Lineage II – A World from Future Past

 

In 2014, I came back to Lineage II, after a short hiatus. I’ve been a regular player of the once undisputed king of MMORPGs for many years, starting my journey in August of 2007. It’s 2024, exactly 10 years since then and my mind keeps pulling me back to when I first saw the signs, but couldn’t understand them.

 

Lineage II is the sequel to the original Lineage, second in a list of videogames for both PC and Mobile Phones up until present day. Story wise, Lineage II acts as a prequel, telling the events before the original and allowing gamers explore a vast open world of medieval and steampunk themes, through their avatar and their reactions with other players. The game originally offered a choice of up to 5 distinct races, with their own classes, homeland and background story, them being Humans, Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves and Orcs, but by 2014, they had added 2 more races, one in 2008, during the Kamael update of the game, introducing Kamael, a race of one winged Elf – like creatures and Ertheia, an Elf – like race with fish – like ears, with the player being able to choose only female characters for said race, being introduced in summer of 2014.

So far, the description of the game doesn’t make anyone searching for an MMO and alien to what the Lineage II franchise is about, pick it up and explore the world it provides. Especially, when World of Warcraft boasts a number of 11 races, divided into 2 enemy factions and a larger open world with lots more of interactions, Final Fantasy XIV offers 8, with lots of interactive options for anyone to be hooked in the game and Elder Scrolls Online offers 10 playable races with the signature quest and open world style of Bethesda. Even the PvP aspect that Lineage and every sequel of that franchise is known for, is found in most of these games. So what was the main reason, players like me had that love and hate relationship with Lineage II and why was it that Lineage II or L2 was able to give us a reason to miss the days when it was unique? What was unique about it?

Before jumping into this journey, I would like to disclaim that I am not planning on touching the technical aspects of the game, or if I do, they will only be mentioned briefly, without any analysis on graphics, computer language terms and numbers. I am not a computer engineer, or videogame programmer. I am not even a marketing analyst. So I do not see myself fit for describing these aspects of the game, but instead, I will stick with what an novel author should stick with, being the main story of the game (the quests and how the interactivity with other players worked into making the story become an interactive media), the gameplay and how it affects storytelling and the music. So in order to get it out of the way, the graphics are impressive, even for today’s standards and back then, Lineage II, along with the Sims 2 were responsible for me losing 2 computer CPU’s, having a graphics card be overheated and have my father  install multiple fans on a computer tower (I was still in highschool and we were all, pretty much, hooked on both games, as well as Sim City 4 in house), so that it wouldn’t be heated up that much, before eventually (and inevitably) moving on to a gaming laptop in 2009. If you are looking for numbers and more about the development of the game, I should advise you to visit nerdSlayer Studios and watch their analysis, retrospective and video essay on the matter.

Also, as a side note, I only ever managed to experience the official, Western release of Lineage II (For both European and American regions), knowing that the Korean version is more stable, gets different and sometimes earlier updates and is probably nothing like what I will describe.

The essay is divided into sections, or chapters, so in case you do not want to read the entire retrospective and simply want to begin from the summary and onward, moving to my thoughts on the future of the game, simply begin reading from Chapter 6, Interlude.

 

Prelude

The year was 2007. Up to that point, I had no idea about what an MMORPG game was, but I loved Final Fantasy VII, GTA III, Need for Speed Underground 2, James Bond’s Everything or Nothing and Nightfire, Gran Turismo 4, Xenosaga, Forbidden Siren and my spring obsession of that year, the Godfather videogame. I didn’t own the Godfather for my computer, up until the end of that year, when I would receive it as a gift for passing all of my highschool exams on the very last day of them, so, visiting the local internet cafe of my neighborhood on my free time was the natural choice.

People were hooked on something that looked surreal. It showed some dark-skinned Elf – like characters moving in a bizarre way, or at times, a human female with medieval clothes, running with a big two handed stick on their hands or a book, killing monsters that looked like videogame interpretations of – mostly – Ancient Greek Mythological creatures and receiving a small pile of golden coins, once the monsters had been killed. Upon first glance, I didn’t like the game, as it seemed goal – less and everyone playing it seemed not to know what exactly was the main goal of it, but I could see both young boys and girls, my age, enjoying it. In retrospect, I remember watching them and feeling clueless, like Lain from Serial Experiments Lain and Noriko from Noriko’s Dinner Table.

It was almost August and my birthday was about to come. Out of sheer coincidence, I decided to ask one of my friends at the cafe to show me what this game was. So it was then, when I got my first email address. Up until that time, I never needed an address to play a game. Suddenly, even though I was about to explore a fictional world and control someone else, while being a hidden camera and director, watching their every move, it felt a bit more personal. Next, I purchased my subscription card and began playing. Lineage II back then was a subscription-based service, which made every second count.

I started my game as a Human, beginning the journey in Bartz server. I liked the anime – like look of the Dwarves, but since I didn’t have any previous encounter with such a game, every other race seemed alien to me. It was as if it was it was intentional on behalf of the creators to feel stronger emotions towards a specific race or races. As if they were planning for us to be fighting virtual race wars and even be biased towards a race or another. It felt like, what I would later experience in games like the Elder Scrolls franchise, where certain NPCs were friendly, neutral or hostile to the players, depending on what their race was. And since we were actual players and not NPCs, that feeling seemed unique and interesting and it was something that was being explored officially in World of Warcraft, with players having this feeling of belonging somewhere and not belonging elsewhere, almost organically. However, what world of warcraft couldn’t achieve by having players forced to be hostile against any race out of their perspective alliances, Lineage II more than made up for, by introducing the ability to play with anyone, no matter their race and the only ones you could potentially be prejudiced towards to were players that belonged to enemy clans, which I’ll touch later on.

