A History of EverQuest - The MMO That Made The Genre
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- čas přidán 22. 06. 2024
- Released on March 16, 1999, EverQuest created a template that most MMORPGs eventually followed and, after many years, even changed single-player games.
Sources:
[1] www.ign.com/articles/2014/02/...
[2] / old_everquest_dump_com...
[3] www.pcgamer.com/breaking-the-...
[4] link.springer.com/content/pdf...
[5] winners.webbyawards.com/2000/...
[6] www.mmorpg.com/everquest/inte...
[7] groups.google.com/forum/messa...
[8] loreofnorrath.wordpress.com/2...
[9] nygamecritics.com/2019/11/23/...
[10] archive.org/details/PCGamer19...
[11] www.gamecriticsawards.com/1998...
[12] / 722542208650473477
[13] www.neverdiemedia.com/product...
[14] imgur.com/a/DFHoi
[15] archive.org/details/Computer_... Page 14
[16] archive.org/details/PC_Zone_I... page 100
[17] archive.org/details/PCPowerpl... page 36
[18] archive.org/details/GamefanVo... page 68
[19] archive.org/details/PCXL10Jun...
[20] • Evercracked
[21] www.shacknews.com/article/110...
[22] www.everquest.com/news/import... - Hry
Greatest game experience I ever had to this day.
Indeed brother, indeed
Nothing else comes close. Transition from MUDs, social dynamics, early internet availability, all the unknowns that people take for granted today we're influenced by Everquest. Legendary mobs, players, and epic weapons. I love everything about Everquest.
Same! Definitely have had better games, but nothing that compares to the feeling and emotions this game brought, and the genre and world it introduced me to. I was only 13 when I started playing EQ back in 2001-2002.
EverCrack, ther source of so many suicides and deaths
Same here. Loved that game, and simply couldn't get enough of it.
Launch day was EPIC. Everyone in the game was level 1 and didn’t know where anything was located. A sea of corpses outside the gates of Freeport, dead from fighting snakes, beetles, etc.
We made our own maps on graph paper, we developed the in game chat and abbreviations that are used in gaming to this day, we developed the economy on each server. It was interesting to see how each server would operate economic activity slightly differently and independently. We shared across servers what worked and what didn’t.
To say that EQ influenced the industry is an incredible understatement
I like to think of EQ as beta-testing the mmo genre. There was so much that would never be allowed in an mmo now. Kill stealing, aggro that doesn't quit until you zone out, leaving all your things on your corpse, loss of experience that could lose you a level, there was just so much like that. It gave the game a uniqueness and difficulty that is unparalleled
@@EricGreene the difficulty, the need to cooperate to accomplish goals together, and most importantly: the real risk of a very difficult/time consuming retrieval of corpses.... difficult in a great and bonding way. Very positive experience for several years.
I’ll never forget watching my dad play EQ. At the time I was maybe 7 years old so I watched him play and when I learned a bit tried it out myself. My dads reaction to his first time dying and spawning stark naked with all of his gear gone was priceless. It was big ohhhh sh- moment. With real stakes and consequences. I remember watching him carefully getting back to his corpse and being ecstatic when he got his gear back. So many memories of this game
I was in high school finishing junior year and there were no spell lists past level 14-24 available online
So it was crazy just learning where everything was … such an incredible experience
It was before social media too so just communicating with other players in a game world was kind of neat and novel at that time
I started as an ogre shaman and made friends with other ogres and trolls in the area as we explored Rathe mountains and feerrott
Of course later we realized those zones were garbage but it was mind blowing at the time
Bro I got choked up reading this. Not a joke.
No matter how many may come after, and no matter where you end up...you never EVER forget your first love.
Spent many years seeking that same feeling I had playing Everquest 20 years ago and could never find it again. I still think about it some times. RIP, Brad.
I’m in the same boat as you. Every new MMO I think will bring back the joy of early MMO but they always disappoint. I never learn though so I currently have my hopes pinned on Pantheon.
Monsters and memories looks promising
No doubt. I got it shortly after it came out. I was amazed. I called in sick so I could play it three days in a row and no game his given me that same feeling since.
Just download it and play it again
project1999 !
RIP Brad, you made one hell of a game.
