The undead are walking around Norrath. The sun is shaded, and the world seems unreal. With darkness overhead you wonder what will happen next. You hear of the amazing tales from the ocean. With your friends around, you make your way towards the Barren Coast where the Deepwater Knights should be protecting your land.

You are one of the many players of EverQuest, and are about to embark on a new adventure. This game has had many expansions, with each one providing new content and new stories for adventures. The Buried Sea is another phenomenal experience for players to love.

The Buried Sea is divided into two basic areas: the Buried Sea itself, and the underwater city of Katta Castrum. To get into the new areas, players must go into the Toxxulia Forest and the now adjoining Kerra Ridge. When you go into the forest you will notice that it has changed. The locations are the same, but the graphics are new. As a part of their overhaul of the graphics system of EverQuest, this old area has a new look. With a few hundred total areas to rework, the graphics team has been focusing on the original zones first. While they have been focusing on Antonica, they had spread to the two other areas over the past year. The area of Toxxulia is the latest improvement, and is a part of the expansion patch The Ocean of Tears will follow shortly after the expansion launches.

The Sea

The gateway of the Buried Sea is in the Toxxulia Forest. Stepping through the stone archway, you’ve reached the coast. Once the area was controlled by the Deepwater Knights of Erudin who had been watching the pirates and making sure the coast was protected. A whirlpool appears in the middle of the ocean, and the Knights are forced to focus their attention on what appears to be a natural phenomenon. The local pirates can now feel free to expand their territory.

The pirates are now lead by a new king called Jardel; their king is bold, unafraid and ready to conquer. Jardel has started to take lands from other people, including taking over some of the coast.

The Buried Sea is an enormous area, with seven unique islands within it. Each of the islands has its own theme, with storylines and quests. If you are a low level character, do not enter the Buried Sea. These areas are meant for characters who are at least level 55. Every island within becomes more and more dangerous. Some areas are really meant for individuals at level 75, and will be instant death for lower level individuals.

The pirate king makes his home in Jardel’s Hook. The first object that will capture your eye in the Hook is a large boat that seems to have crashed into the rocks in a large storm. They decided to turn their misfortune into a place of relaxation and set up a bar. Like most of the buildings within the islands this area has a feeling of people who are just trying to scrape by. They put their homes together by scavenging the beach and her treasures. Like many of the areas we went through, every object in every room, open sea, or hut immerses you into your location. The designers attention to detail is very obvious, and you feel as though someone really took the time to make the areas right.

As you can imagine, the people inside of Jardel’s Hook are not going to want to make friends with you. They are pirates and will act as such. In fact most of the expansion areas are really meant for players who are expecting a fight. A few areas, like the docks in Jardel’s Hook, have some more hospitable people, but that isn’t as common.

Another of the islands in the area, inhabited by pirates of another sort, is Blacksail Folly. The folks on this patch of land live to spill the blood of Jardel's gang... but they may also be wary of outsiders. Travel with a light coin purse and a well-paid man at your back until you become known. Speaking of travel, you will be well-advised to secure a boat to carry you to Blacksail Folly, for the waters are filled with dangers unknown, and the cold water can take a man's life as easily as I could steal your purse! Do not chuckle, dear friends... there is a swirling mass of water to be found in these waters that some say is the work of an angry sea beast. Others believe it is the wrath of the Gods. As for me... I believe it is best to treat it like a woman... speak softly, move slowly, and give it proper respect to survive!

There are other isles out there in the frigid waters, however sane men do not speak lightly of them. Some are said to hold nightmares come alive. I've heard tales of goblins on one of them... that'd be Suncrest Isle, to be sure. Rumor has it that there are creatures known as Fire Goblins that live around the volcano on this island. Other rumors speak of water-breathing creatures that will surely pull you under should you pass through their territories. Most people shy away from these realms, but there are those that seek adventure and have traveled the world over... and only those are strong and cunning enough to survive.

The Islands are beautiful and give you a sense of the tropical. The fighting between the different pirates is as intricate as the graphics of the area itself, and you are truly immersed into their world. Many games are lack on the meat and potatoes of their content, but EverQuest has never shied away from providing their players with a reason for their quests. This expansion is another extension of strength in story.

Once you start traveling within the ocean, you will eventually come upon the whirlpool that has begun to form. It’s huge and imposing. Like all great disasters, you are lulled into wanting to get closer. Take a step further. And suddenly, you’d fall in.

Underwater, and Alive?

Once upon a time, a series of islands existed in the middle of the Buried Sea. A group of magical people lived on these islands and thrived. One day they upset the god of the ocean, Prexus, and he sank their homes. These people were more powerful than he could have anticipated. They worked together to create a dome over their lovely city to protect them. An artifact towers over the city, and powers the dome that keeps them safe. Recently though this artifact has been weakening. The loss of power has caused the dome to weaken as well as caused the whirlpool seen above. The city has also been protecting the world above from creatures that have now been released upon the world.

