Monday, May 12, 2003
EverQuest Chapter 2: Attack on Qeynos Reviewed
Posted by Tim Allen in "SOFTWARE" @ 08:00 AM
I think it was virtually the same week I completed EverQuest Chapter 1 that Sony released this, the next installment in the EverQuest series. Thanks Sony, no chance of me getting a break from it then, eh? Since then I've battled countless gnolls, aviaks, ogres and other weird and wonderful creatures to bring you news of what's hot and what's not in this new episode. In the movie world, some sequels are generally not bad, offering more of the same but with enough new stuff to keep you interested; many are downright awful and should never have seen the light of day; and a rare few are actually better than the original. Read on to find out whether Attack on Qeynos is another Terminator 2 or whether it's firmly in Police Academy 6 territory.
Attack on Qeynos, from Sony Online Entertainment (developed by Emodiv), is the second chapter in the three-part EverQuest for the Pocket PC series. It's pretty similar to Chapter 1, so I'm going to mainly focus on what's new, so be sure to check out my review of Chapter 1 to acquaint yourself with the EverQuest basics.
Freeport Import
Attack on Qeynos installs happily alongside Chapter 1 (assuming you have enough memory - see below) and doing this gives you the option to import your character from the previous episode. This works pretty well, as it automatically detects any Chapter 1 characters and loads them into the selection screen.
Figure 1: Create a new character or import one from Chapter 1
Imported characters start the game with the same equipment and skills they had at the end of Chapter 1; this can give you a slight advantage depending on the level you finished Chapter 1, as new characters start at level 12 here. Whilst I got quite attached to my level 13 Wizard in the first episode, I decided to start a new character for Attack on Qeynos so I could try out the Druid. I also upped the difficulty level to 'Hard' (tough guy, eh?) and would recommend seasoned EverQuesters do the same.
Play the Game
Attack on Qeynos is a bigger game than the first episode - I calculate 19 zones compared to the original 14. The quest structure is basically the same, and as before these can still get a bit repetitive: explore area, kill monsters, retrieve artifact, repeat. However there are more optional 'side quests' to reduce the linearity. Completing these is not critical to the game but they usually result in some useful reward.
Figure 2: The metropolis of Qeynos
Whilst Qeynos looks much more like a proper town than those in the first episode, the downside is that you can get a bit lost squeezing between the crowded buildings - and you still can't go inside them either.
A Kind of Magic
Contrary to Sony's gaming site there don't appear to be any new spells - just more powerful versions of existing ones. However, some effort has been put into the special effects here, as the fire and freeze spells have some nice flame and ice graphics respectively. Also, your character will turn green when poisoned or diseased, and there are new potions for curing these ailments.
Figure 3: Green with envy? Er, no...
Another One Bites The Dust
Aside from the gnolls who are the main the villains of the peace this time around, there are many new and interesting monsters, such as giant eyes on stalks, invisible shades, shining wisps and centaurs. Sadly, there are also cute young elephants, and killing these left me feeling quite guilty. I don't have a problem dispatching wolves and lions, or even bears if I have to, but baby elephants? No thanks.
Figure 4: A montage of fight scenes
Like spells, there's nothing really new in the weapon stakes, just different variations on the sword/staff/club themes. However a very welcome improvement is that your health and mana now recover much quicker after a battle, fixing one of the most frustrating gotchas I had with Chapter 1.
Don't Stop Me Now
Whilst on the subject of speed, movement is also now much quicker. Again a very welcome change, this does give your character a slight gliding on air appearance, as his legs don't seem to be moving fast enough. Also, I'm sure that the monsters have been sped up as well - thank goodness for the Druid's 'Spririt of Wolf' spell, although I'd only consider running away as a last resort, obviously!
Breakthrough
One of the few genuine new features is that some chests and barrels can now be opened (or smashed) to reveal either money, useful items or monsters. The only problem is that there are hardly any in the whole game - I can't remember finding more than ten, and half of these are right in front of you when you start the game.
Figure 5: I'm sure one of these will contain something bad...
Now I'm Here
There's not much to say about the map or inventory screens. The only difference is that the shading on the map showing where you've been is paler - almost too pale under certain lighting.
Figure 6: The map
Gotchas
The software can be downloaded from Handango and purchased for $19.99 (affiliate link). Unfortunately at the time of writing there is no trial version, although one may appear at some point as the Chapter 1 demo was not available until some time after the game was released. In fact the Chapter 1 demo should give you a good idea of what to expect here.
Specifications
This program will work on any Pocket PC 2002 device and takes up 7.6 Mb of RAM on the device, but can be installed to a storage card.
Conclusions
Compared to the first chapter, Attack on Qeynos essentially just offers more of the same. Overall the game has a more serious tone, largely due to the fact that all the statistics are scaled up: higher experience levels, lots more health and mana points, weapons and spells do a lot more damage and there are more fights involving multiple enemies.
Whilst many of the original gotchas have been fixed, there's fundamentally nothing new here as the more major limitations (lack of character dialogue, no puzzles to solve, repetitive combat) are still present. Nevertheless, it's still slick and it's still addictive, and it still represents a major achievement to have squeezed so much gameplay into a Pocket PC application.
