To start off, I just want to say hello to everyone again ! Although the G|G community has to start all over again, I'm sure we will be able to get to the stage of success that we did last time.
Well, here is the first MMO going into the 'Free To Play MMO' section. Enjoy !
Sword of the New World
Sword of the New World gives players more options, variety, entertainment and challenges than any other MMORPG can by virtue of its unique design features. With multi-character control (MCC), players are able to command up to three characters simultaneously. No longer limited to playing one character at a time, players can instantly switch between their favorite character classes or control them all at once. Each one of those character classes - musketeer, wizard, fighter, scout, elementalist, and the unique player characters (UPCs) - acquires, over time, an impressive set of combat stances. Each stance offers unique skills, abilities and equipment options, making every class as powerful as it is versatile. With an entire family of such characters to develop, players will finally get to experience the sort of MMORPG gameplay they have been craving for years.
The pace of battle in Sword of the New World is swift and exciting in both player vs. environment (PvE) and player vs. player (PvP) combat. Players will experience amazing adventures as they solo their team of characters in the wilderness, feud against individual rivals in family vs. family duels, group with other players in dungeons to defeat epic bosses, and unite with fellow clan members in massive city vs. city conflicts. This is Sword of the New World, and this is what MMORPGs should be.
Additional Game Information
Game Features
- Multiple character control
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 control a party of up to three characters , making gameplay similar to a real-time strategy game. All characters are assumed to be from the same family and are selected from the barracks one sees upon login.
There are various modes which control the party's actions:
Defend: Characters attack (and chase) any enemies who get close to them. (Healers auto-heal teammates.)
Hold: Similar to defend, but characters don't move.
Harvest: Characters pick up all items and loot while moving to a selected location.
Assault: Characters fight all opponents (resp. heal) while moving to a selected location.
Further, there are two ways to give orders:
Party: Orders are given to all characters.
Individual: Orders are given only to the selected character.
Dungeons 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 fight the players.
Al Quelt Moreza and the Tetra Ruins - the first two dungeon's - 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 Bazarre (Cash shop.)
Teleporters also exist to teleport you to fixed areas in the game, for a small fee. A new player is able to visit the three main towns (Rebodeaux, Port of Coimbra and Auch) from the beginning, and is not required to make 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, polishers, 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.
Granado Espada has a main quest line that extends to the highest levels and zones: Bahamar Swamp and the Frozen Fields of the north. Access to the
Ice Wizards Tower - currently the hardest area in the game - is only gained by performing the main quest line through to the frozen fields.
RNPC is short for
Recruitable Non-Player Character. Andre, Claude, Jack and Idge are examples of this class of character. They give you a number of quests to perform. When you complete them all, they offer to join your family as a playable character. You receive their card, and then may create that person once, - and only if you have space in your barracks - and play them.
Polishers are a recent addition to the game. They are given as quest rewards and are turned in for powerful weapons and armour designed to help a player gain levels. Enchanting these 'Ancestral Items' with enchant chips is guaranteed to give four or five very good bonuses within set ranges. In addition, all ancestral items at levels 1, 20, 40 and 60 have the bases stats of items 20 levels higher.
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.
Characters
All 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 (space permitting) use the "Dress Room" to create new characters. A barrack may hold up to nine characters. Each localization 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 you have 20 slots, barracks one and two are full and you have two characters in barracks three.
Currently there are a maximum of four barracks (36 characters) per account, though the limit is raised to six barracks (54 characters,) in version 2.X.
Granado Espada allows the trading of RNPC (Recruitable NPCs) cards between different players, allowing combinations of teams with more than one of the same UPC, as a player may only obtain a particular UPC card once. The card is used up once the UPC is created in the Barracks.
Some RNPCs may only be purchased by using items from the Bazarre (Cash Shop.) Soso, Baek Ho, Angie, Kurt and Eduardo are examples of this class of RNPC. Their cards cannot be traded. Instead, one must purchase a Mercenary card from the Bazarre. Using said Mercenary card, a Cash Shop RNPC is "Merced" and can then be traded.
A Family may join a guild. When a guild feels it is powerful enough, it may challenge and attempt to complete two quests to raise it's guild level to 51, then 52. Upon completion of the second quest, a guild may choose to join either the Royalist or Republican faction. Every Saturday evening (North American time) the two faction compete against each other to control the various zones of the map. Occupying territories gives all guild members hitpoint and/or mana buffs. They grow with the number of territories the guild controls.
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 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 stance is usable only when it is learned; unlearned stances are greyed-out and unavailable for use.
Note: I have played the game and I think it is a very unique and fun to play MMO. It isn't that hard to learn or get used to most of the features. It can be pretty challenging at times, but everyone needs a challenge every so often.