Throne and Liberty is a gorgeous upcoming open-world MMORPG developed by NCSoft, the studio behind the old Lineage MMOs, the newer Lineage MMOs, Blade & Soul, Aion.
They’ve had their hits, but they’ve also suffered severe misses. Throne and Liberty, however, looks to change their recent track record for the better, by creating an MMO on a much larger scale than they ever have before.
This is an MMO with an enormous, completely seamless, open world. There are no loading screens separating anything from players, and allows for players to move from one side of the continent to the other in a way only Black Desert Online has allowed for in recent memory.
This is an MMO designed with an emphasis on class fantasy, and not limiting players to a specific class. Instead, opting to allow for players to design and play their character in any way they want.
We’re not presented with a singular, defined class, instead, much like in Guild Wars 2, we’re given the chance to equip 2 weapons that have drastic alterations on our playstyle.
Allowing mages to run in and melee with close-proximity to enemies, archers to shoot fireballs, warriors to self-heal and healers to tank. The options are limitless, and this depth is going to provide us an experience we’re not typically familiar with.
There will be functional zone-wide PvP, with dynamic PvP events, dynamic PvE events, PvPvE World Bosses – but players won’t be forced into open-world encounters. Instead, players can proactively choose whether to participate or not.

And that’s just the surface of what was explained in the 10-minute Director’s Preview that came out yesterday. Let’s take a look at that in real time, and talk about it as it becomes relevant.

Throne and Liberty is planning a Global release in the first half of 2023. The game will be fully accessible on PC and consoles, but as they detailed in the trailer, you’ll also be capable of streaming the game to mobile devices – probably through the cloud. But the game itself is not available on mobile devices, nor is it built for mobile play in mind.
Throne and Liberty looks like it has the potential to provide players something truly grandiose in terms of scale. An MMO of incomparable quality to anything released in the last 5 years.
While I have high hopes for Blue Protocol, Throne and Liberty is going to give it a run for its money, and could potentially end up becoming the biggest MMO release of 2023.
Unfortunately they haven’t outlined a specific Closed Beta period yet, but that will no doubt be something they expand upon over the course of the next few months, as we inch ever closer to a full release.

I’m gonna be real with you all, when NCSoft confirmed that Project TL – AKA, Project The Lineage – AKA, Lineage Eternal – AKA, Lineage III, yes, we’ve really gone through that many incarnations of the game – would be launching Globally in 2022 on PC and Console.. I wasn’t overly optimistic.
Given we hadn’t seen any new footage in years made me even less certain, but as of earlier today, NCSoft revealed that the game has undergone an entire overhaul, from a top-down isometric MMO like Lost Ark, to a full third person action MMO like Black Desert with new gameplay mechanics that could potentially revolutionize the MMO genre.
And holy crap it looks ridiculously good.

I’ve been hyping up and covering this game for years – since I first heard about it alongside Lost Ark back in 2016? 2017? And today, we get to look at an almost complete product for a game I’ve been waiting for since the inception of MMOByte.

In the official blog post made by NCSoft, they went on to confirm that Throne and Liberty is going to be releasing in the second half of this year. Globally, it seems, as they note that they are going to be actively pursuing various different genres based on different models, and will be actively entering the global market.
They announced 5 games earlier this year, “not only MMORPGs, but also interactive movies, action battle royales, and collectible RPGs. All these games will be serviced in the global market.”
These 5 games, which I covered last month in a dedicated video are not the only games that are in the process of development. NC confirmed that they will “be releasing a variety of videos showcasing new IPs shown in February one by one. We also plan to create IPs that have not yet been made public.”
Again, this includes MMOs, RPGs and more. And they specifically state that these games will be built specifically for different platforms. But Throne and Liberty will be exclusive to PC and console.

Concerning Throne and Liberty, the devs went on to elaborate a little on why the game has taken as long as it has to release.
“The original objective of the project was “let’s make the next-generation Lineage,” a sentiment they express was held approximately 3 years ago. However, after “remaking the story of Throne and Liberty, it was materialized as a new IP.”

