Article Contents

Quick Summary
General Idea of the Game
Goals and Strategies
Character Creation
Exploring the Lineage 2 World
The Gaming Atmosphere and What It's Like To Play
How much does it cost?
Quests and Things to do
Seven Signs Quest
The Lineage 2 Community, and is it safe?
Screenshots

Quick Summary

Lineage II is a massive multiplayer online role playing game that takes place in a magical, medieval fantasy world.  Released in 2003, it has gained immense popularity, sporting over half a million registered accounts. The main objective of the game is similar to the majority of other RPG's released before it  Hack and slash your way to glory, gain experience and skill points, level up your character, complete the provided in-game quests, and create exciting new friends through their multi-player network  

The incredibly successful Unreal 2.0 engine is used to render graphics and provide stunning visual gameplay   The game runs on the Microsoft Windows platform and is brought to you by the talented development team at NCSoft    Rated for Teens and up, this game is not suitable for young children    Minimum system requirements are: 2.4 ghz Pentium processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7 Graphics Card (or better), and 10 gigabytes of hard disk space.

There are a wide variety of incredibly gigantic boss monsters to wage war against.  The graphical layout of Lineage II is also more detailed and vast than it's predecessor, Lineage I.  The fantasy world of Lineage II is also endlessly evolving with continuous player involvement.  Players who enjoy cooperative play will delight in attacking the unique and intricately detailed boss characters.  Each of these boss characters have specific powers and talents that must be strategically confronted by the players/multi-player group. Using moderate logic and quick reflexes, players can have the time of their life playing Lineage II.  

 There are several modes of play: PvP (Player versus Player), Solo Play, and Cooperative Multi-player  Lineage II  is famous for their player versus player functionality as well as their various social, economic, and political game inclusions  Slightly more complex than simple anarchistic hack and slash, these additional game elements force players to use a significant amount of strategy in order to win.  Siege warfare is also a big part of this series, as it was in the first edition   Overall, Lineage II has been a historically successful MMORPG and continues to remain a popular gaming choice for fantasy hack and slash fans.  

Lineage II is constantly being updated with patches and upgrades, downloadable through any PC with an Internet connection.  The files are quite large; you'll want to be sure you download the updates with a broadband Internet connection.  

In a nutshell, Lineage 2 is all about strategy.  There are enough strategical elements in this game to keep you making plans even after you master most of the games core mechanics.

General Idea Of The Game

The object of the game is undefined and multi-faceted.   In a nutshell, the entire game revolves around one thing.  Dominance.  Leveling up your character through experience points, gathering cash and powerful magical items/weapons, and attaining the ability to mop the floor with your fellow players is what Lineage II is really all about.  Their multi-player PvP (Player VS. Player) battle functionality is Lineage 2's unbeatable strong point.  If you do not enjoy player vs player combat, where you strive to become "King Of The Hill", then Lineage II is not for you.  But if you are a competitively spirited gamer that loves to duke it out with fellow players, you will fall in love with Lineage II from the moment you play it.  Like most other role playing games, Lineage II is highly addictive.  You can easily spend countless hours per day exploring, killing monsters, gathering items, and leveling up your character.  

Even if Lineage II is somewhat limited in its storyline complexity, it is a lot of fun to develop a character to beat the crud out of your friends.  Many of the MMORPG's in the same genre are highly focused on cooperative play.  The dualistic core of Lineage II is a welcome break from team play, allowing for completely individualistic competitive dominance.  Role playing refugees seeking a game with a more competitive focus will be happy with the Lineage II setup.

The great majority of quests in lineage 2 are optional to the player, but all participants are required to complete at least some of them in order to progress through the game.  In order to find quests, look for non-player characters with a yellow exclamation point above their heads.  Even though the quests are long and arduous, they usually don't yield an incredibly good item.  However, for training purposes, these quests are fantastic for building the experience points necessary to level up and traverse throughout the game.   Also, the additional Adena earned through the continuous hacking and slashing can be used at the markets, so it's definitely not akin to battling through a fruitless plain.  Once you get the hang of it, your ability as a player will improve and your character will be developed into something truly special.  

