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Wanderton
Member Posts: 5
I thought of opening a thread where people can list their CB experiences in detail... giving others not in CB a chance to see what the game is like as I do think this game deserves to be promoted by CB testers due to its originality and effort to be different... and not to be associated by all the other grindfest Asian MMORPG's. Also there are no NDA and therefore I dont think the developers will mind. Try to not focus on bugs etc as this is CB... although I have yet to find any serious bugs in the game.
I copied the text of a post I made on the main discussion boards but thought it appropiate to be listed here so that other GE testers can add their experiences to it.... hope you dont mind.
Right from the start I received a very good impression of the game. The auto patcher worked and on top of that the screen was nicely rounded off... with that i mean they put in a bit of an effort to let the buttons, fields and update bars look rounded off... that impressed me as on most games that screen is neglected in look and feel. The logon screen was the same... nicely rounded off... and therefore my hopes started getting up a bit... maybe there is something to this game.
After I logged in I chose my family name (Last name of every character in your family). After the tutorial you are allowed to create up to 4 characters. I podered here a bit and decided to start off with a Musketeer as I like ranged characters. My next character was a scout as I felt I needed a healer in my first team. Then I remembered I received a character card from the NPC after I finished the tutorial and decided to use that card and created the character. Was I surprised to find out it was a lvl 16 Soldier... hmmmm maybe I can use him to help level my first 2 characters. My team went out to explore the new unknown world of GE.
As I entered town I expected lag and alot of bugs as this is closed beta. What a pleasant surprise as I havent lagged once and have not encountered one serious bug... a couple of little ones but the game truly felt polished... as if it was already past Open Beta stage. I expected a low frame rate to cater for the high quality graphics and once again I was surprised. I could push up my setting on my computer and I tried it on my backup PC to see how it performed there.... once again it was stunning on a P4 with only 512MB ram and FX5200 video card... totally unexpected.
I thought I would like the idea of playing with 3 characters at the same time... and after experiencing it I must say that I absolutely love it... especially the way they implemented it. Its easy to switch between the 2 characters and most of the time you dont really need to switch while in a fight as the 2 characters you are not controlling are then controlled by AI and I must admit it does a pretty impressive job. My scout (healer) which I leave to the AI to control, actually heals better than most healers in other MMORPGs I played. Its really nice having a healer behind you whenever you want... thats if you add a scout to your team of 3 players. By controlling all 3 characters manually does of course bring you better results but are not really needed most of the time except when you hit that real challenge.
The quests also surprised me... there went a bit of thought into them. Some quests have their own instances with custom areas created just for the quest. I had to save the girl in the one quest and when I was warped into the quest area (instanced), I found her lying unconciously on the floor and quickly could see the there was 3 spawn spots on the mini map and by placing my team at the right postion (where I was spawned) I could keep monsters away from her. The timer rolled down while I killed any approaching monsters and once the counter hit zero I successfully completed the quest.
The next quest I had to kill the same NPC that gave me the previous quest. Why you would ask.... well... he showed me a picture of a nice woman and I told him she look great... he was not impressed as he thought I had a thing for her and challenged me to a duel. What fun this duel was.... and frustating at the same time... he had this special ability of moving incredibly fast... one second he was far away... the next second hitting my Musketeer which then fell onto his back and the next second hes out of range again... taunting me to catch him if I can. Took me 5 attempts on that quest to actually defeat him and then he said to me we should be friends and that he wants to join my family. Which gave me another card to create a charater into my family.
On the one map I came across a lumber mill... you could see where all the trees were cut as the base of tree trunks was sticking out just above the ground. Looking tp my right I could see the buildings and even supports and cables.... so much attention was given to detail and I hope those that play will also notice that instead of just rushing thru to level. You can follow paths and straying a bit away from the main route rewards you with some beautiful scenery.
In some battles I will zoom in a bit... how impressive to see the detail of the animations. The Musketeer fires his musket and you actually see the recoil. You see him loading the weapon and lift it again to fire. The scout has a pouch... his hands dips to it and comes out and moves towards the person he is healing... then I understoof why he didnt heal when he was equipped with a weapon.... as his hands had to be free to get to that magic healing powder in the pouches. And then... yes I could actually see the charater breathe.
It was fun when my friend came over visiting and I could leave my 3 characters in the dungeon on Hold Mode... as AI took over and they held their ground killing anything that attacked them with teamwork. However now and then I had to quickly jump in and help a bit when things were a bit tight as it was on a dangerous spot. I was a bit frustated here as sometimes my characters would not fight monsters that was attacking them which was right between the 3 characters.... thats until I realized that if I position the Musketter a bit further away he has more room to use his musket.
By this time I decided to go back to the barracks and I created my 4th character.... a Wizard. She looked elegant and lady like... as if she could not fight. I decided to let the soldier have a rest and replaced him with the Wizard in the team... as my other 2 characters was now high enough to litteraly power level the Wizard. My familty reputation is increasing due to quests and my characters are levelling thus far without any seriously grinding. I am now very close to getting my 2nd barracks where I will be able to create more family members from to truly be able to switch between many combinations as the quest/situation desires.
