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f13.net  |  f13.net General Forums  |  The Gaming Graveyard  |  Everquest 2  |  Topic: No, EQ2 doesn't share the same engine of SWG 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: No, EQ2 doesn't share the same engine of SWG  (Read 28710 times)
HRose
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Reply #35 on: July 28, 2004, 07:08:44 PM

Quote from: Darniaq
Really? I must stop drinkin' then. These big freakin' buildings, bridge railings and trees keep forcing my finger away from the move-forward key.

Quote from: HRose
Objects have no consistence and when you are blocked (rocks, buildings, trees) you are because there's a general "box" around the object.

I was speaking of a complex collision system. SWG doesn't have one it just sets where you can be and where you cannot. In games like WoW or DAoC there are no limits aside the zone boundaries, objects have their precise shape and are dealt in a collision system.

I agree that SWG doesn't have this because of the dynamical environment but as I said is a completely different model that involves the controls. The fact that you cannot jump is just a part about why SWG's controls feel that awful.

I remember when my guild messed with a house partially sinked in a hill and you could go right through the whole house because the "box" surrounding the object didn't have even a roof. At a point a rival guild succeeded at trapping an entire squad of stormtroopers plus an AT-ST.

Make me an example of an object like a box or whatever, that isn't a building, and that will allow my character to not be in direct contact with the ground. I mean something I can climb. There is NO collision system (that isn't a general "box").

-HRose / Abalieno
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Soukyan
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Reply #36 on: July 28, 2004, 07:19:36 PM

Quote from: Alluvian
Quote from: Soukyan
Quote from: Sky
Quote
Personally, I blame SOE for treating beta testing as a marketing exercise and reward all in one. The first people they invited were the very people for whom the game was not intended.

A big reason why I'm not buying it outright, but will watch over the eqholic's shoulder. But I'm a bit more optimistic about it than most mmogs in the pipe, not that that's saying much ;)


See, but that's just the thing. I know two EQholics and both of them flat out refuse to play EQ2. They just won't do it. I'll admit they might give it a try, but the first thing they encounter that is not like EQ in the gameplay will drive them right back to the old tried and true. I have tried to interest these two in several other MMOGs and they end up leaving after the first month because it's not EQ.


Shouldn't you just be happy for them?  We talk here all the time about finding the perfect game for ourselves (different for each of us) and then you critisize them when they find the game that is perfect for them?

I am still looking for my perfect game.  I wish I was still happy with EQ.


Good point. I guess I'm just being selfish. One of them constantly pesters me to start playing EQ again though. It gets rather tiresome. I'm not totally happy for them because for them, it's almost a lifestyle. I suppose I just never thought of games as being something you should do every day for several hours a day. But then again, I play several instruments, write poetry and music and act in productions on occasion, so I have other leisure time interests. I think my concern stems from the fact that one of those guys used to play instruments as well and had other interests, but now he eats, sleeps, works and raids. I guess we all change. *shrug*


Edit: Quotes are HARD.

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Alluvian
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Reply #37 on: July 29, 2004, 06:55:59 AM

Quote
It's a complete collision system that in SWG doesn't exist. Server-wise the world is flat with a few boundaries here and there. Remember the fact that you can shoot through an hill without the server noticing?


You are simply wrong on this one Hrose.  Darniaq pointed out some of the reasons you were wrong, another is that terrain DOES block line of sight and shots now.  It has for months now.  The capability was always there, they had it in early beta and then it got shut off for reasons unknown to me.

When talking to Raph on the beta boards he seemed to be under the belief that it was never taken out.  He tried to describe how it might have been server lag letting you shoot through terrain.  It was of course NOT server lag, but after being out since late(ish) beta till a few months ago it is now back in the game.  You can't shoot jack shit from in a ditch.

Let me throw in a caveat.  This is from my playing with it about 2 months ago after hearing it was back in the game.  For all I know they may have taken it out again.  The capability for it DOES exist though.  It is not anything the engine is lacking.
Sky
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Reply #38 on: July 29, 2004, 07:35:34 AM

Quote
It has to because there is pathfinding in the game that is not based on a hard-coded knowledge of every static element in the world. There can't be. People place and remove structures all the time, changing where the AI can go.