“In the process of development, a lot of the original system and content had to be adapted or removed to follow the current game trends. As a result, the gameplay also gradually became different from the original.
Decisively, we wrote a completely new story, and after this work, questions arose within the development team as well, like ‘Should this be called Lineage?’ So we changed the name to fit the new story. This also reflects the will of the development team to break the shell of Lineage.”

In essence, they felt like the game wouldn’t perform as they’d anticipated with the dated graphics, gameplay and mechanics.

“Throne and Liberty is a project created by reconsidering the core values that the next-generation MMO on PC and console should show.
Numerous efforts went into designing how immersive the world is where players play. The environment has been carefully constructed so that many people can continue to have new experiences and enjoy in the world of Throne and Liberty.”

Admittedly, that’s quite the grandiose claim to make. “Next-generation MMO?” This isn’t the first time we’ve heard that. But given how innovative Lineage, Aion and Blade & Soul were, I’m open to giving them the benefit of the doubt.

“For example, there have been various attempts to make field play less monotonous. Even in the same area, the terrain may change as the weather changes, the flow of battle may change depending on the direction of the wind, or you may encounter new mobs over time.
Hunting methods and purposes are constantly changing accordingly. The geographical features, the environment, and the player, these three factors influence each other, and we put a lot of effort into making the play come out in different ways even in the same area. We expect that diverse variables will create a vast array of gameplay.”

I take that back. THIS is a grandiose claim to make. An ever evolving game world where terrain changes as the weather changes, and the flow of battle being dependent on the direction of the wind? Migrating monsters?
I would love for this to be a thing, and if they somehow implement it, and it functions as we expect, then yes, this could be the biggest MMO in decades. But I just feel like they’re ideas are a little too grand.

They had a few things to say concerning it’s release in various different regions.
“It might sound rather ideal, but I think that if we appeal to players purely for enjoyment, it can be loved without boundaries between generations or regions. Thus, we created Throne and Liberty by thinking about what NC has missed so far and focusing on making up for it. We did not specifically divide the East and West or focus on a specific target.”
While a little vague, it seems as though they don’t plan on having regional restrictions, but they didn’t confirm whether a Western release would come simultaneously with, or after the Korean release.

This is going to be a very narrative-driven game. The devs feel that for players to fully enjoy an MMO – or a game more specifically, you need to find yourself engrossed in a larger world filled with lore and personality.
But that isn’t it. Story is important, but so is content. Which was also addressed. World bosses, dungeon bosses, raid bosses. Large, elite monsters. There will be a lot of difficulty – a lot of challenge present in-game that will require an adequate amount of teamwork.
These encounters, especially the world boss fights are going to require active participation by large quantities of players all cooperating with one another.
But given this is an MMO, you know that that’ll never happen.

The world itself was elaborated on a little, with the devs confirming that their goal was to seamlessly connect the entire world together.
So the player could move three-dimensionally. In light of this, they’ve made it so there is no fast-travel found within the game, rather, there needed to be a method with which to traverse the land at an increased rate, and thus they opted to allow players to transform into animals.
Yup, animals. So you can run faster across land. Swim faster through the water. Kinda like a Druid in World of Warcraft. Interesting direction to take, I know.

In an effort to further revolutionize how combat mechanics function in-game, they promise that weather conditions are going to affect combat physically. As an example, when you fire your bow, the strength of the wind is going to affect the range and trajectory of your arrow.
When it’s sunny, lightning-elemental magic is only going to hit a single target, as opposed to the magic becoming an AoE during stormy weather.
Seriously, I kid you not. If they somehow manage to find a way to physically implement these features into the game – which they claim they’ve already done, then this is going to be absolutely massive.

In another interesting direction, it turns out one of their other games, Project E, is going to share the same game-world with Throne and Liberty. They’ll be set on different continents, but be completely connected lore-wise.
Sharing a world-view is.. something you don’t typically see. It’s like if they split Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms into entirely different games.
Each game has their own unique narrative, setting, and will operate separately from one another. Project E will be Korean-inspired, while Throne and Liberty will be based around Medieval fantasy.

