ArcheAge Introduction

Romtim

This article is a copy of this article from AAportal.net - The largest International Community of Archeage

Today we will talk about the new generation in MMORPG, to be precise - about ArcheAge.

To begin, lets name the authors of the game. Archeage is being developed by a Korean company XLGames, which by the way has affiliates in USA. (The budget is over 60,000,000$ Based on the company's own money, investitions from Giga-Media and money from selling localization rights to Japan and China. Archeage was also tested on many computers (i tested on 3 different configs myself), and it ran smoothly even being in CBT2. So there is nothing to worry about, because CryTek failed to optimize their game. The game can run good on most configs, the minimum requirment for comfortable play is geforce8500gt and a duo core (tested myself). Do not forget, that the game will be released in the end of 2011 in korea, so you still have plenty of time to enjoy i83 cores and geforces780s )

The head of XLGames is Jake Song. He is very known in the circles of MMO development. To be straight, it is his games, that became the first milestone in the evolution of the MMORPG genre. Although there were other developers of course. Jake Song worked on projects like "Nexus", "The Kingdom of the Winds","Lineage", "Lineage 2", "Tabula Rasa", "Aion", etc. Thanks to him, NCSoft published a lot of popular MMORPG's, and became so famous. In the year of 2003, Jake Song left NCSoft, because of some tensions with the direction, and founded his own company "XLGames". He is currently developing the first next-generation MMORPG. The project got named Archeage, and was announced in February 2010. The first closed beta test was successfully completed this summer, and the second - in November.



The developers try to include the best parts of all modern MMORPG's in Archeage:

A huge, detailed game world; Quality graphics; Massive PvP and sieges; interesting quests, which will be based on a big plot rather than regular grind; Raid dungeons; A possibility to build your own houses and towns! Archeage is created as a Sandbox - kind of games, where the player is free to do anything he wants in the game world. There will be a plot of course, but the developers want players to create the most vivid events.



There are 8 races in the world of Archeage: including humans, elves, dwarfs and ferre (Catlike humans). The races are divided to 2 fractions, East and West. A long time ago, all races lived on a single continent, but after a cataclysm, the world got divided. The player enters the game a few thousand years later after the catastrophe. If you follow the quest plot, you will learn the history part by part. To write it and the quests, XLGames hired a famous Korean novelist Jeon Min-Hee. So we can expect a lot from the quest lines.



The most amazing part, is that Archeage is made on CryEngine 2. When you look at high res screenshots, made on high graphic levels, you simply can't believe that THIS will be a MMORPG! The developers already released some video clips showing the physics of the Cry Engine 2. Unfortunately, at this moment, the environment destruction physics are enabled only in instances, while you can still interact with other players in the open world accordingly. If enabled for the whole world, it will open great opportunities for tactics in the genre of MMORPG.

The size of the game world exceeds the size of the world of WoW including all expansions. The interactivity of the world in Archeage is very high. There is a day-night cycle. One should take a torch with him in case he gets caught in a dark place during the night. The developers have promised to implement season cycles. In one of his interviews, Jake Song asked to imagine a lake, created after someone casted a meteor to hit the ground in a battle a week ago. It is possible, that things like this await us in Archeage.



Control of the character is also innovated compared to other games. For example one can fight mounted on his horse, climb walls and trees, ropes and build houses. The trees in Archeage grow independently. They have many stages of growth, and you can see them increase in size in real time. Players can then cut these trees and build a house. You can also plant trees, but its way more fun to cut them down. You can place a scout on the top of a large tree. Then watch your enemies approach and cut the tree down with the scout!

You can read the whole article on aaportal.net here

Copyright AAportal.net

JamesErnst

Great share, thanks for the info.

 

Seasons would be really interesting! the more dynamic the world map, the more immersive!

ste2000

I usually hate Koreans MMOs, but this one looks interesting, much more than Tera which look like Aion sequel.

I hope this is a real Sandbox, in which case I ll be very interested

DarkPony

Thanks! Despite the typo's a great read. Can't imagine how ambitious this game is. A lot of strong points which I really can relate with. Especially this game philosophy bit:

"Modern MMORPG's are Amusement parks - so says Jake Song. You ride on one attraction with your friends, and the developers invent a new one for you. But players don't have an actual choice to make, no freedom. They can only follow the scenario set by developers.

