Very Old Screenshots

[Jibartik]

I just came across these very old beta screenshots that I have never seen before. Thought I would share!

https://i.imgur.com/yplhYze.png

https://i.imgur.com/nXBAQOQ.png

https://i.imgur.com/Fhs01mB.png

This darkelf (?) Looks like a 1990s Japanese video game character to me haha :cool:

[Mblake81]

pre-alpha (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP2rKs1d1HQ)

Note: some shots show the original fireball spell graphic. It wasn't a little dot like on P99.

[Baler]

dang now I want a pre-alpha server.

[Jibartik]

Alright cool! Since there is some interest, here is a few images from a magazine announcement that has some Beta screens too.

https://i.imgur.com/cE3XNPz.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/q1iyV9K.jpg

Love that barbarian Nintendo Zelda looking pixel sword right there haha https://i.imgur.com/pV41nsX.png pew pew! :cool:

[ganedar]

The sword that gnoll is holding looks cooler than anything in vanilla.

[Baler]

its fun to read how they use to write before game journalism killed it.

[Mblake81]

its fun to read how they use to write before game journalism killed it.

[Jibartik]

Tthis journalists eyes when it started raining must have been child like with wonder.

https://i.imgur.com/5h4tLlo.png

Because none of that be happening lol :D

Edit: Man the point you guys just made is sticking with me this article is incredible and the ones I read now are terrible! :(

[Gustoo]

dang now I want a pre-alpha server.

The old schoolness runs deep.

Best thread of year since the good one on red forum was deleted. Nice posts. Sweet article. Best game ever.

[fastboy21]

very cool...thanks for posting these. I have a really fuzzy memory of reading a computer magazine article in 1998 about the upcoming release of EQ...very very nostalgic to recall how I imagined the world and game might work.

also, as you all can see, there is nobody tab targeting in any of these screenshots. Is there anyone who still needs more evidence?

[Destruction]

Alright cool! Since there is some interest, here is a few images from a magazine announcement that has some Beta screens too.

https://i.imgur.com/cE3XNPz.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/q1iyV9K.jpg

Love that barbarian Nintendo Zelda looking pixel sword right there haha https://i.imgur.com/pV41nsX.png pew pew! :cool:

Is that "Computer Games" magazine? or "PC Games" was the name of it?

[Destruction]

Actually looks like "PC Games" was the name of the magazine

https://www.retromags.com/magazines/usa/pc-games/pc-games-volume-5-number-7/

[Ennewi]

https://web.archive.org/web/20010204064400/http://www.verant.com/screenshot_eq1.html

[nykklass]

Tanarus, I had forgotten about that game, another great classic!

[Tecmos Deception]

I have no sweet, old screenshots to share. But you've got my 5-star rating for sure.

[Allishia]

Very neat

[Ennewi]

https://web.archive.org/web/20010118154100/http://everquest.station.sony.com/screenshots/012499/012499_6.html

[Mblake81]

https://i.imgur.com/S2tSKq0.png

https://i.imgur.com/P6noPLL.png

https://i.imgur.com/XJ3sWG7.png

https://i.imgur.com/gUKcpVd.png

https://i.imgur.com/P0TPK3U.png

^
Everquest Screensaver (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjNB1ZcGd68)

https://i.imgur.com/mnjZuLI.png

[Ennewi]

https://i.imgur.com/wTDCNtC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sd53tuQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2Hthajm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Ad4Ofro.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4qtpvQH.jpg

[Mblake81]

Good stuff

[Kerwin 5.0]

The sword that gnoll is holding looks cooler than anything in vanilla.

this

[Christina.]

Those screenshots on the OP are golden, everquest shook the entire gaming industry when it came out. An till this very day, all the other mmorpgs have took something from it. Good stuff :)

[doormat00]

reminds me of heroes of might and magic

[branamil]

we need a project1997 to create an alpha server

[Gustoo]

The beta screenies look like they had higher rez like dev textures enabled and they nerfed everything to HOPE it runs on pleb computers.