That evening, I felt like a subject of the Coca Cola experiment. Shortly after my prepaid time was over, I was already at the counter, refreshing it. It was a new dimension to another world. A sense of progression, as I was getting better equipment and was fighting bigger enemies. Upon returning home, I simply had to discuss it with my parents and tell them that this was unlike any other game we had been playing together. It wasn’t like the Sims 2 or even like Sim City 4. Yet, it felt like a combination of both, as it required the player be attached to their avatar and form a strategy to get better, as well as mind their resources in order to survive as members of that community. The characters wouldn’t starve to death, but without money, they were unable to progress, or they were able to, but that was extremely hard. It felt real. It felt organic and it felt like being an actual person, living in that dimension. That new world. The game I received for my birthday, that year, was a copy of the official Lineage II client, along with the latest patch, Interlude, also referred to as Chronicle 6: Interlude or the first chapter of the Chaotic Throne: Interlude. It was back then that fortress sieges were introduced to the game. And while Lineage II already had Castle Sieges available as one of its main selling points, Fortress Sieges were the next big step. But before finding out about them, I first had a few more time with my character, exploring the Talking Island, making a new friend at the port, buying a ticket for the boat and deciding to swim my way to the Village of Gludin.

 

Chronicle 1: Harbingers of War

Do not let the name deceive you, Gludin Village is an actual town. Probably it's as big as the game's largest cities. I didn't spend much time there, during my first time in Gludin, as I quickly joined a clan (one of the two main faction groups, which will be discussed later on), but from my little stay there, I saw a beautiful city with a more renaissance – era, like,  architecture, which at some parts of it looked like expensive streets of London. But upon reaching its eastern side, a newcomer will face the harsh reality. Gludin has faced war in the past. And making Lineage II a prequel to the original Lineage, which portrays most towns even more deformed and destroyed (both due to graphic limitations of the time the original came out, as well as for story purposes), it means that the peaceful and cozy feeling Talking Island Village gave and the welcoming vibes the harbor of Gludin Village, as well as the reassuring feelings offered by the rich district within it, end by the time one reaches the eastern entrance. The exit to the real world. A world torn by war. Also, it was, probably, the last time I saw the – before 2014 – Gludin Village have so many people there, as an event was being held at that point with everyone picking up special bows that threw heart arrows. It was altruistic. As if Valentine's Day had come early.

I made a new friend there. LocoJeff, leader of TheLocos clan. He offered to help me understanding how the game worked, after noticing my mage was wearing some heavy knight armor, just because I thought it looked cool. Soon I was a member of his clan. And so, I found out there was a teleporting system that could take me to almost any place around the map for a small fee. It was also quite realistic – despite the fact it was supposed to be a magical system, operated by certain NPC's, because each town or village allowed for teleportation within a certain range and that made the game have one more layer of strategy in it. So me and Jeff made it to Dion. Dion was called a town, but in fact it was just a poor farmer village, compared to Gludin. Also the music was catatonic and showed the theme of war and decay even more. Also, Gludin, would become my most hated place for the next few months.

But it's time to talk about one of the game's (or at least the THEN VERSION game's) most hardcore and cool mechanics. Leveling up. Almost every game has such a system, but Lineage II wanted to make it look and feel extremely hardcore and difficult. Up to that point, I was only Lv. 12 and I had played for a bit more than five days, ever since I had decided to enter the game. So playing for about two to three hours wouldn't progress me as fast as in any other game I had tried up until then. But that's exactly one of the first reasons it felt exciting. For many others it didn't, because they would have to spend lots of time trying to get a single level, but for me, it was a challenge and it felt rewarding.

Following the melody of the guitar and flute of Dion's Theme, I switched off my computer, this time knowing that when I would log back in, I would belong to a permanent team and not a temporary one, that the party was. Which brings us to another important mechanic of the game (not unique as a concept, but unique in execution).

The game offers four main types of teams, Party, Clan, Alliance and Group Channel. For the time being, I'll explain more about Party teams and Clan teams.

Parties can contain up to 7 characters. They are temporary groups by players with or without a clan, enabling them to speak within their own chat (the Party chat) and share certain things, such as magical buffs and items received by defeating monsters. Clans on the other hand are permanent, at least for as long as the leader of the clan doesn't delete it and the player in question doesn't leave that clan for another one or for playing solo. Clans offer many perks for players, such as mechanics that will be discussed later, but more importantly, it offers players a form of interactivity and some basic principles of "belonging somewhere". Clans make players feel proud. It's their team and as long as the Clan progresses, through its own leveling system, players feel it too, be it through rewards and perks, such as passive buffs and abilities, or by feeling proud as their clan receives fame. People begin having a reason to join it or respect its members when they see them somewhere.

When I would log in again, things would have changed.

 

Chronicle 2: Age of Splendor

I intentionally mentioned before that the game and almost every RPG game is created with an interesting purpose in mind. Connecting the player to their avatar. So long as the player feels a sort of bonding - a connection between them and their avatar, it's easier for them to experience the story or anything they do, in a way they will enjoy. Some games offer a First Person POV, which makes the player feel like the character. It's like a window to that world. And others offer a Third Person POV, such as here, although I quickly found out, that by clocking the Page Up button, I could turn into a First Person Camera View, if I wanted to. I could even turn the camera into a Top Down view if I wanted to. But the problem was that I wasn't connected to my character and didn't feel them like a friend or a person I would hang out with. Derv2, just felt too cold and emotionless as a person for me to like. Also this is where races and the differences, as well as the almost organic choice of the player to like or not like an in – game race comes back in the discussion. All Human characters had the same problem. They were pretty. They were cool and looked strong, but they were cold. And seeing an overpopulation of Dwarves within the previous days spent in the game, I decided I would go for a more cheerful approach and make a fresh start. linagemaniac2, with its name being a typo, I would later on find out but never correct, as the character had managed to capture my genuine interest, was born on August 12, 2007.

