The One About Super Fight

So most of you would have read the article on V2.4 Super Fight on the web. There were a few points I missed out since the article was getting too lengthy already.

1) 5 minute window of opportunity

The warp gate will only be opened for 5 minutes. A world-wide announcement will be made via system notice 10 minutes before the opening of the warp gate. Once the warp gate is closed, no one else can enter into the Super Fight map.

This makes a lot of difference in terms of survival. If you get killed after the warp gate closes, you will not be able to enter again if you relog or return to barracks... which is why stocking up of soul crystals or having a supportive squad who resurrects one another is crucial.

2) Random Warp Points

When you get warped in, you will spawn on a random location on the map - regardless of whether you are squad members or not. It would be ideal to meet up with your squad members at a fixed location, and try your best to avoid enemies - both players and boss monsters while you are at it.

3) Who said what?

In these Super Fights maps, you will be unable to tell who is talking in public. No names are displayed. So you never know who is around the corner. And you never know who is plotting against who.


4) ...Better late than never

Bosses don't all spawn at the same time. Every 15-30 minutes or so, there will be map-wide announcements that XXXX boss will make his grand appearance in 5 minutes etc.

...For some strange reason, I'm reminded of all those Royal Rumble wrestling matches that my brother used to force me to watch with him when we were younger. 2 wrestlers would start fighting first and try to throw each other out of the ring. Then after some time, a new contender would be announced and dynamics change as the initial 2 wrestlers now face some new dilemmas:

a) Ally each other to kick out the new enemy
b) Be so focused on kicking each other out of the ring that they take no notice of the 3rd party
c) One of them allies the new enemy to take down his initial rival

And I foresee these elements coming into play as well in Super Fights and I can't hardly wait to see how these elements will be brought out by the GE community.

Conclusion?

Form your squads wisely. You will need a tight team that watches out for one another. Make use of terrains. Within each of the Super Fight maps are all kinds of nooks and crevices, high landscapes and low lying areas. I've always fancied that the higher up you are, the safer you are. However, with different militant strategies, all kinds of landscapes have their own usages.

Super Fight adds an additional element of surprise with that random spawning feature and a 'I know what you did last summer' kind of feeling cos you never know who's round the corner out for your blood. ;)

Hi guys!

I’m back with more updates about what’s coming up next for Granado Espada.

1) The Sun. The Sand. The Surf.

Paradise awaits.

…in the new V2.4 Bahia Island patch which will be coming our way on 20 December 2007, Thursday! This is of course dependent on whether there are any major hiccups or obstacles that crop up last minute. However, the good news is that bugs discovered so far are relatively minor and mostly localization issues.

Anyway, there are tons of new features, maps, RNPCs and item mall additions that comes along with this but I’m sure what you guys are most interested in are the beach boys and bikini babes! Here’s a sneak peek into Bahia Island:

Meanwhile, we’ll be bringing web article updates every Friday, leading up to 20 December 2007, so do join in with the rest of the community on discussing these new features on the forums! Today marks the very first feature of our V2.4 Bahia Island web articles series. Check out Super Fight feature over here.

We would also like to know which RNPC you are most looking forward to in V2.4 Bahia Island so start voting here.

Discuss this news here.

2) Upcoming & Ongoing Events

[Singapore] V2.4 Hands-On Preview @ Granado Espada-Singtel Christmas Fair!

Want a sneak preview and hands on trial of V2.4? Head on down to the Granado Espada-Singtel Christmas Fair at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza on 24 and 25 November 2007, Saturday and Sunday!

V2.4 trials are on Saturday and Sunday, from 11am to 2pm

More details here.

[Philippines] Granado Espada joins the Hataw Hanep Hero Event!

Here are some privileges that Granado Espada gamers in the Philippines can enjoy at this event:

• GE Cosplayers will receive additional special prizes from us!
• Freeplay
• Pick-a-Prize
• Raffles & Promos
• Movie-making workshop
• Merchandise sales
• New installer reservation

More details here.

