So lately I've realized that while my current team of Scout-Grace Bernelli-Musketeer has the staying power of paper, particularly in high-spawn areas, they still have what it takes to kill everything in sight, i.e. it's DPS time out the ying-yang so long as they have enough bullets.
With that in mind, I decided to start doing what after-100 quests I could do. Since the team still can't handle the mobs in the Katovic Snowfields - one-hit-knockout HURTS - they have paradoxically gone to the Bahamas Marshes instead. I'm about halfway through the first pioneering quest there, and have four or so of the needed six Level 9 Pioneer Seals.
[More quest details for the Bahamas in the third post of Giliam's excellent Full Quest and RNPC Guide. That part of the guide also has the complete instructions for getting Gavin Jameson.
Warning, you need to be logged in to the SEA / ANZ GE forums to read that guide.]
I know I should also be using some of my time to level the martial artists, but I suppose I'm having too much fun watching Anthy burn through the bullets. With Outrage Shot finally completed, she's just happily firing away, and in some cases she's even more than able to outshoot Shandre.
And have I mentioned that the Swamp Spider Crabs, which are the very things I'm supposed to be hunting, give me the screaming mimis? Honestly! Those things look creepy as all fuck. And I've got to kill over three hundred more of the damn things *gag*
***
Oh, here's the information about the GE PH Anniversary events!
The Granado Espada Anniversary Black Party
I want to join that Trivia Contest dammit - there wasn't any at the Evolution event, and I hope this one DOES push through. Lookit those prizes!
[Movie and book in-jokes galore - sorry, I just couldn't resist XD]
Welcome Granado Espada's White Dragon, Bai Hu!
Field notes:
The first quest you do with him, "A Gross Misunderstanding", is a textbook example of You Can't Win / Failure is the Only Option. Nothing you can do will change the outcome: the kid kicks your ass. He has weird notions of Vespanola being ruled by King Fritz, too. All explanations will come in due time.
Then you're made to meet all the martial artists. Good thing they're all easily reachable! In order: run up the street to meet Jean-Pierre, then warp to Bahia to see Feng Ling, then to Coimbra to visit Irawan and Gracielo.
The final step in getting a Bai Hu card is to go back to Auch and then get dropped into a cutscene: Bai Hu kicks Jean's, Feng's, and Irawan's asses. The final challenger is Gracielo. Exchange of blows, and then the REAL Fritz shows up, saying that it was he who sent a letter to Bai Hu's mentor White Dragon, asking for a new disciple to train.
You then find out that Viscount Montoro generally messed with Bai Hu's head something fierce, and that he has kicked around the other martial artists while under false assumptions. So to make amends, he decides to go pioneering - and the 50 Mysterious Powders? Peace offerings to the other martial artists.
[So much for the joke about MPs being the "crack of the New World" XD]
I named my Feng Ling Siuan, after an Aes Sedai character in the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books. Siuan has a ... weird ... relationship with a guy named Gareth Bryne, but the two of them are tied together by destiny. So my Bai Hu is named Garet.
And if you saw Hero - then you'll get the joke about them being Flying Snow [Feng] and Broken Sword [Bai].
Now that my main NineMoons team in Carracci has attained Veteran status, I'm torn between a handful of diverging objectives:
- Use Shandre [Grace Bernelli] and Furyk [scout] to level Luhne [Catherine the Summoner]. If I get Luhne to Veteran, then I can use her to leech other characters, in particular my fledgling Siuan [Feng Ling] and Garet [Bai Hu, when he becomes available].
- Use Shandre and Furyk to level my newly-created musketeer, Anthy. I created her for the express purpose of attaining the Outrage Shot stance, since Shandre can't use it.
- Begin the Katovic Snowfield quest chain. This will take quite a bit of time since I want to collect Gavin Jameson's card [but not necessarily build him], gather a crapload of loots just to build some of the KS items, and brave the Ice Tower + Novia.
- Begin the Bahamas Swamps quest chain. Likewise, time-consuming in that there's a lot of hunting to do.
Plus, there's the added requirement of needing to complete both the KS and Bahamas quests since I want to go on to Chaos Requiem, and eventually collect Selva Norte's RNPC card when she finally becomes available.
Taking any of the four options means I have to give up the other three. So I'm trying to decide which option will net me the most benefits, since I will have to spend a lot of time and effort on it.
Anyone have any ideas?
***
NineMoons's 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest Week Two is Ongoing!
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....
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 ^^
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....
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!
[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.
