Role-Playing

The role-playing aspects of L2 take the biggest hit due to the lack of customization mentioned in the Graphics section. It's really hard to get into your character and role-play if you are surrounded by people who look exactly like you. The lean selection choices in Race and Class also hurt this category a lot too. You just really can't make the exact character you want in this game. Unless of course you're one of the small minorities of people in the world who enjoy basically playing the same exact character as about one tenth of the other people playing the game. The hardcore role-players out there might be able to work with the system like it is, but in my opinion it definitely does not facilitate role-playing.

I know it's hard to incorporate role-playing into mmorpgs, one of the most often asked questions is "Where's the RP in MMORPGs?" But a lot of this comes from having the tools at your disposal to create the role-playing environment for your character. And personally I don't feel that L2 has provided that for the role-players among us. As previously stated the character customization is drastically lacking; making it nearly impossible to create a character that is uniquely you. For those people who like to role-play a non-combatant type character your options are slim-to-none. Dwarves are the only race who can craft, and crafting is the only real non-combatant thing you can do in the game. But unless you want to rely on other players to supply your materials you'll still need to get out there and farm for those, which puts you right back into the combat.

Value

Lineage 2 is definitely one of those "Love it or Hate it" type of games; there is NO middle ground really. People who aren't as concerned with variety and love wide open PvP with little to no restrictions will love this game. People who want more depth to their characters and don't want to be forced to PvP will hate it. As far as most aspects of the game goes it is VERY well done: graphics, sound, gameplay, etc. As for judging the value of the game it's going to come down to what type of person you are. If you live for the risk of being PKed at any time; or live for the thrill of the hunt of PKing other players whenever your heart desires, this is the game for you. If you're more into role-playing your character, if you want more depth and options for your characters, if you don't like to PvP or at least don't like unrestricted PvP then this is NOT the game for you.

If you fall into the first category though then Lineage 2 should provide hours upon hours of entertainment. And with the first of twelve planned chronicles/expansions having just been released, the value will only increase. The chronicles are basically exactly like you'd expect any other expansion for any other game to be like; packed full of content. The only difference is these are free and downloaded just like any other patch. The first chronicle added tons of new regions, fixed some balance issues and added the most important and impressive feature: Castle Sieges. If this one is any example of what's to come in the next eleven chronicles then this game will definitely be worth the money.

Fun

There are several aspects of the game which lowered the Fun rating for me. First of all is the grind. I had been warned about it in advance, and honestly I didn't find it as bad as a lot of people made out, but leveling was indeed a chore. I can kind of see the reasoning behind this though; with twelve expansions or chronicles planned it makes sense to want to keep the leveling slow. This way characters aren't maxed out before the second chronicle ever hits and bored with the game. But knowing the reasoning for something doesn't always make it easier to deal with. With the amount of grind that is involved in this game, it's not for the casual gamer. If you're the type of person who only puts in 30 minutes to an hour or so a day, then you won't get very far in the game anytime soon. This game seems almost specifically designed for the people who put 5+ hours into the game on a daily basis.

Secondly is the economy. In my opinion it is one of the worst features of the game. Items are so astronomically priced that even though it takes you forever to level, you still find yourself farming for Adena (ingame currency) to upgrade your equipment. I'd be more tolerable of this if it was a player driven economy but for the most part it isn't. Most of the items in the game you CAN buy from a NPC merchant, however it is completely ill advised. You can get the same items cheaper from a PC in merchant mode; it just involves some searching. But even there some of the fun is sapped away because you have to constantly be on the lookout for scam artists trying to rip you off. I just personally feel the economy is WAY over inflated, it's insane that at level 20, not even one third of the way to max level, a good set of armor and accessories and weapon costs between three and five million Adena. While this may not sound like a lot, keep in mind around these levels you're probably averaging 150 or so Adena per kill. This comes out to roughly somewhere between 25,000 and 42,000 kills; assuming of course you're not spending any of that money on healing potions and other consumables to make the killing go faster.