Overall, the general idea of Lineage II is to create the most dominant player in the game and defeat as many players as you can.  Like we said, Lineage II is not based on cooperative gameplay for the most part.  Get in the game and go for it all.  No guts, no glory.

Game Goals and Strategies

A great place to begin your method of strategy is to know the textbook stuff.  Here is a rundown of the game elements and what you need to know.  The first thing you should learn are the character attributes.  Learn the starting stats for all the races in the game and their subsequent attributes.  Then, understand how each attribute affects the gameplay.  For example, a character with a high strength attribute will be able to defeat enemy players in fewer blows because they do more damage.   Learn how all of the attributes, not just strength for example, correspond to the gameplay as a whole and you will be on your way to becoming a highly skilled combatant.

Symbols, or tattoos as they are commonly referred to by players, are a unique inclusion to the game that you won't find in other MMORPG's.  You must collect 10 "dyes" of the same type, go see a "Symbol Maker", and then pay a large sum to have the applied to your character.  Tattoo's lose their worth when you build up enough experience points to change your character class, so they're only temporary in their functionality.  You can get brand new tattoos for each new character class you attain, so these are a constant throughout the game.  There are two types of dyes:  Ordinary dyes and Greater Dyes.  The ordinary dyes can be found quite easily throughout the game when an enemy "drops" them, or purchased from the Trader of Mammon.  These dyes may only be purchased with Ancient Adena, which differs from the regular currency.  Ancient Adena carries a higher value than standard Adena and is even harder to find.  The tattoos do have a drawback, though.  In order to apply the increase in a specific character stat, you must lower one as well.  It's a strategy of give and take, so use tattoos only when you need to serve a specific purpose.  Having enough dexterity to defeat an opponent, for example.    

Armor sets have specific benefits depending on the set you are wearing.  Using items of armor that fit together in combination provide special attributes for completion of the full set.  Some armor is more suited to specific character classes.  For example, an archer may acquire an armor set built specifically for that character class and receive an additional increase in attributes. Learning about these special armor sets will leave you  better prepared to choose the armor that best fits your character.

Learning the weapons and armor that best fit your character can mean the difference between winning and losing.  Each of the character classes has armor and weapons that suit them better than anyone else, and some weapons are best used on specific enemies.  Learning what weapons and armor are appropriate for the battle you are in is a big part of Lineage 2. You won't come out victorious unless you know what weapons and armor are appropriate for the current situation.

There are over 1300 active and passive skills that you can apply to your character.  That's an incredible amount of skill discovery and adds a lot to the games overall fun factor.  Passive skills are active all the time and do not need to be manually triggered in order to be used. Active skills require the player to manually select and activate them in order to be used.   With an incredibly vast amount of skills to choose from, it will take some time to learn which ones are going to work out best in specific situations.  The only way to get good at this is through experience.  While it's unlikely you will use all of the skills, the sheer immensity of skills included will prompt you to continually develop your skill strategies as the game unfolds.

The item storage and decision making process is a big part of Lineage 2 as well.  Deciding which items to get rid of and which to keep is a key factor in your successfulness as a player. You will learn which weapons, armor, and items are best suited to your individual playing style. Once again, the only way to know what will work best for you is through playing experience.

Gaining experience and skill points is the only way to level up your character.  Killing monsters below your character level will gain you less skill points, while killing monsters on a higher character level will gain you more.  Challenging monsters that are stronger than you can be dangerous, but the reward for such a kill can make it worth the risk  If you use some common sense and logical reasoning, you'll know which monsters you have a chance at defeating.     

There are a large selection of weapons to acquire in Lineage 2.  Be sure to memorize them and their corresponding damage capability.

As a matter of fact, Lineage 2 has tons of unique game elements that allow you to use strategy to your advantage.  There are so many of these game elements that is impossible to read about them all in one sitting.  One thing you will need in this game is advice from other players.  They know the game, know what's important, exactly how to win, and will know the questions you ask them.  Find an intermediate player that knows their stuff and is willing to take you under their wing.  That is one of the most important parts of network gaming, handling the learning curve with experienced players who know.