MAN these screen shots get my PSYCHED

[Mblake81]

particle graphics in my pc games..

but hey what can this xbox do tho, lets focus on that :mad:

[Muggens]

Gold stuff! I remember my older UO playing buddy bought a magazine with EQ pics in it, he got the game few days after release, someone sent him the box from the US. Mysterious game it was!

[Jimjam]

The shadows on the human model in the pre alpha footage were impressive.

Glad they got a real artist to do the release models and animations though.

[atlanticcultivation]

Nice!

[goldlush]

It's a shame more races couldn't be bards. I see the High Elf bard there. Why not Ogres or Iksar bards? Do no other races sing fables for the ages? Never made any sense to me.

[Tywulf]

https://i.imgur.com/4qtpvQH.jpg

Is that Aradune ninja looting the first Spiked COllar drop? ;p

[Dolalin]

If anyone here has any old screenshots of the Toxx necro hut, I'd love to see them. Can't find them anywhere and there are very serious classic issues to sort out, such as whether the necro GMs wore heretic robes. Very serious. Thank you in advance

[Ennewi]

https://i.imgur.com/vXLKLjm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3Fh2N9N.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YXfJ8xw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Rq50cKo.jpg

Is that Aradune ninja looting the first Spiked COllar drop? ;p

If only there were names / chat windows like in the last screen shot. #EQMysteries

[Jibartik]

https://i.imgur.com/Rq50cKo.jpg

If only there were names / chat windows like in the last screen shot. #EQMysteries

This is a very curious UI ��

marble X button?

Marble arrows and scrollbar?

:confused:

le sigh, how I wish we could get pressed buttons working and image backgrounds for inventory placed on hotpad :(

[Christina.]

Know what I miss? Who remembers the EQ chat rooms lol at server login. That was cool

[Jibartik]

Know what I miss? Who remembers the EQ chat rooms lol at server login. That was cool

The killing of the sleeper was the single largest multi user event in history because everyone logged out and went to that room to hear play by plays about the fight.

"ITS AT 99%!!!!"
...
...
...
hours later..
...
...
"its at 10%!"

I know I read an article about it like 15 years ago but not sure if I could find it, here's one though (https://kotaku.com/the-surprising-and-allegedly-impossible-death-of-everqu-1785741600) maybe it mentions that fun fact about that chat room?

[Lune]

There was usually a GM or guide or something staffing that chat room, I used to pester them with all kinds of stupid questions and was always tickled when they answered.

[Jibartik]

Haha man I wish we had OBS back then, but also I like that we have all these memories just in our collective.

[Arteker]

The killing of the sleeper was the single largest multi user event in history because everyone logged out and went to that room to hear play by plays about the fight.

"ITS AT 99%!!!!"
...
...
...
hours later..
...
...
"its at 10%!"

I know I read an article about it like 15 years ago but not sure if I could find it, here's one though (https://kotaku.com/the-surprising-and-allegedly-impossible-death-of-everqu-1785741600) maybe it mentions that fun fact about that chat room?
Considerin back then we had legacy and ldon isnt a suprise people was bored as hell with few guilds still trying to get into last days of pop

[Cyph]

I have some old images somewhere from Xegony back when it started, I'll try to dig those up.

[Jibartik]

https://i.imgur.com/vXLKLjm.jpg

This has gotta be one of the best EQ screens Ive ever seen. :eek: So much action so much mortal ogre vs dirty undead and snakes and beasts.

[Vexenu]

I really miss the old PC gaming magazines of the mid/late '90s. PC Gamer, PC Gaming World, PCXL, etc... were really great. I remember every month looking forward to getting the new PC Gamer because it came with a CD full of game demos. In the pre-broadband, pre-Steam era, those demo CDs were absolutely amazing. And the articles back then were actually informative and entertaining. The golden era of PC gaming for sure.

