GDC10: Nexon's Vindictus revealed

I'll admit to being somewhat of a Nexon fanboy, and someone that considers them to be in the toy business rather than in the MMO business. They manufacture joy in my eyes. Bright, shiny joy. But the recent announcement of their new title "Vindictus" shows us a game that we are not used to seeing from Nexon. While it will follow the same business model that other Nexon games do, it promises to be a "sexy" game: a game that will make players feel like a hero. It promises to be more of an action game, or as Nexon America's Vice President Min Kim put it when he sat down with us for an interview, "an mmoACTIONrpg, epic, fierce and intense."

Want to know more? Want to see the killer trailer? Join us after the jump.
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The game is actually a prequel to Nexon's other popular title Mabinogi. It will use a modified Source engine, so expect brutally elegant gameplay that will be heavy on the physics. According to Kim, it will be "kind of like 300, except with sexy girls kicking the crap out of stuff as well. So, it's better than 300." He also spoke of how a player's armor will actually break and become damaged over time, and how a player can "get shot in the butt with an arrow, and will go around with an arrow in his butt." (Hopefully, healing will be part of the game too.)

While players will start out in large social areas to meet, buy things and to plan out adventures, they will travel into instanced areas as in Guild Wars. In these areas, though, players will enjoy the freedom to break almost anything and use it as a weapon. Tombstones and trees become clubs, and enemies can be bowled over by fallen pillars. Even your very enemies can be thrown!

While the same team that made Mabinogi are working on Vindictus, that is where the similarities end. Vindictus is bloody, but with a level of elegance to it. While Mabinogi has it's "fantasy life, meaning cooking and crafting, this game will be fantasy slash." The humans in the land, in their search for Erin (Mabinogi's world) decide to destroy all of the non-humans, the Fomors, that they find. Some of the Fomors are slightly misunderstood, though, with some factions that would rather make peace with the humans.

Character selection might sound sparse at first, allowing players to select from only 3 main characters. There will be a two-handed swordsman, a sword-and-shield female guardian type, and a scythe/mace wielding magician. Each character has its own fighting style as well. Then you can customize them more to your tastes. And Nexon being Nexon, we are sure there will be even more customization opening up thanks to items from the cash shop.

Armor will be treated differently in this game than in most MMOs. As you gain damage, you will literally see the damage on your armor. Arrows will stick in your shield, and dents and dirt will tell you that it's time to get repaired. "We want you feeling like you are going into the battle field not only doing well," said Kim "but looking really really cool."

Boss battles and combat will require a lot of teamwork, and will be quite challenging. In some battles, one player might latch a chain to an enemy while others in the party attack and cause damage. It's "kind of brutal, like a bullfight" said Kim, arrows sticking in the skin of the monster and blood flying. The endgame will consist of groups of 6-10 players, but as of yet features no PvP. Don't worry, PvP is planned and will be a part of the game some time after launch.

According to Kim, Vindictus might not just be the future of free-to-play, but possibly the future of PC. An exciting prediction, for sure. There will be a playable demo at E3 this year, and the release is scheduled for Q4 of this year. Until then, I will probably sit here and stare at these screen shots.