50K Hits Contest - Week Two!

NineMoons's 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest

Week Two begins here!

THE RULES
1. To enter, submit a response to any one, or all, of the featured screenshots for each contest period.

Responses may take the form of: answering screenshots, modifications to the original featured screenshot/s, short fiction, videos, dialogue, jokes, derived banners / posters / buttons, and basically anything else you can think of to respond to the featured screenshot.

Be creative! Think about what the character/s in each screenshot might really be doing! Be funny~!

2. The contest will run for a period of three weeks. Each week will have different featured screenshots to respond to.

3. The deadline for submissions for each contest week will be Wednesday night at precisely 2359 Singapore time. See the contest timetable below for details.

CONTEST TIMETABLE
Contest begins: 24 July
First week: 24 - 30 July Week One competition is CLOSED.
Second week: 31 July - 6 Aug
Third week: 7 - 13 Aug
Winners announced: 14 August

4. Prizes for all weeks will include in-game items. In addition, the contest winner for the third week will receive a special, real-life prize from me.

***

Okay, that's it for the rules. Let's have it for this week's featured screenshots!

They may be the same characters, but look closely: they're doing something else!

Featuring Ravashi the elementalist, Anjali the Angie, and Matrim the Viki from the NineMoons Family barracks in Cervantes.

Featuring Anjali the Angie and Xue the Feng Ling, again from the NineMoons Family barracks in Cervantes.

There will be two prizes to be given away, one for each of the featured screenshots.

All right, take it away, kids! Your contest deadline for the second week is 2359 of Wednesday, 6 August - so get cracking!

REMINDER for the Screenshots Contest!

Week One of the NineMoons 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest ends TONIGHT at 2359 Singapore time!

Here are the screenshots once again:


Featuring Ravashi the elementalist, Anjali the Angie, and Matrim the Viki from the NineMoons Family barracks in Cervantes.


Featuring Anjali the Angie and Xue the Feng Ling, again from the NineMoons Family barracks in Cervantes.


Featuring Chimal the wizard, Aurana the scout, and Tuon the fighter, the main NineMoons Family team in Cervantes.

Please submit your entries before 2359 Singapore time to the Week One contest announcement.

Good luck!

At Long Last: VETERANS!

Yes, it took me a long time to get there, but I finally have a proudly Veteran team.

Presenting the NineMoons Family main team in Carracci server, happy to get some fresh air after a month cooped up with the skellies in Skullic Dungeon 1:


Note the UI bars at the bottom of the screen. I took this screenshot just before they were promoted.


Promotion to Veteran status prompts a little bust-a-move session - Andre approves! And then there's all the new equipment ^^

Next up for leveling to Veteran is likely my Catherine the Summoner, Luhne.

***

NineMoons's 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest Ongoing!

If These Girls Played Granado Espada...

...We'd probably all be left eating their dust. They'd all have streaked toward Veteran and then Expert status, and they would have left no map unexplored, no dungeon uncrawled, and no raid boss undefeated.

And if they all got together in a server to form a faction - woe betide the population of that server. Even the famous factions of all five servers may likely stand no chance against these powerful, genre-savvy, literally world-altering girl gamers.

In other words: Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

[This is an entry written to celebrate the Granado Espada Gamer Girls.]

Girl Gamer #1: Fuu - Magic Knight Rayearth



The elegant "girl with glasses" and the mistress of the wind, who controls the great bird-form Rune-God Windam. Of the three Magic Knights, it's Fuu who takes the sudden trip to a magic world, and their new responsibilities, with the most ease - and that's because back on planet Earth, she loved to play RPGs!

While searching out the legendary mineral called escudo, she makes explicit references to mithril, the light but indestructible metal from Middle-Earth. She talks about gaining experience points and looking for treasure as they journey through Cephiro. And of course, she has no worries while fighting the many mobs they encounter in their magical journey!

...Not to mention, she's got that ginormous sword of hers! How does a slender girl like her wield that sword - the largest of the Magic Knights' weapons by far - so easily? The power of wind, of course!

Might as well ask how the slender female Fighter wields gigantic Great Swords, Polearms, Javelins, and similar weapons and never seems to break a sweat....

Girl Gamers #2 to 5: Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki - Lucky Star



While diminutive Izumi Konata is the single biggest video-game player of the lead characters in Lucky Star, the twins Hiiragi Kagami and Tsukasa and their own "girl with glasses" Takara Megumi are no stranger to video games either.

