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A mixed bag

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Lineage 2, like most MMORPGs on the market, is an utterly mixed bag. Players coming from a realm based game, such as World of Warcraft or Dark Age of Camelot, or from an optional PvP game, such as Ultima Online, will find the realm-less free for all PvP world of Lineage 2 at times exciting and others unsettling. Ganking is however kept to a minimum via a PK counter on the offending character (they get a pk count ONLY if the person they're attacking doesn't fight back) and at higher PK counts they can't enter villages and have a much greater chance to drop gear when they die and can possibly even drop a weapon. This means, for all practical purposes, that the bulk of non-consensual PvP is kept to a minimum on most servers.

Alright, Phil. I'm intrigued. What other unique aspects does this game have?
Easiest said is the soundtrack, which is rich, detailed and in some cases even makes it pleasent to sit in a village. L2 took the console RPG theory behind mustic and applied it to MMORPG's, which typically only played music upon zoning or entering a town, and then only a 15-30 second blip. The graphics are fantastic, especially considering when it was made. Character models are all fairly similar among members of the same race which is a bummer but toons don't suffer from DDO and EQ2 characters that are so detailed they become ugly. Gameplay is exceptionally easy, which is a double edged sword, as the new will love it because they can hop right on while the longer you play it the more apt you are to become bored, although the amount of skills your character has access to at any given time corresponds nicely with level so it does become 'somewhat' more complex as your character levels up.

Well, Phil, you only gave this 3 stars overall. What gives?
Well, first off, the PvP system is sorely lacking. If you win a PvP fight, you get nothing unless your opponent drops some gear (very rare). If you lose, you lose xp (and possibly de-level) and may drop some gear, which the guy who killed you might pick up. Some folks make special "red toons" who they take out just for the sake of killing people, usually for ganking lowbies. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen. Another problem with the PvP system is the formal keep fights, which are laggy and suffer from the same penalty based PvP ruleset as the informal PvP. The other problem with formal keep PvP is that you need to be a part of good sized guild just to have a shot at getting one, and by extension that guild needs to be part of a good sized alliance. Finding these things with other players you can tolerate is quite a challenge at times and finding a guild with other players you like... well that's a tough one. Speaking of finding a guild, leveling and keeping yourself in decent gear won't be easy without them, and guess what, guilds don't camp the lowbie towns looking for new players, they occupy higher level areas typically looking for 40 or even 52+ level characters of a specific class. Oh, and then there are the bots... bots are everywhere farming adena to sell on their websites to people who don't have a guild or don't know how to make money (or to people who are just too lazy). Trying to level in a starter area? Good luck, you'll need it to overcome the bot scourge across the land. Want to play a dwarf? Congratz, you're bound to be mistaken for a bot everywhere you go as dwarves are the favored race by bot users.

Overall, the game is fun but is often times more hassle and time consuming than it's really worth. Good luck out there.

Lineage 2 - the best MMO game ever for heavy gamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: September 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

First of all, I have been playing the game for about 1.5 years, since it went retail. With some breaks due to travel and job and so on, I turn on the game pretty much every day, which makes it roughly 30-35 hours of gaming per week on average. The game became my only hobby and after taking care of my family I spend the evening hours in front of the computer playing Lineage 2.

I read the other reviews, which mostly agree on one thing: this game requires insane amount of time if you would like to be a high level player. Time is everything in this game. If you have time its easy to make money and consequently gear up (contrary to what the others said), to gain levels and also to develop your skills in a Player vs Player (PvP) situations.

You start with your character being at level 1 equipped with very basic skills. To achieve level 5 when you get your first upgrade of skills is a matter of minutes. For every monster you kill you gain a certain amount of experience and for every level you need a certain amount of experience to advance to the next level. With advancement you gain more hitpoints, mana and develop some attributes of your character. The total amount of experience needed to upgrade your level grows exponentially. While you can make from level 1 to level 40 in 1 week of heavy playing (given you can borrow some gear), it will take you a week to progress from 40-48 with heavy playing again. The level cap is currently set to 75, it takes approximately 65-70 hours of gaming to make that level 75 from 74. At every death you loose experience (which can extend the time to level) and you have a chance of dropping gear as well.

