Hands on with Soul of the Ultimate Nation
by Jennie Lees 
{ May 10th 2006 at 9:15PM }
Korean MMO company Webzen is launching an attack on the Western world with Huxley, but the company isn't confining itself to the MMOFPS genre. Soul of the Ultimate Nation is a fantasy-themed MMO with a distinctive Eastern style that will be launched in North America during 2007 (it's currently in open beta in Korea).
Fantasy MMOs are ten a penny these days, so we asked Webzen representatives what makes SUN different. They are banking on its graphical style to win fans, and also its competitive nature -- players enter into 'competitive hunting' with others, rather than co-operating as in many other MMOs. The game also features voice chat amongst adventuring parties and guilds.
For a game that's banking on its graphics so heavily, we expected something a little special -- instead, SUN is extremely reminiscent of Guild Wars with similar style characters, environments and even a near-identical skill bar. The character customisation options are similar to FFXI or Lineage. While the voice-chat aspect may make the game stand out, one feature alone does not a successful MMO make.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Pince @ May 10th 2006 9:30PM
A while back, I saw a small preview for SUN that slated it as more action based (IE: more run and jump and hack and slash, less point and click and choose a skill).
It was rather vague but what I basically took out of this was that there would be less menus and a more action oriented battle system. So less like FFXI and more like...like Ninja Gaiden the MMO...well not quite(though the thought makes me shudder in delight), maybe more like Fable the MMO.
Is there any merit to this claim, or is SUN basically going to be played like any other MMORPG.
Amos @ May 10th 2006 9:48PM
Voice chat won't make the MMO when the competition can simply insert the feature as well if it takes off. That might be a good thing, actually. WoW, Guild Wars, and the like could get with the times in that aspect already...
jopojelly @ May 10th 2006 10:39PM
HOly MOLE!! A Naruto based MMO would ROCK!!! ahhhh, too bad....man, it would be awesome though, taking on missions, and maybe villages could be destroyed and such....wow....anyway, this game?? meh
jopojelly @ May 10th 2006 10:44PM
Oh.....you said Ninja Gaiden....ugg, k, whatever, excuse me.....
Kent Houseman @ May 10th 2006 11:08PM
I agree with you Amos about the voice chat not being a big deal. However if they make the game require voice and/or have the game utilize in other ways then they might have something that can't simply be patched.
Pince @ May 10th 2006 11:34PM
@ jopojelly
Haha, ok, I'm kind of sorry that I didnt say Naruto now. But yeah, that would rock.
Lyn @ May 11th 2006 10:09AM
SUN is highly anticipated by players, and expected to be huge, in mainland China, perhaps knocking WoW out of top spot there. It will be interesting to see how it rolls out in different global markets. I posted a bit on this on my blog, www.virtual-china.org