Lineage II:
The Chaotic Chronicle

In this MMORPG chassis, built on Unreal's engine, players must constantly watch their backs to survive

	Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle
	NCsoft
	PC
	Price $49.99

Review by Jennifer Buckendorff

ineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, set in a familiar, Tolkien-esque fantasy world. Built using the popular Unreal engine, it boasts impressive graphics and a vast world. Players begin in small towns, trade with other newbies and level-up through simple missions and "farming"—killing creatures from wide-eyed bunnies to roving werewolves. When they die, enemies drop precious objects and lots of money (called Adena).

Players can choose to be humans, elves, dwarves, dark elves or orcs. Each race includes both warrior and mystic classes (except for dwarves, who can only be fighters). All races offer subclass specialties, such as knight, rogue and cleric—players can select specific skills to further define their characters' personality and chosen role. Character creation choices are limited to a small number of hairstyles, body types and facial features, and their overall look is somewhat anime-inspired.

Unlike games such as Diablo II, Lineage II does not include an option for offline gameplay. At the time of this review, the commercial version of Lineage II includes one free month of online access—after that, players should expect to pay $14.95 per month.

At higher levels, players can have pets, including dragons. As more and more people join the world of Lineage II, clans will develop, with internal wars raging throughout the game. The in-game chat functionality allows you to send a message to everyone in the vicinity, communicate with just your clan members, or to send a specific, whispered message to one character in particular.

To PK or not to PK—that is the real question

Let's talk about player-killing. For player-vs.-player fans, this game is a Darwinian fiesta, where only the leveled-up survive. Unlike games that allow PK only on certain servers, Lineage II lets players kill newbies to their hearts' content. In theory, there are penalties to being a PKer—the character's name turns red for easy identification, and anyone who kills that character gets away scot-free. Those under attack can run to the guards for help, and the powerful NPCs will come to the rescue. And, in theory, white-hat brigades of other players will form, ready to kill PKers and take their ill-gotten loot.

But all that is "in theory." In general, we saw PKers running amok and unchallenged by strangely unaggressive guards. Players who enjoy MMORPGs for the chance to level characters up carefully, to do quests, to band together in clans and to make friends—watch out. There are ways to avoid PK-mania, like playing a character of a less popular class (orcs, for instance) on a less populated server.

But because anyone can buy Adena on eBay—there were about 1,700 listings at the time of this review—players can trick out their PK characters the easy way. Newer characters are killed in two swipes, before they have a chance to run for help. Sound like fun? As one player wrote in our chat window, after the fourth newbie in the immediate area was killed while hunting low-level monsters for points: "Don't you people want new players?"

Some people love it, some people whine about it, and almost everyone hates it when it happens to them; regardless, player-killing is the most talked-about aspect of Lineage II. Because there's no way to play the game offline, or with an anti-PK switch activated, players must constantly watch their backs.

Rolling hills, swaying grass. Sure is pretty amid the carnage. — Jennifer

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Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle

To PK or not to PK—that is the real question

Lineage II:
The Chaotic Chronicle

`To PK or not to PK—that is the real question`