Lineage 2M is an MMORPG for PC, Android, and iOS. The game celebrated huge successes in Korea and is among the top-grossing MMORPGs there. In December 2021, Lineage 2M will also come to us in the West. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch tried out the beta as part of Find Your Next Game.
What kind of game is this? Lineage is one of the most successful MMORPG franchises worldwide. The first part was released in 1998, is still being developed today, and is a cult classic in Korea. Lineage 2M was released in 2019 and primarily aimed to impress with beautiful 3D graphics.
In Korea, Lineage 2M celebrated great success right at release. Over 5 million players and a revenue of nearly 253 million euros made it a truly successful MMORPG. Even in the latest quarterly report from NCSoft, Lineage 2M is doing extremely well.
You play a character from a third-person perspective and experience a story driven by quests:
- There are 5 different races, but they are gender-locked.
- You choose from 6 classes at the start, with multiple subclasses available later. You can also completely change your class as you progress through the game.
- The world is completely open, and loading screens only appear when traveling from one location to another.
- Thanks to the special technology, up to 10,000 players should be able to play together or against each other in PvP. However, we could not verify this in the test.
When will the game be released for us? On December 2nd, Lineage 2M will celebrate its release here in the West. You can play it on your smartphone or via the Purple program on PC. We tested the beta on PC and will give you a closer look at the MMORPG.
From the Lineage series, he has already played the second part, which was released as a PC game in the West, as well as the mobile game Lineage M. He spent around 5 hours engaging with Lineage 2M.
A weak start, but graphics and sound can impress
Those starting with Lineage 2M will be immediately surprised by several negative points. Besides the fact that the different races are bound to a fixed gender, there is also no character editor. Visually, all players initially look the same.
Moreover, the game offers autoplay, even though there are clear limitations:
- Your character can automatically walk to the quest location by clicking
- Your character can automatically fight at the quest location
- Your character automatically uses potions when health points drop too low
- However, quests are not automatically accepted and turned in
- Additionally, there are no XP for grinding mobs, only for quests. You will have to play yourself.
It is surprising that there are no real quest indicators. So, if you only read quest texts or look for markers on the map, you won’t get directly to the goal. However, by clicking on the quest, you immediately start moving, which leads to an indirect forced autoplay.
Furthermore, the MMORPG relies on the typical markers in the tutorial, where the entire game is darkened, and only the part that the game wants to explain right now is clickable. I fundamentally find this mechanic annoying.
The quests at the start are typical fetch and kill quests, as seen in almost all MMORPGs. Thanks to the autoplay, this brings a typical mobile character vibe that everyone knows from playing an autoplay MMORPG on their smartphone.
However, Lineage 2M already has good aspects right from the start and impresses with strong graphics, especially considering that it is primarily a mobile game.
The character’s movements are fluid, and the animations for attacks and skills fit the combat situation. Additionally, the attacks feel impactful at least at times, such as when projectiles from skills slightly knock back the enemy. Here, Lineage 2M has a lot to offer compared to other mobile games.
Even the sound exceeds my expectations. The combat sounds are fitting, and the music changes depending on the area. This provides variety. The sound effects of waterfalls or the sound of the sea in the cutscene with the ship are also well done.
The English voice-overs for the quests will not blow you away, but at least you can tell that professional voice actors were involved.
In the UI, it is clear that Lineage 2M is a mobile game. However, it offers a skills bar that allows for more skills than is typical in other mobile MMORPGs. That at least is a small consolation.
It is also odd that the PC version occasionally switches to a standby screen to save battery. This naturally seems quite bizarre:
When it comes to fighting, I was mainly on autoplay. However, the game offers about 30 active and passive skills per main class. In the first 25 levels, fighting yourself was not necessary at all, which is a bit unfortunate.
But if you want to fight yourself, you can move with WASD or the left mouse button and perform an auto-attack with a right-click. You activate the skills using the keys 1-9 by default.
If you want to get a first glimpse of the gameplay, you can watch my first 50 minutes in the MMORPG in this video:
Deep progression for players who survive the first hours
Lineage 2M offers many typical MMO systems. You level up, experience quests, can enter dungeons via a dungeon finder, and fight bosses in the open world. You will also encounter various PvP arenas, a global auction house, and a daily login reward, which is common in Korean MMORPGs.
Additionally, the MMORPG has a fairly simple crafting system. You break down old equipment to gain materials. You can then combine these, along with some gold, into a new item. There is no tree cutting or mining in this MMORPG.
However, those who spend more time with Lineage 2M will discover some interesting content.
There is a set system that grants you bonus stats when you combine certain pieces of armor and weapons. This at least excites the collector in me since I want to find the specific pieces to complete a set.
Another highlight is collecting and upgrading pets. You can earn chests in the game from which pets can come out. They have different passive effects and can also be improved when you collect multiple of them. Again, the collector in me is tickled.
Another pleasant surprise was the class system. Because whoever chooses a class at the beginning can later change it if you have collected the right cards.
Class cards come in normal, rare, unique, epic, and legendary levels. The selection is large, as there are 26 different epic classes alone. As I understand it, the classes fundamentally belong to the respective main class and also use its abilities. However, the attributes are adjusted, and there is a slightly different playstyle.
If you happen to get a strong class card at the start, you can switch immediately. This happened to me in the video with a unique class, the Blade Muse.
You will also unlock some cards suitable for your class through progress in the game itself.
Really cool is the fact that Lineage 2M can really handle hundreds of players at one location. Although not that many players were active at the same time during the beta test, Korean videos on YouTube show that hundreds of players often appear for world bosses, giving a true MMO feel.
However, I view the equipment enhancement system negatively. There are special scrolls that improve the equipment. However, from a certain level, it can happen that the equipment is completely destroyed in the process.
I have already criticized this system in MMORPGs like Black Desert or Elyon and find it not good here in Lineage 2M either.
What about the shop? The shop could unfortunately not be tested in the beta.
In the Korean version, which I also installed, there are chests where you can find class cards and pets. This somewhat diminishes the collecting aspect. However, some chests can also be bought with in-game currency.
There are also XP boosters available in the shop.
I understand the hype around Lineage 2M in Korea, but it’s not my game
Lineage 2M appears in the first minutes as a classic mobile MMORPG with autoplay and little depth. However, those who engage with the game for longer will find some exciting systems, including the many different classes that can constantly be changed.
Moreover, the MMORPG awakens the collector in me. I can complete sets, collect pets, and of course try to unlock all classes. The game also impresses with strong graphics for smartphones and good sound.
Taking the positive aspects together, I can fully understand why this game is experiencing a hype in Korea. It simply outshines many other mobile MMORPGs and is also part of the Lineage universe, which is simply huge in Korea.
However, to this day, I cannot get used to autoplay and the destructible equipment. I do not understand why I should play an MMORPG that plays itself and forces me to grind more just because of “bad luck.” However, anyone looking for a new mobile game should definitely give Lineage 2M a chance in December.
Alexander Leitsch
MMORPG expert at MeinMMO
