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Role Playing (Games) PC Games (Games)

Everquest 2 Launches 305

Though it's being drowned out by the Halo 2 news, Everquest 2 officially launches today. RPG Vault has a review available for perusal, GamerFeed has a hands on look, and if you're looking for crunchy, low fat coverage Gamespy has an interview with Heather Graham about her role in the game. If you're already tripping the light fantastic in Qeynos check out GamerGod's Qeynos Quest feature, or just cut out the middle man and look forward to the first content on Allakhazam. Finally, F13 provides usefully cynical commentary about the beta and launch of the game.
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Everquest 2 Launches

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:17PM (#10760728)
    Suddenly drops 72%.
    • Just wait until WoW launches, an you can expect it to drop another 36%.

      • Nice counting there.
        • Re:Slashdot usage (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward
          Hey now, if there were 100 slashdot users, and usage drops 72% because of EQ2, then there are 28 users left over. Then WOW comes out, and it drops another 36%, that's just over 1/3 of those 28 users, so now it's down to 18 users.

          See, it all makes sense. Unless he meant 36% of the original 100, which would be loony.
      • I know I can't be the only one who scheduled his vacation around WoW.

    • ...yet for some reason the birthrate isn't affected.
  • by rogabean ( 741411 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:21PM (#10760781)
    Let me warn most of you who were not in the Beta that this game is far from ready. They rushed it to market to beat out WoW.

    I've been telling most people to wait till the beginning of next year to play it after a few patches...

    This live launch will basically be like a "paid beta". Expect to see alot of server downtime for a few months as they fix the things they didn't get to in time to beat WoW.

    On the other hand I just shutdown my EQ1 account after the announcement that despite Beta tester's please they decided to rush it out the door. And decided to not follow through with my preorder of EQ2.

    4 years... time to go see what the outside world looks like I guess.
    • by Duncan3 ( 10537 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:23PM (#10760807) Homepage
      Paid beta is a PERMANENT condition in MMORPGs.

      You should nkow that by now ;)
      • Beta has to be a permanent condition, it is hugely organic process in adaptation of the code to match the players.

        The first release will, and can only be, a best guess to how the game will react under such continuous, and unpredictable user behaviour.
        • by Ironica ( 124657 ) <pixel@boo[ ]ck.org ['ndo' in gap]> on Monday November 08, 2004 @09:00PM (#10762060) Journal
          Beta has to be a permanent condition, it is hugely organic process in adaptation of the code to match the players.

          The first release will, and can only be, a best guess to how the game will react under such continuous, and unpredictable user behaviour.


          Now, I'm the first to say that an MMOG is never finished; if it is, there's something wrong. I basically agree with your statement. BUT...

          After being in the EQ Luclin beta, and playing on Test server for 2 years, and playing the last bit of beta and the first several months of release of SWG, and then playing a bit of the WoW beta, I've come to realize that you really, really, REALLY can do better than SOE at creating a game. Yes, it is possible to realize that people are going to exploit something and fix it in advance sometimes. Better yet, it is actually possible that, even when you *didn't* forsee an exploit, you can fix it RIGHT AWAY, rather than simply penalizing people randomly and capriciously for using it for months before breaking the exploited thing as to make it not useful to anyone.
      • Pfft. (Score:3, Interesting)

        by oGMo ( 379 )
        I've been playing FFXI since the US PS2 release, and it's very solid. Very solid economy, connections, etc. The only real issue I can remember is the report of people having trouble connecting during an update, and that was supposedly fixed. Of course you have the occasional lag-disconnect, or lag in areas with a lot of action, but that's the nature of the network.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      "Let me warn most of you who were not in the Beta that this game is far from ready"

      And this is different from every other SOE game how?
      • oh its not different... I just expected more from em after all this time... They actually did a good job with the Omens of war (eq1) release, I was hoping it was a sign. Instead they went for the "must_beat_blizzard_omg_wtf_bbq" direction. eq1 has been a 4 year paid beta for me. but it was at least playable.
    • Bad Advice (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Yenin ( 793347 )
      Part of the fun of online games is doing things for the first time. If you wait a year, yes you may avoid a few bugs but you will be missing out on the most interesting time of the game when everything is new and exciting.
      • Re:Bad Advice (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Ironica ( 124657 ) <pixel@boo[ ]ck.org ['ndo' in gap]> on Monday November 08, 2004 @07:08PM (#10761202) Journal
        Part of the fun of online games is doing things for the first time. If you wait a year, yes you may avoid a few bugs but you will be missing out on the most interesting time of the game when everything is new and exciting.

