Interview with Granado Espada CM Hrin Part 3

Game! Magazine’s Arjay “The Doctor” Dela Cruz recently had the privilege to interview Hrin Danielle Kuek, Granado Espada’s Community Manager. If you have been following the game’s development, then you have surely have seen her updates and her replies to community emails via the Granado Espada Singapore Website.

Click here for Part 1 of the Interview with GE Community Manager Hrin
Click here for Part 2 of the Interview with GE Community Manager Hrin

[ images above from left: Hrin at work, Hrin with GE Product Manager Jonathon Sze. Images were submitted by Ms. Hrin. Copyright Anime Desho. ]

Game!: The Multi Character Control (MCC) system looks interesting, how does this work exactly?
Hrin: Most MMORPGs on the market allow you to control only one character at a time. Yet with MCC, it allows you to choose 3 members from your family to form a team. In this way, you are able to control up to 3 characters at any one time. You will have access to all their stances and skills, and can choose to either control all three of them individually, as a team, or leave it up to the XAI (Xtreme Artificial Intelligence). The great thing about it is that the possibilities are so endless! I mean, think about the THOUSANDS of different types of combat strategies (regardless of whether it is PVP or PVE) that can be adopted, adapted and re-invented through the interplay between your 3 characters’ skills and spells!

So you can imagine what happens when your family forms squads with other families in the game! Just think about it – different families with different classes and different RNPCs, all showcasing their various abilities and magic at the same time. The battle scenes are awe-inspiring!

Game!: We have played the game and it seems like you can just camp out somewhere using the XAI system and automatically kill monsters, which many may see as botting, but it is built into the game. Won’t this affect the enjoyment of players?

Hrin: Oh! The amazing XAI feature! Hah! That’s one of the things I absolutely love about GE! What I adore about the XAI feature is that I am able to purely focus on hotkey mapping for all my 3 character special stances and skills activation, rather than having to worry about their normal attacks. Now that’s HOT!

Purely using the XAI function to level up one time would probably take around 12 hours as compared to an active gamer making use of special skills, who will probably only take about 2-3 hours to level up. Besides, from middle levels onwards, it becomes difficult to purely use the XAI to AFK level up since most of the monsters from middle levels onwards cast spells or have their own melee specials which knock your character backwards, thus disabling the XAI auto-combat mode. You would need to reset the combat mode in order to continue your training which renders pure XAI AFK training totally ineffective. At the same time, you will be unable to harvest rare item drops from monsters or to earn vis (in-game money) which can be extremely detrimental when you want to upgrade your equipment or armor. And if you attempt to higher level mobs without upgrading your equipment, it is almost impossible to survive.

Game!: If ever we players would like something changed in the game, where should we submit it?
Hrin: There is the Support Section on our official Granado Espada website where gamers can leave their feedback for us. Another way would be to leave feedback in the GE forums for other gamers to discuss as well. We will then run through the feedback and evaluate as to whether we can and should implement these ideas. If they are in line with the vision we have for Granado Espada, then we will do so.

Game!: What will be the future updates for Granado Espada, can you please give us a small teaser info?
Hrin: We are currently in our closed beta testing phase for Granado Espada’s V1.8.23. Tentatively, our closed beta testing phase will end on 19th March 2007. Pre-Open Beta testing phase for Granado Espada will begin in mid May. I’m really excited about this since the version we will be using is V2.0, which has tons more game content! Here are some of the exciting statistics:

Some additional teasers include things like crafting, faction colony war and an in-game auction house. The faction colony war is THE best thing ever! It is akin to having an RTS (Real Time Strategy) within an MMORPG. There are also more than 100 new maps in V2.0. You guys just have to check out the Katovic Snowfield and the three raid dungeons! It’s to die for! Literally.

In V2.0, players can now PK other players in combat zones and enter Baron Mode. When in Baron Mode, the Baron’s icons will show above their party in red. Baron Mode level can be increased by executing successful PK, or decreased by killing normal monsters. Baron Mode gives a player an increased attack bonus, but also generates a possibility the player will lose an equipped item if they are killed.

Game!: Thank you very much for this opportunity. Any final words to to the GE community and your adoring fans?
Hrin: The GE community has been such a enthusiastic one that any community manager would be proud of! I was so impressed that even during our CBT period, players are actually taking the initiative to organize in-game events together as a faction or getting together with their newly made friends in GE to come up with all kinds of creative ideas to entertain the rest of the GE gamers! Some of them organized a long hug chain, hide and seek events and even a dance competition using the poses that GE characters can assume! Their passion for GE drives them to really own it!

What I find so endearing are all their sweet emails to me expressing appreciation for all the work that the IAH team has put in for GE. One of the GE players even snail mailed me a Valentines Day card to my office and wrote a beautiful poem inside! Things like that really make a Community Manager’s day!