Lineage 2: The Chaotic Chronicle Preview

Last Tuesday I visited the NCSoft offices in California. If that name does not ring any bells, (NCSoft, not California) then you should know NCSoft is responsible for the hugely popular MMORPG, Lineage. Lineage has been a huge success in Asian market for the past six years and now NCSoft is poised to launch not one but two MMORPG's at the end of April - City of Heroes and Lineage II. Lineage II is the first of three highly anticipated MMORPG titles set for release this year, (the other two are World of WarCraft and EverQuest 2) and we wanted to get some more information.

Crops are frozen this year, but we still put on a happy face!

It's Sunday, isn't it? Where is everyone then?

After arriving at the office, I was greeted by Lineage II Producer, Aaron Rigby. Aaron has a long game developer pedigree and is a gamer at heart. After a quick tour of the office and meeting some of the staff, we grabbed some coffee and sat down to talk about the game.

The first question I had for him was what makes the Lineage game world warrant another game. Aaron explained that Lineage II is a prequel to Lineage. People who are familiar with the game play in Lineage will be familiar with the political and economy systems in Lineage II. The most obvious change is the graphics. Linage is a sprite-based game where Linage II uses a modified version of the Unreal Warfare Engine. The engine is powerful, yet flexible, as it will allow people to stream through the game even if they pack a Geforce 2 generation graphics card. Granted, the graphics will be toned down a bit and the resolution would be lowered, but they'll still be able to enjoy the game.

Next off, I wanted to know if the game is being geared towards the beginner, intermediate or advanced player. Aaron smiled and said that gamers are going to feel comfortable with the game regardless of their level of experience with MMO games. The intuitive class system eases people into their chosen class over time. When you start the game, you choose either a fighter or mage. Then as your character hits certain levels, you further define your class. Once you hit level 20, the player vs. player part of the game becomes much more accessible and enjoyable. If PvP is not your thing, you can find plenty of quests, dungeons, and boss creatures to tackle in cooperation with other players. There is a good balance to both sides of the game.

Players who plan on 'griefing' others by attacking them unprovoked are opening themselves up for retribution by other players. When a player kills another out of the blue, the attacker gains karma points and their name turns red. This is a warning and a beacon to others. The warning tells others to avoid this rogue and lets avengers know the player killer is fair game. The community, basically, helps to police itself. The offending player can work off the karma points by killing monsters. Until the points are gone, guards in cities will attack the player on sight making it much harder to survive.

In due course, I asked Aaron about Castle Sieges. I was curious if people acquired negative karma during these intense periods of combat. He explained that when castle sieges start, the area that surrounds the battleground does not hold the same karma penalty as the rest of the world. This means that you can engage the enemy during these battles and worry about being a wanted man afterwards. Speaking of sieges, I was told that when the game ships, there will be two castles that plays can try to take over. This will be no easy task and will require clans to ally in order to beat down the defenses of the NPC's holding the castles. Once the walls have been breeched the leader of the clan must get to a certain point in the castle and cast a spell in order to take control of the structure. While the spell is being weaved, other clan members must defend the leader until the spell's completion. The capture of the castle allows the clan to set the spawn rate of monsters (in the surrounding lands), tax rates for shops, and to upgrade the castle walls. In the end, the clan who controls the castle receives a bonus to mana and health regeneration while on the castle grounds. One of these add-ons is the incubator. When players reach a certain level, they may receive a quest to retrieve a dragon egg. Hatched dragons can be of big help during attacks on monsters or other players. The creature gains experience and grows as your character kills monsters. Once the creature gains enough experience, it can be placed in an incubator and grown to a larger creature that can be used as a mount. Do this a couple of times and you end up with a full-grown Wyvern that can be ridden and wielded as a weapon. It's an awesome sight to behold. In combat, players mounted on a Wyvern cannot be knocked off his mount; instead, you must kill the beast from under them. Such a handy "flying weapon" is a good enough reason for you to initiate a castle siege. I was concerned however, that only huge clans or alliances would be able to control these structures. Aaron assured me that while this could happen, you won't be required to have a large alliance to take a castle back. As an alternative, short-term alliances are formed among clans waiting for the siege to start.

In addition to the two castles, two clan hideouts allow smaller clans to hone their siege skills. These clan hideouts are smaller than a regular castle but they can also build incubators where your pet can grow into a more powerful weapon, which would in turn be ideal for occupying larger castles. These hideouts can be taken by clearing out monsters or they can simply be purchased from whoever is controlling the castle in the area.

Player mounts are only one of the tools that will aid you during assaults on castles. Other tools include player-crafted weapons, armor, and various siege engines. Currently, there is only one race with the craft ability: the dwarf. These little people make use of recipes (acquired from treasure dropped by monsters or bought through NPCs) to create better quality armor and weapons or construct huge siege engines on the battlefield. Anyone who's more interested in setting up his/her own virtual economy, rather than slaying monsters all day, will be a highly sought member for any clan with their eyes on larger aspirations.