Character Creation

Character creation in Lineage 2 is very simple, which is rare to be found in the world of MMORPG.  The races consist of Elves, Dark Elves, Humans, Dwarves, Orcs.  Players are then offered a second choice in becoming a fighter or mystic based character. You can also choose your gender, male or female, and select your choice of hair styles, colors, and faces. Throughout the game, starting at level 20, players are prompted to specialize their character into refined classes.  There are a lot of choices to pick from in the sub-classes, making this game much richer in character options than MMORPG games before it.   It takes a while to get used to the game mechanics, and character specialization options allows players to make an informed decision on how they want their character to progress throughout the game.  There is nothing worse than making the wrong choice in a character and being stuck with it, so Lineage 2 developers included the progressive character specialization.  These character class specializations take place at level 20, 40, and 76.  

Exploring the Lineage 2 World

Lineage 2 consists of two large continents, Gracia and  where three primary kingdoms fight for supremity.  Aden, Elmore, and Gracia make up these three kingdoms.  Exploring the game is done by completing the quests and generally progressing through the game.  With two large continents and a multitude of different villages, cities, cemeteries, lakes, highlands, forests, temples, gambling houses, canyons, ruins, frozen lands, islands, deserts, and undersea environments, the amount of exploring there is to do is amazing. This game uses the Unreal II engine, highly focused on giving players a wide variety of outdoor landscapes to experience.  This is one of the main reasons NCSoft chose to use the engine, taking into consideration that most of the gameplay takes place in open air environments, it works out perfectly.

The Gaming Atmosphere and What It's Like To Play

Lineage 2 is actually a lot of fun.  The atmosphere is rich in amazing colors that catch the eye and entertain the senses.  Instead of using the all too common angled view popularized by games like Diablo and Sacred, Lineage 2 uses an incredibly easy to camera view with variable angles.  It really makes this MMORPG feel like a new kind of game, completely different than any previously released RPG of it's kind.  Some say playing Lineage 2 is one of the most beautiful role playing games released to date.  There are a wide variety of visually pleasing environments with enough settings to entertain players throughout the game.  Network players who enjoy multi-player battles will be sure to enjoy the camera's ability to completely encompass the action no matter how the players are positioned.  

Some enemy characters are much larger than the normal players like Dwarves and Orcs, and it makes for a much more enjoyable and visually appealing battle scenario.  Because of their immense size, the fixed angle view RPG games of the past would not have been able to do them justice.  So, the variable camera view was created.  

The gameplay itself is actually a lot of fun if you like role playing games to begin with. The visual presentation of the game (at the time) was highly advanced and was able to process file sizes efficiently enough to provide a smooth gameplaying experience.  There are various inclusions to Lineage 2 that are unique to the game.

Parties and clans:  The purpose of parties and clans in Lineage 2 is to create a combined force with a vast amount of talent and power. If enough people with strong character abilities group together, they stand a much better chance at defeating the well known and powerful adversaries.  Grouping up usually works through having great experiences together.  If a group of people meet online and group up a lot, they are labeled as a "party".  If they group up all the time, make arranged attack meetings, have the same goals and ambitions, and are rarely seen without each other, these individuals are usually part of the same "clan".  Clans work together to accomplish common goals and missions, traverse through the game using teamwork and cooperative strategy, and attempt to become the most powerful group of players in the game.  Greed is a major component of Lineage 2 warfare. Most clans are never completely satisfied with ownership and control of only 1 castle region.  Therefore, large scale wars are constantly being waged to expand the influence and power of the clans with authoritative shifts and control of regions changing frequently.  

Siege Warfare:  This type of Player VS Player combat is a highly popular Lineage 2 feature.  Allowed only on weekends, siege warfare allows as many players as possible to group together in clans and battle for castles.  Because it is only allowed on weekends, siege warfare holds more importance to the player and gives them something to look forward to outside of the mainstream playing fields.  Siege warfare requires above all else, strategy.  Their are many degrees of strategy that must be considered, plans must be formulated, and players must be able to anticipate courses of action and accurately predict what will happen in order to win the battles.  For example, strategies based on player height is just one of many possible avenues of strategical planning.  Dragons can also be used to attack the enemy by means of air attacks.

