The One About Selva's Voiceover

It's been a ghost town at the office and in Shenton Way (business district) these few days with just about everyone clearing their leave for the festive season.

Personally, I find that this is the best period to come to work. For once, there are minimal disruptions as I am trying to concentrate to finish up my work.

No more screams of "Hrin!! Sign this please!"

or... "Hrin! Can we have a meeting to discuss XXX matter now?"

or... "Hrin! Urgent urgent! Quick help resolve this!"

...You get the picture.

Gosh I even managed to squeeze in time to blog! Like right now! I'll be off to Taiwan for the New Year countdown tomorrow till the following week, so this will be my last blog entry for the year. Happy New Year in advance everyone!

Anyway, not to digress any further, re-visiting one of my previous blog entries about the voiceovers for the 3 new RNPCs in V3.0 The Zeia, the final voiceovers are finally in! But waaaay before that was finalized, Runner had originally sent me a voiceover audition done by Carly (the jazz singer who did Calyce voiceover) for Ania and Selva. This audition was done without any script or any knowledge of the characters' backgrounds. It was merely based on perceptions of Selva and Ania's names and looks:



After listening to it, I told Runner,"I think Ania is a very good fit for Carly. But Selva is all wrong. Can we find someone else for Selva instead?"

"I do have a few other candidates in mind, but it's going to cost you a lot more though," he replied.

"That's fine. It's just that Selva is a one of the most highly anticipated RNPCs and she really needs to have a good voiceover," I insisted. (Oh alright, I had my own personal agenda too, since Selva was my all-time-favorite RNPC and I do have an incredibly soft spot for her.)

A week later.

Runner tells me,"Hey I'm going to go with Carly for Selva's voiceover. You have to trust me. She re-did it and this time it is much better."

"NYUUUUUUU!!!! But she's so Ania, how can she be a Selva?" I sulked.

"This time, I asked her to do one of Anne Rice's vampires. You know? Like cold and detached and all," he explained.

"You mean like Akasha? Queen of the Damned? Bit Akasha is so... so... ANIA!!! Not Selva!" I wailed in despair.

"No, no not like Akasha, more like... you know? Generic vampires?"

"You mean like Lestat?"

"Well something like that, but not really either..."

"Then what talking you?! Let me hear it!" I demanded. NPNT. No (audition) Piece, No talk.

"I didn't record it down. We did it over the phone. But hey! Trust me! You will like it, I promise you!" he persists.

I sulked and growled. But at that time, I was simply too overwhelmingly busy preparing for the launch of Giovanni and the launch of V3.0 The Zeia - there were some things I needed to let go off for the greater good of the bigger picture. And this was one of them.

Another week later.

Runner comes to me with some mp3 files,"Here you are. Listen to it and tell me what you think."

A large part of me didn't really want to listen to it, since I didn't want to risk being disappointed. But ah well... just get the disappointment over and done with.

Much to my surprise, it actually turned out not too bad!



Either that, or maybe I was expecting the absolute worst and it didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would be. I'm too personally involved with Selva, so it's hard for me to make a rational judgement.

More importantly, what do you think of Selva's voiceover?

The One About Nar and Ania's Voiceovers

Good news! We just finished with script translation for V3.0 The Zeia and we're all good to go with implementation of V3.0 into the test server. We have one last patch arriving next week, tentatively on 8 Jan'09, which unleashes the Reboldoeux Culverts (Sewers) and Sword Mania Event.

Reboldoeux Culverts will later be the doorway to the hidden civilization, otherwise known as The Zeia. So this last content release couldn't be any more appropriate as a conclusion to V2.9 Secrets of the Underground expansion. Getting into the Zeia won't be all too easy either. Like Chaos Requiem, there will be a certain obstacle to getting into that map. Only the Chancellor will be able to activate that quest to commence. This time round, however, the obstacle won't be as simple as a big ass boss to fight.

Since Zeia is ruled by a woman, and a woman's best friends are jewels... that's a hint to what the requirements may be for entering Zeia.

With the Zeia, comes 2 new Zeian RNPCs, Nar and Ania. Both of them are Royal Guards of the Queen Hamann. An interesting point to note is that Emilia's father, Dr Lorenzo was last seen in The Zeia before his mysterious disappearance and he was somehow involved in a huge explosion many years ago which had concealed Zeia from the rest of the world. Nar has some secret dark past, which you will slowly uncover as you do his quest. Ania, on the other hand, is embittered due to her family being killed in the explosion that happened years ago.