They even have their own specialties: Konata's infamous for playing adult games even when she was underage, and loves MMOs - she might have even already heard of Granado Espada already! Smart and driven Kagami loves trivia games; Tsukasa loves cute games such as Keroro Gunso; and scariest of all, Miyuki's sweet and polite personality changes to something rather different when she plays video games!

Put all four together in a squad and you can just imagine how much devastation they could cause...Novia, Montoro, AND Sekhmet might have to cower in their respective dungeons when these girls come a-raiding!

Girl Gamers #6 to 8: Haruhi, Yuki, and Mikuru - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya



If you ever wondered what would happen if "God" and two of her cohorts decided to play video games, then all you have to do is watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, in particular the episode "The Day of Sagittarius".

The Computer Research Society attempts to reclaim the computer that they claim Haruhi extorted from them, and challenge her club, the SOS Dan, to a computer game called "The Day of Sagittarius III". The Society's not above cheating in order to make sure of their victory - it's like people who knowingly use RMT and bots, knowing that they're illegal....

But of course the SOS Dan have BOTH an artificial human interface for the Integrated Data Entity [Yuki] AND the Creator [Haruhi] on their side! Yuki equalizes the playing field in dramatic fashion, and Haruhi leads the counter-attack, plowing into the enemy forces with all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer to the brain - and not only are the Society soundly defeated, they're also out five laptops!

And afterwards, it looks like every single Society member has fallen in love - or at least DEFINITELY admire - Yuki's 1337 skills. How should boys react when they've been handed their heads in a PvP match by a girl? They should be polite and friendly, of course, and NOT rude or overbearing!

Girl Gamer #9: Renge - Ouran High School Host Club



Last but definitely not the least is Houshakuji Renge, who fell into the Host Club's lives after mistaking "Shadow King" Ootori Kyouya for her favorite visual novel character. But here's the kicker - after the hosts disabuse her of that notion, she becomes extremely helpful to them, often contributing her vast knowledge of pop culture to the Club's plans and activities.

Part of that knowledge hinges on her mastery of the concept of "moe" - a/k/a the sort of intense interest that certain things can inspire in their fans. In this case, moe for the club hosts, which Renge knows inside and out.

Think of Renge as the type of player who not only wants her pioneering family to be strong in the New World - but drop-dead gorgeous, too! And people wonder who actually buys all the various costume and accessory boxes from the Premium Item Shop....

***

If you've got any more examples of gamer-girl characters from anime, manga, TV, comic books, movies, and pop culture - tell me about them in the comments!

***

NineMoons's 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest Ongoing!

And now for something I've never seen before.

New tipples for already various-kinds-of-potion-addicted pioneering families perhaps? XD

Offensive Fillers

In an ill-advised G-points-fueled shopping spree, I bought about five each of the new Knight's Cache and Najib's Weapon Box items. Unluckily, I couldn't get even a whiff of either the Katana or Nadachi [sic]. Darnit.

I DID get a couple of these new pots, though. Very handy status effect right there, perfect for raids or PvP matches or even PK sessions in the relevant servers. "Offensive Fillers" make me think that the user might be prone to a sudden outburst of four-letter words that the chat filters might take violent exception to, though! Hahahaha!

Soul Waters

After cursing my bad luck with the item boxes, I cheered myself up by buying 200 Bellem Boxes. [Yep, I have a near-suicidal fascination with this item. Sometimes my luck's in and sometimes it stinks like a skunk.]

I DID actually get lucky with this batch as I scored at least four Uniques, plus my first-ever LOE bracelet. [Sucky stats on the bracer, but it was a Lv72 - cheap and easy to rechip.]

And then I picked up at least three of these Soul Waters. Says there on the label they can bestow an Elemental Protection effect - I'm guessing it's sort of like drinking in the elemental buffs? Have to try 'em out some time.

***

NineMoons's 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest Ongoing!

Gamer Girls = WIN, LOVE, RESPECT!

Lovely Selva Norte Wallpaper is courtesy of Scarlette

Okay, so here's the thing. In her most recent blog post RCM Hrin talks about setting up a Granado Espada gamer girls group, and for how she's currently making plans for females-only GE events.

..About time the rest of the female community got together, methinks ^^ We truly do deserve to recognize each other and to help each other out - we're the better half of the species, and anyone who objects gets OWNED by a gorgeous elementalist, fighter, wizard, musketeer, scout - AND Selva above! ^^

Anyway, I'll do my part to promote Hrin's groups. If you're a girl, please join one or both~!

FaceBook

Friendster [requires a Friendster account to view]

And here's my [revived] Friendster. Add me if you like ^^

NineMoons @ Friendster

***

NineMoons's 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest Ongoing!

