3 reasons to turn off auto-play in Lineage 2: Revolution

Developer Netmarble took the reins for the Lineage franchise’s platform-hop to mobile, and the transition came with a few gameplay differences. Unlike its PC predecessor, Lineage 2: Revolution allows you to go more-or-less ‘hands-free’, with auto-battle and auto-questing making grinding a less labour-intensive affair. While this makes sense on mobile – where touch-screen controls can be fiddly – sometimes it’s fun to do things the old-fashioned way. Here are three good reasons to turn off auto-play in Lineage 2: Revolution.

Enjoy the view

Letting Lineage 2: Revolution play in the background is great when you’re sorting through your inventory and tweaking your stats. But it’s easy to spend more time staring at menus than watching the action unfolding in the world map. When you turn off auto-play and navigate from quest to quest manually, you start to notice more of the graphical details in the environments, character models and monsters. There are a lot of nice visual flourishes you miss auto-questing at breakneck pace.

Combat gets its punch back

Turn off auto-battle and you’re suddenly in control of your character’s every slash and hack, every arrow loosed, every magical spear launched. You feel the fight more, rather just passively observing a blizzard of blows. Plus, there’s an added sense of achievement when you trigger attacks and combinations at just the right moment to overcome a tough opponent.

A sense of exploration

When you turn off auto-play and free-roam everywhere from Cruma Swamp to the West Talking Island, you can wander off the beaten track. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself in little corners of the map you totally overlooked because they weren’t right on a quest path. It’s a fun way to get to know the Lineage 2: Revolution world, and feel like you’re actually exploring a treacherous environment.

So why not take a gamble, go ‘old school’ and try Lineage 2: Revolution with auto-play off? Or alternate – switch when you’ve got the time to play manually, and back to auto-questing when you’ve got to deal with IRL responsibilities, like the 9-5, raising kids, making your tenth cup of coffee, et cetera, et cetera. You can download Lineage 2: Revolution for free on Android and iOS.