        Except that with SOE's tendency toward "supermodel" releases (they look pretty but have no content), you won't miss the opportunity to do all that new stuff until at *least* six months after launch.

        You'll just not be sick of staring at the prettiness when you do finally jump in.

        In other news, you can finally fly spacecraft in SWG, just 200% longer after release than originally stated...
    • troll? (Score:2, Informative)

      I cant agree with this post. I have also been beta testing Everquest and in the last few months the game rapidly increased in stability. Either you werent paying attention or this is a troll.

      Sadly however, ongoing interest in online RPG is doomed in the face of the Halo onslaught. Why are people so keen to use guns rather than brains in a game?

    • by Anonymous Coward
      This has been the history of everquest. From EQ1 all of the expansions were released with lots of bugs, and broken quests, that causes you to lose days upon days of sleep trying to figure it out after which they will finally patch somthing that wasn't working.

      For instance, my guild was in Plain of Earth during the very early days of the Plains of Power expansion. Almost everything was broken, that we finally gave up and put the game aside.

      After that we all became supermodel rockstars and fucked only the h
    • >>On the other hand I just shutdown my EQ1 account after the announcement that despite Beta tester's please they decided to rush it out the door. And decided to not follow through with my preorder of EQ2.

      You mean the people playing it for free got upset that they were suddenly going to charge them for it? Gosh Gee Wilickers Batman, what a complete shock. ;)

      I will admit it's a bit early, but, lets be honest -- most people complaining just don't want to have to start over and start paying.
  • No reviews yet. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:21PM (#10760782)
    Despite the obligatory misleading text in the Slashdot header (patent pending)... The RPG vault article is NOT a review. Heck, they aren't even willing to call it a preview. Its a "first first impression piece" and very low on content.
  • Bugs and Nerfing (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Grendol ( 583881 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:21PM (#10760786)
    I think I will wait till sony has the bugs and all the nerfing worked out for the 'game balance'. But even then I will likely stay with EQ1 as they are supposed to compete against each other as separate business units of SONY. -Zazerzing Wizard 50 seasons, Bertoxxolus
  • by servognome ( 738846 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:22PM (#10760795)
    The Everquest 2 website says there are still 17 hours left.
    Though if I lived in Japan it would be available today, but it won't launch there until later, so I'd have to travel to the US to pick up the game, but then it would no longer be today it would be yesterday.
    Time travel is so confusing.
  • by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:22PM (#10760796)
    There will be a mass almost RTFA as all the geeks hit the link to perv, I mean study the Heather Graham pics.
  • by ActionJesus ( 803475 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:25PM (#10760821)
    By a coincedence, Ive been looking at the warcraft game today, dreaming about playing it. Probably dont have the time or money at the moment, but it looks pretty shiny.

    But answer me this: Everquest 2 will, one would assume, appeal to all the EQ addicts already out there. But the EQ addicts are already playing EQ: so whats this trying to achieve? Why should I play this over, say, world of warcraft or city of heros (which ive heard is meant to be excellent)

    I have no doubt that this will be massively popular, but honestly whos the intended audience? Do old EQ players get to transfer their characters over, or is it start again from scratch for all?
    • by Ironica ( 124657 ) <pixel@boo[ ]ck.org ['ndo' in gap]> on Monday November 08, 2004 @07:13PM (#10761242) Journal
      But answer me this: Everquest 2 will, one would assume, appeal to all the EQ addicts already out there. But the EQ addicts are already playing EQ: so whats this trying to achieve? Why should I play this over, say, world of warcraft or city of heros (which ive heard is meant to be excellent)

      EQ was amazing when it came out, but the code is just way too kluged together for it to ever be "modernized" sufficiently to compete against newer games. Since they had to rebuild from the ground up anyway, they decided to make it a whole new game (it's at a different time point in the EQ universe), so that hard-core addicts would have to subscribe to *both* games.