And.. that’s it. This game could be a monolithic, ground-breaking MMO that absolutely dominates the genre for years to come.
Or it could go down as one of the largest failures in history, given it’s been in development as Lineage III for 11 years, and Throne and Liberty for 4 by the time it releases later this year.
Which once more, they’ve confirmed they’re still on track for, Globally, as well. 2022, boys. This is it.

There are a few moments in life where people – or in this instance, developers truly define themselves and their legacies.
Today, NCSoft have revealed a few new projects slated for 2022 and beyond – titles that genuinely look incredible.
And we’re going to take a look at them right now.

The teaser showcased a grand total of 5 different games:
Project E – which is a brand new upcoming MMORPG, Project R – a battle royale that realistically nobody is going to be interested in at all, Project TL – which is slated for a full release this year and will be a major competitor to Lost Ark, Project M – a new RPG collector game and Blade & Soul S – the newest game in the Blade & Soul franchise.
Yes, because evidently.. we needed another Blade & Soul game. Because Blade & Soul 2, Blade & Soul M, Blade & Soul R, Blade & Soul 2.5, Blade & Soul Unleashed, Blade & Soul 2M, Blade & Soul Rehashed, Blade & Soul Classic, Blade & Soul Awakened, and Blade & Soul the Pre-Sequel weren’t enough.
Several of these games are slated to be launching on to PC specifically, some on PC and console like Project TL – with a PC launch early this year – and a global launch at that, and a console release in the second half of 2022, and one to be releasing on to mobile. Likely Blade & Soul S.

NCSoft have games like the Lineage franchise. Aion. Guild Wars. Blade & Soul. Plenty of incredible MMORPGs that will live on for years to come. But they alone aren’t enough to sustain the company long-term, as each and every one of these games have continued to decline year after year.
So they’re looking to expand.. and they’re looking to expand quite quickly. New intellectual properties. Already existing franchise spin-offs.
They’re making 2022 a big year for them, and are hoping to capture as much of the Global market as they can, especially given the monumental success that Lost Ark has garnered.

Some of these games look absolutely stunning. Some look.. absolutely horrendous.
But one thing is for sure.. 2022 is going to be a good year for video games. And at the end of the day.. that’s all that matters.
NCSoft have confirmed we’ll have more information readily available next month.. so be on the lookout for dedicated videos on each of these games then.

I’m pretty hard on developers and publishers. There’s no denying that. But that’s because I feel as though they should treat us as players – as consumers, with more respect than we get. As opposed to the wallets and purses they see us as. Especially Eastern companies.
But I’ll give them this one. Finally, after years of waiting.. we have it. It’s here.

Although, as excited as I am, and as excited as I’m sure you’re all going to be.. I’m not even sure what to call this one. On the one hand, this game has been advertised as “Project TL” for years.
Then out of nowhere, NCSoft revealed that they were altering the name of the game to “TL: Origin,” which stood for “The Lineage: Origin.” Now, as of the last couple weeks, it looks as though the game is being listed online as “TL: Throne and Liberty?” As in, “The Lineage: Throne and Liberty.”
Again, absolutely no idea what to even title this as. It’s gone through so many rebrands that it’s almost unrecognizable.

We’ve all been eagerly anticipating Project TL. The one, single trailer we received for the game was gorgeous. But since then.. NCSoft have been silent. Many people thought they’d given up on the game.. but they were wrong.

NCSoft just released their third quarter 2021 financials last week, and while there was a noticeable decline in a lot of different areas, they went on to discuss various different titles – recently released and upcoming.
Lineage M has seen an increase of 12%, Lineage 2M has declined by 28%, Blade & Soul 2 has seriously underperformed – which is a total shocker. I wonder why. Their 5 PC games were down 4%.
Although according to the CFO of NCSoft, Lineage W has seen some of the highest numbers the company has ever had, which is promising for them. Reinforcing their need to release this in both “the US and Europe next year.”
And this is where things begin to get interesting. Once more, the CFO of NCSoft went on to confirm that “Project TL,” yes, they went and listed this as “Project TL” once more as opposed to any of the aforementioned names, is aiming to release “simultaneously in the global market.”
This means within Korea, within Japan, Russia, North America, Europe. There are no known restrictions in place with regards to the blocking of the game, something that Korea very rarely does with their releases.

