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Granado Espada

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  • Granado Espada: Sword Of The New World.
    Developer(s)IMC Games Co.,Ltd.
    EnginePathEngine [1]
    Tree Rendering - SpeedTree
    Animation - EmotionFX
    Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
    ReleaseJuly 10th, 2007
    Genre(s)Fantasy MMORPG
    Mode(s)Multiplayer


Granado Espada, known as Sword of the New World in the North American version, is a Korean fantasy MMORPG developed by IMC Games Co.,Ltd., and published in North America by K2 network. This highly-anticipated title launched in the summer of 2007. Granado Espada won the 2006 Korean awards for Best Graphics and Game of the Year, and has many new features previously unseen in an MMORPG such as the ability for players to control multiple characters at the same time. Granado Espada also has a very different art style based on the Baroque period of Europe, a unique distinction from the standard “swords and sorcery” fantasy themes of the genre.

The first English version of the game began Open Beta Testing on May 17, 2007. Publisher K2_network announced in January 2007 that they would be bringing Granado Espada to the North American and European markets in Summer 2007 under the title of Sword of the New World.[2]

On the 10th of August 2007, IAHGames, which the game is licensed to in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam, announced its business model for Granado Espada.[3] Subsequently they informed players that on August 30, 2007, the game would become commercial. IAHGames gave players a 90-day free trial if they achieved Level 20 by that time. It is currently free for 5 days to new players and after which, they are required to pay.

Game features

Multiple character control

A three-character team (fighter, elementalist, scout)

Granado Espada distinguishes itself from many modern-day MMORPGs with a Multiple Character Control system. Rather than playing one character at a time, or using multiple clients, players may control a party of up to three characters at a time making gameplay similar to a real-time strategy game. Up to 3 characters can be selected to be part of the team within the "Quarters" at the barracks. Any member of the party can be selected to be part of a team, regardless of differences in levels or classes.

Areas and quests

File:GrenadaEspadaTown.jpg
Port of Coimbra

The dungeons in Granado Espada are interspersed between towns and generally composed of three levels with successively more difficult mobs. There are Waypoints or saved locations that player characters may teleport to for a fee or through the use of a warp scroll to save an explorer much of the journey back and forth. Each dungeon's final level terminates in a Mission Room for a single player, or a room in which a boss mob may be challenged by teams of players. Missions are instances, wherein players get their own "instance" of a specific map just for themselves, thus there can be several players attempting to kill a boss in a dungeon within their own instances.

Traveling to different areas is extremely convenient as players are allowed to warp to any waypoint even when they have never visited the place. Thus a new player will be able to visit most of the towns at an early stage and does not have to make exploration trips to get to a new town. Areas are also provided with a full local area map so that a player does not have to do any exploration to find out about the geography of a new location.

Quests are not an integral part of Granado Espada, but do serve to provide some rewards such as "Vis" (the game's currency), experience cards, equipment or RNPC[clarification needed] cards. Various NPCs throughout the towns and in some dungeon locations may be spoken with to initiate quests. Dungeon quests are intimidating at first, such as requiring the player to kill 250 of a certain creature but is quite easy to do using the Patrol Mode and the game's incredibly fast monster respawn rate.

Dueling and team PvP

Granado Espada has a Dueling System by which a player may issue a challenge to another player's team and duel them in an arena away from the actual game world.

Characters

Trading characters

Granado Espada allows the trading of RNPC cards between different players, allowing combinations of teams with more than one of the same RNPC since a player is only able to obtain an RNPC card once. Once an RNPC is created in the barracks, the card is used up.[4]

Barracks system

Characters are generated and maintained within a Barracks System. The Barracks allows players to organize their teams and a provides a "Dress Room" to create new characters. Each set of characters is created under one Family Name which each character will carry as a surname.

Each Barrack can hold up to nine characters. Using in game money, user can expanded their barrack. One user can have up to four barracks.

Factions

A family can join a faction or a guild, when joining a faction the player's entire family will be in the faction. Factions can participate in faction wars where an entire faction can either join the Royalists or the Republicans in the war. Factions can also have war with one another. One special feature is that factions can occupy maps via the Colony manager.

Classes

The player starts out with the ability to create a character of one of five starter classes: Fighter, Wizard, Musketeer, Scout, and Elementalist.

