Interview: Requiem: Bloodymare with Gravity Interactive’s Mario Fernandez Jr. and Joon Yoon

|  Print | Single Page | Discussion: 2 Comments

In my time, I’ve read many books based around a central “What If?” question. What if Kennedy had never been assassinated? What if the Nazis had won the war? What if the Roman Empire had never fallen?

But, I’d never had occasion to come across a game structured along similar lines… until now.

I’m not entirely sure what the precise “What If?” question behind Requiem: Bloodymare is, but, if I were to hazard an educated guess, I would have to say it’s:

“What if we crammed as much over-the-top graphic violence and frontal nudity into a single game as humanly possible, without getting an AO rating from the ESRB?”

Gravity Interactive, the company behind Ragnarok Online and ROSE Online, seems intent on answering that question in the most gruesome way they know how.

If you’re the kind of person who often finds yourself wishing for an MMO that would indulge in the sort of head-chopping, limb-flying, buckets-of-blood-spraying style of entertainment that only films such as Dead Alive and Army of Darkness could truly capture up to now, your day may have finally come.

But, conversely, if you have no idea what either of those movies are, I can just about guarantee that this is not the MMO for you.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Gravity’s Mario Fernandez Jr., community manager, and Joon Yoon, marketing and PR manager, to discuss the game, and the process of importing East Asian titles in general. Read on for the transcript.

The MMO Gamer: If you would, please tell us a little bit about yourself, and what it is you do for Gravity Interactive.

Mario Fernandez Jr.: My name is Mario Fernandez, Jr. and I’m currently the community manager for Ragnarok Online, Rose Online, and the future title, Requiem.

The MMO Gamer: Tell us a little bit about your upcoming title… but, before that, I have to ask about the name: How exactly do you pronounce it?

Mario Fernandez Jr.: “Reck-wee-em.”

The MMO Gamer: No, the other part.

Mario Fernandez Jr.: “Bloody mare.” We were trying to get a combination of two things in the game that really define it. We thought of the words bloody, and nightmare, and put them together: Bloodymare.

The MMO Gamer: Alright, now that that’s out of the way, tell us a bit about the game itself. What are some of the unique features you can find in Requiem that you can’t in any other titles on the market?

Mario Fernandez Jr.: One of them is the DNA system. The DNA system allows a player to literally customize their DNA. They can pretty modify it and add bonuses to their skills.

The current system is a five-slot system, which allows you to slot up to five different kinds of DNA, and different combinations of the five will actually unlock a special sixth slot, which will grant you even further bonuses.

We also have Nightmare mode. During a 24-hour period of in-game time there are a few hours of the night where the world will change. It will become a darker, grimmer, more desolate place. You’ll see a fog roll in, and the world will look a lot different than it did in the daytime.

And with that comes monsters. They’re a lot larger, they’re a lot more gruesome, more grotesque looking, and they’re a lot stronger. During those periods of time you’ll want to be prepared for them, but they will catch you off-guard every now and then, so it does add a bit of a fear factor when you’re just running around fighting, or grinding, or gathering items, whatever it is you’re doing.

There’s also Beast Possession. Our Beast Posession system is unique in that the player will transform into a beast, and take on the stats of a beast for a short period of time. The beasts can range anywhere from a warrior-type beast, to a spellcasting beast, to a healing beast. You can in fact have a beast that is dramatically different from what your character class is. Let’s say you’re a healer, you can have a possession beast that is melee DPS.

It adds a good dynamic to the character classes, not just with the DNA system and modifying yourself, but the transformation of the beast possession allows you to stick with your one class—but, every now and then, if you want to do something else, you can do that with beast possession.