Happy Anniversary GE PH!

Happy Anniversary GE PH!

If you haven’t been to this celebration, then you’ll clench your teeth in envy!

Excitement and fun filled the Saturday air in SMX Convention in Mall of Asia when Granado Espada finally got to celebrate its first year anniversary since its first launch last May 15, 2007! (Reminisce on the past starting with this first article from the GE website!

Globe Gimmick Games is actually the overall host of the event, but a place was arranged for E-games, specifically for GE’s 1^st year anniv celebration. Although it’s really ironic for me, a Smart employee to be attending an event sponsored by the competition, heck, I came for GE anyway right?! XD

Not far away from the entrance of the GE booth, I saw my long missed, good friend Alex a.k.a. Crosse, who happens to be a GM for O2Jam and Audition. I forgot his GM name though… *scratches head* (Sorry dude!!! XD)

After the usual registration and CD & Poster give aways of E-games for the games Audition, GE, Top Speed and Cabal, players enter the little world of GE where a stage and dozens of PC’s are set up.

…But that’s not really what really attracts first the attention of people who go in. Instead, it’s the players who are there, active [or not so active], which has gathered… all for the love of the game.

It can’t be denied that GE has lost a big chunk of its players due to lack of Market or simply because the support for the community wasn’t enough. *Cough* But still, the game lives on and the players who attended are like one big family who knows who, giving high fives and sharing smiles as if they haven’t seen each other 5 hours ago online! Those greetings were actually what I most noticed mainly because I haven’t been able to catch up on the community ever since I have ‘unofficially quit’.

I saw how happy the community is and realized that this was what made me love the game more (of course the game per se was what first attracted me to play) but when friends come in, the game doesn’t just simply become a childish past time anymore. I missed everyone and did I enjoy every second of me being alive in the community again! Despite not being able to catch up with the latest in-game items, RNPCs and never ending community issues, my dear in-game---and eventually turned iRL friends--filled me up with what I missed during my 6 month absence.

And indeed, a lot has happened to the game and the community during those 6 months. I may not be able to list them all, but what I can recall, I write down.

- Before I left, Outcast faction members were scattered, most numbers absorbed by All Stars (while my character obviously being idle remains with OC)

- New RNPCs (Those karate-skilled characters… dunno what they even look like! o_o") Although I hear they deal out major damage but weak on defense. (Anyone wanna prove this?)

- Of course, with new characters comes new skills. I didn’t even bother joining the trivia contest during the middle of the event because I have noooo idea what the answer is. *sad* ~_~”

- CM Aethrin replacing CM Veya after her resignation (Kudos twinnie! Good luck on your new career!)

- Big discounts on Merch Cards because of the upcoming Server Merge!!! What is gonna happen now?! (Poll: Which has a BETTER sounding name? ‘Carraccibelle’ or ‘Paracci’?! Lol! XD)

- After all that, Covenant is still alive! WOOOOT! =))

Back to the event itself, really cool and ‘drool-full’ prizes were abundantly given away. Just when I felt like an outsider, (being a loner with Kincaid on the corner, sharing “Porn” LMAO! XD) while everyone else was enjoying and grabbing prizes, CM Aethrin gave each player 2 raffle stubs for the later draw. I really wasn’t expecting to take home anything… until somehow, the game seems not to let me quit!

...Why?

Would you believe… out of all the people in that event, I was lucky enough to be one of the 3 major raffle winners! Woot! ^_^v And my prize? Please do not tease me with this… I won a LE BLANC SET OF MY OWN CHOICE! XDD Before snapping into reality, I heard “Woaaaahh! Tatlo na ganyan nya! Arbooor naaa!” before I came up the stage looking surprisingly stupid. XD I really didn’t expect being lucky, but hey, who am I to turn down blessings right? ^_~

Not to brag but I do have 2 Le Blancs in my account, one with my Fighter Arcania while the other is with Cyprus, my Scout. I could ask for a Le Blanc for Althea, my super well-endowed Elementalist, but then again, I really don’t wanna change my bestfriend’s hard-earned Le Ventisca for that! Requested instead for my Wizard Victoria. =D

Other raffle prizes that were given away was a One 100-level weapon of their choice and the grand 256 (?) Palit Video Card which was won by probably the luckiest person in that event! …He took home 2 video cards after winning the first one in the trivia contest! FTW! XD (T> Le Blanc for Vid Card. XDDD)

Other signs that told me GE wasn’t letting me go that easy was after getting another big surprise after being awarded AGAIN of a certificate for being a blogger that says:

"For [their] stupendous efforts in chronicling events, news and features

pertinent to the Granado Espada community."