50K Hits Contest - LIVE!

[No one responded to the Contest Teaser? But I really did have a prize for it! Oh well, that's closed now.]

NineMoons's 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest

Okay, this is the real deal, kids - there are real prizes up for grabs here!

THE RULES
1. To enter, submit a response to any one, or all, of the featured screenshots for each contest period.

Responses may take the form of: answering screenshots, modifications to the original featured screenshot/s, short fiction, videos, dialogue, jokes, derived banners / posters / buttons, and basically anything else you can think of to respond to the featured screenshot.

Be creative! Think about what the character/s in each screenshot might really be doing! Be funny~!

2. The contest will run for a period of three weeks. Each week will have different featured screenshots to respond to.

3. The deadline for submissions for each contest week will be Wednesday night at precisely 2359 Singapore time. See the contest timetable below for details.

CONTEST TIMETABLE
Contest begins: 24 July
First week: 24 - 30 July
Second week: 31 July - 6 Aug
Third week: 7 - 13 Aug
Winners announced: 14 August

4. Prizes for all weeks will include in-game items. In addition, the contest winner for the third week will receive a special, real-life prize from me.

***

Okay, that's it for the rules. Let's have it for this week's featured screenshots!

Featuring Ravashi the elementalist, Anjali the Angie, and Matrim the Viki from the NineMoons Family barracks in Cervantes.

Featuring Anjali the Angie and Xue the Feng Ling, again from the NineMoons Family barracks in Cervantes.

Featuring Chimal the wizard, Aurana the scout, and Tuon the fighter, the main NineMoons Family team in Cervantes.

There will be three prizes to be given away, one for each of the featured screenshots.

All right, take it away, kids! Your contest deadline for this first week is 2359 of Wednesday, July 30 - so get cracking!

Hengestones Redux

The original guide to Hengestones by ahb0i - requires a SEA / ANZ GE Forums account to view

I have permission to link ahb0i's original guide, so here is my entry for the Hengestones: What are Hengestones? A guide and a list of rewards

Having recently come within striking distance of Veteran status, I decided to take a little time last night and today to finally complete the Hengestones quest, and find the 34 already found on the map of Granado Espada.

Well, actually, I only found 33. The annoying holdout is the Hengestone allegedly located in the niche at the right side of the stairs leading to the Nimrod Bridge just outside the Port of Coimbra. The problem with finding that Hengestone, you see, is that it might be "time oriented" - you can only access it at certain times. I waited there for about twenty minutes and the Hengestone was still doing its imitation of Invisible Stalker - so I gave up and went on to Jezebel Glen.

The Hengestones are scattered across the world, and there are supposed to be 50 of them, but the remaining 16 have yet to be found.

I can only speculate about the locations of the final 16; they may well be on even higher-level maps since the list in ahb0i's guide is arranged by increasing order of level needed to access the map, and it stops dead at Skullic Dungeon 3. Some of the remaining Hengestones may well be at the following map locations:

- Capybara Plantation / Toubkal Mines
- Katovic Snowfields region
- Bahamas Swamps
- the forthcoming Chaos Requiem maps

We'd really appreciate it if someone could help us find the remaining 16 Hengestones...can someone scout the Vet- and Expert-level maps for these?

Anyway, here's the aforementioned Hengestone in Skullic Dungeon 3. I used my wizard to complete the 33 Hengestones since he could fly - meaning faster travel time, and most land-based mobs were going to miss him.


Radhanon NineMoons and the 33rd Hengestone.

Observations from doing the Hengestones quest:

- Touching a Hengestone allows your character/s to immediately regenerate all HP and SP. It took me a while to notice that, and only because Radhanon was in Levitation stance, which meant that I was trying to keep an eye on his SP for the required hits of Soul Liquor necessary to keep him aloft.

- Yes, that Skullic Hengestone is differently shaped, and it seems to have something written on it. Couldn't decipher the writing because I was running on low graphics specs; I will try to visit the Hengestone again on a more powerful PC and see what the writing says.

- For the most part, Hengestones tend to be located near walls and map edges; two of the exceptions that I can remember off the top of my head are the Hengestone in Porto Bello Desolate Cliff and the Hengestone in Prison de Joaquin, The Mohrgus. Both of those are standing smack in the middle of map areas.

