Granado Espada Version 3.2: Cute Overload!

Continuing the series of projected updates to Granado Espada from the Version 3.0 cycle, which is currently undergoing testing in kGE and has now been published to the doratomo.jp fan site:

- A new feature, the Team Arena, where you can do the usual plethora of boss hunting and rare-loot gathering, but with an extra bonus of having some sort of assistant personnel in there with you and your squad. From the little I could understand of the rudimentary translation into English, the assistant personnel - actually soldiers from the towns - grant buffs and debuffs to you and your squad, the better to take the bosses out.

- The Super Fight admission times will be reduced to just five minutes from the opening of the portals, rather than the current ten. Admission will now be secured through larger versions of the Ferruccio Espada statues - sort of like the Pioneering Memorials blown up to around thrice the usual size. Still not as large as the one in the Ferruccio Junction, of course.


- Seventh Barracks! Now it's possible to have up to 63 characters to choose your current MCC team from!

- Modifications to the Colony Buffs the Family's Protection buffs [thanks to commenter Souken], which look like they've been adjusted upwards.


- It's your birthday and you're logged in to the New World? Then you'll be receiving a Birthday Gift Box! There will be cake, a birthday firecracker - I wonder if it really does proclaim "Happy Birthday!" when you set it off - and at least a pair of wings for you! No word on the wings' duration, though.

But the thing that has me MOST excited about Granado Espada 3.2 is of course none other than THIS:


Yes, a PET PANDA! The official name of this cutest critter of them all is "Panpan." No word on stats, abilities, or cost yet but I DON'T CARE - wantwantwantwantwant. Pandas Rule!


Pandas are ♥♥♥♥♥ and you know it! *grabby hands*

Source
Source in English

Back from the dead: Upcoming Back Costumes!

Sorry for the delay in new posts. It's been a bit of a madhouse; it got to the point where I was not even able to log in to the game.

Today's entry over at doratomo.jp is devoted to showing off a new crop of back costumes. From my fuzzy deciphering of the translation, it looks like the costumes are only for Expert-level and above, with the notable exception of the standard Satchel in the final photo.

Since the flags are named for ranks of nobility - Earl, Knight, Grand Master [not a noble rank per se, but a rank that was used by associations of nobility such as the Knights Templar], Archduke, Marquis, and Viscount - it's an intriguing idea that maybe they DO have something to do with noble ranks in the New World.


The Grand Master flag.

The individual pages for the flags show that there is a hierarchy to this ranking: from lowest to highest, the ranks are Knight, Viscount, Earl, Marquis, Archduke, and Grand Master.


Blue Chrysalis Wings on Selva.

Additional new back costumes include two variations on the now-familiar Chrysalis Wings: a blue version, and a violet version.


Morada Puesta de sol.

Two pairs of Sunset Wings are also featured, similarly in blue and in violet. Since the wings are named in Spanish as "Puesta de sol", the blue version is called Azul and the violet, Morado.


Golden Archangel Wings on Lisa.


The standard Satchel is on Selva; the new version is on the elementalist.

Just prior to the Satchel and to its new variation, there is also mention of the Golden Archangel Wings, as well as the silver and gold versions of the Phoenix Wings.

Pictures taken from the post.

Finally! e-Games e-Points can now be converted to GE G-Points!

Extra, extra, read all about it! Click the banner to see the official news article!



Allow me to repost the conversion values here. EP = e-Points, GP = G-Points, ABS = Adelina's Booty Search.

20 EP = 230 GP + 1 ABS

50 EP = 750 GP + 3 ABS

100 EP = 1800 GP + 5 ABS

200 EP = 3600 GP + 8 ABS

300 EP = 5800 GP + 10 ABS

1000 EP = 23800 GP + 35 ABS

Now, I guess my only question is, where can I buy me a 1000 eP card???

EDITED TO ADD: CM Aethrin has popped in with a link to a list of the e-Points retailers. The list is here: e-Games Partners. He says the list is updated on a monthly basis.

SON OF EDITED TO ADD: The forum discussion thread for this news is buzzing with CM Aethrin's announcement: Coming soon: the 70k g-points denomination in the Philippines!

A Future Pet: Meet Pigling!

People are still wibbling out over Grabber/Pilfurr/Poppet, and wondering when Buppet/Broomy/Moppet will be out, and worrying about getting the fesos needed to keep them both alive. We haven't even started talking about the Grabber Lady yet, only Ferruccio knows when we're going to get THAT one....

