[Romtim]

All this information sums up the info available on
http://www.aaportal.net - an International Community of ArcheAge. ©


26 February 2010, the company XLGames has officially announced a new MMORPG ArcheAge, which uses CryEngine 2. The development of the game began in 2006. In august 2007, XLGames purchased CryEngine 2. The game is supposed to meet release in the beginning of 2011.
More information on CryEngine 2.

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=QWwY8UszwKU
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=wDLTRXV1KHM

Jake Song is a legendary game developer in South Korea, he has played a great part in creating Lineage. In march 2003 he left NCSoft and founded XL Games. To write the scenario for the game, XLGames hired a known Korean novelist. More about Jake Song. Jake Song’s interview My vision of MMORPG’s.
The official website of the game - www.archeage.com/en.

About the game –the developers promise us a community like in Ultima Online, PvE like in World of Warcraft and PvP like in Lineage 2. The game itself is developed as a “Sandbox” – where the player is completely free to chose what to do, and how to live. He doesn’t have to develop in strict boundaries like in World of Warcraft for example. GRB (Game Rating Board) – South Korean organization, that sets a game age rating, set 15+ for ArcheAge. The budget of the game is 25 million dollars. 15 million of investments from GigaMedia and 10 million from the company’s budget. Koreans want players to have a big impact on the world: each server will be unique, due to players developing their world’s history, map themselves.
There are 8 races in the game world, 5 of which are said to be unique.

Details about the game.

• Class pick is like in Ultima Online – You choose between Warrior, Priest, Mage, Ranger, and the 5th choice is CUSTOM – you can make yourself. The system of classes works like this:
  
• You have 10 main combat skill setups. When you start, you can pick only 3 of them. Afterwards, you can deactivate some, activate others, but the maximum activated is set at 3. So overall it makes 120 variations possible.
  Each of 10 skill setups (from which you can only have 3 active) can be leveled up to the cap, but the price for changing between them is high. Each skill setup will have dozens of unique skills. For example, there are skills such as Floating Bubble, which traps the selected character in a bubble and makes it float in the air for a certain time, and Psychokinesis, which allows you to lift and throw a character. They are also thinking of making some combos between skills. For example, if Shock Arrow is used after Floating Bubble, the selected character will be sent farther than when struck on ground.
  Skills -
  
  • Combat - Close combat
    
  • Witchcraft - Debuffs, Crowd control.
    
  • Invincibility - Tanks skills, all for defense and survivability.
    
  • Will - Magical damage, magic defence, opening portals.
    
  • Necromancy - Necromancer. Period.
    
  • Wild nature - Ranger, taming skills.
    
  • Magic - Magic.
    
  • Assasin - Burst damage pvp build.
    
  • Romance - Buffs (you sing, you play)
    
  • Love - Heal and resurrect allies.
  
  Skill list
  
  Spoiler

  
  1. Combat - melee combat
  Vandals Slash - 4 consecutive attacks at the enemy
  Chyeoolrigi - damages an opponent and raises him from the ground for 1.2 seconds
  Gareugi land - damages surrounding enemies and lowers their running speed by 50% for 3 seconds.
  Light of her hands - increases attack speed by 33% for 15 seconds.
  Hoeohribegi - Knockback attack
  Congestion - increases attack speed and damage by 5% for 30 seconds. (also increases running speed, but this isn't confirmed)
  
  2. Witchcraft - Debuffs and crowd control skills
  Mental fracture - damages an enemy and lowers their vigor for 5 seconds.
  The hands of the land - damage an enemy and roots them to the ground
  Vertigo - lowers running speed and attack speed of an opponent by 50% for 9 seconds.
  Bubbles - raises an enemy from the ground in an air bubble
  Whispers of fear - puts an opponent into feared state
  Summons evil - summons a minion
  
  3. Invincibility - tanking and survivability skills
  Shield hit - hits an enemy with a shield and interrupts casting.
  Chiltemyeon Hit - makes the user immune to stun effect and increases defense from 5% to 30% for 15 seconds (not sure whether the % number is random)
  Farewell to arms - damages and disarms an opponent for 6 seconds
  Increase in life - increases HP by 79 for 20 minutes
  Look At Me - 75% chance to taunt an enemy for 5 seconds.
  Invincible - makes your character immune to damage for 12 seconds (don't get too happy - it probably has a rather long cooldown so the tank can't just spam it)
  
  4. Will - magic damage, buffing and teleport skills tree
  Teleportation - teleports the caster (and party members?) 20 meters ahead.
  Sodeurakjil - interrupts enemy casting
  Explosion energy - AoE (Area of Effect) damaging skill
  Magic off - Increases resistance to magic
  Energy generation - Transfer HP to manna
  Roar Magic - AoE DOT (damage over time) skill.
  
