by Cody
“Micajah” Bye, Managing Editor




In the span of a human life, four years doesn’t seem like
such a long time. With the average life expectancy for technologically
adept cultures hovering in the mid-70s, four years seems like just a
blink in the overall scheme of things. But that doesn’t mean
things don’t change in that time; in four years you can have
several children, elect a new president, or earn a degree.  



Massively multiplayer games also change in drastic ways in the span of
four years. When I first ventured into style="font-style: italic;">Lineage II way back
in March of
2004, I was a mere beta tester, loading up my Orc Fighter for the first
time to see what this crazy, hectic, PvP-centric title was all about.
It  was a world chock full of immaturity, gold-sellers, and
random players killers (PKers) who got their jollies by killing as many
low-level newbies as they could. Let’s just say my initial
thoughts on the Lineage
II
experience weren’t favorable.


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style="font-style: italic;">The new Kamael
playable race is one of the highlights of the latest style="font-style: italic;">Lineage II
expansion.

However, when NCsoft invited me down to their Austin studio to href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/14902">preview
the upcoming expansion to Lineage
II
, dubbed The First Throne, I put my
trials and tribulations aside and sat down to seriously reconsider the
game. Even though they had several GMs in the room with us guiding the
party through various encounters, I was still impressed with the amount
of content that was obviously brand new to the experienced L2 players
in the room. The additional dungeons and PvP scenarios were enough to
attract my attention and lead me back into L2 for an in-depth, fully
realized review of Lineage
II: The First Throne
.



Upon my initial
journey into the Kamael expansion back in December
, I
was surprised and pleased with the number of additions that the
developers have made to the foundation of the style="font-style: italic;">Lineage II
experience.
Beyond simply creating a solid tutorial for players to enjoy, the
developers added a number of additional “newbie
friendly” mechanics and features to help players begin their
journeys in the land of the First Throne. After pounding my way through
the first few levels of the game, I opted to take a short break, gain a
few more levels, and come back to whip up the in-depth review of
Lineage II.



Gameplay



The First Throne expansion – href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/14818">in terms of
gameplay –
brought several new elements to NCsoft's target audience. Obviously,
the new
playable race is one of the first new features that many players will
notice when they load up the game. With their one-winged
profile and gender separated class selection, the Kamael offer new
players a chance to jump into the game for the first time and old
players the ability to start the game fresh with a new starting race
and area to explore.



For those new players that have heard the horror stories of style="font-style: italic;">Lineage
II’s past – the rampant PKing and
horribly
difficult new player experience – rest assured that many of
these aspects have been upgraded and improved since the
game’s release in 2004. Although my initial steps in the new
world
are chronicled in my
first impressions review
, it is safe to say that
the first ten levels have been made into a much smoother ride than what
they were previously.



As far as the expansion is concerned, old and new players alike should
be fairly pleased with the amount of new content that was developed and
implemented into the Kamael expansion. Along with the new playable
race, several new raiding areas have been introduced into the
game, including the Crystal Caverns and Hellbound.



From my play experience, the new higher-end content is href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/14902">extremely fun
to
play through, with well-crafted (if not terribly thought
provoking)
dungeons that truly elicit some fun emotive responses. For example,
when I was playing through the Crystal Caverns on the Isle of Prayer, I
often found myself
staring at the rich architecture and level design, gazing up at the
fish swimming above my head. The monsters in that area were
well-wrought and fit the instance perfectly.



Although I never had the chance to play through the particular
area, Hellbound sounds like an absurdly fun place to play. With players
only allowed to even enter the area if they’re levels 79-80
(80 is the current level cap), it would be a thrilling experience just
to set foot in the monstrous area.


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style="font-style: italic;">A bevy of new areas
await potential Lineage
II
players.

To address those players that are more interested in the intense PvP
skirmishes in Lineage II
(and who isn’t?), the new fortresses
and fortress battles will keep players entertained for long periods of
time. Meant for the smaller groups (which is where I fit in), the
fortress battles filled an integral spot in the L2 PvP landscape and
really rounded out the content found in the new expansion.



However, an individual can’t do a review of style="font-style: italic;">Lineage II
without hitting upon the nagging nuances that keep the game from really
hitting the hearts of North American gamers. From the ground up,
Lineage II
is designed to be a grind-oriented sort of game. Once you
get past level 10, the gameplay slows way down and players will be
pressured to go kill monsters over and over and over again.



Although you felt some of this in the first ten levels, it
doesn’t become readily apparent until you hit that tenth
level. For some reason, the XP needed to progress seems to spike
abhorrently and the travel time required to get from one hunting ground
to another also ratchets up several notches.



To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Lineage Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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