And now here comes an update that will bring in a fourth pet, in Granado Espada Version 3.1.04.

Meet Pigling.



[Incidentally, that MCC team is quite beautifully dressed. The male elementalist looks especially dolled up for the occasion, to say nothing of his female counterpart and the male musketeer. It seems like Version 3.0 is the version where the male elementalist gets a lot of costume love....]

Anyway, the thing about Pigling is this: you have to pay real money to get her. The doratomo.jp article that's the source of this post's information and images guesses that the price may eventually be something around 10,000 Won.

Quickie conversion rates:

1 South Korean won = 0.0679724619 Japanese yen
= 0.00104722366 Singapore dollars
= 0.0337880175 Philippine pesos
= 0.000701 U.S. dollars

So,

10,000 South Korean won = 679.724619 Japanese yen
= 10.4722366 Singapore dollars
= 337.880175 Philippine pesos
= 7.01 U.S. dollars

What justifies spending that money? Well, the article claims that while Pigling has essentially the same skill set as Grabber/Pilfurr/Poppet, she has a wider range for picking up objects and a faster pick-up time. To balance that out, she goes through her Activity Power much faster, i.e. you need to feed her more often than for the other pets.

In closing, have a video of Pigling in action:



[No Sarah Palin jokes, please!]

Sources
The original doratomo.jp article describing Pigling
The same page run through Yahoo! BabelFish
Currency conversions from Google.com [just type in the currencies to be converted, i.e. "X to Y"]

Talking about the Granado Espada "Web Controller"

[Goodness, I have just realized that this blog is well on the way to reaching its 500th post.

...Wow! *giddy*]

It seems as though the folks over in kGE and jGE can't wait to get their hands on the GEMOCON "Web Controller" function. From the looks of it, it's a way of keeping track of your pioneering family's progress from any other computer, in real time. The gushing article over at doratomo.jp even goes so far as to call it a "Messiah" for those people who have to work at the office and therefore have limited leveling time!

Here's the login screen for the beta version. The word on the street is that IMC and Microsoft - Microsoft! - worked together to produce this widget.



You'll get a sort of quickstart instruction screen to explain how the thing works, and then you'll go right into the actual GEMOCON UI.



[doratomo helpfully explains that the name of the web controller is derived from "GE" + the Korean and Japanese nicknames for a remote controller device, "rimokon", hence GEMOCON.]

Here's what the GEMOCON will allow users to do:

- Keep track of HP, SP, and EXP.
- Use the Call to Leader F4 function, the Select All/Select Individual F9 function, Hold attack order, Keep attack order, and even the Resurrect function if someone in the party dies. However, you'll need a supply of Soul Crystals to use the Resurrect function.
- Real-time chat mode. It looks like the PM, Faction Chat, at least one of the /broad-type messaging functions, and the "overhead message" [the one that you type in that begins with !!] are available in this mode.

While it does seem like something of a godsend to those of us who must go in to work daily, but still want to keep track of our leveling, I do have one immediate issue to bring up that may come into direct conflict with the GEMOCON: will GEMOCON users be subject to the Report Botters function? If the answer is yes, then there might as well be no point to using the GEMOCON, among other things; if the answer is no, then what prevents the botters from using the GEMOCON themselves?

Anyway, this thing is still in beta testing. We can hope that IMC tackles all the standing issues to do with this before releasing it to the player community.

Sources
The original doratomo.jp news article about the GEMOCON
The same article, run through the Yahoo BabelFish translator

Thoughts and Impressions for After the Merge

And it looks like we all survived!

I was in Rembrandt briefly last night - why briefly? I'll explain later - and the following things really wanted to make me cheer. One, LOTS of people in Auch! For this instance, I tend to NOT complain about lag in walking around the city. It just makes me happy to see all the people there, and feel like NOW it's an MMORPG. I missed walking around in a packed-to-the-rafters town; I'm just glad my PC can handle the graphics load.

Two, LOTS of friendly broadcasts from real people! For once, the broads were overwhelmed by actual people talking about things in friendly ways, instead of those pesky RMT fools. Very heartening show.

It feels like the community makes a comeback!

