Lineage II
Encyclopedia
Lineage II is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG
) for Microsoft Windows
. It is a prequel to Lineage
, and is set 150 years before the earlier game. It has become very popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea
, reporting 1,000,918 unique users during the month of March 2007. To date, the game has been played by more than 14 million users, mostly based in Asia.
On November 1, 2011 it was announced that Lineage II will be adopting a free-to-play model in 'Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction' set to come out later in the year, with all game content being free save for "purchasable in-game store items and packs".
as their avatar
in the game's medieval
-style virtual world
. Humans, Elves and Dark Elves start off in the Kingdom of Aden while Dwarves and Orcs start off in the Kingdom of Elmore. Players can choose from either fighter or mystic professions at the start, except for Dwarves and Kamael which are only able to select the fighter profession; this choice acts as an archetype for later profession options. Each race has its own set of classes, even if humans, elves and dark elves have a lot of classes that are very similar to their counterparts in the other two races.
As players kill non-player character (NPC) monsters, they accumulate experience point
s and skill points (SP). As experience points accumulate, the character's level increases, meaning various attributes of the character are augmented. Players purchase and then upgrade their character’s skills using SP. Players can play alone or as part of a group to fight monsters and complete quests for new skills, experience points, and items. Player versus player
(PvP) is a significant portion of the game. The game provides many social, political, and economic aspects which are developed through the community and by the actions, in-game, of single players.Lineage II features siege warfare like the original. To make sure PvP stays under control, the design includes a Karma
system that provides negative consequences for killing other players when they are not fighting back. When being in a chaotic state (karma number higher than zero) with a PK count of 5 or more, players have a high probability of dropping items after being killed.
Upon completing the quests after reaching level 75, a player may add subclass to their character. This subclass starts at level 40. Limitations are put in place on which subclass one can choose (e.g. Dark Elves may not choose Elf subclasses. In addition, a player may not choose a class that matches their main class (a Dark Avenger may not become a Paladin, likewise a Treasure Hunter may not become a Plains Walker). Once a subclass has reached level 75, players may choose another. A character may hold a total of three subclasses in addition to their main class.
Heroes are Noblesse characters who have accumulated the most points for their class during competition in the Grand Olympiad while having a minimum of fifteen matches with at least one win. There can only be one Hero per class for a maximum of 36 Heroes at any time. Competing players are limited to their character's main class. Heroes are able to choose one of the Hero class weapons and receive Hero only abilities; in addition, they may speak globally to the entire server. They also receive a glowing aura so that they stand out against other characters.
rather than a sequel is that "Lineage will continue to be updated as a game", and that "by working on its past, we will not be risking conflict with the direction of updates that Lineage will take in the future."
According to Kim and Bae, the game's initial subtitle, "The Chaotic Chronicle", was developed with the intention to "express the large-scale war, strategies, conflicts, and collaborations that we hope to encourage among players."
Lead Game Designer Raoul Kim said that the reason for rendering Lineage II in 3D
was "simply because most games today are [also] using 3D graphics", and because they deemed it "more appropriate than 2D for the things that we were going to create." Developers chose to utilize the Unreal Engine 2 game engine because of its capacity to render outdoor scenes and its powerful editing features.
According to Game Design team head, Cheol-Woong Hwang, there were different concepts for each of the race's home villages. He described the concept for the human village in Talking Island as "ordinary", while the Elven Village was designed "so as not to lose the natural and royal high-class feeling." They designed the Dark Elven village based on a "grotesque and serious feeling in order to express the rough history of these who had been expelled from the Elves."
On December 22, 2009 It was announced that the contract between NCsoft and AsianMedia was not renewed. All players in L2SEA are now notified and given 30 days before AsianMedia closes down on all servers in L2SEA.
praised the game's graphics and design, though he also mentioned that the game "quickly degrades into an incredibly tedious and monotonous process of killing the same monster a thousand different times", and that the character creation options are "incredibly shallow, with maybe two or three different faces and hair styles for each type of character." Andrew Park of Gamespot
said that the game "offers either a repetitive grind or a stiff challenge", and is not suitable for casual gamers who can only play an hour or less per day. Allen 'Delsyn' Rausch called the Kamael "an interesting race in that, unlike other Lineage II races, they focus specifically on the warrior path with high-level class paths segregated by gender."
The Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood expansion won the Expansion of the Year award at Stratics
Central Editor's Choice Awards 2006, and Lineage II earned an Honorable Mention for the Game of the Year award.
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
) for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. It is a prequel to Lineage
Lineage (computer game)
Lineage is a medieval fantasy, massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in the United States in 1998 by the South Korean computer game developer NCsoft. It is most popular in Korea and is available in Chinese, Japanese, and English language versions...
, and is set 150 years before the earlier game. It has become very popular since its October 1, 2003 launch in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, reporting 1,000,918 unique users during the month of March 2007. To date, the game has been played by more than 14 million users, mostly based in Asia.
On November 1, 2011 it was announced that Lineage II will be adopting a free-to-play model in 'Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction' set to come out later in the year, with all game content being free save for "purchasable in-game store items and packs".
Basic gameplay
To begin playing Lineage II, players create a characterPlayer character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
as their avatar
Avatar (virtual reality)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
in the game's medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
-style virtual world
Virtual world
A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...
. Humans, Elves and Dark Elves start off in the Kingdom of Aden while Dwarves and Orcs start off in the Kingdom of Elmore. Players can choose from either fighter or mystic professions at the start, except for Dwarves and Kamael which are only able to select the fighter profession; this choice acts as an archetype for later profession options. Each race has its own set of classes, even if humans, elves and dark elves have a lot of classes that are very similar to their counterparts in the other two races.
As players kill non-player character (NPC) monsters, they accumulate experience point
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
s and skill points (SP). As experience points accumulate, the character's level increases, meaning various attributes of the character are augmented. Players purchase and then upgrade their character’s skills using SP. Players can play alone or as part of a group to fight monsters and complete quests for new skills, experience points, and items. Player versus player
Player versus player
Player versus player, or PvP, is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between two or more live participants. This is in contrast to games where players compete against computer controlled opponents, which is correspondingly referred to as player versus environment...
(PvP) is a significant portion of the game. The game provides many social, political, and economic aspects which are developed through the community and by the actions, in-game, of single players.Lineage II features siege warfare like the original. To make sure PvP stays under control, the design includes a Karma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
system that provides negative consequences for killing other players when they are not fighting back. When being in a chaotic state (karma number higher than zero) with a PK count of 5 or more, players have a high probability of dropping items after being killed.
Classes and subclasses
There are currently a large number of classes (36) for all races all together. Each race and subsequent class has a set amount of Stat Points already assigned to their class.Upon completing the quests after reaching level 75, a player may add subclass to their character. This subclass starts at level 40. Limitations are put in place on which subclass one can choose (e.g. Dark Elves may not choose Elf subclasses. In addition, a player may not choose a class that matches their main class (a Dark Avenger may not become a Paladin, likewise a Treasure Hunter may not become a Plains Walker). Once a subclass has reached level 75, players may choose another. A character may hold a total of three subclasses in addition to their main class.
Heroes are Noblesse characters who have accumulated the most points for their class during competition in the Grand Olympiad while having a minimum of fifteen matches with at least one win. There can only be one Hero per class for a maximum of 36 Heroes at any time. Competing players are limited to their character's main class. Heroes are able to choose one of the Hero class weapons and receive Hero only abilities; in addition, they may speak globally to the entire server. They also receive a glowing aura so that they stand out against other characters.