A long time ago I made my first foray into the Ustiur jungles, meeting distinguished base camp leaders Grandice, Queen of Pioneers, and Romina, leader of the Rescue Knights. I only made it as far as Ustiur Zona Dos in Cervantes, though, and had never even had a chance to take out the Tyrannosaurus lurking between Zona Dos and Zona Tres. [Got killed the only time I tried it, and never did it again.]
Not any more! Finally achieving the required levels on Carracci, I powered through Zona Uno and Zona Dos - and took out the mighty Tyrannosaurus on the very first attempt! I'm sorry there were no screenshots, as I was too nervous and too focused on the boss. I can go and try it again sometime, though....
But lest you think I'm just boasting, check out this screenshot:
That is, of course, my NineMoons team in Caracci taking on a Hydradon - and that means I've made it as far as Zona Tres! This shot was taken en route to the Skull Dungeon. Next time I log into the game, I will try to see if I can survive that famous place.
This week will see several major announcements on the blog, so please do stay tuned. I promise I'll really make it worth your while to see what changes are in store!
Continued from yesterday:
I finally did the last of the Grace Bernelli Pioneering Quests, venturing back into Prison de Joaquin, the Mohrgus to begin the mission called "Slaughter in the Prison de Joaquin".
...Not the most encouraging of names, eh?
I killed a vicious amount of time trying to get as many Puzzle Pieces as was possible - you have to kill the Failed Subject mobs - but I got just a bunch of them at random. What are they for anyway, and what do you get if you manage to complete the set???
Anyway, finally we got down to the ring at the end of the map where mobs were hitting the ugly mug of Dr. Fran Mothein. A brief dialogue with him and Grace Bernelli [who suddenly pops up like a most welcome jack-in-the-box] leads right into the appearance of none other than Montoro.
That guy's pretty much Granado Espada's most wanted, eh? His name comes up during several of the RNPC quests. I think both Torsche and Ulrik wanted to spit at him [and at the Ten Nobles], and of course Bernelli's pissed off as all hell at him....
Montoro's appearance, in turn, triggers the equally sudden teleport of Garcia Hingis. More dialogue, and Montoro makes Mothein go nuts, and then it's time to throw down with the ugly doc! Man, that guy has an even meaner Apocalypse than my wizard.
The good guys win and hey, there's Garcia Hingis's alias: Gavin Jameson!
The story ends at this point and Bernelli promises to keep investigating the Ten Nobles and Montoro and the prison.
I wonder what comes next for our intrepid intelligence gunsmith/gunslinger girl.....
Encounters with Garcia Hingis while doing the Grace Bernelli Pioneering Quests. This is a screenshot of the ending of the second fight with him, standing in the cemetery in Thueringenwald.
About the only thing I haven't done yet for this series of quests is the whole puzzle-pieces + Dr. Mothtein sequence, and I will probably attempt it for the first time after I gain a couple of levels. Have to be careful, you know - that doctor looks like he could kick my ass, and damn fugly to boot.
Talking to Feng Ling just before acquiring her character card in Bahia.
I need to buy a Barrack Slot to accommodate this feisty lass....
Granado Espada events in the Philippines this week
12 January - IP e-Games Evolution goes to SM Megamall. Stay tuned for more details on this one - I just got the heads-up from Ms. Ivee the other day. It's not yet on the IP e-Games main site either, but I'm guessing it will soon be.
UPDATE Oops, this Saturday gig is off. Got official word from Ms. Ivee. Please update your calendars appropriately.
13 January - Philippine Online Gaming Summit at TriNoMa, hosted by Game! Magazine. IP e-Games will be hosting special Granado Espada-themed events at this one. Get a chance to win a Nintendo Wii or a complete gaming PC rig. Your copy of either the November 2007 or the December 2007-January 2008 issues of Game! Magazine serves as your ticket to enter this gaming event.
...I'll be at both, LOL. See you there.
A quick training session for two of my Cervantes alts
While continuing the many item-gathering quests for Viki, I decided to take two of my favorite RNPCs out for a spin with my scout: Shahnti, my Grace Bernelli; and Ichigiku, my Adelina Esperanza. After a few hours of grinding, the picture above is the result.
Family information:
Team - NineMoons in Cervantes
Levels - 77 / 36 / 37
Members - Aurana, full support scout / Shahnti, double-pistol Grace Bernelli / Ichigiku, double-sabre Adelina Esperanza
I blew a lot of money on those weapons XD - they're all uniques!
Props from RCM Hrin
Read RCM Hrin's thoughts on her stay in WrathOfGod faction here.
