f13.net

So I couldn't help but preorder. One, because I'm a consumer whore. And two, because a lot of the game mechanics sound really fucking cool. Anyway, I'm gonna be making a lot of characters, I'll post them in this thread. Mostly because they don't look like they come from Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum (like the ones used as examples on the EQII home page).

(HTTP://WWW.F13.NET/schild/halfelf.jpg)[/img]

Oh and half elves win the prize for most customizable character. By that, the hair choices on them are the best.

Edit: Oh, and I can't seem to get the lips and eyes right. Mostly because the sliders are too finicky as far as the eyes go, and the lips, well the lip algorithm sucks ass.

Another edit: If the EQII live team has their heads on the game, they'll realize that these characters are ripe with possiblities in terms of magical accessories. Instead of rings, they can go the full distance. Magic noserings, hair accessories, tattoos, etc. Kind of like a vastly improved Planescape: Torment system.

Yes, lips really need work.  You seem to have a bit of a muzzle.  JoJo the dog-faced girl would be a good name for that character.

One of the problems is the preset skeleton that the skin kind of warps around, I mean seperately a lot of the results are good, but when put together on the morphed skin, it just comes out kinda meh. I'm content though, and the character creation is about as good as CoH. The only reason City of Heroes gets points is you can get your wicked armor at the beginning instead of throughout the game.

I suspect, short of helmets (because a lot of the hair is pretty fucking cool), that your character will only be improved throughout the game. Tailoring better be a fucking easy class (like in SWG to ensure that I can change the way I look.

Edit: that was a wee bit gay, wasn't it?

It was a wee bit gay and if you continue to create naff looking girls that you seem to think are so hot, such as that French bubble thing in CoH, you will end up a radge wee midden yourself, you midgie raker, you!

Hey hey, the french bubble looked hot beside my little Hellboy character that I didn't think looked like hellboy until I saw the movie last night. The subconscious is a bitch.

I shall call him Latonza.
(http://www.f13.net/schild/latonza.JPG)

He sails the 7 seas on search of lone seamen. I don't know what it is about the character engine, but all of the characters, including the lizards and cats are way too easily homosexual. They really should have tossed in the ability to throw some armor and weapons on these guys so they wouldn't be wearing rags that sort of dance around them.

Yes, Latonza looks a "wee bit gay" (not that there's anything wrong with that). Perhaps you should take a break. Or stick to the ratonga and trolls for now. ;)

Didn't he used to be green?  Wasn't he in Angel?

Here are some attempts at making chars, don't mind the ghetto shading, my gfx card is getting ready to be replaced.

Gremlin?
(http://img70.exs.cx/img70/8485/ScaryLarry1.jpg)

Grandpa?
(http://img70.exs.cx/img70/3469/Grandpa1.jpg)

Graybeard in rat form?
(http://img70.exs.cx/img70/3356/PirateRat1.jpg)

Does Kirsten Know?
(http://img70.exs.cx/img70/8986/kirsten1.jpg)

All this char generation really makes me thirsty for CoH.  Bah!

[edit:Oh, so that's how you're doing it. (http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=B644889A) ]

Still, these are nice pictures,  but if you really wanna make a statement, might be worth suggesting to view the game in action (http://everquest2.station.sony.com/img_viewer.jsp?name=canned_with_vo_web.wmv&collection=eq2_movies).   I just viewed that movie and I'm fairly blown away.  Of course, the gameplay is still fairly nebulous, but I can't question the expertese of the presentation.

To be honest, it has been the scenery that has blown me away.  Some of the panaramic shots are very nice.  I just have this sinking suspicion that they will need every bit of graphic glitz to hide the omnipresent treadmill_from_hell.

Mmmmmmmmmmm, that video makes the fanboi in my make happy sounds.

Well, other than those of us locked into 1024x768 can't seem to see all of the movie due to the stupid html border.

I wonder if I can just download these from somewhere as files, sans flash interfaces and html borders.