[Jibartik]

I know I keep telling myself Im going to log into ebay and start buying a bunch of them from 1999 to find EQ articles and stuff but I keep not doing that. Its a pandemic, now's the time for dumb hobbies so I should finally start!

[Dolalin]

https://i.imgur.com/vXLKLjm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3Fh2N9N.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YXfJ8xw.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Rq50cKo.jpg



If only there were names / chat windows like in the last screen shot. #EQMysteries

Ennewi where did you get these screenies from?

That Ogre shot shows him fighting the 2 skeletons and 2 zombies in Ghanix Drah's room, Ghanix Drah himself (presumably), and a bunch of giant snakes from the giant snake room in Paw. That's really useful info.

I have seen these before I think but it only just clicked now that they're Paw shots. I'm collecting those:

https://wiki.project1999.com/Infected_Paw#All_Known_Classic_Screenshots_of_Infe cted_Paw

[Jibartik]

Ennewi where did you get these screenies from?

That Ogre shot shows him fighting the 2 skeletons and 2 zombies in Ghanix Drah's room, Ghanix Drah himself (presumably), and a bunch of giant snakes from the giant snake room in Paw. That's really useful info.

I have seen these before I think but it only just clicked now that they're Paw shots. I'm collecting those:

https://wiki.project1999.com/Infected_Paw#All_Known_Classic_Screenshots_of_Infe cted_Paw

the way those snakes are all spread out, in an array.. Im like thinking that screenshot is from spawned creatures by the person who took it, and they are a dev making screens for marketing.

https://i.imgur.com/vXLKLjm.jpg

creatures just dont path up on you all nice and dramatically like that lol It's too good.

[Dolalin]

Nah it's too perfect. *All* that's in Ghanex Drah's room are those two skels, those two zombies, and him. If they were just spawning mobs, why bother replicating that room perfectly?

What happened was they had invuln flags on or were GM buffed, then ran through the dungeon gathering mobs and getting screens.

This is the first screenshot of paw that shows the giant snakes and confirms they were the same model/colour as blackburrow.

[Jibartik]

Id be inclined to believe you in that Id be surprised the devs were even so creative as to spawn mobs in a way to make the composition look good, so you're probably right about the how haha. As for the historic significance, this is a good find for sure!

[Ennewi]

Ennewi where did you get these screenies from?

That Ogre shot shows him fighting the 2 skeletons and 2 zombies in Ghanix Drah's room, Ghanix Drah himself (presumably), and a bunch of giant snakes from the giant snake room in Paw. That's really useful info.

I have seen these before I think but it only just clicked now that they're Paw shots. I'm collecting those:

https://wiki.project1999.com/Infected_Paw#All_Known_Classic_Screenshots_of_Infe cted_Paw

It's proving difficult to find the specific website from history/bookmarks, but it shouldn't take too much effort. For now, there's this collection...

https://web.archive.org/web/20020301230217/http://users.rosenet.net/lupin/EQshots/

[Ennewi]

Found them...however the images are no longer loading it seems.

https://www.neoseeker.com/everquest/screenshots/

Googling the properties title of the images is a poor workaround, but it's better than nothing perhaps.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Everquest_image15 (https://www.google.com/search?q=Everquest_image15&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS835US835&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiYuNHe4-fqAhX6hXIEHcfABmIQ_AUoA3oECAIQBQ&biw=1366&bih=695#imgrc=WkmMl-RAetZJSM)

[Dolalin]

Ennewi that's a baller link. Lots of good stuff there. Cheers

[Asteria]

I really miss the old PC gaming magazines of the mid/late '90s. PC Gamer, PC Gaming World, PCXL, etc... were really great. I remember every month looking forward to getting the new PC Gamer because it came with a CD full of game demos. In the pre-broadband, pre-Steam era, those demo CDs were absolutely amazing. And the articles back then were actually informative and entertaining. The golden era of PC gaming for sure.

