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Granado Espada is coming to US/Europe!
darkman
Member UncommonPosts: 767
www.gamespot.com/news/6164550.html
New name will be "Sword of the New World" (ugh, worst name ever, bring back Granado Espada!), and the estimate right now is mid-2007. Will be published by k2network (they do Knight Online and Mu Online right now, so you can expect it to be a Free2Play with subscription benefits probably, or an item mall like their korean/japanese counter parts). This is amazing news, I know more than a few people in this site were looking forward to the singapore version of GE, now we got our US/Europe version.
New name will be "Sword of the New World" (ugh, worst name ever, bring back Granado Espada!), and the estimate right now is mid-2007. Will be published by k2network (they do Knight Online and Mu Online right now, so you can expect it to be a Free2Play with subscription benefits probably, or an item mall like their korean/japanese counter parts). This is amazing news, I know more than a few people in this site were looking forward to the singapore version of GE, now we got our US/Europe version.
Comments
With the former model I can trial the game for free, invite all my friends to try it, and play it at my own pace without worrying about my money trickling away when I don't feel like playing.
Simply put, this isn't just your next free Korean MMO to come here.
This is truly the best news I have heard in years related to MMORPG gaming. Granado Espada is the best korean mmorpg out there, there is no doubt about it. it even received the best game awards of 2006 in Korea, it beat tons of other MMORPG's for that. I actually hoped a better company would host the US/EU version of Granado Espada, but I guess it could be worse.
off-topi: "creator of Ragnarok Online, which has more than 25 million subscribers worldwide" ???
Gravity has touted numbers like that before, but you know how it goes when they count subscriptions. They are probably referring to all the accounts that ever subscribed to them, or any account ever created period. Regardless, the game is healthy nonetheless.
In any case, yea I agree with you Gameloading, I would have loved to see a better publisher publish the game, It's surprising though that Hanbitsoft didn't even bother to spend the time to find a better company to host the western version, for this game definitely has the potential to break the idealology that korean MMOs are all the same. Heavy advertising would have definitely attracted a lot of players to this game, especially RPG gamers (that would be the non MMO players).
Ya that number is accounts subscribed before, it was stated in a 2004 press-release so thier info is very old. However, Ragnarok Online sports several firsts in the mmog industry. Hosted in 22 countries, first to officially peak 700k users online(a feat not even WoW has beat mmog chart) that at the time recorded was capable of being viewed by the player, still holds the record for the average amount of users online, and 4th highest grossing mmo published.
K2 Network also hosts Warrock, and Golf King (this sucks compared to other Golf MMOs). Actually, I think the host is a well fit. Most of the subscribers to the games K2 Network hosts are the target audience of Granado Espada; although as many have mentioned the name blows. Granado Espada is a very catchy name. "Sword of the New World" is way too long, and also has that Anime-esque action RPG ring to it. Still they shouldn't need to do as much advertising just for nestling the game in its audience. Its gonna have its obvious advertisements on Gamespot and Fileplanet though.
My reaction exactly. I won't even risk getting into a game with an item mall.
My reaction exactly. I won't even risk getting into a game with an item mall.
Why is that?My reaction exactly. I won't even risk getting into a game with an item mall.
Why is that? Yes, Inquiring minds want to know. At least games with item malls are up front about the fact that those gamers that have money to blow can outgear those that cant. Considering that you can buy gold for any game you can think of that is online (given of course usually thru some third party) I don't see what the big deal is.Most games that have item malls (take FlyFF for example) sell fluff stuff in the mail anyway. It is very rare that you will see any items that could even be remotely considered unfair to no mall players.
As someone mentioned item malls > monthly fee in a lot of cases. Just because a game doesn't have an item mall surely doesn't mean that Joe Bob that has the Sword of a Thousand truths didn't just ebay the gold to buy it.
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Frankly the replier above me said it best, not like in a non-item mall MMO it'll be more balanced, you see Joe Schmo ebaying all the best gear then going into battle with an advantage over you. So now that an "official" way to buy increased experience is in, people have a severe problem with that?
Also to Zovran, www.knightonlineworld.com (site isn't working for me) is k2network's KO. Not sure which version it is, as I haven't played KO since it first hit beta in the Malaysian version.
Spes Messis In Semine
Judging from the screenshots, it looks like this game makes no sense what so ever. This is why I will try it.
Yes but I always play by the rules. If Joe Bob broke them to get the Sword of a Thousand truths, he's an asshat I wouldn't play cards with.
If we were playing Monopoly, it'd be like he bought a second box and took the money out so he could sneak it out of his sleeve.