--
Alkiera

If you right-click inside WMP movie window and select Properties you can see the URL (you can do this even while it's buffering/loading). You can then use your mouse to select the location text and copy paste it somewhere to download the file directly rather than watching it through the plug-in. For that particular movie the URL is:

http://movies.station.sony.com:7000/patch/web/eq2/canned_with_vo_web.wmv

I really hate the character animation in those videos. Like in the first battle scene that poor barbarian looks like he is walking/running with stick up his butt. Plus his elbows seem to be stuck in a cast or something. I haven't seen animation that bad in a long long time. Even the original EQ animations are better looking than the EQ2 ones -- the EQ2 ones are just so "stiff" looking.

Edit: Fixed typos

Here are direct links to all the movies on the EQII movie page for those of you who can't handle the obnoxiously large popup windows:

In Depth An EverQuest II Movie (147 MB, Windows Media Player, the movie linked above)
http://movies.station.sony.com:7000/patch/web/eq2/canned_with_vo_web.wmv

You Won't Believe Your Eyes (218 MB, QuickTime)
http://movies.station.sony.com:7000/patch/web/eq2/eq2_teaser.mov

Alive With Conversation and Dialogue! (132 MB, QuickTime)
http://movies.station.sony.com:7000/patch/web/eq2/eq2_voice_over.mov

EQII goes to the Movies! (37.7 MB, Windows Media Player)
http://movies.station.sony.com:7000/patch/web/eq2/eq2_e3_trailer.wmv

A Shining Beacon in a Darkening World (63.7 MB, QuickTime)
http://movies.station.sony.com:7000/patch/web/eq2/eq2mixlarge.mov

The half elven females have the most finicky lips of the females, which is unfortunate because they have some good hair options.  Wood elf, high elf, and human all have an easier time with the lips.  Not that they look great or anything, but they are better.

Mr.Hat, at least make serious attempts at characters, geez.  You don't even have the age slider turned off in those images, especially the halfling and the gnome making them look like they have genetic skin disorders.

EQ2 and SWG both seem to think that aging is the same thing as dying from a flesh eating virus.  So always keep the age slider all the way left.

As far as animtions, maybe the ORIGINAL EQ had better animations, but the ones in EQ2 are far better than the post luclin animations.  They are still mediocre at best though.  They could use some good motion capture or the guys who did the handmade animations for splinter cell.

One thing that really bothered me about the character creation was that the hair is treated as a 'wig' instead of actual hair.

I chose hairstyles that didn't have the 'just put this wig on' look because otherwise it looks hideous.

Hideous like Scary Larry up there.

Ooh, err!  That looked exciting!  I even saw someone who looked and sounded just like Patrick Stewart... and was that MrHat on the ship at the beginning?  I think it was!  

I don't know if it's because I suffered through some of the most boring combat in Hz and SWG but that looked like a lot of fun!

I think some of the problem with the lips on that half elf schild is the chin. I found that with some of the elves you can get their chin shaped in such a way that the mouth never looks correct and I think that is what is going on there.

I have made quite a few really decent looking half elves so I know you can get the mouth/chin right but they seem a bit tricker to get the balance than some of the others.

High elves seem one of the easier to get a reasonably pretty face hehe even the men!

The real challange is to make a halfling male or female that does not look scary.

Kaid

The high elven females look kind of like they are drug addicts with the makeup they wear though.  Like permanently strung out on a really bad hangover.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

And to avoid the one-word response, you poor, poor bastard. There has got to be a methodone clinic for MMOG's somewhere. You just know she's gonna break your heart again, after stealing your wallet and making you have that threesome with her male friend EQ again.

Yaaarrrr!!!!!

Bah, the more I learn, the dirtier I feel.

I can feel that sirens pull of the information before release.

Ya know, the EQ team is probably the only team I trust to make improvements on the EQ model at all. They know that they have a tons of users because they were the first and only 3d MMO for a while. They also know that there are a lot of stupid fundemental flaws in the game. I quit EQ a month after release but played through the beta, and for some reason I want EQII to come out Now.