Here's a prettty fun AVGN Video on that topic if you've never seen it, Vexenu:

Video Game Magazines - Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPKqp3H8xic)

Maybe no reviews of the PC mags you mentioned...but you reminded me of this video/ old game magazines in general.

[Jibartik]

So much nostaligia in that link haha. I need to buy a lot of these magazines!

The Zoomer (https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-ymgqt/products/16168/images/8936/Acc%252520Nintendo%252520NES%252520-%252520ZoomFS-2__87654.1394693184.500.750.jpg?c=2), I wanted that so bad. Yes "shitty friend controllers" is a great name for those things, I would always only use these wacky game pads at some kids house that didn't even play games very often lol I miss the days where I would sit in the back of my parents station wagon and play with my gameboy light! (https://youtu.be/PPKqp3H8xic?t=452) All these seatbelts you kids wear today! *shaking low poly fist

Also yeah great screenshots Ennewi wow.

This is a very old screenshot indeed!

https://i.imgur.com/HSgPe2e.png

edit: how dare this guy say willy beamish should be avoided! :(

[Toehammer]

Tthis journalists eyes when it started raining must have been child like with wonder.

https://i.imgur.com/5h4tLlo.png

Because none of that be happening lol :D

Edit: Man the point you guys just made is sticking with me this article is incredible and the ones I read now are terrible! :(

I remember reading this article in PC gamer, and this was the paragraph that got me excited... specifically the raindrops. At the end of the article there were instructions on how to apply for the Beta Test. I sent it in and then a little while later it arrived in the mail. I created a Barbarian Warrior named Korlaorf, made it to level 8 (mostly solo haha) in Blackburrow. On the last day of the Beta I went out to the Ice Giants, shot an arrow, and trained them back to the mammoth area and they just started slaughtering people... was the best EQ day of my life.

[Jibartik]

That's awesome dude! If I could find the ad that sold me the game I would frame it.

If anyone can help haha: It was a 2 page advert that had all the races lined up like they were taking a team photo in a dark stone like dungeon. It had some screenshots and a paragraph or two of copy and the release date.

I remember thinking, "hmm dark elves, trolls, ogres, and wizards? I should try this out, oh hey wow it comes out tomorrow?? That must be a sign!"

[Dolalin]

I found a web folder on dakor.net that is still serving up old EQ shots, including a whole folder of alpha screenshots:

http://www.dakor.net/images/eq/old/
http://www.dakor.net/images/eq/old/alpha

Some absolute gems. Did you know the UFO in Qeynos used to have a staircase?

[Jibartik]

How primitive! :o

those links are great Dola wow. One day one of us is going to be like "Thats me omg!" how cool will that be ha

Edit: This naggy raid reminds me of how like, impressive and amazing I thought it was that his AoE fear was a thing, how I was afraid, and now all these other heros were afraid... the game just came to life back then.

edit edit:

lol some impressive 90s photoshop filtering

https://i.imgur.com/oRbrZQc.png

[Dolalin]

Screenshots here of the final beta battle in Nektulos with Innoruuk etc:

http://bloodwolf.org/~rulnak/Pictures/Battles/Beta/page/Screenshots_Battles_Beta.html

[Ennewi]

Awesome find. Wonder what the stats were on that two-handed book or those denim jeans.
http://www.dakor.net/images/eq/old/alpha/page3shot3.jpg

[mcoy]

I like how it looks as though most people were playing with 2-3 seconds of lag, whereas nowadays anything higher than a few hundred ms causes complaints.

-Mcoy

[Jibartik]

Screenshots here of the final beta battle in Nektulos with Innoruuk etc:

http://bloodwolf.org/~rulnak/Pictures/Battles/Beta/page/Screenshots_Battles_Beta.html

I feel like there is a story that accompanies this?

[Dolalin]

Here's an album of alpha/beta EQ pics I dumped from www.notcrazy.com, they're all pretty ancient.

https://imgur.com/a/1uiwytU

WTF is that ghost ship? wow. It's alpha models riding it...