❤
Man I remember the old EQ forums. We used to rag HEAVY on Brad for all the class nerfs. I feel bad
I lost almost 10 years of my life playing Evercrack!! Had so much fun playing my Necromancer and basically lived in Lower Guk. Made the mistake of joining a west coast raiding guild that demanded 6 hours of your time ever night to raid. Was a blast and would love to play again. Never clicked with Wow as I found it too cartoony after EQ.
I think WoW was a great game in its own right, but I can relate to your comment. Playing WoW is just too user friendly if that makes any sense. You're really just following arrows and looking for exclamation marks the whole time. I would argue the combat in WoW was actually a step forward, but nothing can replace the struggle of being 12 years old trying to figure out where the hell to go in EQ. Very few hints makes for a more rewarding journey.
Your mistake mirrors the tragedy of the game itself: it was changed from a game for everyone to play, with many different playing styles, to one (by the time of Gates of Discord) where you had to raid or your gear was so bad you were a third rate citizen. I still come back and play (for free) the original expansions up to but not including Planes of Power. That part of EQ can still provide a lot of enjoyment.
@@AndyM_323YYY They did inevitably fix the raid gear problem with insanely powerful group gear in the much later expansions which was almost as good as the raid gear from the previous expansion. However, that caused a problem of gear stagnation and inflation as everything got the same stats just slightly larger numbers. To combat that problem, they started new +1 heroic stats but then it ran into the same problem. The nice thing though from that is they started to create really intense and fun group content to get that gear.
@@joshuafountain2256 Thanks for the info. In my current incarnation I have just gotten to level 62: the point at which the game starts not being fun. Of all the choices now available is there a route ahead you think stands out as the most enjoyable? I am boxing groups of 3 characters plus 3 mercs.
@@AndyM_323YYY The 60-65 grind is one of the hardest in the game. That's during the planes-discord era. However some of the planar zones are fun, luclin is fun with some of the best quests but the npc's have absurd hp and ac. I preferred to grind out those levels as fast as possible then grind out necessary aa's and spells from those expacs before moving on. LDoNs are also an option and can give you gear that's equivalent to plane of time but it's a lot of grinding for it. The themed missions really help though. I will say 70s 80s 90s are a lot more fun with some of the best grouping expansions designed for them where you can get raid equivalent gear (omens-house of thule). Plus once you get past those levels of zones they actually become fun when you go back as higher level.
Still playing EQ 21 years later. I can't get enough of this game.
I just re downloaded it
I totally forgot how to play!
@@bokserj1 You will definitely want to run through the tutorial! EQ is more complex than ever.
same got multiple max lvls and even a few on MAngler
Word! I’m trying to figure out how to get in the green server with my surface pro. I quit around 2002 or 03, but was one of the phase two beta testers when j was in junior high school :)
@@bequakynskagroupie3751 I still have my beta CD somewhere!
Thanks for the video.
I started playing a few weeks after launch, played for almost 7 years.
Met my now deceased wife on EQ.
She was soloing as a paladin in LOIO and she had cool dyed plate on. I had just leveled up as a shaman and had a new set of buffs and was buffing people up at the windmill. I started following her around and buffing/healing her while hiding behind trees and hills. Little would I know 5 years later we would be married and have our own child. Just amazing.
That's the power that was EQ, randomly buffing a stranger just because.
I remember guild mates toons names better then I do friends from the same time period.
( Xukulis, Dhriten, Trentar, Luzzon, Waterlillie, Sscout, Seraphinian I could go on and on)
I lead a guild on the Tunare server, met a few of my guildmates in real life a few times.
Made memories I will never forget.
Downloaded P99 5 days ago and I still love this game!
Completely changed my life. ❤️
PLayed on Tunare for 10 years. Earlier oh Ohana Paule and later in the raiding guild Anthem. Many many happy memories! (Tayulare)
I played an Iksar Monk names Xukulis! And there was a Shaman in my guild that I believe was married to a paladin. The paladin's name was Crasty, I think? Probably not the same person though as I don't recognize any of those other names and I played on the Cazic-Thule server and later the Luclin server. :)
That's crazy. I miss the days when you could meet a female in a game and hit it off. Now there's so many simps everywhere it's like so difficult to make a connection. They all worship these chics and hit on them, then when you have an adventure with one and actually feel any sort of connection, they aren't interested cuz they been hit on a million times in that same week and they think you're just another simp or w/e. I used to make friends back then on eq1 and eq2, both male and female...the internet was so different. Now it just feels like this big dead-end road..I can't connect with anyone. It's like everyone has a wall around them. I noticed this like 10 years ago and it has only gotten worse. I believe when VR really takes off, people will open back up like they did the earlier days of online gaming, instant messaging, etc. , so I guess I look forward to that. It just makes the gaming experience so much better when people act like it's the real world, and that's what everquest was sort of like back then....it was just another world.