But it still sucks. Down by Tian Bay I was always able to pull those big herbivores (forgot their names, so eminently interesting were they) and they would always get stuck behind a big mineral harvester. Every time.

I was always seeing the AI get stuck on player structures. The pathfinding seemed no better than it was in the original release of UO (and UO's improved since).
TripleDES
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Reply #39 on: July 29, 2004, 07:44:02 AM

Quote from: Alluvian
another is that terrain DOES block line of sight and shots now.  It has for months now.  The capability was always there, they had it in early beta and then it got shut off for reasons unknown to me.

...

It was of course NOT server lag, but after being out since late(ish) beta till a few months ago it is now back in the game.  You can't shoot jack shit from in a ditch.

The last few days I've been shooting shitloads of stuff thru hills. Only things blocking LOS are structures and rocks/vegetation.

EVE (inactive): Deakin Frost -- APB (fukken dead): Kayleigh (on Patriot).
Alluvian
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Reply #40 on: July 29, 2004, 07:46:17 AM

Exactly right Sky.  The pathfinding is not very GOOD in the game I will back that fully.  Hell, when I used to still play the current lame exploit was to Kimo hunt with harvestors.  Put them down near the spawn and then run the kimo back and forth till it gets stuck on it.
kaid
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Reply #41 on: July 29, 2004, 08:35:19 AM

Pathing in SWG is insanely erratic. Sometimes things can follow you well but just ask any creature handler pets often will get hung up on the weirdest things and often will still stop/disappear when crossing a server boarder.

As for character creation in eq2 I have made a number of characters I am happy with. Personally I have to disagree with alluvian about trolls I myself really like the new trolls but this is all highly personal preferance. My biggest gripe is there are a number of race/genders that just need more hair/beard options. Some of this is already stuff that they were doing some like iksar scale patterns/ogre beards had some bug and were taken out of the character creator but should be there for release.

If you want to see some attempts at more serious character creation in eq2 and a bit less picking ugly crap just to make a ghastly character I will post a few of my pics.

Gnome female

http://www.innmates.com/kaidpics/dalgnome.JPG


Barbarian
http://www.innmates.com/kaidpics/kaid.JPG

Male troll
http://www.innmates.com/kaidpics/trollsk.JPG

Ratonga
http://www.innmates.com/kaidpics/ladyrat.JPG

Female halfling
Halflings have issues but this is about the best I could do with one.

http://www.innmates.com/kaidpics/brideofchucky.JPG


I have others as well but those are just some of the ones I am more likely to play when the game goes live. I am hoping eq2 is good I played the last one for 5 years and still can enjoy it when I do play. One of the better things is that most content is 1 or 2 group encounters with the largest raids capped at 24. There is nothing I detested more in eqlive than being a cog in the wheel of a big raid just adding another warm body to do x dps. Hell you could follow somebody and go watch tv for all anybody would notice.

Kaid
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Reply #42 on: July 29, 2004, 08:48:14 AM

$900 in store credit at EB Games and the vaguely erotic lure of free J-Boots for preorder accounts compelled me to pick the thing up this morning. The thing I noticed messing around with it is that the females all have insanely big hips and asses, and there's no way to change it. It's really bad looking. Worse than some piece of shit bass/ghetto trash CD cover bad, but without the thong to distract you from how fat and ugly the asses and hips really are. Other than that the characters can look really good. I made a dark elf female that looks pretty good and as soon as I can get in the game and toss on some old school DE assless leather pants I'll be set.

Oh well, I'll get my money's worth by training giants on people again with the J-Boots if the game sucks.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen.
kaid
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Reply #43 on: July 29, 2004, 08:53:45 AM

I think some of the fat assedness is also made worse by the really shitty newbie outfit. It just hangs badly and the neutral wide legged stance they have in the generator makes it look very bad. I am witholding some judgement on that until I see them in more normal outfits. The movies and pics I have seen I do not notice the issue like I did in character select.