The main goal of Archeage is to push these limits. Players will make their own world. If i don't like some player - I will kill him. If he doesn't understand the lesson, I will set fire on his house, trample his crops and eat his horse's corpse for weeks! The social aspect benefits from all this. Archeage is made FOR players, not to get alot of money instantly. If you want a sweet ride and get top gear doing nothing, you better pick another game. However, even a casual player, that wants to spend his time with pleasure, can find his place in Archeage"

 

 

k11keeper

Sounds awesome! Let's hope it's as good as Lineage 2 or better. Preferrably with less grind

Leoghan

Originally posted by DarkPony

Thanks! Despite the typo's a great read. Can't imagine how ambitious this game is. A lot of strong points which I really can relate with. Especially this game philosophy bit:

"Modern MMORPG's are Amusement parks - so says Jake Song. You ride on one attraction with your friends, and the developers invent a new one for you. But players don't have an actual choice to make, no freedom. They can only follow the scenario set by developers.

The main goal of Archeage is to push these limits. Players will make their own world. If i don't like some player - I will kill him. If he doesn't understand the lesson, I will set fire on his house, trample his crops and eat his horse's corpse for weeks! The social aspect benefits from all this. Archeage is made FOR players, not to get alot of money instantly. If you want a sweet ride and get top gear doing nothing, you better pick another game. However, even a casual player, that wants to spend his time with pleasure, can find his place in Archeage"

 

 

I find that quote kind of disturbing given the fact that if this part is true "If i don't like some player - I will kill him. If he doesn't understand the lesson, I will set fire on his house, trample his crops and eat his horse's corpse for weeks" 

Than this part has a great potential of not being true. "However, even a casual player, that wants to spend his time with pleasure, can find his place in Archeage"

I'm intrigued by this game, no doubt, but I have to be honest in that it seems like they are trying to make everything for everyone, and that is simply impossible. 

DarkPony

Originally posted by Leoghan

Originally posted by DarkPony

Thanks! Despite the typo's a great read. Can't imagine how ambitious this game is. A lot of strong points which I really can relate with. Especially this game philosophy bit:

"Modern MMORPG's are Amusement parks - so says Jake Song. You ride on one attraction with your friends, and the developers invent a new one for you. But players don't have an actual choice to make, no freedom. They can only follow the scenario set by developers.

The main goal of Archeage is to push these limits. Players will make their own world. If i don't like some player - I will kill him. If he doesn't understand the lesson, I will set fire on his house, trample his crops and eat his horse's corpse for weeks! The social aspect benefits from all this. Archeage is made FOR players, not to get alot of money instantly. If you want a sweet ride and get top gear doing nothing, you better pick another game. However, even a casual player, that wants to spend his time with pleasure, can find his place in Archeage"

 

 

I find that quote kind of disturbing given the fact that if this part is true "If i don't like some player - I will kill him. If he doesn't understand the lesson, I will set fire on his house, trample his crops and eat his horse's corpse for weeks" 

Than this part has a great potential of not being true. "However, even a casual player, that wants to spend his time with pleasure, can find his place in Archeage"

I'm intrigued by this game, no doubt, but I have to be honest in that it seems like they are trying to make everything for everyone, and that is simply impossible. 

Well, I see it as a bit like EVE Online where thousands of carebears and casuals coexist with thousands of bloodthirsty gankers and hardcore players on one single shard. There are game mechanics in place to make sure that this won't all abrubtly end in one big exodus of non-pvp minded folks, but there still is complete freedom to attack who you want to attack, wherever you are. You just might not be successful or if you are, you might have to suffer grave consequences.

But most importantly, the game allows for a huge variety of play styles and niches. Even purely player made ones, sprung to life by the laws of suply and demand. Such as the scores of mercenary corps who get hired by players to help defend their stations, to extract revenge or to wage war against their oponents. Player made content, best content I say

Slapshot1188

Wow this game looks fantastic.  It seems to offer everything that recent "sandboxes" like Mortal Online claim to offer but fail to deliver.  I will be keeping an eye on it.  I have learned that it is easy to promise feature but hard to deliver.