Sirens call? Meh, the sirens are right next to me, poking at my wallet.

That's not your wallet, son, and those ain't sirens, they are stormtroopers with strap-ons.

No - those are night elves and daggers....

But they all want your wallet....

For what it's worth, I think that Squaresoft did successfully improve Everquest where several other clones fell short when they made FFXI.

I am curious if the makers of Everquest can really make a better Everquest when so many others tried and either found themselves having to branch out elsewhere or failed outright.

Ya know, about FFXI, I planned on playing it, until I learned at launch there were no US only servers. Then I'm all like, fuck that noise. I do not want to compete with asian mmo-players who sit at cafes all day. Just wasn't going to happen. Especially not when they had a year jump on everyone else.

It was worth to play anyways just from a purely academic point of view.

The grind was still there, oh jesus was it, but there were several game mechanics, of which I'm sure geld will get to if you ask right, that made the game seem like an evolved everquest.

Combat mechanics, instanced housing, players making a difference in the world...

All of these characters scare the shit out of me.

That is all.

To me the grind in FFXI did not become painfully evident until after level 60.  At 60 you got your last piece of AF armor and there wasn't any more carrots until Dynamis which you need to be at least 65 but more like 70 before you could get invites regularly to go.  Before level 60 there always seemed to be large enough reward every 5 levels or so to keep it interesting ie Choco License, Airship Pass and AF Armor.

Personally I hope EQ2 shamelessly copies FFXI's combat mechanics.  As a Paladin I was kept busy during combat with several hate getting options and weapon skills while damage dealers were busied with Elemental Skillchains and Magic Bursts.  I can't speak from the healer-type side of things other than it looked rather boring to me but I've never been one to play that type or avatar.

The Missions and Quests were of two types.  Zerg rush to victory and some that were rather intricate and involved.  The latter rewarded you with meaningful cutscenes which put you in the the storyline.

If there were enough bright shineys at level 60+ I think me and most in the Linkshell I was in would still be playing.  Most have cut all ties with FFXI but I'm hanging on to my account until I see what the exp pack has to offer.  Not to sound melodramatic but the players in the Linkshell (WT) are a great bunch to game with and made a big difference on how the game was percieved as well.

-Tige

FFXI was a nice try but it just turned me off.  

First of all, all of your advancement is going to come through pure whack the foozle.  This wouldn't be soo bad if it was fast paced and varied combat, but it really isn't.  The grind for me started to set in as soon as level 10.  You can just feel it in the air pressing down on you, crushing your will to log in.

Plus the complete lack of solobility was something I couldn't stand.  I saw there was the possibility to do a lot of cool quests, get a lot of neat loot, and have some pretty interesting encounters but these were all offset by the monumental amount of catassing needed to reach there.  The game was so parsed out by level, it was disgusting.

However, the atmosphere, some of the quests, and the overall professionalism of the game was astounding.   Valiant attempt, but gearing a game towards 15 year old Koreans with no life isn't going to keep me subbed for long.

This is why I doubt I'll pick up EQ2.  If I have to sit in Sibilis for 30 minutes trying to get a group, I'm just going to flip out and burst an artery in my skull.  If the game provides and ample soloing experience with lots and lots of quests to do and can run on my computer, then I'll pick it up.  I can't do group required gameplay anymore, my life has moved on.

I have one big gripe with EQ2 CC . - Can anyone create any half-elf ,elf , dark elf ,wood elf males which dont look 70 to 100% gay? I mean I spent like 30 minutes trying to create something  looking remotely straight. -Randomizing produced even more gay results.

I'm trying to think of *any* elf, in any game that didn't look at least 50% gay.......

God Damn Elves are Gay.

(http://img49.exs.cx/img49/9568/WoodElf1.jpg)

(http://img49.exs.cx/img49/1460/WoodElf2.jpg)

(http://img48.exs.cx/img48/1861/Pat.jpg)

That's not your mother, that's a man baby!