The PvP system is unique - you can engage in a fight with others at any time and everywhere except for the peace zones (towns). If the other player does not respond to you when you initiate the fight you can still kill him, but you get a penalty for that (karma) - its called Player Kill (PK). When your character has any karma other players are free to attack you without getting a penalty (karma) themselves. When you die you also loose certain amount of karma, which you can loose as well by killing monster. By having a high PK count you have a higher chance of loosing gear when dying with having karma on your character.

I find the PvP aspect of the game very exciting. You need to have your nerves for this, as PvP can happen any time and if you get attacked by more than 1 person or a powerful mage you die really fast. Also the grinding (gaining experience) is fun, as you can do it with your friends in groups, use a voice chat engine and the time just flies away.

There are a ton of other things to do, there is great social interraction in game, you can trade, make items, enchant items to make them stronger, raise pets, do quests, kill raid bosses, siege castles. Overall the game is balanced in a way that there is no best class and there is a lot to do. The game is very much geared towards co-operation between people and various classes to achieve any objectives.

The Lineage 2 world is huge and is getting expanded by every new Chronicle (free upgrade of the game). Every new Chronicle brings new content, improvements and further rebalancing of the game.

If you are a hardcore gamer you will love it. If you dont have the time dont even start it. I love it.

Lineage 2

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: September 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Good game, but don't buy from amazon. You may end up with a used CD key.

Bad Reviews, Negative Feedback...Then Why Do I Love It So???

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: August 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Like anyone, I am very leary to join up with any MMORPG. It's just really tough to justify forking over money every month to play a video game, unless it's really amazing. Unfortunately, my experiences with MMORPG's have been less then stellar. My last disastrous experience was with Horizons. That game was the worst managed, least fun game I have ever played. So, needless to say I was a little jaded when it came to MMORPG's. I've played World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, Guild Wars, Everquest, etc., etc., so I am very familiar with the world of MMORPG's. Having dilligently read all the gaming reviews, scoured the forums, and porused through the newsgroups, I came to the conclusion that Lineage II was not a very good game. So, I didn't buy it.

2 months later, I'm forced to buy this game(I made my buddy buy a game earlier in the year, so I was on the hook). I thought I would play for a couple of token "I really tried to enjoy it" weeks and then call it quits. I was wrong.

Introduction/Graphics

The first thing you will notice is the AMAZING graphics and scenery. LII is still using the Unreal 2 engine, and they really have it wired. It's hard to believe that this is the same old tired graphics engine that has been around for such a long time. It really shows off when it is night time, and there is a full moon out. NCSoft will display a wild and imaginative skyline that literally takes your breath away.

In the same token, they do have one major flaw in the graphics dept. and it is terribly silly. The Time of Day Transitions from Night to Day and vice versa are awful. I don't know if they do that on purpose for some reason, but it is such a tragedy to ruin what is otherwise a wonderfully rich and beautiful world. You'll be standing somewhere in the middle of a hot and sunny day, then BAM, it's midnight. Literally no transition from dusk to dawn, and so on and so forth.

Besides the knock on daily transitions, their fighting graphics are spectacular. Each spell, sword swing, staff smash, has amazing effects to go with it. You can tell that NCSOFT really spent a lot of time emphasizing good combat graphics, and it shows.

Audio

The sound is great. It has a wide range enviromental noises that change smoothly from each appropriate area. Having great enviromental affects can make a game so much more fun and have a level of realism that just can't be achieved without it. It really immerses a player into that world, and I love it. The character affects associated it with all character actions is good as well. I won't say great, because I can't think of one item that really caught my attention enough to remember.

Gameplay

This is tough to judge with an MMORPG. The nature of the beast requires a certain amount of level grinding that just can't be avoided, which just becomes a second job after a while. That aside I will point out some positives and negatives I found. The fighting in the game is fun, and the character menu is your standard RPG layout. Complete with inventory, hotbars, XP and Magic meters, so on and so on. The macro system is average, and purposely so. If anyone has ever played an MMORPG that can be exploited using the macros, it can really suck.

The questing is a little weak, but it does improve with every new edition that is published with LII, currently on Chronicle 3 for this review.

