The first guide: Quests, 1/5

As promised, here is the first of my GE guides. Because it's fairly long, I'm going to split it into five entries.

The information in this post is valid for the Closed Beta version. I will make necessary revisions come version 2.0.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

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By now everyone's been on many of the quests in the world of Granado Espada. We all know how that works: go up to an NPC or RNPC, find out what they need, heed their directions, and report back afterwards with results.

Usually there's a prize or two up for grabs: EXP Cards, and/or higher-level items [like Idge's Fanatic Armor and Najib Sharif's Barkir Rifle]. Or, if you're really lucky and have tried to build up a rapport with the RNPC you're questing for, you'll be able to pick up his or her Character Card, which means you can create them as a member of your family.

BUT before you can get to that lucky point, you of course have to do everything they ask of you. And that means going through the various types of quests with your family.

Now, quests in GE generally fall into four categories:

1. Instanced Mission

2. Item Quest

3. Hunt Mission

4. "Bring-Me" Quest

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1. Instanced Mission
This type of quest is also known as a "Mission Room". In this kind of quest, your family gets to go into its own 'room' or copy of the mission. You will see no other families in the room except yours. If you were in a squad [in a party with other players] going into the mission, each family will be split up into its own instance of the mission. This prevents the thorny issue of Kill Stealing [KS] from ever coming up, but, of course, the drawback is that you will also lose whatever help you hoped to get from your friends.

These missions are nearly always accessed by talking to NPCs. Sometimes, clicking on the appropriate dialogue option - like "Let's fight!" or "I'll help you." - will instantly trigger the mission. You'll be warped into the instance immediately after the dialogue ends. Be sure you have enough potions, buff items, orbs, and bullets before taking the option - you can quit the dialogue and stock up, then return to the NPC to re-trigger the quest.

On other occasions, the NPCs will instead give you a key to the mission room, and you need to get to the correct location and use the key before being warped into the instance. This is true for the Key you receive from Domingo in Cite de Reboldoeux, which opens the third room in Al Quelt Moreza dungeon; and the access granted by Grace Bernelli for the Tetra Golden Road [third room in Tetra Ruins dungeon].

How do you know that you're currently in an instanced mission?

- There is a gray information box on the left-hand side of your screen; it contains the following information:

* The mission timer. All instanced missions are timed; the length of the mission can be anywhere from 2 to 15 minutes.
* The health of your home base, which may or may not be blank. I'll explain why in a bit.
* The name of your family.

- There is a specific piece of music playing: "Close Encounter". This music is the same for all instanced missions, and it is used only in the instanced missions. You'll be able to find the title by pressing Alt-J, to bring up the Jukebox; or by simply looking at the field of your screen above the box for movement and attack commands.

- Your zone map [Alt-Z] will show a blue square, and one or more red squares. The blue square is your family's spawning point. It's also the base you need to defend if it's that kind of mission.

The red squares are your opponents' spawning point/s. If it's a defense mission, they are only there as a reference. If it's not, you need to go to those red points and kill what's there.

Types of instanced missions

- Boss hunt. These instanced missions involve killing the final boss of a dungeon, such as Dilos Lantemn and his demon controllers in Al Quelt Moreza; or the two Treasure Golems and the Sorceress Cherlyn in Tetra Ruins. [I haven't been to the other dungeons, so I don't know the names of their bosses.]

- Mini-boss/es hunt. The NPC who gave the quest will often tell you why you have to kill these guys.

- "Home" defense. In this kind of instanced mission, your family needs to defend a specific area, usually marked by the blue square on your zone map. You should stay put at the spawn point, and simply wait for the mobs to come in. The information box will tell you how much HP your home base has left.

- Duel an NPC. When trying to get RNPC Character Cards this is often the last step before securing the card. If you defeat the RNPC [and the minions], you'll get his or her card.

Exception [so far]: Grace Bernelli - this is the FIRST quest you do with her. You'll get her card after taking out the final bosses of Tetra Ruins.

In some instanced missions, there will be other NPCs in the mission room with you, who will aid either you, or your opponent/s.

For example, in the last Dilos Lantemn mission room [the final boss of Al Quelt Moreza], Dilos himself will be assisting you - and he'll even bring his own mobs to help out.

On the other hand, there is the M'Boma duel, where he is backed up by Claude Baudez.

Loss conditions

You lose an instanced mission if any one of the following happens:

- You run out of time before accomplishing your mission objectives.

- Your entire family is killed.

- Your home base's HP goes down to 0.

If this happens, simply re-equip and go back to the RNPC or location to re-enter the instanced mission.

You can redo instanced missions as many times as you need to, until you finally win.