Speaking of Final Fantasy, someone needs to phone Square, and tell them they're being one-upped in the effeminate male department.  

At least half of the male hairstyles have bangs.  What the fuck is up with that?

And they need to work on the mouths for the characters too.  Moving the slider anywhere close to left hand side produced some lemon-sucking, Kato Kaylin look-a-like.

Bald toon for teh win!

Umm... like anyone is really going to give a shit about hair after... oh... character creation. This is the EQ universe we're talking about here. Everyone's going to be too busy modeling their +10 Helmet of Orc-Bashing to worry about the hair.

And this is the key point.

The reason coh character creation is so good is that people can identify your character by the customisation you put on it.

The reason swg character cration sucks is that every bugger is wearing composite armour that carefully hides every last ounce of effort put in to customisation at creation.

Being a smuggler, I tended to either nullify the chance of taking any damage by using Panic shot, or just health shotting and using Feign Death til the effect wore off. You could usually recognize me by my Galaxies Old Navy combo outfit...

(http://www.f13.net/schild/swg/screenShot0199.jpg)

or my sweet padded armor, with my right sleeve missing in absentia - because I was a badass motherfucker.

(http://www.f13.net/schild/swg/screenShot0119.jpg)

When I finally sliced all my composite with 40% slices, I wore an outfit minus the right sleeve and helmet. With or without the helmet, if I got head shotted, the result would be me on my ass.

I remember this exact same thing before SWG came out. Look at the shiney! look at how I can customize my character.

Then:

My god the game play sucks.


Thank God SOE isn't responsible for both of them. Oh wait, they are.

Did anyone else notice that in the movie, all the warrior did was repeatedly swing his sword. All the rogue did was repeatedly swing her dagger. All the mage did was nuke after nuke after nuke.

Beautiful graphics. shitty gameplay is my guess.

You're probably right, Riggs.  I'm expecting to be disappointed.  It makes my life easier, anyway.

Watch the characters moving, not the scripted chars walking around - but the ones in the fights.

I think they took EQ's awkward robot-like movement and one-uped it.

That being said. I'm gonna pre-order on Monday.

Derailing because I'm bored.

For all the money NCSoft has, they somehow, still have fucking Engrish on their web site.



wtf. I half expected there to be a "kekela {>^_^{>" in there somewhere.

Isn't Garriot on the board? He needs to fire whatever abortion came up with that shit.

Here's a recent screenie from TR.
(http://www.playtr.com/screenshots/trwsscrns_may04_023.jpg)

I want that sword in every game, kthx.

Now back to EQII.

He has a broken arm or what?

Maybe he's just showing off by getting ready to fight with one arm behind his back.

Or a thumb up his ass. But seriously, look at that awesome sword!

I don't know...doesn't look all that sturdy to me. What's holding the blade to the hilt?

Mood rings.

Fucking MAGIC! ;)

What's holding the sword together?

The blood of the non-believers.

You should ban yourself.

If you do I'll point you to some password cracking tools and then you can comeback and attempt a board takeover, until you call your hosting service on your self and they come in and reset everything to new passwords.  Then you could register a new site called the banned of f13.

So I came across a copy of the character generator (thank you eqholic).

CoH character generator: Can spend hours making cool and unique characters.

EQ2 character generator: Can spend hours trying to make a cool and unique character.

These are BAD. Unless you want to play a bland accountant with a combover or a dark elf male with a bouffant (sp) hairdo. I just put in about an hour and a half, and the best I could come up with were a couple "well, I guess I wouldn't be too embarassed playing this guy"....

It's not even as good as the SWG generator, imo. The height slider gives you what, a span of about three inches in height? I'd hope this is due for a full revamp (but I imagine it's not), because right now it's about as good as Morrowind's character generator (ie: crap).

I'm embarassed for SOE, if this is the best money can buy.