Same Clan, same friends. But everything felt different. Instead of the happy and celebrative music and architecture of Talking Island Village, I was greeted by snow and cheerful music that reminded me of Christmas. Another surreal feeling, as it was still summer, but the in – game world somehow managed to get to me. The event with the bows and arrows was still taking place and my friend even suggested I kept the coins given by the event's unique monsters, as I could sell them for a high price of in – game currency. So I was introduced to the aspect of multi currencies existing and that I could trade items, sell them or simply keep some items as collectibles. But after that, my road led me back to Dion once again and its depressing tone. I met the first beggar. Not an NPC, but a real player, appearing as a male Dwarf, old, with an angry face and dirty beginner rags for clothes. He was begging for money. My friend explained that there were such gamers, creating fortunes by scamming other players into thinking they were poor. It felt strange. And soon, my character would get a level of discrimination by other players, which I would not discover until much later.

I had made a huge mistake, or the best choice. Until today, I choose to believe, it was the best in – game choice I had made in that game, deciding to create a Dwarf. Not for its abilities, but because no matter how hard things would get, linagemaniac2 would always be cheerful and greet me with a smile, like a friend. No matter how difficult a quest was, how hard a monster had hit the avatar or how many arrows had made their way on the avatar's body, linagemaniac2 would keep that optimistic smile.

However, for people treating the game as a place for getting more than just a cheerful escape and exploration, Dwarves were a prejudice, as most players would just use them for their unique crafting abilities and for selling crafted items. Other than that, Dwarves weren’t used by players as what my generation would call “main characters”, rather than secondary characters for creating a solid income to support these main characters of theirs. Also, the Dwarves had another flaw in their design. The race offered 2 main classes, completely unique to the race, one being locked as a race perk too. Dwarves could either get a higher chance of looting a monster, if their class was a Spoiler type or they could create items, if they chose the Crafter class.

Characters were typically able to take another class and add it, after they met certain criteria to do so. Up to three of these classes could be taken. They were called “subclasses”. One of the subclasses that was always unavailable to everyone was the crafter class. This only meant that crafters were sought after by other players, used by other players or hated by them for being a class that didn’t progress much, had little to no damage options and survival chances against an enemy and most of the times were secondary characters, meaning that their owner would probably not have invested enough money to arm them properly, resulting in Parties being weak. Despite all that, nothing stopped me from making friends, getting into hunting parties and exploring even more places, learning more about the world I was into.

 

Chronicle 3: Rise of Darkness

2008 would witness the publishing of the Kamael update and with it, a new race, the Kamael, new areas to explore and a change in the main menu screen, which has become a staple for the Lineage II as a whole, always trying to introduce the player to an ambient screen reminding of Liminal Spaces, as it showcases places of the map that have been mysteriously deserted, with music playing, other times optimistic and others less upbeat or emotional, depending on the theme each update, or Chronicle / Chaotic Throne (Chronicle) / Episode, as they are more commonly referred to. Until 2012, when Lineage II would walk into the realm of the Goddess of Destruction and anything that would follow after that, after the player would enter their credentials, there would be a selection screen for them to either create a new character or select one of the existing ones.

The player could create up to 7 characters per account and each time they logged into the selection screen, the interior of a castle would appear, populated by these 7 characters and the last played / selected character having moved forward to the center of the screen to greet the player with a battle cry and rising their weapon sky high, if the player would click on the character instead of the digital button that would lead them into the world of Lineage II. As for the creation menu, players were able to move from race to race, by clicking the arrows provided on their screens, changing landscape each time, providing a form of cultural diversity in the game, as in some cases, such as the Dwarves, the music would even change into the respective theme of said race. And although back then, I was not a fan of the Orc Race, them looking too extreme, I always found their race and the background provided in that screen to be the most culturally distinct one, as they seemed a bit conservative, even cautious against any other race, by the way they were portrayed. This was a huge contrast, when played back to back with the selection screen of the Dwarven race, who were probably the most technologically advanced of all races and seemed like a Steampunk fiction Society, lost in their craze for evolution.

There was even an area within the Dwarven Region, called the Abandoned Coal Mines, with their own background story and even quests and previous updates referring to the reason why the mines were abandoned and some places close to the Dwarven Village look as if progress was cut within the glimpse of an eye, forcing everyone to stay frozen in time, within the timeline explored. But all these train rails and an area that looks exactly like a train station would make any newcomer wonder why there was no train invented or tested yet, although Dwarves were already using giant Steampunk – themed Mech Armors in battles, or had smaller robot – like pets, called Golems, follow them.

During that year, my parents witnessed their characters grow and even take up new Grades, as in traditional Lineage II fashion, that was the name for leveling up a certain class to the next level, with – by that time – up to five grades available for the player to level up to, divided within the – by then – 80 Level limit. A newcomer would begin being a no Grader, as they hadn't chosen a class yet, but by the time a character would reach Level 20, they would be introduced to their quest for choosing their class, depending on their profession (fighter or mage), hence get introduced to the D Grade level of their class. On Level 40, a character would have received their C Grade recognition, B Grade by 52, A Grade by 61 and then finally move to the final Grade, that being S Grade at Level 76. For B and A Grades, there was no quest to get the certification. However for each other grade, a certificate, thus a quest were mandatory criteria. It was even possible for a character to level up to a higher, than their Grade, level and not have finished the quest that would grant them the next Grade, thus making it impossible to progress, as they would be unable to learn any new skills.

