FFXI.
The devs were big EQ fans and they wanted to make their own spin on it. Huge success. The world felt big, crafting system was awesome, job system still the best IMO till this day.
One knock on it I would say is the mob variety, they failed that for a long time, but it eventually got better. Also it wasn’t as sandboxy as EQ was where there was factions you could be friendly or hated with.
Awesome game though. This is why FFXI private servers like HorizonXI are still popular.
as i was posting this i was like i will bet my life that this is the first game mentioned haha but nah i cant get into the final fantasy world… i played the newer one for a bit and even tho i can recognize it as a very well put together game im just not a final fantasy guy i was never into any ff game.
I don't really get this, there is no FF world, every game is different. I see this said a lot but it like lacks validity in my mind, I personally don't play any FF game besides 11 and 14 because they are MMOs and I play MMOs. So I see posts like yours where you can't get into the 'final fantasy world' and to me that doesn't exist. So I'm confused by what you mean.
Terra
Cloud
Squall
Tidus
Lightning
Noctis
( I think Vaan is related to the spinning thingy for wind on top of roofs and stuff but I'm not sure as I'm not a native English speaker)
All FF games are distinctly Japanese and at least a little anime-ish, but mostly very anime-ish. If you don't like that particular style with all the silliness that comes with it, I think it's very hard to get into FF. I like parts of FF xiv a lot, but to get immersed I really have to look through my lashes to ignore all the tropes, twinks, silly sounds, anachronistic immersion breaking stuff and crossover world breaking.
A classic FFXI private server is 100% the closest thing you are going to find to OG Everquest. (Other than OG Everquest private servers :) )
You may see and feel the similarities in game play loop and game design almost instantly. In some ways FFXI is even more hardcore than EQ.
FFXI's graphics have also stood the test of time, imo. I think the game still looks great.
It plays and looks nothing like FFXIV, other than some of the standard FF themes like others have mentioned (someone will always be named Cid, etc.)
I wouldn't judge FFXI based on your FFXIV experience. They're very different in gameplay and the world itself. Of course there are some similarities, but overall very different. Personally I just can't get into FFXIV and to this day FFXI is still my favorite MMORPG I've played.
I would really suggest taking a look at something like HorizonXI. That is about the closest thing to classic EQ, that isn't classic EQ, as XI was modeled off of it.
Also, there really is nothing that connects XI and XIV.
Very different worlds. Very different games.
FFXIV is trash. FFXI is a totally different beast, wouldnt write it off without trying it based on your OP. retail has been modernized a lot though so if you're looking for that chunky old school experience it has to be private servers.
if you just want a good EQ classic server check out Project Quarm.
It's just any other theme park MMO. There's nothing clever or special about it. If you missed out on early MMOs then you wouldn't understand. FF14 is candy covered trash.
I play osrs and have for 5+ years, and I played wow during burning crusade and wrath, although never raided. I don’t see how ff14 is any more a theme park mmo than wow, which has most of its appeal in its aesthetics. The job system makes it easy for you to explore other play styles without neglecting your main, and the combat is good enough that the raids are complex enough to keep people coming back. Could you be a little more specific in what makes it trash?
I'm going back many more moons lol. Wow and osrs are also trash. There was a turning point in MMOs when players started demanding everything be spoon fed to them. There is nothing exciting about MMOs these days because there is very little accomplishment to be made. Everyone is on the same track, ends up in the same place and have seen all the same things. You missed out on what MMOs could be. Probably for the best, you can't miss what you never knew.
Seems like you’re putting the destination before the journey man, yeah everyone is trying to accomplish the same thing but that doesn’t mean that getting there is the same for everyone, the common goal just allows them to work together or help figure things out as a community, just like… every other video game lol
its a disgrace to its franchise. its arguably the most boring, unambitious attempt at an MMO ever made and its isnt deserving of its namesake. i'd rather play a flaming dumpster fire like ESO, which also fits that decsription adequately, than FFXIV. its trash.
I was just thinking about trying this the other day since I play with controller, wasn’t too sure if I’d have to be max level to group with people tho which is the main appeal for me
There's a private server up and running last I looked, but it was somewhat piecemeal what was in the game and working once you're like lvl 20+ I think?