That’s a lovely story. I’m sorry for your loss. We’ll never experience anything like EQ again. Maybe in the early days of brain-machine interface games. But I doubt I’ll live long enough to see those.
@@dupre7416 So true...when online gaming took off, and same with social media, it was so amazing. You could actually meet amazing people on social media but now everyone's like weird on there, and even worse on games. People barely talk on the games I play. Everyone acts so fk'ing weird now, but back in the beginning man it was so amazing I met all kinds of people that I stayed friends with a long time on there. So when meta gets real big and other new technologies I bet we'll get that again, just for a while, before it all goes to shit too lol.
I think what made it so unique was that both online gaming and the gaming community were still in their infancy, creating the perfect sense of awe that can never be recaptured. It took me about a year to get to level 40, not even knowing about "endgame", just having a great time.
To this day the intro music makes me tear up. I need to get back to project 1999. Can't thank those guys enough!
😭😭💓
I miss the feeling of logging in to EQ back in the 90s. It was so visceral.
When I was 11 a family friend showed me an amazing new game and I fell in love immediately. Bashing rats and bugs outside the gates of Qeynos, getting smacked around by holly windstalker in the hills, looking for my corpse in black burrow... It was amazing. It took me a long time to convince my parents to spend money not only on a new pc but a subscription fee too, but towards the end of the ruins of kunark expansion I finally started my journey as an Iksar monk. EverQuest was something special to me and I see it's influences everywhere I look. EQ was so far ahead of it's time that developers are still trying to perfect the idea over two decades later.
I feel this bro! So many good memories of this game.
Agreed, EQ is felt across the industry, and unfortunately hasn’t been tapped into as it should have been over the years. And Brad McQuaid is a legend, may he Rest In Peace.
Fancy seeing you here. =D
Yes nathan. If they did a major overhaul of the graphics, rebalance classes add new quests. For live a major stat squash. Live is just a joke every new expansion is just a template copy with more stat gear. Its a giant mess. They should have taken notes from blizzard.
@@stus2159 ooof
@@stus2159 blizzard had the advantage of copying EQ’s work. EQ was not developed thinking about how it would play at level 115 or 80, etc. 22 years of play and 27 expansions is unprecedented.
Pantheoooooooon! Sup Nathan
The golden years of mmorpg. This was such a magical experience back in the days.
I just started to play Everquest a few days ago, and I'm loving every second of it.
You still enjoying it?😊
@@MrTheCanaan I actually had to quit it somewhat recently, due to a busier work schedule, and other hobby related activities.
Bummer to hear you quit, i just started up again, I do it every couple years it seems
@@proudpatriot3491 I hope you have fun, I was surprised with how friendly and helpful some of the guilds were.
@@TalkingAboutGames Thanks, perhaps someday you may find time to return. The game seems to have enough of us that keep going back to stay alive which is awesome
I got goosebumps when I heard that loading screen music. It has been so long :O
Isn't it amazing it's been that long and you still have such strong reactions to it?
EQ changed my life. Got me into D&D and made me a bigger nerd. I’m eternally thankful for it. Thank God for P1999.
Got me into D&D as well. I'd heard of it prior, but had never touched a Player's Handbook until after EQ.
:) you know that Everquest has a Roleplaying System?? Was published by Swords and Sorcery and is based on D20
Yup, have the 3 core books. Even ran it once.
@@kodystinson1221 and... how does it play? any issues? i just finishing a differnt game campaign and think of doing an Everquest game next. Are warriors (as in D&D) also kinda worthless after a certain level?
Overly complicated. All new spells and new weapon abilities etc etc etc. Really I’d just use the books for ideas and setting and run it as a regular D&D game. Maybe change the name of some spells or items to be more thematic but if you thought 3rd Ed came as already crunchy, EQ adds a whole other layer.