The previous paragraph was mentioned intentionally, as such was my case. Thus 2008 was a year I would not exactly hate but not exactly love Lineage II. I knew exactly what I had to do. The quest itself was more than self – explanatory. However, Dwarves and specifically those selecting to be crafters, Artisans, as they were called after they would be certified for D Grade, had a certain obstacle to overcome, that being the infamous C Grade Certificate qualification test. While every other character was able to finish the quest within minutes or – in worst cases – hours, after hunting down some monsters and meeting some NPC's, Artisans were met with the task of finding a certain NPC that would teleport every hour within 3 different locations, all close to each other, but for any conventional means, such as walking and running (pet riding wasn't available until Level 55), the task was probably a difficult one, especially when there was no mage to give buffs to the character, enabling them to at least run faster. Even if one was able to teleport to an area, such as the Coal Mines, which were one of the three locations the NPC would appear at, the player would have to run a fairly big distance inside the mines, in order to locate the NPC, hoping that they would make it in time.

Having explored more than just half of the map, thanks to my friends, I slowly, but steadily reached Level 47 that year, unable to finish the quest, because I would only play when there wasn't a test or too much homework and at some point, I had even given up, moving to titles such as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy XVII, as well as Final Fantasy VII, the Dirge of Cerberus. There was even an instance, when my cousin would introduce me to the World of Warcraft franchise, but that didn't last long. It was then, that I noticed some huge similarities, the Final Fantasy titles and Kingdom Hearts had with Lineage II. Both in terms of aesthetics, as well as music, or even character design. It was interesting, especially when the Fantasy Isle was introduced, being a large island with vibrant colors and an enormous theme park to explore. Also, Dwarves looked extremely similar to the Xenosaga’s franchise character, called MOMO. But what these games had in common, were their anime aesthetic.

Since most of my in – game friends had already leveled up to higher levels and gotten to higher Grades, I was mostly unable to keep up with them, although occasionally, we would find a way to hunt together. However, as each one of us had limited free time in our hands and none of us wanted it to be wasted, we would forever leave my class change quest behind. linagemaniac2 had become a known avatar by that point. Not because of any achievement inside the game world, but because of me socializing with different players from different Clans around the server. It was then that players began inviting me to unofficial events, not created by the developers themselves, but organized by players themselves, such as weddings, birthday parties, tours and other activities that involved roleplaying and a form of interactivity between us.

So whenever my friends couldn't go out with me or we had limited time to do anything outside of our homes, I would simply find something fun to do in there. Suddenly, it wasn't just about leveling up a character. It wasn't even about surviving the harsh environment of the world of Aden, having stayed in a D Grade outfit for more than a long time and looking like a palace joker when standing next to other players who were always dressed better. Suddenly, it was about exploring, meeting other people, learning about their countries and cultures and about having actual fun at days that outside activities couldn't be performed. But summer of 2007 was coming and everything would change once more…

 

Chronicle 4: Scions of Destiny

A poor, barefoot, almost unequipped and skill – less explorer, linagemaniac2 was becoming famous and infamous at the same time. And the more friends I would make in the game, the more I would discover that the game had a secret side that I hadn't explored yet. The quest for becoming a Maestro, a C Grade certified crafter, gave its place to all the fun activities me and my friends would do. But there was a small problem. The Clan I was in had become a backup Clan for a bigger one. Whenever I would log in, there was nobody there to do Clan related activities with, so all that time I had been relying on other Clans to do anything with. Until my leader and friend, LocoJeff told me that he had spoken to his Clan Leader and they would invite me in. Scions of Destiny had been the biggest and most important update of Lineage II ever and still to this day, it has been the biggest update Lineage II ever received, even bigger than Goddess of Destruction that would come many years later. Summer of 2007 was also the biggest year for linagemaniac2.

Walking through the streets of Aden, I felt like an outsider. The world of Lineage II offers a variety of towns that are distinct from each other. Aden is the epitome of wealth, while Giran, one of the biggest towns, if not the biggest, holds the title for the most crowded and market – related town of that universe, looking like a medieval port – town. There is Heine, Lineage II's Venice with a tropical twist and there's Rune Township, which I've never managed to understand architecture – wise, although my avatar would live there in the near future for quite a long time.

Aden looked unwelcoming. And linagemaniac2 looked almost like a peasant walking through the empty evening streets of that town, as other players were passing by with their silky or metal apparel and their flashy weapons. Almost feeling them smirk after seeing me walk in their town, instead of going back to Dion where I belonged, or better yet, be thrown back to the cold, but welcoming environment of the Dwarven Village. Up until then, I had made almost half a million Adena, the in – game currency. The precious currency that every player would spend lots of hours completing quests, hunting and selling items to other players. I had spent the first weeks of summer hunting in a tropical island, called the Alligator Island, meeting another person there, Zembla, a Kamael avatar. We would also try out hunting in the catacombs, underground hunting zones, full of labyrinths with truly powerful monsters, which were a really interesting addition to the game and we loved exploring with both Zembla and my mage friend, Nallary. They had taught me about the Ancient Adena that I could get by hunting inside the catacombs with other players. It was a currency used for special items and it was a currency that was worth a lot of in – game currency, should a player trade between currencies. That's how the peasant had managed to – somehow – receive some money.