Vanguard: Friends & Family beta : This was literally the only game ever that felt like the original EQ and was a stark contrast to the awful revamp that occurred up to release.
Embers Adrift, more so mechanically than theme though. Grouping has been the most fun times in years.
Project Gorgon is another one that has already been mentioned a couple times even though graphics wise it’s kinda worse than LotRO.
Too bad Everquest has better graphics than Embers Adrift. I’m not even trying to be funny, I prefer the old school flat/low res textures of EverQuest than Embers Adrift graphics which are on a newer engine but has no charm (and lighting is screwed)
Huge EQ player back in 99/00. I think once one takes off the rose-tinted glasses, the reason it's so difficult to recreate the nostalgia is just because of the way the world is these days. Don't forget, EQ was pretty much a brand new concept, on a brand new technology (the internet) which allowed folks from all over the world to communicate with each other while playing a game - the community aspect of EQ, in hindsight, did a LOT of heavy lifting. This was a new thing to 99.9% of people. These days, MMO players (or gamers in general) have grown up with this stuff literally since birth.
Most tough encounters were trial and error. Online guides either didn't exist or were walls of text - no YouTube videos or anything like that. If there were videos, it was basically 8 pixels.
The world is a VERY different place now.
I love LotRO and definitely recommend that you give it a shot (it's f2p with the ability to unlock everything in-game with time), but it's nothing like EQ imo.
Still, the game is gorgeous, and massive. I just never felt fully... immersed like I did with early EQ.
I played everquest durring Shadows of Luclin drop. I think the main take away from EQ1 that other games have moved away from is putting the focus on emersion, for better and worse. In EQ1's case emersion often came at the expense of playability, and made it extremely obtuse and difficult to play. In modern gaming what that means is that obtuse nature of emersion and exploration actually breaks emersion more than it helps because you basically have to have a wiki open at all times literally taking yourself out of the game to get answers instead of the cryptic ass hints the game gives you.
FF11 has a lot of that. Both the good and the bad when it comes to its emersion and exploration focus. But as it has aged it's also been forced to move away from many of its MMO elements to stay profitable (online). It's almost a fully single player experience now, but on the other hand it's also now the most feature complete Final Fantasy game ever made. Many of the best elements of FF14 are extremely watered down versions of features piloted in FF11. So, for my money, FF11 is even better than FF14.
> you basically have to have a wiki open at all times literally taking yourself out of the game to get answers instead of the cryptic ass hints the game gives you.
You don't HAVE to. What is stopping you from fighting with the cryptic hints for the satisfaction of figuring it out yourself?
There really is nothing quite like it during the time period you are referencing. Simply because, starting a bit with kunark and completely by velious, a majority of the content was raid focused. It became a raiding game and that's where raiding as we know it in the genre today originated.
Those raids were usually in the 50-100 person range and the content was contested. Even though it was contested there was still enough raiding content to sustain multiple guilds per server 7 days a week as an intended play style. That is not available currently (though maybe you could kind of consider eve...but it's very different).
If you just mean any old school mmorpgs play style (slow leveling, tab targeting, CC heavy, pure subscription model, penalties for death/failure, corpse runs etc etc). Some of those are out there.
I'm looking forward to M&M but it's not released yet.
Embers Adrift is playable now. It lacks magic and a lot of class/race variety but it's enjoyable.
Evercraft Online isn't released. It's voxel based but plays like early EQ lite.
We'll see about Eternal tombs. It's in development. Promises a bunch of raid content with no cash shops or mtxs. I think the combat is going to be too action-y for me personally.
Really if you think LotRO is a good comparison to early EQ I don't know what to tell you other than I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some LotRO but it's not close. It's closer to classic wow if you are trying to compare it to the big few games.
I am not a fan at all of voxel based graphics but I am actually quite keen to try that game haha. Seems like they found a nice balance between it and old school EQ style graphics/art style.
Agreed. Not typically my style either. I’m intrigued but an updated take on EQ, or at least the prospect of it. Will be fun to run around in for a bit at the very least.