We were all so happy for her on Boxing Day when she finally made vet ^^
In the next post:
How to make some of the needlessly expensive metal-based forging items!
I'm thinking of doing a post on Angie soon although this thread in the forums has already got the ball rolling. So while I work on that one, have some links.
Updates for the Fantazzztic Film Awards - includes new schedules and submissions dates. The important part is the LAST paragraph, which details the consolation prizes that will be handed out to the top 20 finishers of each Scene and Heard week. Yup - instant elites and premium packages, kids ^^
Teaser for the November print issue of Game! magazine, now online - if you haven't bought this one yet, you probably should, as vets have their own Super Fight map in the upcoming version. This one's chock-full of tips to get you to Lv100 that much faster. The article was the result of a collaboration between me and Welling [oi, update plx! XD].
ShenLuo's massive updates thread - ShenLuo of the forums posts a list of the upcoming features included in the next big patch. This includes updates for Witches of Bahamar and for Tropical Island. Updates include new maps, RNPCs, items, quests and more.
Arconis, Blood Countess posts some tips and tricks - want to learn how useful the Detection skill is? What's another way to obtain those ultra-rare Lv9x-100 chips? What are those torture devices in Prison de Joaquin and why the hell are they shooting at me? Find out here!
[Bonus points to you if you get the movie reference in the title!]
Remember that the Tiburon's Scarecrows event is ongoing until this Thursday, 8 November - so, here's a reminder from your friendly neighborhood NineMoons family - go get those Pumpkin Hats now, before they're gone!
ETA: Oops! Maintenance has been moved to Wednesday, 7 November! Get crackin' - you only have about four hours left to do this quest - good luck!
The hats are actually selling in Cervantes server for around 5M vis each, but you can still grab them for free if you do the quest now - so let's get right into it!
First, you need to start the quest - go to the "Halloween Event Boy" who looks a whole LOT like Auch's very own Backstreet Boy Tiburon. [His dialogue, and the quest itself, states that he IS Tiburon.] He's standing next to the waypoint in the Port of Coimbra. He'll ask you to collect twenty Halloween Scarecrows for him, which he'll use for his planned costume for Dr. Torsche's Halloween party. Be warned that the quest details won't show up in the "Quests" menu [Alt+A], but so long as you agree to Tiburon's request, you can go ahead.
The Halloween Scarecrows are scattered around various parts of Granado Espada. You collect the Scarecrows by left-clicking on them [much as you do for Hengestones]. Tiburon will give you rewards for every five of them that you collect - go back to him when you've collected 5, 10, 15, and finally all 20 Scarecrows.
The rewards are, in this order:
10x Chocolates [same stuff you can get from Lisa Lynway at the Sea Elephant; each Chocolate restores 900 HP to one character]
3x Lv68 Enchantment Chips [always good for stockpiling, trade and of course enchanting stuff]
5x Platinum Coupons [used to access the Joaquin Treasure Chamber; whack away at the Treasure Iron Maidens and get nifty Lv7x-8x items as well as all sorts of ores]
3x Pumpkin Hats [the Granado Espada Halloween event item for 2007 ^^]
The Halloween Scarecrows are placed on maps for ranging from Lv1 all the way to Lv8x; here are the exact locations, arranged in ascending level order. [Thanks to Ihave0life by way of Prinz Hernan and to gyl of Granadosource for completing and confirming this list!]
Letters and numbers appearing after each map name correspond to coordinates [hit Alt+Z to view them on the zone map]. Be careful to search each indicated location thoroughly. You may need to climb hills or go down winding paths.
Reboldoeux Stone Pit J4
Ferruccio Junction F6
Al Quelt Moreza G9 [refers to the map immediately outside the dungeon, i.e. where the waypoint is]
Al Quelt Moreza Parsonage G8
Cathari Falls H9
King's Garden G5
Tetra Hill D8
Tetra Catacombs G5
Jezebel Glen E4
Porto Bello Deck K7
Porto Bello Deserted Quay G9
Porto Bello Desolate Cliff J2
Thueringenwald H2
El Lago de Tres Hermanas G5
Pradera de Ceniza G6-7 [along the boundary line of those two areas]
Rion Prairie E10
Bonavista River F4
Vegas Javier I10
Joaquin Crater / Crater of Joaquin H6
Old Port of Coimbra D4
Quest notes:
- I used my Cervantes main team for this quest: fighter, scout, wizard. They were all about Lv6x when I started collecting Scarecrows.