The CFO, who we’re just gonna call “Hong” here as that’s his name and I’m sick of saying “the CFO,” went on to state that “It is well known that NC’s main focus is MMORPG, but we are trying to develop various genres and IPs to expand our global customer base.”
This means that NCSoft are actively looking to grow beyond what has worked for them up until this point: PC MMORPGs and Mobile ports.. of the same MMORPG repeatedly with additional letters added to them.
“I will clearly show the blueprint to the market by informing the global market expansion and platform diversification strategy in detail.” And according to those words.. he has every intention of utilizing the global market to achieve his goals of expansion.

Hong then went on to confirm that they have finished preparation of their new NFT and Blockchain technology. “I believe that the combination of NFT and blockchain will give NC a great opportunity, and I am preparing.”
I bet you’re all overjoyed to hear the direction they’re going to be taking the company. Not that any of us really even had any hopes for it either way.

Moving back to Project TL, Hong went on to confirm that “NC’s user expansion strategy will be focused on simultaneous launch in the global market.
“Not only MMORPG, but also various genres and IP development are spurred. In the first quarter of next year, NC plans to unveil its new lineup through a showcase. We are also considering releasing an in-game video.
In this showcase, you will feel NC’s global market and platform diversification strategy. ‘Project TL’ will be released based on PC-console.
NC will expand its business with two goals: a multi-platform covering mobile-PC-console and global market expansion.”

When asked about the release schedule for Project TL, according to Hong, they have reached a stage where they are merely preparing for release. The game is done. It’s entirely complete. We haven’t seen any test phases, but according to the CFO himself – it’s done.
They are expecting the game to release in the second half of 2022. Which is… shocking. After years of silence, a complete lack of connection with their players, their community, NCSoft have a complete version of the game ready to release in the next half a year. Who’d have thought.

So if you were waiting on Project TL, or TL: Origin, or even TL: Throne and Liberty.. you won’t have too much longer to wait.
NCSoft confirmed the game, which still doesn’t have a set-in-stone definitive title, is releasing sometime in the second half of next year. And it’s releasing everywhere globally.
That’s pretty sick news. Now if only NCSoft were actually a good company, we could get REALLY excited for the game.

So I’ve seen countless news websites and various MMO-related Youtube channels mention Project TL recently.
I’ve done several videos on the game over the last year – I was pretty much the only person talking it. I’ll admit, I began to feel a little lonely in the genre. Like I was the only one that even remembered the game existed.
But why are people beginning to talk about it now? Has there been a new information dump – an announcement that would bring the game to everyone’s attention? Actually, kind of!

See, back in July I did a video where I addressed the lack of information concerning the game.
It had been so long since we’d received any form of update from NCSoft after they had opted to rebrand the game from Lineage: Eternal and Project TL was beginning to drift into people’s memory, especially when other titles like Lost Ark, Blue Protocol and even the upcoming GRAN SAGA were receiving much more regular updates.
However, as I stated back at the end of December, NCSoft was required to supply their quarterly financial report to investors and when they did, they revealed that they were still hard at work on Project TL and that it was actually much closer to releasing than we had all thought.
More specifically, while NCSoft had no intention of releasing the game in 2020, they did very much plan on having a publicly accessible Closed Beta during 2020.
Yes – back in December 2019, they had stated that there was an expected Closed Beta planned for 2020, and then recently they’ve went on to elaborate a little more on that.