When we disagree, we disagree mightily.  When we agree, we agree mightily.

These are just fucking ugly.  I flat-out could not make a character that I could call "appealing" by any stretch of the imagination.  I don't care how intricate or technically impressive the underlying tech is, the skeletal/muscular system they used to try to create "realistic" faces, etc; when the result is this it's probably time to rethink your approach.

What a group of incompetent fuckups.  They deserve to have Blizzard and NCSoft eat their lunch if this is how they're going to piss away their 800 lb. gorilla status.  Also please keep in mind that I'm pretty much an EQ apologist.  For what it does, EQ does it fairly well.

However, I also appreciate aesthetics and style.  It's not about being an eyecandy whore (which I plead guilty to), it's about recognizing that something looks like dogshit when it looks like dogshit.

Who makes two seperate hairstyles for COMBOVERS??? Where is the demand? How about some more non-spiky hairdos for males?

What the hell is up with the dark elves? There is no way I'd make a dark elf, despite having played a DE Necro to 54 in EQ. Heck, even my SoL DE was pretty cool, much cooler than any combination I could make with the new generator! I won't even get started with the fact that dark elves can't even get white hair and beard (there is always a yellowish tinge), but their eyebrows are pure white no matter the hair color.

Sure, melee types might have an out with helmets, but I tend to play casters. I guess simple long white hair and a goatee is not going to be an option for dark elves.

I just want our skull helms back...with hair.

I guess I have to go look at this. Pretty much the main reason I'm considering EQ2 is the opportunity to play a dark elf again. A dark elf shadowknight. A shadowknight that, well, kinda like...works, or something...

Hmmm...this doesn't bode well. Still, the only way to really find out is to try it. I'm just glad I don't have to make this decision for several months yet.

Fool me once, shame on you.


Fool me twice....





Imo EQ was a horrible horrible timesink of a game. If EQ2 is even close to EQ, I will be staying very far away.

Hey Haemish, maybe one of us should document all the fanboism, and brink it back up 6 months after release. Could be quite funny.

If I did that, I'm quite sure I'd have to eat a lot of crow for the moderately fanboish defense of DAoC I've had since the RVR expansion. :)

Excluding minor height adjustments, isn't all of this head customization irrelevant the moment somebody wears a helm or hood?

I like the control CoH gives over body types.  It goes beyond head customization.

Yes it is very irrelevent.  Plus in character gen you basically have to fight the sliders to get a decent face.  Anyone who knows how to make a decent face will pretty much look the same.  Then there will be the mutants that look like pug nosed dogs and such.  A huge waste of bandwidth.

Also I really don't like that the caps are part of the hairstyles.  I don't like that earrings and glasses are character generation at all.  Those should be ingame items you can put on and take off or change.  Not welded to your face.  Although earrings would have to NEVER have any beneficial stats or else everyone will have 40 piercings.  It should be for show customization only, but not part of character gen.



There is fanboyism here?  Most I have seen is a few people saying it has some good features on paper or that they will give it a try.  That is the most fanboy anyone here has gotten that I have seen.  Is trying a game being a freaking fanboy now?  Jon Carver actually said he was in beta and liked it.  WOAH fanboy alert.  Wooo, someone get that man some medical help!

There is zero EQ2 fanboi in this thread, or any other I have seen on this board.

I have said I like the creature design from what I have seen, but in the same breath I have mocked it's inability to draw real animals. I like that it has a cloth system, I have said making decent looking characters is possible, but that the char gen is seriously flawed (stated at least 3 different ways it is flawed).  Stated the animation is mediocre, not horrible, far from good.  With those comments, I have been about the most positive person here regarding the game.  We did actually preorder one copy.  EQ2 is big enough that for good or ill I want to play the first month to mock it or to enjoy it.  Either one.[/quote]

I am about as eq2 fanboi as you will find on this thread and I am more than willing to point out flaws and other not so rosy things.

