News
Lineage II’s Lead Designer Offers a Tour of Pending MMP Title
“The key factors that differentiate Lineage II from other MMORPGs are its combat, political, economic and ethical systems”
It is a land of humans and elves, dark elves, orcs and dwarves – a world for the taking, or the making.
When Lineage II launches retail in late April, it has the promise to take the world of massively multiplayer online role-playing games to the next level. Granted it will soon have company, but the folks at NCsoft are counting on this fantasy world to make strong strides into the market and maintain a decent share of the MMP pie.
Why?
The game has sterling graphical elements, and is a PvP-enabled world (player-versus-player) in which players can fight for castles and build up trade and clan houses.
This title went live (pay to play, or p2p) in late September in Korea and the numbers of players has been outstanding. The developers have been working hard to get the game translated for other markets and after a closed North American beta, the game is almost ready for the open beta phase.
Those who are caught up in the world of medieval fantasy and fable may find just what they are looking for in Lineage II.
Raoul Kim, lead designer on Lineage II, talked about the game with GameZone.com about this amazing title.
Question: Lineage II has been going strong on the Korean market since the end of September. How has the response been, and what has been learned from that market that may end up in the revamped English version being worked on?
Raoul: In less than 5 months of commercial service in Korea Lineage II is drawing an amazing reaction from players, with the number of simultaneous logins approaching 110,000. Lineage II is also creating a lot of excitement in Taiwan and Japan, where it is currently in open beta. We have learned a lot from all of our beta tests, and have taken lots of feedback into account during the process. There are many things we have learned from the Asian markets that has also been applied to the North American version of the product – too many to list, really! What we do believe, though, is that Lineage II will give gamers in North America a whole different MMORPG play experience.
Q: When this title finally gets to beta, will this be a program in the process of being completed or a near final product?
Raoul: We plan to offer the open beta test service in the U.S. around the end of March. In order to meet this schedule without any delay, we are currently working on the localization of the game. According to our plan, Prelude, the first commercial version that was offered in Korea, will be offered as the North American open beta test version. The game goes into commercial service in North America with Chronicle 1. We will continue to offer regular updates to provide our gamers with ongoing new experiences.
Q: Tell us a little about the PvP combat system in L2. If a player alliance owns a castle, what will prohibit another group from laying siege to it and overwhelming it at an odd time when it is likely players won't be around?
Raoul: Clan wars are scheduled by the current castle owner according to what works best for their clan, so it is unlikely that another group could overwhelm an unsuspecting castle-owning clan. However, by default, a clan war will occur within two weeks of taking a castle if a siege time is not specified by the clan leader.
Q: On the same note, if a player alliance or clan owns a castle, what sort of control do they have over the countryside? What kind of trade/crafting system is in place?
Raoul: After taking over a castle, a clan can exercise political and economic influence over the surrounding territory. For example, a ruling clan can control the pricing of various items sold in stores and produce items that would be unique in the area under its control. A ruling clan can decide on a tax rate and collect taxes. Also, it can change the attitude of the guards, making them hostile or friendly to other clans.
In addition, Lineage II offers various other systems used to administer a territory. Although these systems can be used only by a castle lord, you can use a special system to delegate administration powers to others. However, if a territory is not ruled in an acceptable manner, players may move to other territories, or rise in revolt. So a clan should try to rule the land under its control with care and skill.
Q: The graphics in this game are detailed, lush and amazing. What graphics engine do you use? What kind of system requirements will players need? What graphics cards are supported?
Raoul: Lineage II uses a modified Unreal graphics engine. We did a great deal of customization in order to get what you see in Lineage II today. The system requirements to play Lineage II are Pentium III 800 or above, more than 256 megabytes of memory, and a graphic card that supports DirectX 8.1 or above.
Q: Let's talk a little about content. Does this game have an overriding story and if so, how are players involved in it? Will players be involved in quests at various skill levels? How long will it take for the dragon egg to hatch and the dragon to fully grow?
Raoul: In Lineage II, there is an over-riding back story, which can be read on www.lineage2.com under the fiction link. However, we plan to offer additional event-like stories (called Chronicles), in which users will participate through their game play. Lineage II will start with Chronicle1 upon launch. And, yes, there will be many quests for players at different skill levels to try!
Developing a Wyvern (dragon), which involves hatching a dragon’s egg and raising it until it fully matures, will be affected by a number of various factors – not just by time alone. According to our current plan, not all players who obtain dragon eggs will successfully raise them to become Wyverns. We will be providing more detailed information on this at a later date.
Q: Will there be monthly events? Will content come in the form of patches or stream download?
Raoul: We will have events, but the schedule has not yet been determined. When an event is offered, no special patch or download will be necessary.
Q: What do you think Lineage II will deliver that is new and steps away from the normal MMORPGs on the market?
Raoul: The key factors that differentiate Lineage II from other MMORPGs are its combat, political, economic and ethical systems. Combat in Lineage II is designed to be pretty fast-paced. This applies generally, not only to monster hunting activities. It is designed to get players’ adrenalin pumping, especially during large-scale PvP.
Unlike other MMORPGs, the political, economic, and ethical systems of Lineage II are not predefined by the game. You can think of these systems in Lineage II as a “tool” that conforms to the free will of players. Players are given the ability to use these tools to modify Lineage II into their own unique world.
Q: What aspect of this game is your favorite?
Raoul: Personally, I like the Dwarven Village located in the snowy region. It is small, warm and cozy—a very nice place to visit!
Share
Digg This
Glink It