunity and a wheel pops up that tells you which combat arts to perform in order to trigger a certain effect, be it huge damage to the enemy or a party-wide enhancement spell, it's almost like the Judgment Ring system in Shadow Hearts, with more strategy involved when you're grouping and need to coordinate everyone's actions to get the HOs to work. Crafting is also more involved in EQII, with entire skill sets devoted to ensuring that your tradeskilling sessions are as engaging as your combat ones - I have not delved too much in this outside of the tutorial zone, but numerous guildmates with tradeskill levels rivalling their class levels, as well as the goodies they keep giving me, assure me that I'll really have to stop procrastinating soon.

I'd like to give this game a 10, just for giving me that sensation of immersion, just like the first RPGs I ever played, but issues such as lag when the servers are crowded (something I can fix by installing more RAM, apparently), minor hiccups such as the dreaded December 17 server blackouts and subsequent character rollbacks (some people lost the achievements they've made up to a certain point) tell me that there's room for improvement. And SoE, if your development guys are reading this, when are we getting any PvP?! Please oh please let me kick the asses of Freeport scum already!!

Overall score: 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/04