Not so rosy things

I doubt it will be out this year

Any real world animal is likely to make one of my best friends get stabby with her eyes. This probably wont be noticed to anybody who is not a huge animal person but for those who are it bugs them alot.

Character creator takes place at twilight WTF no clue why they chose a time of the day with wierd shadows and darkness for character creation.

More facial/hair options needed for characters some need it more than others. The female dwarves don't look to bad but they got gimped on utter lack of facial hair options. (fanboy on) Apparently many of the long hair patterns and things like iksar scales/ogre beards were taken out due to bugs but are expected to be back in for release. I have seen screen shots with them so I expect they are being honest with this one.

Animations many of the movies I have seen so far have been from the fan faires. During those fan faires they specifically said they only had the default 1 handed auto attack animations which looked really bad silly with polearms. I am still not sure if they have fully added all the final animations for combat/character movement. They are doing motion capture so I would find it really odd if in the end they screw this one up so I will give them my fanboiesqe meh I will wait to play it myself before I judge.

I am hopeful it will be a good game and I have pre ordered it and I will play it when it comes out. I will also play wow when it comes out I have given nearly everything a try to see if I like it or not. I don't trust people and find most in general are stupid so I try to form my own opinions about games based on first hand experiance.

Some times this hurts my brain like in AC2 but some times you get a gem like coh. I never expected to play coh more than a month but by god they did a fine job making a fun playable game that you can play for a couple hours and enjoy. I myself would like a game with a bit more scope than COH eventually but I admire a company who saw their niche and went at it like a freaking laser and hit their target. You can tell that right now coh is pretty much exactally what they aimed for at this point and very few other mmrpg can say that after the first few months.

I just can't see investing much hate in a game until you actually get it into your claws and call me a fool but I will give companies at least a chance to prove misgivings wrong. Sometimes I will get lucky some times not but time will tell how he new batch of mmrpg will pan out long term.

kaid

Oh one more fanboy thing to say about weight body type modifiers for character customization. The lack of these is a design decision.

They wanted to preserve the instant race identification when you see somebody you will know it is a gnome not a skinny halfling or that its a dwarf not a fat gnome.

It also has the side effect of making it ALOT easier to make much more impressive armor. You can more easily fix clipping issues when you are not worried how it will look on a fat person. Anybody who has ever seen the hoolahoops in swg can understand why this is a legit concern.


kaid

I dunno, I could trade some clipping issues for more variety. "Instant race identification"? That's ridiculous imo. Dwarves should be massive with huge shoulders and beards and be recognizable as not being a fat gnome, despite what they are wearing. And why stop gnomes from pretending to be dwarves by wearing bulky clothes? Are people getting offended because someone thinks their dwarf is a halfling? Me no understandee.


Do you mean the fact that all Iksar have the yellow underbelly? I played an Iksar monk to 32 in EQ, but I instantly gave up trying to make an Iksar. Has no one at SOE heard the expression "yellow-bellied coward"?

Yes the yellowed belly thing is what I am talking about. There are supposed to be a number of iksar scale patterns but only a single one was included in the character creator disk. Moorgard said that there were graphical bugs with the others and they were pulled from the CC disk but should go in by live.

They claim the instant race identification is the big reason for the no body modifications but I believe it is more with equipment. It is just easier to design armor for specific bodies with specific limited range in height. If you have to design armor like they did in swg for wildly diverse body sizes it just requires a lot more work and leads to nasty ugly artifacts like hoola hoop belts.

If you have not played SWG most items are pretty clearly designed for a specific body shape. If you were alot thinner than that body you would have items that hover around you. Belts and bandoliers were the worst culprits for non male or non standard to heavy set person they would float VERY noticably away from your body.  

kaid

Okay here is a link and it is borderline work safe. Somebody found that in the character creator files if you make a character and save it and go in with a binhex editor you can set accessories to 0. The results are as follows.


http://www.foxeye-art.com/naked.shtml


Its really not that bad cause even "nekkid" they still have the fig leafe stuff to cover bits you naughty hackers should not see. It does give you a better look at the bodies without the crappy newbie outfit to get a better feel for how the models are really designed.