- The rewards for the quest don't seem to have changed much from the old days of the beta testing periods and the early commercial phase. Many of those rewards might have been valuable then, but definitely not so now. Would it be too much to ask for a reevaluation - and re-valuation - of the rewards? I mean, rings are easier to get now via ABS, and some of the rewards are just throwaway stuff. Better rewards plz ^^

Do try doing this quest - if only for the way it allows one to familiarize oneself with the zone and world maps, especially when you have to get to certain maps....

NineMoons Thinks Out Loud: Multiple Lives

[I know, another serious post, but please bear with me.]

So lots of things have just happened to me as NineMoons: I opened a mirror of this blog at IGN.com, I just scored a "50k-hit combo" as a friend of mine puts it [thanks, Blacksword], and I'm putting together several new and exciting posts, not to mention that LOL-GEs screenshot response contest coming this week.

I have even had to fend off people wanting to campaign for my becoming community manager, whether in jest or for real.

For the LAST TIME, kids: NO NO NO NO NO absolutely not or I kill all of you NO NO NO NO JUST NO. I'm dead serious. I DON'T want the job.

The strange/funny/sigh-inducing/head-scratching thing is that all those accomplishments don't really exist, at least not out in my real world, where I have to earn a living.

I've been criticized for keeping GE-focused blogs; people have called it a waste of time, that it means nothing unless it earns [they think it's easy] money. I've never earned a cent from the Blogger site, not even with the ads on; I've just opened the IGN.com Vault site so I have no idea yet if it's capable of generating income.

I work on a website and generate content for them; specifically, I serve on the staff of ScoutAreaOnline.com. The calling card gives my official titles as Editor, Writer, and IT Consultant. As the publisher prefers to run this new-media venture as something akin to traditional tri-media, however, I kind of can't work on the site the way I do on this and the Vault mirror.

Meaning, I can't experiment with ScoutAreaOnline.com, or put in stuff that might help its circulation, or advertise it through more standard-ish online means, or contribute to its search engine ranking, or tell all the world about it. Publisher's fiat prefers that the site be advertised offline, via flyers and posters [despite the site's claim to be "100% environment-friendly"], and to a limited audience.

But with the two "Granado Espada: Dispatches from the New World" blogs, I've had amazing and clever and wonderful things happened to me. The email from the good folks at IGN.com that got the Vault mirror started. The Fantazzztic Film Awards 2007. Being named a heroine. Friends from all over the world.

So that's the dichotomy of my life - or at least, just the most pressing one to me as far as my living expenses, and Granado Espada of course, are concerned. My "day job" [actually, the work on ScoutAreaOnline.com tends to take place all day for most of the work week] is supposed to pay the bills. The GE blogs are work done on the side, but I love the idea of "Granado Espada: Dispatches from the New World" more than the work that pays me a monthly salary.

I really do find this odd, and I don't mind putting the sentiment here where the general readership can see it. I wanted to think that doing all my work online might have been mutually beneficial to the two jobs, but that's not the case. I keep wishing it were so.

I'll keep going as both as I can in both jobs, though. Someone I love and look up to once said that my work on the GE blogs was going to take me to places I never expected to go. It looks like that's more than true for the GE blogs; where the Blogger and Vault sites intend to lead me back in the real world, I'm waiting to find out.

I hope you can keep sharing the journey with me.

50K Hits Contest Teaser

As I said in the 50,000 Hits Achieved post, I will soon be running a contest on this blog to commemorate the latest milestones.

To give you an idea of what that contest will be, have a gander at this screenshot that I kind of had some fun with:


The contest will involve responding to this screenshot with something else, which I hope you can make funnier, more creative, cooler, more...whatever-you-want. ^^

It's like being given a prompt for a writing exercise, only the prompt is in the form of a screenshot, which you can then respond to with anything you like: other screenshots, a very quick story, a short video, fanart, or whatever you can come up with.

There will, of course, be prizes. Be assured on that ^^

I invite everyone to try their hands at responding to this screenshot. Funniest gets something from me. Although, of course, bear in mind that this ISN'T the contest proper yet - I'm just laying out the ground rules. Teaser is CLOSED. The actual contest is LIVE, though: join here!

Hope to see your responses soon!

[With due thanks to DeSanggria's wacky LOL GE screenshots thread XD]

400 Posts + 50k Hits = This is THANK YOU!

I'll be launching a contest in honor of this milestone very soon! Watch out for it~

Thank you so much to the SEA / ANZ GE community for all the support!

The Big Reveal: NineMoons @ the IGN.com Vault!

Now it can be told! Here's the Big Announcement I've been hinting about - finally revealed!

***

I had a heck of a surprise come to me in my email early last month: a letter from someone at IGN.com.