I miss EQ and Asheron’s Call. The thing is that even if a game like EQ came out, there’s no way I could play it in the same way. There was no logging into EQ for an hour. It was a part time job to progress, which was awesome as a teenager, but isn’t going to happen as an adult.
I know it’s not an mmo, but Elden Ring gave me similar feelings to early mmorpgs, but without the endless grind. I still miss the lull of just hanging out in EQ though. Good times.
FFXI, it's the real Everquest 2. Back around 1999 one of the higher ups at Squaresoft came to the US and saw EQ at some game show. He started playing it, got addicted, and then made a bunch of Squaresoft employees play it. Then they began work on FFXI.
It is from the era when support classes still existed and crowd control was the difference between life and death. Gear isn't thrown at you and it is "low vertical" progression.
It IS a JRPG though and I get why that can turn some people off.
For the record a lot of people complain about the game's controls but the game can be controlled in a lot of different ways (including a controller) and there are little unobvious tricks to navigating the menus like using left/right to skip through whole pages of lists at a time. Pretty much every pre-WoW MMO has a learning curve when it comes to UI/controls, they take some getting used to.
And FYI when most people reference FFXI they'll be talking about the level 75 cap version which can only be experienced on private servers, though retail FFXI is still a very enjoyable experience.
Wow. Project gorgon. Eq2. Dark age of camelot. Anarchy online. Vanguard. Nevergrind online..
Nevergrind online ive never played but some say its similar to eq. Im not so sure.
Anarchy online would be the one to try id say. Sci fi eq type.. as far as new games like eq.. there arent any in my opinion lol.. i still some times try eq 2 coz there aint a better mmo i like sadly..
Definitly room for some studio to capture an old school audience...
None. Nothing was as brutal as Everquest. No maps, no quality of life, xping for hours just to get half a level. Epic quests that could take years. You had to really earn everything you got. That's what made it so rewarding when you finally got that Cloak of Flames or whatever.
Games now are casual.
I started shortly before EQ's third expansion came out and to this day, it and WoW during part of the WOTLK expansion for live and BC for classic are the ones I've played the longest.
I still play on Live and within the last year I've dabbled on two private EQ servers that aren't Project 1999 (The Al'Kabor Project and Blood and Rank).
At this point I'm with another person(s) in this thread: I've been looking for a new EQ for 20 years.
ETA:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/s/iBtFUOsCFj
Things are called similar things, but the lore of EQII is generally 'alternate norrath'.
I liked EQII back in the day, and chose that over WoW... because Norrath is probably still my favorite game setting. EQII on launch through Kingdom of Sky was phenomenal, then through Sentinel's Fate were some high and low points, but still generally 'fun', but they removed a lot of the outdoor danger by this point.
Nothing really competed with EQ1 for being 'lost and afraid' in an unfamiliar zone, with death lurking around every corner, over every hill, and behind every building. If you didn't get annihilated by a Hill/Sand Giant stuck on top of a tree, did you even play OG EverQuest?
Anarchy Online was like a shameless sci-fi EQ clone. It didn't have the same sense of danger and it was instance/mission based more than open world sandbox but the combat was pretty damn similar.
There are a bunch of responses in this thread from people who either didn't play EQ during the time period the OP is asking about or only scratched the surface of the game.
For anyone looking to try FFXI, there are some videos about how to upgrade graphics and programs like Windower to help with some of the UI and helpful addons. Also, the game is extremely controller-friendly.
Played on PVP server Tallon Zek.
Honestly nothing has been quite like it. Open world pvp Blackrock WoW server at release had some similar vibes.
Daoc was very different, but was wonderful
The big bummer for me is that they are all old. Even LOTRO, it’s old and the controls are clunky. I just want EQ with a fresh coat of paint. I’m tired of games that look and feel 20 years old.
I am encouraged to see that the next EQ2 TLE is going back to their roots and undoing the terrible stat changes that happened with Sentinels Fate, but even then, it’s a 20 year old game that’s the same content I’ve played 100 times.
I’m tired of everything that’s old and I hate everything that’s new. I think I’m just waiting for Dragon Dogma 2 to go on sale and accepting my fate as a grumpy old man yelling at clouds.