Great Recap and Thank you for making this video. Brought back so many memories and I have never found a game nor be as addicted to game as I was to EverQuest in 2000.
Glad you enjoyed it Chris!
@@computergamingyesterday Hey man great vid! But you forgot to mention about the Everquest pilot demo that was first showed a very primitive build based on the Quake engine in 1996 and was recently uploaded to youtube.
@@battosaijenkins946 thats interesting - I would love to view that - I cant find any info on that - can you share a link
Eq was special bc of the socializing aspect. This was before social media.
I was such a little troll back then, I miss it.
started in '99 and literally playing EQ right now.
Firing up that black and white open beta cd and fishing in felwithe all night because it was so dark and terrifying..like no other gaming experience I have ever witnessed
This January marked 21 years of EverQuest for me. I don't play often anymore due to being an old geezer with a family now, but I've been playing for freaking HALF MY LIFE now. No other game will ever hit like EQ did. I've realized that chasing that dragon is futile. Logging in for the first time, and seeing Greater Faydark teeming with other players, and the realization that those were _other real people_ in 2001 blew my damn mind. The spell effects, the people running around all over, getting killed by a bat. It was great. Wandering around and seeing Felwithe for the first time, that music hits, and then I contact my friend all excited "I FOUND A NEW CITY!" Running from Zarchoomi to turn in Crushbone Belts. Everything about EQ was absolute magic.
A hearty hello to any Firiona Vie people, the old OOTS crew, Kelethin Legions, and Prophetic Alliance. Kundow is still around, he's just a lot older and slower now.
Loved my time in everquest, no other game had a community like EQ. I feel like anyone that ever played eq is part of like a brotherhood, like the bond that everyone that has fought in the same war like nam vets such. We all didn't serve together in the same place or even at the same time, but everyone that partook in eq has an experience that is uniquely their own, yet totally relatable by anyone who has put time into the game. We all could exchange endless "war" stories, almost everyone's stories are worth hearing because the type of emotion that is unleashed when an eq player talks about their best times and worst times of is addicting and reminds us of our own stories. It is an experience that anyone that wasn't apart of can never truly understand no matter how many videos they watch or eq players they talk to. Doesn't matter what other mmo you played, none of them had the true undeniable magic that eq had. Sure there were fun times in other mmos, but nothing will ever top the experience we all had in eq.
I have Eq memories burned into my head that will last longer than shit I did in "real" life. I have no interest in reliving my life, but I wouldn't mind being able to relive just my time in EQ, as weird as it sounds it was some of the happiest times in my life. It's not that life sucked that badly, tho life does suck, but that is true for everyone if we are honest, life never truly goes the way we want it after all. However EQ wasn't great just because it distracted us from our mundane lives, it was a type of consciousness experience that is most honestly like a drug shared experience. I mean even before the days when people started using voice chat more, back when most of us just stuck to text chat in game, the connections we made were still so deep. It is only natural when you literally have to sit in a spot in game for hours and you and your party/guild/strangers you met that day, form a bond and trust each other with their lives and times as everyone did their part to make the gameplay as smooth as possible, no one wanted to be the weak link, yet no one was an ego maniac and was more than willing to help others get better. It wasn't just the gameplay, you would talk about all sorts of things, the serious things, crack jokes, talking, all you had was the talking. The gameplay was honestly stale outside of some raids, but you wouldn't know it by how long we all could sit there and play it for hours on end.
