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I hate this awesome game...
Why does some games that have potential fail so hard?
I have played Lineage II from now and then for a while and i have to say right of the bat that i haven't even touched the end-gameplay yet. I know it's the the games strongest and most fun part but IMO i want a game that is fun from the start and all the way to end-level. Yes, just like WoW. I really don't like to "work" for a year before a game gets interesting.
Why am i even the slightest interested in this game then?
Well it have some strengths that out classes every other MMO today IMO. First of, the graphics and the design. Sure, the unreal-engine sure is old like stone but amazingly enough the game still looks stunning! It's just something with that old graphic and the smooth look of it that i love so much. EQ2 and games with similar graphics that have a way better graphic-engine still looks worse IMO. Many times it just got that plastic and "to-much-technic" look over it.
And then we have the number one thing about Lineage II. The design. Holy cow... I love it more than anything else. Along with the awesome fighting animation (meaning that it looks cool, not that they are well animated) you actually feel like the cool guy swinging the sword. The attacks, the fighting-poses, the whole look on the characters just blows me away. The game that can stand up to it is of course WoW that have almost perfect design through out the whole game. It varies more in Lineage II.
Then we have the music which is also my absolut favourite in all MMOs i ever played (even if it is VERY repeating). The game that comes closest is once again WoW.
BUT as i said below, i just can't stand the grind. The open empty areas, the clicking around (that gives NO feeling of PVP what so ever) and the <yawn> quests is just to boring.
I really wish Lineage II could be more easy to get into, quests that actually are fun and with variation and had controls like WoW. That would be sweet 
I'm holding my thumbs for Lineage III (But with no expectation what so ever 
)
Comments
I agree with everything you said about Lineage 2. I love the Graphics, Sound, Character Looks and most of all I love they way they fight. I have been playing Lineage 2 for years and still to this day I dont know what keeps me going back.
This game really does need to do a complete overhaul to its quest system because I really want to quest sometimes but the quest rewards just make it not even worth it. This game also needs some content to give playes something to do. I am A Grade at the moment and I am trying so hard to reach S Grade but I am getting burned out from doing the same thing everday. I get tired of having nonthing else to do but look for an XP Group to grind. I dont mind grinding but I just hate that I am forced to grind. In my opinion they should revamp the quest system so people can have something else to do other than grinding all day everyday.
Love the title tbh lol.
You are right in many ways, i guess it comes down to individual experience. I played it for 2 yrs so i reached end-game per se. But the most fun i ever had in that game was during my lower lvls. Goin out with my clanmates to hunt and suddenly being jumped. We'd come back for revenge and so on. The constant thrill of open pvp made lvling both fun and scary lol.
Many people (most of the western players it seems) have hated the grind ( dont love it) but i always play games in a manner where im not preocupied with the endgame but rather on the journey. But we have AION coming up, its has a lot of the mechanics you love about L2 w/o the grind. SO lets wait for that and see.
It's also a full open world, unlike today's MMORPGs. Hard to find these kind of games today tbh.
You are saying that the most fun you had in the game was during your lower leves when you played with your friends. I don't doubt that but it doesn't really have anything to do with the game because even a really bad MMO can be very fun with the right friends, battles and circumstances when the adrenaline is pumping
The open PVP sure is nice. Though i tend to like the old version better where you could drop your weapons and equipment in most PVP fights. It could be a hard loss if you got killed but those fights sure was exciting as hell!
And taking someones nice weapon when you killed them and they PM you and begging of you to hand it back. Good times
yes. L2 is a amazing game
i like grind so that part of the game really does not bother me
March on! - Lets Invade Pekopon
yeah, even after being banned, i just cant not like L2, even with my hatred for NCsoft. I dunno, i was thinking of just buying another copy and getting another account, but seeing all the threads in the L2 forums about bots and etc, just make me that much more angry over my punishment.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
I have to confess, I really love L2.
I was in Europe on a six month holiday and the last three were in eastern europe where internet cafes are really popular and dirt cheap. Think like $2us for the night pack which runs from 11pm to 8am and you have access to over 2 terrabytes of pirate movies, really good computers with nice headphones, comfy chairs and cheap drinks/beer/food as well. I reiterate, you can drink beer and smoke joints in the cafe!!! Needless to say when I wasnt out at nightclubs I was in one of the doom internet cafes.
Of course you had people playing WoW , Eve, Lotro and such but alot of people where playing L2 on DragonNetwork which was a free server that most Euros played on. So I started a character on the 5x server and never looked back. I fucking loved L2 right from the start. At the end of two weeks I had four characters over lvl 60 and was closing in on S-grade with my archer.
I havent been as hooked by any other mmorpg, maybe UO in its earlier days and WoW for a little while. I just loved the feel of L2. You may say it was because I didnt suffer the grind so much being on a 5x server but I kind of disliked leveling up so quickly as I didnt have the chance to do every quest in an area or fully explore each area because I would be too high level for it too quickly.
Once I've settled back down in AU I'll probably start some characters on official servers and get back into it, I'll be starting with nothing but at least I'll know the game. It might be a grind-fest and might not be the most popular mmo, but nothing else I've played has touched me as much as L2.
The only mmo's I'll be playing in the foreseeable future are L2 and Darkfall.
