Everquest: Shadows Of Luclin
Everquest: Shadows Of LuclinVerant Interactive
Platform: Windows 98 / Me / XP / 2000
ESRB Rating: Teen
ASIN: B00005JDGI
Check price @ amazon.com , amazon.ca , amazon.co.uk
Features:
Expansion pack for the popular online-only RPG EverQuest
New adventure zones, including a new starting city
All-new, highly detailed player-character models
Massively enhanced 3-D graphics engine
New player-character race, class, starting city, quests, items to trade and sell, NPCs, horses, and more
System requirements:
Windows 98, 2000, Me, or XP
Pentium II 400 MHz or faster processor
256 MB RAM (Luclin can run on 128 MB RAM if the new character models are disabled)
16 MB Direct3D-compliant video card with hardware T&L (i.e., nVidia GeForce/GeForce2 or ATI Radeon)
DirectX 8.0-compatible sound card
28.8K or faster Internet connection
4x speed CD-ROM drive
450 MB-plus hard drive space
Customer Reviews:
Cost/benefit, October 1, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from Hilo Hawaii
I have been playin EQ since 2001, so I am not as old school or 'uber' as many hardcore EQers out there. Initially I bought the origional EQ, with no expansions, and a 90 day card just to try it out.
Immediately this game drew me in, but I stuck to the old world for several months before reaching a point of utter frustration at the time spent searching for groupmates, compared to the actual time fighting. I was so close to giving up, but instead started playing a solo class, the druid. Eventually I started grouping with regular friends, and my experience became much better.
Once we leveled into the 30's my friends wanted to move on to Velious, so I went out and bought the trilogy. It was a great buy, the content for that level range is much larger with only a few select zones. I quickly leveled to the late 40's and then took some time away from the game.
Now a few months later I have returned, and the first thing I did was buy SoL. My experience on the moon is limited to 2 zones, the Nexus and the bazaar. These two zones alone are well worth the money spent for SoL. With the Nexus now any character regardless of porting abilities has many more places they can zap too without taking a boat. The nexus is also great for finding groups, nice buffs like KEI and ports to anywhere in the world.
The real boon of SoL is the bazaar. One of the things I had a love/hate relationship in EQ was the necessity of bartering goods with other players. Basically it came down to sitting in the EC tunnel trying to read the auctions as they flew by. Learning all the acronymns was hard, and selling things back was such a long and tedious task that I either sold things at a great loss or just plain gave them away for the sake of my sanity. The bazaar has made all these problems disappear.
Any time of the day it is possible to enter the bazaar and search for any piece of equipment you need and can afford. Yes, there is lag and it is bad, but who cares? Instead of wasting time and money in ECbay trying to find an upgrade the procees is much simpler. You can browse the wares at your own leisure, compare prices, and discover items you never knew existed. Also the nature of the bazaar itself has depreciated a lot of the mid-range gear. Everyone tries to undercut the rest, making it very easy and rewarding to twink a new class. I started a warrior and bought gear for maybe 5kpp that would have cost 50k and 100s of hours prebazaar.
Like I said, the other content is unknown to me. I will soon begin to explore these zones, but the bazaar itself was well worth the one time cost of purchase of this game. It is almost a requirement, as the old way of buying and selling is all but dead. Very shrewd, Verant.
As much as people like to complain about Sony, I think it is great how mush the game keeps imroving over time. New zones, newbie quests, new mobs, new spells; keep it up, your fans aren't going anywhere.
EQ: the best and worst thing that has happened to me in years. Love it, and dispair =).
They lost the recipe., September 6, 2002
Reviewer: A gamer from Derby, Kansas United States
Don't expect this to be an expansion to EQ as you know it. It is nothing like EQ, Kunark, and the Velious expansion. They changed the recipe - and is isnt for the better.
They lost something in this expansion. Some zones in it are very nice, and others are just plain 'intolerable' for a 'pay-for-play'game. The bazaar is a nice feature, as well as being more independant on porting yourself around the game universe, but the gameplay - has me shaking my head sometimes.
Advice...quit neglecting that poor dog and take him for a walk.
everquest rocks, August 11, 2002
Reviewer: Renion druid
everquest its self is a good game but this is its worst expansion. the add ons for instance the new charcter looks and spells are nice. but the luclin is the worst place it can be dark for weeks and weeks. monsters there are all undercons. so its very dangous. and anless u have a nice computer the lag is annoying so i stick to the rest of everquest.
Luclin: Worth The Cost?, July 24, 2002
Reviewer: curtisb from Rochester, MN USA
Ok first up my beef with SoL is the fact that they did not offer a version of it that has all the zones in one CD or preferably DVD. You have to own at least one other set to use this meaning you cannot buy this by itself and you can expect more of that in the future because it is the manufacturer's forte I'm afraid.
That being said I own all the expansions for EQ and this is easily the most laggy collection of zones in the game in my opinion. Granted it's worse in some areas than others but I find it pretty irritating myself. Part of the problem too is that it requires a lot more graphics processing capabilities than the other expansions. With a P3 with decent ram and video card you have turn the clip plain way down and it's not wise to turn on any of the new models introduced with this set. With adequate hardware though it is pretty cool really but I recommend buying Velious and Kunark first to be honest.
If you haven't already bought the game I recommend EQ Trilogy specifically because it has the first 3 modules all in one.
Luclin does provide some much needed zones for high level players and it introduces my favorite race the Vah Shir (cat guys I'm leveling one up now). If you play a lot and have decent hardware why not it provides something new to check out and get groups in.
It also provides a means to travel to Dreadlands, Great Divide, Greater Faydwer, North Karana, and Toxxulia Forrest without need of a Wizard, Druid, or boat ride....
Also be aware that this game can end up taking up taking a huge amount of time and is very addicting because it is really a very good game indeed.
EverQuest (aka-EverSmack), December 4, 2001
Reviewer: Scooter from USA
Yes all this they say is true about EverQuest(aka-EverSmack),you will turn non-social, you will spend most of your time thinking about EQ and playing it, or you will have alittle bit of control and say, ENOUGH is ENOUGH! Although,if you think about it, how could a cheap, no good, game do all this to someone? That means it must be a (GREAT) GAME, so I say you go out there buy it right NOW, and play till your eyes hurt!Hey we live and die, and alittle suffering in the middle, WHY waist it? So suck up thoughs sob stories 'Oh,I lost my marriage.Oh,my live is gone now' and do something worth doing. please! P
EQ is the greatest game ever, December 4, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from Chatham, NJ United States
All I can say, especially after some recent attempts by competitors, is that if you don't love eq, you won't love any MMORPG. It is the most incredible, endless online adventure you could hope to have, with a million challenges and a million ways to play. You will meet a ton of people, some of which will be annoying, but many who will end up being friends.
No one is "addicted" to everquest. Some people are weak-willed, can't stop themselves from doing things that are counterproductive or that help you procrastinate. This is not the fault of the game. Everquest is just so fun to play and has so much to it, you are going to want to play it a lot. Be warned.