EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark

• Platform: IBM PC Compatible
• Release Date: 2000 03
• Genre: Role-Playing
• Style: Persistent World Online RPG
• Similar Games: EverQuest: Gates of Discord (IBM PC Compatible), EverQuest: Dragons of Norrath (IBM PC Compatible), EverQuest: Depths of Darkhollow (IBM PC Compatible)

Game Description

Welcome back to the world of Norrath, a place in which magnificent creatures roam, and bold treasure hunters trade and kill for what they want. For those unfamiliar with the fantasy world, EverQuest is a grandiose online role-playing game of epic proportions. Played from a first-person perspective, you can interact with thousands of people at once! While there is no overall objective, the basic point of the game is to build your character into a powerful, feared being capable of wielding the finest swords, armor and magical spells. The maximum character level in the original peaks at 50 -- once you achieve this goal, you are revered on the gaming servers!

With EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, Verant Interactive has created a massive expansion that increases the gaming world by 30 percent. In addition to the original continents of Odus, Antonica and Faydwer, the newly added Kunark features deadly swamps, harsh mountain ranges, fields of bone and vast jungles. Zones (individual territories of the continent) feature all kinds of new monsters, including dragons, scorpions and lizard warriors. With over 20 new locations, there are all kinds of low, medium and high-leveled zones in which to explore.

Kunark and its capital city of Cabilis are home to a new playable character race -- the Iksar lizard tribe. A tribal group of mean-tempered lizards, they've been isolated on Kunark and refuse to associate with other races; they are outcasts and globally feared and hated. Because of their strongly built bodies and destructive conquest heritage, Iksar lizards excel in occupational classes such as Warriors, Shadow Knights and Monks. Unlike Barbarians, Ogres and Trolls, these lizards are also quite smart; they make excellent warrior-casters such as Shamans and the vampire-like Necromancer.

Although some high-leveled players may want to start an Iksar character, Verant has cracked down on the ability to "twink" a character. Twinking simply involves starting a low-level character and giving him/her/it rare and powerful items. Because the lizards have resigned themselves to the continent of Kunark, Norrath armor seldom fits their gargantuan bodies. Instead of simply buying powerful weapons and artifacts, you'll need to explore the newly added zones in search of lizard-fitting items. There is a seemingly endless supply of new swords, axes, helmets and rings to collect, trade and sell.

EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark also features enhanced graphics for the continent of Kunark and the ability to surpass level 50. Verant Interactive has incorporated new building, land and player textures with swaying trees and floating objects. Players can now maximize their characters to the 60th level; this can be a difficult task, however. Additionally, there are all kinds of newly added spells for casting character classes --

Wizards get more direct damage and Necromancers receive better pets and more life-draining spells.

The packaging includes both the original EverQuest and the expansion on one CD-ROM, an updated cloth map outlining Kunark and a manual that covers the Iksar race.

Review: Overall

Let's first clear the waters here. If you've never heard your video card cry, visit the Field of Bone with your visibility set to maximum. The swaying trees and environment will, guaranteed, produce such a low frame rate that your card will bawl like a baby. Low frame rates aside, EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark is one of the best expansions released to date. Adding an entire race and continent to EverQuest, Verant has extended the life of their popular online RPG.

Kunark will strike fear into the hearts of most players. Roaming dragons have been added to the land and terrain is, months after release, still quite unfamiliar to seasoned veterans. In fact, Kunark has been loaded with scores of hidden nooks and crannies which may never be fully explored. The expansion pack adds a vast tract of environments to an already huge gaming world. Kunark is big -- very big. From Veeshan's Peak, where most of the dragons in the game live, to the hometown of the Iksar, Cabilis, the distance is staggering.

Leaving the physical environment aside, one area of gameplay many have explored is that of the magical arts. Spells such as Breeze (makes spells cost less mana to cast and regenerates mana faster) have become popular and mainstream while other high level spells still await discovery. Players returning from Kunark to "auction zones" like East Commons will truly feel like a world explorer, peddling bizarre and unique new items.

Avid EverQuest fans will be delighted to see the amount of effort Verant put into this expansion. The graphics are amazing and sounds (including EAX support) are fantastic. Nearly every aspect of the expansion is innovative to say the least. A new character race, the Iksar (lizardman), is now one of the best races to play in the game. Besides their ability to become monks (joining humans as the only other race with this option), Iksar characters start with 100% swim ability, auto-regeneration of hit points and a high natural armor class. The main downside to Iksar life is that almost everyone from Kunark hates them and will kill them on sight. Being lizard-type creatures, they cannot employ the use of plate mail armor due to their scales.

For normal characters from the other three continents, travel on Kunark is perilous to say the least. With the aforementioned roaming dragons and other bizarre creatures, you'll do best to have a caster bind you in the nearest civilized spot (most likely the port city of Firiona Vie). If not, you'll be begging for a teleport back or will be taking one of the longest boat journeys in the game.

Another admirable and worthy note regarding this expansion is the hard working customer support service team. Ramping up to the launch of EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark, EverQuest's guides and GMs ran a series of fabulous quests and continue to further the underlying storyline. Simply put, this is a "must have" for any fan of EverQuest.

Review: Enjoyment

The expansion may be a little difficult for the casual adventurer but is truly a non-stop thrill. Running through a new area will make you shiver with anticipation.

Review: Graphics

The graphics are fantastic. Trees sway and new creatures (including the Iksar) are absolutely fabulous. A graphic adventure like EverQuest needs visuals as stunning as this. Unfortunately, the low framerate problem nearly crippled movement unless the visibility option was reduced to the lowest setting. Choppy framerates are the only complaint I have in this department.

Review: Sound

Excellent! EAX support adds so much to the game. The parent game EverQuest sounded fabulous and the expansion continues this quality as well.

Review: Replay Value

{*EverQuest} never ends. It was made to be replayed!

Review: Documentation

I felt a lot of information was left out of the manual. While it strove to be as informative as possible, I found a number of accidental omissions and false facts and poor editing is evident. The {-Prima Strategy Guide} for this game, on the other hand, is factual and extremely helpful.

Production Credits

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