.:Diario el Familia Sigrid:.: September 2008

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! :)