  • Fighter - The general melee class for Granado Espada, the Fighter has the most Stances of any class. They can use the widest array of weapons, and can wield a pistol and a sword at a higher level stance. Often used by players as their default tank.
  • Wizard - A magic-using class with a wide array of skills, including teleportation magic and levitation magic as well as offensive magic, with area of effect (AOE) attacks at higher levels. The wizard also has an ESP stance that allows the user to strengthen the party.
  • Musketeer - A class that relies on rifles, muskets, pistols and bayonets. Slow running speed and tremendous damage to single targets as well as limited AOE attacks. Relies heavily on bullets, and cannot attack without them.
  • Scout - A healer class that can also buff other members of the party and resurrect dead characters with potions. They can wield knives and get pretty good attack speed and critical rate bonuses, but they will not be able to auto-heal other party members in patrol stance, and will instead attack monsters.
  • Elementalist - An extremely powerful but slow-moving nuking class that specializes mainly in AOE attacks. They have weak defense, but their attack power and decent attack speed compensate for it.
  • rNPC/UPC's(Unique Player Characters)- There are a variety of UPC's obtainable throughout the game that utilize all kinds of weaponry, including siege cannon and shotguns, or a combination of the abilities of the above basic classes. Certain skills of an NPC character can't be used by a character that the player has created.

Stances and skills

Each class may use a variety of weaponry and gear, which is limited by level. Particular weapons or combinations of weapons require a Stance to use, and with each stance comes a set of skills. Books to learn higher-level Stances may be purchased at the Stancebook seller NPC. The higher the level of the Stance, the more skills can be unlocked, and the more skill points can be spent on improving each skill. The Fighter class has a particularly varied set of Stances that employ a wide range of weapons, from two-handed swords and polearms to sabres, rapiers, epees and pistols.

Music

Many of the tracks in the game were composed by SoundTeMP, S.F.A, Kim Junsung, and Kubota Osamu. Others were contributed by DJ Tiësto and related production outfits. The musical score is unique as it intermixes modern themes with more classical and Baroque pieces.

Critical reaction

Critical reaction to the North American release has been overall positive, yet some critics rate it too harshly comparing it to a pay-to-play game. Gamespot gave a rating of 4.0 (out of 10.0) citing "tedious quests and little payoff". IGN expressed similar concerns, noting the familiar grind between many other Korean MMOs. "You know, it's frustrating because as much as you want to like this game, unless Korean is your preferred flavor of MMO, you probably just won't." It is interesting to note that out of all the many Korean MMO's released, they decided to review this one, while others agree that this is one of the best free to play MMORPGs in the market.

X play on G4 gave it 4 out of 5, even Adam Sessler was pleased, noting that out of all the free MMORPGs this one is worth diving into. They said that it was refreshing to have a setting other than a fantasy world. They also said that it had a unique game play mechanic like how one player could control up to three characters. PC Gamer magazine however gave it a 90% out of 100% rating, saying it "offered a fresh feel through small improvements and one substantial innovation" compared to other Korean MMOs.

Many players have also criticized IAHGames for the lack of control over bots and have disputed over the pay-to-play status. When it was announced that the only exclusive RNPC, Emilia the Sage, would be nerfed to lesser Intelligence, players expressed disappointment and said IAH could not be trusted as their only virtual product at the time had to be nerfed. In reality, these changes had been implemented earlier in the original Korean version and IAH was not entirely to blame.

Trivia

  • "Granado Espada" is Spanish for "distinguished sword", although the grammar is improper, as in Spanish the noun comes before the adjective. Also, "espada" is a feminine noun, so the name of the game should be "Espada Granada". The game's backstory claims that the new world was "discovered" by 2 explorers named Granado and Espada.
  • When Idge Imbrulia, the first blacksmith one encounters in the game, gives the player's family their first Plate Mail armor in the game she tells them it's marked with her personal trademark, a swoosh. This is in reference to a scene in the film A Knight's Tale. Incidentally the trademark bears an uncanny resemblance to the Nike logo.
  • There is one possible Counter-Strike reference in the game. At the end of one of the quests, the NPC who assigned the quest announces: "Counter-Terrorists Win."
  • The nickname of "Granado Espada" in Korea is a "dressing game" this is partly due to the fact that update patch of the game mostly introduces new game costumes for characters.

Products

  • Prepaid Cards - These cards come in various designs for different game-time and in-game cash points("G-points"). It ranges from 1 day of game-play to 1 year. The availability of these cards depend on the countries.
  • Limited Signature Edition Box Set - Limited to only 9,999 in the world, tt retails at SGD79.90 and contains various items, most outstandingly, the official soundtrack and creator Kim Hakkyu's signature. It also contains an exclusive RNPC called Emilia the Sage.
  • My Bellem's Box - This product contains most importantly an Item-of-the-Month game code. Players choose a new item through a forum poll every month to be in "My Bellem's Box". [5]

These products are not necessarily available everywhere. It also depends on the version of the game you play.

References

  1. ^ "Post on Singaporean site". granadoespada.sg. 2007-02-28. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
  2. ^ "Another Korean MMO Coming Stateside". Totalgaming.net. 2007-01-23. Retrieved 2007-01-23. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  3. ^ "IAHGames announces the business model for Granado Espada". Retrieved 2007-10-09.
  4. ^ "Part of features on the Sword of New World Official Site". IMC Games Co.,Ltd. Retrieved 2007-03-11.
  5. ^ "Granado Espada Product Range". Retrieved 2007-10-09.

Official Websites

Reviews

Previews

Fansites

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