[Community Crew Forum Challenge] Vis

Vis, unlike most currencies is unseen, there is no possible way to brag how much money you have by using methods such as money fans etc. The community crew has decided to put a stop to this and has called the loyal members of Granado Espada to help them.

Submit your entries here.

[CM Veya’s Forum Challenge] Best Faction/Group Portraits

Take out your best faction or group shots and edit them in a 'portrait' style that's based on your faction name.

Submit your entries here.

The One About Thinking Out Of The Box

It's been yet another hectic week since our V2.4.16 client just arrived from IMC.

Amidst the intensive testing and bug fixing sessions we've been having, KingKongJon, DG and I did our traditional 'patchly' thing with the localization team - that of Item Mallization.

Since the 3 of us were always stuck in our various meetings and differing schedules during the day, the only time all 3 of us actually have the time to really sit down together with the localization team to finalize the proper naming conventions of all the new items from the new patch is always at night, after office hours.

So we would do our traditional thing of ordering pizza as we brainstorm the night away for appropriate names for the items in the item mall. Usually, whenever we receive the newly updated list of items in the premium item mall, it is almost always a direct translation from Korean. Sometimes, the direct translation turns out fine - Like Lucifer's Wings were a direct translation. Other times, it turned out not-so-fine due to conflicts with local dialects.

For example the wizard costume below was originally named 'Rosa Canina'.

Which is actually a pretty name and in reality, the species of a rose. But in one of the S.E.A dialects, Hokkien, the Canina term would actually mean something along the lines of doing something really dettol-inducing to yo' mama.

We renamed it to 'The Scarlet Belle' instead, since it looked like a costume from 'Gone with the wind'.

We also wanted to use modern references where possible and so when we spotted this, DG, who was the ultimate Iron Maiden fan, had the perfect name for it - '2 Minutes To Midnight'!


More movie references came our way with The Sound of Music. Lorch's costume which reminded us of that of a yodeler, inspired the name 'The Lonely Goatherd':


As the night droned on, we started to set even higher standards for ourselves.

"Finally! We are down to the last package. This package gives 3 Lucifer Wings at the 14,300 G-Points. What shall we name it?" DG asked.

"Dante's Package?"

"Oh, how about Hellgate: Granado Espada?"

"Hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned package?"

More suggestions bounced off the walls but none of them seemed to really 'click' into place.

"Wait guys, we are thinking too much of Lucifer and hell. Let's backtrack from that and try to think out of the box a bit. Now, let's think of it from a gamer's perspective. If you had 3 Lucifer Wings, what state of mind would you be in?"

Pause. Contemplative Silence.

"Pwnage!" I replied as we all burst out laughing.

And so. Pwnage Package, it is. ;)

The One About Barbie World

Since we are on the topic of summoners, the ever-so-popular Catherine and Viki will be getting some new costumes in V2.4 as well!

Here's lil' Viki's new look:

























And here's Catherine's new wardrobe:
























There's something disturbingly wrong about Catherine's outfits. I mean... c'mon - look at it! It's blasphemy! Catherine is a doll, Frankenstein-ed into life by Dr Torsche! She's supposed to have this gothic, creepy, chucky-from-childplay aura.

But now... She has sold out to the Barbie Doll entourage!

Oh what has this cruel world come to...?

"I'm a barbie girl in a barbie world. Life is plastic... its fantazzztic!"
- Reclusion Family (Aqua's No. 1 Fan)

The One About Summoners

So I've been trying out Hellgate: London recently and my favorite class so far has been the summoner class.

And I think I know why.

You see, on screen I see this:



Hellgate:London's HRIN summons her minions

But as I am happily summoning them minions in Hellgate: London - in my mind's eye, I am actually seeing this:



Granado Espada's CatheHRIN summons her dolls

I swear Granado Espada runs through my veins. I can never look at any other game in the same way!