Awww… *sniff* I was so touched that eventhough I was inactive and was just able to update my GE blog, I still got this award! *scratches head* xD

And that’s not the end! Prizes for those who came in wearing the black-themed outfit, limited Granado Espada ID laces…straight from Singapore were given away! Man, was I lucky enough to grab the LAST one after swimming my way on the pleading hands of other players. XD Other stuffs to choose from were a sticker (?) mouse pad with an Adelina and Bernelli design (the only ones I saw) and a T-shirt with an awesome theory about “The Theory of Levelution”. (See below for Reimaru and the shirt!)

See the cool "levelution" logo! XD

Aside from the GE anniv, another special occasion was being celebrated aside the aisle. Gathered are friends among friends, eating cake brought by Mena for NineMoons' 26^th birthday! Again, belated Happy Birthday Girl! :)

NineMoons enjoying her triple-layered cake. Yumyum! :)

The rest of the story can be told through the pics. Thanks for sharing these PJ!

The Hosts, meet Gratoza and CM Aethrin

Pose for the Blogger Winners: (from the left)

Fiksdotter, Reimaru, Christus,

CM Aethrin, Sigrid and Southernsky

Second set of Blogger-winners: (from the left)

Chuvaness, Welling, CM Aethrin,

Mena, Artaxerxes and NineMoons

Covenant Faction poses:

With master Kincaid!

Moi and PJ (Ohh nice camera ligthing! XD)

With my ever kulit in-game Kuya, Reclusion.

'tis Welling (Peace kami nyan. :D)

With... Gustave!

(*Woot BMG* XD)

~ * ~ Long live GE PH! ~ * ~

Sigrid featured as Girl Gamer!

Highly honored that despite being inactive in the gaming world for quite some time now, our dear PH CM Veya has featured me as this month's Girl Gamer!

Read all about it in her blogsite: http://veya.e-games.com.ph/?p=244

Many thanks for not forgetting GE community! I hope to be able to serve Granado Espada even iRL. :)





















Missing the GE rush,
Lady 'K

Blast from the past: Archer character anyone?

In attempts to think of an article i could update my blog with, fellow blogger Blacksword reminded me of the reason why i started a blog in the first place.

Reminiscing, I remembered my e-mail to CM Hrin on August of 2007, sending her my idea of an RNPC character I would love to be added in the GE classes. Although this class may not be new to everyone, I've tried to think of unique skills to at least compensate for this favorite kind of class of mine.

For those who is new to reading my blog, read on and see what i've thought about having an ARCHER class in Granado Espada. ~XD

Click on the link above to be redirected to my very first blog post, "The Lost Princess"... (and i still want to finish that story mind you. I'll think of the next scenes already! I promiiiiissseee!!! XD)

And yes, i know about the actual archer class CALYCE that is already existing in the GE gameplay. (Although i didn't know of her since news of her didn't come out since January yet. =p)

Source: http://doratomo.jp/~sannpomiti/info/466.html

Here is a hafly translated guide to getting her: http://forums.iahgames.com/ge/showthread.php?t=37913&highlight=Calyce

**Note: Still no exact date/patch when she will come out)

Let's just hope this RNPC is worth recruiting, if not, i'll stick with Princess Diazame. LOL!

Further Maintenance?!

Although there had been an advance warning that a maintenance will take place today, players expected it would be the usual server downtime like thursdays. But then it was extended to 5pm... and now to 10 pm!