 

If this game launches as an actual, functioning sandbox right out of the gate it could be a huge cross-over hit.

Leoghan

Originally posted by DarkPony

Originally posted by Leoghan

Originally posted by DarkPony

Thanks! Despite the typo's a great read. Can't imagine how ambitious this game is. A lot of strong points which I really can relate with. Especially this game philosophy bit:

"Modern MMORPG's are Amusement parks - so says Jake Song. You ride on one attraction with your friends, and the developers invent a new one for you. But players don't have an actual choice to make, no freedom. They can only follow the scenario set by developers.

The main goal of Archeage is to push these limits. Players will make their own world. If i don't like some player - I will kill him. If he doesn't understand the lesson, I will set fire on his house, trample his crops and eat his horse's corpse for weeks! The social aspect benefits from all this. Archeage is made FOR players, not to get alot of money instantly. If you want a sweet ride and get top gear doing nothing, you better pick another game. However, even a casual player, that wants to spend his time with pleasure, can find his place in Archeage"

 

 

I find that quote kind of disturbing given the fact that if this part is true "If i don't like some player - I will kill him. If he doesn't understand the lesson, I will set fire on his house, trample his crops and eat his horse's corpse for weeks" 

Than this part has a great potential of not being true. "However, even a casual player, that wants to spend his time with pleasure, can find his place in Archeage"

I'm intrigued by this game, no doubt, but I have to be honest in that it seems like they are trying to make everything for everyone, and that is simply impossible. 

Well, I see it as a bit like EVE Online where thousands of carebears and casuals coexist with thousands of bloodthirsty gankers and hardcore players on one single shard. There are game mechanics in place to make sure that this won't all abrubtly end in one big exodus of non-pvp minded folks, but there still is complete freedom to attack who you want to attack, wherever you are. You just might not be successful or if you are, you might have to suffer grave consequences.

But most importantly, the game allows for a huge variety of play styles and niches. Even purely player made ones, sprung to life by the laws of suply and demand. Such as the scores of mercenary corps who get hired by players to help defend their stations, to extract revenge or to wage war against their oponents. Player made content, best content I say

But that's my point. This game seems to be trying to be "something for everyone", but it isn't. EVE is not for everyone. Nothing against the game, but that's the reality. 

jusomdude

So it's another FFAPVP sandbox? Game sounded cool until discovering this.

I wonder if they'll have a good security system or meaniingful consequences, unlike DF and MO, if it doesn't, I'll pass.

JamesErnst

Originally posted by jusomdude

So it's another FFAPVP sandbox? Game sounded cool until discovering this.

I wonder if they'll have a good security system or meaniingful consequences, unlike DF and MO, if it doesn't, I'll pass.

 buzzkill man!

Slapshot1188

Originally posted by jusomdude

So it's another FFAPVP sandbox? Game sounded cool until discovering this.

I wonder if they'll have a good security system or meaniingful consequences, unlike DF and MO, if it doesn't, I'll pass.

 To me it sounds like what DF and particularly MO wish want to be, but sadly fall far short.   Now given my experience with Mortal there is no way I am gonna jump on the AA bandwagon until I see it for myself, but at least it SOUNDS like this could be a real successor to UO and not a pretender.  Talk is cheap though... we will see.

hehey

Originally posted by jusomdude

So it's another FFAPVP sandbox? Game sounded cool until discovering this.

I wonder if they'll have a good security system or meaniingful consequences, unlike DF and MO, if it doesn't, I'll pass.

Jail, literaly.

MumboJumbo

I am not so sure: Trumpeting on about the engine tech more than the concept... although that "teaching another player a lesson" quote was almost what I would like to hear a bit more about... it still sounded sound-bitey: "This game is for evvvverybody!"

Don't get sucked into another dreamstage of mmo announcements, only to find out that the devs lied by NOT saying our game works in a particular way or other...

Romtim

well they do try to make a game for everybody, cant blame them for that