Just that credential alone made me nearly fall out of my chair in excitement. Good thing I waited till I actually read the email - it was the actual letter that really dropped me to the floor, jaws unhinged in wonder.

IGN.com was inviting me to host a mirror of this Granado Espada fan blog over on their site hosting network, the Vault!

More importantly, they wanted this blog to become one of their major resources with regards to both Granado Espada and Sword of the New World!

But because this is the Internet we're talking about, I asked the nice people at IGN.com for bona fides / proof of identity. [Hint: Learn how to do that politely and properly, and things flow much more smoothly.] I got them. I was convinced.

I signed up!

And it's been a heck of a start-up process. I had to rebuild this blog, which grew and changed over the course of a year plus change, at the Vault site in just over a month. That included importing all of the content, sending over some of the widgets, and generally sprucing the place up a little.

Now: everything's ready! The Vault site is up, and clean, and I'm damn happy with how it looks - so it's time the NineMoons Family rolled out the welcome mat!

NineMoons @ IGN Vault

Wish me luck - and please, do visit!

Next stop: 50k hits for this blog!

Edited to Add: Oh wait, the next entry is the 400th~ ^^

New RNPC costumes ahoy!

If you like the Coimbra item merchant version of Emilia, or have a crush on Grace Bernelli, have a peek at upcoming costume designs made especially for these two, from doratomo.jp.

Here's the upcoming new costume for the standard Emilia RNPC - in other words, NOT the Sage variant. Its katakana name reads loosely as shineraria swazu:


Front view. Check out the painted nails! The lace arm coverings! The purple flower on her right leg!


Back view. Yup, she's wearing a skort: bloomers in front, ruffles in the back.

And here's Grace Bernelli's new outfit, the weito ebento:


Front view. I wish there were an alternate, hat-less wig for Bernelli, since her original chapeau clashes just a tiny bit with this costume.


Back view. Am I the only person who's reminded of the Le Blanc armors by this costume?

Just a little eye-candy to get your day started right ^^ Enjoy!

Big things THIS WEEK at Dispatches from the New World!

Changes to the blog as of today:

- Took out patterned background and changed background color to gray

- New set of three headers uploaded UPDATED 16 July: Added two more banners. The images with the glowing items come from the amazing Scarlette! Thanks, dear ^^

These are all cues for the big reveal I've got planned for this week. The news will be about this blog, and a tie-up with one of the world's leading game information networks.

I hope you can all join me for the big reveal - coming this Thursday!

Recruiting Selva Norte

WARNING: High spoilery ahead!

All information is taken from the doratomo.jp information page on the Selva quest. However, I'm having a rather difficult time puzzling out the English translations for the quest. Please consider this entry a preliminary explanation of what's going to happen.

This entry is subject to change without prior notice.



Previous Selva Norte posts:
Introducing Selva Norte
Selva Norte dossier: stances, skills, and armor

Next post:
Selva Norte's backstory and the evolution of her left arm

***

doratomo.jp has just released the details of the quests for recruiting Selva, and here's what pioneers will need to do if they want to obtain this prized RNPC for their barracks.

Before embarking on the Selva recruitment quests, pioneers MUST have completed the Chaos Requiem quests. Talk to an NPC in Ustiur to begin Selva's quest.

Pioneers will be required to provide the following ingredients for Katovic Soup:
20 x Gold Apple
50 x Wolf Meat
50 x Beet
50 x Cabbage

Another required item is called "Proof of hero" on the doratomo page; two of these items are needed. They can be obtained from the Poison Yard and from the Battle Colosseum. Get three "Proof of old hero" items from Secret Temple and exchange them for one "Proof of hero". The article warns that it might be easier to collect the "Proof of old hero" items, because the "Proof of hero" item is a rare drop.

Correction 01: In SEA / ANZ GE, the "Proof of hero" item may well correspond to the "Hero Seals" given out in the Battle Colosseum.

Since part of the quest line requires encountering Dr. Fran Mothein in Prison de Joaquin, a Key to the Corridor of Assize is also needed in this quest. Pioneers need to speak to Nunez in Coimbra, who will send them to Prison de Joaquin.

The next step in the quest takes pioneers to the Katovic Snowfield, where one of the NPCs will continue the quest line. There will be an "Avalanche"-named monster to fight.

Correction 02: The theory at present is that this monster is a quest-type Avalanche Apparition.