Now, I couldn't stay long. What the heck happened? Well, I had numbers in my family names! I've managed to restore them now, thanks to Hrin and her tech team. I think it's safe to try the Family Name Change, since the server-application-thingummy error seems to have been resolved for the moment. Of course, NO TO IDENTITY THEFT. I'm just glad mine wasn't stolen at all.

Recent links to Hrin's blog show the following entries:

The One About The Program Lineup For October~November'08: A schedule of everything that's coming up in GE in the next few weeks. I am certainly interested in that Bai Hu costume, "Narciso", which might well be the one in this entry.

And also - a quiz show! I LOVE quiz shows!

The comments to this entry also show that with the Version 2.9 content now being readied for download to our clients, there are several ways to update the game to bring in all the content that's coming to us.

The One About V2.9 Poster & DVD Sleeves: Posters and graphics for the Version 2.9 release. At the end is a listing of sites where the Version 2.9 full client and manual patches can be downloaded; I think I'll wait for a good time to look into getting that manual patch.

I wish I could have the full DVD copy though.

I hope the servers come back online so I can go back to enjoying my actual REAL family name in-game....

Now HERE is something to look forward to after the Server Merge!

RCM Hrin announces the Event Zone: in-game events ahoy!



The Server Merge is supposed to make organizing in-game events easier and more enjoyable for everyone: two servers, lots of people in each, win-win. And it looks like that's what the Event Zone will be for: a place to hold all the events the community might ever want. [At least we hope so.]

Amazing stuff! Gotta say I'm really looking forward to meeting that talking sheep! [Incidentally: why sheep? Someone overdose on Warcraft or something? XD]

The CURRENT Schedule for the Server Merge [as of 9 October 2008]

Straight from Hrin's forum post on the subject:

Dear Gamers,

There will be a server maintenance for Granado Espada from 15 Oct 2008, Wed, 0800hrs (GMT+8)-16 Oct 2008, 1800hrs (GMT+8). During this period, Granado Espada game service will be unavailable. Players are recommended to avoid activating Premium Items that last for shorter durations (e.g. 1 day) during this period.

Here’s an update on the schedule of what will be happening behind the scenes during world migration next week:

On Monday, 13th Oct 2008: New servers with upgraded hardware will be set up for worlds [Bach] and [Rembrandt] – GE LIVE servers will not be affected.

On Tuesday, 14th Oct 2008: We will be testing the new server worlds for [Bach] and [Rembrandt] – GE LIVE servers will not be affected.

On Wednesday, 15th Oct 2008: GE LIVE server is shut-down at 0800hrs. The current worlds will be migrating into [Bach] and [Rembrandt]. We will then be running tests on these new worlds to minimize any errors of migration.

On Thursday, 16th Oct 2008: IAH will open the [Bach] and [Rembrandt] to the public at 1800hrs (GMT+8).

Time to make plans then!

Upcoming GE feature: MCC Buff!

Way back in June, Blacksword kicked off a special series of posts called the Granado Espada What If Specials. The point of the posts was just pie-in-the-sky dreaming about the game, lots of "What if...?" questions, and the general fun that resulted from his readers also going off on speculative tangents.

The first post involved what he called the Trinity Bond. I quote:

The Trinity Bond

A bonus buff is given to a family depending on what kind of characters are in the team, these stats varies on what kind of character combination the family used.

The idea, clearly, comes from the MCC and the aspect of "themes" in the game, such as RNPCs that complement each other, or use the same general type of combat style, etc.

Read the original post here.

And now on doratomo.jp we receive word of an upcoming Version 3.0 feature called, what else, the MCC Buff!

It is essentially the same idea as the Trinity Bond: bonuses are granted to a specific set-up of three characters, which are related to each other through storyline, fighting style, type of character, etc. In this first edition, all the teams are composed of various RNPCs.

Check out the first six official MCC Buff-ed teams!


Team One: Reboldoeux Soldier, Coimbra Trooper, and Auch Infantry
+1 each to AR and DR


Team Two: Edward Jameson, Gavin Jameson, and Selva Norte
+5% to ATK, + 20 to DEF, +10% to ASPD


Team Three: Lorch, Najib Sharif, and Grace Bernelli
+10% to Hit Rate, +5 to Penetration, +5% to ASPD


Team Four: Soho the Wind, Gracielo, and Jean-Pierre Gascon
+1000 to HP, +5 to DEF, +1 to DR


Team Five: Rescue Knight, Grandice, and Romina
+10% to Move Speed, +10% to Resistance [all?]


