Granado Espada

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Sword of the New World: Granado Espada

Developer(s) IMC Games Co.,Ltd.
Engine PathEngine [1]
Tree Rendering - SpeedTree
Animation - EmotionFX
Version 2.2.8
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
Release date July 10th, 2007
Genre(s) Fantasy MMORPG
Mode(s) Multiplayer
Media Download
System requirements Windows
Input methods Keyboard and mouse

Granado Espada, known as Sword of the New World: Granado Espada 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.[1]. The game was originally released under a pay-to-play model. On August 21, 2007, Sword of the New World became free-to-play.

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.[2] 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. New players have a free five-day trial period and after which, they are required to pay. On December 05, 2007, IAHGames also changed the bussiness model to free-to-play.

Contents

[edit] Game features

[edit] Multiple character control

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

Granado Espada distinguishes itself from many modern-day MMORPGs with a Multiple Character Control, or MCC, 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 three characters can be selected to be part of a 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.

There are various modes by which the party AI will automate the other two characters to adapt to different mob situations and areas, among them an Assault Mode, in which the team will attempt to engage all mobs they encounter; a Defend Mode, in which the scout or healer (if any) will automatically heal all members upon fighting mobs, and other modes for areas with a lighter concentration of mobs. The player is responsible primarily for controlling the lead character, while the other two characters will act and react according to the mode manually set by the player using ctrl commands.

[edit] Areas and quests

Port of Coimbra
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, regardless of whether the area has been visited before. Thus a new player will be able to visit most of the towns at an early stage and is not required to make exploration trips to find a new town. Areas are also provided with a full local area map, to save a player from the trouble of having to explore a newly-discovered area.

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 (playable NPC) cards. Various NPCs throughout the towns and in some dungeon locations may be spoken with to initiate quests, which, like in traditional MMORPG format, usually consist of killing a number of monsters and/or obtaining their drops.

[edit] Dueling and team PvP

Granado Espada has a Dueling System by which a player may issue a challenge to another player's team. Both teams then enter a combat arena separate from the rest of the actual game world to do battle.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Barracks system

Characters are generated and maintained within a Barracks System. The Barracks allows players to organize their teams and provides players with a"Dress Room" to create new characters. Each set of characters is created under one Family Name which is used as the surname for all the player's characters.

Each Barrack can hold up to fifteen characters initially. Using in-game money/cash shop, users can expand their Barracks if they so choose. One user can have up to five Quarters in their Barracks (each Quarter holds 9 members). In the Singapore version of GE, barracks expansion is a cash shop item.

[edit] 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, as a player may only obtain a particular RNPC card once. The card is used up once the RNPC is created in the Barracks. [3]

[edit] Factions

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

[edit] 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 and can use the widest array of weapons. Often used by players as their default tank.
  • Wizard - A balanced magic-using class with a wide array of skills, 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 provide squad buffs and a stance (The Illusionist) that provides de-buffing AOEs against enemies.
  • Musketeer - A class that relies on rifles, muskets, pistols and bayonets. Slow running speed and tremendous damage to single targets with rifles and pistols, as well as limited AOE attacks with rifles. Cannot attack without bullets.
  • Scout - A healer class that can buff other team members and resurrect dead characters with potions. Their stances, First Aid, Fortitudo, Tactical Assistance and Install Trap are assistance stances. Their offensive stances, Escrima and Dobalada Corte, use daggers which are somewhat ineffective against large or heavy armored enemies. The scout will automatically heal all team and squad members while in the First Aid stance. While in Install Trap, Escrima or Dobalada Corte stances the scout will not auto-heal other squad or team members.
  • Elementalist - An extremely powerful but slow-moving nuking class that specialises mainly in AOE attacks that consume Elemental Orbs. Players can decide which element their Elementalist will use (Fire, Ice or Lighting). They have weak defense, but their attack power and decent attack speed compensate. Originally called Warlocks in the Korean, Japanese, and Thai versions.
  • RNPC/UPC - (Unique Player Characters)- There are a variety of RNPC cards obtainable throughout the game with the completion of quests that utilize all kinds of weaponry, including siege cannon and shotguns, or a combination of the abilities of the above basic classes. Some RNPCs have stances that stock characters are not given. The term UPC(s) is only used in Sword of the New World.

[edit] Stances and skills

Each class has several Stances which have varying level and equipment dependencies. It should be noted that each stance's level is independent from a character's level. As the character levels a stance they gain skill points that can be used within that stance in addition to increasing the stance's stat bonuses. A stance may have up to 5 skills which are unlocked as the stance is leveled. Additional stances may be purchased at the class Master and some are rewarded in quests.

One feature of stances is that stances which have the same equipment requirements can be swapped on the fly with F5-F8 (alternatively, using the number keys 4-7). The musketeer's Standing Shot and Kneeling Shot stances are examples of this, as well as the fighter's Back Guard and High Guard stances.

However, stances are limited in that only particular stances may be used with a certain equipment type, e.g., a fighter wanting to use the Roof Guard stance would have to use a Great Sword, rather than a sword and shield. A stance is usable only when it is learned; unlearned stances are greyed-out and unavailable for use.