The outfit linagemaniac2 was wearing was not just shameful. It was composed of different parts. Mage shoes with warrior armor pants, a mage robe shirt and some mage gloves. The pants were bloaty, almost like the pants characters used to wear in Kingdom Hearts. Suddenly, I just felt like I wouldn't be accepted in the new Clan. It was even mandatory I sent them a message, describing my class, level and time within the game, which I had already sent and it had been accepted. But when any of the Clan members would take a look at linagemaniac2, they would surely not be happy to have someone that looked like a beginner, joining them.

Zembla was already in their Clan, to my surprise. He had also managed to receive Hero status, through competing to one of the most prestigious events provided in – game, that being the Olympiad. It looked as if everyone was far more skilled and better equipped than me. Despite all that, the leader, GenOne, invited me and soon I was a member of the FlyingDutchmen clan. Two days later, I was invited to participate in a Fortress Battle.

Lineage II’s highest selling point was its PvP activities and one of them was the ability for players to participate in both Castle and Fortress siege battles, earning ownership of them after successfully taking them over. I was amazed. This was something I had never seen before. After I got a bit of help from my clan mates, who were scattered across the map and brought members with teleporting abilities along, I managed to beat my class transfer quest, while already being Lv. 51, meaning that I should have already been a B Grader by that point, as in one level exactly, I would have gotten my B Grade status. It was summer and another update had just dropped, enabling Dwarves to get more powerful than before, and especially crafters, by giving them the ability to get buffs for themselves and others. It was also then that I was introduced to another interesting fact about Crafters, that being the ability to have higher success rates at sabotaging the Control Rooms of each Fortress, during a siege. Our Captain, InfernalWrath made sure I would get trained properly.

It’s also a good time to mention music properly. The game offers a variety of some of the best music pieces ever found in any MMORPG or even Medieval Fantasy videogame, with the producer of most of them, Bill Brown (also known for his work in all 9 seasons of CBS Series, CSI:NY and videogames such as Wolfenstein and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six), making sure that each piece would fit the general tone and aesthetic of the game. The music is somewhat dynamic too, even to this day, changing from location to location, but also changing during different abilities. While each hunting zone or area have their own distinct theme, if a player enters – let’s say – a Castle Siege, the music will suddenly change into music that fits the Epic Music genre, getting the player feel more immersed to the experience.

One thing I also remember about the music and has been a fun memory, was that until 2013, when I got my music diploma for my accordion studies, was that I had introduced the tracks to my music school, having created a small group of friends there, where we’d often practice different tracks of the game for fun. The tracks have a unique complexity to them and for someone invested heavily in music, such as me, it was and still is the reason why Lineage II, although not offering things such as a radio station (which is also unnecessary for the tone the game goes for), has music tracks that fill one’s mind with unique images and emotions. From happiness, to relaxation, to even sadness in some occasions. Even tracks such as the main theme of the Dwarven Village, one can notice that it requires some skill to perform the track in its true difficulty level and not just following the main tune of it.

The Clan, also introduced me to mechanics, such as the Alliance, which offered, as previously mentioned, a unique chatting option, as well as the Command Channel, a unique chat used only by Clan leaders and their Officers, or those with the ability to use that function, during events such as sieges or Raid Boss battles, where more than one Parties is required for succeeding. It’s a way for the party leaders communicate with one another and for the main Channel leader to organize every party member of all parties, by having short messages pop up on the screen, such as “Attack the Guards” or “Regroup on me!” Soon, Fortress and Castle sieges would become my favorite activity and every second week, I would simply wait for the siege of Dion to occur so that I would help our alliance, SilverMoon, defend their castle, after I had already taken part in its capture, where I was introduced to yet another mind – blowing mechanic, the Golems.

Up to that point, I was only using the small golems, offered as a skill for a pet partner for the character, that would help out during hunting and exploring. I also had a pet wolf, which I managed to make rideable, but the Siege Golem, I had created during my participation in my first Castle Siege was gigantic, almost like a Mech – Armor. Suddenly, linagemaniac2 was more than just a character I had bonded with. And sieges was the only thing I wanted to do.

2007 was also the year I created my MSN Messenger account, with the game having a unique feature that allowed for players to be logged in their account while playing and a unique window appearing whenever a friend using the MSN Messenger from their computer or laptop would message the player, with the player able to reply in real time and without having to change windows to get to the Messenger app. It was like a Meta experience, before Meta was even a thing and it was more than just a welcoming feature, which I would use a lot throughout 2007 and 2008.

 

The Clan was like a small community. A family. Each member had their own personality, because behind the avatar, no matter what race or gender their owners had chosen them to be, were real humans. They would often talk about movies, inside the Clan chat, or music suggestions. Sometimes, they would use the Ventrilo application, which offered voice communication, to sing songs. A player, Tsila, owned their very own web – radio station and we would sometimes tune in to listen. Others, such as MedusaEyes, probably my best friend inside the clan, whom I would spend countless evenings fishing with, would give us recipes to try. And others, like Ovidius and his wife, Manyla, would encourage the younger of us to not spend too much time online and study and sometimes, if they saw us online, and idle, selling our items in towns like Giran, they would make sure we truly were simply selling and Away from Keyboard (or AFK), and not wasting our time online instead of doing outdoors activities and studying.

It was like a big family of people from around the world, all with their own interesting set of stories and knowledge to share with one another. We even had members sharing their own versions of what would later become widely known as Creepypastas, or conspiracy theories. Each one of them likeable, so much that I would be inspired by their personalities and human flaws and pros, that I would go on inventing my later novel characters, such as Victor from my novel “Three Dimensions”, clearly inspired by such a member that would often share with us extremely intriguing creepypastas and theories, with members usually waiting for any of that person’s characters to log in the game and begin talking to us, so that we’d convince him to share another story with us. And these people were the first ones that encouraged me to turn my ideas into novels. Three Clans, working as one, forming what was called an Alliance and owning two Fortresses and a Castle, having become our own nation. A nation of interesting people like Poliphemus, a USA resident who loved the Ancient Greek language so much, that he would often even ask me for spelling rules. People like Meee, the Dwarf, CanadaSumin, IsabellaLeone and Badong. Others were Humans, others, Elves or Dark Elves. And others, Orcs. It didn’t matter. We were all friends and I would even bring all of the friends I had made in – game up to that point to the Clan, most of them accepting to become members.

