I'm back! ...For now.

I finished the first draft of that major article today, and to celebrate, I'm updating ^^

First off, some announcements:

The "Hall of Fame" Contest is described here. Go to this thread to submit your competition screenshots.

Granado Espada Philippines' Pioneers' Reconnaissance PvP Qualifying Tournaments is described here. For rules in detail, please refer to this page.

EDIT: The Philippines tournament has been cancelled until further notice.

And now, a few rambling comments on Pirates of the Caribbean now that the film trilogy has been completed. Don't worry, I'm aware that not everyone has seen At World's End yet so I will not be revealing spoilers.

I think that people who want to get a general idea of how Granado Espada feels like might want to refer to the adventures of Will Turner, Jack Sparrow, Elizabeth Swann, and company. In particular, I'm thinking of the fight scenes, though not including ship battles. There may be no magic as slung around by our favorite Wizards and Elementalists in the films, but Fighters and Musketeers see plenty of action, and there are even appearances by veteran Musketeers, who already have the Bayonet stance!

There is an awful lot of swordfighting and gunfighting action in the films, plus the appearances seem to be just about right. There are costumes by which Fighters can pretty much appear like the characters in the movies, such as Camisa de Soldado. The soldiers of the East India Trading Company look like Musketeers for the most part, even down to the hats. And at one point, Elizabeth Swann dons a dress that somewhat resembles the Elementalist's Le Blanc and Elite Robe of Leviathan!

Perhaps I might suggest creating in-game costumes that can make the characters look like, say, Captain Jack Sparrow?

Other than the outfits, though, there's the whole thing of the codes of honor that the cast clings to. From the Pirate Code to the personal definition of honor that Will holds to, there's really something there that seems to remind me of Granado Espada. After all, don't our pioneer families also hold to both cultural and personal rules of conduct?

I'm likely going to rewatch the entire film trilogy and update this post at some point, but I hope this already gives you something to think about with regards to the culture and feel of the game.