Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle Preview

On the subject of death, this is also treated differently to other games. Standard conventions of the genre dictate that your equipment is never lost, and your level will never decrease below your current one no matter how many times you die. Lineage II dispenses with this, though, in that it is possible to lose levels and items upon death. So in theory you can, if you keep dying, lose a lot of your hard work; harsh, true, but this is very much a game aimed at the more hardcore element, which translates as the level-grind. Is creeps up on you fairly quickly, as does the need to kill for money, without which your equipment will forever be well below the cutting-edge. As testament to this, the first weapon I could buy from a trader cost 940 adena (the currency of the world). The next one up from that costs 15,000. Bit of a jump, no?

The graphics are great

Still, whilst killing hundreds of monsters, you'll appreciate how the game looks. The graphics are great (although Everquest II has potentially overtaken Lineage II in this respect) and the character models (both human and monsters) are detailed enough. Armour will appear on your character in most circumstances, although not hats, for some reason. The ambient sounds are pleasant and not intrusive and add to the atmosphere, and occasionally the game's orchestral soundtrack will stir into action when you are in certain areas. Monsters will grunt and shriek every so often when in combat, although the spells (so far) neither sound powerful, nor look it. And as you'll do a lot of killing, it's a little bit of a let-down.

Despite little choice in appearance, the character models look great

Of course, all the killing is more fun with like-minded folks, right? After all, a lot of people enjoy the social aspect of online gaming, and to cater for this Lineage II sports all the usual chat and grouping options, allowing for private messages, traders chat or shouts (which are broadcast to everybody within range), and most important of all, the ability to form groups and clans to then hunt with. Juxtapose this, then, with the bizarre grouping system, which awards you significantly less experience and cash for fighting tougher foes, than would be achieved from soloing easier monsters. Due to this, at no point during my travels thus far has it been worthwhile to group with fellow players (if purely levelling up and obtaining cash were the intention). It almost seems that if you want to progress at earlier levels, don't hook up with friends. And that would be a shame, as in order to start exploring the world you need to battle through tougher enemies, as the roads between locations are fraught with danger, which only the most powerful players are able to deal with if alone. Catch 22.

Sadly, apart from the wanton killing and maiming, there is little else to do for low-level players; the content seems spread pretty thin. Aside from the simplistic combat and quests, you could join a band of merry men searching out player-killers, though they can be hard to track down, and would require plenty of aimless wandering. Alternatively you could become a player-killer yourself, and live life evading justice and preying on the innocent; it's your choice. Whichever way you go, though, it is a game - nay almost a career it seems - that requires some serious time investment to get to level 20, which is the earliest point at which your character starts to take on a bit of individuality, let alone higher. And yet higher you must go, if you want to experience any of the more interesting stuff on offer; castle sieges, high-level epic monsters, even a dragon are all available for those willing to put in that kind of time, so long as you are able to put up with repetitive killing of the same low-level critters for hours on end to get there.

So after a fair few hours play, Lineage II is hard to pigeon-hole; some aspects, such as the level-grind, unrestricted player-killing, the sheer amount of cash needed to purchase better equipment (and of course the countless number of kills required associated with this) and the punishing treatment of character death, are all enthusiast orientated. And yet the simplicity of the character creation process, the lack of any strategy in fights, the ability to successfully solo all cater for the casual player.

Lineage II does less in those first few hours to excite you than other, similar titles

When all is said and done, the first few hours of any online role-playing game are going to be fairly cagey, in order to get you integrated into the game-world. That said, based on first impressions Lineage II does less in those first few hours to excite you than other, similar titles. In the meantime we'll be forging ahead to bring you a comprehensive review shortly, so keep your browser pointed at Pro-G.