The EverQuest universe is quite large. There are the two main MMO games (EverQuest Live and Everquest II), PlayStation 2 games and even pen and paper games…
But the franchise has branched out in the past into real-time strategy gaming.
While that other game – that shall remain nameless – went from a popular real-time strategy and built an MMO, EverQuest started as an MMO.
So it’s no surprise that they eventually took a stab at an RTS.
The Setting
Lords of EverQuest was released in December of 2003 by Red Eye Entertainment by published by Sony Online Entertainment.
The game is set in Norrath, but 10,000 years before the EverQuest Live timeline.
You can play one of 3 different factions :
The Shadowrealm (Think evil classes/races)
Elddar Alliance (Elves, Halflings, frogs and their allies)
The Dawn Brotherhood (Dwarves, Humans, Barbarians, etc)
You’ll find some familiar locations and creatures, like iksar, goblins, ogres and dragons of course. Lord Nagafen and Lady Vox even make an appearance in the campaigns.
While you don’t necessarily have open play in single player mode, in the somewhat linear campaigns there is some flexibility to craft units and play sandbox style.
The “Lords,” for which the game is named, are special, much stronger units that are the back bone of your army.
But here’s the coolest thing –
For each of the Lords, the game employed some amazing, in many cases, big name talent.
Voice Talent
You may recall that EverQuest II used Christopher Lee for the voice of Lucan D’lere and Heather Graham for Antonia Bayle, but check out the line-up of voice actors in the game.
Katey Sagal – Lord Sakti
Best Known For : Married With Children, Futurama, 8 Simple Rules, Sons of Anarchy
Kate Mulgrew – Lady Kreya
Best Known For : Star Trek Voyager, Orange is the New Black
Kevin Conroy – Lord Palasa
Best Known For : Batman : The Animated Series, Batman (voice) various
Ron Perlman – Lord Skass
Best Known For : Hellboy, Beauty And The Beast
John Rhys-Davies – Lord Huigar
Best Known For : Lord of The Rings, Raiders of The Lost Ark
Fairuza Balk – Lady T’Lak
Best Known For : The Craft, Almost Famous
Claudia Black – Lady Briana
Best Known For : Farscape, Stargate SG-1, Containment
Keith David – Lord Vekk
Best Known For : Cloud Atlas, Platoon, They Live
Dwight Schultz – Lord Dungannon
Best Known For : The A-Team, Star Trek (The Next Generation, Voyager)
There are many more. For the complete list of talent, please check out the IMDB page for Lords of EverQuest.
Familiar Music
The music for the game was composed by Paul Anthony Romero, who also composed much of the EverQuest music from Planes of Power to Omens of War.
You can especially hear the Planes of Power similarities in the Lords of EverQuest Music.
Reviews
If you’re looking for the best real-time strategy game, this isn’t it. Go play Age of Empires or Command and Conquer.
But there’s nothing completely broken in the game. And even after 16 years, graphically, it’s not terrible.
Many of the official gaming review sites rated it, poorly.
IGN gave it a 6.5/10. While Gamespot wasn’t as generous with a 5.5.
What I love about it is, it’s EverQuest. It feels like Norrath. It looks like Norrath. And it just adds a little more to the EQ universe.
The EverQuest Show 