Grand Chase

Grand Chase File:Gcelogo.jpg Grand Chase's logo
Developer(s)	KOG Studios
Publisher(s)	Gamania, Ntreev Soft, AsiaSoft, Level Up Games
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	August 2003 Gamania Gamania June 28, 2006 & December 28, 2008 January 31, 2008
Genre(s)	Fantasy MMO Fighting Platform Side-scroller
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

Grand Chase (Korean: 그랜드체이스, lit. Grand Chase) is a free-to-play, 2.5D side-scrolling MMORPG developed by the Korean company KOG Studios. The story centers around the adventures of the Grand Chase team.

Grand Chase has servers in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Brazil, Southeast Asia and the United States. The Taiwan and Hong Kong server calls the game as 3小俠 (Chinese: lit. Three Young Heroes), whereas in Southeast Asia, it is called GrandChase.

Story

While Grand Chase is primarily a sandbox game, it also has a short back-story for each character, as well as one for the continent of Bermesiah, which is the player's starting point. A continuing story of the Grand Chase universe may be revealed through visiting all the dungeons in the game in the order they are listed.

While the back-story for each character is the same throughout all servers, the back-story of Bermesiah, as well as the spelling of certain places, may differ across servers, although the events which took place are more or less similar.

Storyline

The Kingdoms of Serdin and Kanavan have always thrived side-by-side on Bermesiah in peace for as long as anyone could remember, until the Queen of Darkness, KazeAze, infiltrated Kanavan, killed the ruling queen's most trusted advisor, disguised herself as him, and manipulated the Queen of Kanavan to wage a full-scale war with Serdin which lasted for five years. Many lives were lost in battle and much of the continent was levelled until either queen discovered who the culprit was. By then, it was too late, for KazeAze had fled. The Queen of Kanavan dispatched a group of elite warriors, known as Trackers, to find KazeAze, but all of them disappeared mysteriously.

The Queen of Serdin was determined to prevent another war of such devastating magnitude from taking place on Bermesiah again. To this effect, she created an army of warriors who are aligned to no one, and will fight for the tranquility of the entire continent. She named this army "Grand Chase".

Gameplay

An in-game screenshot of the player's selected character attacking a boss monster.

Gameplay in Grand Chase is primarily keyboard-driven, although the game menu's interface is, by contrast, primarily mouse-driven, although some in-game key commands may be user-defined. Due to the combos and special attacks, the game has a feel that is similar to side-scrolling fighting games such as Street Fighter 2 or Double Dragon, while the appearance and design of the backdrops, as well as the characters and monster, puts the game in an anime-esque setting. While it is an action game, the designers took care to not make a "button masher".

The game is free-to-play, where players need to earn currency known as Game Points from completing quests, individual missions, or defeating other players to buy better equipments or items, but there are some items that can only be purchased with real-world currency. In Grand Chase, players start off and role-play as one of three main heroines, and will be able to unlock more playable characters by completing specific missions. However, the player may freely switch among the characters he or she has unlocked between missions, each with their own specific equipment and experience level.

Leveling up

After each trip into a dungeon, characters gain experience points. While the amount of experience gained is partially dependent on the player's performance in a dungeon, and the player's character's level, every player will gain some experience. The player's character is also given additional experience upon the completion of every mission. When sufficient experience is obtained, the player's character will advance by one level. Higher levels improve statistics and grant access to better equipment. Experience can also be gained through player versus player, and the amount of experience gained through this game mode is significantly higher than the amount awarded through the completion of dungeons at higher level.

Party

When entering dungeons, it is advisable to form a party. The game's interface makes it easy to create a party or join one created by another player. Friends can lock their party with a password or leave it open to everyone. The items that are found in the dungeons are shared by the party. To encourage group play, there is a slight experience boost when working together. Because each party has a maximum limit of four players, and each player may freely chooses whichever character he or she wants to use, there is a chance that two or more players will control the same playable character. However, they can be identified separately through the player's screen name.

Player versus Player

Players can also compete against one another in combat. There are various modes of player versus player combat:Team battles and Survival, with the option for Tag Match and Item Mode. Teams can be played in a 2vs2 or 3vs3 formation while Surival can have up to six players. Win/loss statistics are tracked for these matches. Team matches encourage players to plan their attack strategies and team up using their skills to annihilate the opposition. Six player free-for-all is a survival of the fittest, players who earn the number 1 and 2 spot count as winners as long as there are more than three players in this match. Tag Match allows players to play Teams or Survival with two characters of their choice. By pressing a button they can switch characters mid fight. However if one of the characters is killed the player can no longer switch to that character. When Item Mode is on players can pick up from several power ups that randomly appear during the match. They can store these power ups or they can use them. Using them grants beneficial abilities for a short duration such as invincibility or invisibility.

Characters

There are seven playable characters to play and players may switch characters between dungeons. Each character is leveled and equipped separately. Most equipment is character-specific, and the choice of character is similar to class choice in most MMORPGs.

Elesis

Elesis is a Kanavan Knight and daughter of a Kanavan Tracker who never returned after he was dispatched to find KazeAze. Her reason for joining Grand Chase is to find her missing father whom she loved. Elesis has the most defense out of all characters, and specializes in close- and medium-ranged combat. She is also notable for her ability to reflect arrows, and her ability to "Berserk", which causes all enemies within her range to levitate and drop onto the ground, receiving considerable damage.

Arme

Arme is a magician from the Kingdom of Serdin. After hearing about KazeAze's powerful magic, she joined the Grand Chase in order to meet her. She is able to switch between white magic and black magic to defend and support her allies and herself or attack her enemies respectively. Although she can be very dangerous in combat, she suffers from low defense and mobility.

Lire

Lire hails from from Eryuell Island, an elf community residing on Bermesiah who are famous for their combat skills, although they are pacifistic by nature and try to avoid becoming involved in conflicts. She was sent to join Grand Chase to stop KazeAze, whose evil plans threaten their island. Lire has excellent mobility and specializes in ranged attacks allowing her to barrage her opponents from afar. Her heel stomp and grabs also make her a formidable foe in close combat.Lire is the best character in the game if u know how to handle it correctly. LIRE ROCKS! HEHEHEHEHEHEEH

Lass

Lass is a mysterious young man who was possessed by KazeAze and was released from her grasp by Grand Chase. He joined the Grand Chase to atone for his sins caused by his hands under the control of KazeAze, which still lingers in his mind. Lass is skilled in quick attacks and speedy movement, but he lacks attack power and defense. He is an unlockable character on all servers.

Ryan

Ryan is a forest elf from Eryuell Island living peacefully with animals, but after the war on Bermesiah, most of the place was destroyed and his beings are almost extinct. Subsequently, he trained with the spirit of his ancestors and joined Grand Chase to protect the forests. Ryan is skilled in delivering attacks in combinations, and has the ability to transform into a certain creature. Ryan is an unlockable character on all servers except for North America server.

Ronan

Ronan is a descendant of the Erudon Family, the legendary family of Spell Knights in Kanavan. He was a Royal Guard Master whose duty was to protect the Royal Family of Kanavan. His mind was controlled by KazeAze when she invaded the kingdom, but broke free from her control when Grand Chase intervened. Seeing all that had happened, he decided to join Grand Chase to investigate Xenia. He uses knowledge of magic and his sword wielding attacks to quickly defeat foes. Ronan is an unlockable character on all servers except for SEA server.

Amy

Amy is Xenia continent's dancer and temple priestess. After the war between gods, she joined the Silver Knights, whose sole purpose is to oppose the gods controlled by darkness, but they are destroyed by the gods instead. She goes on a journey to persuade the controlled gods. Seeing that the Grand Chase defeated the gods of circulation, she joins them in their adventure in Xenia. She can switch from attacking to dancing, which allows her to do both ally support and attack. Being the character with the most mobility, she has the weakest defense and vitality. She is an unlockable character on the Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Brazil servers.

Releases

Grand Chase was officially released in Korea sometime in August 2003, and Brazil on June 28, 2006.

Beta testing for the SEA server commenced on November 21, 2007 and ended on December 28, 2007, whereupon it was officially released to the public. Patches are released almost weekly, usually to add or remove region-specific game events.

In North America, the game was officially released on January 31, 2008. There are few known bugs and the designers seem to be focused on adding new content to bring the game to the full release that they desire.

There was also a Japanese version of the game which commenced beta testing on August 10, 2005, and went gold three months later. However, the Japanese servers have been taken down as of June 22, 2007.

Expansions

In its initial release on all servers, Grand Chase only includes Elesis, Lire and Arme as playable characters, Bermesiah as a playable continent, and all the various game modes, albeit being restricted to areas on Bermesiah only, with additional content and bug fixes added into the game through patches.

In January 2008, KOG Studios released an expansion titled Grand Chase Season 2, which is essentially a patch featuring a plethora of new features and content, such as playable continents, into the game. As of June 19, 2008, all servers have officially incorporated Grand Chase Season 2.

Notes and References

Notes

1. Ciabai, Calin. "Family-Friendly MMO, Grand Chase Getting Closer — This is the sixth MMO game from AsiaSoft". Softpedia. Retrieved 2008-06-11.

External links

Official Sites

• Philippines website
• Korea website
• North America (Global) website
• Brazil website
• Taiwan website
• Hong Kong website
• Southeast Asia website

Other Sites

• Grand Chase at IGN
• Grand Chase at MobyGames
• English Wiki Site
• Brazil Wiki Site
• Beginning of GrandChaseSEA in MMOSite