I actually liked the grind. Because imo the point of the game isn't really getting to the highest level as quickly as i can, but to enjoy the process in between, enjoy the look of every tree and the sound of every cicada's chiming, and enjoying the discussion and the perfect world with my friends.
But yeah, I agree that Lineage 2 is the best with its art design and immense world. It's just so perfect!
I also liked the grind as a few others here did. If I lvled faster in my L2 days, I would probably have missed out on some of the greatest times I've ever had in that game. The thrill of knowing you could be attacked by anyone, anywhere at any time was the best feeling I've ever experienced in an mmo, and it happened a lot as I was lvling with my buddies and clansmen. Also there was a pretty good death penalty as you would loose xp (not as bad at lower lvls, but horrid at high end) and back in the day you had a chance of dropping gear. It made it so you would use all of your skill to stay alive instead of some games where you just run into battle without a care in the world because if you die, you wont loose anything. I, too, loved the fast paced attacks and motions of each character in L2. Each skill really felt devestating in use and everytime you hit an enemy, especially if you crit, it made you feel powerfull. I cant stand playing games where you swing and then have to wait 3-5 seconds to swing again. It's even more painfull when you have to wait the 5 seconds and then end up missing the hit.
I guess it would vary from person to person as I dont think I'd have liked the game half as much as I did if I didn't have friends to play with. The quests were boreing and had pretty fruitless rewards to boot, so no one really did 85% of them. Hell, L2 was my first mmo, and because I never did quests in that game aside from class change/nobles/subclass/etc, I dont care to do quests in any mmo I play, so when I tried WoW, you could probably guess how frustrated I got.
Lineage II is an awesome game, no doubt about it. But I have to echo the OP's comments, it needs more content, it needs 'something'. The design, and atmosphere is pretty much still the best I've seen in any MMO. Pretty amazing that's its a couple of years old now, and still you have a sense of design and otherworldliness that you can't find in any other MMO. The only reason I quit (beta tester here) was the grind. Couldn't stand it in the end, but I loved exploring the world. I remember the day I somehow lost my map and had no idea where I was, and just... explored.
Yeah i also loved to explore the world! Just run in some random direction and see the enviorment change along with the beautiful sounds and music was nice. Then you see a group of spiders that you run a bit to close and you notice they are red and starting to chanse you. You change your direction and take another random pick and just run like hell. They chase you for so long and when they are about to leave you auto-run into a group of orges and whoops, you change direction again. Hehe, i remember the frustration of beeing chased for like 10 min.
When the orges never stoped chasing me, i gave it a go and put up a fight. Guess how how that went?
Lesson learnd, never run close to spiders an orges that are red. And by any means, don't fight them alone!
Well Hendora there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. First of all Lineage 2 is a game that requires the right type of person to play it. Secondly, this game is close to 5 years old now. If you played Lineage 2 the first two-three years you wouldn't have any problem finding people in the low level areas.
But back to my first point. Lineage 2 is known for three things, and only one being negative in a general point of view:
1. Grind
2. Awesomeness PVP
3. Music/design/graphics
I played Lineage 2 in the Open Beta back in March or April 2004, and it was my first MMORPG ever. The reason I started playing was because I had two taiwanese friends who played a lot of Lineage I, so we were all kinda waiting for Lineage 2 to come out, and when the open beta started we downloaded it the first day. There was nothing I didn't like about it. I loved the design just like you said, and the music is something that brings back a lot of memories.
But the biggest plus with getting to play Lineage 2 when it was completely new is that it was packed with people. Every town was full, even each of the race's starting towns. And there were always people running around killing mobs in practically all areas. That's when Lineage 2 was one of the best MMORPG's, it probably was THE best MMORPG. The grinding wasn't a problem because you would always get to pvp, which was Lineage 2's strongest point.
The best part about the pvp is that you would always get into a fight with someone over the smallest thing. Like say if someone came and stole your kill, you would immidiately flag him and wait for him to flag back (95% of the time they would), and that's where the fight started. And there were always plenty of people around to get into a fight with;D
Then it also comes to the type of person you are. The people who play Lineage 2 are a good example of people that suit this game. They just have a natural liking for grinding, pvp, and just general fun. They (including me) don't see the grinding as such a big problem, especially not if you got to play Lineage 2 when it was meant to be played. Nowadays the official servers are practically drained empty in all the lower level areas. I would bet the only towns with people in them would be Giran, Aden, and Goddard, and all the areas around them.
Just thinking back of all the good times I had playing Lineage 2 back in the days makes it easy to say that Lineage 2 is my favourite MMORPG of all time. Right now I'm playing Warhammer Online and I love it like hell, but I still consider Lineage 2 my favourite and I don't think there will be any game that can change that.
Btw if you wanna check out a really old screenshot of me playing Lineage 2 with my fatboy orc, go to Lineage 2 player screenshot section and go to the very first page, and mine will be the second first L2 screenshot ever posted here on MMORPG.com (it was one of my later chars though, because I lost my oldest account to a friend who bought it from me while I was unactive)
Current mmorpg: Everquest 2
Current RPG: The Last Remnant (PC)
Current console games: Tekken 6 (PS3)
Current PC games: Super Street Fighter IV: AE2012
Word. I sure enjoyed those days...
Yeah, i think you need to accept the grind if you are going to enjoy Lineage, with or without friends, because the whole game is all about it. And for those who can accept that, lucky them. For those others, like me... F**k...