You guys know that it’s my duty – my solemn oath to make sure you’re all kept up to date with every new bit of information regarding the plethora of MMOs all in development, so it is with that knowledge, with that responsibility that I reveal the following: NCSoft reaffirmed last years statement that they had plans for a test of sorts this year.
They didn’t confirm whether the test would still be, specifically a Closed Beta test, but they did claim it would be a “test phase,” and if everything went along according to their expectations, they would announce a console port.
Yeah, no joke. Project TL, initially Lineage: Eternal was going to be a PC exclusive title, just like how Lost Ark is.
However, NCSoft confirmed not only are they still on track to release a test phase during 2020, but they also went on to state that they would have information next year regarding the actual, full release onto both PC and consoles.

They did apologize for the lack of information – the lack of communication pertaining to the game and its development process. Honestly, I still find it unusual that there’s so little information publicly available regarding the game.
Gameplay? Not really. New trailers after their initial announcement? Nope. Do we even have a confirmed list of exactly what the updates target? Not at all. This is definitely an interesting way to go about hyping up your game’s release.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been excited for the game – more so than I was ever excited for Lost Ark. When people were hyping Lost Ark as the “next big MMORPG,” I was sitting here going “A PC sequel to the Lineage franchise? Yes, please!”

Speaking of, while a lot of us are sitting here excited, I’m well aware some of you are unaware of what Project TL even is.
Other than initially being the main competition to Lost Ark, Project TL is an upcoming South Korean isometric MMORPG from NCSoft. Or, at least at the time it was an isometric MMO.
With all of the overhauls, who knows, it might be a completely different game by the time it actually releases later this year.
Supposedly, the game is completely open-world, features a selection of varying classes to choose between – I’m not sure if the classes will be gender locked.
I know it’s a South Korean game and they have an unbelievable obsession with having gender locks in place but hopefully if NCSoft have plans of releasing the game outside of South Korea, they understand we Westerners aren’t very fond of it.
The game will be completely free-to-play, much like Lost Ark and the other Lineage games in the franchise.
This will be launching into a test phase later this year, but that does not in any way mean the game will also be launching this year. As they opted to not include the type of test – Alpha or Beta, we’ve no idea exactly how far along through development the game actually is.
The test phase will likely be for South Korea only, and Westerners will be IP blocked from accessing it, much like we have been for every South Korean title, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be able to access it.
If you use a VPN – I myself use ExitLag personally, then you can definitely get around IP blocks like this and sign up for the Beta test in advance.
Otherwise, you’ll have to wait like the rest of us. But please, don’t be of the impression that the game is launching this year. While the Alpha or Beta test will be launching this year, the official Project TL title likely won’t release until 2021.

And there we have it.
All of this excitement for the game is over NCSoft reaffirming their intentions to release the game into a playable form later this year.
Do note that NCSoft also confirmed in December 2019 that they would be holding a “Closed Beta some time during the first half of 2020.”
And while there could be any number of reasons why that didn’t pan out, their guesstimates aren’t nearly as set-in-stone as they might have you believe.
So while they definitely have plans for a testing phase later this year, I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high. Setbacks happen, and with so many developers working from home right now, it’s safe to say schedules are definitely a little out of whack and are definitely more difficult to maintain.
But if things to go as they plan, then more power to them. I’m still very excited for the game – and knowing that progress is still continuing to move along is enough for me.
By the time it finally releases it might be an entirely different game, perhaps, but all we can do is wait and see.
Like always, I’ll keep you all updated with any future info pertaining to Project TL.

Last week I did a video on Lost Ark where I talked about how we won’t be seeing the game this year.. probably not next year either. And that upset a lotta people.
And don’t get me wrong – you’re anger is warranted – you’re completely justified in being upset.
We’ve all been waiting on the game for years now, and despite Smilegate stating a while back that they planned on one day releasing in the West.. we’ve thus far gotten nothing.
I mean sure, no problem. They’re a South Korean developer, they have no obligation to us, nor are they supposed to simply acquiesce to our requests to have an English localized version of the game.

But one common response I saw on the video was “That’s fine. I’ll be waiting on Project TL which looks better and will release sooner anyway.”
So here I am, doing another video on Project TL. No, this isn’t clickbait. I’m not trying to bait you into watching, I’m legit here to discuss the game and their plans for a Western release.