Pets
In Lineage II, a player can obtain a monster that becomes his or her pet through the completion of quests. Unlike other summons or magic, as long as certain conditions are met, a pet will not be bound by time limitations, nor will it be dismissed by force. These pets can also hold most items in their inventories while they are called, including pet weapons and armor that can be equipped on the pet.Plot
The game follows a fictional history through sets of plots called "Sagas". There are currently two sagas; "The Chaotic Chronicle" and "The Chaotic Throne". Large-scale updates/expansions known as "Chronicles" are done every six months, which introduce new story elements as well as new features and add-ons. Each chronicle also adds a great deal of new content to the game, including new skills, quests, areas and items; some chronicles also increased the level cap.Setting
Lineage II is set in the world of its predecessor, Lineage, though the main storyline begins 150 years prior to the events in Lineage. The world of Lineage II is divided into three kingdoms, Aden, Elmore, and Gracia. Aden lies south of the Border Outposts its capital castle is Aden Castle. Elmore lies to the north of the Outposts and encompasses Goddard, Rune and Schuttgart. Its capital castle is Rune Castle. Gracia lies to the west of Aden and Elmore. Aden's geography ranges from deserts to tropical forests. Elmore is more rugged having mostly mountainous regions along with a frozen winter wastelands.Characters
Characters act as a player’s avatar within the game. Players are afforded up to 7 characters per server. There are currently six races in the world of Lineage II: the Humans-similar to modern-day humans and who have all-around balanced characteristics; the Elves-with superior dexterity, movement, and casting speed, but weaker offense; Dark Elves-with higher magic and melee attack capabilities; Orcs-who have higher HP and MP but slower movement; Dwarves-powerful melee attackers and master craftsmen; and Kamael-humanoids with single wings and gender-specific job classes.Development
Hyeong-Jin Kim, the Production team head for Lineage II, came up with basic concept for the game in early 2000, and development began in October to November of the same year. Kim and producer James Bae have stated that their reasons for developing a prequel for LineageLineage
Lineage may refer to:- Science :* Lineage or kinship, descent group that can demonstrate their common descent from an apical ancestor or a direct line of decent from an ancestor....
rather than a sequel is that "Lineage will continue to be updated as a game", and that "by working on its past, we will not be risking conflict with the direction of updates that Lineage will take in the future."
According to Kim and Bae, the game's initial subtitle, "The Chaotic Chronicle", was developed with the intention to "express the large-scale war, strategies, conflicts, and collaborations that we hope to encourage among players."
Lead Game Designer Raoul Kim said that the reason for rendering Lineage II in 3D
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
was "simply because most games today are [also] using 3D graphics", and because they deemed it "more appropriate than 2D for the things that we were going to create." Developers chose to utilize the Unreal Engine 2 game engine because of its capacity to render outdoor scenes and its powerful editing features.
According to Game Design team head, Cheol-Woong Hwang, there were different concepts for each of the race's home villages. He described the concept for the human village in Talking Island as "ordinary", while the Elven Village was designed "so as not to lose the natural and royal high-class feeling." They designed the Dark Elven village based on a "grotesque and serious feeling in order to express the rough history of these who had been expelled from the Elves."
NCsoft & AsianMedia
Lineage II - South-East Asia or simply L2-SEA is NCsoft's first "Publishing License" grant for their flagship game to a completely independent company. NCsoft granted a distribution license to AsianMedia for ArenaNet's Guild Wars for the Philippines. AsianMedia has been licensed to distribute, publish, and operate Lineage II. NCsoft's licensing grant initially limits AsianMedia licensing to three countries namely, the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia.On December 22, 2009 It was announced that the contract between NCsoft and AsianMedia was not renewed. All players in L2SEA are now notified and given 30 days before AsianMedia closes down on all servers in L2SEA.
Reception
The overall reception for Lineage II is mixed, receiving average review scores from various video game rating websites. Scott Stahl of the The Daily OrangeThe Daily Orange
The Daily Orange is an independent student newspaper published in Syracuse, New York. It is free, and published daily during the Syracuse University academic year.It was one of the first college papers to become fully independent from its parent college...
praised the game's graphics and design, though he also mentioned that the game "quickly degrades into an incredibly tedious and monotonous process of killing the same monster a thousand different times", and that the character creation options are "incredibly shallow, with maybe two or three different faces and hair styles for each type of character." Andrew Park of Gamespot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
said that the game "offers either a repetitive grind or a stiff challenge", and is not suitable for casual gamers who can only play an hour or less per day. Allen 'Delsyn' Rausch called the Kamael "an interesting race in that, unlike other Lineage II races, they focus specifically on the warrior path with high-level class paths segregated by gender."
The Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood expansion won the Expansion of the Year award at Stratics
Stratics
Stratics is an Internet network of web sites and message boards focusing on massively multiplayer games. It is the oldest continuously running MMORPG news site on the internet....
Central Editor's Choice Awards 2006, and Lineage II earned an Honorable Mention for the Game of the Year award.