Gamers logo

Everquest Landmark

A Great Game You Will Probably Never Play

By Richard GreinerPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
Like

Everquest Landmark was an ambitious game. It was created to be a game focused on creating content for another game, Everquest Next. The idea was to give players the tools to create a variety of new buildings and objects and then choose the best to include in the upcoming Everquest Next.

On the one hand, it really did give you the tools to create like no other game. On the other hand, it offered no reason to create. Therein lies the core of the game’s problems. The game was a love letter to everything sandbox/creative but it was trapped inside of an envelope of sub-par MMO.

The bulk of the game play revolved around digging for materials and using those materials to create things. These things ranged from tools, weapons, and gear to your home itself. This is nothing new and the way it was handled, for the most part, was no different, either. Mine materials, use them to make crafting stations, use those crafting stations to make better tools to mine better materials to make better stations. Rinse. Repeat.

Where Landmark set itself apart was in the creations you could make. The community changed a core aspect of the creation tools and ‘broke’ the voxel into a smaller voxel. This meant that you could create some amazingly detailed objects. You could create a home with windows, for example, that could have slated shutters. Those windows could have had thin sills, as well, and the room they were in could have baseboards and trim. That trim could have a unique design as well. You were able to do all this with relative ease and, as a result, could create some really impressive creations.

Games like this are often compared to Minecraft and I am going to do so, as well. Minecraft is a game that follows the same formula (generally speaking) as Landmark. It also, however, restricts you to using large blocks to create things. You can absolutely build some incredibly impressive things in Minecraft, but they are always going to look like you built them in Minecraft. Landmark broke the block-built look by allowing you to create very real-looking structures with curves and rounded surfaces.

The tools you were given to build with were also much better than most games of this type. It took a bit to really master the controls but those controls offered incredible flexibility once you did. These tools allowed for intricacy and control on an unprecedented scale. Sadly, everything else suffered.

Combat in Landmark was a paint-by-numbers affair that would feel familiar to MMO players. It was so generic that I really found myself missing the early builds that did not even feature combat. The bottom line here is that it was a serviceable combat system but was nothing new or interesting.

The reason that Landmark breaks my sandbox/creative heart is simple. You cannot make your own server, meaning that the game is now dead after the closing of the official servers. This makes sense when you consider that this was designed as an MMO and not a Minecraft clone. Once Everquest Next was cancelled, I feel that Landmark should have really embraced it’s creative focus. The game was made in order for players to create content for Everquest Next, after all, so why try to make it an MMO at all?

The use of limited sized-plots was also disappointing, but also clearly needed given how small the worlds were. Since the game is exclusively multiplayer, the need to claim land helps prevent griefing and building overlap. A single player experience would have gone a long way in helping Landmark be a more enjoyable experience, particularly for those who want to build big.

All the building in the world won’t help, however, if the experience is boring. One way that players of these types of games have made the game more enjoyable is by building with friends to create interesting worlds. Without the ability to host a server for you and your friends to build on, this is not possible. You could build and save creations, allowing you to then share them with others. This is particularly cool if you wanted to decorate your plots with small objects that you may not feel like making yourself. It could also have given you a good reason to build new things if you are the type who likes sharing.

You were also able to sell creations for Landmark, Everquest, Everquest II and Planetside 2. The market for this is something I can not speak on. I do not imagine it to be huge. I doubt you could have made a living creating content for this like people do with other games like Second Life.

Landmark offered some awesome tools to create with, but failed to inspire to do so. Without the ability to host a server, the options are limited, and the closing of the official servers has effectively killed the game entirely. Bland combat and the small scale of both the worlds and the areas you had to build in made it hard to recommend Landmark in any case. It is a shame, too, considering the truly awesome creations possible in the game.

product review
Like

About the Creator

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.