[edit] Music

Many of the tracks in the game were composed by SoundTeMP, S.F.A, Kim Junsung, and Kubota Osamu. Productions by Jonas Steur, Cor Fijneman and many others were licensed for the game, giving it a highlighted full trance music soundtrack.

[edit] Critical reaction

Reviews
Publication Score
Games for Windows 4/10[4]

Critical reaction to the North American release has been mixed. IGN's GameStats lists an average rating for the game at 6.8 [5], which is also the listed industry average for all games at the site. Game Rankings has the game listed at a similar figure of 70%. [6] 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."

X play on G4 gave it a 4 out of 5; Reviewer Adam Sessler was pleased, noting that out of all the free MMORPGs this one was worth playing, saying it was refreshing to have a setting other than a fantasy world, and citing the unique gameplay mechanic of the MCC system. PC Gamer magazine, also offered kind words, giving the game a 90% out of 100% rating, saying it "offered a fresh feel through small improvements and one substantial innovation" compared to other Korean MMOs.

The Singapore flavor of GE, published by IAH Games, has generated much critical reaction. When it was announced that the only exclusive RNPC, Emilia the Sage, would be nerfed to lesser Intelligence, owners of the Limited Signature edition expressed disappointment and demanded that IAH compensate them. IAH responded they did not advertise Emilia's stats and it was IMC's decision to nerf the RNPC.

IAH has further been criticized for holding back information or misleading players for their own financial advantage. For instance, IAH waited until the last possible minute to announce GE would be Free to Play, after as many players as possible had bought subscriptions. These subscriptions were converted to game points instead of the unnecessary subscriptions being refunded. IAH kept all the money. At the time IAH's community manager appeased players by promising an additional Loyalty Program was being considered, but this additional Loyalty Program never materialized.

Another controversial aspect of IAH's business model is the sale of "surprise boxes" in the cash shop: players are encouraged to gamble on getting the desired item instead of paying directly for what they want. There has also been complaint that IAH exaggerated the frequency of good items that can be obtained through another gambling side-game called Adelina's Booty Search (used to promote real cash sales of cash shop credit). Players have also complained of mismanaged Events, as well as rampant Real Money Trade (RMT) and botting. There is no in-game GM activity in the version of Granado Espada run by IAH.

IAH Games' My Bellem's Box monthly cash shop item has been criticized by players for giving too significant an advantage to cash shop users. The November 2007 cash shop item, Lucifer Wings, gives various status effects which are not obtainable through other means. The item cannot be traded and expires in one month (it is removed from the player's inventory at the end of the month), thus giving cash shop players a significant advantage for the duration of that month. Some players have considered the effect so great that they refuse to participate in the game's player versus player (PvP) component as well as the group PvP, Colony Wars, while the item is in effect. [7]

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • "Granado Espada" comes from the names of the two explorers that discovered the "New World", 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 early quests, the NPC who assigned the quest, Sir Lyndon, announces: "Counter-Terrorists Win!" However, this was edited out in a recent patch.
  • There is also a Ghost Busters reference in the game. Prior to assigning a quest, an NPC uses the phrase "ain't afraid of no ghosts."
  • 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.
  • The Roof, Plow and Tail stances used by the fighter class in game are based on three actual guards found in the Medieval and Renaissance German school of fencing. The guards depicted in game are similar to those used by the longsword.
  • All the names of sGE server are taken from Miguel de Cervantes, Agostino Carracci, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, Johann Pachelbel.
  • When Gracielo visits Camille's deceased brother's grave in Auch, Fritz is waiting for him there. He senses his sadness and quotes "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering " and invites him to come to the light. This is a reference to Yoda's quote to Anakin Skywalker of Star Wars considering Fritz's age and wisdom and Gracielo's recklessness.
  • The ship that beginning families travel on to go to the New World, St. Maria, was actually a ship which Chistopher Columbus traveled on that first discovered America.

[edit] Products

  • Prepaid Cards - These cards come in various designs for in-game cash points("G-points"). It ranges from 230 G-points to 70000 G-points. The availability of these cards depend on the countries.
  • Limited Signature Edition Box Set - Limited to only 9,999 in the world, it 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 - Retail price of SGD19.90 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". [8]

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

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Another Korean MMO Coming Stateside", Totalgaming.net, 2007-01-23. Retrieved on 2007-01-23. 
  2. ^ IAHGames announces the business model for Granado Espada. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.
  3. ^ Part of features on the Sword of New World Official Site. IMC Games Co.,Ltd.. Retrieved on 2007-03-11.
  4. ^ Yans, Cindy (October 2007). "Sword of the New World: Granado Espada: Grinding, Grinding, Over the Spanish Main". Games for Windows: The Official Magazine (11): 74. Ziff Davis Media. 
  5. ^ GameStats: Sword of the New Wold Reviews. Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
  6. ^ GameRankings, Sword of the New World: Granado Espada Reviews. Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
  7. ^ FTW.ver of Wings for Nov + possible 2.4 release date. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
  8. ^ Granado Espada Product Range. Retrieved on 2007-10-09.

[edit] External links

Official Websites

Official and Fan Blog Sites

Reviews

Previews

Videos

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granado_Espada"
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