Team Six: Ramiro, Tiburon, and Claire
+2000 to HP, +1 to DR

We can probably hope that there will be more teams granted the MCC buff in the future. A thread in the forums, 3.1 team system, is already pumping out suggestions for other "theme" teams.

[I also took the translated stats from that thread - credits to TS 5aaur.]

My own theme team and MCC buff candidate: Irawan + Feng Ling + Bai Hu, with bonuses that perhaps come from a synergy of Irawan's power, Feng Ling's speed, and Bai Hu's balance.

Sources
Blacksword's What If? Special Part 1
The original doratomo.jp article
The same article run through Yahoo! BabelFish
SEA/ANZ GE Official Forums discussion thread

[Guide] REMINDERS FOR THE SERVER MERGE ON 13 OCTOBER 2008

[And yet another rare instance of the all-caps entry title, because, hey, this is just that important.]

NineMoons's Guide to Surviving the Upcoming Server Merge

1. The Server Merge will begin on 7 October 2008 Corrected to 13 October 2008, see Hrin's latest blog post. Hope hard that the maintenance will be declared as done on time.

2. Before saying/doing anything else, read the following links VERY VERY CAREFULLY:

GE Official Website: Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

GE Official Website: World Migration Family and Faction Migration Guide

Forums: Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

Forums: It's Maintenance Day! Ask [Mee Pok Tah] about the World Migration here!!

Special re-link to the first post in the Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement forums thread, where Hrin has started to compile an FAQ based on questions and answers given in the thread itself [all currently 55 pages of it]:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement: Frequently Asked Questions

3. If you'd also like to find out what I think about some of the most pressing issues involved in the Server Merge - and thank you! - here are the two posts I did:

Server Merge What The-?! Hilarity Ensues....

Server Merge Commentary: Channels, Compensation, and the Staff

4. Things you need to do as soon as the servers come back up:

- Claim all items in your Booty Chest from Adelina's Booty Search

- Claim all items from your server's Market Manager

- Claim all items from Leonardo Expreso's "Receive Premium Item" service. As Hrin has already emphasized, the Item Vaults will NOT be affected by the Server Merge.

- DO NOT activate any more time-based premium items. The only possible exception to this rule is the use of one-day items.

- Contributed by Staark: Find something to do during maintenance time - something productive perhaps?

That's it for now. If I've missed anything, I may update this post. Please comment and let me know what else needs to be done NOW, before people forget, and then wind up in hysterics after the Server Merge catches people flat-footed....

New Musketeer Hair!

Okay, taking a break from the madness and gloom-and-doom mode we all got dropped into abruptly because of the news of the Server Merge.

If the game lasts that long - and if you have a Female Musketeer - there is a new hairstyle for you to look forward to. And I for one WILL spend to get this:

Tight Arrangement [don't look at me like that, that's what the page heading said]




Those hairsticks! That lovely air of she-just-got-out-of-bed! Those sexy sidelocks and stray strands! I swear, I am SO glad that they've decided to REALLY pretty up the Musketeer.

Now I hope they come up with an equally beautiful wig for the Wizard, as she's the last one without the new hairstyles. We already saw the Elementalist's Fairy Bob, the Fighter's new ponytail, the Scout's feathery bob-thing, and now this new Musketeer hairstyle.

You may now commence squeeing.

Sources
Original doratomo.jp page, in Japanese
The same page run through BabelFish

Server Merge Commentary: Channels, Compensation, and the Staff

Since there are still people in the forums who are just jumping straight into the rants-n-raves mode before knowing what's going on, read this or die:

IAH is implementing a server merge for SEA / ANZ Granado Espada effective 7 October 2008.

News and Sources:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

Bulletin 1: World Migration Family and Faction Migration Guide

[More bulletins to come, apparently, and I will update the post as they are released.]

Official Forum Threads for Comments and Complaints:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

It's Maintenance Day! Ask [Mee Pok Tah] about the World Migration here!!

***

I'm still not tout a fait ["completely"] happy with the continuing wait-and-see tactic regarding the number of channels available to players after the server merge. As I quoted in the previous entry, Hrin was left saying something about IMC, HBS, and IAH deciding on whether there would be more channels in the new servers only after the merge had been completed.

