Lime Odyssey Interview w/ GM_Venom

By Bryan King, OnRPG Journalist

 

 

There’s been no shortage of new MMOs in Q4 2011. Let’s face it, it’s a competitive market, and an abundance of new games is sure to keep gamers busy this season. Aeria Games recently announced the opening of the website and upcoming Alpha Test for their new title, Lime Odyssey. Developed by Sirius Entertainment, the game shares many of the old developers who worked on the legendary title Ragnarok Online. I got to sit down with GM_Venom of Aeria Games to discuss the title, and what players can expect to see when the game opens its doors.

 

 

OnRPG: Hi, GM_Venom, before we begin, could you introduce yourself to readers? How did you become so involved with Aeria Games and Lime Odyssey?

 

GM_Venom: I am a game launch assistant for Aeria Games and have currently been heavily involved in QA and community management for Lime Odyssey.

 

GM_Venom Surrounded by numerous fangirls (and guy) in Kitsu Saga CB

 

 

OnRPG: Is there any storyline within Lime Odyssey that players should know about?

 

GM_Venom: We feel the storyline in Lime Odyssey is compelling and brings a lot of intrigue to the game.  The “Lime” in Lime Odyssey refers to a magical fruit that is believed to come directly from the goddess Nysis. This magical artifact had awesome power, and was used by all races to do great things, such as keep the magical Muris home city of Pripet floating in the air. A cruel Tyrant hoarded the lime to himself and used it to fuel his army, plunging the world into chaos and literally shattering the continent into several smaller lands, which now drift apart.

 

But the Goddess Nysis could not stand her powers being abused so terribly, and one day almost all the lime vanished from Orta. Hundreds of years after these events, every race is still struggling to rebuild the once-peaceful land.  Wild rumors of the Lime artifact inspire young adventurers who seek this power to restore the glory of an age almost forgotten.

 

 

OnRPG:   Lime Odyssey has a wide variety of unique races, each with their own traits, advantages, and story. Can you give us a description of these races, and which is your favorite?

 

GM_Venom: Each race provides a great backstory and a completely different area to adventure through during the beginning to early mid game.  Other than that, however, there aren’t specific traits or stats for each race. We leave it to the player hone their character’s skills and traits.

 

 

The Humans are seafaring farmers in this world, struggling to get by through farming coral off a tropical Island to sell and trade. The humans have a very “rebellious explorer” feel to them and their homeland. As a young human adventurer, you’ll seek out Lime to help restore your people’s former glory and prosperity.

 

 

The Turga are a race a noble and hardy Lion-like people, and have made the savage tundra of West Tumbara their homeland. Turga honor strength and courage, and live a life of battle. Since the tumultuous events of the Tyrant, the Turga have been at war with a race called the Kriegers, to which they have lost most of their land. As a Turga, you seek Lime to restore you honor and retake your land.

 

 

The Muris are a curious and magical race of small Mouse-like creatures. Their Home City, Pripet, resides on Haze Island, which floats in the air. Since the Lime disappeared, the city has slowly been sinking downward, barely held up by magic and the Lime scraps gathered by the Muris. As a Muris adventurer you seek to explore the world and bring back Lime to keep your people afloat.

 

 

OnRPG: What type of gameplay features can players expect to see in terms of combat? Will they be seeing anything like raids, dungeons, and instanced PvP?

 

GM_Venom: Lime Odyssey will have both instanced and non-instanced dungeons right out of the gate, offering a wide variety of fearsome foes to slay and gilded treasures to seek. Raids and Instanced PvP are not available yet during closed beta testing, but players can look forward to features like these coming later. We’re confident players will have their hands full fighting off monsters and traveling the HUGE world in Lime Odyssey for quite a while.

 

 

OnRPG: Is there a housing system in Lime Odyssey?

 

GM_Venom: There is not a housing system currently in the game but players can look forward to this feature coming out to Lime as well. Luckily Lime Odyssey offers expansive crafting, pets, guild and farming features should players feel the domestic itch while traversing the continent Orta.