Kaid
Sky
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Reply #44 on: July 29, 2004, 09:09:05 AM

Quote
the vaguely erotic lure of free J-Boots for preorder accounts

Jboots for EQ2 or for EQ? If they are handing out EQ2 jboots for preorders, I might go for it. I friggin hated the hellish torture that was trying to get jboots in EQ.
kaid
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Reply #45 on: July 29, 2004, 09:11:11 AM

The jboots are for eq2 but be advised I do not think they will be anywhere near as strong as the eqlive ones. Still anything that makes you faster than normal is a hell of a bonus for traveling.

kaid
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Reply #46 on: July 29, 2004, 09:15:13 AM

Quote from: kaid
The jboots are for eq2 but be advised I do not think they will be anywhere near as strong as the eqlive ones. Still anything that makes you faster than normal is a hell of a bonus for traveling.

kaid


No official confirmation, but I'm thinking the JBoots freebie may be a charged item (like 5 shots and you're done) type deal. Perhaps not, but I have a feeling.

"Life is no cabaret... we're inviting you anyway." ~Amanda Palmer
"Tree, awesome, numa numa, love triangle, internal combustion engine, mountain, walk, whiskey, peace, pascagoula" ~Lantyssa
"Les vrais paradis sont les paradis qu'on a perdus." ~Marcel Proust
Big Gulp
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Reply #47 on: July 29, 2004, 09:15:43 AM

Quote from: kaid
I think some of the fat assedness is also made worse by the really shitty newbie outfit. It just hangs badly and the neutral wide legged stance they have in the generator makes it look very bad. I am witholding some judgement on that until I see them in more normal outfits. The movies and pics I have seen I do not notice the issue like I did in character select.


Kaid


SOE simply needs to hire better artists.  The current batch they have are the worst sucks that ever sucked.  I'm sorry, Kaid, but while your characters look better than those displayed in the other shots they're still fucking abominable.  There are good artists out there, folks.  CoH has 'em, WoW has 'em, AO has 'em, AC2 has 'em, etc, etc, etc.

With so many people unemployed in the tech sector (which includes graphic design people) you can find better talent than this group of fucked up hacks for a song.  Some pink slips have been in order for a while now, and they should have realized it when a whole lot of people were saying how atrocious they looked.

Hire competent artists and modellers, for fuck's sake.
angry.bob
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Reply #48 on: July 29, 2004, 09:21:40 AM

Quote from: Sky
Jboots for EQ2 or for EQ?


It doesn't actually specify, but the picture of them is EQ2-ish and the slip says to make sure you activate them on the station account you're going to play EQ2 with - no mention of EQ at all. The EQ2 preorder box also says "will grant your character one pair of journeymen boots for an extra burst of speed when you play the game". My unfrozen caveman internet lawyer experiences lead me to believe that they're EQ2 JBoots. However, their tricky wording could be interpreted to mean that they're either single use like a potion now or that they give you some sort of 30 second sprint that you can use every half an hour. After all, what's a Sony game without a last minute shifty colon bludgeoning. Especially when it's an Everquest game.

Edited to say Doh - two other people already said pretty much the same thing.

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Sky
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Reply #49 on: July 29, 2004, 09:52:48 AM

Hmm. Good points. It's a hell of a carrot to dangle, though. I quit DAoC mostly due to the slow movement speeds.
El Gallo
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Reply #50 on: July 29, 2004, 10:00:12 AM

Ninety bucks for the collectors edition.

Quote
SOE announced the specifics of what's included in the Collector's Edition today. If you pre-order any version of EQ2 from most retailers, you also get the EQ2 Starter Kit, the contents of which have already been listed.