This game allows for full PvP (Player vs. Player) action, which means that other real world players can go and kill you if they want for no reason at all. This adds a dicey element to the game that you just can't get with a non-PvP game. Have you ever caught yourself playing a online game and thought, "Man, I would love to kill that annoying turd that keeps mouthing off, or keeps getting my squad killed." Now you can. It feels really good to crush someone who has been talking trash for 2 days, way too good. On the flip side, it's really devastating when you get owned by some other character when you know it's probably some 10 year old kid who just schoooled you. This aspect of the game really narrows the focus of who would enjoy this game, as it really appeals to the hard core gamer. I know some people who will not play PvP simply because it is too stressful. I love it. The system is designed with a karma system so it's not a total free for all, as their are penalties for just killing everyone randomly all the time, but you can agree to fight with another person with no penalites at all; or just make a character that is pure killer, that says damn the consequences, and kills all that stand in his path. This part of the game in my opinion is one of it's best highlights.

On the flip side, there is a clan and alliance system that is pretty good. The clan system is pretty robust, and does have some major benefits to be in a high level, powerful clan. Clans have alliances with other clans, which basically makes them even stronger. These alliances can setup castle sieges, where they siege the local castle, to vie for control of that area. If you belong to a clan that holds a castle, you make buko bucks and gain tons of privelages that non-castle holders have.

The other advantage that clans have is they are great to setting up parties to go out and level with. This is the fastest way to level your character, get gear, and overall have a great time. Lineage II does a great job with their clan/alliance system, which only improves with every new Chronicle.

Negatives:

There are some major negatives that are felt pretty deeply in this game. The first issue is the money making problem. It is really difficult to make money in this game, and money is the key to this whole game. Want to level faster? Buy some goodies that will help you kill things quicker. Want to make your guy stronger and kill things quicker? Buy the nicer gear. This formula is not unique, but is absurdly lopsided in this game. You would have to spend 24 hours straight 7 days a week for 1 month to get enough money to buy 1 piece of top of the line gear for a level 20 and lower characert; and guess what? by the time that happens you would be level 40. It is very disproportionate, and very frustrating.

Which dove tails into the other major problem of this game. Ebayers/Money Buying. Since it is so difficult to make money in the game, it has sprung up a multi-million dollar industry where companys' sole reason in life is to sell you the video game money(adena) in exchange for your cold hard cash. Yes, that's right, you can spend your hard earned dough to buy your video game character that armor you've been dying to get,or that sweet sword you know would make your life so much easier. Don't let anyone fool you either, as it happens all the time all day every day, and most people won't admit it.

Ebayers are people who just skip the whole game leveling process and buy a pre-played account, so they can have that uber character with none of the effort. This happens a lot as well, and is very, very annoying(Moms and Dads, please stop giving your kids money to spend off your Credit Card!!!)

Finally one of the worst thing that goes on is botting. This is where people use a 3rd party program to "play" the game for them. It essentially fully automates their characters to kill non-stop without resting or dying. This is very prevalent in Lineage II, despite some lackluster efforts by NCSoft. Their is a petition process you can go through to turn in these botters, but NCSoft's response is mediocore at best, with a very small percentage of botters ever getting banned.

These are all major issues, but they are not unique in LineageII, as they are prevalent in all MMORPG's, so take it for what it's worth. Although, the botting in Lineage II is pretty bad, much worse then some other games then I have played.

Overall

I have been playing for 9 months straight,almost every day and I love this game. It is designed for the hard core gamer in mind, and is not for the weak at heart. The PvP makes it very interesting and keeps you on your toes. While the clan system adds depth and enjoyment on different levels. I recommend this game to anyone who has come from playing any other PvP based MMORPG, or who is interested in a hard core fantasy world. I dont' recommend this game to anyone who is impatient or does not have lots of time to spare, as this game will need a tremendous amount of both. This is a very serious game which requires huge amount of dedication. These games are designed for people who are supposed to be playing it every day for hours at a time, for years at a time. It is not designed to be beaten within a month, or to MAX your character out in 2 months. I have been playing video games before their was any graphics, purely word based games (Zork, Hitchikers Guide..), and I can see why a lot of people do not like this game. It is truly designed for the VERY hard core gamer. If you are an old school gamer with years and years of gaming under your belt, and love the RPG genre, you will love this game. Don't get me wrong, as I really HATE the negatives (botters, ebayers), and the lack of a decent questing system, but unlike Horizons, the game gets much better with each Chronicle; and since we are only in Chronicle 3 out of 12 we can expect some great things to come.....