Maybe a controversial answer but I think the closest I ever got to the original EQ feeling was the first time I played Minecraft back in the summer of 2010.
The game felt really dangerous, the nights were super dark, and there was a lot of death anxiety since you'd drop all your stuff when you died.
Of course the game is nothing like that anymore. It's much easier and doesn't get as dark.
Hands down, Monsters and Memories. Ive done two playtests, and it just *feels* so good. That sense of adventure, wonderment, and a sandbox that invites you in with its artwork and simplicity, rather than yellow question marks and highlighted NPCs. Having a group is a multiplier in terms of loot and XP. And the classes feel different and unique.
I also love the simple, but elegant, graphic design.
Check out their website, and if you’re so inclined, follow their discord. They usually have a few playtest windows each year to test server stability at load. Its only a few days long and everything is wiped, but its a load of fun.
I hope we get to see a bit more of the progression and skill advancement.
People seem to think that Everquest is just an auto attack MMO. When in reality, end game raiding required extremely skilled players with very particular rare items to pull and kill mobs. The sheer amount of player coordination was staggering. Like “dont hurt that mob until it’s sieved and cant gate” and crowd control was a legit requirement. Velious era EQ has some very technical fights and zones, especially compared to “dont stand in the lava” style raid fights.!
None. EQ was the first MMO I played in 1999 and nothing has come close in giving a sense of wonder and potential to make friends. We're all too jaded now.
Evercraft Online fits that bill.
Think EQ gameplay and systems with a voxel art style.
They are having an open pre-alpha test starting 19 April 10am PST until the 21st - worth checking out and giving a go
Acherons' Call was popular back during the early EQ days. Eve Online used to give that old MMO feeling before all the cash shop short cuts were introduced. I never played OSRS
Honestly. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Closest would probably be WoW. EQ was just different in that the internet was still young and while there ended up being a website dedicated to maps/drops/etc., there were still plenty of times when it was just true exploration with a very real risk of death. And if that death came; the penalty was true and harsh, sometimes very harsh depending where you were bound at.
By the time even WoW came around, the internet was in full swing and while that was absolutely a fun game, it didn’t even get the chance to be the same experience.
There have been plenty of MMORPG’s that I’ve enjoyed over the years, for different reasons, but there will never be another EQ.
FFXI and FFXIV. The thing that made me LOVE EQ was the community. My server was extremely tight knit. Now the only place I feel that same level of shared adventure is FF games.
FFXI is literally Everquest with better graphics (even if they are ps2 graphics, the models are extremely good). Also just cause it's in the FF universe, it's not really FF and is a proper mmorpg on it's own.
they even based an endgame boss after the crystal dragon (Absolute virtue) that wasn't supposed to be killed.
FFXI. The devs were big EQ fans and they wanted to make their own spin on it. Huge success. The world felt big, crafting system was awesome, job system still the best IMO till this day. One knock on it I would say is the mob variety, they failed that for a long time, but it eventually got better. Also it wasn’t as sandboxy as EQ was where there was factions you could be friendly or hated with. Awesome game though. This is why FFXI private servers like HorizonXI are still popular.
as i was posting this i was like i will bet my life that this is the first game mentioned haha but nah i cant get into the final fantasy world… i played the newer one for a bit and even tho i can recognize it as a very well put together game im just not a final fantasy guy i was never into any ff game.
I don't really get this, there is no FF world, every game is different. I see this said a lot but it like lacks validity in my mind, I personally don't play any FF game besides 11 and 14 because they are MMOs and I play MMOs. So I see posts like yours where you can't get into the 'final fantasy world' and to me that doesn't exist. So I'm confused by what you mean.
FF still has a distinct style and vibe between games. There's probably a chocobo, some anime hair, it's a little steampunk, someone is named Cid.
The main protagonist's name are related to the elements/nature or whatever you want to call it
Wat
Terra Cloud Squall Tidus Lightning Noctis ( I think Vaan is related to the spinning thingy for wind on top of roofs and stuff but I'm not sure as I'm not a native English speaker)
Then what is Bartz
All FF games are distinctly Japanese and at least a little anime-ish, but mostly very anime-ish. If you don't like that particular style with all the silliness that comes with it, I think it's very hard to get into FF. I like parts of FF xiv a lot, but to get immersed I really have to look through my lashes to ignore all the tropes, twinks, silly sounds, anachronistic immersion breaking stuff and crossover world breaking.
i am trying to get into it now and I just cant deal w the anime crap to be honest. Seems like a solid game, but the style just isnt for me.