So, before we go any further, what exactly is Project TL?
Project TL was announced years ago, roughly at the same time as Lost Ark.
They were.. competitors, I guess, with people taking sides like they do with Xbox and Playstation consoles. But back then it was called Lineage: Eternal. How many of you actually remember that?
Either way, people weren’t too happy with how Lineage: Eternal was turning out, thus NCSoft decided to completely overhaul the entirety of the game while undergoing a rebrand.
This set them back quite a bit, and resulted in silence from the developer for years.. until the end of December 2019.
Lineage: Eternal was built with the ability to not only field, but also control several characters simultaneously. You would go about the game, slowly recruiting various different characters that you could customize however you pleased.
It was still a pure MMO – but it would have taken the game in a very interesting direction. Project TL though is much more like Lost Ark: It’s an open-world MMO that provides a single character and sick action combat – but from an isometric point of view.
The game looks and plays like Lost Ark, it always has. That’s why people often considered them as direct competition for one another.

Now I did a video on Project TL back in December 2019. In it I spoke about a specific announcement NCSoft made pertaining to its release.
See, last year NCSoft were required to supply investors with their quarterly financials, like every year.
However, during their third quarter financials, they revealed that Project TL is still in active development, but not only that, they have a scheduled South Korean Closed Beta release date for 2020.
Specifically, “the first half of 2020.” Whether that means the game will launch this year within the region is up for discussion, but considering it’s one of NCSoft’s potential biggest hits.. they’d be crazy to continue to delay it.
Especially considering Lost Ark is losing players daily.

There were a couple different reasons I wanted to do this video.
On the one hand, we have people under the impression that Project TL will be launching this year. That is correct and incorrect both: It is correct to assume it will launch in 2020 within South Korea, but not outside of the region.
The game isn’t finished yet, and even when it finally is, North America, Europe, the entire Western market in general is a mere afterthought for South Korean developers.
I’m not saying that it’ll be 5, maybe 10 years before we get it, but it’s best to temper your expectations with regards to a release date.
Then there’s the public thought that Project TL is vastly superior to Lost Ark: That just isn’t true. I’m a fan, I’ve always been a fan of Project TL over Lost Ark, but even I know we don’t have definitive gameplay or endgame content yet.
Thus we don’t have nearly enough to gauge whether or not the game will compete with, surpass or fall short of Lost Ark.

But that’s pretty much the purpose today. I wanted to let you all know that Project TL is coming this year. It is. And it’ll likely have an English fan-translation available shortly after it releases.
But since it’s a South Korean MMO it’ll also have IP blocks in place requiring a VPN to play.

The game’s going to be a pure action MMO – but we can’t compare it to currently released games until we have a more finalized version of the game to actually compare.
And finally, no, the game won’t be releasing in the West for a while, just like Lost Ark. Sorry.

Exciting news, right? So I did a video on Project TL back in July, where I talked about the lack of information released from NCSoft in terms of the game’s future. It’s been a long time.
Project TL was originally known as Lineage: Eternal or Lineage 3 – and was expected to be direct competition to Lost Ark.
You all remember that, right? Back when both games were initially announced, and fans of the genre were on one side or the other, claiming there can only be one truly good isometric action MMORPG.
That all seems like a distant memory now, with Lineage: Eternal rebranding as Project TL and then NCSoft going pretty much completely silent for.. well, since it was announced.
The reason for the rebranding was due to a disappointing reception – people were just not happy or excited about what NCSoft had presented especially when compared to Lost Ark. So they opted to completely overhaul the game.
I’m sure you’re all aware that this takes time – so it’s understandable that the game has been delayed for as long as it has, but not keeping your fans updated with progress is still kind of a crappy move.
I know that there was whispers of the game’s development in South Korea but that was it. Until now, that is.

