MMOZG.net: Hello, Mr. Song.
Jake Song: Hi!
MMOZG.net: We're from MMOZG.net. Our time is rather limited, so we will try not to dive into particular details of [ArcheAge] and ask some general questions instead. Let's start then. Do you play Archeage?
Jake Song: Yes (smiling).
MMOZG.net: Which is your favorite part - from the gamer's point of view?
Jake Song: (laughing) I like farming!
MMOZG.net: And which part of the game is the best from the creator's point of view?
Jake Song: Again, farming and housing
MMOZG.net: Ok. Well, from other point of view, nothing is perfect in this world. That is for Archeage as well. As a player, what do you dislike at most?
Jake Song: (thinking and laughing, really confused) It's a difficult question. I think, the user interface. It could be more polished, more convenient, more organized. I also need more physics simulation. Ships' and vehicles' physics is already simulated. But I hope there will be more.
MMOZG.net: Ok, I see. Korean MMOs are in general warmly accepted here in Russia. One of the famous examples is Lineage II. And as you know, a lot of new mechanics were added during the first year after the launch of Lineage II. Sieges, manor etc. A year passed since the launch of Archeage. Do you think all major mechanics are in place? Can players feel them like a complete game?
Jake Song: You know, we have advanced Castle cities now. In order to conquer and own it, you need to build your castle at first. It's different from other games where castles are already built by developers. After building a castle you can create your own country, your own kingdom.
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MMOZG.net: So, do you think this mechanic is finalized and this part of the game is ok?
Jake Song: Yeah. It was designed for the core players . Of course even this mechanic is already in the game, it needs further polishing. As soon as you create your kingdom, you also create your own faction. It may conflict with other factions and so on. We need more polishing for these mechanics.
MMOZG.net: When Archeage was first announced it caught attention in first place because of sandbox elements like free building and so on. But this year updates were concentrated on the theme park elements like dungeons, new levels and something like that. So what's the general direction of Archeage development? More theme park or more sandbox?
Jake Song: We still think sandbox elements are important for Archeage. But we have the feeling that theme park elements in Archeage are far from being perfect so they were addressed first. It was done in the last patch. But we still believe sandbox elements are very important for Archeage.
MMOZG.net: So what is the perfect balance between sandbox and theme park elements?
Jake Song: We feel that the ideal situation is like this: on the early stage of the game there should be theme park content, and in the later stage there should be sandbox. Future developments will be aimed at such balance as well. So I think the balance is about 50/50.
MMOZG.net: Creativity in Archeage is widely encouraged. Music system, book system and so on. Do you have any plans to improve this part of the game?
Jake Song: Yeah... (thinking) As you said we’ve added a lot of such game mechanics. Music... And you can add texture to your cape... So we will continue in this direction. User generated content is a very important part of Archeage.
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MMOZG.net: Turning to the North. As far as I remember, now there are six claimable territories in Korean version. What are your plans on expanding north? I'm talking about claimable part at the moment.
Jake Song: All North territories will be claimable by users, we will add more territories to the north continent...
MMOZG.net: (interrupting) When?
Jake Song: (laughing, little confused) Soon (??). The plan for the development team is that we need more polishing before adding new territories to the North continent. We need to polish the user-created-factions system. I mean when a faction is created it has relations with other factions. Such relations should vary more and also this mechanics have to be cleaned up.
MMOZG.net: There were rumors about changes in the original Archeage development team so other people put in the lead now. Is that true?
Jake Song: (strangely laughing) The same people are working on Archeage. Some are gone but most of the team remain.
MMOZG.net: So the core of the team stays in the project?
Jake Song: Yes. Core members are there and are working in the project.
MMOZG.net: What are your impressions about the justice system in Archeage after the year of it being live in Korea? Is it working like planned?
Jake Song: At the beginning players enjoy it very much. A lot of fun situations happened and it is good. But after some time it became a routine boring activity. That means that maybe we should improve it. A little bit more justice and fun.
MMOZG.net: And the last question as there's no more time left. Let's talk about localization. There are no any news about western localization. Can you tell something about your work with Trion?
Jake Song: Well... (long pause) We may launch it with Trion this year. (pause) I hope.
MMOZG.net: Thank you very much for your answers. Hope we will stay in touch.
Jake Song: Sure. Thank you.
