Of the three notable sandbox MMORPGs on the horizon, ArcheAge is the one we know the most about. The game’s crafting and trade route sandbox elements are one of a kind, and the international community is just waiting with bated breath to get their hands on the mega-sandbox from XL Games.
RIFT publisher Trion Worlds is handling the localization and release of ArcheAge to the Western market, and they have done a pretty good job of keeping the whole job hush-hush until yesterday thanks to an ArcheAge Source forum post by Trion Worlds community manager James “Elrar” Nichols.
Localization and Westernization
The post from Nichols makes it very clear the task of translating from Korean into English is no small order, stating they are currently a over 1,000,000 words of translated text and climbing.
Part of the localization process is taking the differences between Korean and Western cultures into consideration. Figuring out how to make whole honorifics part of the Korean language translate well into English is tough. ‘Seonsaengnim’ be damned.
Nichols also makes it very clear they are trying to avoid too much Westernization in mechanics during the localization process in order for future updates to be pushed out quickly and easily. What’s more, is why fix what isn’t broken in the first place? This is a good move by Trion, considering the success TERA has had over the past few months with frequent, minimally Westernized updates.
Waiting is the hardest part
We all want to know when ArcheAge is going to enter its first closed beta phase, but it seems we have a while to wait.
Nichols makes it clear the game is not near its first closed testing phase, which will begin once the account and server infrastructure is in place. He speculates this may all be done sometime within the next few months, and that the testing phase itself will last at least a few months.
Be sure to read the entire post over on ArcheAge Source and buckle down for what is a reasonably small wait considering the game’s six year development time. Let’s hope James “Elrar” Nichols makes an appearance with more juicy information while we wait for the first closed beta test.