See, NCSoft is obliged to supply their quarterly financials – that way investors can see what’s going on with their money.
During their most recent financial report for the 3rd quarter, several things were revealed. On the one hand, mobile game revenue had declined by 5% in the last few months, while PC game revenue was actually up 3%.
But more importantly, they made mention of Project TL. According to NCSoft, Project TL is still very much in active development – and they finally have a release date for their Closed Beta scheduled: 2020.
Or, the first half of 2020 at the very least. And yes, that’s referring to South Korea, not the rest of the world. “But it’s still going to be years off from a Western release” you might be thinking.
Well let me add a little hope to that pit of despair you’re no doubt now plagued with: Project TL is NCSoft’s only PC MMORPG in development. It’s the only PC MMORPG announced from NCSoft in years.
Since NCSoft no doubt still have active PC game devs, and no other PC title has been revealed in years, it’s clear which game they’re hard at work on.
While that doesn’t necessarily equate to a quality title, it’s reassuring knowing not only that they’re going to be releasing the game into Closed Beta next year, but also that they’ve been working on the game this whole time.

I’ve always been excited for Project TL. When everyone was hyped about Lost Ark being the next big MMO, I was here thinking “But Lineage: Eternal looks pretty good, too!”
I gathered that I was in the minority at the time, and that was fine – we’re all entitled to our own opinions after all, but I’ve been watching the game evolve with eager anticipation since way back when.
They’ve reworked quite a significant portion of the game over that time – with small little releases of gameplay from people that live in South Korea here and there, and this has me hopeful.
For the most part.. I’m liking where the game’s currently at. It looks well optimized and although it doesn’t look as good as it did in its original trailer, the game still seems to be coming together well.
I’m still marginally upset that they scrapped their original ideas for the game because I thought it was a much more interesting route to take.

Lineage Eternal was originally sold with the notion that you could tackle any obstacle in a variety of ways, providing players with the ability to not only amass, but also field several characters concurrently – which goes against the normal single character control we traditionally have in MMOs.
Project TL instead opted to scratch that idea and go the generic, tried-and-tested route, just like Lost Ark and other isometric ARPGs. Which is fine, I’ll just always be curious of what it could’ve been if they’d stuck with it.
Project TL will, regardless, feature a large, completely open world for players to explore with tons of unique zones to traverse and varied events to participate in. It has action combat, obviously, otherwise it wouldn’t be an isometric action RPG.
Combat is similar to Diablo, Path of Exile and Lost Ark itself. Exactly how the combat will turn out is anyone’s guess at this point as we’re still not given a complete picture of how the game looks or how the game plays right this moment.
This is of course due to the fact that although they’ve confirmed a first-half 2020 release for the game, they’ve released no gameplay for us to get excited over.
So until then, we’ll have to take their word that the game is going to have as good combat as they claim.

Do be aware that the game is going to be an open-world PvP MMO, meaning that while you can participate in instanced Arena-PvP, you’ll also be able to fight other players in the open world as well.
Whether that is via means such as toggling a PvP mode on or off, or is faction based is up for discussion, much like several other features discussed.

Regardless, NCSoft have confirmed the game will be here next year.
What form the game will ultimately take remains to be seen but you should be excited that even if we don’t receive the English version until 2021, 2022 or even later, like Lost Ark, we’ll have an English fan-translation that will allow us to play the game outside of South Korea.. so long as we use a VPN.
Which, I use ExitLag for because honestly it’s just better than other VPN’s I’ve tried.

When was the last time we received new information on Project TL? The beginning of 2018? That’s almost a year and a half ago.
Man, how time flies. I remember the last video I did on the game speaking about how they had plans to launch the Lineage successor into closed beta during 2018 but we all know how that turned out.
Since then, we’ve all been preoccupied with Lost Ark. Why wouldn’t we, though?
Project TL, formerly known as Lineage Eternal was expected to be the main competition for Lost Ark but.. well, with Lost Ark already playable, and no word on Project TL, you know which game came out on top.
But that doesn’t mean the game isn’t still being actively worked on or that the game will somehow be inferior.

Although honestly, I would like the team behind it to come out and let us know what’s going on.
NCSoft are pretty terrible with regards to keeping their community in the loop and are more interested in earnings over creating a game that people can enjoy which is evident by their shift in focus to mobile MMOs.

