[Facebook page] Once known in the Western online gaming market as Prius Online, the game did not last as long as expected under publisher gPotato.
Now, the game has been reborn as Arcane Saga, with the US subsidiary of the developer, Netmarble, overlooking its operations. I had the chance to ask some questions about the revival, so read on!
Q: Hi there, can you please introduce yourself to the readers?
A: I’m Jon-Enée “Neume” Merriex, producer for Arcane Saga.
Q: The burning question – Why revive Prius Online as Arcane Saga after a year of hiatus since the previous version closed?
A: We wanted to have a seamless transition of service, but the timing did not work out. We ended up founding our US subsidiary in April 2012 about two weeks after the game shut down. In the end, we felt that gave us a chance to put the game back in the oven to bake for a while.
Q: While Prius Online basically uses the name of the goddess, Prius, why is the decision made to rename the game as Arcane Saga?
A: Actually Prius is the name of the world where the game takes place. At the request of Toyota (which has a car named Prius), we agreed to change the name of the game.
That kind of worked for us because in focus tests, we found most people didn’t really get a concept of the game from the original title. So making the change really allowed us to capture players’ imaginations a little more.
Q: Were any changes made to the game’s lore?
A: In changing the game name, we decided to adjust the story. It was an extremely complicated process. The fact that even members of the development team got lost in the original story was an indication that it was ripe to be streamlined.
Now the focus of the story is three Gods:
- Rashard, who is now the main villain in the lore and the king of the Gods.
- Huul, who is the creator of Prius and the main tragic hero in the lore.
- And finally Ira, Huul’s love and daughter to Rashard. In the old lore, she was the villain, so that’s a big switch.
There are other changes, but players will need to experience them in game.
Q: It is written that “Prius Online has evolved into Arcane Saga.” What are some of the new features or major improvements made to the game since then?
A: We’ve revamped a lot of things, from the way skills work, to the combo system, the leveling progression and more. We really wanted to fix a lot of the areas of improvement players helped identify. So we’ve focused on that a lot as well.
Finally, we’re getting rid of a lot of annoyances, adding a lot of functionality and making the game fun overall.
Q: With the many Free-to-Play titles around currently, and even more coming out, what are some of the unique points which will make Arcane Saga stand out from the crowd?
A: I think the moment players are introduced to our combo system, they’ll be hooked. It’s refreshing to be able to build your own combo. You can find the right mix of skills and timing that works for you. It’s a major boon in combat too and adds a whole new level to standard MMORPG combat.
Q: When can players expect to see the beta phase beginning, as well as the official launch?
A: We’ll announce beta dates in the next few weeks, and launch will be sometime after that.
Q: I understand that there are other foreign versions still in operation. Hence, will there be IP blocks implemented?
A: We will be blocking a few countries like China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, but only because the game is already live in those countries, and bringing North American, South American and European players together on the same servers should provide for a better experience overall.
Q: Thank you very much for your time and answering these questions!
A: Thanks for having me. I hope to come back and talk more soon!