      That being said, SOE doesn't seem to have learned anything whatsoever from all their long experience, so even though I have 2.5 years in Norrath under my belt, I have no interest at all in EQ2.

      I'm chomping at the bit for WoW, though... when my husband started playing the beta back in April or so, it was *already* closer to release-ready than SWG was when I quit playing several months after release.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:27PM (#10760845)
    It's still not as good as Progress Quest [progressquest.com].

    It seems the progressquest authors were to first to streamline the gameplay enough to remove the tedious parts and remove the tedium from the user that cames in this category suffer from.

  • EQ2 and WoW (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TexVex ( 669445 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:31PM (#10760872)
    I found out last weekend that WoW will run pretty well on my two year old laptop with rather unspectacular video hardware. The integrated video hardware has some 3D accelleration and 32 MB of memory on it. That machine can't run Star Wars Galaxies, and no way will it run EQ2.
    • Re:EQ2 and WoW (Score:5, Informative)

      by rogabean ( 741411 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:39PM (#10760960)
      EQ2 on the following:

      Geforce 5500 256
      AMD 2500+
      512 RAM
      Windows XP Pro

      In order to make EQ2 playable I had to turn most options down or off. The game in turn didn't look all that spectacular.

      Take your own specs and scale from there. This game is a HUGE resource hog.

      Sony themselves will warn you in game if you try to max out the graphics that only about 3% of all computers can handle the full settings.
  • after all these years... does no one have a sense of compitition anymore? i'm going to go play WoW, Guildwars, etc...let the griefing begin... -Frozen Whitwood, New Age United (aka Elba) Proud Pirate and Elbanaught For Elba!
    • Competition griefing. Screw you and your PvP buddies. No one has to pay to be a victim anymore, with all the compitition out there. Your day is over.

      Plus, griefing is now quickly and harshly penalized in many games (whoot!). Grief in City of Heroes? you'll never get to play any other NCSoft published game. Blacklists for fuckwits. Thats what the gaming world has needed for a LONG time.
  • To speak freely: (Score:5, Informative)

    by Upaut ( 670171 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:31PM (#10760875) Homepage Journal
    I was in the Everquest 2 beta, and I have to say this: Its not ready !

    The graphics are fine, the gameplay oddly like World of Warcraft, and some of the quests are quite nice (I was particularly fond of the reference to '8-bit-theaters' sword chucks in a quest in Freeport...) Yet the zones are to big for the servers, the lag too familar, and the stability - not so good. My opinion: The game cannot currently support the great numbers it is sure to attract.

    If your fond of the pain of lag, the bitter load-time, and being overly clunky, go right ahead and buy EQ2. If you like a smooth, sweet, and overally tasty mmorpg, wait a few more weeks and get WOW.
    • Re:To speak freely: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by rogabean ( 741411 )
      You are 100% right Upaut. The game can not support the players coming. It couldn't support us beta testers. I say Ho's will be off within 5 minutes. Lagtonica down in 2 hours (people gotta find their way there) Commonlands in about 1 hour. Client/Server patch in 3.2 hours that will take about 4 hours to download... (if you are VERY lucky) seriously... what are they thinking? they wanted to beat blizzard to market to capture market share, but this is going to hurt them getting there before blizzard with
    • Don't need to wait (Score:5, Informative)

      by dsanfte ( 443781 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @07:00PM (#10761135) Journal
      WoW started their open beta test today. Play WoW for free. The signups are down tonight, but should be up tomorrow.

      http://www.worldofwarcraft.com [worldofwarcraft.com]
    • When are beta testers going to understand that they are just that, beta testers. You think they invite a couple thousand beta testers because they all provide meaningful feedback? To a point of course, but the main job of a beta tester is to just play. The servers are purposefully packed to the point of capacity to stress them and work on the networking code. This also gives a good idea on the number servers needed when the game goes live. If you are going to complain about EQ2 not being ready complain
    • I was in EQ2 Beta, and I've been in WoW beta for.. forever it seems.

