Beating Ravyn's Heart is... very frustrating!

I never expected how weak I was many aspects. Why the negative tone? Ran out of time when trying to destroy Ravyn's Heart.

After being able to craft Refined Keys for the Skullic Dungeon, I warped right in front of the floating crystal skull that gives me access to the map. Unlike the original key, this one gives me my very own instance of fighting Ravyn's Heart.

It may be simple as bashing the giant red skull but progress gets delayed when skullic mobs spawn within the area, not to mention a Montoro you cannot target. I hate his attack when it knocks you down. Worse, it's a big AOE that interferes anyone trying to break Ravyn's Heart.

The worst is about to come as you progress in cracking the giant red skull, one of four giant skeletons comes to life and beats the hell out of you! There was a strategy of luring them out of Ravyn's Heart which worked but escaping was already hard with invincible Montoro trying to get a piece of you. These giant skeletons are not knock-able, making skill interference impossible to achieve.

With only 15 minutes in total, it wasn't enough for me to finish the whole ordeal. I have planned to get more keys as soon as I work up the Vis for the keys. I got another batch of Moon Stones and I do hope Marcelino makes more than he breaks!

Help me in this one, guys! Discuss about it here at the IAH Games forums: http://forum.iahgames.com/ge/showthread.php?t=66623

Soul Calibur Broken Destiny: Ramiro

Even for a kid, this is what he would be if he were to ever grow up! The fighting style suits him great!

Name	Ramiro
Gender	Male
Equipment
Part	Name	Color 1	Color 2
Undergarments	Not equipped
Head	Officer's Hat	07, 29; 4/9
Upper Body	Frilled Shirt	06, 27; 9/9
Shoulder
Arm
Lower body	Formal Pants	12, 27; 6/9
Leg	Leather Loafers	07, 29; 4/9
Special 1
Special 2
Hair	Corporate Cut	09, 27; 4/9
Face	1

I made this out pure boredom and when I had my nephew's PSP to try out Soul Calibur Broken Destiny. Seeing how the new character was a con artist (involving sly negotiations) and seeing the Officer's Hat item, I did what I can to reconstruct one half of Granado Espada's young tricksters. He is also not featured at my good friend Reimaru's blog, so let me give the featured some exposure.

FAQs:

Can this work for Soul Calibur 4?
No. Since there are parts not available in Soul Calibur 4 (some require purchased DLCs), I cannot guarantee that Broken Destiny characters can be reproduced in Soul Calibur 4. Not to mention Dampierre's parts for custom characters don't exist in SC4 in the first place...

I tried making this character but I don't have the parts I need!
You haven't unlocked it yet. Keep playing to get the parts you'll need to make the characters I make!

Why didn't you provide other information for other parts?
Maybe I'm lazy to provide the other stuff. Although I provided the fighting style and the other stuff, feel free to experiment and mix these characters up with your preferred styles and tastes.

Will you make more?
When the creative juices flow...

Wait out for more! that's 14 to go...

Hrin's Buff: Reaping the benefits

I suddenly feel like writing after a long hiatus here in my blog. It's the only blog that I have had the most activity through the posts I have here. I have many reasons for the decline but there will be times when I really want to write stuff up just to share insights.

I decided to go on another 24 hour grinding session with boosters and passes activated. Checking out my inventory, I noticed I have some Hrin's Liquors in my inventory. I decided to give things a go and use it for this grinding session.

Normally, I would notice my characters dead when I fall asleep or go on AFK for extended periods of time. Of course, the highest AR possible would be 57. 26 from a veteran character, 30 from the weapons I currently have and 1 from the level 11 Intensify buff. My DR is at 53 highest. Never bothered to upgrade those armors. So costly! Even had to choose Broomy for the buffs and the extra healing power but I still get my butt kicked. But...

For 6 hours (and counting), I have noticed that I have never been wiped out. I have to say that Hrin's Buff is making a major difference in my progress in gaining the EXP.

What's Hrin's Buff? It's a special buff that gives "most attributes" a 15% increase. Getting the buff is a huge difference in getting stronger than not having the buff at all. This buff can last depending which variant you use. Hrin's Ampule grants a 10 minute duration, Hrin's Potion grants 1 hour and Hrin's Liquor has the longest effect: 10 hours. A buff would be gone if you logged off or died but Hrin's Buff will never be lost if this were to happen. Of course, it'll only be gone after its timed duration is up, whether you're online or not (like the Premium Dungeon Passes).

This is not the original name for this buff because Hrin happened to be the (former) Regional Community Manager for sGE. Lorenza has taken over her spot because she had to pursue her studies outside of her home country. Yes, Hrin is a real person! If I can recall, the GM character (a lady with angel wings wearing a night-time garment) can grant this buff upon their discretion. Also, the item's name was originally "Steroid Ampule/Potion/Liquor."

