The Top Shelf: The Battle Royales 05: EverQuest Champions

by mento

Welcome to The Top Shelf, a weekly feature wherein I sort through my extensive PS2 collection for the diamonds in the rough. My goal here is to narrow down a library of 185 games to a svelte 44: the number of spaces on my bookshelf set aside for my PS2 collection. That means a whole lot of vetting and a whole lot of science that needs to be done - and here in the second round, that means narrow...

Extra Note: We're down to the wire now, just a few loose ends to tie up. Specifically, figuring out which of two (or three) very similar games from the same franchise is the superior entry. Our strict one-game-per-franchise policy means we'll need to bring in some science to determine the truly shelf-worthy here in The Top Shelf's third round: The Battle Royales!

For this edition of The Top Shelf: The Battle Royales, we're looking at two loot RPGs from Snowblind Studios: Champions of Norrath and its follow-up Champions: Return to Arms. These games are spin-offs of the MMO juggernaut franchise that is EverQuest, which recently saw yet another expansion to its first sequel. If nothing else, those games have staying power.

Snowblind also developed the precursor to these games based on a different CRPG license, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, but I determined the real fight was between the two EverQuest games: not only did they build on the lessons and hone the techniques Snowblind learned from developing Dark Alliance, but they found a better fit for this Diablo-style loot RPG model in the less rigidly-set EverQuest universe. I also think the level variation is more interesting in these games, and there's a surprising level of challenge that really forces you to tactically consider your approach, especially with boss fights where you can easily get overwhelmed if you try for the "war of attrition" tactic. While it's lacking in a lot of ways compared to a modern loot RPG like Diablo III or Path of Exile - in particular, you rarely seem to find any equipment on the field worth a damn, and are usually just building up the cash reserves for something that takes your fancy from the NPC vendors - the degree of level variety and challenge actually elevates it to their tier, at least in my view. Don't get me wrong: I love big numbers as much as the next guy, but loot RPGs often devolve into mindless grinds if they lack any means to keep you on your toes.

However, there is the ever-present challenge in this stage of the eliminations where it's tough figuring out which of two very similar games is the superior option. I don't mind saying that one of these games definitely deserves a spot on the shelf, but we have a strict one-game-per-franchise policy here on The Top Shelf and that means this duo will have to fight it out across these three very specific categories: Structure, which refers to how the game is set out from start to finish, both narratively and geographically; Level Design, which relates to the type of dungeons you'll see throughout each game and how each provides a distinctive feel and look; and Mission Design, which celebrates where the games deviate from simply "fight your way from Entrance A to Exit B" that is usually the norm for these types of linear action RPGs. Everything else notable about these games - the core mechanics, the character abilities, the graphics - can't really be contrasted as easily.

Structure

This is really a very loose way of saying what the game expects you to do: where you go, the bosses you defeat, the narrative it's spinning in the background of your rampage against endless enemy hordes. It's usually immaterial for a loot RPG where you're not really paying attention to the story, especially on your second or third time through on a higher difficulty, but with the Champions games the structure is a little odder than most. Enough to be notable, let's say.

In Champions of Norrath (which I'll abbreviate to CON), you start saving an elven treetop village from an orc attack, pushing them back to the edge of the forest. After this you end up in an underground realm of dwarves that leads to the gothic castle of a powerful vampire lord, before eventually ending up in a forsaken (yet tropical) part of the world where you eventually find a portal to the Plane of Hate and defeat one of EverQuest's many colossal deities in hand-to-hand combat. The throughline is a shapeshifting orc commander, later revealed to be a turncoat elf who has sold his soul to the aforementioned God of Hate, Innoruuk. It's a fairly standard "chase the bad guy" narrative, one that almost justifies the bizarre variety of locations you visit (more on that below), but just equates to a series of picturesque dungeons to fight one's way through. If you've played a game of this type before, you'll recognize this progression immediately.

With Champions Return to Arms (which I'll abbreviate to CRA), you begin directly after the previous game ends, though it's implied that some time has passed in the mortal world since the destruction of Innoruuk. The shards of the fallen god, which contain his lingering essence of hatred, have been spread across multiple planes of existence, either corrupting those of a good or neutral alignment and empowering Innoruuk's fellow lords of evil. It is, again, a similar enough routine if you've spent time with the Diablo games - there's a whole lot of demonic shards in that franchise too - but the big difference is in how the game structures its hub and playing areas. In CON, each new "chapter" of the game quickly introduces a new hub area where you can buy/sell from a single vendor and have access to a number of locations related to that chapter as they open up. With CRA, you only have the one hub - though it changes depending on which alignment you choose, another distinction with CRA - and you travel to the various other planes with a gate. Once a plane has been conquered and the Innoruuk Shard found, you can revisit it twice more for some bonus areas: the first involves completing a special challenge, while the second is a smaller bonus dungeon which contains a special collectible. Finding all these collectibles nets you a very powerful weapon, which is ideal preparation for taking on the next level of difficulty if that's what you're looking to do. This hub system also means that you can revisit earlier planes if you're looking to grind a little - the second game is considerably harder, whether or not you chose to import a high-level character, so these opportunities can often be a godsend.

Advantage: Champions: Return to Arms.

