While you could play the game solo, the best way to gain experience and take down the tough monsters is through grouping with other players.  The developers have done a good job of making it easy to join up with other players in the game, and to handle basic communications through cascading chat trees.  While running through an area with a concentration of creatures it is easy to find people with whom to group, but things get harder when trying to put together a group for a specific quest.  It is just too difficult to carry on a conversation in a reasonable amount of time by hitting buttons on an on-screen keyboard.  If you really want to be able to seek out other players with similar quests then you'll need to invest in a USB keyboard.

Socializing is a big part of the game.

The game is really designed for group play, and each character class has its own set of weaknesses that need to be covered by other classes' strengths.  You need fighters to protect spell casters, magic users to unleash devastating spells, and clerics to heal wounded party members.  Otherwise battling the more powerful creatures will remain beyond your ability.

The world of EQOA is vast and it would take you a very long time to explore the entire continent on which the game is set.  To facilitate movement around the continent you can take stagecoaches between the cities, but it is entirely possible for you to walk the whole way ... and to see all of the creatures, dungeons, castles, and other sites in between.  To add more atmosphere to the game, EQOA features day/night cycles and even the occasional rainstorm.  While the game's world is expansive and filled with nice touches like the weather system, it is rather bland to look at.  The PS2's horsepower has been allocated to keeping track of everything going on around you and there's not much left over for the visuals.  The textures are very basic, interiors sparse, and the outdoor environments feature very little in the way of trees, plant life, or terrain features.  The game looks several years behind most of today's titles and just like the RPGs of yore, leaves a lot to your imagination.

EQOA does a good job of providing the basic elements of gameplay that are as simple as they are addicting.  There's just something about hacking monsters and leveling-up characters that has a strong appeal to gamers.  However, if you're an RPG player that prefers the story above all else, or if you try to follow other paths than that of the sword, then you may be disappointed in the game.  There's no room for merchants or other non-violent roles in the game, because there is no support for them in the game.

In determining whether or not the game is for you, you really need to know yourself and what you enjoy playing.  If you have a short attention span and rarely play games through to the end, then you won't enjoy EQOA.  It takes time to build up a character strong enough to go out and explore the game's world and you'll stop playing long before the game hits its stride.  On the other hand, if you think games always seem to end just when you've finally built-up a powerful character, then the open-ended nature of EQOA will be very appealing to you.  As long as you know what you are getting into, you'll have a great time.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 80%.  If you enjoy hacking a lot of monsters and are willing to put the time into the game that it demands, you'll probably have a good time with EverQuest Online Adventures.

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