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|  | | Title: | EverQuest: Depths of Darkhollow |
| Release: | UK 12-09-2005 | | NORDIC 12-09-2005 | | US 12-09-2005 |
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 | | On the evening before the launch of Depths of Darkhollow, Rashere, lead designer of
Depths of Darkhollow, and a group of us went on a tour of the expansion. My impressions
were positive and Rashere is justifiably proud of the work he has done.
At the last Fan Faire, Craig Knapp, EQ Producer, stated “we want to make the world of
Norrath a world with more depth, not just a larger world.” In the Depths of Darkhollow
expansion, going live tomorrow, he has fulfilled his mission with the help of his development
team led by Rashere. The world of Darkhollow is deep in many ways – in content, in architecture,
and in lore. It allows players to discover worlds under the existing continent of Antonica,
close to home this time. It rediscovers the satisfying tradition of high fantasy in both art,
lore, and content. Players will find the new expansion to be more vertical, deep and complex in
content, rather than horizontally designed to be big and sprawling over a large area. There is
new country and adventures to discover, a lot of it, but it goes down into the depths of caverns
and castles rather than being teleported to some strange new land. This expansion is right in our
backyard, so to speak, where things have been brewing for many years and now just recently have
been rediscovered. A whole civilization of creatures played out their lives under Norrathian feet,
civilizations rose and fell, and now the survivors are ready to welcome adventurers into their
realm deep below Antonica’s crust.
My press tour excited me to the possibility of many different types of game play, for a
rediscovery of old zones and lore, and perhaps even to experience EQ in a way that I had not
done before as I made my linear way up the levels in experience and alternate ability points.
This expansion beckons to players, asking them to rediscover Norrath through role playing as
an NPC monster they might have fought before, or perhaps grouping with a lower level friend and
experiencing content not seen in many years from the eyes of a spirit shroud.
Depths of Darkhollow “focuses on digging deeper into the stories behind EQ,” Rashere said, a
much needed look back into the glory days of EQ’s youth. By focusing on lore and stories from
past content, they have brought the game again to the forefront of MMO’s by giving it the
needed immersion that a good role playing game needs to bring players into the world and keep
them there, as well as playing the nostalgia card for all the old schoolers and reminding new
players what we liked about the game so much. When you crush an invading player under your
claws as Lord Nagafen, old schoolers will remember back in 2000 when they were that guy with
the corpse tag over his head. Regardless of how you feel about Naggy’s role in your character’s
development, a good story always makes the game richer and more interesting – both your story
and the history of Norrath which our avatars have experienced together, or have yet to
experience.
Lore has been emphasized more here than in any other expansion for quite some time. The monster
missions, as well as the other missions, allow the player to discover both the new lore of the
underground world just rediscovered below Nektulos Forest and also the lore that has been
largely forgotten in the years since the original EQ was released. Rashere explained, “for fans
of EQ lore, there has never been a better way for us to let players experience the lore than by
letting them live it through the monster missions.” Those missions carry story lines that arc
from one mission to the next, creating a more immersive experience and a game world with more
depth, as the expansion suggests.
Depths of Darkhollow plays on the idea that there is more to the game than first meets the eye,
which has always been EverQuest’s strength. The zones relate to one another and the lore of the
expansion is tight and makes a good story. But the depth of the zones is not just in the amount
of content. The expansion explores the idea that in any given zone, you may be able to explore
at will around some of the inhabitants, although others may kill you at first sight. Rather than
a zone full of hostiles or friendly folks, the faction varies within just a small area. The
depth is in the thought that has gone into making zones more than just experience grind
playgrounds. But look sharp, because even though some of the NPCs may seem unlikely to kill
you, some of the other inhabitants of the same zone may not be so friendly. Wander with care,
adventurer!
Rashere explained that the goal for this expansion was to make EverQuest again a leader in MMO
design and execution. “We keep an eye on what others are doing,” Rashere explained, “but the
goal is to be in front, rather than behind [other MMOs].” Rashere agreed that EQ would still
be the “graduate school” game of the MMO genre, in terms of difficulty and complexity
(no hand-holding here!) but they have made “massive strides to make it easier on new players.”
The graphics in the new models are a well done improvement; the detail of the zones in color,
design and details of architecture and character models are all very impressive. It begins
with a sweet, almost Disney-esque feel to Coranthus Creep, the entrance zone to the expansion,
soothing the player with pastel colors and charmingly drawn mushroom men, the Sporalli, but
soon leads us to the dark gothic feel of the Dreadspire Keep (a huge castle) where dark
predators lurk below the gaily dancing party guests. This zone especially evokes the sense of
depth and mystery, and Rashere has designed it with that in mind. Dreadspire is “immense, and
littered with secret areas,” commented Rashere. The zones soar with bridges, mushroom growths
and fantastic cocoons, growing in an organic way not recently seen in the EQ art of later
expansions. The whole expansion is organic and growing in ways both beautiful and with terrible
aberrations, serving us adventures with the familiar horror of undead, deadly spiders building
fantastic cities, and gothic H. P. Lovecraft subterranean lairs where both good and evil
denizens make their homes.
The zones have a real role-play feel to them, in terms of the architecture and placement of
features and NPCs. Nektulos Froest is now an uneasy home to many different creatures, villians
and heroes. Dreadspire Keep is a fantastic mix of Mistmoore, Unrest and Tower of Frozen Shadow,
but much more detailed and interesting. The design details that went into the castle architecture,
decoration, and the NPC activities there is one of the best jobs I have seen the EQ designers
do.
Let’s not forget the music, which makes the whole thing come together. The music is really well
done, creepy, and rich. Composed by Laura Karpman, it is the best music EverQuest has produced
for quite some time. Each piece of music fits the zone and sets the tone for how you feel about
being there.
Another feature is the complexity and depth of the evolving weapons. Players now have a choice
where they will put their experience -- on an evolving item? Which one? For yourself, or to sell
in the bazaar? And if you want to put your experience you gained on one item on another one,
there’s an NPC for that, too. In Depths of Darkhollow, the details are what make it interesting.
This is not just another expansion focusing on making more experience grind areas for bored power
players (although there is plenty of that too if that’s what you like).
The expansion is described as having content mostly for level 45 and up, but with content using
spirit shrouds and monster missions for other levels of players. There will be lots of content
for both casual single groups and high end raiders, Rashere assured us. The spirit shrouds are
designed primarily to allow higher level players to play with lower level friends and
aquaintances. There is some solo content, but probably very little compared to the group
content being offered. But then again, EQ is a group oriented game.
On a final note, Rashere thanked all the beta testers for their invaluable help in making this
expansion playable for all of us when it goes live. “We made significant changes based on their
feedback,” Rashere explained. He expects the expansion patch to go smoothly, he said, as they
have been testing and working on it all weekend to prepare for the launch day tomorrow.
Tomorrow, I will discuss more about the specifics of the expansion and what you can expect.
Until then,
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