From the official boards:

"Today our PR department sent out the following information:

The pre-order disc for EverQuest II, Sony Online Entertainment’s (SOE) highly-anticipated fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), is currently being distributed, and the pre-order program will be in full distribution the week of August 2nd, at select retailers. Three versions of the final game will be available at launch, all of which can be pre-ordered at participating retailers. Here is a list of the three different skus:

CD Version ($49.99 SRP)
Includes EverQuest II on a series of CDs, in-game item (exclusive paintings of EverQuest II scenery/screenshots to be used in player housing), and in-box item (poster with Qeynos and Freeport maps on each side).

DVD Version ($49.99 SRP)
Includes EverQuest II on a series of DVDs, in-game item (talking statues of Antonia and Lucan to be used in player housing), and in-box item (poster with Qeynos and Freeport maps on each side).

Collectors Edition ($89.99 SRP)
Includes EverQuest II on a series of DVDs, and the following in-game items:
· Paintings of EQ II scenery/screen shots to be used in player housing
· Talking statues of Antonia and Lucan to be used in player housing
· Exclusive baby dragon pet for player house

The collectors edition will also include the following in-box items:
· Exclusive Art Book
· Bonus DVD with all the trailers, gameplay videos and behind the scenes footage
· Soundtrack CD
· Collectors coin with velvet pouch
· Cloth map of the Shattered Lands
· Poster with Qeynos and Freeport maps on each side
· Poster with Antonia and Lucan on each side

Note: This information pertains to the US market. Details on international editions will be posted soon.

============================
Moorgard
EQII Community Guy"

Cheers,

Sorran.



Source: http://fohguild.org/forums/showthread.php?s=35080b1a66ff580a771a5fe68ee35a9d&threadid=12098

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Soukyan
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Reply #51 on: July 29, 2004, 10:02:05 AM

Nice. Glad to see the collector's edition of EQ2 will be just as good as the one for WoW... since I ordered both like a good addict should. ;)

"Life is no cabaret... we're inviting you anyway." ~Amanda Palmer
"Tree, awesome, numa numa, love triangle, internal combustion engine, mountain, walk, whiskey, peace, pascagoula" ~Lantyssa
"Les vrais paradis sont les paradis qu'on a perdus." ~Marcel Proust
El Gallo
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Reply #52 on: July 29, 2004, 10:03:53 AM

And a decent interview with the producer here http://www.computerandvideogames.com/r/?page=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/news/news_story.php(que)id=107310

Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How many people are currently in the beta right now?

Sites: Right now, including all the people at the company and their friends and family, we've got about six hundred in the beta test.

What would you say you've learnt most from it so far?

Sites: Aside from all the bugs we've been fixing you mean? We've found that a lot of the things that people had been complaining about - the encounters, the reduction on raiding sizes, for example... People had been saying that because something didn't work that way in EverQuest, it was therefore going to be bad.

We've found that once people actually started playing the game and see the changes they complained about before trying them, they find they actually really like them. We'd found that just with the game in general there had been a lot of people that didn't really expect that they'd even want to play the game.

We found that if we could just get them to sit down and try it even for an hour it completely changed their perspective.

How hard has it been to get them to try it?

Sites: Back at the EQ Fan Faire in April there were so many people that were saying they had no interest in EQII because they didn't feel we could create a game that would be any different to EQ. We sat them down, they tried it and were like, 'Oh my god! This isn't what I was expecting at all!'

The big thing is that change isn't necessarily bad. Just because players have been used to doing things a certain way for five years in EverQuest, it doesn't mean that changing it will be a bad thing. Just getting them to try it out though, that's the key. That's the biggest thing we've had to figure out.

How much are you expecting the overall game to change from your initial designs once the beta test runs its course?

Sites: Based on what we as a company have seen in the past, we're expecting it to change significantly. There are a lot of the systems and areas, such as the tutorial and the introductory part of the game on the Isle Of Refuge, that we feel we've now refined to a point where it's not likely to change a whole lot. But the big areas that probably will change are things like the encounter systems, the population sizes of the dungeons.