Maybe I should say it a little more strongly, though I'm not sure what good it might do me right now:

One of the fastest ways to assure the SEA / ANZ GE community of players, right the heck now when the news is still fresh enough to cause shock and anger, is to say that there WILL be more channels already implemented in the new servers, ready to use when we all log back in.

Corollary statements:
- More channels will assuage the fear of overcrowding, especially in the merged PK server which will play host to the denizens of the THREE old PK servers.
- More channels may allow for more boss raids, which will mean that better loots and items may become more accessible to more people and thus affect the new servers' economies.
- More channels will negate the fear associated with "Where will the newbies level now?", because more channels equals more space for everyone to level in.

There was a brief description of the supposedly new hardware and servers that IAH bought, which they'll be migrating GE to. The burden of proof of those new servers falls squarely on IAH - prove how new and how robust those things are by programming them to hold more channels.

I still remember the outcry when SEA / ANZ GE transitioned to its commercial phase because in that transition, all of the Channel 3s were dropped most unceremoniously. That lingered as a sore wound in the community because up until then, everyone had most cheerfully utilized the wide-open freedom of the New World in three separate channels. The irony of that wide-open freedom being abruptly curtailed, just when the game went into wide release and presumably looking for new players, was a hard blow to deal with.

The suggestion has been to bump the number of channels back to, at the very LEAST, three in each new server - and there are even those who are advocating four to six channels. My two cents involves assigning two channels for each of the old servers:

New PK server Bach: Six channels, two for each of the three former servers Cervantes, Caravaggio, and Vivaldi

New Non-PK server Rembrandt: Four channels, two for each of the two former servers Carracci and Pachelbel.

And, following the second corollary statement above, opening boss raids in at least two channels apiece, as initial concession to the large numbers of raiders pouring into each of the new, after-merge servers.

***

I also do not agree with having only the World Migration Package as the compensation for all players. The suggested items to be included in the package might not satisfy everyone. I might have suggested adding one thing to that package: 15 ABS for everyone. I'm not joking, at least this gives people a chance, however much of a chance that game is, at getting good items, as compensation for many items that may be lost in the process of merging.

***

Finally, for everyone what's going to the Black Party GE PH Anniversary event on Saturday: Let's at least PLEASE try NOT to overwhelm CM Aethrin with too many questions about this server merge. My best piece of advice will be to READ THE LINKS ABOVE before going - and if you cannot find an answer to your burning questions, only then can you go ahead and attempt to have the CM look into it.

Be advised that the forum threads are already being manned by staff who are already making extreme efforts to accommodate everyone's questions. Ask THEM first, and preferably BEFORE Saturday - they're right there so ask them already!

Server Merge What The-?! Hilarity Ensues....

Okay, heart attack time for all of you who haven't yet heard of this:

IAH is implementing a server merge for SEA / ANZ Granado Espada effective 7 October 2008.

News and Sources:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

Bulletin 1: World Migration Family and Faction Migration Guide

[More bulletins to come, apparently, and I will update the post as they are released.]

Official Forum Thread for Comments and Complaints:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

It's Maintenance Day! Ask [Mee Pok Tah] about the World Migration here!!

Please, for the love of Grace Bernelli or Andre Janzur, PLEASE read through the news articles and the official comments in the thread above, before anyone panics!

[And have some sympathy for the IAH staff because even while this development has caught everyone flat-footed, they are now the ones who have to face the collective wrath of the community.]

***

I've already had my freak-out over this news, so maybe I can contribute my comments and suggestions - in the hope that I've calmed down enough to be coherent AND rational, of course.

The major themes in the thread linked above have been:

Compensation for this sudden merge, and the losses that people may incur in its implementation
How the PK and the non-PK servers will be affected, respectively
Channels, or the current lack thereof
Items and how they will be dealt with in case of loss; special mention to items such as character cards, limited-edition items such as Divine Angel Wings, and the non-tradeable RNPCs such as Rio, Irawan, Feng Ling, and Bai Hu

And then there are the people who dashed headlong into the thread without knowing what's going on. I refer you again to the beginning of this blog post for the relevant links.

My comments on the themes:

Hrin mentioned something called the "World Migration Package":

We have proposed to IMC and HBS to allow us to have a World Migration Package for you guys.