Katta Castrum is this city and is the home to the Combine. These are people that are survivors. Most of them have been lost, but those that have survived have built a safe home for themselves and for other creatures that are all but gone in Norrath. They have built up a new home for the sphinx, the kedge, and the shissar.

The sphinx are now living in the Jewel of Atiiki. The Combine needed the knowledge and power of these mystical creatures. They created a habitat for the sphinx in order to feed on their knowledge. Unfortunately the sphinx have always provided more riddles than answers. There are quite a few quests surrounding the sphinx. They will be challenged to understand their riddles as is typical with what we think of the sphinx. Since there are only a dozen total sphinx left it will be hard to complete this area.

In the old days, Phinegal, one of the kedge in Norrath, was testing out the waters of necromancy. In doing so, he managed to destroy them all, leaving him the last remaining kedge. The Combine managed to rescue a few who had formed the first inhabitants of Thalassisu. They then created a habitat that suited their needs well. Their structure was once entirely underwater, but now only parts of it are filled with ocean. Those areas are very important to them, have been sealed in order to protect them. Now they use these water-filled areas for their enjoyment. Players are also able to step through the water-filled Thalassius; the Coral Keep has a feeling of being underwater while breathing air. The walls are filled with coral and sea-weed from their old inhabitants under the ocean.

The last habitat created was for the shissar, and is called Zhisza after the individual who had made the pact with the combine. Again trying to keep these creatures feeling at home, they created the area full of jungle and their typical pyramid icons known so well to the shissar. The shissar are inherently evil, however, and seek to destroy those that protect them. With the power of the artifact fading these creatures have started to attack the city of the combine.

There are more areas that players will find as the game progresses. They will learn about the shissar and their plans to win the war against the combine. Also looming is another story that players will have to find out for their own in order to finish the story. The stories themselves really take you into them, and make you wonder about the next part before you are done with the current story. At the end, the story is complete, and you feel whole. You know more about the history of the world, and have become a greater part of it.

An Expansion of Greatness

The graphics of this expansion are beautiful. You may be surprised how lovely this game can be. Some of the images are breathtaking. For example, the shissar pyramids have molding that look amazingly like real hieroglyphs. Each of the creatures - the kedge, the sphinx and the shissar have been reworked using new models, and will live up to players’ expectations. The most beautiful area however is the raid zone within this expansion. I will not tell you of the story behind it, but you will love this area. It is simply stunning.

Also new with this expansion, is the Energeian Armor. This armor is powered similarly to the dome that protects the combine city. Players will have a new inventory slot where they can put an Energeian power source. Think of this power source as an ever changing magical battery that will add power to a special kind of armor that you can get only in the expansion. Each type of power source is slightly different. One type will help you resist fire; another, earth-based, will provide a high AC bonus. You wear the same armor, but change your enhancements. There are more than a dozen different types and each type has different level ranges within them.

One of the biggest complaints of any MMO is the time that it takes to meet up with each other before questing. Once logged in, you then need to find someone and something to do. That takes a lot more gaming time than gamers feel is often necessary. With this expansion is a new and unique idea. Let gamers meet up and start questing. Help gamers find each other when lost.

For large scale attacks and raids, you will generally work with an entire guild. For such days Guild Banners have been released. Every guild can create an image that defines their guild best; that image can be displayed on a banner, and placed in the actual game world. These banners function first as a Teleport device. With this device if a player logs in late or if a player gets lost in an instance, they can then Teleport to their guild banner. Also, guilds can upgrade their banners for a cost to provide bonuses to their guild mates in the area. The better the upgrade to the banner, the more it is going to cost.

In addition to having a guild banner individual groups can put together Fellowships. These consist of about six to nine people (currently being decided) who have access to their own chat channel. Fellowships are kind of like a mini-guild. Instead of having a banner with an emblem on it, they have camp fires. Campfires will work similar to banners in that they are also a Teleportation device and can be upgraded to provide benefits to their members. Fellowships are more about individual people who tend to group with the same friends every night without the added hassle of determining who is around. So, you come home from a long day of work, log in, and Teleport to your friends' camp to join them in questing.

All in all I am impressed. This expansion holds an insane amount of content, lore, and quests. The graphics are highly improved, and the new items are useful and balanced. They’ve added new spells along the same lines as their current spells, and put together large scale, yet intricate zones. Every high level EverQuest player should try out the Buried Sea. Every player should jump into the Whirlpool. Visit the Combine. Fight the shissar and try to understand the Sphinx riddles. Do not fail to unravel the true mystery behind the loss of power to the Combine Artifact, and discover for yourself why EverQuest continues to be an outstanding MMORPG.

I’m not currently an EverQuest player, but walking around in this expansion makes me want to be.