I honestly could write a book about my time in EQ, not sure it would be worth reading, but it is honestly a subject that my passion for will never die. I've played so many other mmos over the years since then, but it's like chasing the dragon, despite some really fun times and meeting some cool people, nothing ever came close to my time in EQ and at the same time EQ is something you can never go back to, it was just a perfect place in time. My only real regret is losing contact with some of the great people I have met in EQ, people that I am sure I could have been friends with for life if I really wanted to put in the time, but at the end of the day I've always been kind of a drifter, I'll give you my all until I don't and move on to other things almost with out warning. Still I wouldn't trade my memories from eq for anything. The connections I made in that game, the experiences I had, the conversations I shared, the good times, the bad times, some of them rival the actual shit I've done my life because everquest really was so much more than a game, it was a state of mind and you either get that or you don't, and if you don't and missed out on eq during the glory days, I truly feel sorry for you and can only hope you found a similar online experience elsewhere. The internet is such a cesspool these days with toxicity and such and just generally over crowded, gamers are different, mmo is pretty much a dead genre for a reason. However my time in eq showed me, when used right, the internet truly is a great thing that can connect people from all over the world of all ages and truly let them bond ego to ego in a way you just can't do in real life because of well, the distractions that come with real life. Eq was truly the perfect example of how we can use the internet to essentially mind meld with one another and get lost in virtual reality and in a way be are truth authentic selves that no matter how much you try, you can never quite be who you truly want to be in real life, but in eq, you could really just be you, what ever that was, you could be you and you knew everyone else was there being themselves as well. No greater community has ever existed or will ever exist again, it really was the perfect marriage of time and place and if you were lucky enough to be there, then you were lucky enough to experience a true utopia that will stay with you the rest of your life.
No game can compare to Everquest. The memory of having 100+ players race another equally large guild to claim the spawn of whatever, in this case the I believe it was the ring of scale. The named dragons inside the dragon temple in Velious. Getting to see the entrance to the Plane of Mischief inside the temple and actually go in just to see it.
The crazy thing about the named Dragons is they were never meant to be killable. They were demigods like beings in the world who were supposed to be untouchable. Until several hundred madlads attacked them all at once and killed them. Inventing the very concept of an MMO raid.
That's just golden lol
I started playing in September of 1999. Happened to go to Best Buy one day to buy some Sierra games so I could get free trials for sierra’s The Realm and saw it sitting on the shelf. Bought it for 59.99 with the original primes strategy guide, went home, installed it, and the rest is history. Such good times. I was 13 and had more time on my hands than I knew what to do with. EQ played a major part of molding me into the person I am today. The community was amazing and nothing will ever match it. It was just the right place at the right time. I still play today, but have much less time anymore. Mostly just running around reliving the good old days and getting revenge spanking giants in karana or wiping blackburrow out in 5 minutes.
Man, I miss EQ. I was in one of the later betas. No MMO has sucked me in since EQ died. I wish they'd update it and relaunch. Just hearing the orignal MIDI music gives me chills.
You can still play it
It’s very popular
@@Campbell400 Yeah, I have it in my Steam. It's just not the same with the advancements in tech. It doesn't look nearly as good as I remember, even though it was revelutionary in its day. My hope is they update it with today's graphics.
I played many MMOs. EQ is the only one I remember having specific adventures with. First time in Befallen, Unrest, Guk. Getting to the bottom of them and the fear of dying was amazing. First time running from Freeport to Qeynos. First time I killed a giant and a griffin. Also that time I outDPSed everyone in Najena and got Jboots after being there for only an hour. Getting that sick flowing black robe. Or the fungi tunic for my lizard monk.
I can't wait for Pantheon.
Good vid. Snappy pace and good coverage. Nice to honour Brad with a mention of his passing. Should maybe have mentioned he was working on another MMORPG: Pantheon Rise of the Fallen. He never stopped pursuing his passion.
Great video. I was there in 1999 on day 1, and I'm still playing EQ2 today. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.
I'm sorry that you play EQ2
Don’t be sorry. EQ2 is a great game!
@@mushafasa I still play EQ1 occasionally, but I really enjoy EQ2. Why I should be sorry about that?
Pantheon is the next Brad McQuaid game he was working on and its progressing nicely. Look it up
Dont look it up now. Look it up a year and a half from now when the first alpha is even close to being released
@@Saturns_Return Thats what I thought a year and a half ago lol
RIP Brad, well Pantheon has me worried. They are going on 6 or 7 years of development time and just changed the way to engage with an enemy this month. Went from a rotation to more EQ like choose your attack. Will have to wait and see but if it is true Amazon & DPG/EG7 are making an EQ remake Pantheon will sink.
Well, it is not progressing nicely at all. I really wish it was, but as the years goes by the progress seems to be to at a dreadfull standstill. While I have almost lost on hope on this project, let's say that may be, may be, you are right and they will get to release something.
