Everquest: Shadows of Luclin

With the launch of their new expansion to Everquest, Sony Online Entertainment has taken online gaming to a new level!  Everquest:  Shadows of Luclin hit the ground running and despite a few minor speed bumps, is still racing full speed ahead.

As a person who has been playing Everquest since the game launched almost three years ago, I have witnessed the growth of this wildly popular online role playing game first hand.  While the two previous expansions (particularly the Kunark expansion) added greatly to Everquest's content, the game look remained much as it had before the additions.  This is not the case with the new Everquest expansion, Shadows of Luclin.

If you still think the moon is made of cheese, it is obvious that you haven't visited Everquest lately!  Luclin, the moon for the planet Norrath, offers an extensive new play area which includes over 25 zones of hunting areas, dungeons and cities...there are hundreds of new quests...thousands of new items...opportunities galore...but no cheese!   Old, familiar Everquest zones now sport a new look because of new graphic texturing and lighting changes but you will need to read on to see what other changes have transpired with the addition of the new expansion.

A new race has been added...the Vah Shir, a proud and noble race of cat people!  Like Barbarians, the Vah Shir are tall and muscular with high strength, endurance and they are able to withstand punishment well.  The cat people embrace spirituality as they forge their paths through life.  They possess tremendous agility which allows them to drop from high places without injury and the darkness holds no secrets from them as they enjoy superb night vision as well.  The Vah Shir race can choose from several classes including bard, rogue, shaman, warrior and an entirely new class...the Beastlord.

The Beastlord is a mighty combination of melee fighter and caster.  The Beastlord class has been added to not only the Vah Shir but also to the Barbarians, Iksars, Ogres and Trolls as well.  Beastlords adapt their fighting style from wild beasts in that they use small but very sharp weapons that serve as claws.  Even the magic that the Beastlords use is different.  It is drawn from the spirit world and allows the Beastlord to control and befriend creatures to aid in their hunt.

Sony Online Entertainment and Verant Interactive have been diligent in their efforts to improve and expand Everquest and the Shadows of Luclin expansion has brought a number of changes to the overall game.  New 3D character models have been created for all the races of Norrath and attention to detail is evident when you look at the results of this overhaul.  You can now change the face, hair style, hair color, and eye color for all characters.  The general consensus seems to be that players are greatly pleased with the new look for their characters.

These new graphics place a tremendous pull on RAM, however, so it might not be feasible for all players to turn on the graphics for all the races.  Players with 256MB RAM are encouraged to enable only half of the new character graphics and it is recommended that you have 512 MB of RAM if you want to enable all the new graphics.  Playing with less RAM and all graphics enabled will cause long delays when entering the game and when zoning, as well as presenting lag problems in highly populated areas.

This newest expansion to Everquest has certainly presented its share of problems to the game's devoted players but I would have to say that most of these problems have been quickly addressed.  The remaining issues tend to be with sound and graphics in and around the Vah Shir city of Sharvahl and I must confess to having a few problems in this area myself even though I own a fairly sophisticated gaming computer.  (Please check the testing computer statistics of this review for more information.)

System requirements for Everquest were changed dramatically with the Shadows of Luclin expansion.  Players must now have DirectX 8.1 in order to play which eliminates players using Windows 95 because it does not support the newest version of DirectX.  The publishers of Everquest are offering refunds to those players who are no longer able to play the game.  Those details can be obtained at the Everquest website.

Minimum System Requirements include:  Windows 98/2000/ME/XP or higher, DirectX 8.1, Pentium II with 400 MHz or faster processor, 128MB RAM, CD-ROM, 450MB of free disk space (in addition to existing Everquest installation) for Luclin files, 650MB of additional free space if installing the retextured old zones, Internet connection of 28.8Kbps or faster, Nvidia GeForce or higher DirectX compliant video card with 16MB or higher texture memory supporting Hardware T&L, DirectX 8.0 or higher sound card, Microsoft-compatible Mouse, Existing Everquest with active account.

Recommended System Requirements include Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor or higher, GeForce II 32MB Graphics Card, 256MB RAM, 1.5 GB free HDD Space, 56.6Kbps or faster internet connection, SBLive or better sound card and all previous Everquest expansions.

Install:  Medium
Installation is easy but fairly lengthy as the expansion installs from three CDs.

Gameplay:  9.0. 
Even with the problems noted, the Everquest:  Shadows of Luclin plays beautifully on my system due largely to the new interface and recent improvements to DirectX.

Graphics:  9.5. 
This is an area in which this new expansion really shines.  The new 3D character models are amazingly realistic.  The landscape texturing could be a bit better which keeps the graphics score from maxing out.

Sound:  8.5. 
The publishers of Everquest have incorporated some of the finest music, sound effects and voices in this game.  This score is lower because it reflects the sound problems currently being addressed in the game.

Difficulty:  9.0. 
Building a successful character in this game takes time, patience and careful planning.  These factors earn the difficulty rating it's high score.

Concept:  9.5. 
Call me prejudiced if you will but I am sold on this game.  It is a game that offers high challenge, more than ample opportunity to role play and tremendous personal satisfaction.  What more could a game player ask for?

Multiplayer:  9.5. 
Over 400,000 people from around the globe play Everquest.  Dealing with and grouping with other players is paramount to becoming a successful Everquest player.

Overall:   9.0.
I salute Sony Online Entertainment and Verant Interactive for their continual efforts to make the Everquest experience rich and fulfilling.  The Shadows of Luclin expansion has enhanced an already rich game experience immensely.