From GE News:

http://ge.iahgames.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=392
















[Further Extension] Maintenance20 May 2008

Dear Gamers,

Due to unforseen circumstances, there will be a further extension of the maintenance to 2200 hrs (GMT+8) for these services:


Granado Espada Game Service
Granado Espada Forums
IAHGames' Passport system


We apologise for any inconvienence caused.

- Team GE

We can't do anything about this anyway right? I'm just wondering what's the "unforseen circumstance/s" though. *Remembers Kincaid's comment ROTFL* >:)

.

So dear fellow GE players, instead of getting hyped up with the long wait, find something else to do. Sleep and prepare for your long game time when the server is up, or go buy yourself a Game! mag and read my article LMAO! ^___^v

Updated 12 hours later...


















Oooookkaaaayy.... So.... uhhh... yeah...we understand that you may still need time to continue the maintenance, but somehow, why doesn't it seem like such a suprise?

IAH, you're loosing MILLIONS a day! I could just see the fire threads that would start regarding this uber long maintenance......................................


Better make it up to the players or else you'd LOSE them. Bluntly said.

*Sigrid goes back to work*



Word of the day: (Which so happens to be VERY applicable to the situation)

You Lag IAH iRL.










http://www.offworlddesigns.com/p-351-u-lag-irl.aspx


Bwahahaha! ~XD

(Side-tracking) Plug: Game! mag MAY issue

I finally have in my hands my complimentary copy (LMAO) of Game! mag's MAY issue where vainly said, my article on Claymore Anime is published. Please don't try researching the anime if you don't know it, might as well buy yourself a copy and read my article. LOL!

.

(Of course i can't scan the article right? It's against company policy LMAO! XD
Picture taken from NineMoon's article.)

But hey, that's not the only perks you'll get anyway! On Granado Espada, our very own NineMoons has once again tirelessly reported on the events that took place last month such as the Girl Gamer Event and E-Games Domination II!

See a lot of pictures and please don't wonder why you'll see in most of the pictures! >.<" It was NineMoons who chose the pics, it just so happened uhhh... I was there? XD

Also, please I beg of you, for the sake of the preservation of my own innocence (LOL again *evil laugh*) DO NOT! I say, DO NOT! tease or violently react about the line about me in the "Writer's Guild" section of the magazine. It was not my fault! I didn't write it! Acccck! Blame Game! >_<" But yeah, I'm pluging it at the same time to so go buy it already! ~XD

I believe in seaGE!

To make up for the previous article i made regarding IAH's pending (?) disintegration, I let my photo editing hobby kick-in and i made a screenie of my characters. Well, i'd like to highlight the "i believe in seaGE" at the upper left corner of the picture mainly because I DO believe in seaGE. Believing that despite all the negative issues they encounter, i hope for the betterment of the game and everything else that comes with it (Staff, players, events, gameplay!).

No, i wasn't secretly mailed and blackmailed to be banned (LOL!) because of my negative feedback towards them. I actually got inspired also through NineMoon's own free 'i believe in seaGE [copyrighted] logo'. XD

It just shows that eventhough we have things to rant about GE (and IAH for that matter), it doesn't also necessarily mean we're not enjoying it as well. (If we didn't, we would have quit long ago and wouldn't even bother to blog about it right?)

So here i am, showing my love for the game! Make yours too! ^_^v

*Edits some more SMALLER avatars* ~XD

UPDATE:

I was finally able to make the avatars/logo i was talking about. I just copied the design of the logo i made from the screenshot above but made different colors for everybody's preference although there's still a small copyright of my name in it. XD

If you liked it and would want to use it, just let me know, chat me here (leave your e-mail add)me or e-mail me so i'll give you a copy without the copyright so you could go and spread the word too! =D (Sorry for the upcoming pic spam >.<") *Note: logos come in PNG format

*Still cooking up some more designs. Hope you'll watch out for it!* ^_^v

On †Bayushi†'s Scamming Issues

And of the pending (?) disintegration of GE…

If my dear reader, you are still unaware or is simply curious of what happened regarding Carracci’s Outcast Faction Leader –†Bayushi†’s scamming, the story is summed up as someone (let’s name him “scumbag”) copying my Faction mate’s name Basconian and turning it into “Basconiian”.