Level Design

One of the edges I think the Champions games has over other loot RPGs is that it really lacks any sense of geographical consistency. Diablo 2 had you hopping from medieval European villages to desert ruins to deep in the jungle, but if anything the Champions games get even wilder. If it's not whole dungeons set underwater, it's one where you're traversing across bridges made of clouds or one that gives you a first-class view of the whirling tornado of tormented souls at the heart of the Plane of Hate. The developers go out of their way to toss as many dungeon types as possible, with (partially randomized) floor plans to match, and you're never quite sure where you'll end up next.

In CON, the game establishes around 80% of its dungeon designs here. You begin in a treetop village, make your way through a forest with a number of optional subterranean ruins, end up in an underground village of gnomes, then an enormous ant colony full of twisting passages and ominous insect eggs and cocoons, only to find yourself in the lava-infested depths which open the way to a macabre fortress of a vampire lord full of gothic arches and blood fountains, which then abruptly switches to a ship journey to a tropical archipelago with the aforementioned underwater caves, and then those lead to a desert wasteland, some grassland steppes, a set of walkways high in the sky and a frozen glacier in quick succession, ending with the Plane of Hate and the heavy metal imagery to be found within. In each case, the level design is slightly different: the treetop village is all walkways connected to slightly larger pleateaus with houses, the ant colony has a lot of narrow cyclical paths, the vampire castle is full of side-rooms, corridors and large chambers, and the desert and grasslands have enormous open spaces that you have to explore with a "lawnmowing" type of approach. You get the benefit of greatly varying vistas as well as dungeon design types, and the game rarely lingers in one place for too long if a certain area's not to your liking.

There was the opportunity to go even further with the plane-hopping in CRA, but with a few exceptions - the giant junkyard that comprises the Plane of Innovation, for example, or the creepy Plane of Nightmares - the terrain types and design are identical to those found in the original game. Except now the underwater caves of the Pit of Ill Omen, as that region of Norrath was called, are the same as those found in the Plane of Water. The Plane of Fire looks suspiciously like the lava depths, the Plane of Storms takes us back to the suspended walkways, and the Plane of Torment is just the Plane of Hate with more timed bridge puzzles. The game gives you new objectives to complete in these regions, and there's of course the bonus challenges which really mix things up, but for the most part the second game recycles most of the graphical content of the first.

Advantage: Champions of Norrath.

Mission Design

This might be tied too closely with "structure", but this category really only exists to give props to CRA and its unusual bonus challenges. There are occasions in both games, however, where you're required to do more than simply make it to the end of a zone, defeat a boss, or find a bunch of key items scattered around.

In CON, the few times when the game tasks you with doing something other than going from point A to point B are precious in their rarity. One occasion I can think of involves the lava zone where you first have to open the way by closing valves in remote locations, and then you get to drive over the lava fields in an outlandish dwarven contraption, plowing through those annoying enemies that stay in the lava and pelt you with rocks from relative safety. Another involved shutting down braziers throughout an Egyptian style dungeon, which required you keep a careful eye out for telltale bowls of flames. In a few spots, including the prologue, your mission was to defeat every hostile in the vicinity, with a tracker only appearing once you were down to the last 20 enemies. Minor variations on what you were already doing, but they helped these individual areas stand out all the more.

Even before CRA gets to its bizarre bonus challenges, there's a few interesting scenarios such as one where you'll be instantly killed by the enemies: they've all been powered up by a nearby shard, but that shard happens to be on the opposite side of their lair, so you have to quietly pass through without getting spotted by the patrols. After you acquire the shard, you can then pass through the same zone murdering all these annoying jerks that forced you to complete a stealth section in a game that perhaps wasn't built for it. Likewise, the challenges offer a mix of the interesting and the infuriating, from completing a Pac-Man grid full of frogs where the pellets should be and a few invincible enemies to represent the tenacious ghosts. Another reintroduces the underwater caves, but now enforces a strict "breath meter" that quickly runs down as you seek out another source of bubbles to inhale. There are special duels where you can't use too many healing items, a gambling area where you bet on battles between AI-controlled enemies, one where you are deprived of equipment and must defeat nearby enemies with environmental traps, escort a pack of NPCs (a similar mission was in CON), and slaying a number of enemies in a short time span. These bonus challenges tended to be very difficult, but all were optional and at least gave you some decent XP and items even if you failed - there's no death state like there is in the main game, and you keep everything you earned.

Advantage: Champions: Return to Arms.

Conclusion

While I do take some umbrage with how much recycled content is in the second game, as well as some of its bullshit challenges, the developers clearly had a whale of a time coming up with silly ideas for its bonus areas and the increased level of challenge and scope, as well as a newly restructured hub, makes the second game not only more varied but more compelling long after the fact. That level of distinctiveness means that Return to Arms, far more than Champions of Norrath, stands the test of time due to being so unlike any other loot RPG out there. It's like half the game was devised with the same sense of frivolity as Diablo's many bizarre cow levels. I'm not sure if it does the EverQuest universe any justice - I'm not sure how goofy it gets on the official servers - but it makes for a far more memorable game with substantially more going on than your average linear hack n' slash loot-fest.

Result: Champions: Return to Arms progresses directly to the shelf while Champions of Norrath is eliminated. Thanks again, science.

(I figured talking about EverQuest games is the only way I can convince Marino to add me to the community showcase. Editing note: Remember to delete this later.)

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