- A Lv6x team will do fine on all of the maps except, possibly, the last four, which are 6x to 8x maps with the occasional mini-boss or raid boss. I recommend using a Levitation Wizard or, failing that, a Scout with maxed Acceleration on these tricky maps. Make sure that you have a steady supply of Health Liquors and Soul Liquors for the Wizard, or Health Liquors and Analeptic Remedies for the scout. Be sure to equip them with armors with high defense, too.
- I had the most trouble on the final map [Old Port]; luckily, the final Halloween Scarecrow is located very close to the top / northern entrance. Just RUN / FLY as quickly as possible, click the Scarecrow quickly if your level is a bit low for the map - and use Logout if you need to.
They've fixed the bug that makes the female wizard's hair look that unnaturally bright red.
Enjoy your Pumpkin Hats!
ETA: The intrepid and VERY courageous Novastorm family relates the tale of the Tiburon's Scarecrows quest - which s/he completed at LV4X!!!! Give that player a round of applause!
'Cause this is Thriller, Thriller Night
There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes
You know it's Thriller, Thriller Night
You're fighting for your life inside of killer Thriller tonight!
- Michael Jackson, "Thriller"
*wicked witch laughter*
Last night I was able to drop in at the Oktoberfest closing party at Metrowalk in Ortigas, though I couldn't stay long because I took ill about three hours in. [Hopefully it was just something I ate...] I left at around 8pm, but before that I managed to take a few pictures of new friends and good ones.
The Granado Espada freeplay at the Gamefrog PC/Internet shop was temporarily sidelined by the maintenance needed to patch in the Tiburon's Scarecrows quest event, so we took the first few pics:
"I raided the New World at the Granado Espada Raid Party 2007!", featuring a female Scout, Grace Bernelli, and pirate Adelina Esperanza.
"I turned the New World upside-down at the Granado Espada Raid Party 2007!", featuring a male scout, Diego/Yeganeh, and Grace Bernelli.
[Gee, they sure love Grace at IAH XD She's been on a lot of the posters!]
Two new GE posters, both with the theme of "Granado Espada Raid Party 2007". Wish I had them both, though I prefer the first one.
Then here's a group pic of some of the early bird GE players who showed up:
From left to right: NineMoons [me], Fiksdotter, pCM Veya, Welling, DeSanggria, and Conteza [Norwin].
These three photos show Lobishomen [the girl] and MirageEros [the guy] from Carebears faction in Vivaldi server. She's the faction leader, while he's one of her deputies.
A good amount of fun was had by all, and, I hope, a lot of beer. [Apparently the promo had been buy beer, get 1 hour of GE freeplay.
...Cool.]
For other photos from last night, please click on the link for my Photobucket album.
***
Will also be posting about the bloggers meet afterwards, so please watch out for that too, hopefully later tonight.
***
Quick quest note: a list of Tiburon's Scarecrows locations and coordinates can be found at Ihave0life. The final 6 locations are still marked as unconfirmed, but I think they're valid, because last night people were confirming them in Cervantes server via /broad.
Corrections to this post:
A special Halloween-themed quest! - RCM Hrin calls this one a "special event type of quest issued by an RNPC". She says this quest marks the first time that kGE, jGE, and sGE have an event together. Normally those former two have their events first. This quest event will run from 25 October to 8 November.
Correction: It appears that the quest has not yet been implemented, nor has an RNPC been designated as quest giver. Stay tuned for updates.
UPDATE 26 October: Details and implementation notes on the quest, called Tiburon's Scarecrows, can be found in this post by RCM Hrin.
Forgotten Territory passes for all! - This comes after the recent server disruptions. The passes will become available via the Leonardo Expreso NPCs after maintenance. It's a gift and a form of goodwill from the folks at IAH.
Correction: IAH will begin distributing the passes after midnight tonight [Singapore time, or GMT+8]. Please be advised accordingly.
Reasons why you should log in to Granado Espada on Thursday, as soon as weekly maintenance is finished:
A special Halloween-themed quest! - RCM Hrin calls this one a "special event type of quest issued by an RNPC". She says this quest marks the first time that kGE, jGE, and sGE have an event together. Normally those former two have their events first. This quest event will run from 25 October to 8 November.
[Hmm, we should all work together to write guides for this one!]
Forgotten Territory passes for all! - This comes after the recent server disruptions. The passes will become available via the Leonardo Expreso NPCs after maintenance. It's a gift and a form of goodwill from the folks at IAH.
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If you live in Metro Manila in the Philippines, better mark October 26 and 27 on your calendars for lots of Granado Espada fun!
