Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle Preview

Nothing truly prepares you for the experience.

Around Christmas of 2002 a new game entered the massively multiplayer online role-player games that changed the graphical quality of the genre. Asheron’s Call 2 was a marked improvement in terms of graphics. The bar was elevated. In late October of 2003, Final Fantasy XI dropped into the genre and nudged that bar upwards.

In late April of this year, the bar will be raised once again. Graphically stunning, the key to the success of Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicles will ultimately fall into the realm of content. But this pending release from NCsoft seems to have all the elements in place for an immersive journey into the realms of medieval fantasy.

The game is currently in closed beta. The open beta session will start later this month and a retail release date of April 27 is the current target. GameZone.com was invited into the game to experience first-hand this amazing title.

There is, of course, an underlying core story, as outlined on the Lineage II Web site …

“The world of Lineage II is centered on three kingdoms which encompass two large continents. Aden, the new kingdom, was established after Raoul the young king successfully quelled a civil war. Elmore, the military superpower is located in the northern part of the continent. It boasts that it is the direct descendent of the ancient Elmore Aden kingdom. Gracia is located across the ocean to the west. It is embroiled in a chaotic battle among blood relations trying to take over the throne. While these kingdoms negate each other’s power, within each kingdom are factions that have strong desire for self-rule. Thus the kingdoms are vulnerable to internal strife at any moment.

“You have been thrown into this chaos. However, unlike the weak, ordinary people who pass each day in fear, you posses the power to defend yourself. In Lineage II, developing a character is not an end by itself. Rather, it is used as an instrument to obtain the power you require to fulfill your will in this world. Become a king and rule over this land. You will write your own history.”

There are five playable races in the game: humans, elves, dark elves, orcs and dwarves. With the exception of the dwarves, the other four races have two base classes, warrior and mage. The dwarves do no have a mage class, but they are the game’s only crafting class.

Warriors can begin training skills at level five and mages begin to train skills other that the starter skill at level seven. New skills become available at increments as the player progresses and at level 20, players can begin to work toward a specialization.

Each race has unique skills and abilities, which come into play in the class professions. However, if there is one overwhelming attribute about Lineage II that does seem to set it apart, it is that this game seems to have a balance. If a superior skill is given, something is taken away. Dark elf mages can do the biggest and deadliest offensive magic spells, but their hit points are generally lower and should a melee get in range, the chances of that dark elf surviving the encounter grows slim.

In that way, Lineage II is truly geared for tactical team play.

The economy is a little on the expensive side. Most of the items carried by the non-playing characters cost much more than they can be crafted for, which means that dwarf-crafted items will be the driving force of the player-based economy.

The combat system is fast paced. As with most games, weapon speed, the defensive and offensive buffs, the armor level and skills trained can determine the outcome. All of the monsters have their names color-coded so players can determine whether or not they can succeed. White is the color of monsters at or near the level of the player. Blue and green are mobs below the player’s level whereas yellow is just above the player’s level and should be a good challenge. Red-coded mobs are well above the player’s level and almost amount, in some cases to walking death.

Lineage II is a PvP-enabled world. The game allows players to fight each other anywhere except in temples or towns. Initiating the attack is not hard, and the moment a player attacks another, the name of the attacker goes to a pinkish-purple color. When the other player responds, his or her names changes color as well. Should an attacker kill a player who does not fight back, that player accrues bad karma, and their name goes red. Players with red-coded names are open to attack at any time. And not only that, but town guards and other NPCs will attack ‘red’ players. In most cases, a player with a red name will have to die several times to work off the bad karma.

Death does have a cost. You will drop 10 percent of your level experience points and can drop an item from your inventory. It is possible to lose levels, but once a skill is trained, it is not untrained.

Skills are tied to skill points and training skills, while you do get new skill sets at certain levels, is not linked to levels, but rather to the skill points you gain by fighting monsters and doing quests.

Lineage II has a nice variety of quests for players of most levels. The closed beta focused on quests for the lower-level players, but should that carry over to the upper level players, coupled with clan-versus-clan warfare and castle sieges, this should all combine to bring on a game where there if something to accomplish almost all the time.

When it comes to the control elements, Lineage II uses the mouse for selecting mobs, and for movement. Skills, as well as armor and weapons, can be hotkeyed for instant use. There is a free-look camera in the game, and you can zoom in or out of the action.

The sound is vibrant, and has environmental nuances that make this truly a world with depth.

Graphically, Lineage II is stunning. Hair flowing in the wind, spells that will ripple clothing when cast, and dynamic lighting all make for a game that is an amazing feast for the eyes.

The game can be a bit slow when it comes to leveling your characters, and drawing a crowd of social monsters when you have only targeted the one can be exciting.

Lineage II was first seen at E3 in May of 2003, and I have eagerly been waiting for it to come out since then. While not everything is in place for the closed beta session, from what is there, and looking down the road at what is to come for the retail release, it seems that L2 has the potential to be a MMP that will reset the standards for the industry. The game is immersive, has a good community even at this juncture, and has terrific game play elements.