  5. Necromancy - necromancy and damaging skills
  Invisible hand - decreases enemy's cast speed, attack and running speed. The spell is interrupted if the caster moves.
  Hell of a window - damages enemies in a 5 meter radius. Roots for one second, ignoring armor.
  Revenge of the armor - damages an enemy for 11 seconds ( every 2 seconds)
  All Hush - Silences enemies around the caster for 9 seconds.
  Feign Death - not sure how this works yet.
  Ghost summoning - summons a ghost
  
  6. Wild nature - archer and beast taming skills
  Dokhwasal - ranged attack (also gives some kind of effect for 9 seconds)
  Rise - levitates the caster
  Take the beast - tames an animal
  Shock Arrow - stuns an enemy for 3.2 seconds
  Survival Instinct - increases running speed for 23 seconds and makes the caster immune to fear effect. Constantly consumes manna and hp.
  Arrows rain - AoE skill which damages the area for 6 seconds.
  
  7. Magic - magic
  Spark clusters - fireball skill
  Ice Arrow - damages an enemy and lowers their walking/running speed.
  Shield - for 60 seconds creates a shield around a caster. Consumes twice the absorbed damage in manna. (so if the shield absorbed 50 points of damage it uses up 100 points of manna)
  Wrath of the bolts - removes gravitation around the caster for 12 seconds (I guess it levitates enemies if they come too close)
  Shooting star - meteor skill which stuns an area for 6 seconds.
  
  8. Assasin - stealthy damaging skills
  Unhealed wounds - damages an enemy once and then adds additional damage in the next 5 seconds. Lowers opponent's attack speed by 20%
  Stealth - hides the caster but lowers his walking speed by 50%
  Shadow Strike - attacks an enemy from 'hide' state
  Healing kisses - heals the caster and has 50% chance to remove a debuff
  Quick moves - increases movement speed, dodge (speed*2, dodge *2) and gives an immunity to poison for 15 seconds.
  Raided - attacks an enemy from a distance, stuns and gives 140% of additional damage. (assassin jumps at a target from afar)
  
  9. Romance - helpful buffing skills/songs
  Myeongsanggok of focus - increases target's intellect by 8 for 20 minutes
  Lively march - increases target's movement speed by 20%
  Healing Dances - regenerates hp and mp of nearby party members
  Hum of fantasy - not sure what it does yet
  Lively extravaganza - increases party member's attack
  Ghostly lullaby - not sure what it does yet
  
  
  10. Love - healing and resurrecting skills
  Light and darkness - regenerates party member's hp and damages enemies
  Vitality like a fountain - regenerates hp for 15 seconds
  Love and Friendship - regenerates hp
  Resurrection - resurrects a fallen ally (cannot use in combat)
  The recovery room - creates a resting room for allies
  Nightfall - covers allies in darkness making them invisible to the enemies.
  
  
• The size of the world exceeds the size of World of Warcraft. In total, there are 3 continents, 1 of which can be conquered by players, and hold sieges like in Lineage 2. The other two have some sort of war going on between them. The world is seamless, you can travel between continents with the help of a boat. The developers don't want to implement teleportation, since it will destroy the feeling of a massive world. There is no information yet, about player controlled boats.
  They also plan on letting players travel between continents on ships, without loading zones.
  A city, players can conquer.
  
  Spoiler

  
  
  
  
• About mass pvp - yes, it will be included, even in this stage of the project. 100 people can move without lags, interacting with each other. The boy will be target based for most spells and range, melee skills, some of which can be used on territory like in WoW or UO for example. There is also mounted combat. In the fight, you can raise yourself or your enemies in the air, like seen on screenshots. There was some ranger dude floating in the air, shooting people from the sky noticed already. Magic doesnt use reagents.
  Their current target is a 50v50 castle siege, but it may change due to technical constraints. There will be three continents, and in the two southern continents, the castellans will be NPCs. In the northern continent, though, users will be able to build castles anywhere, control that zone, and engage in war to conquer the castle in other zones.
  Magic Screenshots
  
  Spoiler

  
  [/IMG]
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• There is a house construction system similar to Ultima Online: You will have your yard, your house. However the housing spots will be available to only about 50% of the players at release, because there is simply not enough space. That will be fixed with various updates post release. You can construct different houses, by size and type. You can construct public and private houses, unite them into villages. You can hire a NPC for your house, or to protect your yard, you can grow crops, grapes, make wine out of grapes, and sell, drink it with other players. The house can be used as a house, as a crafting station or as a shelter. Hostile guilds can spoil your yard, as it seems.
  We want to let players hire NPC as sellers in front of their houses or gardens. At this moment we are still developing the Auction/Banking systems.
  You can also set up a garden or a farm, or both together beside your house. You can build farm territories just like in the game "WeRule" for smartphones.
  Construction steps.
  