I have played many MMORPG.... was an avid EVE fan.... loved Anarchy Online.... enjoyed Shadowbane... played WoW etc... but this is the most fun I had for years in a MMORPG... and IF it ever goes P2P I will play it... thats if the rest of the Beta test turns out how the first impression are. Amazing game thus far.
I think I now know why there is no NDA.... they dont need it as I cant see many complaining and it should be a short closed Beta due to exceptionally few bugs for a closed beta. I think I stand to be corrected but didnt it cost something like $58m to develop GE.... if so it shows.
I copied the text of a post I made on the main discussion boards but thought it appropiate to be listed here so that other GE testers can add their experiences to it.... hope you dont mind.
Right from the start I received a very good impression of the game. The auto patcher worked and on top of that the screen was nicely rounded off... with that i mean they put in a bit of an effort to let the buttons, fields and update bars look rounded off... that impressed me as on most games that screen is neglected in look and feel. The logon screen was the same... nicely rounded off... and therefore my hopes started getting up a bit... maybe there is something to this game.
After I logged in I chose my family name (Last name of every character in your family). After the tutorial you are allowed to create up to 4 characters. I podered here a bit and decided to start off with a Musketeer as I like ranged characters. My next character was a scout as I felt I needed a healer in my first team. Then I remembered I received a character card from the NPC after I finished the tutorial and decided to use that card and created the character. Was I surprised to find out it was a lvl 16 Soldier... hmmmm maybe I can use him to help level my first 2 characters. My team went out to explore the new unknown world of GE.
As I entered town I expected lag and alot of bugs as this is closed beta. What a pleasant surprise as I havent lagged once and have not encountered one serious bug... a couple of little ones but the game truly felt polished... as if it was already past Open Beta stage. I expected a low frame rate to cater for the high quality graphics and once again I was surprised. I could push up my setting on my computer and I tried it on my backup PC to see how it performed there.... once again it was stunning on a P4 with only 512MB ram and FX5200 video card... totally unexpected.
I thought I would like the idea of playing with 3 characters at the same time... and after experiencing it I must say that I absolutely love it... especially the way they implemented it. Its easy to switch between the 2 characters and most of the time you dont really need to switch while in a fight as the 2 characters you are not controlling are then controlled by AI and I must admit it does a pretty impressive job. My scout (healer) which I leave to the AI to control, actually heals better than most healers in other MMORPGs I played. Its really nice having a healer behind you whenever you want... thats if you add a scout to your team of 3 players. By controlling all 3 characters manually does of course bring you better results but are not really needed most of the time except when you hit that real challenge.
The quests also surprised me... there went a bit of thought into them. Some quests have their own instances with custom areas created just for the quest. I had to save the girl in the one quest and when I was warped into the quest area (instanced), I found her lying unconciously on the floor and quickly could see the there was 3 spawn spots on the mini map and by placing my team at the right postion (where I was spawned) I could keep monsters away from her. The timer rolled down while I killed any approaching monsters and once the counter hit zero I successfully completed the quest.
The next quest I had to kill the same NPC that gave me the previous quest. Why you would ask.... well... he showed me a picture of a nice woman and I told him she look great... he was not impressed as he thought I had a thing for her and challenged me to a duel. What fun this duel was.... and frustating at the same time... he had this special ability of moving incredibly fast... one second he was far away... the next second hitting my Musketeer which then fell onto his back and the next second hes out of range again... taunting me to catch him if I can. Took me 5 attempts on that quest to actually defeat him and then he said to me we should be friends and that he wants to join my family. Which gave me another card to create a charater into my family.
On the one map I came across a lumber mill... you could see where all the trees were cut as the base of tree trunks was sticking out just above the ground. Looking tp my right I could see the buildings and even supports and cables.... so much attention was given to detail and I hope those that play will also notice that instead of just rushing thru to level. You can follow paths and straying a bit away from the main route rewards you with some beautiful scenery.
In some battles I will zoom in a bit... how impressive to see the detail of the animations. The Musketeer fires his musket and you actually see the recoil. You see him loading the weapon and lift it again to fire. The scout has a pouch... his hands dips to it and comes out and moves towards the person he is healing... then I understoof why he didnt heal when he was equipped with a weapon.... as his hands had to be free to get to that magic healing powder in the pouches. And then... yes I could actually see the charater breathe.
It was fun when my friend came over visiting and I could leave my 3 characters in the dungeon on Hold Mode... as AI took over and they held their ground killing anything that attacked them with teamwork. However now and then I had to quickly jump in and help a bit when things were a bit tight as it was on a dangerous spot. I was a bit frustated here as sometimes my characters would not fight monsters that was attacking them which was right between the 3 characters.... thats until I realized that if I position the Musketter a bit further away he has more room to use his musket.