On a side note, I encountered some Granado Espada players in-game in Hellgate: London and it was somewhat amusing that we were discussing about the exciting, upcoming V2.4 updates in the in-game chat of HGL and then we started comparing the various classes in GE to those in HGL. Here's the conclusion we came to:

Granado Espada	Hellgate:London
Fighter	Templar
Musketeer	Marksman
Wizard	Erm… MIA
Elementalist	Evoker
Scout	Guardian
Catherine + Viki	Summoner
Jack + Diego	Engineer

What was even more amusing was that one of the players didn't believe who I was. So he asked me what the name of the upcoming V2.4 patch as a proof of my identity.

I haven't officially discussed the name of the upcoming patch with KingKongJon yet but considering how we had once discussed the previous patch name and had decided at that point in time that the standard naming convention for each new patch would be the name of the new map that came along with that patch...

I replied,"Tropical Island patch... or more specifically, Bahia Island patch."

Yes, that's right. The name of the tropical island for the V2.4 patch will be Bahia Island. The previous direct translation from Korean had been 'Gigante Island', but the localization manager, DG, wanted to continue his trend of staying true to the background storyline, so after a few rounds of shortlisting, we unanimously chose Bahia Island.

Coming back to HGL, we are releasing more figurines! Yes, yes I know. The next question you will be asking me is - HOW ABOUT GRANADO ESPADA FIGURINES?!

It's something we are exploring as well. (Not the nude bug version though. So don't get any funny ideas!) ;)

More peeks at these upcoming HGL figurines:

The One About Hellgate: London Launch



We just launched Hellgate: London on Halloween, 31 October 2007! It was insanely crowded! In fact, I was so inspired by the queues that I even created a Queue Fan Video for it...



LOL. Ok, n00b videos aside, remember to start forming your teams for the Fantazzztic Film Awards 2007! Guys, this isn't just any competition. All the best videos will also be featured in our future box sets and as a tribute to the best movie makers, their names will even be marked on the Granado Espada game manuals for future box sets! Can you imagine? Your films being distributed by the thousandsacross the region. Your names made famous! Who knows? You might even be talent scouted! The potential is endless so make good use of this opportunity! This competition is open worldwide to everyone, not just those in Singapore.

Anyway, not to digress any further, on with the peektures! There'll be more coverage of articles and a photo gallery up on the Hellgate: London website, but for now, enjoy these:




And here's the hawt templar and cabalist:




And then there was a press conference as well:




Check out the HGL skinned external hard disk drives! You can start pre-ordering at the IAHGames cafe.



Here's Max Schaefer's speech during the press conference:


And here's Erich Schaefer's speech:



This has got to be the most winning peekture of 'em all!



It's like cherubic Viki guest starring in Hellgate: London as a cabalist. LOL.

The One About IAHGames Cybercafe

The IAHGames Cafe is officially open!

The cafe is located at:

Funan DigitaLife Mall
109 North Bridge Road
#B1-03B (Opposite Cold Storage)
Singapore 179097

There's all kinds of Granado Espada and Hellgate: London merchandise and boxsets for sale as well! I think the best thing about that place is how everyone who goes there feels like family. Just the other day, I overheard a conversation that went like that:

"OMG! You are XXXXX ah?!"

"Haha... yeah..."

"You PK-ed me the other day!!! How dare you! Haha..."

"HAHAHAHah!"

And then they became friends. Just like that.

IAHGames Cafe. The place where online enemies become offline friends.

It's like a place of surprises where you discover the true identities of those you have encountered in-game. And more importantly, the place where you can form deep friendships and bonds.

So if you find that you are in need of a social life, yet still can't tear yourself away from your online game... IAHGames Cafe is the place for you! ;)

In the meantime, there's a free movie making workshop happening there on 10 November 2007, Saturday, 2pm-4pm

If you would like to register for the event, please email event@ge.IAHGames.com with your full name, email address and contact number. Due to limited seating available, places will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Only short-listed participants will receive an email reply verifying their registration.

Time for peektures! Enjoy:

The One About Viki

Someone was asking for a preview of what Viki sounds like. Here's what he sounds like when he summons turry dog, ararat, hill giant, tachyon and treasure golem:



For some strange reason... I'm reminded of those Pokemon cartoons where Ash and gang summon their pokemon.

Go Pikachu Go!