City of Heroes GameSpy: NCSoft and Destination Games are showing two games here at E3: City of Heroes, a superhero MMORPG from Cryptic Studios and Lineage 2 from NCSoft. We've cornered Destination Games founder, Ultima Creator, and self-exiled Lord of Britannia Richard Garriott for an interview. He discusses superheroics, Korean gamers, Lineage, MMORPGs and maybe he'll even reveal a bit about his secret new game Tabula Rasa.

Today we sit down with Yong-hyun Park (lead programmer) and Hyung-jin Kim (lead game designer) from the Korean Lineage II development team to learn more about what it's like to build an online role-playing game using bleeding-edge Unreal technology.

Jonric: How and why did you choose the title "The Chaotic Chronicle", and to what does it refer? Hyung Jin Kim & James Bae: 'The Chaotic Chronicle' subtitle of Lineage II was the outcome of several brainstorming sessions. We hoped that the subtitle of Lineage II would express the large-scale war, strategies, conflicts, and collaborations that we hope to encourage among players. The Lineage II world represents the historical time before legitimacy was established by blood. It is a chaotic time in which every person is harboring his or her own ambitions. The inherent struggle is to establish your own legitimacy and justice.

What is your role for games like Lineage, Lineage II and City of Heroes? Do you work constantly on these games with designers, or are you more a kind of consultant for these games? Starr Long: We are more like consultants. We offer feedback and guidance based on our experience whenever we are asked by the team. Richard Garriott: Ditto!

GameSpot: One of the most significant and obvious differences between Lineage II and the original game is the graphics engine. Could you explain why you chose to use Unreal technology for the sequel, rather than a different graphics engine?

Lineage is getting a very large and potentially better prequel. Set hundreds of years before the first game, players will be taken to a land ruled by princes and swayed by the Blood Pledge. The newest incarnation of Lineage will utilize the Unreal engine technology and will be the first Lineage to be in 3D.

How do you follow up one of the most popular MMORPG’s of all time? Well you make the best MMORPG of all time. If you don’t know what I am talking about, it is Lineage II from NCSoft. The original Lineage allowed you to choose from four character races; however, the key was the ability for you to create a prince type and with the power of your guild members you could take control of a castle. You then had the ability to tax the town and also had to defend the castle from attacking forces. They ensured this by adding a forced attack system.

Sony Online's EverQuest may have been the headlining success story for online RPGs in the US, but the success of NCsoft's Lineage reached a completely different level in Asia, where the game reportedly has millions of regular players. While many players who are used to the 3D graphics of EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot may very well wonder at Lineage's success, especially considering that game's dated 2D graphics, NCsoft has used that success to establish an enviable position in the industry. The publisher is carrying several games, including the online superhero game City of Heroes, and it also has a major sequel to Lineage coming. It doesn't take more than a second look at the screenshots to see that Lineage II is a big graphical step up from the original game, but the developers hope that the sequel's deeper gameplay will make it a hit on US shores.

The numbers for the original Lineage: The Bloodpledge are staggering. This Korean MMORPG hit it big at just the right time, just as Korean gaming and LAN centers were exploding. It became as much a cultural phenomenon as a game. Projected revenues for Lineage are expected to hit the equivalent of 156 million US Dollars in 2003! Using this power base, it's no surprise that the utmost care is being lavished on the sequel, which looks like it'll be more appealing to Western audiences than the first. The graphics (using the latest Unreal technology) are absolutely top notch. And the gameplay offers some big surprises for MMOG fans.

Lineage is one of the most popular persistent state games in the world, although it has never quite found its market in North America. It has a very strong Player versus Player component and a depth of gameplay very few games possess. NCSoft is hoping to broaden the market outside of Korea for the next incarnation with Lineage 2. It is visually stunning, featuring incredible 3D environments and 360 degree movement. It is very combat driven, featuring sieges and intense player versus player conflict, and it set in a traditional fantasy environment.

Apparently, all Koreans do is play Lineage. It's "Lineage this" and "Lineage that" and "I'm going to keep playing Lineage until I slump over in my chair from malnutrition and exhaustion." You can just imagine the chaos that is going to ensue once Lineage II hits store shelves. Supermarkets devoid of junk food, soda shortages, coffee nowhere to be found, and streets empty with only wandering babes crying for their parents. This is the future of Korea. And while Lineage came to North America too late to do considerable business, NCSoft is hoping to bring this apocalyptic vision of empty streets and crying babies here as well.

I'm posting this on our Lineage site, but I'm still expe

Back in 1998 a small company called NCSoft put out an online role-playing game called Lineage. While the game never quite caught on in the U.S. it dominated the Asian market. People are still playing the game today thanks to product updates that have led to a very complex and rewarding social and political system to go along with the typical combat. Fast forward to today. NCSoft is poised to unleash something wonderful on the gaming world. Lineage II is coming onto the MMORPG scene and it is going to be a force to contend with.

Both Digi-cam images (of some amazing armor) and images given to the press at E3 2003

A compilation of official Lineage II screenshots and those contributed by players.

You'll never look at a Female Dark Elf (or Orc) the same way again.