      WoW is a much more polished game. Six months ago, WoW was more stable, playable, and finished then EQ2 was at the end of the beta this past Friday.

      However, I just couldn't get into WoW. I tried. I've played for many long nights and I still find the game lacking. Some of it has to do with the graphics; the towns are too cookie-cutter, the NPC's are fairly generic, and the overall graphics engine just doesn't come close to EQ2. Of c
      • by Shihar ( 153932 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @12:09AM (#10763200)
        EQ2 is very similar to EQ.

        That is by far the best review I have heard. It cuts the fore play and gets down to the heart of it. Though, you could have made it even easier and simply said GRIND.

        MMORPGs have been absolutely disgusting in how they utterly ignore the potential that exists. Every single MMORPG, yes, even WoW, relies on the never ending quest to level up. I personally can't wait for the day when someone makes a serious MMORPG that doesn't subsist off people being obsessive and compulsive. I fucking hate leveling and practicing skills. The day they cut out these things is the day that MMORPGs open up to a massive new market of no OCD gamers.
        • Ohh, but it's not true.

          While there's the standard exp bar in EQ2, you don't get experience like you do in EQ.

          In EQ, you basically sit in a corner, and wait for the tank to pull a mob, you kill it, repeat. Kill mobs over and over and over and over.

          EQ2 on the other hand has two ways to get experience.

          One, obviously, is killing monsters. But it's not the same. EQ2 mobs won't chase you forever, a tank can't pull everything to the group. If you run from a mob too long you also break the encounter, so n
          • by Shihar ( 153932 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @04:36AM (#10764188)
            The last guy said:
            Insert some boring technical details about tweaks to EQ's basic level for the sake of leveling gameplay here.

            Here is the problem with MMORPGs. They are currently about leveling. Period. They are the types of games where if you told someone that today your level will be frozen, they would quit their account on the spot. The entire point of the game is to get more levels. Obviously some people love this dumb crap and are more then happy to shell out 15 a month for it. Good for them. That said, the market for this kind of OCD game play is limited. You will never get me to play a game where the point of the game is to gain levels, get more spells and shits... so that you can gain more levels. That sounds like some sort of sick test you perform on rats, not humans. The fact that people can not conceive of a world without levels is utterly scary, and I hope that developers have equally as limited imaginations.

            How do you build a world without levels? Simple, build a world based upon player skill, and offer a variety of player skill sets to pick from. Hell, just make a list of player skills and make it so that the game has games to accommodate them.

            Twitch skills - Simple enough, make some combat based upon twitch skills. Acrobatic classes in particular would be very well suited for a 'twitchy' game play.

            Tactical skills - Make it so that magic or some other element of combat is based upon tactics. Creating a complex magic system would go a long way to do this. Imagine if when a mage casts, every spell they cast results in good and bad side effects for many other spells.

            Example: A mage starts by casting a spell that makes cold spells more likely to catastrophically fumble, and also has the side effect of making fire spells more powerful. He then starts to cast a fire spell that does damage to his opponent, but also leaves him weaker to cold spells. His opponent realizes what tactic is being used and so casts a spell that drastically delays the effect of fire spells from kicking in, giving him time to try and alter the effect into something more pleasant. Rinse and repeat. Instead of making it so that every spell is a boring +10 fire damage, all spells have massive draw backs. Two or three minutes of fighting like this and there could be a few dozen effects that both mages need to consider before spam casting at each other. They might even slow down, stop and think a little before casting. The game becomes far more tactical then just nuking the shit out of the other guy as fast as possible.

            Puzzle Skills - Make the crafting system based on something like puzzle pirates or some other type of puzzle.

            Social Skills - Create a complex political and leadership system. Throw in some sulk and dagger stuff in to give the twitch and tactical people some fun.

