Pure Tolkien fantasy seems to be the go to choice when it comes for designing the world of a MMORPG, but things are about to change with the release of Sword of the New World, which should hopefully be coming sometime soon. Sword of the New World differentiates itself in several different ways, including a 15th century architecture and visual look, plus the ability to have a whole family of avatars, with you controlling three members at a time when battling. Killer Betties got to ask Phil Maurer – the Operations Team Leader – some questions about the game to see what we can expect from the game.

What's the background story of Sword of the New World: Granado Espada?

The overall storyline is still being worked on, but what we can say is that the game takes place between the 15th and 17th centuries, and is loosely based on Europe’s colonization of the New World. But despite this quasi-historical setting, Sword of the New World still has many fantasy aspects to it; so you will see very few references to actual historical places and/or people.

One of the first things you notice about the game is the art style, which differs greatly from the sword and sorcery look of the World of Warcrafts out there. How did the idea for this art style come about and why was it ultimately decided upon?

This actually tends to be the most frequent question we get. Hakkyu Kim the lead designer for the game was on a trip to Europe and was inspired by the architecture and atmosphere. The rest is history… no pun intended.

Can you talk about the character creation process of the game? What stylistic choices will players be able to make so their character is unique from everyone else?

Well, when you login to Sword for the first time you will need to create a family name. That will be the last name of all your characters. After that you can create your first four family members. During character creation you can create a name and select a class. We are currently developing additional options so I cannot really say more than that. We are focused on adding more choices at character creation and will release more details as we get closer to launch.

How will Sword of the New World handle the race and class portions of the character creation system? Will there be multiple races and different classes? If so, can you explain a little about them and what traits or gameplay style/feel they might have?

We have 5 base classes in the game:

The Fighter is a traditional tank class that can specialize in a large and diverse number of combat stances.

The Wizard class has a great mixture of buffs, crowd control spells, AOE spells, and ranged damage.

The Musketeer class specializes primarily on ranged damage with rifles, as well as an array of AOE specific skills.

The Elementalist is a caster class that focuses on Ice, Fire, and Lightning magic, as well as an impressive list of support spells.

The Scout is probably the most diverse, as he can specialize in either healing or DPS.

In addition to these 5 base classes, there will be a large number of unlockable player characters each with their own unique class combinations. Currently we are keeping the details on unlockable characters under wraps, but we will be releasing more info on them as we get closer to launch.

One of the most unique and huge features for the game is the Multi Character Control System, which allows you to level up three characters at a time, as you always have a mini party with you so you are never alone. Can you explain about the MCCS system, such as how you'll gather these party members and how you'll be leveling them up at the same time as you?

The multi-character control (MCC) is one of the biggest strengths of Sword of the New World. As it stands you can easily control your family with just the mouse, or use a combination of mouse and keyboard shortcuts to maximize effectiveness. This is truly the great thing about MCC; it can be as simple or as deep as you want it to be! It’s really all up to the player and their individual play style! What we have found in testing and watching new players enter the game is that it takes almost no time for them to pick up the basics of the control system and start completing quests right away. But once players learn how to utilize all of the hotkeys they can really maximize the MCC’s potential!

How much control will players have to have over their other two characters? Will you be able to issue them orders, and how much will they need to be micromanaged so they aren't behaving sporadically when you really need their help? Or, do they behave independently without your attention?

First off, you are always controlling 3 characters. If you come into the game thinking you are going to focus on one character you will not be very effective. If you are not giving your characters something to do… they will just stand there and take hits (this is obviously not idea). MCC assists by keeping them attacking (or looting) while you are focusing on switching between your characters. But in the end, what they do is up to you. You select what skills and spells they use, when they cast them as well as whom they target with those skills. You can micro-manage as much or as little as you would like, it all depends on you skill level and experience.

Continue The Interview On Page 2