1998 · NC · MMORPG

Lineage

1998 massively multiplayer online role-playing video game

Released: 3 September 1998
Platforms: Windows macOS
Genres: MMORPG
Developers: NC
Publishers: NC
Series: Lineage
Modes: Multiplayer
Country: South Korea
Composers: Joey Newman

About

Lineage (Korean: 리니지), also known as Lineage: The Blood Pledge in Western markets, is a medieval fantasy, massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in Korea and the United States in 1998 by the South Korean computer game developer NCSoft, 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. The game was designed by Jake Song, who had previously designed Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, 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. Lineage W and Throne and Liberty are sequels set after Lineage and will be the last two games in the Lineage series.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

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 (which is Lineage's term for a guild or clan).

Development

The title Lineage came from a series of comic books with the 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.

Reception

NCSoft 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.