  Spoiler

  
  
  
  
• There is also a labor point system. Labor power is needed for production, construction, crafting and entertainment activities. It will accumulate regularly at fixed intervals, whether online or offline. The reason for such design is for equilibrium between the users who play longer and those who play more casually. There is a limit to such accumulation so that users who play longer will not necessarily be able to have more labor power than those who play more occasionally. Additionally, by long accumulation periods, those users who cannot play the game every day can log in occasionally, like every few days, and spend all accumulated labor power at once.
  Also, high-level users can use their labor power in more luxurious activities (such as going to a dance party) and also purchase the labor power of lower level users for crafting. We would like the users to enjoy the game with less burden.
  
• About crafting. For crafting, recipe and materials as well as craft tools and table are required. For example, if a user wants to craft a sword, an anvil will be required, but for clothing, a mannequin will be needed.
  
• About the interface. There is no minimap (just a map). Each player has his beloved style of interface. Some prefer a wide screen, others combinations of various skills, others see as much information on the screen as possible, and so on. In ArcheAge it is rather simple to customize and move around the interface on the screen, as you like. Like for example if you customize it right, you can exchange equipped items without opening the inventory. About the minimap: There is no minimap. In the world of ArcheAge there is no place for a minimap. A player who is familiar with the evolving world should be able to draw paths and mark any information. XLGames is currently developing a powerful navigation system, that allows easy share, check, and use of such information.
  
• Mounts system: In the 1st CBT, only horses are available. But in the future, you will have access to alot of types of mounts. You can actually fight on them, shoot from your bow, defend yourself by blocking the attacks with your horses first pair of legs, etc. You can get the horse, when you complete a quest on level 3 or 4. When you summon the horse, it appears in the game, and you can mount it alone or with a friend. Then you can dismount from it, and order it to leave to your inventory. You can also equip armor, helmets, saddlebags on your horse.
  
• Means of travel. Horses, carriages, ships, and airships will be available. Horses can be ridden by two people, and the one sitting at the back can engage in combat (such as shooting arrows). The carriage can accommodate more people. Carriages will be provided as a means of public transportation running from zone to zone, but they will also be available for users to own. Ships can be owned by users as well, and there is no explicit limit to the number of people who can board. Airships will only travel around the pre-determined airways.
  Instant travel is currently available. Users can bind any visited spot, and with a certain amount of cost, teleport to that specific spot. However, this may change depending on users' reactions.
  
• Ship construction and naval warfare: XL announced that one of the major functions you will experience in the 2nd CBT is about ships, building those and having a battle on the sea.
  The building step is like a real world. You build a basic frame at the shipyard, and then deck, outter armors, mast, etc.. Basically, it is silimar to building a house. Buy a structural drawing from NPC and then put required resources by using Labor Points. There will be several kinds of ships which are different in their sizes, number of cannons and masts.
  When you drive your ship, you have to to consider tidal current, wind strength, angle of the mast and the law of inertia. That is, you will need to cooperate with one another to drive a ship properly. PPL on the ship may have their own roles, like firing a gun, adjusting a mast, controlling a ship and so on. But the possibility of hand-to-hand fight is not revealed yet.
  Naval Battle is expected to be a dynamic one that gets interaction with the environment. To destroy enemy ships, you must control your ship by considering direction of cannons, distance to your enemy and speed of your ship.
  Not only firefights, hand-to-hand combat is also available on the open ocean! Many more features are still in development, such as fishing in the middle of the ocean, housing on a deserted island, and hunting sea monsters.
  At this moment, a ship is a Inventory item. It is summoned and desummoned. When it sinks, it returns to the inventory as a Broken ship, and is repaired for a rather big price.
  
• Other information: Every object in the world can be interacted with, its not just for decoration usually . You can climb a tree, you can get fruits from it, or you can cut it down and use it as a bridge over a river. You can also plant the trees almost anywhere you want, and they will grow overtime. For example you can plant a forest with your friends, and some person that runs by will get a feeling that he is lost, because there was no forest here before.
  Korean players made a forest.
  
  Spoiler

  
  Stages of tree growth.
  