The next steps involve talking to Invierno, and then to Dr. Torsche back on the mainland. One of the bookshelves will allow pioneers to discover a frozen "Cortes". "Cortes" can be revived with Katovic Soup. As soon as "Cortes" is revived, an instanced fight is triggered, and "Cortes" must be defeated.

Upon victory, pioneers can then receive Selva's card, the Cuchemar stancebook, and apparently the Rapida Espada stancebook and the recipe for Selva's Armshield, from Dr. Torsche.

One of the materials required to forge Selva's Armshield, which has an innate AR+1, is 50 Mysterious Powders.

Corrections were provided by staark, previously the very helpful anonymous commenter - thank you!


***

I hope I can provide more details as soon as I puzzle out the rest of the translations and Engrish. In the meantime, may I humbly suggest you start saving up the materials already mentioned in this guide? It's better to be prepared ^^

Race to 50k starts here!

Look at that! I just took that screencap about five minutes ago!

[Someone has since nudged the hit counter over that round number - whoever you are, my thanks ^^]

Yes, there will be a celebration once this GE fanblog makes it over the 50k hits milestone. There will be at least one contest, and yes, I will once again be giving away prizes - so that, you'll all have to watch out for!

In addition, that other big event that I've been hinting at for some time now is almost here!

Thank you so much to everyone in the Granado Espada community for supporting this blog!

Encounter with the Griffon

[Side note: holy god - 394th post, and the blog is WELL on its way to 50k hits!

Must make plans!]

[Side note again: as of the writing of this post, the Griffon in Channel 2 of Carracci was still alive, and was still bringing all his/her/its rowdy monsters to the party. At last count, the mobs included Grizzly Scavengers, Sabel Tigers, Joaquin Wild-Dogs, Gehvars, etc. And all that on top of the regular Vegas Javier mobs, natch.

On top of that, a Griffon Egg was discovered in Channel 1 as well! Vegas Javier will wind up getting placed under an involuntary interdict today if the Griffon appears there in both channels.]

I was leveling in Skullic Dungeon again this morning when someone started broading about the presence of a Griffon Egg in Vegas Javier Channel 2, Carracci server.

Now, of course, whack a Griffon Egg long enough and the Griffon itself appears; the Pioneers Warning at the entrance from Rion Prairie says as much.

After a bit of thought, I decided to join Deputy Faction Leader Xei in taking a look-see at the egg, and maybe to participate in the Griffon raid if the boss DID appear.

Never saw the egg, though; en route to the coordinates mentioned in the broads, THIS happened!



So yeah, we were in the soup right there.

When I got to the map coordinates, Griffon was already there:



And even with the equipment my newly-90 characters were carrying, they didn't stand a chance against the boss, since they were up against THESE stats.



The really headdesk-inducing part, of course, was when Xei and I realized that many of the server's experts were streaming in - but were unable to chip away at the big bird-thing's life....

Wasn't there supposed to be a time limit on the Griffon, though? Someone said if Griffon didn't take a hit to its HP within 10 minutes, it was going to go *poof* and disappear. Not in this case, though, as I was there for at least 15 minutes - long enough to eat breakfast while watching - and it was still there, and still spawning assist mobs.

I wish we could have something like this in the PH *wistful*

WARNING: Meditation and some drama ahead. If you're here for the pretty, afraid you'll be disappointed just for today.

If you live in the PH, though, come on in and I'll tell you a story.....

So, look, if you live in Australia or New Zealand, the quickest way to get a Granado Espada client is to just fill up a form; see the screencap I took from onlinegamez.com.au:

Mechanics for this giveaway here.

[I erased the security code, obviously.]

And look at that, you can PICK which flavor of installer you want! [If I were asked that question, I would go for the full installer every time, but that's me ^^]

***

Over in the NineMoons barracks, I definitely felt a twinge of envy because as it turns out...er. GE installers are rare here in the 7k-and-change islands. I haven't seen the V.2.6.3 patch installers, and there are very, very few full client installers prevalent 'round these parts.

Most of us out here actually download files, and because we're not all exactly on broadband, sometimes we have to wait days just to complete installer downloads. And then there's a few more hours just to install, and a few more hours to wait until the loads on DSL and dial-up lines ease up, and only then can we plunge into the New World.

When they did a list of the PH Community Heroes they left out a category: Heroes of Promoting GE.

People who painstakingly burn out their own GE installers into DVDs to give away to friends and strangers.

People who put up GE posters at their own or favorite Internet shops, and who fight for the right to keep them up there, even when unscrupulous and/or zombie-type marketing people entice them into putting other posters of other games up instead.

People who talk about GE at every appropriate opportunity, and sometimes at inappropriate ones.

