EverQuest II: Rise of Kunark

Oct 12, 2007

We recently had the chance to see the newest expansion for EverQuest II in action, so we headed over to meet up with Sony Online Entertainment to see what we could see. You might already know that EQ II: Rise of Kunark brings many of the areas from EQ I into EQ II for the first time. It also introduces a new playable race, the Sarnak, who can breath fire and walk on the ocean floor. A couple other big changes are the regional zones and brand new epic quests chucked full of class-specific andquest-worthy loot.

Rather than having totally familiar ports of tired, old EQ I zones, the new areas have been ravaged by 500 years of change and one enormous, world-altering cataclysm. There are now huge ravines, rivers and swamps that weren't there before.

To fit all of these changes into the game, the average new zone is twice the size ofthecurrent largest zones. At first we were wary that marching through such a large area could become monotonous, but we were happy to see that Sony is implementing a new regional system into the zones. That means that there can be several types of landscape, scenery and even the weather will change as you travel through an area. All this transitioning happens with no load times after you enter the new super-sized areas.

We saw a whirlwind tour of a few of the dungeons - most of which will be familiar to players of the first game, except for Chelsith. This unique dungeon has existed in the lore of both games, but has never been a playable area before now. From what we saw, a lot of work has gone into creating it.

CATEGORIES
Latest in RPG
A screenshot of a sword fight during, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, one of the best games like Hogwarts Legacy.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 patch brings mod support, barber shop, and over 1,000 changes like this: "Mutt can no longer enter the fighting arena in the Jewish quarter"
harry holding a molotov as kim stands by, hands in pockets - he's so cool
After a landmark RPG, Disco Elysium mobile wants to "captivate the TikTok user," which is maybe the worst thing I've ever read in my entire life
Kai fighting spiders in Avowed
From Skyrim to Baldur's Gate 3, spiders are universally horrible – but Avowed finds a way to make them worse than ever
The Legend of Vox Machina
If you're craving more D&D after Baldur's Gate 3, Critical Role is "hard at work" on a video game – and it'll be unveiled "any day" now
Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor Neil Newbon says he "got rid of" agents who deliberately kept him away from video game gigs: "They just didn't want me to do it"
Mass Effect
Jennifer Hale says she didn't see a single line as Mass Effect's Commander Shepard until it was time to record: "It was all cold reading on the spot"
Latest in Features
Kai fighting spiders in Avowed
From Skyrim to Baldur's Gate 3, spiders are universally horrible – but Avowed finds a way to make them worse than ever
A decorated purple car speeding head-on down a road in Toyko Xtreme Racer
Tokyo Xtreme Racer is a novel throwback to classic PS2 racing games like Midnight Club, and I can't get enough of it
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda in Wicked
Wicked: For Good release date, cast, story, and everything else you need to know about Wicked Part 2
Invincible
Invincible season 4 release date speculation, story, cast, and more
Key art for Assassin's Creed Rogue Remastered showing Shay Patrick Cormac in a black and red outfit that's a cross between Assassin and Templar armor, with his ship The Morrigan behind him
Assassin's Creed Shadows can wait – I spent 40 hours mopping up the map in the one game in the series everyone skipped
Avowed screenshot showing a corpse-like figure's face with glowing purple mushroom/spore growths
I thought I was going evil in Avowed, but one quest changed everything I thought I knew about morality in this RPG