Lineage Episode XII: Aden debuts

NCsoft Corp., makers of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Lineage, have released Episode XII: Aden. The company said that this is the last installment of this version of Lineage, a game that first launched in 1998 and has more than 3 million active subscribers, including Mac OS X users.

Episode XII brings Lineage players the ability to explore the city of Aden and the lands that surround it. Points of note include The Twilight Mountains, inhabited by fierce giants; the Tower of Insolence, a dangerous area where only the best adventurers can survive; and the Scar of Lindvior, a great gash in the earth created when Lindvior the Wind Dragon plummeted to the ground. The Castle of Aden offers enormous rewards for Lineage players who can conquer it, as well — Lineage players who siege the castle and Aden can become the ultimate ruler of the land, with influence exercised on Lineage’s other six castles, according to the developer.

Episode II: Aden also adds new game systems to Lineage. The hometown system allows players to register as village residents, with a mayor selected based on each player’s contribution to protecting the area. Players who register as residents are paid a monthly dividend for keeping the area safe. And there’s also a new alliance system that allows pledges in Lineage to band together.

Lineage is available for a free download (if you have the bandwidth) or by request on a free CD. You can play free for a 7 day trial period, and afterwards you’ll pay a subscription of US$15 a month. Lineage supports Mac OS X 10.1.2 or higher, and Mac users share the same online world with their PC counterparts.

Alas, this final installment in the Lineage story may be the end of the Lineage road for Macintosh users all together — a FAQ posted to the official Lineage II Web site suggests that there are no plans to develop a Mac version to Lineage’s sequel, now in development.