Its good or bad...depending on whether you accept the game for what it was designed for

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: June 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Lineage 2...it really depends. If you're looking for a game that's going to provide you with another way to live your life, tons of ways to waste time, etc etc then Lineage probably isn't it. In short, Lineage is an action rpg of MMORPGs. The game is about the action. Your quests...are usually to kill things. The crafting you do...is to create more weapons and armor. You will spend a great deal of time just killing everything you see, and as many have noted the game is geared for open PvP, not as an add-on, but as a key element.
When you consider all this, thats where my review title comes in. You'll probably notice if you truly play a lot of ORPGs (i.e. more than just the american ones) that the asian ones, except for the japanese ones, tend to focus a lot on the action and PvP. well....that's lineage right there. yeah the game can be a big grind, yea the quests aren't going to have you doing much more than kill a lot of things. What about "the game is all about the action" is so hard to understand??? kidding. the point is it would seem a lot of the more mainstream MMORPG players in the US at least don't really like this design. thats not good or bad, just the way it is. If you're like that, if you're expected something that you can cook, and fish, and do all that stuff other than fight, then yeah, Lineage probably isn't for you. If you're the type that wants to fight, fight lots, and fight other players; its more than Lineage 2 "might appeal more to you". Frankly, Lineage 2 was MADE for you. The "action MMORPGer" is the audience Lineage targets and no other. Its really as simple as that.
My personal opinion is its pretty good. but y'know what??? i like Guild Wars...i think RYL has potential (when most western reviewers gave it horrid reviews). point is, that game style doesn't bug me.

Not a game for American Audiences

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 16
Date: March 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Having purchased and subscribed to Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle I can say it was probably the most disappointing game of the year. Developed originally in Korea, where the game is actually further advanced than in the form it was released here in the USA, you find yourself in a world that struggles to translate itself to American (Or English Speaking) Audiences. Not only are the errors a distraction, but at times very humorous. Also, you find a huge communication gap between you and the rest of the community the Majority of players are from Korea. While you will run into the ocassional English Speaking player, it's a rarity.

Also, this game is *NOT* for kids. I would say that it should not be purchased for anyone under 17. If you would not let your teenages go to the theater to see women in highly sexualized bondage outfits with heaving, often exposed bosoms (Dark Elves) or small framed, petite schoolgirl like characters in short-short mini skirts with panties exposed (Light Elves) then you should not purchase this for younger members of your family. Some of the overt content is gratuitous and highly inappropriate expecially regarding how their female characters are presented. While this is the Norm for Asian Audiences, the literal birthplace of Anime and it's pornographic sub cultures, it can really seem displaced.

The gameplay itself is far from spectacular. Having played many online games, I can safely say, never has one been so unreasonabley difficult to broach. The level grind is simply unnecessary. It is not really fun, it becomes like a job, a chore, and because any advancement you do make can be robbed of you (As you are penalized for every death by having hours of experience taken from your character) in an instant, you quickly become discouraged, and even frustrated.

The only part of this title that reflect truth is "The Chaotic Chronicle." Thats just what this game is. Chaos. It is kill or be killed - by other players. No matter if you've just started an hour ago and are level 3, a level 40 player can run by and kill ou as you toil away to advance, thus penalizing you for the death you just experienced. Some people will see the animation around you that plays when you advance and level, then systematically kill you to send you back to your previous level. There is no controlled atmosphere here. The conduct of the community is appaling and often very graphic.

Do yourself a favor, purchase a quality game like World Of Warcraft or even Dark Age Of Camelot.