People who support the community in ways both overt and covert.

And have I mentioned that nearly all of the people who fall into one, more, or all of these categories do it on their own time, with their own money, and never ask for anything back except for more people to play this damn wonderful game?

We should recognize these people.

And we should definitely be doing just as well as the other countries in distributing and promoting GE.

I agree with many of my friends in this: Give us installers! Installers will work as marketing media! Give us installers! Most of us, I would wager, would be quite happy to do the legwork and promotions ourselves, but we need the damn installers or this whole gig crashes and burns....

I don't want GE to die just because there were no installers. Please, please, give us installers.

Blog Round-Up: NineMoons's Notable Posts June-July 2008

A little something for y'all to read during today's maintenance. Here's a quick-find guide to the recent good stuff I've posted on the blog.

General Information and Helpful Knowledge
The Five Servers of Granado Espada: where the names came from

Fun and Games
Granado Espada Hangaroo Version 1.0 release
Granado Espada Hangaroo Version 1.2 release
Ultra-cute Granado Espada clay-based fan artwork from Korea

Guides for the Lost, the Curious, and the Needful
Introducing Granado Espada properly to online gamers
Introducing Granado Espada properly to non-gamers
Quick-start guide to getting Vicente Rio, the lightning bard
Quick-start guide to the Request Rooms in Reboldoeux and Coimbra

Selva Norte!
Selva Norte to become a GE RNPC as of Version 2.9.4
Selva's Exclusive Stances, Personal Skill, and Armor

New Feature in GE V.2.6.3 The Requiem: Request Rooms

Just before the SEA / ANZ Granado Espada servers went down to patch in Version 2.6.3 The Requiem, my NineMoons family on Carracci server were stationed at the Port of Coimbra, for easy access to the ferry service to Bahia and Ustiur.

When the servers came back up and I was able to play again, I noticed that new rooms were added to the maps of the Port and of Cite de Reboldoeux. The new rooms are called Request Offices.

[Yes, before you ask - there is NO Request Office in the City of Auch. No, before you ask - I don't know why.]

The Request Office in Reboldoeux is in the northern part of the map, opposite the Clock Tower. Here's the entrance:



In Coimbra, the Request Office is located just slightly north of, and above, the Pioneering Officer Jonathan. Here's that entrance:



Entering the Request Office in Coimbra, my team came face-to-face with two sets of Request Officers. These NPCs come in two flavors, "Primary" and "Junior"; each type of NPC has a Level 1 officer and a Level 2 officer. See the following screenshots:


Coimbra's Request Officers, Junior I and Junior II.


Coimbra's Request Officers, Primary I and Primary II.

So, what do these guys do? They provide additional hunt missions! Forgot what hunt missions are? Clicky for the refresher course!

Specifically, Request Officers ask pioneering families to hunt X number of "Elite" monsters, where X is usually a round, 2- or 3-digit number.

You know what Elite monsters are: marginally bigger versions of standard mobs on each map, usually spawning two or three companions as soon as they target your pioneering family.

The availability of these hunt missions is part of the explanation as to why there are suddenly so many more Elite mobs roaming in maps.

The Coimbra Junior Officers ask pioneering families to hunt Elite versions of monsters in the Tetra Ruins outside map and Tetra Hill; while their Primary counterparts ask for the heads of Elite monsters inside the Tetra Ruins dungeon itself [the Grand Corridor, the Catacombs, and the Golden Road].

It might then be presumed that the Reboldoeux Request Officers assign pioneering families to hunt Elite mobs in and around Al Quelt Moreza, the relevant dungeon for beginner levels.

Will update this entry as soon as I can confirm that paragraph, by the way.

I will also find out what the rewards are for these hunt missions.

Seems the game is now adding more ways for the new players to make their levels, and believe me, that can only be a good thing....

Selva Norte: Personal skill and Exclusive Armor and Stances!