Enjoy a preview of their voiceovers!

Ania Voiceovers

Nar Voiceovers

The One About Granado Espada Red Packets!

If you haven't already heard about the Red Affair Blood Donation Drive happening this weekend at red dot design museum, check out the article here:

Even if blood donation scares you, or you're still sitting on the fence as to whether or not you wanna donate, no worries. Just come down as a 'spectator' or rather, a supporter to your fellow GE mates! There will be lots of side events happening that day - like MAAD bazaar and Settlers Cafe will be setting up some board-gaming booths as well. Supporters will receive a Rabbit Grindstone and GE red packets as a token of appreciation:

Grind your rabbit into powder!

For those out of Singapore, no worries, I will be giving your local distributors some of these rabbit grindstone codes to be used at local events and we'll probably use some during in-game /forum / website events as well.

And here's a sneak peek at the red packets that will be fresh from the printers this Friday, 2 Jan'09. Let's hope there aren't any delays from the printer's side or else... *gulp*...



Here's my personal favorite!

For donors, you heroes deserve a little something extra! A White Cristatus and an extra pack of GE red packets for you!

It tickles! But in a glam way...

We've also posted up the event in the IAHGames Facebook Fan Page. So do RSVP over here so that we have a rough estimate of how many people will be attending that day. And of course do blog/Facebook/Friendster about this event and spread the news to your friends and family to support this event!

The One Where Hrin Becomes a Grandma!

I generally try to avoid blogging about personal stuff since it may bore some of you, but I'm just too overwhelmed with delight that I can't help myself! I just HAVE to tell the world!

Yesterday, on 20th December 2008, my dog, Lenneth, gave birth to 6 adorable lil' puppies. It was fortunate that she delivered them on a Saturday night when most of us were around.

Many thanks to my brother Shawn, [GM] Lorenza and [GM] Eulalie for their midwife assistance and phone consulation during the miracle of birth act by Lenny.

No thanks to myself who was freaking out the entire time.

It went something like that:

Bro: *holding 3 pups* Hrin! Quick, get over here with the scissors and cut the umbilical cord now!!"

Me: *visibly pale* ....where? what does it look like? which one is it!?!? THIS?! IS THIS IT???

Lorenza: *calmly takes scissors from my trembling hands* *snip* *snip* *snip*

Me: *whimper* ...i need to sit down...

In the words of [GM] Lorenza last night...

"Hrin, why are you panting so hard and sweating so much!? You're not the one giving birth!?!"

Thanks to the power of technology, my brother documented parts of it down. It's not a pretty sight though, so if you're reading this before lunch, it would be best not to play the video right now...

The One About White Christmas

It's that time of the year again! Christmas is in the air and guess what music is going to play in the barracks after next patch?

Team G.E got together last night to do a quick recording of 'White Christmas'.

Meepoktah started the ball rolling with "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the ones I used to know..."

My lines were (yeay!) my favorite lines in the song,"...Where the treetops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow..."

Unfortunately, the only M.I.A person from the team was Kaioujin who was on leave.

Several out-of-tune keys later, recording was done and voila! I compiled the mp3 into a video format which showcased some of the more close-to-the-heart photo memories, like our second home (office) and the community service outings to Katong Special School. Enjoy!



Well, it's pretty obvious we ain't professional singers. But, hey, on the bright side, at least the music is only parked at the barracks. Can you imagine having to listen to us singing and concentrate on enhancement and enchantment at the same time?

Oh, by the way, there's a 'Be a GE Fan' page on Facebook that extends to Granado Espada gamers worldwide, from all the different versions of GE. Join here!

The One About Christmas Specials~

Just a quick sneak peek about what's up and coming for Christmas...


We're also going to have special in-game music for Christmas, but maybe this time, Team GE will be singing Christmas carols instead. :p

There's also going to be a blood donation awareness project coming up in the first week of Jan'09, alongside Fantazzztic Ads Awards 2009 (finally!).

Over at the V3.0 frontier, we've have more or less nailed down the voice actors for all the other characters except for my precioussss Selva. It's hard to find the perfect voice for her, since perfection doesn't exist. And so the search for perfection continues...