But what had begun as a noble beginning in a vast world that was the Clan, would soon become the Golden Era for both Lineage II and linagemaniac2 as an avatar. linagemanac2 once received the title “Clan Master”, because that was the love I had for the Clan and for the game, that I eventually ended up reading articles, previews and guides to find existing strategies for hunting and more importantly, beating sieges, whether being on the defensive or the offensive. InfernalWrath would soon leave the game, after a failed siege by the end of summer of 2007, not returning to the game ever again. I simply asked to be tested in organizing the next siege and training all members on the know – how. It was a success. And it was the first step into falling in love with the Officer ranking.

 

Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood

linagemaniac2 was now a character, well established within the community. By summer of 2008, I would decide to leave the FlyingDutchmen Clan, just as most members had done, after the decision for both the Clan and its two allied Clans to become alternative clans to a much bigger one, which owned one of the three major castles. Nallary followed me, while many of the players I had met up to that point had left the game. My parents had also decided to leave the game by that point, although my mother would join again a few years later, leaving her human mage, Pithagoras, behind for her new main character, PKachu, the dwarf that would soon become another beloved player within the community.

Having previously met a player called Alania and her clan, mostly consisted of high level members and her characters, all using flashy and expensive armors, she offered me to join her clan. By that point, there were quite many players who wanted me to join them, as my reputation for handling Fortress Sieges and my diplomacy as an Officer with Clan Leaders of other Clans were sought after. I joined without a second thought, provided that I would become the second in command of AlaniaTheQUEEN ‘s Clan, EliteTeam. Throughout the next years, until 2012, EliteTeam would become a home for both linagemaniac2 and PKachu, as well as many friends from real life who decided to join me and play the game. It was also the time when most of us were beginning our Fourth Grade in highschool, spending less time in the game and more studying for college or doing outside activities and it was also the year when Facebook would be introduced to all of us. The clan, soon became lively with regular players, which would soon exchange their social media accounts with us, forming everlasting friendships, even though some of them would leave the game. The Clan would soon once more become a place where many people would appear and exchange opinions. People like Zarina, xLOKIx and Zotr. People from all around the world, who were enjoying a casual hunting party or even organising a big Raid Boss hunt. People who would discuss anything within the chats and not just game - related things.

For the most hardcore of the Clan Members, even people I would meet every day at high school, Lineage II had become our midweek night activity, where we would meet each other after all our activities and even our part time jobs were over, as most of us, including me, had begun working while also studying, and we would have an hour or two, having fun together and it would also be our every second weekend favorite group activity, as we would team up to defend the castle of our informal alliance, the HouseOfErrands. Our new home was the White Sands Fortress, just a few steps away from the Innadril Castle of Heine, where the HouseOfErrands were housed at. Long gone were the days when linagemaniac2 would be living in Aden, inside the Clan Hall owned by the FlyingDutchmen, as Elite Team owned the biggest Clan Hall of the entire map, located in Rune Township.

Within the following years, most of us would also become Heroes, by taking part in the Olympiads and I would manage to pick up the Akamanah Dual Swords, a pair of unique weapons, which, along with the Sword of Zariche, would fall in random locations for players to fight their way and pick them up, instantly making their name appear red, as their Karma Points would rise, meaning that any player should attack them on sight and any town NPC would be hostile towards them. However, these swords granted their owner extreme power to beat the hardest of monsters, so EliteTeam would make good use of that and we’d even help newcomers with their quests.

A new craze that would grow bigger and bigger was what would begin calling “Poleaxe Trains”, enormous “flocks” of monsters, taunted by specific attack abilities that would hit not just a single target, but any nearby target as well, and then brought close to a wall, where the rest of the party would wait to heal the person bringing them with their pole and disable the monsters. It was fast, it was heart pounding, it was addictive.

During work or school breaks, we would often draw maps or create boards with tasks and points of interest, so that our strategies would get better by the next time we would log in and make each single note reform into an action. And for those who were not close, but lived in other countries, we would communicate through email or even the – by 2009’s standards – still experimental Messenger App for the Y2K era of phones.

 

Chronicle 6: Interlude

To summarize everything, up to this point, Lineage II was a game that combined strategy and fun and it was a unique and entertaining experience, as this combination was what made the game be actually “smart” and workout the player’s mind into thinking faster, more tactical and keep an eye on the in – game world politics, their relationships with other players, depending on how liked or not the other players were by the community, their own resources and the way they would make money to progress.

It was a game that didn’t need to copy any other game to succeed and despite the numbers, people often provide, when talking about whether or not Lineage II was successful, for its cult following, it was definitely a successful game that had no reason to change drastically, as its core formula was something envied by many other franchises, understood by a few and successfully imitated by even less. Its uniqueness was not only in how it was programmed to work and how smart it was in concept, but also in its community as whole. There were those who were addicted to selling whatever they created. There were those who played casually. Those who wanted to lead and those who wanted to follow. Those who wanted to test new strategies each time and those who wanted to just interact with other players. Lineage II was a unique formula.

Its music complemented the game enormously. Actually, the game’s music was described by most of us as our favorite videogame score of all times and still to this day, most of us still have the same opinion. It was a blend of tracks that felt premium. Just like the game itself, always managed to feel premium, like watching parts of an opera and listening to the actors sing the lyrics of the different parts.