Kaid

Elves in EQII have a loincloth. Elves in Guild Wars have purple lace panties.

Just sayin'.

Holy crap, that's even worse. All the human/elf models are WAY too squat, like they are compressed. None of the proportions are right. The nekkid looks terrible. The Iksars have bodies that are too elongated.

Modelers on EQ2 need to go back to art school.

It just seems very..."Meh. Good enough, send it on out."
 
Or perhaps it's a distinct lack of uniform style. Which WOW is overflowing with.

If they hold firm with their small group mentality (I'm thinking task forces) for almost all encounters. I really think they might have a fun game in their hands.

Hmmm, while there are a number of people that I'd love to play EQII with from Europe, this is a surefire way most of the players in EQII will speak some sort of English.



For those of you in the UK and other parts Europe, I'm sure someone on f13 would be willing to work something out to get an account going for you.

Goddamn!  I can't STAND when they pull this kinda shit!  I HATED the fact that DAoC split off into a European version and a US version - as I had a bunch of friends in the UK I wanted to play with - but lo and behold - they had to buy me a copy and send me over the CD key!  Stupid Stupid Stupid.  I thought SOE wouldn't make this kinda mistake as they have been very good with regard to this (EQ, SWG) aspect of gaming up until now.

Go ahead and make localized servers - thats fine and great - low ping is a good thing - don't tell people they can't play with their friends!

Why are the males in that "nekkid" link wearing granny panties???

Patriot Act: The Gaming Appendix! We will not allow terrorists (ie: foreigners) to play on god-blessed american servers! ;)

Looks like there was enough bitching. You will be able to pick any server. I rejoice and weep at the same time.

Can't say that I found the EQ character apparances all that lousy.   They don't show animations off much in the character generator at all, but when you see them in action in the trailer they look marvelous.

It's clear that there's been some departure from the old style.   Things have changed a bit since the original Everquest, background wise.   For example, the Erudites have gone all funky alien on us, having skin that seems to vary between ebony to green to silky white, and possess wierd sigils that only show up when light shines on them.    Certain gender/race combinations appear to have special accessories, such as shrouds or piercings or glasses.

The race pages on the EQ2 website are fairly nifty.  Looks like it includes the actual attributes you start out with for the various races.

Hrmmm, was just reading some of the lore for EQ2 (http://eq2players.station.sony.com/en/lore.vm?section=chapter_01). Two things I noticed.

1. I don't give a shit about lore. Probably because almost every piece of lore I've ever read is just utter crap. Fourth rate shit that wouldn't cut it in a fantasy/sci-fi novel.

2. Companies need to hire people who have a grasp on how to write fiction. There are enough dialogue modifiers on that one page to drown an English professor.

Anyway, link provided above in case lore blows your hair back.

Edit: Just for some fun, here's some of the aformentioned above modifiers (this is all from ONE PAGE OF DIALOGUE):

shaking her head
countered
scowled and shook her head
interjected
shook his head
interjected
scowled
growled
countered
cackled gleefully
asserted
her gaze moving from one god to the next
perked
continued
breaking her long silence
nodded
nodded
grinned
rubbed his chin thoughtfully
shrugged
sighed sadly
[spoke] for the first time since he had entered the chamber
said at last
coldly
spoke
stood next to her
responded softly
approached the two goddesses
replied
muttered to himself

SWEET ASS. YOU'RE FIRED.

Granted, utilizing professional fantasy stories (http://ebooks.palmone.com/product/detail/5652) coordinated by  real writers (http://rpgvaultarchive.ign.com/features/interviews/uwoo.shtml) to herald a game prior to it's release didn't seem to save Ultima: Origin.

Perhaps they're going for crappy writing in order to stave off the possibility somebody from SoE will decide EQ2 competes with EQ1 too much.

Bingo.  But that is probably a topic for another thread.