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Lineage 2
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PC - NCsoft - MMORPG - T
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| For me, one of the most essential aspects of any Role Playing Game is establishing both characters and a world in which you will want to spend considerable amounts of time with. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games might necessitate this facet even more considering they generally require much more time than that of their offline counterparts. Lineage 2 not only throws you into a rich fantasy world in which you can easily loose yourself, but absolutely raises the bar for MMORPG character design altogether. In fact, there is no denying that this is the game’s main attraction. The genre has always revolved around acquiring new trinkets for your character to show off, so why not go all out and focus the game around that aspect? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Needless to say, Lineage 2 does not fail to immerse you into this world, it’s designed brilliantly. The characters, the enemies, the environments, the weapons and the armor, they are carefully crafted with aesthetics in mind. Much thought has obviously gone into their creation. This is a meticulously constructed living microcosm. This is what an MMORPG world should be. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| You begin the game like any other within the genre, with an unforgiving amount of back story and an even more halfhearted selection of character creation options. Why the offline RPGs have this genre beat in this department is beyond me. You get your standard (and almost cliché at this point) selection of character classes; Humans, Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs. However, not unlike Disciples 2 (albeit to a much lesser extent), these overly-used races are a tad more imaginative than their formulaic precedents, the Orc race being the most notable. Once you’ve decided your avatar’s sex and race, you will choose a class. At first, you are offered only the path of the Fighter and the path of the Mystic. While it may initially sound feeble, Lineage 2 actually offers a refreshing class branching system. Opt for the path of the Dark Elf Fighter at character creation, and at level 20 you will need to make a choice as to whether follow the path of the Knight or that of the Assassin. Choose a Mystic at character creation, and you’ll be facing the decision to branch off into either the Wizard or Oracle classes. Each race has a three-tiered class system that is completely unique from that of the other four races. This adds a very in-depth angle to character development and, in turn, adds a lot of incentive to trying out new characters and tweaking existing builds. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Right off the bat, you’ll realize this game is gorgeous. The environments are beautiful and the presentation is excellent, but the character models are the real star here. Progressing through the game, you can’t help but to just stop dead in your tracks and marvel at the detail your avatar exhibits. You will no doubt zoom in on and study every new piece of armor and weapon you acquire. It’s definitely justified, the level of detail here is immense. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Once this fascination with the game world subsides just a bit, you’re hit with the realization that this is likely the most grindingly slow RPG you have ever played. The first few levels fly by, but eventually there is an agonizingly long gap between level ups that just keepings growing. In addition, item drops are the most sparse I have seen in an RPG in a long time. While this does offer you a considerable amount of surprise and excitement when you do come across a rare treasure, it is honestly too unforgiving. Unfortunately, the only way of obtaining non-store bought loot (aside from luckily stumbling upon a player-dropped item) is killing monsters. Lineage 2 just screams for treasure chests and destructible barrels. Aside from the item rarities, Lineage 2 is stingy with its currency as well. The game’s economics are so inflated, that if you ever want to obtain adequate equipment for your level, you will be forced to “farm” spawn points over and over in a mind-numbly methodical fashion. To Lineage 2’s credit, this is a cross that the entire MMORPG genre has had to bear from the onset. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| To add to the sluggish nature of the game, Lineage 2 implements an extremely unforgiving death penalty; you loose a pre-determined percentage of your experience points based on your level. One death can easily negate the progress of an entire day’s worth of work. But that’s not even the half of it. Upon death, you have the possibility of dropping up to five random items on your person, even your equipped weapon is fair game. While this may sound daunting (and it is), it actually adds to the game much more than it takes away. You simply fear death. Novel idea, I know. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Aside from the game’s viciously difficult monsters, Lineage 2 gives you a second, even more upsetting reason to fear death. Anyone, at any time, can attack anyone else in any area, except the few dedicated safe zones; and the same death penalty applies to player related kills as well. Yes, Lineage 2 is perhaps the most brutal game ever created. From this angle, it is more understandable why the developers implemented such a stingy item and economic system. You have to slave for tangible rewards in this game, and they can be taken from you in the blink of an eye. It’s a brilliant but brutal dynamic. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| With such a system implemented, another new dynamic rears its ugly head; bad guys. You can opt to be a murder, a liar, and a thief in Lineage 2, and its completely within the game’s rules. However, if you outright murder someone, the game awards you with negative karma. Enough negative karma and you are marked as a chaotic character. This bars you from any NPC shops and town guards will attack you on sight. What’s worse is that your item drop on death probability greatly increases the more karma you have. It’s an impressive system, but it can still be manipulated by the most callous of players. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| While the concept behind Lineage 2 is admirable, the game just plays too slow for it’s own good. All the elements are here to make a truly outstanding RPG, but the game is marred by its strict lack of tangible rewards. There is no instant gratification here. You have to earn your keep and be extremely dedicated to your on-screen persona. If that sounds up your alley, then Lineage 2 is most likely your RPG of choice. It honestly doesn’t get more hardcore than this. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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