Since the names are undoubtedly almost the same, my TRUSTING FL got scammed with his +7 Pizzarro (with stats 40% attack, 40% Human, 85% Wild Beast). Now that’s where the story starts.

He reports it and unfortunately, doesn’t get the justice he was looking for. The thread were he “rants” of his issue can still be viewed in this close thread:
http://forums.iahgames.com/ge/showthread.php?t=37463&page=2

BUT WAIT!

Before you go on reading it and add to the rising flame posts and get your opinions bursting, go through this article of mine and I will TRY to sum it for you.

*Author’s note:
With all honesty, I am not pleased with how IAH manages the wonderful game SPECIFICALLY in this instance. I will try my very best to write this article and be constructive towards both sides. Although I am posting my OWN thoughts to pour… well, it can’t be helped now that I am taking a stand to a COMING revelation to Granado Espada.

---

In that forum thread, I believe Bayushi has opted on posting his issue to let IAH (and basically, the players) know that 1) find the scammer and 2) he doesn’t want to pay the “administrative fee”, generally, a player who got scammed DOESN’T need to pay it.

But according to IAH’s policies, it is a compulsory act that must be done for his process to be requested.

…And that’s where the flame starts.

All those players who empathize on the one who got scammed says players doesn’t have to pay (if ‘m not mistaken, it’s a $20 ADMIN FEE!) while other players who have posted their opinion and wanted to “help” looks like they side on IAH.

I am not saying they are defending IAH and I will, for NO-FLAME’s sake, name names. There was one player (Poster 1) who simply tried to help by posting the arrangements that happened about previous scamming reports.

Then there’s another player (Poster 2) who also wants to “help” but to my POV, has become insensitive in giving his (or her) opinion. He doesn’t need to say Bayushi si a “retard” or a “kid” just because he’s voicing his thoughts. His first post almost seemed fine as we very know it was partially Bayushi’s ‘negligence’ that caused him his +7 pizz.

But either he’s just posting for opinion’s sake, or he wanted to start a flame. Why? Because this is a sensitive issue. He doesn’t need to say such harsh things to the person who is aggravated in this issue.

To look at it plain and simple, you wouldn’t want to put gas in an already flaming house right? I just hoped he would have given sincere BUT sensitive comments thus, the flame would have not started.

All other players who have joined in the conversation understands their POV as a player. That if they are in the shoes of Bayushi, they too would want ‘justice’ and rant about it if IAH does not solve the issue.

So summing it up, the thread was closed by IAH staff Edythia, responding to this issue with this:

As for Bayushi who still didn’t get the solution he was looking for, [READ: “1) find the scammer and 2) he doesn’t want to pay the “administrative fee”, generally, a player who got scammed DOESN’T need to pay it.”] get more heated up.

He continued his rant in this thread:

http://forums.iahgames.com/ge/showthread.php?p=411873&posted=1#post411873 in hopes of IAH finding a solution already.

Yes, we understand IAH staff doesn’t read all tickets 24/7 because they too need sleep, etc. But then, isn’t it clear that as a player (and the one aggravated at that), should see that it might not be hard for IAH to track down the scammer.

Bayushi can make another +7 pizz with better stats than the one scammed. He is reiterating that a SCAMMED PLAYER shouldn’t pay.

Taking notes on this threads, I have personally become certain that IAH is turning their “PLAYERS” into “CUSTOMERS”. It is sad to know that to be able to enjoy such a wonderful game, it is not “free”. Ironic isn’t it? I just want to point out this certain issue because I feel that Granado Espada MIGHT disintegrate if such management will occur.

I am saying this not only with my own words, but of other players as well. I may not have played for a long time, but I keep myself aware of the happenings in GE and I would very much want to see this game last long.

Here are interesting (and things to ponder) screenshots regarding a players’ sentiments. Do find Kincaid as a constructive and frank “player/customer”.

As for this screenshot from Bayushi:


I hope this isn’t true. We lie in wait to see how IAH will respond to the different kinds of issues they encounter and we can only hope that Granado Espada will see the dawn of prosperity... (not in terms of $$$ actually) -.-

May this incident serve as a lesson to each and everyone that we are prone to be scammed/hack/disgraced/corrupted in any means. Our own judgement and stand is what matters.