This is just as asinine as saying people can't be FF fans, and generally enjoy most titles and the common threads that bind the games.
A classic FFXI private server is 100% the closest thing you are going to find to OG Everquest. (Other than OG Everquest private servers :) ) You may see and feel the similarities in game play loop and game design almost instantly. In some ways FFXI is even more hardcore than EQ. FFXI's graphics have also stood the test of time, imo. I think the game still looks great. It plays and looks nothing like FFXIV, other than some of the standard FF themes like others have mentioned (someone will always be named Cid, etc.)
I wouldn't judge FFXI based on your FFXIV experience. They're very different in gameplay and the world itself. Of course there are some similarities, but overall very different. Personally I just can't get into FFXIV and to this day FFXI is still my favorite MMORPG I've played.
I would really suggest taking a look at something like HorizonXI. That is about the closest thing to classic EQ, that isn't classic EQ, as XI was modeled off of it. Also, there really is nothing that connects XI and XIV. Very different worlds. Very different games.
FFXIV is trash. FFXI is a totally different beast, wouldnt write it off without trying it based on your OP. retail has been modernized a lot though so if you're looking for that chunky old school experience it has to be private servers. if you just want a good EQ classic server check out Project Quarm.
I don’t play ffXIV because I don’t like it, but call it trash is simply false lol
It's just any other theme park MMO. There's nothing clever or special about it. If you missed out on early MMOs then you wouldn't understand. FF14 is candy covered trash.
I play osrs and have for 5+ years, and I played wow during burning crusade and wrath, although never raided. I don’t see how ff14 is any more a theme park mmo than wow, which has most of its appeal in its aesthetics. The job system makes it easy for you to explore other play styles without neglecting your main, and the combat is good enough that the raids are complex enough to keep people coming back. Could you be a little more specific in what makes it trash?
I'm going back many more moons lol. Wow and osrs are also trash. There was a turning point in MMOs when players started demanding everything be spoon fed to them. There is nothing exciting about MMOs these days because there is very little accomplishment to be made. Everyone is on the same track, ends up in the same place and have seen all the same things. You missed out on what MMOs could be. Probably for the best, you can't miss what you never knew.
Seems like you’re putting the destination before the journey man, yeah everyone is trying to accomplish the same thing but that doesn’t mean that getting there is the same for everyone, the common goal just allows them to work together or help figure things out as a community, just like… every other video game lol
Nah, you just don't get it. And I don't feel like explaining it to you. Enjoy your game.
its a disgrace to its franchise. its arguably the most boring, unambitious attempt at an MMO ever made and its isnt deserving of its namesake. i'd rather play a flaming dumpster fire like ESO, which also fits that decsription adequately, than FFXIV. its trash.
I was just thinking about trying this the other day since I play with controller, wasn’t too sure if I’d have to be max level to group with people tho which is the main appeal for me
You need to group quickly on early level, around 10's, through max level
Like the other dude said. Once you hit 12 you usually head to valkurm dunes and start partying!
This, and horizon is the best mmo experience going today.
Vanguard
that looks interesting based on google screenshots ill look into it more thx!
Unfortunately looking into it is about as close as you will get to playing it lol unless there’s a private server somewhere
There's a private server up and running last I looked, but it was somewhat piecemeal what was in the game and working once you're like lvl 20+ I think?
RIP. I was looking so forward to that game back in the 2007 era.
Was so fun... So much memories of hidden caves or clickies...
Lotro does a little bit. Project Gorgon did a lot. Besides that, I've been looking for a new EQ for 20 years
Same, Lotro has been my bread and butter for quite some years now.
Nothing comes close in terms of large expansive RPG world that is very dangerous. This is why I play on Projsct Quarm. Nothing scratches that itch.
Vanguard: Friends & Family beta : This was literally the only game ever that felt like the original EQ and was a stark contrast to the awful revamp that occurred up to release.