An item mall would be like if it said in the rules on the box that Joe Bob could do that whenever he wanted and included an order form. So I can theoretically play with the normal money while Joe buys himself into an instant win. In order for me to play monopoly with him, I basically have to match his outlay.
I actually won't even play EVE because, despite the fact that it is supposed to revolve around game economics, you can basically buy ISK with real money through time cards.
Plus it trips my cynicism detector. A free trial entices you with the game, and sure it probably makes those first levels extra fun. Yeah, they're manipulating you. But the idea is that they make the game fun, I check it out, and buy into it. Item malls tweak the level of cynical manipulation to seperate me from my USDs over the threshold. Even if I was by some fluke the best Granado Espada to ever live, if I didn't shell over the dollars fast enough I might still be a gimp? That kite isn't going to fly.
I also question if how much you spend can be held down to a reasonable ammount over the course of a month. That is another creepy thing about it. I know how much a subscription costs per year, can't do the same math with an item shop until after the fact. Its (probably designed to be) too easy to overspend whatever you budget for the game.
A long term free trial just doesn't have the same impact as an item mall does for me either. Not sure why, but AO doesn't really bother me. Probably because there are so many fr00bs and most of the payers are off grinding Hecklers on alts, or already level 220. In PlanetSide it was actually fun specializing the training certificates. Couldn't just willy-nilly slot stuff without stopping and thinking about how I'd work in a battle.
That's also why I won't get involved in lengthy grinding games. I'm not going to pay them to not enjoy myself for more than some arbitrary length of time I haven't quantified, so that I can theoretically have fun at some point down the road. The developers don't need to put effort into "Do activity X, 1x10^N times." They just wanted something to fill in the blanks so I'd subscribe longer. The same goes for the hot bikini armor girls. Only an invitation to the board meeting where they decided "sex sells" would be more transparent.
Being tricked out of my money is ok if it is a really good trick. Item malls are not a good trick.
Can't wait to get my hands on it.
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
Why is that?
Yes, Inquiring minds want to know. At least games with item malls are up front about the fact that those gamers that have money to blow can outgear those that cant. Considering that you can buy gold for any game you can think of that is online (given of course usually thru some third party) I don't see what the big deal is.
Most games that have item malls (take FlyFF for example) sell fluff stuff in the mail anyway. It is very rare that you will see any items that could even be remotely considered unfair to no mall players.
As someone mentioned item malls > monthly fee in a lot of cases. Just because a game doesn't have an item mall surely doesn't mean that Joe Bob that has the Sword of a Thousand truths didn't just ebay the gold to buy it.
Yes but I always play by the rules. If Joe Bob broke them to get the Sword of a Thousand truths, he's an asshat I wouldn't play cards with.
If we were playing Monopoly, it'd be like he bought a second box and took the money out so he could sneak it out of his sleeve.
An item mall would be like if it said in the rules on the box that Joe Bob could do that whenever he wanted and included an order form. So I can theoretically play with the normal money while Joe buys himself into an instant win. In order for me to play monopoly with him, I basically have to match his outlay.
That is actually far from the truth. Most item shops only give small bonuses, and some item malls don't even give any bonus at all, just fancy things like pets.
Like Project Entropia?
So maybe it could go either way. Like FlyFF or something. Though if the item mall just sells "small bonuses", the game already wouldn't be very item based and in turn there wouldn't be as much demand for Ebaying.
So instead we're playing Candy Land and he can stack the deck and buy the color he wants. It is effectively still the same principle.
Thats why we keep using the Sword of a Thousand Truths as an example.
Another thing I don't like is it feels like you're "buying" a very tiny piece of content in exchange for your outlay.
Yeah you used one extreme so I used the other. Unless you already know for a fact that GE that GE is only going to offer cosmetics in the item store, it could be another Project Entropia, couldn't it? Also, comparing what I can see of Flyff and Maplestory to GE, I'm kind of under the impression that they didn't cost as much to produce.
Another reason to like the subscription model. You know how it is going to work. What if they DO put a Sword of a Thousand Truths in the itemshop? What if they do it a month or two after release? They could easily balance the whole game in favor of the people dropping cash in the item shop.
To be honest, economically, I'm not sure how a game based on itemshop revenue could afford to not do exactly that.
I don't want to be weaker than the next guy over because he spent more USDs on his items than I did. That pretty much rules out item shops.
edit: Added the word chance to avoid confusion.
/shrug
Like I said, I'll wait and see whats in the US version. Though the actual article says that there will be a free trial along side a boxed version with more content. I'm too much of a tightwad to do any microtransaction silliness.
You asked why I don't like them, and I told you. Even 1% is going to be irksome, though I don't understand why anyone would pay for a 1% boost either.