In a really unexpected move, NCsoft announced the 3rd title for the Lineage series, Lineage Eternal, at a pre-G*Star 2011 press conference earlier today. And yes, Lineage Eternal will be a new title, not an update to Lineage II.
According to reports, combat will be action based with players able to make use of objects to their advantage. The game is slated to enter Closed Beta later in 2012, with its debut trailer coming in 2 days’ time.
The storyline for Lineage Eternal is somewhat similar in terms of fantasy value. detailing the rise of heroes after 200 years of tyranny under the kingdom. Eventually, the world fell under the rule of evil forces, leading to a group of young heroes determined to right the wrong and standing up against them.
One of the main features will be PvE and PvP combat, with the screen littered with opponents and allies in a grand war of unsurpassed scale. There will be chaos no doubt, but apparently it will be going the way similar to Dynasty Warriors with all the crazy amount of objects, enemies and players on the screen at the same time.
Talking about making use of objects, here is an example given. If you are looking to cross a broken bridge, you can throw a hook across to the other side and slowly climb over. You can even step on an ally character to climb over a castle wall!
The “Drag and Hold” combat system is somewhat new to online games. For example, if you are casting a fire spell on your hand, you can drag and hold the move and move a full circle, in the meantime damaging every enemy around you. Awesome!
The screenshot below displays how the environment reacts to various spells. In this case, the weeds are catching fire due to the mage’s fire spell.
Another example of “Drag and Hold”, the mage is casting the Telekinesis skill in the screenshot below. By dragging the target and throwing him at a nearby monster crowd, splash damage can be done to them as shown in the 2nd screenshot.
During large scale wars, there will also be a “Smart View” option for players, where the camera automatically adjusts itself for the best view for players.
Below are some in-game images, although kind of small. Note that the camera view will turn isometric, similar to the one found in the Diablo series. The game is still full 3D though, but expect most of your time to be in this view mode. Only 3 classes are shown now, the Knight, Mage and Spirit Archer. Lineage Eternal is looking somewhat like a homage to Linage 1 if you ask me.