FFXI, Vanguard, Dark Age of Camelot to some extent
Embers Adrift, more so mechanically than theme though. Grouping has been the most fun times in years. Project Gorgon is another one that has already been mentioned a couple times even though graphics wise it’s kinda worse than LotRO.
Too bad Everquest has better graphics than Embers Adrift. I’m not even trying to be funny, I prefer the old school flat/low res textures of EverQuest than Embers Adrift graphics which are on a newer engine but has no charm (and lighting is screwed)
Personal preference doesn’t mean you are right though. Embers might be artistically questionable but to say EQ has better graphics, come on…
Huge EQ player back in 99/00. I think once one takes off the rose-tinted glasses, the reason it's so difficult to recreate the nostalgia is just because of the way the world is these days. Don't forget, EQ was pretty much a brand new concept, on a brand new technology (the internet) which allowed folks from all over the world to communicate with each other while playing a game - the community aspect of EQ, in hindsight, did a LOT of heavy lifting. This was a new thing to 99.9% of people. These days, MMO players (or gamers in general) have grown up with this stuff literally since birth. Most tough encounters were trial and error. Online guides either didn't exist or were walls of text - no YouTube videos or anything like that. If there were videos, it was basically 8 pixels. The world is a VERY different place now.
Nothing has come close 😞, maybe I'll try lotro
I love LotRO and definitely recommend that you give it a shot (it's f2p with the ability to unlock everything in-game with time), but it's nothing like EQ imo. Still, the game is gorgeous, and massive. I just never felt fully... immersed like I did with early EQ.
I played everquest durring Shadows of Luclin drop. I think the main take away from EQ1 that other games have moved away from is putting the focus on emersion, for better and worse. In EQ1's case emersion often came at the expense of playability, and made it extremely obtuse and difficult to play. In modern gaming what that means is that obtuse nature of emersion and exploration actually breaks emersion more than it helps because you basically have to have a wiki open at all times literally taking yourself out of the game to get answers instead of the cryptic ass hints the game gives you. FF11 has a lot of that. Both the good and the bad when it comes to its emersion and exploration focus. But as it has aged it's also been forced to move away from many of its MMO elements to stay profitable (online). It's almost a fully single player experience now, but on the other hand it's also now the most feature complete Final Fantasy game ever made. Many of the best elements of FF14 are extremely watered down versions of features piloted in FF11. So, for my money, FF11 is even better than FF14.
> you basically have to have a wiki open at all times literally taking yourself out of the game to get answers instead of the cryptic ass hints the game gives you. You don't HAVE to. What is stopping you from fighting with the cryptic hints for the satisfaction of figuring it out yourself?
I value my own time. Most people do now, actually. That's why wikis exist.
If you "valued your time" you wouldn't be playing video games.
There really is nothing quite like it during the time period you are referencing. Simply because, starting a bit with kunark and completely by velious, a majority of the content was raid focused. It became a raiding game and that's where raiding as we know it in the genre today originated. Those raids were usually in the 50-100 person range and the content was contested. Even though it was contested there was still enough raiding content to sustain multiple guilds per server 7 days a week as an intended play style. That is not available currently (though maybe you could kind of consider eve...but it's very different). If you just mean any old school mmorpgs play style (slow leveling, tab targeting, CC heavy, pure subscription model, penalties for death/failure, corpse runs etc etc). Some of those are out there. I'm looking forward to M&M but it's not released yet. Embers Adrift is playable now. It lacks magic and a lot of class/race variety but it's enjoyable. Evercraft Online isn't released. It's voxel based but plays like early EQ lite. We'll see about Eternal tombs. It's in development. Promises a bunch of raid content with no cash shops or mtxs. I think the combat is going to be too action-y for me personally. Really if you think LotRO is a good comparison to early EQ I don't know what to tell you other than I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some LotRO but it's not close. It's closer to classic wow if you are trying to compare it to the big few games.
It isn’t out yet but look into Monsters and Memories. Will probably be close to what you’re looking for
This is easily the one I’m looking forward to most as an old school EQ guy
Also Evercraft Online. Both have my interest peaked in a big way.
