NCsoft annouced Blade & Soul (Project M) on July 31st, which received a lot of attention from the gamers due to its lush graphics, smooth actions and adult content. Blade & Soul has been under development for two years. Currently, its development has completed 50%. It is said that a batch of characters who expose too much skin have been deleted, but from the video recently released by NCsoft, we can see the female characters are still very sexy, plus the blood and violent elements, Blade & Soul can be rated adult. Korean media thisisgame interviewed Blade & Soul Development Director and Chief Art Designer. We must thank the translator for offering these details.

Before reading this interview, we strongly recommend you watch the trailer HD of the Blade&Soul first. Enjoy Blade and Soul - Trailer HD  
 
The video shows that the game excels Aion in some asepects, particularly the graphics. And to my surprise, this video was created 100% based on the game client. Except the animation, the remaining are all from the game. Does the video blow you away as well?

Hope you enjoy!

           On the left is Chief Art Designer, on the right is Development Director
                     
Q1: How did you decide on the concept?

Chief Art Designer: From MMORPG, a player should experience a variety of concepts. So, instead deeply developing one concept, I tried to include a several. Also, instead of limiting the theme to the traditional martial arts genre, I added my own identity to it.

Q2: So, is this a completely new genre of MMORPG?

Chief Art Designer: In Korea, the martial arts genre is heavily influenced by the Chinese culture. However, we incorporated a lot of cultural images from different nations in Blade & Soul: Russia, Mongolia, Taiwan, etc. The current product is a combination of these and our creativity.

Q3: Many gamers voice that the art style of Blade & Soul remind them of other games, such as Magna Carta.

Chief Art Designer: I like my previous works and their style. I did not work [on Blade & Soul] with a different style in mind; instead, I merely thought of improving the previous works. In the case of Blade & Soul, it expresses well the ideas of the illustrator.


Q4: Lineage II received much criticism for its mature material. Blade & Soul seems to demand a similar level of maturity from the gamers. Would it be appropriate as a rated 15+ game?

Development Director: Lineage II was talked about because of its clothings, but it was not a big issue. As a producer, it's a difficult position to be in, but something one should overcome. The only nation in which we encountered problems was China. There will be pressures in Korea, but we must endure it. We could always change the rating or make adjustment to the contents.

Q5: Are you planning to changes to the contents or the rating?

Development Director:  It depends on the situation; we should probably work on both.

Chief Art Designer: We focused on certain areas because the game is in a developmental cycle. But, because the game's focus is in neither sexuality nor violence, it won't be too difficult to receive 15+ rating.

Development Director: There's no guarantee that the game will succeed with emphasis on sexual contents. No game did and we don't plan to.

Q6: Where does the development stand now? How do NCsoft CEO Kim Tae Jin evaluate the game? Has he said anything after he sees Blade & Soul?

Development Director: The CEO says the charaters wear too little. And some characters have been deleted due to this reason. CEO is most satisfied with the flying skill (qinggong). It seems that flying is a dream for almost all people. Any character can fly in Blade & Soul. There is no race limitation. Of course, there will be level restriction.

Chief Art Designer: If the CEO allows, maybe those deleted characters will revive. (laughter)

Q7: To which regional market would the game appeal the most?

Development Director: It's a difficult question to answer. The game might be well-received in Europe, but might not in Japan. However, when we demonstrated to employees in off-shore offices, they liked it.

Chief Art Designer: While following the games revealed in E3 2008, I realized that many western gamers are not used to seeing orient-themed games. Our focus is to make a great game. We will worry about localization later.

Q8: Why oriental martial-art MMORPG? Why now?

Development Director: Because I wanted to. (smiles)

Q9: Why?

Development Director: After Lineage 2, I've been managing several development teams. And I didn't want to develop MMORPG anymore. Because it's too difficult to develop an MMORPG. It becomes difficult when RPG has an M in front of it. And it's more difficult when one more M is added. There are too many factors to be considered. Our Chief Art Designer has a deep feeling at this point. But when I started anew, I found that I am only capable of developing MMORPGs. (laughter) And because I didn't want to develop a medieval fantasy MMORPG anymore, so I chose to develop a martial arts MMORPG.

Chief Art Designer: I believe besides what we see on the surface, there is a deeper world for martial arts. I like Chinese martial arts movies and want to demonstrate the diversified kungfu moves in MMORPG. Martial arts has no limitations. I wish to demonstrate a colorful and impossible world in Blade & Soul, in this endless world of martial arts.

Q10: What's your definition of the "martial-arts genre"?

Development Director: I have a lot to talk about this topic. There are a lot of novels, legends, history to draw ideas from. Thus, there is no real "definition" of the genre. I think the lack of games in the genre is limiting the definition of it. I think that the genre comes down to, obviously, the component of action.