[Dolalin]

Sorry imgur was being dumb.

Here's the proper link:

https://imgur.com/gallery/6bRkJdJ

[Tunabros]

ooh nice shots!

Funny to see how to models for the NPCs and players look a lot like unturned characters (https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/unturned/b/be/Uwikic1.png)

[Tunabros]

reminds me of asheron's call graphics lol

[nyclin]

WTF is that ghost ship? wow. It's alpha models riding it...

Earliest I remember seeing it on live was when Marauder's Mire came out on Stormhammer. MM was basically just erudsxing with a zombie pirate mob set. Crazy to think it's an alpha model though.

[FatMice]

Know what I miss? Who remembers the EQ chat rooms lol at server login. That was cool

THIS

[skorge]

Tthis journalists eyes when it started raining must have been child like with wonder.

https://i.imgur.com/5h4tLlo.png

Because none of that be happening lol :D

Edit: Man the point you guys just made is sticking with me this article is incredible and the ones I read now are terrible! :(

It's funny you bring that up, because so many things were rumored to be in the game that never happened, such as player houses, and rogues being able to lock pick into them and steal their treasures. I had a buddy IRL, we actually drove an hour out of town to get EQ day one, and his plan was to play a rogue and steal people's treasures, only to find out that never happened. He also put all his skill points into wisdom thinking it made his rogue wiser and he would steal better, LOL

[Jibartik]

He also put all his skill points into wisdom thinking it made his rogue wiser and he would steal better, LOL

I wish there were more silly rules in this game like that that people could some how figure out how to turn into a steady but not exploitable income haha

[Jibartik]

Sorry imgur was being dumb.

Here's the proper link:

https://imgur.com/gallery/6bRkJdJ

haha so much drama

https://i.imgur.com/ERRuMxu.jpg

it's crazy how out of place those characters look in those environments.

[Dolalin]

Justicia Crystalwind's screenshot gallery was removed from Youtube for copyright violations, but fortunately I saved it and I've reuploaded it without the audio.

It was a source for more than a couple classic quirks and oddities I'd discovered, glad I was able to rescue it from oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu_NTRDgIug

[Knuckle]

Lol, not wrong.

[Gustoo]

Thats epic knuckle

[Gustoo]

Justicia Crystalwind's screenshot gallery was removed from Youtube for copyright violations, but fortunately I saved it and I've reuploaded it without the audio.

It was a source for more than a couple classic quirks and oddities I'd discovered, glad I was able to rescue it from oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu_NTRDgIug

A true hero for the ages. You rule dolalin

[Mblake81]

Sorry imgur was being dumb.

Here's the proper link:

https://imgur.com/gallery/6bRkJdJ

reminds me of asheron's call graphics lol

Justicia Crystalwind's screenshot gallery was removed from Youtube for copyright violations, but fortunately I saved it and I've reuploaded it without the audio.

It was a source for more than a couple classic quirks and oddities I'd discovered, glad I was able to rescue it from oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu_NTRDgIug

Yeah, inspired game world and art style. My favorite years of PC gaming & graphics. Edit: And the guild names, I think people actively avoid cliche/fantasy cheese today.

[Jibartik]

Justicia Crystalwind's screenshot gallery was removed from Youtube for copyright violations, but fortunately I saved it and I've reuploaded it without the audio.

It was a source for more than a couple classic quirks and oddities I'd discovered, glad I was able to rescue it from oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu_NTRDgIug

Holy smokes! Nice work Dolalin!

[magnetaress]

Know what I miss? Who remembers the EQ chat rooms lol at server login. That was cool

yep

[Gustoo]

Yeah but I only went there if both my main server and my backup server were down.

