Lineage 2: Chronicle IV Preview, Part III

One of the most universally accessible additions with Chronicle 4 is the new fishing system, which can be used by all players regardless of their level. The fishing system is a new mini-game that players can perform using a fishing pole and bait. Players will battle with fish, alternating between pumping and reeling to wear the fish’s health down. Once a fish is caught, double clicking on it can produce materials and recipes used to make the new Accessories (see below), potions, and dyes or can be traded for Proofs of Fishing which are used to learn Common Skills.

The new Common Skills are mostly related to player inventory and trade abilities. Most of the skills, as the name suggests, are common to all players… though some of them give special bonuses to the Dwarven crafting classes.

Players can learn four different Common Skills: Expand Common Craft, which expands either the Dwarven Recipe Book (if you’re a dwarf) or the Normal Recipe Book (used to make Accessories with materials gained through fishing); Expand Trade, which increases the number of items that players can sell in private store mode; Expand Inventory, which increases the number of items that a player can carry; and Expand Storage, which increases the number of items that a player can store.

The Common Skills, as mentioned above, require Proof of Fishing items to learn, and players can only improve them every 10 character levels (IE a level 40 player can have a maximum of 4 levels in each Common Skill). Players also automatically learn a 5th Common Skill, Create Common Item. This skill allows players to create Accessories, potions, and dyes.

Potions and dyes have been in the game for a while now, but Accessories are also new with Chronicle 4. Players will be able to create different appearance-altering items, from eye patches to cat ears to hair pins. Recipes and materials for these items are gathered through fishing, or recipes can be manufactured via some Clan Halls.

Chronicle 4 also introduces three new pets: the Baby Kookaburra, Baby Buffalo, and Baby Cougars. These pets can be obtained either by doing a quest or creating a pet trade ticket at a Clan Hall. Unlike wolves and hatchlings, the baby pets do not have to fight alongside you to gain EXP. The baby pets are healers rather than fighters, and always take 10% of a player’s EXP. It’s not all fun and games, though – like wolves and hatchlings, the babies are easily killed and require Baby Spice (pet food) to keep them up and running.

In the wilderness you can find adult versions of the new baby pets, which can be temporarily tamed (players lose them on logging out or teleporting). These pets have buffs instead of heals. In the future, say Chronicle 5 or 6, players may be able to turn their tamed baby pets into adults… but no promises!

Along with the ability to manufacture accessory recipes and pet tickets, many Clan Halls get other upgrades from C4. Clan leaders in charge of Devastated Castle or an Aden Clan Hall can now summon wyverns. Devastated Castle and the Bandit Stronghold can now produce Scrolls of Enchant Armor, and both of the aforementioned clan halls, along with Partisan Hideaway, now have more buffs available to occupying clan members.

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One of the coolest new features available with Chronicle 4 is the video capture. This feature is surprisingly unique… instead of capturing actual video, it records the actions and positions of items and people to be replayable in the client. The camera is completely independent during the replay; players will be able to move it around, find the best angles, and send the files to their friends.

Chronicle 4 looks to be an amazingly large update, with many new areas, class features, and game features. “[It’s] difficult to imagine getting through all of [Chronicle 4] before C6, let alone C5,” remarked one of the NCSoft representatives.

Once again, MMORPG.com would like to extend many thanks to Mike Crouch (NCSoft PR Manager), Adam Davidson (Lineage II Producer), Tim Tan (Lineage II Associate Producer), Sam Han (Development Liaison), Brian Hudson (Lineage II Event Coordinator), and Jason Ford (Lineage II Event Coordinator); without them, this article would not be possible!

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You can also go back and read both Part I and Part II of her three part preview.