Great video on a great game. I met my wife on EverQuest. Changed my life for sure. We played EQ for 4 years and EQ2 for 8 years. I haven't been able to fill in the void of this game but the memories and experiences will be with me forever.
RIP Brad. Thank you for 20+ years of gaming and the friends made cause of it.
Great video! My first taste of EQ was in Project99, and even though the game is way past its heyday, I still found it extremely charming and fun. A big plus, no.... A HUGE PLUS I'd like to give the game, is its slower gameplay and dangerous world. Games nowadays, especially MMOs, focus on going fast and consuming content like crazy, while in EQ makes more trivial tasks feel rewarding. The slower gameplay allows me to just camp a few spawn locations while doing some reading or work while I wait for them to respawn. It's an odd sensation to not feel rushed in an MMO, and just take in the world and have fun at your own pace
Great recap video. I started on Vallon Zek day one - it was a helluva rush. Ended up on Sullon Zek when EQ merged the Zek's. Great game. RIP Brad.
Still go back to P99 sometimes. The game design and concepts are still some of the best ever made.
The design that players needed each other to improve their experience beyond gear is a concept that's long lost it seems.
I loved the game so much I became a Guide for 2 years. Bristlebane Server. The Halfling High Dive Event still has pics of the event on Allakhazam =D
Can’t believe I’ve been playing this game for 21 years! Greatest game ever in my books!
Awesome!
Nothing has ever come close to the level of sheer amazement I felt when I first logged into EverQuest, in the tree city of Kelethin. It has been a favourite memory of mine ever since. Only thing that sucks about the TLPs is new Freeport which is trash.
Kelethin is most definitely the most poggiest city
Do they use the original Nektulos forest?
Ah the days of falling to my death repeatedly from the platforms of Kelethin when I missed the exit ramp and went over the edge. And since I was bound -- as a dwarf -- in Kaladim, I had a 10 min run to look forward to get my my corpse ... if I could avoid getting ganked by Corflunk or Zarchoomi
Try out p99. I left live servers in 2016 and haven't looked back.
@@inzagui87 I went to P99 for the launch of Green. It was fun, but the way camps work there made me lose interest by the mid 30s. I prefer the TLPs for that reason myself.
That opening music gives me chills all the time.
I had been trying to find the name of the game "Cyberstrike" for a LONG, LONG time. No one seemed to know what I was talking about. Thank you so much for this lol.
This was seriously a well made video. Congrats! Keep up the good work and you'll grow this channel well!
I still have the Fires of Heaven bookmark in my browser.
hahahhaha! holy crap, i played on afterlife's server oh man...
Heh... we competed with you... I was Aruman, Shaman in Celestial Tomb. I'm sure Furor (sp?) remembers me.
Great vid. There's so few good quality videos on Everquest
Great video. There's a strange lack of classic EverQuest history/preservation videos on CZcams so you're doing the lord's (Nagafen) work. Subscribed.
Very well done. Thank you, sir. The memories of EQ in it's initial years stay with me to this day. I greatly appreciate your in depth research and reporting of this influential and important part of pc gaming.
This is a great vid, very well made. My first MMO was Everquest and this takes me right back. I subbed and checked your list of videos. It surprised me how few there were, since this one looks so polished. I had assumed you had been making videos like this for a long time. Thanks! Oh, and, Saryrn4life
Still playing, still learning, love the game and your history of it video. Thanks
Love this video. I played this game a month after it launched from Singapore and had to get the Voodoo card put in at a time. I took my computer it was an HP and got a shop to put it in. As long as I live and as long as my memory holds,( getting a bit old here) I will never forget the first time I logged into this game and saw Surefall Glades. It was magical and no game has come close to the wonder of Everquest that first year I played. Thank you for this video.
I had to buy a voodoo to play too. My first character was a wood elf in Kelethin. Amazing.
Great video. Thanks for putting this all together.
No prob!
Wonderful video, very informative all the way, great work!! You are keeping track of the history! Good deed. Regards from Moscow :)
Man, you're content is great! Thank you.
I remember when me and my buddies discovered EQ in 99’...we were still on Dial up...we were hooked..for years
I played mostly project 1999 but even then the music from the intro is so iconic. Thanks for this great vid!
