Lineage II is a game where many players can play online together. It is part of the Lineage series and was made before the first Lineage game, taking place 150 years earlier. The game was released on October 1, 2003, in South Korea. In March 2007, it had 40,027,918 unique users. Worldwide, more than 94 million people have played the game.

In November 2011, Lineage II changed to a free-to-play model called Lineage II: Goddess of Destruction. This means all game content is free, except for items and packs that players can buy within the game. A mobile version called Lineage 2: Revolution, which is also a prequel, was released in 2016.

Lineage 2M was first launched in South Korea in November 2019.

Gameplay

In Lineage II, players create a character and select their race. They can also choose the character's appearance, including face shape, hair style, color, expression, and gender.

Each player begins the game in a temple located in the area specific to their character's race. For example, Human characters start in "Talking Island," while Dark Elves begin in "The Shilen Temple." Most races allow players to choose between a mage or a fighter class. However, Dwarves and Kamael can only select the fighter class.

A key part of Lineage II is combat. Players can fight monsters found outside towns on hunting fields or in underground dungeons. When a monster is defeated, the character earns experience points (XP) and skill points (SP), which help them level up and learn new abilities.

Players can also engage in battles against other players through a player versus player (PvP) system.

If a character dies in battle, they can choose to复活 (resurrect) in the nearest town or village. Alternatively, another player can use a Resurrection scroll or spell to bring them back. Resurrecting in a town costs a small part of the XP earned, and this cost increases as the character's level rises. Resurrection spells and elite scrolls usually return some of the lost experience.

Plot

The game takes place in a made-up history that is divided into sections of stories called "Sagas." There are currently four Sagas: "The Chaotic Chronicle," "The Chaotic Throne," "Goddess of Destruction," and "Epic Tale of Aden." Large updates, called "Chronicles," are also referred to by different names in each Saga. For example, in "The Chaotic Throne," they are called "The Throne," in "Goddess of Destruction" they are called "Chapter," and in "Epic Tale of Aden" they are called "Episode." These updates add new story parts, game features, and extra content. They are released every six months. Each update includes new abilities, tasks, locations, and items. Some updates also raise the maximum level players can reach.

Characters

Players can choose up to seven characters for each account. In the world of Lineage II, there are seven races: Humans, who are similar to modern-day humans and have balanced abilities in all areas; Elves, who have better speed and agility, faster movement, and quicker casting of spells, but weaker attack power; Dark Elves, who have stronger magic and melee attack skills; Orcs, who have more health and magic points but move more slowly; Dwarves, who are strong in close combat and skilled at crafting weapons and tools; Kamael, who are human-like creatures with one wing each and job classes that depend on their gender; and Ertheia, female warriors with two special classes and unique storylines for quests.

Development

Hyeong-Jin Kim, the head of the production team for Lineage II, created the basic idea for the game in early 2000. The game was developed between October and November of the same year. Kim and producer James Bae explained that they chose to make a prequel for Lineage instead of a sequel because they wanted to continue improving Lineage as a game. They also wanted to avoid possible conflicts with future changes to Lineage.

Kim and Bae said the game’s original subtitle, "The Chaotic Chronicle," was chosen to show the large battles, strategies, and teamwork they hoped players would experience.

Lead game designer Raoul Kim stated that Lineage II was made in 3D because most games today use 3D graphics. He also said 3D was better for the game’s features. The developers used the Unreal Engine 2 game engine because it could create outdoor scenes and had strong editing tools.

Cheol-Woong Hwang, head of the Game Design team, explained that each race’s home village had a different design. He described the human village on Talking Island as "ordinary," while the Elven Village was made to feel natural and royal. The Dark Elven village was designed to show a "grotesque and serious feeling" to reflect the difficult history of those who were exiled from the Elves.

There are currently three versions of Lineage II available: Classic/Legacy, Aden/Essence, and Live/Main.

Reception

The reception for Lineage II is mixed; some video game review websites gave it average scores. Andrew Park of GameSpot said the game "offers either boring tasks or very difficult challenges" and is not good for players who can only play for one hour or less each day. Allen "Delsyn" Rausch noted that the Kamael race is unique because, unlike other races in Lineage II, they focus on being warriors, and their advanced classes are separated by gender.

The Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood expansion won the Expansion of the Year award at the Stratics Central Editor's Choice Awards 2006. Lineage II also received an Honorable Mention for the Game of the Year award. At the 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Lineage II was nominated for "Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year."

Sequels

Lineage II is one of the online multiplayer games studied in an article by Constance Steinkuehler and Dmitri Williams titled "Where Everybody Knows Your (Screen) Name: Online Games as 'Third Places'."

Lineage 2 M is a mobile version of Lineage II. It was created to copy the way the game is played but for phones and tablets. It was released on November 27, 2019.

A prequel called Lineage 2: Revolution was released as a mobile game in 2016.

NCsoft officially announced Lineage Eternal as the next game in the Lineage series in November 2011. The first videos showing how the game plays were shown at the G-Star 2011 gaming event in South Korea on November 10. In 2017, NCsoft changed the game’s name to Project TL. In 2022, it was renamed Throne and Liberty. The game was released in 2023.