"I think it is the classic Civil War story"
Over the past several years, NCsoft has established itself as not only a major player in the realm of massively multiplayer online games, but also a company that looks to take chances here and there when developing an MMO.
In some ways the pending title Aion: The Tower of Eternity plays a few things safely, drawing on the experience the NCsoft developers have had in the industry as well as taking elements from other sources (sort of combining the best of what is out there). Aion, though, tells a different sort of story, one that breaks the mold of good versus evil and instead focuses on two races evolved on either side of a shattered world. One race lives in the bright light and the other in shadows. So instead of good versus evil, it is a title of dark versus light.
NCsoft recently had an event in San Francisco for a little hands-on time with the game. At that event, GameZone had the opportunity to chat with Brian Knox, the game's associate producer.
Question: The game is bridging some areas in the genre, taking the best of what has been in the MMO industry and incorporating it into the title. What was the biggest challenge you faced in this regard?
Brian: It was really important to us that this game appeal to a global audience. So when the title was started, we went to the East, the West, Europe, everywhere and wanted to pick out the best features of all the games around the world and make sure that Aion would have that global appeal. We really feel there is not a lot of difference in the games around the world, a good game is a good game.
Q: The Asian market does not seem to mind the grind as much as the North American market does. So when you talk about the globalization of the game, you are talking about a diverse set of gameplay elements. How big of an undertaking was that?
Brian: While grind games were more prevalent in the past, I don't think they had a lot to choose from. Now they are seeing all games everywhere, they don't want to sit there and do the same thing over and over again. That's a misconception. I think that Aion is one of those games that people are starting to realize, especially in Korea, that this is a new breed of game.
Q: In many ways you have taken a concept that has been visited before, that of a split race. But in Aion, there is no good or evil, it comes down to the look of the character races. The underlying element is that they are trying to attain the same goals. How did you spin that into a viable game-length concept?
Brian: I think it is the classic Civil War story. You started all as one and then something happened, in this case it was the shattering of the Tower. And each side blamed the other. Five of the Imperium lords went to one side and five went the other, and each had their following. They were actually separated for thousands of years and in that time their hate and bitterness grew for the other side. So when they finally reunited in the Abyss area, that hate came out. But each of them has their pluses and minuses. One side looks a little darker and you might think they are evil but if you actually go through the lore of the story, you will find out that they aren't evil. And the Elyos come off as a bit arrogant, and they are the lighter race.
German Questioned Over Gamer's Murder