So if you liked Chapter 1 you'll like this, but only you can decide whether you're willing to pay the same again for a second helping. Personally I think it is worth it - just - but we're now definitely into diminishing returns territory. Come on Sony/Emodiv, pull out all the stops and give us something really special for Chapter 3, or you're going to find it a hard sell.
Attack on Qeynos, from Sony Online Entertainment (developed by Emodiv), is the second chapter in the three-part EverQuest for the Pocket PC series. It's pretty similar to Chapter 1, so I'm going to mainly focus on what's new, so be sure to check out my review of Chapter 1 to acquaint yourself with the EverQuest basics.
Freeport Import
Attack on Qeynos installs happily alongside Chapter 1 (assuming you have enough memory - see below) and doing this gives you the option to import your character from the previous episode. This works pretty well, as it automatically detects any Chapter 1 characters and loads them into the selection screen.
Figure 1: Create a new character or import one from Chapter 1
Imported characters start the game with the same equipment and skills they had at the end of Chapter 1; this can give you a slight advantage depending on the level you finished Chapter 1, as new characters start at level 12 here. Whilst I got quite attached to my level 13 Wizard in the first episode, I decided to start a new character for Attack on Qeynos so I could try out the Druid. I also upped the difficulty level to 'Hard' (tough guy, eh?) and would recommend seasoned EverQuesters do the same.
Play the Game
Attack on Qeynos is a bigger game than the first episode - I calculate 19 zones compared to the original 14. The quest structure is basically the same, and as before these can still get a bit repetitive: explore area, kill monsters, retrieve artifact, repeat. However there are more optional 'side quests' to reduce the linearity. Completing these is not critical to the game but they usually result in some useful reward.
Figure 2: The metropolis of Qeynos
Whilst Qeynos looks much more like a proper town than those in the first episode, the downside is that you can get a bit lost squeezing between the crowded buildings - and you still can't go inside them either.
A Kind of Magic
Contrary to Sony's gaming site there don't appear to be any new spells - just more powerful versions of existing ones. However, some effort has been put into the special effects here, as the fire and freeze spells have some nice flame and ice graphics respectively. Also, your character will turn green when poisoned or diseased, and there are new potions for curing these ailments.
Figure 3: Green with envy? Er, no...
Another One Bites The Dust
Aside from the gnolls who are the main the villains of the peace this time around, there are many new and interesting monsters, such as giant eyes on stalks, invisible shades, shining wisps and centaurs. Sadly, there are also cute young elephants, and killing these left me feeling quite guilty. I don't have a problem dispatching wolves and lions, or even bears if I have to, but baby elephants? No thanks.
Figure 4: A montage of fight scenes
Like spells, there's nothing really new in the weapon stakes, just different variations on the sword/staff/club themes. However a very welcome improvement is that your health and mana now recover much quicker after a battle, fixing one of the most frustrating gotchas I had with Chapter 1.
Don't Stop Me Now
Whilst on the subject of speed, movement is also now much quicker. Again a very welcome change, this does give your character a slight gliding on air appearance, as his legs don't seem to be moving fast enough. Also, I'm sure that the monsters have been sped up as well - thank goodness for the Druid's 'Spririt of Wolf' spell, although I'd only consider running away as a last resort, obviously!
Breakthrough
One of the few genuine new features is that some chests and barrels can now be opened (or smashed) to reveal either money, useful items or monsters. The only problem is that there are hardly any in the whole game - I can't remember finding more than ten, and half of these are right in front of you when you start the game.
Figure 5: I'm sure one of these will contain something bad...
Now I'm Here
There's not much to say about the map or inventory screens. The only difference is that the shading on the map showing where you've been is paler - almost too pale under certain lighting.
Figure 6: The map
Gotchas
- The quests, tasks and combat can still get fairly repetitive.
- There are still no real puzzles to solve.
- There's still no dialogue with the other characters.
- I'd still like to see the saved game files stored in My Documents so they automatically get backed-up when you sync. You simply must remember to do you're own backups.
The software can be downloaded from Handango and purchased for $19.99 (affiliate link). Unfortunately at the time of writing there is no trial version, although one may appear at some point as the Chapter 1 demo was not available until some time after the game was released. In fact the Chapter 1 demo should give you a good idea of what to expect here.
Specifications
This program will work on any Pocket PC 2002 device and takes up 7.6 Mb of RAM on the device, but can be installed to a storage card.
Conclusions
Compared to the first chapter, Attack on Qeynos essentially just offers more of the same. Overall the game has a more serious tone, largely due to the fact that all the statistics are scaled up: higher experience levels, lots more health and mana points, weapons and spells do a lot more damage and there are more fights involving multiple enemies.
Whilst many of the original gotchas have been fixed, there's fundamentally nothing new here as the more major limitations (lack of character dialogue, no puzzles to solve, repetitive combat) are still present. Nevertheless, it's still slick and it's still addictive, and it still represents a major achievement to have squeezed so much gameplay into a Pocket PC application.
So if you liked Chapter 1 you'll like this, but only you can decide whether you're willing to pay the same again for a second helping. Personally I think it is worth it - just - but we're now definitely into diminishing returns territory. Come on Sony/Emodiv, pull out all the stops and give us something really special for Chapter 3, or you're going to find it a hard sell.