Graphically, it was impressive. It had its own personality and it managed to look like other anime aesthetic – inspired videogames, but still retaining its own identity and charm, without making compromises. It even was ahead of its time on that section, by offering players the ability to switch from whatever graphic settings they had set, to extremely poor ones, in case an area was too crowded or the players’ computers would begin reaching their limits, so that the game could run smoothly, without braking, with just the press of a button. I haven’t seen it in any videogame up to this date and I think that for MMORPGs, this option is important. Sure, there are menus, but the ability to just press a button, or more precisely, a macro command, is unique and shows that the creators had understood that players would need such a system to exist.

Lineage II was where the imagination of many people like me would explode and give birth to novelists, singers and painters. It was a digital world that did not just exist as a soulless entity, but instead, it was a world full of people being themselves, or variations of their true selves, but masked as their avatars. It was a Millenniumpunk symbol. A symbol of hope and positivity, even though the 2007 – 2008 economic crisis was affecting everyone and kept affecting everyone. It might be set in a war – torn world, but that world seemed to be rebuilding. To be progressing. And with each update, up until 2012, the world of Lineage II was becoming brighter and more optimistic.

 

The Goddess of Destruction

September 2013. I was studying to get to college and I had a part – time job. Although there were quite many updates, 2008’s Gracia, with its optimistic flavor looked like an enormous contrast, compared to the Goddess of Destruction. I hadn’t seen the trailer, but my friends had told me it was shocking. The hometowns, our characters had lived in were gone. Destroyed. We visited these places. Then, many began leaving the game, one by one.

I would come back in 2014, during my freshman year in college, discovering that, despite the fact that the world had faced destruction and that the real life crisis seemed to somehow have made its way inside the game, there were still activities to keep its flavor last. Within the following years, I would continue supporting my favorite Clan, at some point as a Leader, while Alania would be busy with her business in her hometown and we would even finally get our own Castle in Dion, where the Clan Hall had relocated. Soon, I would decide to move next to them, creating my own clan, TheWarriors and staying in Dion, where linagemaniac2 would seem to have retired. It was time for the next generation of newcomers to explore their journey within the game. But unfortunately, the death, chaos and destruction that had been brought to the hometowns of each race, had spread their roots to the game itself. And the upcoming Ertheia update, introducing the cheerful race, called the Ertheia, although managed to bring fans back and newcomers alike, didn’t manage to save the game from the inevitable.

Within the following years, the Fortress Battles would remain as a mechanic, but, while approaching the first quarter of the new millennium, most of the activities that were once loved, including these sieges, would seize to exist. Suddenly, the game felt more like a single player experience, rather than something to experience with others. Suddenly, the game felt alien and almost faceless. And its mechanic that allowed players to not actually be playing, but instead, leave their character hunt for them, although helpful, in case someone needed to get the last few percentages left, before reaching the next level, but didn’t have the time to be physically there, as the real world was getting more and more demanding, although helpful at some point, was not something that felt like a defining feature. Updates would still be introduced, bringing new classes, new skills and some new content. But what was once a world that felt unique, smart and culturally complex, even though the cultures were artificial, now was an alien mix of things that looked and felt different.

 

Shinemaker

Shinemaker is the title of the latest update, introduced to the game and with it, the Dwarven race, which by 2008 had stopped being that much avoided as a main character race, now has received a powerful addition, with the Shinemaker Class introduced. It’s actually something that I’ve always wanted in the game, as it combined the strength and weapons of a warrior with the more elegant mage robes and outfits. 2014 was the year everything began changing. 2024 is probably a year that could work as the beginning to a new chapter in Lineage II’s history.

Within these 10 long years, lots of games have come out. Some of them, even have managed to shine through their uniqueness, such as Player’s Unknown Battlegrounds, Battle Royale and Grand Theft Auto V – Online, just to name a few. Also, World of Warcraft is still alive and kicking and has managed to keep most of its core aesthetic and mechanics untouched. Each of the newer games has introduced interesting mechanics and game aspects and Lineage II could try to be inspired by them, but not imitate them, as it already has a huge trump card hidden, only it has forgotten about it.

Fortress Battles were one of the most interesting things to do. And it’s probably about time they came back. Including new areas where they could exist. This is probably the first thing that has ben asked by many players over the last few years and is what has made the game look and feel like a form of brain workout, rather than mindless fun.

2014 introduced the Ertheia. However, over the years, competitors have kept adding races to their lore, making players experience the game in a new way and probably find a character that might bring a stronger connection between them both. It’s a great opportunity for NCSoft to introduce new races that could bring new experiences or even new unintentional and unscripted moments between players.

Until today, only two homelands have managed to remain untouched, or actually one, if you count the fact that Talking Island Village was in fact destroyed during the Goddess of Destruction incident and has been reborn from its ashes, bringing all races there as refugees. So that makes only Faeron Village, the hometown of the Ertheia remain undestroyed and retain its locals and cultural characteristics. It’s been 10 real life years and potentially, even more than 10 in – game years, meaning that societies might have been destroyed in the past, but could have started rebuilding and bringing their people back. Even Talking Island Village could be rebuild itself outside of the already existing and rebuilt Talking Island Village. The introduction of new towns and even cities is more than welcome here, as exploration has been a huge aspect of the game up till now and there are many of us who would gladly visit a new town and find out its secrets or admire its architecture.

