Champions of Norrath, worth it or not? Yes, and no.
While the games foundation can be quite repetative at times there are actual breaths of fresh air sifting through each crack in the crumbling foundation of the genre, take the weapons, commonly you will find swords, bows, axes/picks, daggers, and maces, all of which can be upgraded with an allure of items that randomly come at your disposal upon the slaying of a foe. And yes the money is also a common factor, coming from both enemies and scattered chests as well as destroyable crates, barrels, etc. While the money does tend to pile up late in the game you will figure out very quick that the best weapons and items are found and not bought, although buying essential items like arrows, throwable grenade type weapons (fire, explosive, and poison types) and health and mana recovery items will be the best and most bought items throughout the game. And those items are very useful if you are approaching a boss fight with no health recovery items. Yet the items and weapons are a common-place in the genre being able to customize such items is also a key part, coming from an RPG game this is not tainted or a disappointment at all, except for the character development. Not important to the average person but for a seasoned PC RPG player it will be disappointing on how much you can't do with your character, giving no more that five options for skin type or hair really limits character distinction, although there are races with both male and female sexes its almost not worth going through the game with each race just to see what different items you will or can get, with that portion of the RPG element tainted the other parts are well intact, especially the weapon customization.
Taking pretty much everything learned up until then the weapons customizable features are nearly flawless and some of the most enjoyable features of the game. Showcasing over 10,000 items in the game this will lead to a vast array of weapon types, although items cannot be customized there are a wide array of special items to equip that will add bonuses to your character throughout the game, and giving the ability to equip more than one can give you the freedom to best stratigize your plan of attack depending on the foes you will encounter or the types of magic they are using against you. "Strategy? In a hack 'n slash game!" Yes there is strategy playing a role in this game, even on the easiest difficulty level you will have to incorporate a strategy into your fighting techniques from the get-go if you plan to stay alive.
Although running headlong at your enemies can be fun you will not survive very long that way, having a AI some of the time enemies will find other areas to come around to find you and potentialy kill you, sacrificing themselves at times unfortunatly. And with some of the bigger enemies it is easier to just beat them with your bow and arrows because they won't be able to fit through certain areas but will still persist on trying to kill you. Which can make for a very unenjoyable conquest for some.
Simple enough to beat some enemies the hardest part about this game is trying to discover what the main point of the story line of the game actually is, yes you have to save Norrath and stop the evil army and blah blah blah. But certain characters that are brought into the story have pretty little or no backdrop to explain where and why they are here. As far as the story goes it doesn't help you if you haven't been an avid Everquest player, seeing as this games story will just let your head turn circles trying to figure out stuff. And with that it is best to just leave the story alone and let it flow right along, paying attention to it too much will deplete the fun that this game has to give.
While the game gives in fun and replay in certain areas it also takes back with some graphical flaws, especially with cut-scenes. Switching through angles will jitter almost all the time, while voice acting is at least laughable at times. The games base graphics are quite impressive though, giving a beautiful landscape in most of the areas, that don't include water you walk over. Needless to say the graphics aren't remarkable but aren't bad at all. The sound, thats another story. The sound glitches will become irratating at times. Playing music for the game will turn the atmosphere on, and then suddenly the music and even the soundeffects will shut off temporarly. The sound problems aren't limited to the gaming area however though, ridiculous loading times for voices are also in effect, communication is almost ruined by this. Reading through the subtitles before the audio actually kicks in can get kind of irratating and rather unnecessary to even wait to hear what the person has to say when you can just read it in half the time it takes to load a little thirty second snipit of audio.
Needless to say with all of the technical flaws the game presents it half-way makes up for them with the positive aspects that it delivers so well. Buying this game for a fun experience by yourself or with others (4 online or off) would make anyone happy, while someone looking for another perfectly flawless game will be utterly disappointed with what Champions of Norrath ends up giving them.