Project TL, originally known as Lineage: Eternal or Lineage 3 is an upcoming 3D fantasy MMORPG that is set in the world of the Lineage franchise, supposedly being a direct sequel to the original Lineage game.
After failing to garner the attention of the MMO community under the Lineage: Eternal title, and showing disappointing gameplay they decided to overhaul the game from the ground up.
So, naturally the long delay could be due to the fact that they’re reworking so much of the game but a little bit of information I found recently kinda.. offputs me a little.
From what I was aware, NCSoft announced the game as a PC MMORPG. It had graphics that were supposed to rival Lost Ark, gameplay that was supposed to put it at the top of the Action MMO market.
But as of right now, the team promises that the game will have “streamlined gameplay and support for mobile devices.” Yes, support for mobile devices.
Because Lineage 2: Revolution on mobile wasn’t bad enough, Project TL could very well end up being cross-compatible with mobile devices as well, if they’re not already optimizing the game for it.
Lineage Eternal was sold with the notion that you could tackle any obstacle in a variety of ways, providing you the ability to not only amass, but also field several characters concurrently – which goes against the normal single character control we traditionally have.
Project TL instead opted to scratch that idea and go the generic, tried-and-tested route. Which is fine. Just a little disappointing for me when I heard it way back when.
The game features a large, fully open world with lots of unique zones to explore and events to participate in. It has the same action combat you’d expect out of an Action RPG like Diablo, Path of Exile or even Lost Ark.
Dungeons are randomly generated and offer dynamic experiences every time you decide to tackle them. There are also World bosses and Raids featuring a currently undisclosed amount of players.
PvP takes the form of open-world PvP and Arena PvP. This could be an issue for some players as they hate being killed out in the open-world while questing or leveling.

Very good question. At the beginning of 2018, NCSoft revealed that Project TL was ahead of schedule, running very well in terms of development.
They announced that they were doing so well, in fact, that they had every intent on conducting a closed beta test during the second half of 2018.
However, here we are in the second half of 2019 and not a word has left NCSoft’s mouth as to what, exactly, is going on.
Project TL was slated for a 2019 release, however with the state the game is currently in and their focus.. that seems a little unlikely.
If we don’t get any new information this year it’d be safe to say that an expected date before 2022 would be unlikely.
This is for the Korean version of the game, mind you. When could we expect a North American and European release of the game? Probably 2 years, minimum after it launches in South Korea. Probably more.
So, yes, while the game is likely not dead yet, by the time it finally releases people will have long since forgotten about it like I’m sure most of you already have.
I mean how many of you guys are still anticipating Project TL? Genuinely curious.

Honestly, I’m not entirely certain what to think.
I enjoyed playing Lineage 2. I never played the original Lineage so I can’t speak for its plot or gameplay.
I never played Lineage 2 for a prolonged period of time because honestly, although it was fun, I enjoyed other MMOs more.
Having Project TL be a direct continuation of the Lineage story is a very cool idea, and a way to bring back OG players.
However their mismanagement of the game and lack of communication with the community is disconcerting. Peria Chronicles kept people in the dark for over a year, but Nexon assured players it was still in the works.
NCSoft are completely silent. That doesn’t bode well and I feel like that isn’t a very effective way of creating a community of players that trust you.
But then I’m not a game developer, so what do I know about maintaining a community that trusts you.
I was honestly more hyped when Lineage: Eternal and Lost Ark were both announced for the former, honestly. Now? I fear that by the time I play Project TL, if ever, I’ll be nearing my 40s.
At least with Lost Ark we only have to wait another, what? 3-4 years, max. Hopefully.
I’m a little sour that they’re likely putting much more of a focus on the mobile version though as that’s where the vast majority of microtransactions and therefore, earnings are going to come from.
But then NCSoft is obsessed with them. Just like every other South Korean MMO developer and mobile game publisher.

But, what do you guys think? Are you still excited for Project TL? Did you forget it even existed? Think it’ll ever released, or have NCSoft scrapped the game?