I’ve never had an opportunity to play Everquest Online Adventures on the Playstation 2. Released in 2003, Everquest Online Adventures was one of the first MMOs to hit the consoles, and reportedly still has a rather healthy community to this day. For the fact that the game hasn’t been sold in brick and mortar stores for years, it still manages to get by with a subscription and minimal updates.
[This article is ongoing, and will be updated as I play]
4:30: That’s enough for today, I have to get to an evening class.
4:25: I prefer to play with the controller over the keyboard. It keeps me from talking to other people, or at least it would if there were any other people.
4:16: Everquest Allakhazam says I need to be level 10 for the next quest.
4:15: Did I say level 13? I meant level 8.
4:13: I am level 8.
4:06: False alarm. Adessa is sending me to Logger Kripps to convince him that the monster is dead.
4:05: Guess I don’t have to go to Logger Kripps after the quest, I have to go to Adessa.
3:57: I have a thousand monies, my wallet has outleveled my ability to equip anything that the vendors have to offer.
3:52: Only in Everquest can the same NPC that killed me with three quarters of its health left be completely demolished the next.
3:50: I killed the rat and I’m heading back to the Logger to turn in the quest. How many other MMOs can boast 40 minutes for a quest that runs down to killing a single rat? None, that’s how many.
3:25: The usual ritual while I wait for half of my health bar to recover. Laundry, quick trip to Greece, etc.
3:20: The rat despawned. Turns out he respawned in an area filled with other monsters I can kill even less.
3:05: I never get tired of the old Everquest model of placing aggressive over-leveled mobs right next to the ones I need to kill.
3:04: Still working on grinding up to kill that giant rat.
2:45: Turns out I should look before I laugh. Guard screams about monster, turns out it’s just a rat. It killed me anyway.
3/6: 2:44: I’m playing again. Still level 7 warrior, working on a quest to find a guard.
9:35: Going to take a break for tonight.
9:31: Finally level 7. Took a quest by Lieutenant Adessa.
9:02: Died again. Still working towards level 7.
8:49: I was doing the quest right. I need to be level 7 before Adessa will talk to me, that would have been nice to know. This is where the grinding mobs for levels starts I suppose.
8:40: I’m not impressed by keyboard controls.
8:23: EQOA is definitely playable with a controller over a keyboard, although likely more difficult. I haven’t given a keyboard a go yet. One thing I’ve found is that often when one NPC directs you to another, your quest log clears and if you forget who to go to, you’re out of luck.
8:20: I finally found a talker!
8:05: EQOA follows the long downtime between fights. I should see if there’s a way for my character to learn how to heal.
8:01: Killing Frosteye Shaman as a quest. There is one other person on the /who list and he is level 60
7:42: Level 5. Combat and movement in Everquest Online Adventures is a lot like a standard PS2 game, and doesn’t feel anything like the PC version. So far mobs are a lot easier to kill than in the starting areas in Everquest, although the guards don’t seem to be as willing to help out if you run past them.
7:23: Abilities are far more of a pain than just hacking and slashing.
7:15: I’m level 4.
7:05: Killed for the first time. Combat is done by targeting with R1 and pressing X to swing. Didn’t lose anything.
6:56: I got my first kill rats quest. Finding my way out of the dwarven city is difficult, this place is huge and there is no map.
6:51: Already level 3. In the 500 years between EQOA and Everquest, the citizens must have lost their ability to gain experience quickly.
6:33: Playing with Playstation controller not awful, could be better.
6:32: Created a dwarf warrior on the Castle Lightwolf. Amazed that there is a standard tutorial.
6:30: After two hours of trying to get Everquest Online Adventures working, I finally got the game booted up. The connection problems are probably because of the authenticator, which I removed.
MMO Fallout 