Thanks for this video, loved it! Really took me back to lots of mid 90’s stuff like shareware on my monthly PC mags 😂
EQ is hands down my most enjoyable and memorable gaming to this day ❤️
best mmorpg ever period.
Very nice stroll down memory lane. Some fascinating info here. Thanks so much for your hard work!
Thanks Jermanfu Gaming, glad you enjoyed it!
EQ absolutely captivated me. It's still the greatest game I have ever played. My dad bought me the EQ Trilogy and I remember waiting what seemed like years for it to come in the mail. When I finally got the game, it needed to update and it took 4 days on my 56k connection. My friend would call me on the phone and tell me what he was doing in game and where he was at and I would look at the maps in the user manual and try to imagine what he was seeing.
Loved this. Never knew the back story before. Well done!
Thank you for this video, the great presentation made it feel like an actual journey through time!
I could write a book about all my adventures in EQ. I have a dozen friends now I met in that game. I miss it.
Actually did this for an English paper, was supposed to write a fantasy story but played EQ all night instead. Quickly jotted down the cliffnotes of the adventures I had that night and got an A+ lol
I had a guild member who was doing just that. I wonder what ever happened with that.
This takes me back! Thank you!
People forget about The Realm Online, which pre-dates Everquest and is STILL running to this day. Due to messy programming though, not many updates have been done to the game.
I started playing the realm in 1997 or 1998 before finding EQ. I loosely followed the realm for years throughout all the owner changes. i now have two accounts with rat labs. Both characters are level 3000. i think the realm is my overall favorite. miss the good old days though.
Wow, I thought that I needed to listen to plane of knowledge music after watching this and you actually included a bit at the end... amazing.
What a great game! I still have more fond memories of the time I spent in Norrath than any other game.
Percevall Pureheart
Paladin of Marr
Povar server....1999-2004
Thanks for such a great video!
I think the simplicity and low key feeling of Everquest and both the times that we lived in when it came out were key in the fun, also community and being more sociable in RL... I think having lost that we have lost the chance to have another EQ.... we will probably just have something like Pantheon for people who remember that and want to experience it again picking up a few people along the way. EQ was the best game I ever played, and EQ 2 was pretty good too. No game ever hits me with such memory and nostalgia and WOW I REMEMBER THAT than when I see stuff from EQ like getting buffed at orc hill lift in kelethin or crush bone and stuff
I enjoyed your video a lot! Very good job. Would be cool to see more EQ content of this quality from time to time from you so I sub'd
Awesome job on the history. I thought I knew most of it but I was surprised on how much I missed. I played EQ from around 2000-2004 and play P99 off and on since 2010.
Great documentary. I really enjoyed re-reading that snapshot of Lum's writing 22 years later!
What a legendary piece of history in the industry. It's a shame I was too young to experience Everquest in it's prime.
Great coverage of a pivotal game for me. Thanks for this!
Damn good video, you deserve more views. Never had a chance to play the game myself since my parents wouldn't pay for a monthly subscription lol but it's good to get the info on all the preceding influences and the press coverage at the time. For some reason seeing people's first impressions of something over 20 years ago fascinates me. I would love to see a similar recap of the ultima or quest for glory.
You gotta do one about Asheron's Call. I miss and love that game.
You can still play it, look into Thwarglauncher. It runs great!
love the images and research you did. it strikes me as pretty amazing how quickly the mmo genre progressed from about 1999-2004.
Great video, looking forward to more. Subbed.
Thanks for the sub!
Thanks for the video. I agree with your entire premise and concur that EQ was one of the most important and influential of all games - ever. It laid the foundation for the entire industry.
The genre has changed because companies realized they could cater to huge masses by diluting what MMORPG means. It worked for them - they got millions of paying customers, but those customers are not playing the original MMORPG genre. They are playing some new perverted version of it: one made up of shallow, thumb-twitch E-Sports style games with more focus on "winning" than on collaboration and virtual reality existence with the deep, rich lore of a full virtual world.
So game development companies ignore those original hundreds of thousands of (real) MMORPG fans and chase the millions in the modern-gamer market. That's fine for them and their customers but the still viable customer base is still out there, unserved.
