EverQuest Online Adventures: Frontiers Review

Developer	SOE
Publisher	SOE
Genre	MMORPG

Better graphics, Ogres, Alchemists and a new continent? Has Sony outdone themselves with the follow up to Everquest Online Adventures? Not really, but Frontiers is still the best console MMORPG on the market right now. (Wait, how many of those are there?)

Everquest Frontiers is not exactly a “new” title from SOE. Think of it as more of a 2nd edition upgrade for last years Everquest Online Adventures. But from our perspective this is not entirely a bad thing. MMORPG’s are all about community. And the fact that original EQOA players and Frontiers players will now roam the same servers will only help maintain the integrity of the PS2’s EQ community. Frontiers adds many new features and enhancements while maintaining the same great service and playability that had many hooked on the first title. That being said, we’re still a little disappointed at paying a “new game” price for Frontiers.

Gameplay - The gameplay hasn’t changed at all. This is the same engine and interface as EQOA with a few enhancements. One of the cores of EQOA’s gameplay is “grinding” in combat. Grinding consists of whacking and zapping your enemies, while healing and buffing members of your own party – for hours and hours! (Get the term “grinding?”) What seems like a small “tweak” in the game actually makes your combat duties quite a bit easier. The abilities bar (the interface where you can pick and use your spells/abilities) has doubled from 5 to 10 spots. This makes a HUGE difference as players no longer have the burden of having to jump away from the action and down through a couple of menus to switch in and out much needed buffs and combat abilities. In short, the interface that had already made EQOA a breeze to play is now even smoother.

There are other new goodies as well: The Class Mastery system is probably the most complex addition. There are numerous new “abilities” now unlocked for your characters beyond the abilities gained through basic leveling in EQOA. Now characters can allot a portion of their XP (experience points) towards “Class Mastery”. These new abilities range from those given to all players, those that are native to the different races, and of course, a score of unlockable class abilities (The categories actually break down as: general, archetype, racial, class and master class.) While this may seem complex and cumbersome at first, in the end it turns out to be rewarding. With the Master Class system, now new and unique character classes will be found roaming Tunaria now, such as “mercenary” and “sorcerer.” The EQ developers are themselves “masters” of dangling new content in front of us, and most EQ players have an insatiable appetite for goals and rewards. The new class mastery system will keep even the most advance players busy (After you reach level 60 all your XP will go towards Class Mastery) and is a fantastic addition. But like the auction system put in EQOA months ago, I’m not sure a new game was need for this particular upgrade.

Regarding race and starting class, the new race, the ogre, is a decent addition. But to be honest, the Trolls already sort of filled the big ugly spot for evil characters. Evil characters may have felt a little short handed in EQOA, so perhaps this new race and their new city Oggok is meant to level the playing field with the good characters. Plus, if you want to make Shrek, now you can.

The Alchemist class is actually much more interesting. The main ability for this class are the potions you can concoct. This is a nice alternative to the characters that blast, heal, buff and whack straight away. You actually have to spend preparation time before battle making your potent little mixes. But when the action starts you’ll find the alchemist’s cocktails quite potent.

I mentioned this a little in the above section on Class Mastery, but before I close this section of the review I really want to stress what a fantastic job SOE does in supporting EQOA. The servers are immaculate and well looked after. Any problems or down time (which are rare) are dealt with promptly to get the gamers back up and questing and grinding again. Content is added sometimes on a weekly basis and not just little things all the time either. Bigger events like orc invasions or massive game upgrades like craftmaking skills are offered by the developers. Even special timely events like special costumes during Halloween or Santa Claus handing out rare items will be found on the EQOA servers. The subscription fee is $10 a month, but we at GWX continue to consider EQOA one of the best online subscription deals around.

Graphics - The visuals in Frontiers are definitely the most disappointing part of the new game. EQOA players were never impressed with the look of “console Everquest” but didn’t really complain because all other aspects of the game were so satisfying. But we were led to believe that there would be a strong impetus for us to update to Frontiers because of graphical enhancements. Frontiers proves that you can’t put a couple of layers of makeup on an ugly duckling and expect a swan. Frontiers still looks a very ugly duckling indeed.

The colors have been increased but they have a pastel and artificial look to them. The dry color palette of the original EQOA was actually a bit cleaner (Extra rouge on the ugly duckling? Almost worse no?) And while it is laudable that they attempted to add more to the landscaping (brush, etc.) all the new growth looks 2-dimensional and really sticks out on Frontiers’ still roughly drawn 3D maps. Weather dynamism has been increased though, and this is pretty well done. Now players will notice an occasional blowing leaf and the frequent misting.

These new environmental effects also give a facelift to the numerous and oft frequented cities of Tunaria. You will notice amazing dust storms outside the desert city of Freeport and wicked Fire storms around the Gnome city of Klik ‘Anon. These are all really nice touches.

The character models are yet another visual disappointment. They have changed a bit; many of the character faces and hairstyles for the different races are smoother and more pleasant, but there is no greater variety than in EQOA. Four different faces, four different hairstyles, colors etc. The one big plus in Frontiers is that you have the option to change your characters appearance at anytime. That pink hair not looking so hot with your new shiny red armor? No problem, changing hair colors in the startup menu is a snap now.

The spells effects have been changed as well. We’re not talking Final Fantasy levels here, but the developers definitely worked at making your spell effects more colorful and eventful. With the massive variety of spells and abilities in EQOA this is a nice plus.

All and all, Frontiers really doesn’t look that much different from the first EQOA edition. I think when most players pay a new game price (Frontiers is $40) they expect a new game look to go along with it.

Sound - Firstly, I was not entirely unhappy with the sound in EQOA. It was very functional in that you could tell what action was going down. If someone was picking a fight with NPC’s in town, you knew about it. It was a bit on the Spartan side, but grunting deaths and swooshing swords worked well enough. In Frontiers they seemed to be shooting for more ambience. Now when the action starts there is symphonic accompaniment - but it gets really annoying really fast. There is a lot of fighting in Frontiers, and you want to hear what’s happening so you can act appropriately. The theme music is certainly more cinematic, but repetitious and sort of game hindering.

There also is the addition of more spectacular and “vibrating” sound effects accompanying many spells in Frontiers. Coupled with the new enhanced look of your spells, you now can really “feel” them as well.

Bottom Line - Frontiers is not exactly what we would call a "new" game. It is really a “supercharged EQOA.” And while disappointing in some regards, this in no way turns us off from EQOA. While many of the improvements fell short of our expectations this is still a better version of the game than the original EQOA. Frontiers is a bigger world, plays smoother, and has MARGINAL bonuses in sounds and looks.

The $40 price does turn us off. And if that is too steep for you, and you haven’t played EQOA yet, at least get a copy of the older version for half the price. One way or another, find a way to get on to the EQOA servers. This is still the best game of its type on a console, and until FFXI hits for PS2 we strongly urge you to get your MMORPG fix via this game. Some ugly ducklings have a lot to offer.

Review by Paul Michael