PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

[SamusKnight2K]

I was just browsing the data editor with POLUtils when I came across an icon that looks suspicious... To view it, load up the POLUtils and from the list above choose Images > Others > Fonts and Menus. Select the Images tab and scroll down until you find this:

[menu] cicon (DirectX Texture (DXT1). 64x64)

Third icon down on the right hand side reads "EQ II". If you notice you'll see all of the icons are ones you'd very likely find in the PlayOnline viewer showing what game/service a friend in your Friend List is currently using. Maybe it's just a coincidence but was SquareEnix planning to make PlayOnline compatible with EverQuest II? Just a thought...

I've also added the BMP I took from it.

[wakuwaku7]

Re: PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

Japanese playonline supports Everquest II.

http://www.playonline.com/home/index.shtml

[DakAttack]

Re: PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

http://www.playonline.com/eq2/

Old news.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

Since its launch in Japan, Everquest II was published by Square Enix, and was a part of the PlayOnline Network for the Japanese player base. However, because of declining profits in the PlayOnline division due to the lack of popularity of EQ2 in Japan, along with Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion's poor initial sales and the decline of other Square Enix MMOs like CrossGate, Square Enix is dropping EQ2 from its support and handing control over to Sony Online Entertainment in California.

EDIT: Wow, I took too long.

[DakAttack]

Re: PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

I think adding too many spices into the soup dulls the flavor for all of them.

[TheMidg]

Re: PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

old <call3>

[SamusKnight2K]

Re: PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

Huh... Well interesting nonetheless... I always thought the EQ series was owned and published by Sony, not Squaresoft/SquareEnix. But I wonder why all those games were published on their side and the US saw was Final Fantasy XI and Tetra Master... And by published I mean EQ II not a part of PlayOnline instead of its own game.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

SOE doesn't have much of a foothold in Japan. If I recall correctly, EverQuest never managed to penetrate the Japanese MMO market very well, because it was pretty much nonexistant at the time. I'm not sure if EQ had been canned in Japan by the time EQ2 rolled around, but I'm sure Sony found it easier for Square Enix to take care of service management, as it would be better for SOE's own overseas workload, as well as much better publicity.

A lot of people don't know, but SE even redesigned the characters in EQ2 to make them look more "Eastern." These new character designs were known as the "Soga" version, and due to popular demand, SOE recently made these new models available to North American players.



...I wonder why.

[SuperEclipse]

Re: PlayOnline and EverQuest II?

SoE, devs sucks, its like that dont care, EQ2 will die, now that Square is letting it go..

i know SoE would it back, but i dont know when its due to be let go off Square..but as long as they dont drop Fantasy Earth im fine..