            Strategic Skills - Have it so that leaders need to make complex overall decisions about resources and strategic defense and fighting. A person might rise through the social ranks to gain some grand strategic position. Hell, offer lower level strategic positions so that one guy can operate a local mine or what not. Make it so that there is actual depth to decisions, like a financial sim. Let people create trade guilds or other organizations of that nature.

            Role playing skills - Throw the role players a bone and let them participate in a moderate in character senate or public debate.

            PvP - Give the PvP people an outlet. Have actual wars. No, not those stupid free for alls of WoW and DAoC. Make it so that people can form marching lines. Combine strategy, tactics, and good old fashion twitching once the lines break apart.

            Sneaking skills - Create a Thief life game to give the sneakers something to do.

            My point? Levels are far from needed. You could build an action oriented MMORPG with all the fillings of a normal MMORPG, and do it completely without boring as shit levels. It doesn't have to be ATID, it could be exciting in wa
  • Get in early (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Solitude ( 30003 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:32PM (#10760900)
    I already warned my future ex-girlfriend that this was coming out. I was there on week one of Everquest. Sold my account 18 months later for $2,250. You gotta get there early to get the good stuff before they turn off the overpowered items drops.
  • by Anenga ( 529854 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:34PM (#10760911)
    Will this "Everquest" help me in getting an Open Beta CD-Key for WoW from the duct-taped together webserver that is FilePlanet.com? Or perhaps assist me in my perilous presuit of refreshing "signup.worldofwarcraft.com" every 5 seconds in hopes of grasping -- ever so quickly -- that final bliss-filled orgamsmic joy of actually getting to play?

    /Already got CD-Key suckers
    • LOL

      I am laughing because I've been hitting signup.worldofwarcraft.com all day today as well (and you are spot on about FilePlanet today as well).

      I actually got my Beta key early last week - but had to be out of town. I played in the WoW first stress test for a week and it was an absolute blast! I've never played an MMORPG before - but I'm definitely picking up WoW in a couple of weeks...

      Everquest what?

      Friedmud
  • This isn't entirely off topic because it is important that while EQ2 launches today, so does the WoW open beta. I wonder how much of an affect that will have on people.

    Now, that being said, Fileplanet is out of beta keys, and so I'm wondering if anybody has details on when I'll be able to get into the open beta. Damn fileplanet and them leeching off every fun thing that used to exist with games.

    • I managed to get into the WoW open beta, via fileplanet, but WoW's site is down so I can't create an account. I think fileplanet probably ran out of Beta keys in the first hour. My roommate wasn't able to get one and she was there right at the start. Supposedly more Beta keys will be given out either via Fileplanet or the WoW site itself, in the coming days.
    • Actually, the best reason to avoid WoW and try out EQ2 is the way Blizzard has handled this open beta. Two weeks from release and their servers have completely melted down. They have completely taken the WoW.com site down. They're telling everyone to go to battle.net for info. For a while you could go directly to the forums, but now you get ACL errors. Other pages are 404s. signups.worldofwarcraft.com has cratered, you'll get a dozen connection refused between each page, and eventually get a session timeou
      • I realize the severity of the problem, but I don't doubt these are problems that can be solved now that they have more insight into the demand. Which is exactly what this indicates, an incredibly huge demand for their game.

        If I was working for Blizzard and WASN'T one of the techies responsible for fixing all this, I'd be fucking ecstatic.

      • Re:WoW? (Score:3, Informative)

        by Rallion ( 711805 )
        The game servers themselves are just fine. The web server and the game servers are not related.

        I'd be more concerned if they were to put all their efforts into the webserver, rather than keep the game working right.
  • by PerpetualMotion ( 550623 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:39PM (#10760957)
    I think we all know why they wanted Heather Graham *NSFW* [google.com] involved with EQ2. People are tired with elves. I wonder how long until the nude patch is leaked.
  • Good (Score:5, Funny)

    by pHatidic ( 163975 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:41PM (#10760978)
    For those of us who don't pre-order EQ2, our chances of surviving and reproducing just went way up.
  • no contest for WoW (Score:5, Interesting)

    by sinner0423 ( 687266 ) <sinner0423.gmail@com> on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:46PM (#10761023)
    Sorry.. but World of Warcraft [worldofwarcraft.com] is simply going to destroy EQ2.