Today’s games, especially mobile games, tend to include roleplaying aspects, such as owning a home, as their selling point and it’s a unique mechanic actually, as each player can potentially have their own private space and probably decorate it how they want to, when they don’t want to go out on a hunting quest or when they simply want to invite their friends over and just have fun. This could benefit Lineage II greatly, the same way as Clan Halls have been operating all this time, but instead, each Clan Hall doorkeeper could be offering players who belong or don’t belong to said clan or any clan at all, unique options for teleporting to solo instances, where they could stay for as long as they want and even invite other players to join them. These instances could work as a place for crafting items, with the instance offering a Magic Points (MP) boost, get daily rewards from cupboards and closets and even store items that they want to keep in their collection but never use them, such as older weapons they had gotten attached to, special outfits, armors that they are not planning on wearing, but bought for that collection or found while hunting. This way, the Warehouse function stays clean off such items, in the case of players who love creating collections in any game they play.

NCSoft and Amazon have – as of lately – been cooperating and Amazon is well known for not only selling goods, but also for its huge collection of ebooks offered in store. Many authors give free books or extremely cheap ones on Amazon and since Lineage II already has libraries in some locations, it would look interesting if players could buy specific books that belong to the Medieval theme or even books and comics that could be signed by NCSoft by authors who are fans of Lineage II and then read them in – game, through Amazon Kindle, in case they do not wish to buy a physical copy of the book in question, but instead wish to experience it while in – game, at points when they will be waiting for their MP or HP to fill up or when waiting for an event, such as a siege take place. Lineage II used to offer minigames in the past, through the Character Actions Menu, after all.

Going Meta, might be a natural evolution for Lineage II. One of the biggest reasons why the Oldschool Lineage II used to be so addictive, was probably because each player could take their experience home. They could create game clubs at school breaks, or during lunch breaks at work and talk about it, just like movie aficionados do. They could create planning boards or simply discuss what they had experienced thus far. And they could also talk to each other remotely, mostly because there was a reason to, such as an event or a group activity, other than small instances the game offers nowadays.

Missions should make a return. Quest – type missions, like the Seven Signs set of quests, in which the player would experience a variety of different missions, tasked with fighting monsters and villains from the main lore. It’s not like such quests don’t exist within the game these days, however, the general feeling they provided back in the day was on par with what modern GTA Online mission structure looks like, with a variety of setups and a final mission which rewards the players with a significant payout. Lineage II could go back to that model, whether these missions would remain one – time only, or daily/hourly ones. Although, them being available only once per character would make more sense. But this also brings us to another feature that could be introduced.

Professions have not been explored very much within Lineage II, or, while existing, they have not been very specified. Sure we used to have Dwarves as crafters and every character could become a fisherman, should they want to, or Clan Officers, should their Leader promote them to one, but we never had professions such as cooks, miners, herbalists and alchemists. But quest structure could be hugely benefited by professions. For instance, a player that has selected the thief profession could be stealing treasures from Castles and give players a unique opportunity for some non scripted or programmed PvP moments, as upon entering the castle, the players would have to remain stealthy and unseen by guards, or else the entire Clan and their Alliance would be warned about the player’s presence. In similar fashion, players acting as cooks could create profession – specific items, which would act as healing and Mana (Magic) Points potions with higher effects than the potions obtained by a shop.

Warships is something that has never happened within the world of Aden and it’s a wasted opportunity, as the game used to have useable boats and at some point, during the Gracia Update, Clan Leaders were even able to summon and sail their very own flying boat. Clans could own their very own ships that would vary from manowars to frigates, acting both as clan halls and fortresses, as well as a means of transportation. And since not every Clan is able to own a castle or fortress, these ships could be aligned to a specific Castle owner or Fortress owner, aiding from afar. Of course, Golems could once again play a huge role in siege success, by being upgradeable. Of course, the crafter would have to own the skill from the skill tree and the materials needed, but they would also be able to upgrade specific aspects of their own Golem, making each one different from each other, hence leading to different and more diverse battles.

Last, but not least, pointing out the Auto – Hunting function, there is something that could benefit the game for its next decade. There used to be a function in private servers created for Lineage II, which offered offline shops as their main selling point and NCSoft managed to beat competition of said private servers by creating their own unique system for auctioning items and even have them in store for a certain period of time and not just until the player would log in again. Players could have their characters hunt for items or Experience Points, while offline, with the character not physically appearing inside the game world, for as long as the player is offline, but instead, they could keep interacting with the player, making them spend more time outdoors and less indoors, by counting the steps the player makes in the outside world, even with the phone screen turned off, so that the player won’t be distracted by the phone and neglect their outdoor activities. By offering minigames for players, while they are waiting for their bus and even initiate conversations with players through AI interactions, even helping players with their everyday lives and tasks, such as looking online for information about something the player will ask them about, giving helpful ideas and even encouraging the players to be productive with their real lives, or give the player mind tests and games, such as solving a sudoku puzzle, which will reward the player with in – game currency or items for them to receive upon logging in again.

 

Gracia

Despite what many YouTubers and players say, Lineage II is not dead, otherwise, NCSoft would have long shut down its services. In fact, Lineage II continues surviving thanks to its dedicated fanbase and has the potential to reach its glory days of the Chronicle 4.

I would like to thank the players that have been with me throughout this journey, as they were the reason this game was what it was. This retrospective essay is a love – letter, dedicated to them, as well to Lineage II itself. While I’ve been very busy with my job and continuing my next novels, and of course having half – retired from the game, not owning a Clan Hall or Castle anymore and just enjoying spending some time in the game’s world whenever I decide to log in, I wanted to create this article, marching the beginning of a series of essays about names synonymous with the early to mid 2000s, such as movies and games, as they were not only era – defining, but also memories forever kept in our minds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING PART OF THIS JOURNEY!