Previous Post:
NineMoons introduces Selva Norte, RNPC in Granado Espada as of Version 2.9.4

Next Posts:
Selva Norte: Preliminary Quest Guide
Selva Norte's backstory and the evolution of her left arm

Quick Selva Norte profile, courtesy of the good people at doratomo.jp [sources below]:


Str: 7
Agi: 7
Con: 5
Dex: 5
Int: 5
Cha: 3
Starting Level: 60
Weapon: Rapier / Armor: Leather Armor
Exclusive Armor: Armshield [a/k/a that big honking mechanical contraption strapped over her skeletal arm]


Personal Skill: Destino. SP use: 100. Cooltime: 240 seconds. Could not translate needed pots to activate X(


Exclusive stance "Cauchemar" / Cuchemar


Exclusive stance Rapida Espada

Translations are QUITE welcome ^^

Sources
doratomo.jp/~sannpomiti screenshots and information:
Exclusive Armor: Selva's Armshield / Personal Skill: Destino
Exclusive Stance: Cuchemar
Exclusive Stance: Rapida Espada

Love, NineMoons

[Picspam] Field notes: jungle, swamp, cave full o' skells

I've been extremely motivated to at least get within striking distance of Veteran status, so I've been spending lots of time in the Skullic Dungeon - even if the skeletons always give me the damn creeps!

But I decided to get a quick change of scenery today, and I figured the team was going to need some fresh air anyway, so I decided to pursue some of the other Ustiur quests from Grandice.


Lots of even bigger dinosaurs in Ustiur Zona Cuatro. This is pretty much overlooking the humongous waterfall that dominates the map.

The stone on the left of the screenshot is a quest location, by the way; that's the stone you need to find to trigger the quest that allows Marcelino to make one "Skullic" item for you, and you also need to go back to it for the Grandice card quest. I suggest you save it if you still have space in your warp slots, so it's easy to return to when needed.


Marcelino's the go-to guy for crafting the Ustiur "Dragon" and "Skullic" series of weapons, and here's what I had him craft: the rifle for my Bern, and the staff for my wiz.


Present arms!


Crossing Zona Cuatro, the only other exit, aside from the one that goes back to Zona Tres, is the exit to the Bahamas Base Camp. Here's Radhanon and Shandre as they enter the swamps.


The wiz and the Bern meet Baron Igorni, who oversees the Bahamas Base Camp.

I can't do the Bahamas quests yet, as my level's a bit too low right now. But I'll get around to those, someday.... ^^

***

Family Status:

NineMoons in Caracci
Furyk, full-support scout [and waiting to use Tactical Assistance!] / Shandre, Grace Bernelli / Radhanon, landbound wizard
89 /89 / 89
Currently training in Skullic Dungeon, Levels 1 and 2

So close! I hope to post the Vet status soon - wish me luck!

YAY: I have a Vicente Rio card! BOO: Why is the UI font whacked-out?

[Image-heavy post, due to the necessities of the subjects under discussion. If you're on dial-up, please be patient. Maybe you could play a round of GE Hangaroo Version 1.2 while waiting? :D]

Yes, I already have a Vicente Rio card. Here are the steps in getting him:

1. Go to Auch and talk to Vicente. He will ask you for a Possession Lightning stance book. You can buy one at the Auch Master Room.



2. After giving him the stance book, talk to him again, and get warped into an instance for a quickie fight. I didn't even try to buff for this, as this is an easy fight.



3. After the fight, talk to him again. He asks to join your family, but you have to give him a "token of trust" first: 20 x Enhancement Boosters. Hand them over.

4. Get the Vicente Rio character card. Auch's minstrel and Enhancement NPC starts at level 1.



Now, I'm not going to join the Vicente's Serenade event myself, but you guys have at it. Good luck getting that costume.

***

As you'll have noticed from the above screenshots, the Granado Espada in-game font has reverted to the old, serif version from the Beta Testing periods.

Or at least, that's the case for the actual map you're standing in. Pressing Alt + Z to bring up the Zone Map brings this, however:



The font on the Zone Map is still the sans-serif version used since GE went commercial. I happen to prefer this font myself, and wish it would be applied again to the entire game.

That might be a dicey prospect, however, as looking at the World Map this time brings another different font into play:



The font on the World Map is subtly different from the font on the Zone Map, as you can see.

Also, new stuff on the World Map: in red near the bottom of the map you can see a location called "Tierra del Amor", or "Land of Love". @.@ The map says there's an exit to this place from the King's Garden, but I wonder if this odd new location, which we've not heard about, can be accessed. Anyone care to enlighten us?

You can also see in the lower-right-hand corner, in yellow, that they've finally put Island of Fire on the map. Wonderful level range, eh? All the way to Veteran, and quite possibly beyond, from ~Level 60 or so.

Nope, no Chaos Requiem yet, as stated on the main site: no Chaos Requiem till the end of the month.

Finally, here's the all-new in-game Options menu. I've highlighted the new portions in yellow.



I especially like the "Block" options, for when I'm trying to focus on the game or when I'm in situations where stopping to chat will quite literally kill my team.

Some of the options seem to be geared for those who want less lag, too.