    EQ2 only took almost 6 years to be released after the original - way too long, imo. I hear it isn't ready, and they rushed it to compete with WoW. Sony is probably nervous.. and for a good reason.

    Blizzard is poised to win big with this game. They've had HUGE success with Warcraft, an extensive fanbase, and the MMO really does immerse you. I was part of the limited beta(s) and it's been quite a trip.

    The graphical stylings of WoW (and the sheer attention to detail) really make it a contender. Sorry to come across sounding like a fanboy, I probably won't play due to the fact that i'm broke and i've got other things [halflife2.net] on my plate. But if I had the time & money, i'd be on my troll shaman right now.

    I urge any MMO fan to give Blizzard's new project a shot, it's worth your cash. Oh, and play on Sargeras, cause I said so.
    • Blizzard is poised to win big with this game. They've had HUGE success with Warcraft, an extensive fanbase, and the MMO really does immerse you

      If the playerbase is anything even SLIGHTLY resembling the Battle.net community, I don't see how it could possibly even come close to being immersive.

      That is, unless you consider a minotaur saying things like "WTB 4SjO 5000gp ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^" immersive. Uh. Yeah. I'll skip MMORPGs until they make one that doesn't attract complete morons... probably hopeless
    • by Tobias Luetke ( 707936 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @08:13PM (#10761695)
      The way people compare EQ2 with WOW is flattering to EQ all by itself.

      I can understand that many people don't realize blizzard for what it is. Blizzard is a game developers DREAM.

      Everyone in the industry dreams of working for blizzard, they employ the best artists the best game designers and some of the best programmers. Next to id, valve, bungee and bioware they have the unique position of taking any amount of time they like for their games. Every single of their games so far already payed for its development in pre orders, publishers will not mess with this track record.

      Blizzard South decided to make an MMO game and from day one It was clear that this game will be remarkable. What they delivered is not only a excellent game but it is also embarrasses the other contenders in this genre with its. There is no way that this game wouldn't have been on the shelf half a year ago if it would have come from any other developer, instead they kept it in beta till it fulfilled the "blizzard vision" of the perfect MMO.

      Check out their trackrecord :

      http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/simpler at ings.asp?companyid=361&sort=0
      • by Alban ( 86010 )
        Well, I work in the games industry (for a company that has a few AAA titles), and while I respect blizzard (I actually have a friend who works there), not every developer wants to spend 5 years on a single game. Their games are always super polished though, so the extra time does pay off.

        As for id, yes they have some really impressive talent, but again, 4 years for a game like doom 3, well...

        Bungee is totally awesome though. Although not everyone likes their games (well almost everyone does!), they do del
  • by MrBandersnatch ( 544818 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:47PM (#10761025)
    And while EQ1 may have been they game that ruled them all (for a while) EQ2 is hopefully going to be a major failure for SoE.

    Why? Well in game play terms its a massive step backwards...locked encounters, limited number of classes (basically 4 with a bit of flavouring to make it look like more),poor options for solo play, no pvp etc. etc.

    I couldnt help but feel that the game was designed by SoEs accounts and customer service departments with the sole purpose of minimising the main reasons for CS calls....Oh but it IS visually STUNNING and almost up there with morrowwind in the audio department, but even so I couldnt help but feel it was the most shallow gameplay experience I had in many years.
  • by deemaunik ( 699970 ) <ian,shepherd&gmail,com> on Monday November 08, 2004 @06:54PM (#10761087)
    I can hear the paperwork of divorces and welfare being shuffled across the desks of america already.
  • by Sheepdot ( 211478 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @07:09PM (#10761213) Journal
    ... Duke Nukem Forever has announced that they "would like to rescind the comment about DNF being released before EQ2."

