Lineage is a medieval fantasy, massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in Korea and the United States in 1998 by the South Korean computer game developerNCsoft, based on a Korean comic book series of the same name. It is the first game in the Lineage series. It is most popular in Korea and is available in Chinese, Japanese, and English language versions. The game was designed by Jake Song, who had previously designed , another MMORPG. Lineage features 2D isometric-overhead graphics similar to those of Ultima Online and Diablo II. Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle, a "prequel" set 150 years before the time of Lineage, was released in 2003. By 2006, the Lineage franchise had attracted 43 million players. Project TL, a sequel will be set after Lineage and will be the last game in the Lineage series. In May 2011, NCSoft announced that due to unprofitability, the North American Servers would be shut down on June 29, 2011.
Gameplay
Lineage's stat, monster, and item system was originally largely borrowed from NetHack with MMO elements added. Players can choose one of seven character classes: Elf, Dark Elf, Knight, Prince, Magician, Dragon Knight, or Illusionist. Princes are the only class that can lead a blood pledge. Game play is based primarily upon a castle siege system which allows castle owners to set tax rates in neighboring cities and collect taxes on items purchased in stores within those cities. It features classic RPG elements reminiscent of Dungeons & Dragons, such as killing monsters and completing quests for loot and experience points, levels, character attributes, and alignments. A character's alignment affects how monsters and town guards react to the player's character, often turning hostile to chaotic players and attacking on sight. Player versus player combat is extensive in Lineage. Players can engage in combat with other player characters at any time as long as they are not in safe zones such as cities. By joining a "bloodpledge" players become eligible to engage in castle sieges or wars between bloodpledges.
Subscription history
NCsoft has reported that Lineage had at one point more than three million subscribers, most of them in Korea. The magnitude of the number Korean subscribers compared to other countries has sparked a number of theories. A ban on some Japanese imports until 1998 has been cited for delayed growth in its video game console market. As of April 2008, Lineage had a little under 1 million active subscriptions. On May 11, 2011, NC Interactive, the subsidiary of NCSoft in the United States announced it would shut down the Lineage servers because of poor subscription revenues. Various events were scheduled to take place in the weeks remaining. Players were given free subscriptions to other NCSoft titles of their choice. As of June 29, 2011, Lineage has shut down all servers in NA, permanently. Between the start in 1998 and August 2012, NCsoft has accumulated US$1.3 billion in sales from Lineage. In November 2013 NC Soft announced that the game has made US$1.8 billion.
Origin of "Lineage"
The title Lineage came from a series of comic books with same title Lineage by Shin Il-sook, and the servers of Lineage are named after the characters of the comic book. It is a fantasy story where a rightful prince reclaims the throne from the hands of a usurper. When first created, the game closely resembled the original work. As developers have added new features, however, the fictional universes of the two works have gradually diverged.
