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When Lineage II first arrived, I happily stared in awe at the beauty of its packaging. "Is this how they lure you in?", I thought to myself. The fancy wrappings, the special "Collector's Edition DVD" on the cover and the weight of it seem as if they sent you a brick as well.
Upon further inspection, you see that they sent you a paper sculpture kit so you can build one of the female characters in a stunning twenty-two inches! A pretty map, a mini strategy guide and some other novelty items are also included as if to keep your mind completely off putting that disk in the drive. Well, maybe you should start on that 112-piece paper sculpture first and when you're done knifing all those little hair-pieces into intricate forms, you can play the game. But make sure you eye all the accompanying literature, there might be something important amidst all the booklets and leaflets they've crammed in that tiny box.
Upon installation of the title, you're obligated to read a bevy of news-related announcements for servers and game additions. To me, when you're reading about slaying some creature when you've yet to even design your character, it kind of takes away from the beauty of the game. From the beginning, you're smacked in the face with the reality that Lineage is more of a massive roleplaying experience and less that it's a videogame at all. Heck, why not just make it a chatroom at this point?
I am going to be totally honest here -- I didn't like this game. There's no reason to spend time going into depth since it lacks significant aspects worth discussing. Lineage II has a lousy monetary system that's so crude, you have to get millions in gold before you can buy a sword that hits worth a damn. Speaking of hitting, you don't start off with a lot of power, so low-level enemies can take you down almost instantly. Even the physics engine looks disappointing! God forbid you die in Lineage II and you're past level five. From that point on, your points are reduced permanently and you have to raise them back up all over again. Sounds frustrating, doesn't it?
While I was a huge supporter of City of Heroes and Guild Wars, you certaintly have to know that those were the titles that the good money was spent on. Lineage II plays like some college kid's final exam project. It's clunky, slow and the graphics do no justice to the artwork.
Not only am I perplexed by the potential draw to this game, but how it achieved the merit as a 'Collector's Edition.' With the lack of a compelling storyline and glaring, fundamental flaws being what they are, I'd advise you to stay far away from this product. Don't encourage NCSoft to release another one of these things, folks -- I beg of you, let it stop here. Hopefully this will be the last disappointing MMOG-import to hit our shores.
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