Interview with June Lee

Lead Designer June Lee talks about Mgame's next MMORPG

Lead Designer June Lee introduces his game through an interview. Here we learn about The Legend of Ares, a game we just today added to our game list.

The Legend of Ares is about the conflict between two nations, the Holy Empire and Religious Alliance, caused by strife amongst the gods. Ares leads the Holy Empire in his attempt to increase his control over the people of Arabic, whereas Kulam leads the Religious Alliance in his efforts to thwart and destroy Ares. Players choose sides amongst the two nations of the Arabic Continent as they war and battle each other for dominance over the heavens and earth.

One of the more unique qualities of the Legend of Ares is the warfare system. While there will still be the normal PvP encounters between players of opposing nations, there will also be a territorial warfare system implemented where players can participate to increase their nation’s size, honor, and abilities. Territorial wars will be organized events where players of both nations will have to sign up to participate. The ultimate goal of the T-wars is, as the name implies, to win areas of the map for each nation. Every area, once controlled, will bestow bonuses on the players of the winning side such as boosts to exp gain, money gain, attack power, and defensive ability. In addition to this, players of either side can also gain bonuses by increasing the number of enemies killed from their rival nation(honor points).

Another type of warfare available to our players will be guild wars. Guilds will be able to officially wage war against other guilds (regardless of their nations) and earn honor points that way. This system will even allow multiple guilds to ally together in their battles against rival guilds.

There will be three different types of items/equipments in the game: regular items, magic items, and enchantable items. Regular items will have their names in white text, and are….well, regular; they will have no extra ability save their basic statistics. Magic items will have their name in blue text and are items imbued with innate special abilities or bonuses. While magic items may be more powerful than their regular counterparts, new abilities cannot be added to them. Enchantable items have their names in purple text and are items that have no innate special ability BUT are capable of being enchanted by the user. Throughout the game, players will find special rocks from killing monsters and will be able to infuse them into weapons and items with help from enchanting NPC’s.

In addition to this, there will be scrolls of blessing (scroll of protection and scroll of destruction) available to increase items’ basic stats. A scroll of protection will increase an item’s basic defensive capability and a scroll of destruction will increase an item’s attack power. Unlike the enchant system, scrolls of blessing can be used on any wearable item and will be displayed as “+” modifiers. For instance, an item that has been blessed with four scrolls of destruction will have a “+4” modifier in front of the name. As a general rule, after “+4”, an item becomes harder and harder to bless, and if a blessing fails, the item will be destroyed. There is, however, a way to restore a destroyed item, but that’s a whole other system.

Progression in the game will be based on level. There are level restrictions on items, quests, maps, wars, etc. so players have an incentive to continue playing hard. BUT you can progress in the game in other ways as well. There is an honor system where you gain points for every enemy player (player from rival nation) you kill. By increasing your honor points you can achieve rank within your country, which will give bonuses (attack, defense, etc.) to your character. Eventually a player can even achieve a general’s rank (maybe even higher?), which adds to their fame, but more importantly their ability to kill.

Combat will be against monsters and players from rival nations. Each class will have their own special skills that will have its place in the party system, but are also fully comprehensive for solo play. Ultimately, the game is designed for war as opposed to battle, so cooperation amongst players (through parties, guilds, nation, etc.) will be the best way to not only gain honor points, but to level as well.

There will be four classes available to each nation: Knight, Spearman, Archer, and Sorcerer. The Knight is the master of melee, with great strength and fortitude. The Spearman is specialized in terms of weapons and skills, opting for versatility over brute strength. The Archer can only use bows and will have to use strategies to optimize his skills in ranged combat. Sorcerers also specialize in ranged combat, but are defensively weaker than the other classes and require the greatest interaction from the player.

Yes! Guilds will be an important resource for players to appreciate the best aspects of this game. Through our warfare system, the best way for players to earn honor points will be through joining a guild. It will be much easier to find parties (essential for leveling in the later parts of the game) once in a guild, AND certain items will be available to teleport guild members to players’ current positions.

In order to maintain the spirit of the game, there are no instances in the game.

With regards to customization in terms of looks, we are constantly adding new items and equipment to the game which will diversify the look and feel of each character. In terms of skills, customization is inevitable as the player must choose, using a limited number of skill points, which skills are best suited for his/her method of playing. In this way, it is very possible to have a party of four Spearmen all with differing sets of skills. Once again, it is up to the player to decide which skills are optimal for his/her style of play.

As of now, we are focusing our servers on North America, and we are setting our first closed beta date as 04/24/06. Our second closed beta will be up and running starting on 05/03/06, and our open beta will be on 05/11/06. Our open beta will last three weeks followed by the release. We hope to see many players participate in our betas and are open to any feedback/suggestions they may have.