All the things that require lots of sets of eyes to go through and look at and experience before we can say definitively say something needs to change. The worst thing a development team can do is get used to something and then just change it for the sake of it. One of the problems any team has is when they create something phenomenal, see it every day and become jaded towards it and then feel it needs changing as a result when that's not necessarily the right thing.

So by letting people into the beta it's been really nice just to see their reactions to things. You get completely unbiased opinions at that point.

Where do you draw the line between changing something because lots of people ask for it and you as the developer saying, 'no, we really think it's best if it stays as it is'?

Sites: First and foremost, as much as we're making a game that we love, we need to make a game that the public are going to love more. We love the game with a passion, but if we're the only ones that like a system and 90 percent of the public don't understand or like it, then it's going to change.

A lot of it comes from going through the feedback. If lots and lots of people are complaining about something then we'll try to improve it. It's a subjective process but that is what the beta is for, to get all that information.

There aren't many people in the world with more subjective views than gamers, most of them different...

Sites: One thing we have found out is that it doesn't matter what we do, we'll never please everyone. We found that out in EverQuest. You can give people a million dollars each and someone will complain they have to pay tax on it.

When, for you guys, is 'finished'?

Sites: When the game is fun, which again is a subjective part of the process. We have in-game polling forms that come up asking you about your experience, ratings on a scale of one to ten. When we start getting those back with consistently high numbers that's when we'll consider ourselves close to being able to ship the game. But it is subjective.

We're not going to be forcing this game out the door though just for the sake of meeting fiscal needs. We've been stating that all along. This is going to be the game that's the sequel to the game that made the company what it is today. So we want the game to be a worthy successor to EverQuest.

That feeling of independence, not beholden to shareholders and publishers, must be invigorating?

Sites: Yeah. I have quite a few friends who work for companies at EA and Microsoft and they're all beholden to shareholders for the most part. We feel very lucky that we can work on a game that's not going to go out until it's ready to do so. That said, we do want to get the game done!

We've been working on it for four years now and we definitely can't wait for the moment people can start playing it. That's the most rewarding part. EverQuest for instance now has hundreds of thousands of people playing the game and that's great, especially seeing them at Fan Faires and so on.

When you see that sheer devotion that people have to your products, how much does that become a burden of responsibility when you design future games?

Sites: Oh it's huge. When we were making EverQuest we couldn't even comprehend the level of dedication the players would have. It was just a $3 million project and we were really only making a game that we liked. Then it launched and we were like 'Oh my god! People REALLY love this game!' and our development process definitely changed as a result.

One of the problems a lot of MMOGs have is having these great big worlds with nothing happening in them...

Sites: Right. Actually, when we first started making the game we had planned on this grand world, this great expanse of space. We started planning this giant dungeon but discovered that you know what, it's not fun running for fifteen minutes and not finding anything. So we ended up pulling the size and scope in and focussing on the content in the different areas.

That's where we're at right now, players are walking through the city and having characters calling out to them, based on what they've done and what quests they can do, instead of having to run for ten or fifteen minutes at a time just to try and find something to do.

What sort of things?

Sites: There are simple things like a little girl chasing her cat around the city knocking stuff over, or big things like the Freeport militia marching through the city, giving speeches to the citizens. It's all things that will help make the world seem more alive.

How much work does that entail?

Sites: We actually have 34 designers on the project, so we have groups of these guys that are just dedicated to adding events like these to the cities.

Do events like that happen outside the cities as well?

Sites: They will do, but the way that we're designing the content is from character creation on outwards. So we're putting all our focus on the cities right now, then slowly working our way outwards so that when the beta testers come in, they're not finding they have nothing to do because, say, we decided to design all the high-level dungeons before we worked on the starting cities.

Are you able to keep tabs on how far the testers have explored into the game and how far ahead you need to be designing?

Sites: Oh yeah. The way the beta test is being run right now means that we basically 'rope off' the areas that we want people to be testing in. Right now players can create their characters, go to both Qeynos and Freeport, the outer lands in the common areas outside in Antonica and access two of the dungeons in each of those areas. This way we get very focussed testing and feedback and can get those areas refined. Then, once those are ready for 'prime time', we start opening up the next zones further and further away.