On October 26, Granado Espada and the game shop Gamefrog join the final party of Oktoberfest! You have to be over 18 for this event as it's a party sponsored by the country's biggest beer brand.
The entrance fee is Php100, but if you bring a scratched or unscratched Granado Espada G-Points/game time card, you need only pay Php50 to get in!
Also, bloggers who post about this event are in the running for a special prize from pCM Veya - so bring your cameras and notebooks to this event!
October 27, in turn, will have TWO Granado Espada events on the slate. Game shop Station 168 in BF Homes, Paranaque, is celebrating its second anniversary all day Saturday, and there will be a "Sudden Attack" event with prize money!
[Event details from pCM Veya's blog.]
And DeSanggria and I will be hosting the first GE bloggers' meeting from 1-4 in the afternoon in Ortigas - we're hoping you can drop by and join us there!
[Bloggers' meet details and RSVP here.]
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Finally, here's a call to the intrepid adventurers, explorers and Colony Wars participants in all the servers! Join the Colony Wars correspondents team - the ladies and gentlemen of the Vespanola Times's frontline reporters' group, who bring weekly updates on each server's Colony Wars sessions to the public. Currently this group is composed of me, DeSanggria, and the boys of Casa Reclusion, representing Cervantes, Caravaggio, and Carracci respectively.
We need correspondents for Pachelbel and Vivaldi servers really soon - so if you think you've got what it takes, sign up for the war correspondents team!
[Official details from the main site.]
How about something to munch on during the maintenance?
In this post, here are some recipes for the three cakes that play a minor role in the series of quests to obtain Lorch Furuholnen's character card: tiramisu, [layered] cheesecake, and Sachertorte.
In-game descriptions:
Tiramisu: A cake with two pieces of sponge layers soaked in espresso syrup and dusted with cocoa powder. Cheese and chocolate sauce oozes between the two layers.
Layered Cheesecake: A cheese cake that looks delicious. Its rich cheese flavor is tempting.
Sachertorte: A chocolate cake topped with maple syrup. Too sweet.
You can obtain these cakes from Lorch after successfully completing his "Road to Independence I" quest. They also serve as the trigger for the following quest, "A Secret Admirer", which involves Isabella the Cake Girl.
In the spirit of these two entries from Panfilo de Narvaez's cookbook [Pure White Food a.k.a. pasta alla carbonara; Percha Inzella a.k.a. pulpo gallego], let's take a brief look at these three cakes' history, and of course, their recipes!
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Tiramisu
Tiramisu is an Italian dessert typically made from sponge finger biscuits [or "lady finger" biscuits], espresso, mascarpone cheese, eggs, cream, sugar, Marsala wine, cocoa, and rum. According to some folk etymologies, the name of the dessert can mean either "pick-me-up" or "make me happy", because of its stimulant ingredients: caffeine [the cocoa and coffee], and alcohol [the Marsala and rum].
The cheese sauce/filling mentioned in the game may refer to the custard-type filling, which is called zabaglione. Actual tiramisu doesn't have a chocolate sauce; cocoa is instead sprinkled over the dessert in many versions.
A recipe for tiramisu
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Cheesecake
A cheesecake is a sweet, cheese-based dessert, with a crust and a filling usually composed of eggs, cream, and a soft cheese such as cream cheese. It can also be made with other cheeses such as ricotta, havarti, and quark cheese. Vanilla and chocolate can be added for flavor, and different fruits, such as strawberries and blueberries, can be used for topping. There are baked and "no-bake" versions.
There are clearly many variations on this dessert, but the one mentioned in-game comes very close to New York-style cheesecake, because it doesn't mention any other fillings, toppings or flavorings.
A recipe for New York-style cheesecake
A recipe for almost-no-bake cheesecake
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Sachertorte
Sachertorte is one of the most famous culinary specialties from the city of Vienna. Traditionally, it consists of two layers of dense, not-overly-sweet chocolate cake, with a thin layer of apricot jam filling in the middle, and covered by dark chocolate icing with shreds of chocolate on the top and sides. In Vienna, it's traditionally served with unsweetened whipped cream. The recipe for the "original" Sachertorte is kept secret by its place of origin, the Hotel Sacher.
The in-game version of this cake mentions maple syrup, a flavoring which is actually not part of the real Sachertorte.
A recipe for almost-authentic Sachertorte
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Hungry yet? ^^
It's interesting to note that of these three sweet foods, only Sachertorte is really a cake - tiramisu is a dessert, and cheesecake is actually a pie.
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Acknowledgments: Real-world information on the cakes comes from Wikipedia, while the recipes are from Epicurious.com.