To ease all migrants’ transition into the new worlds of Bach and Rembrandt, all users who log in between 7 September 2008, 0000hrs (GMT+8) -7 October 2008 0000hrs (GMT+8) will receive the following on 9 October 2008, Thursday, after the merger is complete:

a) 3 Combat Manual (1 day)
b) 3 Stance Manual ( 1 day)
c) 3 Forgotten Territory Pass (1 day)
d) 3 Ancient Territory Pass (1 day)
e) 3 Lucifer Wings (1 day)
f) 3 Devil Wings (1 day)

Yes, that is not a cure-all for all item losses, but it's a start.

Alternatively, a friend of mine suggests doing the following:

- Create a mule account for every server: specifically, one mule account that has only one family in each server
- Merc the characters you want to save
- Pass the items, the vis, and the merced characters to the mule account
- Pray the merge goes through properly
- Retrieve the stash from the mule accounts

The merge works this way:
Cervantes + Caravaggio + Vivaldi = Bach -> Three PK servers become one PK server
Carracci + Pachelbel = Rembrandt -> Two Non-PK servers become one Non-PK server

Since Viv and Pach were the last two servers to be released, some players from those servers have the complaint of lagging behind the other servers in terms of growth and age. The particular comment about Pach was that its population was simply going to be incorporated into Carracci.

The way I see it, yes, there will be problems with overcrowding, but at least it MIGHT become easier to get together for pick-up raids and missions. I can't really judge it until it's actual merge time, though.

When it comes to talking about channels, this quote from Hrin scares me:

As for additional channels, we will observe the situation after the world migration before we discuss further with IMC.

Um, BOO HISS...? It's my firm belief that having the additional channels will immediately assuage the community's fears of having overcrowded servers.... Though someone HAS pointed out to me that this is not a likely thing to happen. This might have been the one truly depressing thing about this. Where in heck are we going to find spots if all the spots get taken very fast?

I really hope IAH pushes for more channels.

And about the rather thorny problem of legacy items...I personally have no stake in it, but I understand that it DOES become a major concern for everyone who went to amazing lengths to get those items. I have nothing to say yet since I want to think about it some more. I guess that means there will be follow-up posts.

So, let's talk about this in the comments. Everyone is welcome, but no trolling or foul language please.

The latest costumes from kGE, and the banner for the GE PH Black Party!

[So, obviously, image- and link-heavy post. Please wait for everything to load.....]

From this and this at doratomo.jp, the latest eye-candy new costumes that will be coming in as part of the Version 3.0 Third Civilization updates.

I got a few pictures of the lot, and there are better ones at the doratomo links plus this thread on the SEA / ANZ GE forums.




Have to assume that there are part and parcel of the "Rose" set of costumes. Remember from here: the female fighter's costume in this series is called Rose Camellia, and the male wizard's is Blackness Rose.

Now, we're missing the following costumes in this series: Male Scout, Male Musketeer, Female Wizard, Female Elementalist. Those, we should be looking forward to in the following days....

***



And here's the banner for the GE PH Anniversary Black Party, upcoming this Saturday. Here's the linky to all the events taking place then.

Eee trivia, I really wanna join that!

A Picture Says A Thousand Words.

There you have it, straight from RCM Hrin.

[You're not all going to the pre-release tournaments for MTG: Shards of Alara, are you? ...I've left my own Magic days behind me. I miss my Sliver deck.]

Let's all see each other at the SMX Convention Center on 27 September 2008 for the anniversary celebrations for Granado Espada PH!

[I started the original thread, here. My thanks to Hrin for answering even though she was very busy defusing yesterday's crisis.]

Calyce's Family Name REVEALED!

The source for this entry is RCM Hrin's latest blog post about the upcoming Version 2.9 of Granado Espada - and wow it is a DOOZY.

In that blog post, Hrin talks briefly about new maps and instances that pioneers can encounter in the next patch. More importantly, she mentions that one of the new RNPCs to become available will be none other than the game's first crossbow user: Calyce Bernelli.

I guess you think that last name is familiar? Here's proof, again from RCM Hrin:



This is apparently the new version of the interior of the Pegadilla location in the Port of Coimbra, home of the mercenaries. Calyce joins mercenary guy Gerard in his office....



That last name! Amazing! I wonder what the family relationship might be. In any case, given that we already know that Calyce's storyline is in some way connected to Princess Gabriella of Vespanola, I want to know: how the heck does Grace react, knowing the immense grudge she carries against that kingdom?