The zones are all planned in advance and then left to the players. How possible is it for you on the server side to jump into zones when players enter them and direct the NPC's actions on the fly, in a sort of 'dungeon master' role?

Sites: We can do that, although mostly the zones are scripted in such a way as to be completely self-contained and capable of handling things. Once everything has been tested and refined, very rarely will we need to have people go in and watch the players and change things on the fly. Still, we have that option at our disposal if we need it.

How big are the cities in total?

Sites: Each of the cities are made of eighteen zones, each consisting of the town centre, the villages or neighbourhoods which is where you start out and where each player has his or her own apartment.

The houses are given out automatically to each new player?

Sites: Right. When you create a character you're given a little one or two room apartment within which you can place furniture, hang stuff on the walls and customise the interior. When you get into a larger guild or group and start pooling your money you can then buy larger structures within the actual city, decorated with your guild's emblems. When people walk by they'll be able to see who the badass guilds are.

In terms of overall size, how does EQ 2 compare to EQ?

Sites: It's slightly smaller in size than EQ, but the first game has had five years of development work adding to it. The only reason they have a larger physical size is because they have loads of really huge zones left over from the earlier expansions. Like Kunark. That has huge, empty zones simply because we didn't then have the ability to populate them completely. So, we have slightly smaller areas, but lots, lots more content in them.

What sort of mass transit systems are there?

Sites: We have boats for travelling between the shattered islands that make up the world. We'll also have player mounts that are racially specific. So the humans and the mid-size races will have horses, the gnomes and halflings and dwarves will ride wolves, and we haven't decided on what to have the larger races riding, although we're thinking about things like rhinos or elephants. Very large creatures.

I remember seeing the letterbox effect at the Fan Faire and thinking how it was such a small thing but had such a big impact on giving a real cinematic effect to the game...

Sites: It not only adds a cinematic effect but also has its benefits for speeding up rendering times. But everything else in the game was already so cinematic - the voices and so on - that I just wanted to add that in. A lot of people really liked it when we got it up and running.

How is the voice acting working out so far?

Sites: Really well. We just started a two month-long recording session last week, two sessions going on simultaneously for two months straight. We have 117 actors and that's filling the majority of our v/o needs right now.

How much focus is there on the audio side of the game?

Sites: One thing that's nice is that on EQ we had three people on our audio team. Now we have an entire audio department. Which means full audio, 5.1 surround sound support.

How on top of the hardware and peripheral world are you guys? Are you constantly looking for new gadgets to utilise?

Sites: We're working really closely with nVidia, you'll see their logos in our games already. They provide us with all the latest hardware before it becomes available on the market and we work closely with their engineers to request special modifications for our game. We're very on top of the technology. We're also working closely with ATi. We like to make sure that the two hardware kings are both in our corner.

How about other advances such as voice comms?

Sites: We're going to be allowing voice comms although we haven't fully integrated it yet. The only problem we see with it is obviously with the players. With real voices you'll interact with a female wood elf and quickly realise it's a forty-five year old guy. It's kind of immersion breaking.

What about the genre as a whole? What do you see as being the next major innovation to hit MMOGs?

Sites: Hardware is definitely the biggest limitation right now. Once we reach a level where the majority of people can afford to purchase the high-end types, that's when we'll get a lot of extra players coming in. The US has a really high-end hardware market, but there are still a lot of countries out there that operate at a year or two behind that in technology terms. Once we get everybody's specs up to par then the games will become that much more accessible.

One of the things we're doing to get the international community more involved and interested with EQII is full voice translations. We're doing a simultaneous launch in North America, UK, France and Germany, then shortly after that we'll have Japanese, Korean and Chinese releases.

How is the interest in Japan?

Sites: Actually we worked out a deal with Square Enix, in theory one of our big competitors with Final Fantasy XI Online, to be our publisher in Japan. So we're working really closely with them on ways to localise it not only with language but also visually.