  Spoiler

  
  About armors - everyone can wear any type of armor, and it will protect from different types of attacks.
  The game has a large quantity of freedom, just like in UO.
  You can gather ore from random nods spread across the world.
  Players can throw ropes and climb buildings, pass over rivers, as you can notice on some videos and screenshots.
  When you die, you ressurect at the nearest temple with all your gear. It is however unknown if you lose your experience.
  You can actually enchant your items, like in lineage 2. There is a chance of fail.
  You gather the loot from corpses. You come up to the corpse, you click on it, a window pops up, and you take the loot. You can also kick the corpse around .
  
• When will American and/or European players get a chance to beta test?
  From the start of this project, the US and Europe have been key target markets for ArcheAge. We want to make sure that we do everything necessary to ensure the success of ArcheAge in these markets. We do not want to prematurely invite American or European players to the beta test. At the same time, we know how important it is not to delay it too long. So maybe after we have tested it somewhat in the Korean market and the development team has taken a breath.

1 Closed beta test

• In the 1st beta test players will test basic ingame systems. That includes: House building, object interaction, crafting, class stats, combat, interface, animations, art style, characters. You could build your house on a field, grow crops, but all of this isn't completed yet. The developers still have many ideas, and most of them are in development. They want to get as much reviews as possible, to construct this game with the players.
  
• Some of these functions were thought to be impossible or very hard to do in a MMORPG, with thousands of players. But they announce that they take the challenge. As an example, the current housing system only allows you to build a house in a vacant spot, grow crops in the yard, decorate the interior of the house, and so on; however in the future, this system is to become the core base of crafting, politics and economy.
  
• They are developing fundamental things, and still, alot is to be acomplished. For example - means of transportation. They have alot of plans about it, but in the first beta test, there will be just one way to transport yourself. And even that one way will be bugged .
  
• Usually, closed beta test means that the game is almost finished. This is not the case in ArcheAge. They have developed the games basics, and are launching the closed beta to listen to the player's reviews, thoughts, feelings. They have also said, that even tho they released so small amount of information, the players are waiting for a supernova or something, the devs are afraid, that the game wont meet the expectations of most people. As the developers say, the game is FAR FAR FAR away from completed, and can make a bad impression during the 1st closed beta test. They have Boldsized said that the combat system is far from being finished, and nothing is optimized, finished, complete, or 100% sure in the combat system.

Screenshots from the game:
Old official screenshots

Spoiler

Comparing concept art and ingame graphics

Spoiler

Average graphic settings.
1

Spoiler

2

Spoiler

3

Spoiler

4

Spoiler

Screenshots from XLGame office

Spoiler

Screenshots from meeting in Seoul 1

Spoiler

Choosing a class.

Login screen.

Character creation.

The map.

Interface.

Crafting.

House construction.

Woodcutting.

Woodcutting 2.

Pvp on a horse.

A cart.

A city, you can siege.

BoobiesRope hanging.

Tree climbing.

Next to construction site.

Strange Pve 1.

Strange Pve 2.

Pvp 1.

Pvp 2.

Stairs.

Rope.

City.

Screenshots from meeting in Seoul 2

Spoiler

Climbing walls.

Walls.

Climbing trees.

Unknown.

Pvp on horsey.

Next to horse.

Unknown.

Buying something.

Placing furniture.

Construction.

Here and back.

Buying a house plan?

Here and back again.

Buying something.

Some AoE skill in PvP.

Planting trees.

Planting trees 2.

Screenshots from meeting in Seoul 3

Spoiler

Mass PvP.

Unknown.

Climbing.

Building the house.

Furniture management.

Furniture management 2.

Choosing a character.

Configuring the face.

Magic.

Combat.

A girl.

AoE skill.

Into the air!

Spider attacks.

Unknown.

Construction.

Climbing.

Riding horse.

Spiders.

Personal screenshots

Spoiler

Beta tester screenshots part 1. (Great graphics part!)

Spoiler

Rocks.. so beautifull...

Simply Astonishing..

A horse on a field.. A stunning field.

Village, night.

Field, rocks.

Night, city scenery.

Beautiful sun. The elf looks like a blue guy from AVATAR.

Jungles.

Jungles again.

Water, waterfall, jungles.

Tree-monster.

A statue.

City walls.

City gates.

City square. Monument.

City square. Monument.

Exit from the city.

A palace. (Will be mine)

Inside the palace?.

Tavern.

A staircase on a house.

Climbing a staircase.

A horse.

A path. Reminds me of Connal's Valley from Age of Conan.

Houses.

A cart.

I love the armor in ArcheAge

Nice scenery.

Riding to the city!

Game videos:
Old Videos

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=TMZNXW7cFCs
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=cbAyXISJ0aA
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Yv5Sh3M2iP8
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=o3xjVq9rpqE
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=49bOvUiZHNE
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=UJbNUkHodz4
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=XV58w8XqtBE
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=l0QJeXm29Wo

CBT1 Official Videos.

