massively multiplayer

All the other reviewers have allready touched on L2's graphics, so there's little left to say in that department. The game is stunning for an MMORPG, and can handle a *ton* of characters and monsters in a small area (so long as you have a powerful pc with at least a gig of ram).

Outside of graphics, you are left with gameplay, which is where the formula of L2 starts to reveal itself. The game is 100% gear oriented, and gear falls into various catagories called "grades". As your character advances, you gain access to better grades of gear. Even the low end gear in any particular grade is shockingly expensive. In a way, it's good that gear is so hard to obtain, because you really feel a sense of accomplishment when you can finally afford or craft something good for your toon.

On the flip side, dropping a nice piece of equipment when you die can be a game killer. Imagine playing a game for 2 months to be able to afford a really nice set of armor only to have it drop because your toon got killed in battle. Downgrading usually isn't an option, as the gear from a lower grade won't cut it against the monsters you need to fight in order to advance your toon. The other flip side is that you might have a higher level toon you spent a long time on, only to lose in PvP against some lower level toon with better gear. You can easily lose to someone 10 levels lower than you if you have mid grade gear and the other guy has top of the line gear, especially if he's playing a superior class (more on that later).

But gear aside, the core of L2 is PvP. Again, there are some "unique" elements to the PvP system in L2. You have 5 races, but only 9 starting classes. After 20 long levels, you finally have access to some new classes and skills. The thing about all this is that really there's only 3 classes that are viable in PvP: gladiator types (the tanks of the game), dagger classes (the damage dealers) and archers (also damage dealers). Every other class is pretty much relegated to supporting these 3 "main" classes.

Mages are basically useless as there is easily available gear that can render their spells useless (at least until they hit insanely high level after months and months of playing), and they can be taken out in 2 or 3 shots by many of the other classes, all of whom are faster and hit harder. Healers are great for healing (duh) and have some nice support and buff spells, but again they can be taken down in a hurry by any of the other 3 main PvP classes. The entire dwarf and orc races are largely useless in PvP, though iirc there is one orc mage class that is decent in a support role. Even out of the "main" PvP classes, there is one race, either human, elf, or dark elf, who's class utterly dominates every other races. So in the end, if you pick the wrong race and class, your stuck on the sidelines in any PvP situation.

On to the skill system. There is no limit on skill points, so everyone winds up with all the skills of their class (unless you intentionally ignore skills that you won't use later in your toons career). What this translates into is the inability to create a unique strategy in any way, shape, or form. If you can't at least come up with your own PvP strategy and approach, who's strategy and approach are you using?

So really what you have is this: A PvP game where you can't do *anything* as a player to make your character any better at PvP. The strategies available to your toon are dictated by the developers of the game. You have no freedom as a gamer to choose skill a and combine it with skill b to produce a unique character with a powerful offense and/or defense. Every other toon of the same race and class as you allready has both skill a and b. Once you pick your toons race and class, all of those decisions have allready been made for you. This is a fatal flaw in an otherwise decent (though far from perfect) game.

"But L2 is a group PvP game" is the L2 mantra. True enough, L2 *is* a group PvP game. But what is there for groups to do? Well, the cornerstone is castle sieges, mass PvP events where huge groups attack a castle full of NPC's. The winning clan controls the castle for a week or two until the next siege when another clan can try to conquer it. Sounds great, right? But like everything else in L2, there's a catch. For starters, the npc's in the castles are all insanely high level. For a clan, or group of clans to even stand a chance at winning a siege they need dozens, if not hundreds of lvl 40+ toons to get the job done. Keep in mind, it will take you at least 2 or 3 months of solid playing almost daily to hit 40th level, triple that long if you are a casual gamer with a life outside of video games. So the team pvp focus of the game doesn't even begin until at least 2 months after you start your character.

Outside of castle sieges you have boss raids (again requiring large quantities of high level toons) and a pet system that allows you to have a fox, wolf, even a dragon as a companion. After months and months of grinding, your pet can become a pretty decent offensive partner, but we're talking about a pretty grueling grind to get there. You can even get a dragon to the point where you can fly around on it. Sounds cool but be warned, there's an *insane* grind to get to that point.

In the end, if you enjoy social, clan oriented games heavy on PvP, give L2 a try. Don't expect it to be easy, but it can be rewarding and fun if you stick it out. If you are an "achiever", "soloer", even an "explorer" type of gamer, this isn't your game, at least not for more than a month or 2. This game is really only fun for hardcore social gamers with a lot of time on their hands. If that describes you, check out L2.

Sure, nice graphics. That's pretty much where it ends. Where MMORPGs strive to be something unique, this one fails brilliantly.
I've read many reviews that say "OMG!!11! teh grafics r soooo uber cool!!111!!1". Children, one thing we've forgotten about games is that, sure, it can look great. But will you enjoy playing it? Will it give you the feeling that you're actually accomplishing something? This game does not.
Let me share with you the negative points of this game:
-Equipment price is outrageous.
-Lag lag lag.
-Nothing really interesting to do. Go out, kill, repeat.
-This game is entirely PvP. Which means you're going to have 'veterans' come out and kill 'n00bs'. Not very fun for someone just getting into the game.
-No point. I mean, what are you trying to do?

So, with that said, don't waste your money like I did. There are other MMORPGs out there *ahem* Dark Age of Camelot *ahem* that provide much more than just a repeated formula.

I was a part of the Open Beta for about a month and were among the higher ranked characters on my server. This does not mean I was among the top, but I was higher than most. I enjoyed this game for a time, it has good graphics and very easy gameplay. Its easy to get started and its easy to build a character, you are guided through your first steps and if you need more help other players are always willing.

There are however two big problems with this game. The first, as is with a lot of MMORPGs of the "first wave" (everquest, DAoC etc.), is that its very repetitive. Nothing new ever really happens. You go out and kill some stuff and gain a few levels, you go back and get better equipment and some new skills (far to few to select from to create unique characters), you go out and kill some tougher stuff and gain a few more levels and then back again for better equipment/skills. You can, and should, quest most of the time but the diversity of the quests arent very good and they to mostly evolve around "kill X, return to me with Y".

The lack of diversity is the second big problem, you will find a lot of other players that are almost exactly like you. Most of your race will look like you, but quite a lot will also be like you since the game is lacking in unique skills to chose from.

All in all I think most people will find this game enjoyable for a month or two, but then tire of it as nothing new ever happens. I for one grew very tired after my first month and would never consider buying this product. If you are one of those who never tired of Everquest this might be the one to get for you though, its quite similar...