One time some dude traded me a level 52 mage and a ton of money on a random blue server like prexus for like 5k pp on red I had a whole alternate life there for a while and a successful casino business until
I lost it all in high stakes

[Dolalin]

Early beta EQ screenshot, with some spell icons that are not used anymore:

http://www.quake.spb.ru/pics/rpg/everquest/eq0000b3.jpg

Date given on the Russian page seems to be April 1998.

[magnetaress]

wow must have been like the first build of that zone, :cool:

[Jibartik]

That server chat room held the world record for single largest like online event for years, during the killing of the sleeper!

At least that's what we said at middle school recess.

[DinoTriz3]

Very cool

[imperiouskitten]

big triz in the biz

tell me it's true

[drelk001]

I love everything about this!

[Jibartik]

Thank you hero's for keepign this thread unlocke! We need to order some magazines off EBAY for christmas and upload em....

Hmm...

I should do that!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Computer-Game-Magazine-November-2000-EverQuest-MechWarrior-4-Games-Windows-ME/154015772735?hash=item23dc0e303f:g:V5oAAOSwvFlfFxs B

BUY NOW!

https://i.imgur.com/IWT687t.png

How to kick butt?? we need dis!

https://i.imgur.com/9Y7Pdnj.png

[drelk001]

You know something I would love to see? the OLD world firsts from back in the day.

I've been living on wayback machine and I cant find anything about it. So if we could go through and investigate and check look at all that. That would be BEAUTIFUL

[drelk001]

https://web.archive.org/web/20030623195624im_/http://eqfamilia.com/pics/lafprince.jpg

https://web.archive.org/web/20030623195624im_/http://eqfamilia.com/pics/lafgore.jpg

https://web.archive.org/web/20030623195624im_/http://eqfamilia.com/pics/lafbtrak.jpg

I found these screenies from the Old luclin era on the wayback machine of the old <La Familia> guild site on Fennin Ro. Family used to roll with them a long time ago!

[Izmael]

How to kick butt??

it's probably a guide to gnoll scroll muling

[Jibartik]

You know something I would love to see? the OLD world firsts from back in the day.

I've been living on wayback machine and I cant find anything about it. So if we could go through and investigate and check look at all that. That would be BEAUTIFUL

Every day before logging in I would go to allakazam.com or something to that effect.

And see a list of new items added to it, not quite firsts, but first recorded online!

Man that would get me hyped!!!

There was always a list of like 9-20 items that were new, so cool !

[Vheran]

Justicia Crystalwind's screenshot gallery was removed from Youtube for copyright violations, but fortunately I saved it and I've reuploaded it without the audio.

It was a source for more than a couple classic quirks and oddities I'd discovered, glad I was able to rescue it from oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu_NTRDgIug

this is great and sad at the same time. I wonder who played this character for years and what happened to them.

[Gustoo]

One day we are all gunna be grandpas on this game, glad that we have some shit to do when it hurts too bad to walk around.

I'm gunna call it right now, that the population for Project 1999 is going to peak out in 2040 or 2050 when most of us are in our 60's ish and legitimately have nothing better to do. No one will write a novel about the complete evequest timeline that began with an adolescent discovering a new game, and ending with an old man finding himself as a child again in his old comfortable shoes in kelethin, fletching in the trees getting ready to kill ambassador dvinn and emperor crush one more time.

[JDFriend99]

That's not beta. That is from eq2 development

[Jibartik]

You talking about t he 3 in the OP? I doubt they would regress in visual quality from eq1 for eq2 development, artistic direction? sure lol (hello luclin)

Im not 100% sure they for a pitch for eq2, but tbut that orc gnoll and sword appear in other beta EQ shots.

I could also be convinced the stuff in OP may be for online adventures, but even online adventures doesnt look that old school lol

[hekk99]

This thread is amazing. Thank you!

[Ennewi]

The First EverQuest Portrait Artist!
Creating Custom Made Portraits Since Beta


https://web.archive.org/web/20010122005600/http://2amstudios.com/eq/thumbnails.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20010217182754/http://www.2amstudios.com/eq/thumb2.htm