Political aspects of the game are a background necessity.  When players do battle, attain control and ownership of a castle, amass great riches and vast amounts of items, and increase their power in general, they must be able to switch their battle skills to foresight and intuitive resource management.  Meaning, Lineage 2 is not all about leveling your character to incredible levels and crushing the competition with brute force.  It takes brain power and lots of it.  For example, castle management is one part of the game where tooth and nail battling is not applicable.  Tax rates and changes, sales and purchases of seeds, collecting upcoming siege information, managing castle defenses and making upgrades to the castle structure, and the withdraw/deposit of funds into and out of the Castle Vault.  

When a fortress is acquired through a battle victory, it is immediately considered to be in a nonpartisan state. Until a clan leader makes the decision to make it an independent or contracted fortress, which is always within 1 hour of fortress victory, it remains a nonpartisan fortress. A fortress makes the shift into an independent state if the group decides on it's independence or no decision is made before the allotted time runs out. There are major differences between contracted and independent fortresses that will ultimately affect whether you will win or lose the fortress in the future.

Independent Fortress:  Any castle owning clan that resides in the same territory can launch a siege on independent fortresses.  The Logistics Officer, who has the ability to keep tabs on the fortress defense conditions, is unavailable to these independent fortresses.  The Guard Captain NPC, capable of adding on to fortress defenses, is also unavailable to an independent fortress.  Supply items from the territory's castle are unavailable, and an independent fortress is limited to only being able to enter their dungeon through speaking to the Detention Camp Warden.  

Contracted Fortress:  The Special Envoy NPC character allows players to make their fortress into a contract.  A tax must be paid in full to the territory's castle every six hours for the contract to stay in effect. These taxes are automatically taken from the Clan Warehouse.  Upon the first instance of these taxes not being paid., the benefit of contracted fortress is removed and the status of "independent fortress" is applied.  All of the fortress management features are at the players fingertips except for the instanced dungeon.  This area is not accessible to contracted fortress players.  Fortress owning clans can access and use supply items by speaking to the Logistics Officer NPC.  Supply amounts are recharged every 6 hours providing the required taxes are paid. For every item delivered from the supplies. two clan Reputation Points will be taken from the castle owning clan.  These are taken because an adequately managed fortress will not need to constantly access their supply area.  A Reputation Point level of less than two will cause a stoppage in the increase of supply levels.  Item levels can increase to the games set level of 6, but every time a fortress owning clan receives them their item level resets to zero.  The instanced dungeon is accessible by contracted fortresses only if this specific condition is met:  Their must be a fortress, in the same territory, held in contract with the contracted fortress in question.

Politics are all about valuable resources and their management. Lineage 2 demands that a determined, strong willed, and calculative player/group of players be in control of the resources at all times.  You wouldn't send a warrior with no business or calculative skills to handle the financial aspect of the game, so don't make that mistake to begin with.  Have a player on your team who is skilled in the art of business planning and forecasting.  Ensure that you control your finances properly, if and when they fall into your possession.

How Much Does Lineage 2 Cost?

The game retails for around 40 dollars, with a moderately priced 14.95 per month subscription fee.  This subscription fee is only required if you want to play on their multi-player network.  Maintaining a PC game with a team of developers isn't free, and NCSoft has people they must pay in order to keep producing updates, upgrades, and expansion packs.  A persistently changing world and continually growing member base takes a lot of money to stay afloat.  So, NCSoft charges this 14.95 in order to keep the game in a state of continual improvement.  

It's not so bad. Considering it takes money to continue work on a game with a constantly evolving core, NCSoft has done a wonderful job of using the cash to make the gameplaying experience worthwhile.  Not only can you automatically download updates as soon as they are released, the improvements they make can and do revolutionize the gameplay.  When games like Lineage 2 require a subscription fee, you can rest assured the cash will be used to pay the coders and developers, thus allowing the game itself the ability to change with todays technological progress.  For example, if a new Intel processor or video card with a new graphical processing method is released, subscription fees pay the developers to upgrade the game so it's compatible with these new technologies. It is almost always a guarantee your experience with the game will never be a waste of money.

Quests and Things To Do

Be warned, the amount of time Lineage 2 requires you to dedicate in order to become a proficient player is daunting in itself.  An occasional gamer, playing 1 or 2 hours a week at the most, is not going to get nearly the same level of gaming satisfaction as someone who plays a few hours everyday.