Be ready to commit

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: March 16, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is very hard, especially when you are starting your first character. It helps to have or make a friend who is willing to help get you started. You have to commit a lot of time leveling and learning the game. The design of each character class encourages working together in parties, or clans so that each addition will complement the group. IE forming a party with damage dealers whose purpose is obvious, tanks to attract the brunt of enemy attack, healers to keep the group alive and buff everyone up, and dwarves to scavenge the monsters and craft items. Once you hit level 40 and go through your 2nd class change, PVP is a blast. You can safely go the the Arenas and fight without penalty, and practice PVP, or you can take a crack at someone who has it coming. When in a clan, you have to become committed as a group in order to level the clan by completing special quests. Clans can form aliances, or go to war against eachother so that two clans formally at war can kill eachother anytime anywhere without the penalty of bad kharma. The castle sieges are pretty awesome too. Yes, leveling can get a little repetative, though I find a few beers while your hacking the grind makes it a little more tolerable. That's the part that seperates the tourists from the hardcore, and the price you will pay to become powerful and respected.

TERRIBLE!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 21
Date: March 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game the other night to sort of broaded my horizons and see what else was out there. The game was 20 bucks at the store that I bought it at, so I figure....it can't be THAT bad right? I mean the game is gorgeous. And it is. The artists did a great job at what they do, but the desigers should all be fired, because this game is just awful.

First of all (and this set me off, right away), this game offers ZERO key customization! I got news for your developers out there...point and clicking for an eternity is NOT FUN. If you had allowed me to map my movement to W,A,S, and D like, oh I dunno, *every other game on the planet*, I might have attempted to sit through this crap. Not only can you not remap the keys, but there is no option to invert the mouse. So anyone who is used to that option will have to just get used to completely switching gears with this one. And yes....one might say "well, key binds and control options seem kind of petty to drop a game for right"? Well, not in my opinion, but I'll give you that for a couple seconds.....

How's this, then? I walk out into the open and within 5 seconds someone walks up to me and kills me. Yup, this is a free-for-all PvP game, and no where does it say on the package that they do not offer different server rulesets. Okay that sucks. I play World of Warcraft as well, and I love that game. They give you the option of a PvE server (person versus environment) or a PvP server (player vs player). If you dont want people attacking you, you can pick the PvE. Here's the catch, though....I *LOVE* PvP, I just think WoW's PvP is better. You are still safe until around lvl 20, when you have to start going into "contested territories" that are faction vs faction pvp. This is perfect, because you still can get killed by someone way higher than you, but after 20 levels you at least know the game.

I gotta tell ya, it REALLY sucked not having any clue what to do with this game and already someone was killing me. So not fun.

If you want a fantasy MMO, I highly just recommend World of Warcraft. Its just a better game, flatout. Anyone who defends this piece of garbage either only cares about the big-breasted dark elf sluts or is obviously an employee of NCSOFT. Because this game is literally the worst MMO I have ever played. I could have taken my 20 bucks and thrown it down the toilet and I would have felt like I spent it better.....

P.S. I take that back. It was worth the 20 bucks to see the absolutely ridiculous run animation that the dark elf female uses. Her boobs, apparently, weigh a ton each, because when she runs she bends over as if the gravity from her breats is driving her forth as she sticks her arms out like an airplane. Its just absolutely silly....whoever thought that looks cool should also be fired.

Well....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: February 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

For the more intelligent and mature players out there. What many term the grind or hack/slash does not have to be that way. It can be if that is what you enjoy but there are many levels and strategies to the gameplay. Just takes a little thought and ingenuity.

And to the people who say this is clan/group play only, not true. I know people in the game but rarely play with them. I play solo 98% of the time and love it.

:>

Great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Great game. Many great things in it. I like the more realistic graphics than in WoW. politics are intense in this game, so it takes some guts to play with it, and join the many clans and alliances in the game. The game has it's own story line and mythology, that goes well with the game. Lvling is slow after 35, but it's awesome to participate in the castle sieges and see the many hundreds of people fighting it out on the battle fields for a huge castle and control of the local economy. Yeah sure they have farmers, but what mmorpg doesn't? it's really a lot of fun, and the PK (player kill) is quite nasty because it becomes a matter of political involvement but it's extremely realistic, much more so than WoW ever could be. WoW is too much of a fantasy that goes great with the Warcraft series that i love, but Lineage2 sets it's own standard.

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