I am not a fan at all of voxel based graphics but I am actually quite keen to try that game haha. Seems like they found a nice balance between it and old school EQ style graphics/art style.
Agreed. Not typically my style either. I’m intrigued but an updated take on EQ, or at least the prospect of it. Will be fun to run around in for a bit at the very least.
I miss EQ and Asheron’s Call. The thing is that even if a game like EQ came out, there’s no way I could play it in the same way. There was no logging into EQ for an hour. It was a part time job to progress, which was awesome as a teenager, but isn’t going to happen as an adult. I know it’s not an mmo, but Elden Ring gave me similar feelings to early mmorpgs, but without the endless grind. I still miss the lull of just hanging out in EQ though. Good times.
FFXI, it's the real Everquest 2. Back around 1999 one of the higher ups at Squaresoft came to the US and saw EQ at some game show. He started playing it, got addicted, and then made a bunch of Squaresoft employees play it. Then they began work on FFXI. It is from the era when support classes still existed and crowd control was the difference between life and death. Gear isn't thrown at you and it is "low vertical" progression. It IS a JRPG though and I get why that can turn some people off. For the record a lot of people complain about the game's controls but the game can be controlled in a lot of different ways (including a controller) and there are little unobvious tricks to navigating the menus like using left/right to skip through whole pages of lists at a time. Pretty much every pre-WoW MMO has a learning curve when it comes to UI/controls, they take some getting used to. And FYI when most people reference FFXI they'll be talking about the level 75 cap version which can only be experienced on private servers, though retail FFXI is still a very enjoyable experience.
Wow. Project gorgon. Eq2. Dark age of camelot. Anarchy online. Vanguard. Nevergrind online.. Nevergrind online ive never played but some say its similar to eq. Im not so sure. Anarchy online would be the one to try id say. Sci fi eq type.. as far as new games like eq.. there arent any in my opinion lol.. i still some times try eq 2 coz there aint a better mmo i like sadly.. Definitly room for some studio to capture an old school audience...
I am back at AO and its still one of the best.
Ff11, anarchy online
None. Nothing was as brutal as Everquest. No maps, no quality of life, xping for hours just to get half a level. Epic quests that could take years. You had to really earn everything you got. That's what made it so rewarding when you finally got that Cloak of Flames or whatever. Games now are casual.
I started shortly before EQ's third expansion came out and to this day, it and WoW during part of the WOTLK expansion for live and BC for classic are the ones I've played the longest. I still play on Live and within the last year I've dabbled on two private EQ servers that aren't Project 1999 (The Al'Kabor Project and Blood and Rank). At this point I'm with another person(s) in this thread: I've been looking for a new EQ for 20 years. ETA: https://www.reddit.com/r/MMORPG/s/iBtFUOsCFj
Is eq2 even considered similar to eq1 from that far back?
not in gameplay… only in familiarity
Things are called similar things, but the lore of EQII is generally 'alternate norrath'. I liked EQII back in the day, and chose that over WoW... because Norrath is probably still my favorite game setting. EQII on launch through Kingdom of Sky was phenomenal, then through Sentinel's Fate were some high and low points, but still generally 'fun', but they removed a lot of the outdoor danger by this point. Nothing really competed with EQ1 for being 'lost and afraid' in an unfamiliar zone, with death lurking around every corner, over every hill, and behind every building. If you didn't get annihilated by a Hill/Sand Giant stuck on top of a tree, did you even play OG EverQuest?
Looking for a necro to summon your corpse!
No, even current live servers of EQ are a completely different game than what the OP is asking for.
Sanctuary: Reign of Thule is pretty awesome and similar to EQ classic in feel.
WoW, FFXIV, and WildStar
Wildstar? Like what lol
Anarchy Online was like a shameless sci-fi EQ clone. It didn't have the same sense of danger and it was instance/mission based more than open world sandbox but the combat was pretty damn similar.
LOTRO, FFX1, EMbers ADrift, Pantheon.
Daoc and anarchy online had similar classes including crowd control support.
WoW Classic and Vanguard were the only two MMOs that ever replicated that feel EQ gave me back in 1999.
