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Record of Lunia Interview with Kyoung-yeon Choi

By Donna Desborough

The anime inspired arcade styled MMO Lunia Gold is part of the GNG World Championships. I was lucky enough to talk with the developers to find out just a little bit more about Lunia’s part in the competition.

Donna: Can you tell us a little about yourself and what you do at Lunia Gold?

Kyoung-yeon:  I’m Kyoung-yeon Choi, the leader of the Public Relation team and at the same time a PM who is wholly in charge of GNGWC project of ‘Record of Lunia Gold War’.

Donna: How does Lunia Gold fit into the GNGWC? 

Kyoung-yeon:  ‘Record of Lunia Gold War’ opened GNGWC championship at the same time it started its global service last July, which aroused much participation in GNGWC as well as the users’ interest in the game itself. Lots of users showed interest in action arcade RPG because of its uniqueness as an online game genre. In August 23rd, Europe Final tournament successfully ended in Leipzig, Germany.

Donna: So how will the Lunia Gold rounds work? What exactly do players have to do? 

Kyoung-yeon:  At present, ‘Record of Lunia Gold War’ has ahead its Korean final in September 30th, American final in October 17th, and Japanese final in November 17th. The qualification for a player is anyone who has played ‘Record of Lunia War’ PVP at least once. Eight players are selected on the basis of their victory percentages and records in PVP during the regional online preliminaries period, and each of them gets to participate in their regional finals. At the regional finals, players compete at the one-on-one tournament in the ‘Battlefield in Deep Forest’, an exclusive stage for PVP. The quarter-final and the semi-final are played in best two out of three, and the final in best three out of five.

Donna: Is this the first time Lunia has been part of something like this? 

Kyoung-yeon:  Yes. This is the first time since the ‘Record of Lunia Gold War’ started global service for the worldwide users to compete for the best seat among our game players. I believe this is a very good opportunity for them.

Donna: How will the competition fit into Lunia’s ongoing story? Is the tournament part of the player’s story or totally outside of it? 

Kyoung-yeon:  In ‘Record of Lunia Gold War’ semifinal hosted in Germany, European players gave full play to their abilities that they had cultivated all the while, and they were just as good as the Korean players; they showed a splendid, lively match. The one-hour-long final was hosted in a highly tense atmosphere, and numerous spectators swarmed in and watched the whole game breathlessly. In particular, the native spectators showed high interest in various keyboard-controlled combos and the demonstration of magical barrages in ‘Record of Lunia Gold War’ match. 

At the end of the intense battle, the final victory was taken by a German player, Alex Danvlov(18). “The most attractive part of ‘Record of Lunia Gold War’ is the realistic action controlled by the keyboard.” This 12th grader spoke in the final champion interview. “I’m honored to have been invited to Korea, and I will try my best to win the final match in December.”

Lunia GNGWC Europe Regional Final
Donna: Lunia doesn’t seem to be a very championship type of game. Why did you decide to include it? 

Kyoung-yeon:  At first glance, ‘Record of Lunia Gold War’ might not seem to be appropriate for a championship type because it basically takes the RPG game style. However, the producers of ‘Record of Lunia War’ concentrated on e-Spots from the beginning of production, and they developed PVP which made controls and combos that were not seen in online RPG possible. It could sort out the winner in individual or team match from one-on-one to four-on-four, each a single round, and the average time required on each match is 5~10 minutes. Like ‘Virtual Fighter’, in case of individual match, the strategy differs depending on your own class and your opponent’s class, and in case of team match, the type of class your team and your opponent’s team are composed of greatly influences the game. 

Also, PVP is highly satisfying to lots of users’ desire in that rather than depending on the usage of equipment and potion for deciding the champion, it depends on individual players’ control, teamwork, and strategy. Presently, ‘Hero-War GP 2007′ which selects the best player of ‘Record of Lunia War’ PVP, is hosted in Korea all year round. After selecting the monthly champions, the final round will be hosted at the end of the year. From August, 2007, GNGWC Korea preliminaries, with the name of ‘Hero-War GP Season 2′, is proceeded in parallel with it.