There's also the question of game mechanics: Grace Bernelli carries a very high DEX, while Calyce balances both DEX and AGI. Given this, what sort of damage can she cause compared to Grace?

Let's hope that more details surrounding the lovely crossbow-wielder pop up soon!

[Man, the two of them in Coimbra - should we expect a fight between them during Calyce's recruitment quests?]

Selva Norte: Armor Recipe

Previous Selva Norte posts:
Introducing Selva Norte
Selva Norte dossier: stances, skills, and armor
Selva Norte preliminary quest guide
Selva Norte's backstory and the evolution of her left arm

***

Taking a break from the deluge of Third Civilization posts, let's return to discussing one more detail of the elusive but much-sought-after RNPC, she of the rapier and the honkin' large cyborg arm, Selva Norte.

And in fact, there's a point to me saying she has a honkin' large cyborg arm. From an update at doratomo.jp, here's the recipe for Selva's exclusive left-arm armor:

1 x Chain Bracer - the folks at doratomo.jp are not quite sure which one is being referred to, as there is a Lv40 version as well as a Lv80 version. Best to get both.

20 x Composite Steel

20 x Cast Iron

20 x Solvent

So far, so good. All of these items are easy to find, buy, or, in the case of the Composite Steel and Cast Iron, forge in Cite de Reboldoeux. Click the link for the recipes.

Here's the final ingredient. Even doratomo.jp makes the comment that while Selva herself is a storyline RNPC and does not require the use of premium items to acquire, her armor puts her in the category of "pay" characters simply because she can't really achieve her full potential or use without it.

The last ingredient:

50 x Mystery Powders

[Cue groans and cries of "Waaah, I need to top up my G-Points again!"]

Third Civilization: High Level Armors

In this update, just a few of the lovely new armors upcoming in Granado Espada Third Civilization:


This first one you're already familiar with, as it was one of the original teaser images / concept art for Version 3.0. Lovely colors and artwork. Here's what some of those armors look like in actual renders:


The first part of this quick teaser trailer shows many of the costumes as they look on the actual in-game stock characters.


Actual art now being used at the kGE official website.

We still don't know what this primary-colors armor series is called, though.

This next set of armors we DO know about. In kGE and [upcoming] jGE, these following armors constitute the Cinderella Leblanc series.

Fighter.

Scout.

Elementalist.

Musketeer.

Wizard.

Lovely eye-candy for you to dream about during maintenance ^^

NEWSFLASH: Straight from the RCM: Hrin says that the tentative schedule for upload of Third Civilization to SEA / ANZ Granado Espada is by December 2008. Proof! [Scroll down to the comments.]

SOURCES
Picture of concept art for first set of costumes from doratomo.jp
Third Civilization teaser trailer video from YouTube user MMORPG07
Scout/Wizard/Elementalist picture from http://ge.hanbiton.com
Cinderella Leblanc screenshots from doratomo.jp

Third Civilization: The Official Trailer

All credits go to this doratomo.jp update page.



With guest appearances by the new RNPCs Ania and Nur and Leonardo Expreso on his trusty cart. Also watch out for the Expert stances in the second half of the video!

Third Civilization: Granado Espada Version 3.0 Details Revealed!

Previous Posts
Original post, hinting at the new armors, the new maps, and the pets - includes videos
Changes to the world map, plus a link to another blog which discussed the upcoming Expert stances
The Constellation weapons, plus one of the two new RNPCs rumored to appear in Third Civilization

All photos and information sourced from the latest Third Civilization updates from doratomo.jp.

And now, here are the official details on Granado Espada Version 3.0.6, Third Civilization!

EDITED TO ADD 20 AUGUST 2008: And it turns out Third Civilization actually went live yesterday! Who'd have expected it to come to kGE so quickly???

This banner features the two new soldier RNPCs who will be featured in Third Civilization. The girl is Ania [quite possibly Anya?], and the guy is Nur.


One of the original concept illustrations for new armors to be released in Third Civilization.


It looks like this new area will be called something like "Eraku" [possibly derived from Iraq?]. There will be the deserted town/spawn area, at least two temple maps - Temple of the Sun and Temple of the Moon - and the dungeon, "Okuruta".

The Constellation Weapons and the Expert Stances will be major features of Third Civilization.

And now that kGE's venturing into Third Civilization - I wonder when we will?