ok it’s 5:00 in the morning so i’ll keep this brief. so far, it’s pretty interesting, the combat style is very much like morrowwind on the xbox, or at least it has something of that feel to it. my character is a half-elf (as was the great “eric the red” character that was my santa-claus-dungeon-master-gifted fighter/magic-user from 7th to 10th grade). i picked the ranger class as well, although i was leaning toward a m.u….after about 40 minutes of hacking and slashing away at monsters just outside the entrance to the elven tree fortress, i was met by some other much more experienced players. actually, 2 of them. i was talking to one of them, a tall, beautiful high elf female with emerald green armor, who immediately showed me how to private chat. then another dwarf character walked up and started casting protective spells over us, and then struck up a conversation. the dwarf said, after a bit of chatting, “well let’s get you outfitted then,” at which point i proceeded to follow him around the elven forest town, while he bought a full complement of leather armor for me. at this point the beautiful high elf revealed herself to in fact be a very queeny gay man, who was *very* pouty about the fact that “the little hairy man” had stolen me away from her, with all his platinum. she was *weeping* and typing waaaaaaahhhh! at me, saying that i was being just like every other man, and only she could love me with all her heart. i told her i would never forget her, at which point she said “really?!” and brightened up and composed herself and straightened her makeup. she then asked if she could move into my apartment this evening, quit her job, and would i support her? i told her that there were quite a few people vying for that dubious privilege. breaking out of “her” character, she said she would be no trouble at all, just needed a “drawer for her drawers”.
by this time i was up at the store with the dwarf ranger, and we spent the next two or so hours going to shops and to some kind of central bank on a different plane of existence, where a merchant sold me eight containers that raised my item count capacity by a factor of eight. (although they weren’t like a magic sack; they have no effect on my encumberance). the dwarf then gave me two rings, a black alloy sword that glows, and took me to the archery store as well. i am not sure how this is supposed to pan out later in my adventures, i believe their are organized player guilds that do battle with each other, and i may have been an early recruit. in any case i was offered a tremendous amount of assistance from this high-level character, who asked nothing in return. in the spirit of gamer’s chivalry that i grew up with, i pledged fealty to the character, or at the very least to assist in any party he might form in the future to complete any quests.
all in all, so far a pretty interesting game. probably not for everyone, but for someone who spent an awkward adolescence in fencing class and the gaming club more often than going to dances, everquest is somewhat of a dream come true.
ok i didn’t keep that brief either. can you tell i’m stoked?
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