Netmarble released a developer commentary video on the 31st for their upcoming action RPG, 'Monster Guild: Star Dive', currently being developed by Netmarble Monster.

Production Director Lee Dong-jo and Business Division Head Kang Dong-ki appeared to break down the results of the global closed beta held in October and outline their plans for improvements.

The team announced a major overhaul of character narratives and the overall storyline. Most notably, Episode 2—which debuted during the last test—is undergoing significant changes. Kang noted, "While many players praised the charm of our characters, the feedback was quite diverse," adding, "We are refining these characters to ensure they resonate while staying true to the original lore."

First, Antonio, a character introduced in the second test, is being completely removed from the game. Antonio was a male character depicted in a romantic relationship with the female maid character. He played a key role in rescuing 'Esde', a former Captain of the Knights who became a maid.

PD Lee explained, "We created the NPC Antonio to add weight to the narrative of how Esde transitioned from a Knight Captain to a maid. We ultimately realized that his presence wasn't strictly necessary to tell that story, so we are revising the related content entirely."

Episode 2 is being reworked with new NPCs and a revised script. To match these narrative changes, all voice lines are being re-recorded, and a new female voice actor is being cast.

The team is also adjusting game balance. They are re-tuning character level-cap progression and lowering the difficulty of resource acquisition. To increase gold income, they are enhancing rewards from raids and quests, aiming to alleviate progression bottlenecks.

The core 'Monster Ring' system—used for capturing, collecting, and synthesizing monsters—is also seeing a difficulty adjustment. After players provided feedback that Monster Rings were difficult to acquire during the last test, the developers decided to ease the acquisition difficulty and improve the overall structure. Additionally, they are improving the UI and overall quality-of-life features.

PD Lee added, "We sincerely thank everyone who participated and shared their thoughts. We are working hard to polish the game based on your feedback and promise to deliver a much more complete experience."

Monster Guild: Star Dive is a successor to the 2013 mobile collection RPG 'Monster Taming'. It is aiming for a multi-platform release across PC and mobile. Global pre-registration is currently live, and the game will feature hands-on demos and new information at G-Star 2025 this November.

You can find more details at the Monster Guild: Star Dive official website.