This is where Lineage 2 is able to really stand out from most other games.  MMORPG games are for the thinking warrior.  You won't survive in Lineage 2 unless you can dedicate a good chunk of time to a combination of strategy, quick battle reflexes, and experience.  That being said, here are some things to do in the game that you will probably come across.  

The main thing to do in the game, of course, is participate in the "leveling grind".  This term is used to describe the continuous hack and slash improvement of the skills and attribute levels of your character.  This background "leveling grind" is present throughout the game, so even if you are completing a specific quest and don't have your mind on increasing the worth of your character, it's happening in the background regardless of any conscious participation.  

The Underground Coliseum is a new game feature in Lineage 2, accessible through the Fantasy Isle teleport and non-newbie town teleport NPC's.  Using death-match style play popularized by games like Quake and Unreal Tournament, players form groups comprised of at least seven members.  The group leader then registers for the games via the Arena Manager.  Traveling to the Underground Coliseum doesn't cost any Adena, so players can make the transition to this all out free-for-all at no charge.  This is one of the funnest parts of the game.  Lineage 2 fans can, and do, spend hours upon hours battling, killing, regenerating, and honing their skills.  The instant regeneration feature keeps the action going for as long as the player can devote his or her time to it.  

The quests in Lineage 2 are always specific to the character you choose to be.  For example, an Elven Knight will have different quests to perform than a Wizard.  This adds to the games variety and fun factor.  You can replay the game as each unique character class and get completely different quests to perform.  As this guide stated before, the quests are usually not worth too much Adena or valuable items, but they sure are good for experience points and giving you something to focus on while you level your character.

Seven Signs Quest

The Seven Signs quest repeats every two weeks and is lots of fun.  Here are some details on this one of a kind quest.  

Players who want to participate in this quest must join one of two "Cabals"::  The Revolutionary Army of Dusk or The Lords of Dawn, for a set period of time.  

Lords Of Dawn:  Members who own a castle and members who are part of the castles alliance may join this group at no cost.  Players who are not part of a castle-holding clan, but would still like to join this Cabal, must pay a hefty 50,000 Adena to be allowed in.  

Revolutionary Army of Dusk:  Only members who do not own a castle can join this Cabal.  During registration, they need only ask the Priests of Dusk and they're in.  

A requirement in order to participate in Seven Signs is completion of the first "class" transfer.  The object of this quest is to possess the seven seals and their power.  The Cabals, no matter which of the two orders they are a member of, must battle the Lilim, Nephilim, Lilith, and Gigant inside the Catacomb and Necropolis in order to come into possession of the stones.  Each of the orders, both the Lords of Dawn and Revolutionary Army of Dusk, participate in two separate competitions:  Acquire the greatest number of valuable items for their Cabal, and take part in the Festival of Darkness.  

When the Seven Signs quest competition ends, the total score derived from the overall performance of both sides determines the winner.  The Cabal with the highest score is the winner.  Scores are based on a multitude of factors so large, they can not all be included in this article.  The Lineage 2 website has a thorough explanation of the specific requirements in the Seven Signs.  

The Lineage 2 Online Gaming Community - Is It Safe?

Just like most other online gaming networks, Lineage 2 is a relatively safe online gaming community.  Safe as far as real life security goes anyway.  Player morality, trust, and ethics are not and should not be a considerable safety discussion.  There are always going to be bad elements of gameplay.  Thieves, marauders, and extremely sly players are all part of the game.  If you get upset because someone uses an unscrupulous gaming tactic, this is not an example of a community violation.  If someone asks you and continually harasses you for your phone number or home address, this would be considered a flagrant violation of community terms.  Because the Lineage 2 community is always being monitored, you can report any violation to one of the game staff and they will promptly address the situation.  Overall, these occurrences are rare, but when they do happen they are dealt with according to what actually happened.  If someone violates the law in real life through use of the game, you can be sure the authorities will be alerted and the situation handled accordingly.  

Finally, here are some screenshots to give you an idea of the games graphical interface:












Well there you go, hope you enjoyed this review of NCSoft's Lineage 2!