We shout: "we are PLAYERS!"

(This might be the time my "CM look" (see avatar) should come in don't you think? LOL)

God save us all.

>.<"

-Sigrid
POBT Player. Inactive but aware.

---

Here's a follow-up link by NineMoons regarding Scamming's branch: Cloning.

Read it here and be wary what ASCII abuse can do.

Hey, we're not teaching you how to scam alright?! It's about defending ur selves from those @#$%^&*! scumbags out there. ~_~"

Rant ends.

E-Games Dom1nation: G.E. Aftermath!

The long entry line has deemed worthy as the E-Games Dom1nation 2 became a success to all it's players who traveled near and far to attend this big event! It was fun and tiring, but would a player really give up this opportunity to meet and greet other players rather than spend this one special Sunday to level-up their characters? Come on! >_<"

So here's the aftermath pic spam that would kill your PC [less] since I upload pics the same way I do with my other articles. I'll just be posting 'em up and not do anymore coverage since NineMoons did a better documentation of that day. Read her Article here.

Here are the pictures and let them tell you the story. ^_^v

View from the second floor of SMX
Thank God i finally got out of that long line!

Welcome to E-Games Domination!

They called this the "Food STRIP" @_@"

The only booth I visited. XD

Free Plays/ PvP tourny here: DND! >_<"

My new faction, Outcast: An early pose with pCM Veya!

Covenant Faction, still bonded mind and heart
(From the left: Peaches, Forjadorluna, Sigrid, Zoldyak, Kincaid)


The pose of the Covenant and Faction banner designer,
Kincaid the Landslide-Chancellor winner. haha! =)

Strike a pose on the E-games wall!
Sigrid, Kincaid and Blacksword

Cosplayers/GE players and Bloggers Deniva and Illuven!

Feng Ling, Idge and Lisa! Woot!

1st, 2nd and 3rd placer of the 2007 Fantaztic Film Awards
Congratulations everyone!
(I want Quad! XD)

When i was being awarded as one of the GE FFA Community Heroes
(Oh and there's the MS Office 2007 prize. LOL)

The sigrid controllers (Kienz and Joan) with SG CM Hrin

***

FAQ's on the winners/prizes:

1) If you want to know the winners of the iGN/iRL competitions, visit NineMoons' documentation of the event. She was able to note all the winners and even posted their pictures too.

2) Prizes like the "In-game costume of your choice" would be ONE costume only. (Confirmed with pCM Veya) ...Sad, i know. ~_~" *decides on who in my family will get my costume choice*

3) For all the winners of the different iGN / iRL events, please email your username and password to me, errr.. (LMAO) username and IGN names to: veya@granadoespada.com.ph

Please note that only the members, deputies that are present IN THE EVENT can be rewarded. FL's will automatically have rewards.

This applies to the Major AND consolation winners who were promised of an in-game item also. ^_^

4) Clarify also which contest you won.

5) Wait for a week or two to get your prizes.

6) Visit this forum article for more talks on the G.E. Dom1nation aftermath!

Kudos and It was nice seeing everyone! ^_^v

***

Special mention:


~Thanks to Cer aka TGK (TheGreatKeeper) [am i right?] from Vradical Faction for returning me my phone when i unknowingly dropped it after jumping when our Fation won in the Banner competition. >_<" Real thanks man, my cellphone is my work. LOL! ~XD

~Congratulations to Reclusion (Darrick & Nate), Fiksdotter, Artaxerxes and NineMoons (and team) for taking home tons of hams! Well deserved guys! ^_~

~To my faction, the Outcast, for being Most Loyal Faction and Faction Banner winner. Woot! Let's enjoy the prizes and hope to see you all again in the future! ^_^v

From left to right: Uhh.. to many to mention. >_<"

***

Check out more unposted photos here!
Source:

~My camera (Well, what it took before it ran out of battery in the middle of the event. Sheez.)

~NineMoons' Photobucket