 

 

OnRPG: What is the “Trade Class” system?

 

GM_Venom: In Lime Odyssey, crafting is not an afterthought. Your character must adopt a Battle class, which is a traditional character class, and a Trade Class. The trade class can be a chef, tailor, or blacksmith. Your choice determines what kind of gathering and crafting you’ll be tasked with in Lime Odyssey.  You have trade class quest lines, trade class exp, and even a full set of equipment you wear just for your trade class. So you can be a ferocious warrior… who also moonlights as a tailor.

 

 

OnRPG: What was the inspiration for the art style?

 

GM_Venom: Lime Odyssey has a unique style that draws from many influences, but if you look at the game you definitely notice the heritage from Ragnarok Online as well as references to popular modern 3D styles.

 

 

OnRPG: Lime Odyssey is hailed as the “real successor” to Ragnarok. How did the original game serve as inspiration for the creation of this title?

 

GM_Venom: This game is considered to be the “true sequel” because many of the original developers from Ragnarok Online moved over to form Sirius Entertainment, the developers of Lime Odyssey. When you play the game, it is easy to see Lime’s art style as a natural progression from Ragnarok Online into the 3D realm.

 

The environments will also remind players of the varied zones from Ragnarok, each vibrant and crafted full of character.

 

 

OnRPG: How hard was the transition from the Korean service to a North American/English Speaking one?

 

GM_Venom: We are taking extra care with this game to make sure the localization, in both text and voice, is fun and interesting.  It has not been easy to pour over every line of dialog in such a big game, but we want everything to be just as polished as the beautiful graphics of this game.

 

 

OnRPG: What features disassociate Lime Odyssey from other anime-inspired F2P MMOs out there?

 

GM_Venom: Lime Odyssey contains several standout features. It offers the ability to freely transform between both your battle and life class, with equal emphasis on both. The world is large and creatively constructed, and offers the player a lot of freedom.  It adds more excitement to combat with the Burst gauge (a feature that temporarily adds extra boost that players build up by landing blows). It also features great social and messaging features so you can better enjoy it with your friends.

 

OnRPG: Out of these, what is your favorite feature?

 

GM_Venom: My favorite feature is the class switching. At first it may feel odd to press a button to switch to crafting mode, but the duality of the system means you can always switch it up and focus on something new whenever you want a break from your current quest line. In addition to this, the emphasis on crafting becomes extremely rewarding when you make your own set of armor and it exceeds the drops, quest rewards, and shop items around you!

 

OnRPG: How can players get involved in the Alpha Test that you guys recently announced?

 

GM_Venom: We are currently selecting from the players in our community. We are looking for passionate players with an eye for quality and a willingness to offer constructive feedback, since this is an early-stage alpha test. But the most important thing we are looking for are players that are active and helpful in the forum communities, since we always promote community as the best part of an MMO, and we want to encourage players to participate it in.

 

 

OnRPG: What audience would you guys say would enjoy Lime Odyssey the most?

 

GM_Venom: I would not say that Lime Odyssey is specifically anime themed, as it has its own style, but I feel that players who previously enjoyed anime MMO’s will be incredibly pleased with Lime Odyssey. It is also more mature in style than many of Aeria’s previous anime MMOs, so it will have appeal to the more hardcore audience.

 

 

OnRPG: When can we expect to see Lime Odyssey in retail launch?

 

GM_Venom: At this stage of development, we are still planning to execute several testing phases and will target Q1 for a commercial release.

 

OnRPG: Anything else you’d like to share?

 

GM_Venom: We encourage prospective players to visit the Lime Odyssey forums, which are rife with events, info and general LO chatter at the moment. And of course, visit the website if you’re interested in becoming a closed beta tester: http://limeodyssey.aeriagames.com.

 

 

OnRPG: Thank you so much for your time!