Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle

"Lineage 2 - Best MMORPG of the year 2004; Going for 2005?"

Recently, there gave been many MMORPG releases that is going straight against each other for a head-to-head competition. Well, Lineage 2 is one of them and is the best of them. Games such as Ragnarok Online, Final Fantasy XI, Maple Story and most recent MMORPG such as World of Warcraft are also very popular among the gamers, but overall - Lineage 2 tops them all.

Graphics: 9/10
Clean and spectacular graphics, intense details, and great scenary in certain areas. It also depends on the overall performace of ones Computer and Graphic Card; Bbut if you can run the game, you'll be amazed by the graphic details in every area. World of Warcraft have been under development for too long and it seems to lack on the Graphic area.

Sound: 8/10
There is probably a sound for everything, everywhere. If you're sitting in the forest, you will hear the birds chirping and the bugs buzzing. The sound of sword clanging, walking through the grass can be heard in this game. The background music is also very spectacular. It perfectly sets the theme for your adventure in the world of Lineage, you will be flowing with the rhythm when you don't even realize it.

Story: 7/10
The story is set 150 years behind the original Lineage. It explains few of the unanswered questions from Lineage 1 and also goes back and sets the background of the two lineage games. The story progresses as 'Chronicle' updates comes into the game. The new patch 'Chronicle 3: Rise of Darkness' comes with new batch of stories and many new features that is to be added to the game. Of course, the North American server will take some time to implement this patch as it is still in the Test server in Korea(As of January 15, 2005). But the game countinues to develop as time progresses.

Gameplay: 7/10
Well, can't say much about gameplay as it is almost same with every other mmorpg - Click and Push to kill monsters and become stronger. But the siege feature plays a very big roll in this game as the owner of the castle may increase the tax of the city for money. Party play is also very important even if you're high level. Many other features such as quests(There are A LOT of quests) and Open-PVP system where a player may kill any other player for become a Player-Killer(PKer). It may seem a little irritating for the new players that are getting bullied by high level characters, but its part of the game and you get used to it very quickly. There are still a lot other gameplay features to uncover in the world of lineage that you may discover on your own.

Community: 7/10
There are the bad people and the good people. Depends on the player and which kinds of people that player likes to hang out with. But from my experience, the players in this game are rather friendly compared to other games. They will help you out if you ask nicely and is nice to make friends to talk things over with online.

Overall: 8/10

8/10 may not be a high number for few people, but from my point of view it is. So far, I have never seen any other games that were organized like Lineage 2 before. It seems like its not as popular in North America as it is in Korea or Japan; but overall(Out of the World, no joke) Lineage 2 is the best MMORPG game of the year 2004 will still shoot for the top spot in the new year 2005.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/05