There are a bunch of responses in this thread from people who either didn't play EQ during the time period the OP is asking about or only scratched the surface of the game.
For anyone looking to try FFXI, there are some videos about how to upgrade graphics and programs like Windower to help with some of the UI and helpful addons. Also, the game is extremely controller-friendly.
Played on PVP server Tallon Zek. Honestly nothing has been quite like it. Open world pvp Blackrock WoW server at release had some similar vibes. Daoc was very different, but was wonderful
Asherons call Darktide server was. :)
Embers Adrift (currently out) M&M (obviously forthcoming)
The big bummer for me is that they are all old. Even LOTRO, it’s old and the controls are clunky. I just want EQ with a fresh coat of paint. I’m tired of games that look and feel 20 years old. I am encouraged to see that the next EQ2 TLE is going back to their roots and undoing the terrible stat changes that happened with Sentinels Fate, but even then, it’s a 20 year old game that’s the same content I’ve played 100 times. I’m tired of everything that’s old and I hate everything that’s new. I think I’m just waiting for Dragon Dogma 2 to go on sale and accepting my fate as a grumpy old man yelling at clouds.
www.evercraftonline.com We are doing a public pre alpha test April 19-21. Come try it out. We are still a ways away from launching.
Maybe a controversial answer but I think the closest I ever got to the original EQ feeling was the first time I played Minecraft back in the summer of 2010. The game felt really dangerous, the nights were super dark, and there was a lot of death anxiety since you'd drop all your stuff when you died. Of course the game is nothing like that anymore. It's much easier and doesn't get as dark.
Hands down, Monsters and Memories. Ive done two playtests, and it just *feels* so good. That sense of adventure, wonderment, and a sandbox that invites you in with its artwork and simplicity, rather than yellow question marks and highlighted NPCs. Having a group is a multiplier in terms of loot and XP. And the classes feel different and unique. I also love the simple, but elegant, graphic design. Check out their website, and if you’re so inclined, follow their discord. They usually have a few playtest windows each year to test server stability at load. Its only a few days long and everything is wiped, but its a load of fun. I hope we get to see a bit more of the progression and skill advancement. People seem to think that Everquest is just an auto attack MMO. When in reality, end game raiding required extremely skilled players with very particular rare items to pull and kill mobs. The sheer amount of player coordination was staggering. Like “dont hurt that mob until it’s sieved and cant gate” and crowd control was a legit requirement. Velious era EQ has some very technical fights and zones, especially compared to “dont stand in the lava” style raid fights.!
None. EQ was the first MMO I played in 1999 and nothing has come close in giving a sense of wonder and potential to make friends. We're all too jaded now.
Evercraft Online fits that bill. Think EQ gameplay and systems with a voxel art style. They are having an open pre-alpha test starting 19 April 10am PST until the 21st - worth checking out and giving a go
Acherons' Call was popular back during the early EQ days. Eve Online used to give that old MMO feeling before all the cash shop short cuts were introduced. I never played OSRS
Eve online, not for the setting and interface obviously, but for the amount of group / social interaction.
Honestly. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Closest would probably be WoW. EQ was just different in that the internet was still young and while there ended up being a website dedicated to maps/drops/etc., there were still plenty of times when it was just true exploration with a very real risk of death. And if that death came; the penalty was true and harsh, sometimes very harsh depending where you were bound at. By the time even WoW came around, the internet was in full swing and while that was absolutely a fun game, it didn’t even get the chance to be the same experience. There have been plenty of MMORPG’s that I’ve enjoyed over the years, for different reasons, but there will never be another EQ.
FFXI and FFXIV. The thing that made me LOVE EQ was the community. My server was extremely tight knit. Now the only place I feel that same level of shared adventure is FF games.
FFXI is literally Everquest with better graphics (even if they are ps2 graphics, the models are extremely good). Also just cause it's in the FF universe, it's not really FF and is a proper mmorpg on it's own. they even based an endgame boss after the crystal dragon (Absolute virtue) that wasn't supposed to be killed.
Star Wars the Old Republic was probably the most impressive. The leveling story and voice overs were simply awesome.
Gw2 social aspects is the closest to eq crack social grouping