EverQuest: Ruins of Kunark, which includes the expansion and the original, does do away with the tedious amount of reading and typing found in old school MUDding. Yet Verant has used a lot of the older commands to shape the text based portion of this title. Communicating is done entirely with the chat/game command window where older commands some of us may remember (i.e. /shout /ooc and /tell) are used to keep the player in constant contact with the desired players. The strong level of control over communication in EverQuest is what forms the solid foundation that holds the server communities together and keeps interaction important.

What replaced the endless reading of the text based MUDs of the past is a fairly nice and very large 3D world. The textures for the most part are your standard fare, most of the nicer textures being on the newly formed island of Kunark, which is where this expansion pack comes into play. Kunark and its inhabitants are completely new to the EverQuest universe, which has been a living, breathing thing for a long time now. The environments found in the previously existing areas are still impressive, with a decent amount of well-used lighting effects and clever area designs. The new island, however, now boasts visual improvements not only with its environments, but also with the lizard-men that live there. The Iskar are a very advanced race to play as. They are of a somewhat evil nature and really only show a mastery of the darker arts.

There are of course many other races to choose from. From the all-purpose, well rounded (but blind as a bat when the sun goes down) Humans, to the ugly as sin Ogres. Each race has its own set of strengths and weaknesses that lie in the basic statistic structure of a character’s make up. These characteristic strengths can be adjusted to a certain degree when a player creates their character. Stats like strength, wisdom, stamina, and dexterity can be added to or subtracted from to effectively mold a character. The importance of the basic stats carries over into the selection of player classes. Certain classes require a level of character traits in order to function to the fullest. A player can mess with the stats, but it is wise to leave that to the experienced players.

The classes are separated even more by the gods/deities they worship. This sometimes dictates your characters relation to the forces of good and evil, but more importantly influences where you start your quest. For example there are two towns that humans may begin in, as a monk I picked one god, and was forced to start in Freeport. Here is some advice: Start in Qeynos, as Freeport is a really run down place that just isn’t as cool as Qeynos. The player then begins a game with a limited amount of food and water, as well as a note that will arrange a membership with a class specific guild. Once the player meets with the guild they get a shirt/robe and their quest can begin. Some towns are more quest friendly than others, so if a person really wants to focus on questing they should research the town and the class they plan to be involved with. For example Qeynos is a much more Monk-friendly town than Freeport (which further explains my distaste for Freeport), it offers a greater number of Monk specific quests.

General equipment is everywhere to be found, but there is a very large amount of equipment that has a variety of race specific requirements and effects. Armor ranges from earrings to breastplates and ranges in cost and value. The economical system of EverQuest is based on four types of currency: Copper, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. For the most part lower end equipment hovers within the gold and silver area, while food costs run in the copper/silver range. As a player saves up money they can buy the larger equipment that actually works well. One of the neat things about EQ’s shopkeepers is the fact that they have loyalties to certain races and classes. This can either end up with the shopkeeper ripping you off, or letting his wares go for a little less than usual.

After joining the guild the game gets extremely open ended, which is why EverQuest sucks people in. The reason I quit playing MUDs in the first place is how addictive the ability to almost do anything is. For the most part this idea isn’t that different in EQ, but it can be a bit more limited. Programming different socials, actions, and spells is actually a little more difficult than what MUD Admins used to go through in the past. Now new visual effects and motions need to be created for individual characters. Verant has done a pretty solid job keeping a lot of these options open but it just isn’t as easy to create an identity. Now forming an identity requires the player to take part in events, help/harm others, in essence stand out from the crowd. This isn’t a fault, just a definite change in play style.

NPC’s are scaled in certain areas to meet the demands of the current server community. The EQ Admin team tweaks things like respawn rates to insure everyone is getting a fair chance at leveling up. Enemies range from the infamous ‘rats’ to larger and more deadly Griffons and various other intelligent monsters. For the most part these monsters provide a good amount of challenge but around level five and six a player can find themselves being forced into grouping as on some servers there seems to be a lack of NPCs for characters within these two levels to take on.

Control of your character is very important in battle despite the fact it is still based on a series of turns. Certain learned attacks work better against certain enemies, and the ability to easily access these skills/spells is important. EQ succeeds for the most part in this particular area. While I applaud their use of a relatively well organized menu driven system, the screen tends to get a little crammed and in some visual modes there are a few commands that are not available. Most players will stick with the larger menu screen with the centralized view window, which may work well but at night the dark contrast of the 3D world with the bright menu makes it somewhat difficult to make things out. (hint: buy a lantern or other light device at beginning of quest)

What really led to EQ’s fame is its well managed, and consistent server community. There is a rather large number of static servers, which are home to thousands of players, where battles rage every hour of the day. Playing EverQuest does come at a monthly price of $9.95, which really isn’t that bad. The retail copy comes with one free month of play, but they still require you to fill out billing information in full before you are allowed an account. A person can cancel an account at any time.

I seriously had to limit how much time I put into EverQuest: Ruins of Kunark. Hours seem to just fly by while I level up my monk and make new acquaintances. As an expansion pack Ruins of Kunark does a pretty solid job, but it’s a shame the graphical improvements made to this new island were not shared with the rest of the EverQuest world. As a game EverQuest does a fantastic job bringing an entire world to life. I guess if anything had to replace the old text-based MUDs, it might as well be a game as good, and addictive, as this.