Everquest lore is ridiculously overlooked

[Danth]

I admit I've never read much of the lore for this game. I've always figured it'd be the same poorly-written tripe from failed writers that characterizes most video game writing. Not saying I'm necessarily right, only that's what I've always assumed. The game itself was always enough of a story for me.

Danth

[bwe]

I have no idea how people originally figured out some of the epic quests, they're so obscure

[loramin]

Originally Posted by bwe [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have no idea how people originally figured out some of the epic quests, they're so obscure

Honestly I think that was a HUGE part of the fun of them. People all over the world, on various servers and in various guilds, were just hailing random NPCs, saying random bits of text (inspired by things other NPCs said), giving random items to random NPCs, etc.

It was like a giant team puzzle or scavenger hunt, and every "team" (ie. every class) was sort of racing to complete their's first.

Originally Posted by Muggens [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I salute you if you make an EQ lore wiki/site, with so many resources it will be a continous work. Good luck

I've long thought the wiki could use a lot more lore. I don't think anyone wants it getting in the way of their game knowledge, but still I 110% believe there's a place for pages that don't matter (directly) for the game, like:

http://wiki.project1999.com/Lion%27s_Mane_Inn
http://wiki.project1999.com/Poker_Painting

And then of course there's the "main" lore page:

http://wiki.project1999.com/Lore_of_Norrath

[Mblake81]

Originally Posted by bwe [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I have no idea how people originally figured out some of the epic quests, they're so obscure

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Honestly I think that was a HUGE part of the fun of them. People all over the world, on various servers and in various guilds, were just hailing random NPCs, saying random bits of text (inspired by things other NPCs said), giving random items to random NPCs, etc.

It was like a giant team puzzle or scavenger hunt, and every "team" (ie. every class) was sort of racing to complete their's first.

That is something else that a person who never played in era will experience. EQ was the first game I ever had to conduct research for. Not just the RP aspect of my enchanter needing to research his spells in the world, I am referring to me researching the game because things were obscure. Like many others I had a 3-ring binder full of maps with my own notes scribbled on them, you could get these from places like EQ maps. Why not just minimize the game and go to the map site? because EQ took up the resources of my brand new gateway machine and dial-up prevented me running the game and pulling up a website at the same time. You had to prepare.

Searching the forums, some of them were RP forums and others not so much, some sites could give you basic spell informations. The game didn't even describe what spells did.

I think Loramin has a wayback machine link in the wiki for 'The Neriak Library'.

Anyway, between talking to other players in game, making notes, exploring to find these places and comparing them with your own printed maps (had a reason to own a printer).. it.. it was very involved to play this game. This is where I took up forum lurking that carries over to this day.

Today you have the benefit of the good information being compiled in an all-in-one wiki. Some of this came from many scattered sites.. imagine yourself looking and comparing, making notes, conversing with others in game about those notes, then setting off in adventure to see if they are true. Nothing was really for certain yet.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Mblake81 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Like many others I had a 3-ring binder full of maps with my own notes scribbled on them, you could get these from places like EQ maps. Why not just minimize the game and go to the map site? because EQ took up the resources of my brand new gateway machine and dial-up prevented me running the game and pulling up a website at the same time. You had to prepare.

I had a binder full of map printouts too: my EQ-playing housemates didn't, and I never understood how they could get around.

But it wasn't just a hardware thing: the EQ client back then would not let you ALT + TAB out (I think it crashed the game or something if you did).

There was a 3rd-party program called EQW that you could use, and literally all it did was let you run EQ in a window (thus the name). It was technically banned by Verant, and wasn't even available in the early years, so the vast majority of players in-era couldn't check maps online while playing ... unless they had two computers or a binder [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Danth]

I like the nostalgia trip. My EQ nostalgia is very different. The wife and I had brand-new, high-end computers (pentium III's!). We had an equally brand-new cable ISP that had only come available in our town in spring '99. We had a laptop that we could look up map sites/forums/etc on while we were playing so the lack of alt-tab didn't matter. We didn't have to deal with slow dialup downloads, with staring at the wall because of framerate issues, or (since we were adults) with parents yelling over our shoulder.

But in truth after a decade of P99 versus only a few years (aggregate) of the original game, I have far more nostalgia for P99 than I do for the original. This IS EQ for me insofar as I care anymore.

Danth

[pink grapefruit]

Originally Posted by Mblake81 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That is something else that a person who never played in era will experience. EQ was the first game I ever had to conduct research for. Not just the RP aspect of my enchanter needing to research his spells in the world, I am referring to me researching the game because things were obscure. Like many others I had a 3-ring binder full of maps with my own notes scribbled on them, you could get these from places like EQ maps. Why not just minimize the game and go to the map site? because EQ took up the resources of my brand new gateway machine and dial-up prevented me running the game and pulling up a website at the same time. You had to prepare.

Searching the forums, some of them were RP forums and others not so much, some sites could give you basic spell informations. The game didn't even describe what spells did.

I think Loramin has a wayback machine link in the wiki for 'The Neriak Library'.

Anyway, between talking to other players in game, making notes, exploring to find these places and comparing them with your own printed maps (had a reason to own a printer).. it.. it was very involved to play this game. This is where I took up forum lurking that carries over to this day.

Today you have the benefit of the good information being compiled in an all-in-one wiki. Some of this came from many scattered sites.. imagine yourself looking and comparing, making notes, conversing with others in game about those notes, then setting off in adventure to see if they are true. Nothing was really for certain yet.

Agree with this 100% xD

EQ appealed hard af to my inner nerd because I actually became a better player the more I researched silly elf nonsense in my spare time. You still had to play the game to get good at a lot of things (jousting comes to mind), but having detailed knowledge of the game mechanics and why x camp was sought after truly made you a better ally and more fearsome enemy.

<3 EQ [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Jibartik]

I am telling you. The story of the mystic cloak quest is a roller coaster. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Wizards just trying to raise a family. Darkelves and teenage daughters make it difficult.

[Nlaar]

Originally Posted by zodium [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

the greatest story ever told in Norrath is the story of the Avatar of Fear, told entirely through loot tables and mob spawns:

1. in the theatre area of Plane of Mischief, a number of human-sized "puppet" versions of various gods appear once every game morning.
2. unless a particular audience member is killed, Bristlebane will shout about a missing Cazic Thule puppet and cancel the puppet show.
3. the golems in Plane of Fear can drop Puppet Strings.
4. in the Temple of Cazic Thule spawns the Avatar of Fear, a human-sized version of Cazic Thule.

Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

[Chortles Snort|eS]

[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
To my dear sweet Kyg Why did we part Why did you go Now I am all alone Feeling all low.

Dat 1 hit mE in dA feelS firSt tiMe
Poor DeV