KOG has pulled out all the stops in shaking things up with the launch of Elsword Season 2. Starting with the Prelude back on December 2nd 2015, (S2 Intro, New Tutorials, an all level Raid Bosses and more) all the way to the final chapter… The release of the highly anticipated final chapter: Add and Luciel.
As subtly *cough* hinted throughout Elsword’s Season 2 launch media, KOG Games has an all new, exclusive English voice update that has launched alongside each of the Season 2 episodic content releases.
World renowned actors and actresses from Anime and gaming VO, TV and Movies, Singers, Songwriters and Dancers, and even Broadway musical stars have joined the Elsword cast: Cristina Vee (Bleach, Sword Art Online) Nicolas Roye (Naruto, Digimon), Brian Beacock (Hollywood and Anime fame), Brianna Knickerbocker (Anime, Stage and Dance), Dina Sherman (Anime Veteran), Dan Woren, Kyle Herbert, Jessica Gee, Peter Doyle, Palomo Rodriguez, JC Hyke and many more… Orchestrated and directed by the very talented Michael Sorich (Akira, Cowboy Bebop, Bleach, Bobobo…, Eyeshield 21, Digimon, Shinzo and more). Basically, some of the biggest names in anime and gaming voice talent have been gracious enough and truly excited to work on Elsword; immersing our players and taking your Elsword experience to a whole new level.
That being said… from Batman to Bleach, and Durara to Rurouni Kenshin, these amazing men and women have lent voices that are renowned throughout the anime and gaming worlds to our character lineup thus far.
Tomorrow will only “Add” to the mix. The famed Bryce Papenbrook (of Trigun, Naruto, Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online (Kirito), Pokemon and many more) will be lending his pipes to Elsword’s maniacally insane virtuoso, Add. In addition to JC Hyke lending his vocal talent to bring Ciel to life, this will be one of the most exciting updates for Elsword yet!
Why don’t we know who voiced Elesis, Chung, Aisha and Lu? For as much as we’d love to tell you, there are some things we cannot disclose in any way. The entertainment world, in all its marvelous glory, has its fair share of red-tape. The actors and actresses that brought you these lovely ladies would love to tell the players and interwebs about how much they loved this project; they told me in person, tere are certain obligations, contractual agreements and other types of legal prohibitions that won’t allow it to happen. However, we won’t stop some of you pro-status anime fans from making your assumptions. However, we can neither confirm nor deny any of the aforementioned assumptions, guesses and the like. Are they big names… yes, but, that’s as far as we’ll go. Not only will all of the voice dialogue be updated with English voices for all 10 of our characters, all of the story-based Elsword NPCs will be getting voices of their very own as well.
Now, this is not to say that everything went off without a hitch. There were a number of things that we wished we could have done (i.e. implement different VO age ranges and characteristic voice styles as you players progressed through the levels and upgraded character Jobs; even throughout the different stages of gameplay and story parts), but given the current state of the game’s programming limitations, this was not a technical possibility… But, we’re working on that.
We also thought that giving players the option to choose between the all new EN voices and original KR voice talent was just the right thing to do. We realize that we have some very dedicated, old-school Elsword and anime fans that love original dialogue as well as a lot of new school gamers or players that’d just prefer the English voices. At KOG, we love them all. So, it’s a win-win as far as we’re concerned.
With 11 main characters, and over 100 NPCs, with THOUSANDS of recorded and edited lines in the process of going into the game, it’s been one heck of an incredible journey, and a great learning experience as well. Including those actors that voiced the NPCs, it’s been an absolute joy working with some of the most talented VO professionals in the industry. Many of them are some of the nicest people I’ve met. Being anime and gaming fans ourselves, there were times where it was hard to sit in the studio and not geek out ourselves.
This was all in addition to the actual character updates, rebalance and re-designs, new skill tree updates and then some. In the end, we’re tired, battered, sleep deprived and borderline delirious, all of the KOG Teams are still working around the clock to make sure that tomorrow’s update is going smoothly and that any and all bug reports, feedback and other miscellaneous issues are addressed, accounted for and fixed where possible.
On to the technical bits:
With tomorrow’s particular Add and Luciel character updates, everything from character concept and illustration, to functionality and effectiveness will be overhauled and refined to bring the homogenized Season 2 badassery to the fore.
As with all Elsword Season 2 Character updates, the Skill Tree revamp includes new character functionality basics, character intro and primary skill upgrades. Players can learn EVERY skill automatically by reaching the skill-appropriate level, and players no longer need to choose between skills! Additionally, Add and Luciel’s revamped basic attack combos bring a whole new world of dynamic to each Job or Class advancement. Though the combo list can be found at the top of the Skill Tree UI, players can be easily master them all via Camilla, the sassy Combat/PvP NPC.
The Tracer and Demon Duo usher in the final chapter of Elsword’s Season 2 Epic with an intensity that has yet to be seen! Come check out the Elsword page for more details and tune in today for some awesome events!
Play Your Manga! Play Elsword!