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=y_2VhosQ_ds
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=e-RYhkImZ-g

CBT2 Official Videos.

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=F1WRktXLtrM
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=r2VEYNyIOgY

CBT2 Tester Videos.

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=CxTDtTENa_A
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=vLSMiHVRJ4U

If i get new information, i will update this post.

All this information sums up the info available on
http://www.aaportal.net - an International Community of ArcheAge. ©

[Deviana]

Thank you!
I think you meant to say that the release is scheduled for the beginning of 2011, not 2010 though.

P.S. Erm..wrong language You should edit the post, or I can just translate a bit later.

[Romtim]

Deviana, on 23 July 2010 - 05:03 PM, said:

Thank you!
I think you meant to say that the release is scheduled for the beginning of 2011, not 2010 though.

P.S. Erm..wrong language You should edit the post, or I can just translate a bit later.

i havent finished yet, i am busy changing the forum codes.

[ArcheAdmin]

Romtim, on 23 July 2010 - 05:26 PM, said:

i havent finished yet, i am busy changing the forum codes.

Romtim, how many images do you need in your post? I'll change the limit for you! :D

[Romtim]

Admin, on 23 July 2010 - 05:37 PM, said:

Romtim, how many images do you need in your post? I'll change the limit for you! :D

about 300 or 400 i dont remember. Dont worry, its all nice, in spoilers, categorized a bit. About 200 to start, and i will find a way to upload 150 more, which arent on imageshack (they are in forums.goha.ru gallery, so i will have to upload a ton too.)

[ArcheAdmin]

Romtim, on 23 July 2010 - 05:47 PM, said:

about 300 or 400 i dont remember. Dont worry, its all nice, in spoilers, categorized a bit. About 200 to start, and i will find a way to upload 150 more, which arent on imageshack (they are in forums.goha.ru gallery, so i will have to upload a ton too.)

Hmm, okay, I think I'll make a special usergroup then instead of setting the entire forum default to a high number. That way people won't abuse it for spam. This will take me a little while.

[Romtim]

im done, except for images.

[ArcheAdmin]

I changed the max image limit to 500 and the max emotes to 100. Is that sufficient, or should it be larger?

GOHA.RU sure loves screenshots!

[Romtim]

yes, i think its enough.

[ArcheAdmin]

Romtim, on 23 July 2010 - 07:07 PM, said:

yes, i think its enough.

Thanks for all your efforts! I'm sure everyone who comes here in the future will appreciate it too.

Now I just have to attract more than 20 people to the community.

EDIT: This information, if even half of it comes to fruition, will make ArcheAge the most awesome MMO published since forever. :D

[Romtim]

okay, im finished for today, need to go to sleep, 3 am here.
Tomorrow ill add 180 more screenshots (well ill try to add)

[Nyisia]

Oh wow...thank you so much for the translation and all the hard work! Now I'm REALLY hoping that it comes to NA!!!

Ny

[gifthorse]

I'm overwhelmed.

[ArcheAdmin]

gifthorse, on 23 July 2010 - 08:54 PM, said:

I'm overwhelmed.

Yeah, so am I, but I felt the same way about Aion in 2006 and it didn't turn out anything like it was promised to be.

In fact, Aion in 2006 made a lot of the same claims ArcheAge is making now. This time, though, I think XLGames has the power to make it happen.

[The Original Dave]

Fantastic, this is fantastic!
I'm so happy we have all this information now, it's great!
Thank you so much for this Romtim. =)
Oh, and, under the music bit...

"Music, women porn sounds, magic" Hilarious. They do sound like that without seeing the animation of them being hit.
EDIT: I'm listening to all the music, which I will be for awhile since it's epic, and... everyone should listen to bg002... It's mixed in with the song from Transformers! :O I'm amazed.

[Knurls]

Reminds me of AoC, hopefully the terrain doesn't feel as forced and linear.

[Romtim]

I am too busy atm. if you really want to view the screenshots, you can go here:
http://forums.goha.r...ad.php?t=455541

[The Original Dave]

I've said thank you so many times now, that if I say it again, it might not sound so grateful, but I assure you Romtim and Deviana, I am very grateful, and very happy, (as I think we all are) that you've brought this ArcheAge stuff to us. =3

[Romtim]

I would like to have a possibility to upload to your site directly about 400 screenshots (including 200 not included in the forums.goha.ru post)

[Power Incarnate]

This whole post is win...Beyond sex. Everything about the design and hopes forgameplay / PvPare right up my alley as ive reached endgame in the here said games and enjoyed them greatly.