Games like Pantheon: Rise of The Fallen (Brad McQuaid's passion project) understand this and are trying to restore that genre for the smaller market of players who want that again. Visionary Realms has stated (paraphrasing and not speaking for them) that they don't want to make "a game to play", they want to make "a world to live in". That simple phrase captures the entire essence of what original EQ was - it was never about the game. It was about the virtual world.
Very informative video, interesting all the way through. I’ve never played EverQuest but I remember seeing the box art when I was a kid wishing I could play it.
It's still fun today, IMO - the official TLP (time-locked progression) servers with altered rules, as well as the emulated servers with rule modifications, are great for newcomers.
Really well done video there. I am still a subscriber for EQ since 99. No other game has since captured the sense of community we had in that game. You needed help from others to even progress yourself, so, if you were rude or otherwise an ass you either fixed the problem or found another game to play. I kind of miss that. Way fewer chaos entities in the player base.
Everquest 1 was great in it’s day. I was there. One of the greatest games I ever played, I wish it was still popular.
The only game till this day that requires a poopsock.
Rip McQuaid an absolute legend that brought an escape of reality and adventures to be remembered for decades by millions ❤️
I was pretty young when it came out as I was born in 93 but I still got to play it a bit because my dad played it. Between playing it and watching my dad play it it started my love for MMOs. Good times. Things were simple then.
Really enjoyed this, I've been playing EQ 1 since 1999 and came from a background of D&D and MUDs. I'm logged in as I type this. Great content, subbed and digging through more videos ;)
Welcome!
I still remember getting a copy from Best Buy on launch day after school. Was so hyped and so lost.
I got mine in September 1999 from Best Buy along with the prima guide. Oh the feelings.
At 17 I was lucky enough to get into the EQ Phase 4 beta. It took over my life, and the life of a few close friends for a while. We are all still avid MMO players and fans to this day. Thanks for this in depth look and homage to one of the most influential games in history.
Thanks! It was my entry into MMOs as well. I mean, I recall playing Ultima Online first, but I was still fairly young and hadn't fully gotten into PC gaming yet. EverQuest was my first deep MMO experience, and it certainly had a way of bringing people together.
Great documentary. Thanks for this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video! I played MUDs UO and EQ back in the 90s. A cool little look back into the past.
Thank you for this. I never played EQ. It's amazing how much of the design of WoW was straight up lifted from EQ.
amazing work. I think your channel is going to have 50k subs very soon
Thanks!
thanks for making this!
Great video man!
Thanks!
First time my guild went into Plane of Fear in early 2000.... we had a 7 hour corpse recovery session.. THAT was Everquest, baby!! I remember seeing a
lvl 50 Cleric account selling on Ebay... 40 bids, and it was up to $3600 with 4 days left.... Crazy times.. but that was Everquest!
Dang I was 4 when this game came out. Ive been trying to learn more about it since it shaped alot of the games I play today. Good video
Great video, I really enjoyed it.
Thanks!
One of the better "history of eq" videos... well done.
Thanks!
I started gaming with EQ and 20 years later I'm playing EQ2. Along the way I've played other games, along with EQ and EQ2, such as DAoC, LoTR, WoW, FF IVX, and others but none have kept my interest like EQ2 which I've played since right after launch. It is interesting to return to those early years of gaming and marvel at how far online gaming has come since then. I hope EQ2 will be around for many years to come as playing helps keep me young. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.
Fantastic vid! Thank you.
I would say it's the most influential. Not the first MMORPG, but the genre didn't REALLY get popular until Everquest came to be. So many future games borrowed from it. I also like how it has complexity to it, but it doesn't overdo it, there's just not much hand holding, compared to more modern games.
Played it as much as I could from 2000 to 2003, still think about it all the time haha. This was a great video, really nicely done, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Didn't mention Pantheon MMO? The next EverQuest.
just checked this out- man.. oh that looks great!
@@denisdemonte15 You should pledge some money if you can!
@@tangoromeo4309 I'm planning on it! I wish I had enough to get into pre-alpha .. I still might try and figure out a way to swing it lol! but I'm defnitely planning on alpha my friend!
@@denisdemonte15 I've been backing this since 2015, I am beyond ready to get my hands on this game! See you on a/b testing!
Thanks for the flashbacks. Anyone remember the Salvation guild on E Marr server? I was Kallisare Trueheart the tanking paladin.
Great entry about a truly paradigm-changing entry, EQ!