THIS is the Game I’ve been playing for 5 years?!

Leveling Velours up in Darklight Woods off of Elementals

I’ve never owned a computer that was able to handle the highest settings on EQ2 before. Ever. I’ve played for five years on moderate settings, and at times (with a video card upgrade) ooh’d and aahh’d over the change – but it wasn’t until this past week that I realized just how *amazing* this game is when you are actually able to play it as it’s meant to be played. The problem is that it takes a great deal of hardware in order to play that way. I’m currently running a quad core i7 2.9ghz with 8 gigs of DDR3 (running as duel channel). I have an ATI 4870 (that I love might I add), and things run absolutely wonderful (graphic wise). I look at the screen and think to myself – woah – is THIS the game I’ve been playing for five years? I’ve never seen half of this stuff before. Like, the ground actually looks WET when it rains out. My dual core served me well for the past five years, but it was time to see what I was missing out on. For games that were already quite pretty in their own rights without having to own an awesome machine (Aion, The Lord of the Rings Online) they are simply astounding. Now I can finally add EQ2 to that list as well. It is a shame that it requires such heavy hardware in order to make the game appear as it should, but I’m really loving it. Below are more screen shots of my adventures this weekend.

Hanging out in East Freeport, just as the rain started to end. I had no idea the ground actually gets WET.

Killing the Brood Mother in Darklight Woods for a quest update on my baby Shadowknight

Playing with the Nights of the Dead illusions with Wpus in Darklight Woods – yes, I’m the one on the right

Being able to see the game like this DOES make a difference. In zones that I always dreaded (Lavastorm, Moors of Ykesha, Neriak) things are running flawlessly and I’m able to enjoy the surroundings of my favorite game just as much as I enjoy the content, the atmosphere, and the players. This was probably my biggest issue with EQ2 and always has been, the fact that I was unable to run it and make it look ‘pretty’.

Now if only I could get the video in the hedge maze to work. Unfortunately that seems to be one of the few things that I can’t get working, no matter what I try. The introduction video to EQ2 also does not run – unless I’m windowed (the maze video doesn’t work no matter what window setting I’m in). I can get the video in Nagena’s Hollow Tower to run just fine, but the maze eludes me. Normally I wouldn’t be upset – but in this one rare case, if the video doesn’t run the quest does not progress, the final boss does not spawn, and you sit there wondering what happened. I ended up loading it on my laptop in order to get it to work. Ah well, ya can’t win them all.

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend, no matter where you found yourself. Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath (and Wizard City, Telon, Middle Earth, and where ever else I happen to be, Elysea I suppose!)