Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle Preview

Expect to do a lot of this

The original Lineage was a huge success in Asia, with reports of millions of regular players participating in the simple Diablo-esqe online role-playing game. And yet, despite a deep political system, unrestricted Player-versus-Player combat, plenty of quests and loot to beg, borrow or steal, it never captured the imagination of the West (i.e. North America), therefore never recieved a European release. Arguably, some of the lack of success in the lucrative US market could be attributed to the fact that the isometric (and simple) 'look' didn't fit in with competition of the time (Everquest and Dark Ages of Camelot both being fully 3d titles). Whatever the reason, it hasn't put off NC Soft, and so here we are with Lineage II - subtitled The Chaotic Chronicle - which has made the transition into full 3D (it uses a modified Unreal engine). Promising more of the same in a 3d environment, plus the 'end-game' allure of castle sieges (against player-controlled clans), we've had a chance to put in some playtime to give you an idea of the first few hours play in this fantasy world.

Everquest II's character creation kit this is not

On installing the game and running the file checker (which took an astounding six hours to check and update on a T1 line, fact fans) you'll be able to create your first character, in what is best described as a streamlined process; indeed, you'll probably spend more time on choosing a name for your avatar, than any other aspect. Once you have selected your starting race (out of a choice of Humans, Elves, Dark Elves, Orcs and Dwarves), and specialisation (fighter or mystic, although Dwarves are not able to become mystics), you are pretty much done. In a departure from most other MMORPG's, you don't get to alter any starting stats (they are all predefined by race and profession), so no agonising over whether or not that extra point in strength will make all the difference. What it does mean though, is that in conjunction with the very limited choice of physical features there is very little difference in characters of the same race. Everquest II's character creation kit this is not.

Digital representation sorted, you'll be whisked away to your race's starting town. They all vary in graphical style, location on the world map and player population, but all share the same essential non-player character (NPC) guides to help you get started. Having created a Dark Elf Mystic I spawned in the Dark Elf town (which is inside a mountain). Speaking to the NPC nearest to me initiated the first in a series of short tutorials, designed to help you get used to the interface and the game world. For those familiar with these style of games this can be ignored for the most part, although completing it does yield an item of worth, so it doesn't hurt to do them.

Some of the views are breathtaking

Tutorials done, it was time to go out into the big, bad world. As is standard fare for online role-players, the only way to progress is to kill or quest. Quests are either hunting or delivery based, and add nothing to the genre. Hunting in Lineage II does stray somewhat from normal conventions however, in that killing monsters earns you both experience points and skill points. Whereas experience points will increase your overall hit-points and magic points as you level up, skill points are used to learn new skills from the various NPC trainers scattered around the game world. Whilst in theory this should mean that characters begin to complement each other with different skill sets, in reality it isn't an issue, because you end up with enough skill points to buy all the available skills and so you are probably the same as the person next to you, differing only slightly in appearance. Specialisation doesn't kick in until you get to level 20, when you are able to choose a job (which is governed by your race and initial choice of mystic or fighter), which opens different skills to you. You can further specialise at level 40, though you have to wonder how many people will get that far.

As is the norm, the core method of progression is through combat, which is as simplistic as the character creation; simply select a target and click on a spell to cast (if you are a mystic), or click on attack (if you are a fighter) and repeat until death occurs. Rinse and repeat, ad infinitum. So far my combat experiences have been less-than-stellar, and have relied only on alternating between my two main attack spells. The only drama has come from unintentionally straying into another monsters' 'zone', resulting in a gatecrasher wanting to tango with me. At this point it is a fight-or-flight scenario; on occasion I've been brave enough to try and take both on at once (and died valiantly, I might add), or just run. I did run all the way back to my home town once, where I expected the NPC guards to dispatch my aggressor, only for them to casually ignore it, resulting in my death. Ho-hum.