EverQuest has decided to go for the throat as far as graphics are concerned. Not only is a fairly fast PC required for play, but you MUST have a 3D accelerator with either Direct3D or Glide support. EverQuest is ENTIRELY 3D - every object and character in the world is polygon based 3D, right down to the snowflakes - no sprites here. Unlike Ultima Online's limited palette and ¾ isometric view, EverQuest offers thousands of colors, particle effects, and lots of other fun 3D graphics buzzwords. (inane and boring text and mathematical ranting that would probably interest John Carmack omitted for sanity's sake)

EverQuest defaults to a first person, immersive view much like numerous first person shooters such as Quake and Unreal, but it goes a step further with multiple views, which are configurable to a degree. With a quick keypress, you can switch from first-person view, to an overhead view, to a number of third-person angles, with the ability to rotate and zoom around to find a view that meets your need and desire.

EverQuest's 3D rendered graphics aren't honestly what you might expect from some of the latest shooters like the Quakes, Unreal, or Daikatana. Polygon counts on player characters are fairly low, so characters have a blocky look to them. This may be an intentional tradeoff for concerns of speed and latency. Despite a fairly low polygon count, EverQuest's artists do quite a bit with what they have to work with, utilizing textures to compensate for the lower polygon count. Player characters start to look considerably better when they begin to wear different clothing or armor items in the game. One female PC warrior looked particularly well-defined and slick wearing a wolf's head helm and what appeared to be a tiger or leopard skin skirt. Another big plus in EverQuest is that creatures and characters are scaled accurately. Giants walk by that require you to look up to find their kneecaps, and I've almost tripped over a dwarf once or twice.

While the polygon count in EverQuest may be a bit low, don't let that lead you astray - the game is chock full of eye candy. Structures and buildings vary dramatically, some with very impressive architecture. Outdoors, one can gaze upon varied shrubs and trees, including some trees that tower hundreds of feet overhead. Glances up at the sky reveal a moving sky that alters in color and appearance with time of day, location, and even weather. It is possible to merely sit down and gaze at the horizon to watch the sun rise (with pretty spectacular effects) and set or to see storm clouds move into a clear sky, darken up, and begin to rain.

EverQuest's 3D engine not only uses particle effects for snow, rain, and fog, but for spell effects as well. Each type of spell has a unique look, most of which are cast with a colorful effect. Protection and area-affect spells swirl out from a character, covering a character, group, or area in a column or sphere of magic. Fire spells can be whipped up with streams of flame emanating from a character's hands before being flung towards a target. Translucency and transparency effects allow for windows which can be seen through and crystal-clear water.

Rounding out the graphics are the NPCs and monsters in the world. Most of the creatures populating the world of Norrath seem to have a higher polygon count than the player characters (possibly because their models can be more statically defined, rather than the "every player is unique and different looking" approach taken for players) and thus tend to look more "realistic." Determining what's realistic for a fire elemental or a gnoll is open to interpretation of course...