Around Christmas of 2002 a new game entered the massively multiplayer online role-player games that changed the graphical quality of the genre. Asheron’s Call 2 was a marked improvement in terms of graphics. The bar was elevated. In late October of 2003, Final Fantasy XI dropped into the genre and nudged that bar upwards.

In late April of this year, the bar will be raised once again. Graphically stunning, the key to the success of Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicles will ultimately fall into the realm of content. But this pending release from NCsoft seems to have all the elements in place for an immersive journey into the realms of medieval fantasy.