Earlier today, NCsoft founder and CEO Kim Taek-jin officially introduced Lineage W to the world via a livestream. First announced last week, it was revealed that the “W” actually stands for “Worldwide”. Mr Kim mentioned that despite NCsoft having developed various Lineage games over the past 24 years, there were always regrets of not being able to make the “best version” of Lineage. This will change with Lineage W, which has been in development for 4 years.
Mr Kim, who is part of the development team of Lineage W, said that he went into this project with the mentality of “developing the last Lineage game.” Lineage W is touted as the accumulation of 24 years of hard work spent on the Lineage series, the “definitive edition” as he described. Lineage W is meant to be played worldwide, hence it will launch as a cross-platform global one-build on PC (via Purple), consoles (PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch), and mobile.
A goal of Lineage W is to introduce the Lineage series to domestic and global gamers who are new to Lineage. Taking place 130 years after Lineage 1, Lineage W is almost similar to a remastered version of the original game with full 3D graphics (Unreal Engine 4) and quarter-view camera. Major bosses, such as the dragon Antharas, will now fill most of the screen. Terrains will change during the battle, so players must strategize properly to make use of the changing environment.
The cell/grid system for combat is an important element in Lineage W, which forces players to change positions regularly to gain an advantage over opponents. On a large-scale global PVP battlefield, this system creates a realistic warfare scenario by emphasizing the importance of strategic position and formation. It seems that this is an upgraded version of what was in the original Lineage game.
Lineage W’s design theme is “dark fantasy,” where the series’ iconic principles such as “honor, sacrifice, and blood oath” becomes more serious and “heavier” per say. NCsoft is touting that players can imagine their characters challenging and overcoming the world right from the character creation stage. Stories that match the worldview will also help players to immerse themselves naturally into the game.
“Global battle community” is the main mantra in which Lineage W is developed towards. Hence, AI translation technology has been introduced in the game so that users who speak different languages can communicate with each other and have an authentic MMO experience. Not only can players check foreign languages in their own language through the chat window, their chat text (including game slangs) is also translated immediately, allowing for hassle-free communication.
Lineage W is scheduled to launch worldwide later this year (2021), but personally I am skeptical about this timeline. NCsoft has delayed game launches before, so do not be surprised if this happens to Lineage W as well. Stay tuned for more updates!