That hasn't been ironed out completely yet, but there's a reason why EQ is really popular in the US and Europe, but not so in China and Korea where games like Lineage are. So we're trying to figure out exactly what those differences are.

This post makes me want to squeeze into my badass red jeans.
jpark
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Reply #53 on: July 29, 2004, 10:03:58 AM

I could give EQ2 a try - but the graphics just kill me.  Great detail, awful style.  I think it was HRose who talked about how bright the colors were in WoW and how that made an impression on him.  The almost total absence of the color spectrum when I see EQ2 terrain shots is depressing.

"I think my brain just shoved its head up its own ass in retaliation.
"  HaemishM.
Alluvian
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Reply #54 on: July 29, 2004, 12:06:30 PM

Kaid, tone down the yellow barbarian hair dye, hehe.  That hair color is totally unnatural.  Even colorblind me can see that  :)  The best blondes we were able to get in the game are with highlights on certain hair colors.

Some hairs have the highlights as 'bands' in the hair and for those you can't get a decent blonde.  Just light brown or YELLOW.  But for the highlightable hair you can mix the light browns with a hightlight yellow and get what approximates a blonde.

All in all, the hair is just not very good in the game.  It is a plastic helmet at best.  Same problem with all MMOGs so far, but it just stands out more in EQ2 than in most other games.  It looked pretty bad in swg too.  Worse in character select than ingame though.  Character creation always suffers from super bright white lighting that gives everything more shine than it ever has from ingame lighting.

Same thing happens in CoH where the colors look abit different, especially at night where they play with the color pallete abit by adding more blues to the lighting.
kaid
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Reply #55 on: July 29, 2004, 12:28:18 PM

The picture also is I think a bit brighter than what it looks like in the sunset lighting of the character creator. Kaids hair color for the eq2 model in the creator looks almost exactally the same shade as eqlive which is still pretty painfully blond.


That is my other big gripe of the character creator. Why the fuck is the lighting in the creator basically just past sundown from the look of it. It causes weird shadows and things all seem a bit to dark.

A character creator screen should be a very neutral light with minimal shadows having deep shadows of a very late afternoon type lighting makes things look odd.


kaid
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Reply #56 on: July 29, 2004, 01:07:58 PM

Quote from: Alluvian
Darniaq pointed out some of the reasons you were wrong, another is that terrain DOES block line of sight and shots now.  It has for months now.

Quote from: TripleDES
The last few days I've been shooting shitloads of stuff thru hills. Only things blocking LOS are structures and rocks/vegetation.

I resubbed the last week (because I'm an idiot). I always check two things when I do:
1- If I'm still able to sit outside a chair
2- If I'm able to shoot through solid terrain

I was able to do both.

-HRose / Abalieno
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Reply #57 on: July 29, 2004, 01:10:57 PM

Quote from: El Gallo
Ninety bucks for the collectors edition.

Quote
stuff about the editions


That collector's edition is a lot better than the..ahem, digital sunglasses.
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Reply #58 on: July 29, 2004, 01:28:29 PM

Okay, so why the fuck did they take out terrain LOS again?  Too much strain on server or something?  I don't get it. Meh.
MrHat
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Out of the frying pan, into the fire.


Reply #59 on: July 29, 2004, 01:28:39 PM

Quote from: angry.bob
$900 in store credit at EB Games and the vaguely erotic lure of free J-Boots for preorder accounts compelled me to pick the thing up this morning. The thing I noticed messing around with it is that the females all have insanely big hips and asses, and there's no way to change it. It's really bad looking. Worse than some piece of shit bass/ghetto trash CD cover bad, but without the thong to distract you from how fat and ugly the asses and hips really are. Other than that the characters can look really good. I made a dark elf female that looks pretty good and as soon as I can get in the game and toss on some old school DE assless leather pants I'll be set.

Oh well, I'll get my money's worth by training giants on people again with the J-Boots if the game sucks.


Preorder = Beta?
Alluvian
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Reply #60 on: July 29, 2004, 01:32:07 PM

Preorder = Character creation disk and ingame Jboots when the game releases.