    Food for thought:
    "Duke Nukem Forever is a 1999 game and we think that timeframe matches very well with what we have planned for the game." - George Broussard, 1998

    "Trust us, Duke Nukem Forever will rock when it comes out next year." -Joe Siegler, 1999

    "When it's done in 2001." -2000 Christmas card

    "DNF will come out before Unreal 2." -George Broussard, 2001

    "If DNF is not out in 2001, something's very wrong." -George Broussard, 2001

    "DNF will come out before Doom 3." -George Broussard, 2002

    The Voyager 1 spacecraft has travelled approximately 2.5 billion miles since the announcement of Duke Nukem Forever.

    The rovers Spirit and Opportunity were proposed, authorized, announced, designed, launched and successfully landed upon Mars within the timeframe of Duke Nukem Forever's development.

    The majority of the children who were entering high school the school year following Duke Nukem Forever's announcement are now eligible to drink.

    And last but not least:
    "We're confident that DNF will be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, game of 1998. And this confidence is not misplaced." -Scott Miller, 1997

    Indeed, I would have to agree. When DNF finally does come out I'm sure it will blow the games of 1998 away. Or, at least, I sure as hell hope it does.

    (Sources were from all over the net, mostly the DNF forums [3drealms.com])
  • by lobsterGun ( 415085 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @07:10PM (#10761220)
    I have to say that this game just isn't ready for prime time.

    I found the CD to be dry and tasteless. There wasn't even any salt on it. If Sony is going to ship CDs that are so completely devoid of flavour they should at least ship it with a nice salsa or a cheese sauce.

    And one other thing. I serious doubt that CD was biodegradeable. Don't ask me how I know. I'd rather not talk about it.
  • uh ya like totally cool, NOT!

    Did anyone else waste 10 seconds of their life and read that sorry misuse of internet bandwidth? I was expecting at least one good question or answer, Heather reads like a 10 year old girl, GameSpy shouldn't of posted that tripe.
    • That's not a troll - I read the interview and agree with the parent. Graham just comes across as totally uninterested in the game. It's just an interview for the sake of a famous name - and possibly, famous body.
  • "...Though it's being drowned out by the Halo 2 news, Everquest 2 officially launches today...."

    Personally, Halo 2 doesn't excite me at all -- There are already too many 1st person shooter games out there, and not enough true RPGs.

    I remember playing EverQuest back when it use to be called Dragon Warrior -- the memories. I even managed to download copies of the versions only released in Japan, and Emulate them on my PC with a translator.

    PS: EverQuest 2? EverQuest 2 was released in Japan for the SNES a lon
    • Re:What gives...? (Score:2, Informative)

      by dr bacardi ( 48590 )
      I think you have your games pretty seriously mixed up... Dragon Warrior [wikipedia.org] is *not* EQ [wikipedia.org]. EQ[12] is a massively multiplayer game, and has never run on anything other than a PC. There is a spinoff for the PS2... but thats another story.
  • I have never played EverQuest. However, I am an old-school RPG fan. I really miss the old D&D games like Secrets of the Silver Blade. The graphics were bad, but the game play and story were great. Most of the modern day "RPG" are not even close to being a real "RPG", they are just click-a-thons. Does EverQuest allow for turn based combat so you can plan your attacks, or is it just another click-a-thon? I would love to play a modern-day RPG that was not all about online gaming and clicking-as-fast-
  • That games like Evercrack are called RPG's is simply a misnomer, unless the R stands for "roll" or "rand()". These games are devoid of the concept of "Role".

    • I'm pretty sure the "role" from Role Playing Game falls under one of the following:
      role

      n 1: the actions and activities assigned to or required or expected of a person or group; "the function of a teacher"; "the government must do its part"; "play its role" [syn: function, office, part]

      2: an actor's portrayal of someone in a play; "she played the part of Desdemona" [syn: character, theatrical role, part, persona]

      3: what something is used for; "the function of an auger is to bore holes"; "ballet is be

  • by Misch ( 158807 ) on Monday November 08, 2004 @09:19PM (#10762185) Homepage
    Everquest 2, Halo 2, Firefox 1.0.... it's like christmas a month and a half early!
  • ...it just seems like most of these other games out there are visually so unappealing and flat. I'm used to real shadows, bump-maps, and dynamic lighting everywhere. I check out those screenshots and I think I've been spoiled. Reality can't be suspended by such lack-luster sights anymore.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 08, 2004 @09:58PM (#10762443)
    I ordered two copies of the Collector's Edition (one for me, one for spouse) from Sony at $90 a pop and paid for next day delivery.

