Aika Online developers aspire to bring the best PvP experience to players. WarCry recently had the chance to sit down with Community Manager Christina Kelly to talk about this most unique feature of the game. Read on!
If you missed Part 1 of WarCry’s Aika Online interview with Community Manager Christina Kelly be sure to check it out!
Explain the quest system please.
From the moment a character first sets foot in the city of Regenshein, Lakia’s capital, he or she can receive quests from specially marked NPCs to gather certain items, kill monsters, and perform other tasks appropriate to the story. Quest rewards include experience points, special items, money, and the ability to unlock certain features such as the Pran and citizenship in a nation. By completing quests, players also get to know the world of Aika and participate in a heroic adventure which sets them right in the middle of a land roiling with conflicts of good and evil. The quest system is the best introduction to the rich lore and thrilling drama of Aika, and also the best way to advance through the early stages of the game. Later on, there are also quests for guilds and even entire nations, so it’s really a system that grows with the complexity of the game.
Will Aika Online feature a cash mall? What types of items are to be included in it? Which are your favorites?
Aika will feature a shop with various items which players can use to customize their characters, help them in battle, and affect the probabilities of certain in-game events or outcomes. We haven’t finalized the selection yet, so I can’t provide much detail, but I know of one type of item that I’m sure players could find very useful. A great feature of Aika is its crafting and equipment enhancement system, and this system is very important because it’s much less expensive and more rewarding to create your own equipment and enhance it than to buy something from an NPC shop. The system is designed such that anyone can customize their equipment any way they want to–there is no “crafting skill” which affects the outcome–but for particular processes there is a small probability that the equipment involved would remain unchanged or, worse yet, be destroyed. Luckily, the item shop will sell items that lessen or eliminate the chance of such undesirable results. I know that I would hate to see a weapon or piece of armor I’d enhanced with special powers to disappear in the blink of an eye, so this particular kind of item would definitely appeal to me.
What Many MMO players complain about the “grind”. How much “grind” is involved in Aika Online?
Aika is actually designed to have very little “grind,” particularly in the early stages of the game. Many of the exciting PvP functions which make Aika unique are only accessible at a certain level, so it was important to the developers that players reach these levels quickly, to better help them get right into the action. Aika is definitely not a grind-heavy MMORPG.
What will the level cap be in Aika Online? How long would you estimate it would take a player to reach the cap?
The current level cap for Aika is 50, and this number will be raised by expansion packs. We estimate that it would take a player at least 3 weeks (ed note: three weeks changed from three months) of playing 5-6 hours per day to reach this level.
Will there adequate challenges for high-level players?
Absolutely. The finest example of challenges for high-level players comes from Aika’s intricate political system. Players who rise through the ranks of their guilds can engineer guild alliances and lead these alliances into battle for sovereignty of their nation, and then players who attain the coveted title of Lord Marshal may preside over their nation as its military leader. Lord Marshals have control over many aspects of the nations they rule and can plot with other Lord Marshals to form national alliances and attack other nations. These powerful positions must be carefully defended, however, as I’m sure many other players would pursue the chance to lead their entire nation into war with passion and tenacity. There is also higher level raiding content and advanced quests to keep players engaged.
What would you estimate the learning curve will be for new players to Aika Online?
For those who are already familiar with fantasy MMORPGs, the world of Aika will be recognizable on many levels. The basic concepts of leveling, quests, skill attacks, instance dungeons, equipment, and organizing into parties or guilds are essentially the same in Aika as in other well-known games of the genre. It’s a fairly intuitive system, so I think even players new to MMORPGs won’t have too difficult of a time of it. The mechanics of the Pran and other more unique features might take some to get used to, but we at Gala-Net and Aika’s developers have been working together to make sure these features are as easy to understand and navigate as possible. We definitely want players to be able to focus on exploring the world of Aika and the possibilities of its deep gameplay, not struggle with a new way to approach gaming as a whole.
Aika Online is billed as a “nation vs. nation” game. Please explain.
The nation system of Aika is probably its most exciting feature–certainly for me, and I hope for the players as well! There are five nations which make up the largest units of the Aika PvP system, and each has a distinct personality which players will hopefully resonate with different players and make for some fun roleplaying. Alethius is a nation whose citizens are concerned with honor, nobility, and justice, while citizens of Ostyrion share a taste for chaos and treachery. The people of Lenaria are friendly and value social harmony, while those of Feonir place emphasis on tenacity and deep knowledge of their world over socializing. Finally, Vanov is ideal for players who want to make the most of Aika’s military flavor and complex hierarchical system to dominate those who are less organized and not quite as ruthless. We think the tensions which will naturally spring up between these ideological dispositions will help players think of themselves as belonging to a larger community within the world of the game, one that is defined not only by its own values but also by its distinctiveness from the other communities, which might inspire some amazing nation vs. nation battles. In the Relic War PvP mode, nations can ally with each other to attack other nations and seize their relics, which are powerful magical items that bestow special benefits to all citizens of the nations they belong to. The transfer of relics and the dynamics of these shifting alliances can profoundly affect the player experience at the guild, party, and individual levels, so much is at stake.
What makes the PvP system in Aika Online unique?
Aika’s PvP system is amazingly diverse and comprehensive. In addition to your classic MMORPG 1 vs. 1 form of conflict, there are three major types of PvP which take advantage of the different levels of organization players can participate in: Battlegrounds, Castle Siege, and Relic War. I’ve already mentioned Relic War, so I’ll take a little time now and describe the other two major modes. Battlegrounds will be familiar to many MMORPG players as well as players of other team-based MMOs such as Counter-Strike.
Players form teams of various sizes (ranging from 6 vs. 6 to 24 vs. 24) and engage in team vs. team preset scenarios in a specially designated zone. The winners collect special items, in-game currency, and experience points. Castle Siege takes advantage of Aika’s nation structure and pits guilds of one nation against one another in epic battles for national power and preeminence. The ruling guild or guild regime, whose leader is the Lord Marshal previously mentioned, must defend its seat of power–the Lakian Fortress–against all would-be contenders for the privilege of ruling the nation. Castle Sieges are scheduled events that occur once a week, so guilds have many opportunities to scheme with and against one another to attain national glory. I don’t know of any other MMORPG out there which can boast a PvP system this exhilarating and varied in its scope and approach. Once Aika gains momentum and enough players join the game, we can also start seeing the “1000 vs. 1000” battles which are already being played in Asia and have proven a very memorable facet of this particular title.
Tomorrow will wrap up our three part conversation with Ms. Kelly so be sure to check in! Also, you can GRAB AN AIKA ONLINE BETA KEY RIGHT HERE!.
Published: Feb 6, 2010 12:54 am