What Jboots even ARE in EQ2 is unknown.  They could be moonboots with a big J on the side and no powers for all we know.
MrHat
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Out of the frying pan, into the fire.


Reply #61 on: July 29, 2004, 01:33:41 PM

Mmmm, character creation....

That's why CoH had such a hold on me for so long...so much character creation.

That does it for me, EQ2 added to the preorder list.
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Reply #62 on: July 29, 2004, 01:34:11 PM

JBoots are regular boots that let you run faster - but do not replace speed buffs (according to http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board?board.id=faq). I'm pretty confident they won't be as ugly as say, Sammy's Specialpants in Horizons.
El Gallo
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Reply #63 on: July 29, 2004, 01:43:15 PM

Quote from: schild

That collector's edition is a lot better than the..ahem, digital sunglasses.


Yeah but the SWG CE came in an excellent box.  Very solid.  I used to use that thing to write on when I was sitting in the big, comfy chair in our den until the wife threw it out.

This post makes me want to squeeze into my badass red jeans.
Alkiera
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The best part of SWG was the easy account cancellation process.


Reply #64 on: July 29, 2004, 09:32:38 PM

Quote from: EQ2 Starter Kit FAQ
Will the Starter Kit be made available for download?
We have no plans to offer the Starter Kit for download. The primary purpose of the kit is to generate interest for EverQuest II at retail outlets.


Well, I dunno how this .iso got on my hardrive then...  of course, I didn't preorder, either, maybe that has something to do with it.  I do use BitTorrent a lot, which is why I thought it was available for download.  8)

In short, MrHat, there are ways to play with their character creation without violating the 'wait 3 months' rule.

--
Alkiera

"[I could] become the world's preeminent MMO class action attorney.  I could be the lawyer EVEN AMBULANCE CHASERS LAUGH AT. " --Triforcer

Welcome to the internet. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used as evidence against you in a character assassination on Slashdot.
MrHat
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Out of the frying pan, into the fire.


Reply #65 on: July 29, 2004, 10:02:18 PM

Quote from: Alkiera

In short, MrHat, there are ways to play with their character creation without violating the 'wait 3 months' rule.

--
Alkiera


Alas, I'm weak and had credit at EB to spare.
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Reply #66 on: July 29, 2004, 10:08:00 PM

Quote from: MrHat
Alas, I'm weak and had credit at EB to spare.


Nah, the journeyman boots will be useful. If they felt the need to give them out, and mention speed buffs, I have a feeling it's going to be dreadfully slow like SWG original movement speed (without sprint on). I'm sure EQII will have a sprint mode for 30 seconds/5min wait also. Hopefully the boots will be like permanent speed.

In addition, they've confirmed their necessity more so by saying they are untradeable/unsellable. The picture is also on the front of the box, they look pretty neat.
Alkiera
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The best part of SWG was the easy account cancellation process.


Reply #67 on: July 29, 2004, 10:19:56 PM

Quote from: schild
In addition, they've confirmed their necessity more so by saying they are untradeable/unsellable.


Obviously a quote from someone who's forgotten just how much stuff in EQ was nodrop.  I stopped in part due to that.

--
Alkiera

"[I could] become the world's preeminent MMO class action attorney.  I could be the lawyer EVEN AMBULANCE CHASERS LAUGH AT. " --Triforcer

Welcome to the internet. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used as evidence against you in a character assassination on Slashdot.
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Reply #68 on: July 29, 2004, 10:41:16 PM

They've already talked about no_drop, and that's only going to be the ridiculously high level shit. They've also said the epic levels are going to be instanced, so camping for that gear won't mean shit, you just have to be strong enough to get it.

I'm not proud of following EQII, but they've addressed a lot of the problems they had from when I played it. It's piqued my interest.
TripleDES
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Reply #69 on: July 30, 2004, 04:59:08 AM

So I was trying to warez me the EQ2 Starter Kit and found out that it is FREAKIN A 482 MEGS ISO! WTF!

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