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GameSpot editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 10/14/2003
- Released on: 09/08/2003
- Originally published on GameSpot: EverQuest: Lost Dungeons of Norrath (PC) Review
Despite the presence of a growing number of competitors, 1999's EverQuest continues to be a powerhouse among massively multiplayer online role-playing games. In some ways, the game's age is certainly a limitation, as some of EverQuest's once-remarkable graphics look dated by today's standards, and some aspects of its gameplay can seem antiquated. Yet, EverQuest's age is also to the game's credit, in many ways. No other such game offers anywhere near as much content to explore as this one does, which is probably why EverQuest retains many dedicated players after all these years. The latest retail expansion pack for EverQuest, Lost Dungeons of Norrath, adds to the core tried-and-true gameplay a dynamic element similar to what can be found in some other online RPGs. Furthermore, the addition of "augmentations," items that may be used to enhance a character's precious gear to make it even better, adds a desirable new type of loot to look out for. Nevertheless, though Lost Dungeons is clearly suited for dedicated EverQuest players, it offers little or nothing to bring new players into the fold or to lure back those who might have given up on EverQuest some time ago. As such, it might have made more sense if this expansion were only available for purchase online, like its predecessor, The Legacy of Ykesha.
Lost Dungeons introduces relatively bite-sized missions to EverQuest, which ensures that player groups can always find somewhere to go and something to do.
Most notably, Lost Dungeons introduces the concept of zone instancing to EverQuest, by means of the expansion's new "adventure" system. Similar to the randomly generated missions of games like Anarchy Online and Star Wars Galaxies, adventures in Lost Dungeons are missions exclusively assigned to the player groups who accept them. Player groups who accept an adventure have less than two hours to complete it. While adventures start at specific points that have been added to some of EverQuest's more popular zones (a waypoint on your compass is added to point you in their direction), once you cross these thresholds, you and your party will enter an instance of a dungeon that no other players can get into. That means no more camping spawn points and no more crowding around with a bunch of strangers, though some of the places at which adventures are assigned, the Wayfarers' Camps, draw large numbers of players.
The dungeons themselves are not randomly generated, though there are dozens of them, featuring five new graphical themes. By and large, they're the fairly straightforward dungeon crawls that you'd probably expect. Though your objectives may differ from one adventure to the next--you may need to slay a particular creature, find something, or rescue someone--they obviously boil down to your party having to cut a swath through room after room of bad guys. Mobs in these lost dungeons don't actually respawn, and since you have a time limit, you're compelled to press forward rather than sit around--this can inherently make some of these romps a bit more entertaining than a typical afternoon in Norrath, though, after a while, you can imagine how the dungeon crawling can start to feel quite repetitive in and of itself.
What you'll end up fighting in the lost dungeons depends on the experience level of your party members (players between levels 20 and 65 may accept adventures), which in theory ensures that a suitable challenge is guaranteed. You also have the option of going on a "hard" adventure rather than just a regular one, if you believe you can take on a greater-than-usual challenge. Adventures, hard or not, are plenty rewarding in terms of experience and loot--too much so in the opinion of some hardcore fans who worked harder to get their characters to elite status. Adventures are also designed to put most all the character classes to good use--rogues, for instance, will be in demand for their lock-picking and trap-detection skills, since Lost Dungeons introduces treasure chests and other items that may be locked or trapped. By bringing the adventure to you, rather than making you go out and look for it, Lost Dungeons changes one of the fundamental dynamics of EverQuest. Then again, increasingly so over the past couple of years, EverQuest has allowed you to cut to the chase and get right down to killing mobs. For better or worse, the early days of traveling across and exploring the world of Norrath are pretty much long gone; so are the days of being impressed at the sight of a high-level character.
The fact that these dungeons aren't randomized is one of the differences between EverQuest's implementation of a mission generator and how other, similar games have done it already. Another difference is that EverQuest's missions are available only to groups of four or more players. EverQuest has never been a game to really endorse solo play, though some of the character classes have always been viable on their own. Those who prefer soloing simply will not be able to accept any of the lost dungeon adventures unless they find a group, though.
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