    Not only will I be getting it after the folks at EB Games (which is okay), but I probably won't be getting it tomorrow, either. And probably not even Wednesday. As far as I can tell, Sony haven't shipped it yet. All they can offer me is an email address to apply for a refund on the shipping charges.

    What a nice way to treat your loyal customer base, Sony!

    I'd like to cancel the order right now, but they won't let me.
  • by Taliseian ( 827973 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @01:04AM (#10763499)
    I've had a chance to play both EQ2 and WoW.

    IMHO EQ2, while it still has some bugs in it, is a good overall game.

    SoE made alot of interesting decisions this time around.

    First off, the graphic engine is designed to be flexible and able to be upgraded as time and new developments in video come along. They say that EQ2 will still look top of the line in five years.

    Secondly, the game itself is supposed to be able to scale up to Level 200 (only the first 50 levels are in now, and more will be added as expansions are made). This gives them a chance to really expand the mobs, gear, and abilities if they really have thought that far out. EQLive has just reached Level 70 with its latest expanion "Omens of War", and it just seems like a serious case of mudflation in the type and amount of items that are coming off of "yard trash" (ie the common mobs that spawn all over the zone).

    Every Online Game can and should be considered a "Paid Beta", since from Day One they will be patching, fixing exploits (no team of beta testers, even fanbois, will find every exploit -- they will come), adding new features and features that should of really been there at launch but were put on the back burner, and more content (quests, mobs, zones, etc) which may or may not break code somewhere else and will need even more patching.

    EQ2 is not perfect, but I'm looking forward to their overall story arc.

    When I had a chance to beta test WoW, I was impressed with what Blizzard has done. I was never a real-time strat game fan, but I have played some Warcraft and I enjoyed Diablo I and II. I know that Blizzard can write a good story and does have a long history of good games as well as support (both patches and new content) that is second to none outside of the Online Game Industry.

    WoW has gone a completely different way with its graphics. It went for more of a cartoony look than EQ2, and it is a freshing change of pace. The graphics are sharp and clean as well as being able to perform well on older machines.

    The play is just what you would expect from any MMORPG -- make character, get quests (can be optional), fight mobs, loot mobs, get more powerful. But WoW makes it alot easier to find out who has quests for you -- there is a glowing question mark above their heads. I find it nice to be able to see who has quests as compared to having to talk to every NPC in the zone to find them.

    Both games will appeal to a different crowd. To those who are long time fans of Warcraft, while WoW may not scratch the itch of RTS'ing, it will keep them in the story line and I can see tie-ins to new Warcraft games easily coming out of WoW. EQ2 has alot more depth in my opinion. It was made for those who really want to explore a world and delve deeper into its mysteries. I really feel that it was designed for the long haul and will not really come into its own until further down the road when the major story arcs start to play out. But even until then it will be an interesting experience.

    T
    • What about playerkilling?!
      Are there anything even remotely resembles 'oldschool' UO or the Asheron's Call Darktide server?

      It was actually bad to get hooked on AC because of the "one of it's kind" type of game. Now every other mmorpg look so boring and ordinary that I wouldn't play them even if I got paid to. :-/
  • by MarsF ( 631122 ) on Tuesday November 09, 2004 @08:58AM (#10765309)

    A friend of mine sent me this excellent criticism of EverQuest 2 written by an EverQuest MVP Beta Tester. The thread is long but the writer is well spoken and she goes into great depth about all aspects of game play, their strengths, and their [numerous, critical] flaws:

    http://eq2.forums.thedruidsgrove.org/showthread.ph p?t=7973&page=1&pp=15 [thedruidsgrove.org]

    This is a must-read thread for anyone even remotely thinking of dropping money on this game.

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