DESCRIPTION

The world of Lineage: The Blood Pledge sets a stage for combat, interaction, and character development. At first glance, Lineage: The Blood Pledge is reminiscent of titles like Baldur's Gate or Diablo II, featuring an isometric perspective on 2D "sprite" characters in detailed, hand-painted background environments. Separate pop-up menu windows for character information, inventory management, and spells are another common feature. While these other successful role-playing games may feature some multiplayer options, however, online play is the primary focus of Lineage and this game does not support single-player adventuring.

Based on his behavior — be it lawful, neutral, or chaotic — the player's character will develop a reputation and the game's NPCs and the other human-controlled characters will react to him accordingly. Interaction with other avatars becomes an important factor of gameplay, even for the "lone wolf" character. The game's subtitle itself conjures notions of the dynamic diplomacy between human-controlled player characters which is only possible in such an online environment. There are eight different regional "locations" in the persistent online world of Lineage: The Blood Pledge, each offering its own unique atmosphere and challenges to the progressing player character.

The game's fantasy medieval setting is based on the similarly titled comic book series by Ilsook Shin. Extremely popular in Korea prior to its US release, the original Lineage boasted over 2.7 million registered users by early 2001. The game was updated, enhanced, and brought to the States by NCsoft Corporation, Ltd., a company founded by Richard Garriott (who is also known by his in-game alter-ego "Lord British"). Garriott was the creator of the influential Ultima series and pioneered "massively multiplayer online role-playing" with the release of Ultima Online in 1997. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide