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Dr. Alison K. Granados :: Newland Medical Associates newlandmedical.com | with HIV disease LI Gonzalez-Granado - Indian J... indianjnephrol.org |
Granado Espada, known as Sword of the New World: Granado Espada in North America, is a Korean fantasy MMORPG developed by IMC Games Co.,Ltd., and published in North America by K2 Network. It launched in the summer of 2007. Granado Espada won the 2006 Korean awards for Best Graphics and Game of the Year[citation needed], with features previously unseen[citation needed] in an MMORPG (such as the ability for players to control multiple characters at the same time). Granado Espada features a unique art style based on the Baroque period of Europe, differing from the standard “sword and sorcery” fantasy themes of the genre. The first English version of the game began Open Beta Testing on May 17, 2007 by IAH, while 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 10 August 2007, IAHGames, the company which the game is licensed to in Singapore, Malaysia, the 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 5, 2007, as with other servers overseas, the game became free-to-play.
[edit] SettingThe world of Granado Espada takes place on a newly discovered continent based on the Americas during the Age of Exploration. The world is divided into different maps and grouped into themed regions such as forests, tropical jungles, plains, swamps, deserts and ice fields. The continent, currently under the control of the fictional Kingdom of Vespanola as a colony, is in a crisis due to negligence by the home nation due to a War in the Old World. On the continent itself, internal strife has arisen from the feud between the Royalists, and the Republicans campaigning for independence. Therefore, the Vespanolan Queen has ordered a policy of Reconquista for the continent by attracting more people from the Old World to settle there. The player takes the role of a pioneering family from the Old World, eager to explore the continent and eliminate elements that will threaten the survival of its people. [edit] Game features[edit] Multiple character control Granado Espada distinguishes itself from many modern-day MMORPGs with a Multiple Character Control (MCC) system. Rather than playing one character at a time, or using multiple clients, a player may control a party of up to three characters simultaneously. This aspect of the game gives it more of the feel of traditional, non-networked console role-playing games. Up to three characters can be selected to be part of a team in the Barracks Mode or Quarters. 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 which control the party's actions:
Further, there are two ways to give orders:
With the party AI in Keep/Defend mode, the player's characters can survive without input from the player in most places where the mob levels are the same as the player's. With a later patch the game introduced pets that have several skills, which include the ability to pick up items or perform healing. [edit] Areas and questsDungeons in Granado Espada are interspersed between towns and generally composed of three to five levels with successively more difficult mobs. Boxes and barrels are a unique feature of dungeons - and part of the anti-AFK features of the game. They randomly spawn throughout the dungeon, and if destroyed they release a group of monsters to attack the players. Al Quelt Moreza and the Tetra Ruins - the first two dungeons - final levels end with main quest storyline 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, each within their own instances. There are Waypoints or (player chosen) save locations that players may teleport to by using a warp scroll. Five locations may be saved initially. Up to five more waypoint locations may be purchased from the Cash Shop (Bazaar). Teleporters or Warps also exist to teleport you to fixed areas in the game using an item called the Teleport/Warp scroll. A new player is able to visit the three main towns (Reboldeaux, Port of Coimbra and Auch) from the beginning, and is not required to conduct exploration trips to find them. Both zone maps and a global map is provided to help players navigate through the game. Quests are an important part of the game, though the quantity and quality varies at different levels. They provide some rewards such as "Vis" (the game's currency), experience cards, Glaziums (polishers), equipments or RNPC (Recruitable 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. With the release of Pioneer quests, players are able to delve into the story revolving around Granado Espada and its colonial power, Vespanola, in addition to the various factions on the continent itself, allowing new players to build on their quests bit-by-bit. RNPC is short for Recruitable Non-Player Character. Andre, Claude, Jack and Idge are examples of this class of characters. They give the player a number of quests to perform. When all of them are completed, the RNPCs offer to join the player's family as a playable character. The player receives the RNPC's card, and then may create that RNPC once (only if space is available in the barracks) in order to play them. Glaziums (Polishers) are a new addition to the game. They are given as quest rewards and are turned in for pioneer weapons and armors designed to help a pre-veteran player gain levels more easily. Enchanting these Pioneer Equipments (Ancestral Items) with enchantment chips is guaranteed to give four or five very good bonuses within set ranges. In addition, all pioneer equipments at levels 1, 20, 40 and 60 have the bases stats of items 20 levels higher, while level 80 pioneer equipments have the same stats as a normal level 96 equipment. [edit] Dueling, Team PvP & Baron ModeGranado 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. This feature is available by clicking on the other family's name for a duel and also available at PvP officers in the Major cities (Reboldoeux, Coimbra, Auch) where four types of battles are available. Another method for PvP is through the Baron system. In Player-kill (PK) servers, players are able to forcibly attack another player without his/her consent, and in the process become a baron as a penalty. Barons are not able to speak with NPCs and are treated as mobs while on the field. Being in baron mode also allows player access to Los Toldos, a "Baron's Haven" of sorts, and to get the opportunity to complete quests within there. To remove the Baron mode, players must kill mobs that enable them to decrease their Baron points. Once they reach zero, the player removes his/her Baron mode. [edit] Characters[edit] Barracks systemAll characters are assumed to be from the same family. They all share the same family surname that is used to identify a player in game. Characters are generated and maintained within a Barracks System. It allows players to see all of their active characters, and use the "Dress Room" to create new characters if space permits. Each barracks may hold up to nine characters. Each country's version of Granado Espada provides a different number of initial starting slots with a new account. Using in-game money/cash shop, users can expand their slots. Every ninth slot automatically opens a new barracks. Therefore, if the player has 20 slots, barracks one and two are full and the player has two characters in the third. Currently there are a maximum of seven barracks (63 characters) per account. [edit] Trading charactersGranado Espada allows the trading of RNPC (Recruitable NPCs) or UPC (Unique Playable Character) 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] Some RNPCs may only be purchased by using items from the Cash Shop (Bazaar). Soso (Feng Ling), Baek-Ho (Baihu), Angie, Kurt and Eduardo (Edward) are examples of this class of RNPCs. Their cards are not tradeable. Instead, one must purchase a Mercenary card from the Cash Shop (Bazaar). Using the said Mercenary card, the RNPC is "Merced" and can then be traded. Some RNPCs, for example, Emilia the Sage, can be obtained by the code provided in the Granado Espada Limited Signature Edition Box Set. Other RNPCs such as Panfilo The Battlecook, Idge The Battlesmith can be purchased from the Cash Shop. The Japanese server has its own unique RNPCs Mifuyu, which can only be obtained for a limited period through a quest, and Andre de Lou-Oshiba, a recent addition based on the real-life Japanese comedian. It remains to be seen if other servers worldwide would implement their own unique RNPCs or incorporate Mifuyu. [edit] Factions/ClansA Family may join a faction (clan). When a faction feels it is powerful enough, it may challenge and attempt to complete two quests to raise its faction/clan level to 51, then 52. Upon completion of the second quest, a faction may choose to join either the Royalist or Republican Party. Every Saturday evening (North American time) or Sunday evening (Singapore time) these factions compete against each other in a Colony War to control the colonies located in various zones of the world map. Occupying colonies gives all guild members buffs depending on the type of colony the faction controls. The buff grows with the number of colonies the faction controls. [edit] Stances, Skills & Level PromotionEach 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 generic stances may be purchased at the class Master, from Emilia for constellation expert stances, while some are rewarded in quests. One feature of stances is that stances which have the same equipment requirements can be swapped on the fly using the F5-F8 keys (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 musketeer wanting to use the Flintlock stance would have to use a Rifle, rather than a pistol. A stance is usable only when it is learned; unlearned stances are greyed-out and unavailable for use. When a new player starts out, his/her characters start out at Level 1, while the RNPCs he or she recruits start out at various levels. When the characters reach level 100, they are able to be promoted with the use of promotion scrolls found in the Cash Shop to Veterans, and in the process create a new leveling system. In later updates, players gain the ability to move beyond Veteran level to become Experts (Level 110-120) and Masters (Level 120 and above). [edit] Critical reaction
Critical reaction to the North American release has been mixed. IGN's GameStats lists an average rating for the game at 7.2 [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 gave it a positive review, 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. Onrpg.com also gave the game an 8 out of 10 praising its visuals, sound and MCC system.[7] [edit] References
[edit] External linksOfficial Websites
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