There's no doubting the appeal and influence of massively multiplayer online games nowadays in the West, but in terms of numbers, we're still a long way behind South Korea. World of Warcraft may boast 8 million subscribers, but Ragnarok Online has 25 million worldwide.

　　That game's creator, Hakkyu Kim, has since created a new title, which is soon to be published in the US and Europe by K2 Network. Sword of the New World (Granado Espada in South Korea) is set in 17th-century Europe and is based on historical events surrounding the exploration of the Americas. To find out more about the title and what we can expect in terms of gameplay, we took some time out with Grantley Day, vice president of product development at K2 Network.

　　GameSpot UK: Asian MMOs rarely find mainstream success in Europe. Why do you think Sword of the New World will buck this trend?

　　Grantley Day: Sword of the New World's multicharacter control, which is a concept familiar to hardcore gamers who love titles like Neverwinter Nights 2, will help players appreciate how revolutionary the title is, and we believe this will be one of the key factors that will help Sword of the New World: Granado Espada buck this trend. Second is the visual appeal. Often Asian MMOs lack the finesse of western MMOs; however, Sword of the New World is an amazing-looking title, and players will notice this the minute they enter the world.

　　GSUK: Who are you aiming Sword of the New World at? Players of other MMOs or people who haven't yet been bitten by the MMO bug?

　　GD: Sword of the New World is aimed squarely at people who are familiar with MMOs. The pace of the title is fast, the diversity is massive, and the skill required to play starts easy and ramps up as you get more acclimatised to the concept of playing a team of characters with the multicharacter control. No doubt there will be people who haven't yet been bitten; however, we don't believe it's our target market.

　　GSUK: How does cooperative play work in Sword of the New World, given the multiple character control system?

　　GD: The cooperative play is similar to many other MMOs. You form parties, groups, guilds, and even factions; the advantage is that you don't need to try to find a specific needed class, such as a healer, because most players will have a healer inside their family already. In addition, many of the dungeons and bosses require a party to defeat them, so grouping is still an important aspect of the game.

　　GSUK: What are the options in the game for crafting? And is there anything in the crafting system for Sword of the New World that makes the game stand out?

　　GD: Sword of the New World has a strong crafting element within the game. For example, players can upgrade their favourite weapon with special enchantments during their levelling to allow them to keep the weapon useful much longer than it normally would be. Monsters drop a lot of crafting materials, such as different types of ore, and these materials are also used for creating traps, turrets, fences, and a variety of other equipment useful for player-versus-environment play, as well as player-versus-player play.

　　GSUK: Tell us a bit about the barracks system.

　　GD: The barracks or "quarters" as they are known in Sword of the New World is a place for your family to reside. You start with the ability to hold five family members in your quarters, and as you progress through the game, this increases to the maximum of 36. When you enter Sword, you are asked to select three members of your family from the quarters for your day's adventures.

　　GSUK: What can you tell us about the non-player character classes? How they will affect gameplay?

　　GD: Within Sword of the New World, there is the concept of UPCs or unique-player classes. For example, the game contains the traditional fighter (and variants), wizard (and variants), healer-type classes (although our game's healer is actually quite unique), and these classes have stances that represent their classes. An example of this is the wizard class, which has magical-type stances and forgoes the ability to use a sword or shield. Another example would be the fighter who has stances that allow him to use a sword, sword and shield, sword and dagger, or sword and gun; each combination of weapon has its own stance.

　　Sword of the New World's UPCs have a unique combination of stances and access to special stances not found within the traditional classes. For example, a UPC might have access to the fighter's sword and shield stance but will also having access to the wizard's elemental protection stance. A UPC might also have his or her own specific stance, like an encounter shot, which is a special stance for using a bayonet and gives the UPC access to a weapon that can shoot (ranged class) and impale (fighter class).

　　GSUK: How does the economy work in Sword of the New World?

　　GD: Easy: kill monsters, level, get drops, get cash, get cool stuff, kill other players, rinse, and repeat. All this occurs very rapidly!

　　GSUK: Is there a system in place for buying in-game currency with real-world money? If not, have you got any plans to stop or hinder the almost inevitable black market?

　　GD: Sword of the New World will not be offering a system to buy in-game currency with real-world money. We do have plans in place to hinder the inevitable black market, which we will be announcing further down the road.

　　GSUK: Unlike some MMOs, Granado Espada has something of a death penalty after repeated character deaths. Will this feature be carried through into Sword of the New World?

　　GD: There is no death penalty in Sword of the New World, other than time. As you level from starting the game to level 90, when you die, you can either wait for you character to come back to life or have that character resurrected. You can also, however, choose at any point (when you have a dead party) to return to your quarters and restart in a town with your recently deceased party. You will lose your current position, unless you have a warp save point. Once you reach level 90, there is no time-out to wait for an automatic resurrection. You will either need to be brought back to life by another player or return to the barracks. There is no experience, gold, or durability penalty for dying.

　　GSUK: How many hours of standard play will it take for players to reach the level cap?

　　GD: Currently, we are expecting around 300 to 400 hours of gameplay for players to reach the 100 level cap. After that, however, there are still many options as characters take on epic proportions and have access to new and exciting abilities, which are important for the higher-level instances and PVP.

　　GSUK: Is the game's content primarily for players levelling up or for players at the level cap?

　　GD: At launch, the game's content is primarily for players levelling up. There is much content at the level cap, but this is where the developer IMC is making most of its patch modifications and game enhancements, so that people at the high levels continually come back for more!

　　GSUK: Thanks for your time.