By this time I decided to go back to the barracks and I created my 4th character.... a Wizard. She looked elegant and lady like... as if she could not fight. I decided to let the soldier have a rest and replaced him with the Wizard in the team... as my other 2 characters was now high enough to litteraly power level the Wizard. My familty reputation is increasing due to quests and my characters are levelling thus far without any seriously grinding. I am now very close to getting my 2nd barracks where I will be able to create more family members from to truly be able to switch between many combinations as the quest/situation desires.
I have played many MMORPG.... was an avid EVE fan.... loved Anarchy Online.... enjoyed Shadowbane... played WoW etc... but this is the most fun I had for years in a MMORPG... and IF it ever goes P2P I will play it... thats if the rest of the Beta test turns out how the first impression are. Amazing game thus far.
I think I now know why there is no NDA.... they dont need it as I cant see many complaining and it should be a short closed Beta due to exceptionally few bugs for a closed beta. I think I stand to be corrected but didnt it cost something like $58m to develop GE.... if so it shows.
Comments
Well here is my short impression because well I'm not very good at this so I will do my best.
When I first booted up the game I too adored the looks it was just what I expected from the videos and screens I saw, and the game has a lot of flair and good looks with much very much attention to detail from what I've seen.
I made my first family (Kingsley Family) and went through the short but thorough tutorial which immediately got me in the mood for the rest of the game.
You went through the basics as in combat and trade the 2 basics of this game, this is where it's all about.
Believe me when I say there is NOT any game more combat oriented then Granado Espada really that is a fact.
When in any game even Lineage 2 which is very combat oriented and with a heavy grind you go out and kill some monsters, in those few seconds you have already killed DOZENS of monsters in Granado Espada, DOZENS.
After the Tutorial you land on Cite De Rebordeux the first city in all its "victiorian?" splendor, though the city's are very well made with a lot attention to detail and enough NPC's to interact with, you still have the same old scheme here.
The streets like in any other MMO look barren with some NPC standing still over here some NPC standing still over there.
Its enough and it works for the game it does not have to be a bad thing, but I ain't no fan of this setup.
You get you're first quests from them like the previous poster says and they aren't all to generic but off course they all come down to kill this kill that.
You also have your Lineage 2 type of missions called "hunt missions" where you can kill 30 from that type of monster to get a special reward, in most cases a summon for that type of monster.
The combat is very hectic and frentic and hard to master in my opinion but a lot of fun to.
You control them all at once but the AI handles it very well when you dont, and when you get the hang of it the system really works and you can get some real effective teamwork going on with a special flavor of its own.
Even for me and I am not a very combat liking person, I'm always the trader the crafter, I find the combat fun and engaging and am grinding my way up in the levels.
The game is liniear in a way that where you start out the monsters and gear found and to be bought are up to par to the level your family is.
When you get further into other lands and city's you will find and be able to buy much higher level gear, it is obvious the game starts a bit more in the higher levels in my eyes.
Allround I have to say its a very polished engaging fun game which shows a big deal of promise already now and most definitely in the future, so keep your eyes peeled !
I've always loved the thought of RTS-MMORPG. The NPC duel also reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy
Edit - does the game cater for casual players, you think?
The game is fun and different and I hope this continues as I level the characters.
All pluses so far for me.
SS
The boss fights are allot like FF they are huge and only for experienced level 100 veteran players and extremely difficult !
But like I said its an interesting game and I am going to play some more right now, and when I get further on I will tell you about my findings. Till the next time !
I feel the highlights of the game are good graphics and music and the innovative family system. Controls are relatively easy to pick up, although mastering everything takes a little while. Squad based combat feels fast-paced. Leveling seems effortless. The idea of stances and being to recruit NPCs is interesting.
Potentital criticisms include that combat is easily automated. Like the OP mentioned, it's possible to leave your squad alone and go afk for a while then come back. I think this will turn some players off. Also, because fighting is so effortless, I haven't felt much need for strategy, buying weapons/armor, or trying to work skills up at all. Switching between different party types hasn't made that much of a difference to me either (granted, i've never done anything weird like uh... 3 scouts or something). I am still very low level, though, so this might change as you get higher up.
The social aspect of the game is also somewhat lacking in the beta. Could be everybody's still figuring out controls, searching for bugs, etc. I've heard this improves if you join a guild. But I guess because (at least at low levels) you are so self efficient (and can easily go afk), it's not that necessary to socialize with others.
Overall, I think it's a good game for players looking for a more casual MMO experience or who want to try something a little different w/ the squad system. With the relative lack of difficulty and strategy, I'm not sure how hard-core gamers will respond.
And lack of strategy and difficulty? Maybe in the low level areas
there is only one little thing i'd like GE to have. most other games allow u to press the arrow keys on ur key board to change ur view. but Ge only allows u to hold ur right mouse key. i'm still not used to it. i hope they can change it so it will also change ur view with arrow keys. other than this, this game is amizing.