Steroids is known to many people as stuff that bodybuilders (or athletes) take to increase their muscle mass in a short periods of time. This can cause health risks if taken excessively or in long-term use. I can say kGE's choice of using this term is "appropriate" because real-life steroids and its GE counterpart are both performance enhancers. For English-speaking communities, steroids are perceived as bad stuff because its considered cheating using performance enhancing drugs in sporting events. Good idea with the name change, sGE. Totally appreciate it (Hrin really deserves credit. She really did a lot for sGE).

Also, the original item image in-game was a syringe. For reasons unknown, kGE eventually changed it with a round bottle that we now know of. I bet that syringes wasn't a good image to use because of its association with (if not, harmful) drugs in real life.

Being a consumable, this item is only available through the premium shop. Judging the cost of this item, it's (somewhat) reasonable because of the huge difference. Though, this is not going to part of my "grinding expenses." Its because for the Ampule, it'll cost me 110 per piece. 1 day EXP manuals are already affordable for people like me, 1 day wings are just an optional investment but even a 10 hour Hrin's Buff would be too expensive for me to keep up!

It's up to you if you want to get the benefits of Hrin's Buff. If you've got a lot of money to invest, this will help you sleep like a baby while leaving the PC on overnight for your party to grind until they're expelled from the Premium Dungeons. Can't afford it? Squad with some friends!

Soul Calibur Broken Destiny: Alejandro

Just a quickie. Will explain on future posts. For now, I shall feature characters that weren't featured at my friend's blog at The Reimaru Files.

First up, a slimmed down Alejandro!

Name	Alejandro
Gender	Male
Equipment
Part	Name	Color 1	Color 2
Undergarments	Not equipped
Head	Headband	01, 01; 5/9
Upper Body	Worker's Shirt	01, 01; 5/9
Shoulder
Arm
Lower body	Prayer Breeches	01, 01; 5/9
Leg	Village Sandals	06, 26; 5/9
Special 1
Special 2
Hair	Wild Short	06, 32; 5/9
Face	Male Face 8

Can this work for Soul Calibur 4?
No. Since there are parts not available in Soul Calibur 4 (some require purchased DLCs), I cannot guarantee that Broken Destiny characters can be reproduced in Soul Calibur 4. Not to mention Dampierre's parts for custom characters don't exist in SC4 in the first place...

I tried making this character but I don't have the parts I need!
You haven't unlocked it yet. Keep playing to get the parts you'll need to make the characters I make!

Why didn't you provide other information for other parts?
Maybe I'm lazy to provide the other stuff. Although I provided the fighting style and the other stuff, feel free to experiment and mix these characters up with your preferred styles and tastes.

Will you make more?
When the creative juices flow...

Granado Espada Character Contest from Japan!

Well well, I came across this video in the forums and I was pretty much amazed at the content! I mean, this video contains pics full of fan made characters all for a contest.

It just so happens that the jGE exclusive character is the winning entry! So that's how she was conceptualized!

There were many Japanese and European based concepts in here that most of them just amaze me! If only I could get my hands on these entries and look for someone to me translate, I'd be more than happy to share!

It's also amazing to see a plethora of weapon ideas, to existing ones and even unique designs (not to mention nifty combinations too!).

Is all I got know! :D Maybe I should post about my progress as well...

GE V4.0 is of teh uber luvs!

Seeing this and this put my heart racing...

FOR JOY!!!

I'll just make a quick reaction post here for what I like!

Favorite teams is teh gudnes and hawtness!

Now, I can organize teams to play with! No more clicking here and there just to get started! :D

The Map is cleaner!

This way, I can easily pinpoint which NPC to go to without figuring out who's in the crowd!!!

Is all! This is teh yumyumz!

The Noble's Court: Introduction

As a way to reward players who have done so much to grind and level up, IAH Games has a unique reward program. It is in the form of the "Noble's Court." IAH Games came up with a history that during the war between Brestia and Vespanola, one of the reasons why Vespanola won was they had all of their military forces bear symbols of power (jn form of banners or flags). These symbols intimidated the Brestian forces but this was regarded as an insult to Vespanola itself. These symbols of power they happen to bear are the symbols of the noble classes of Vespanola. Whether or not a soldier or an officer is of noble blood, they took these symbols of power for them to display during the battlefield. This was known as "Operation N."

The main reason why this "operation" was reinstated by Sir Lyndon is to unite the continent of the ongoing threat of Montoro's forces. Political struggles between the Royalists and the Republicans only made the situation complicated. It is up to the pioneering families to make a stand and a name for themselves to one day fight as a unified force against Montoro's ever-growing threats.

This appealed to me since I was a long time player of the game itself and maybe I'd deserve a reward or two. Now this is how it works:

• Achieve a certain family level (depending on nobility rank's goal)
• Report to the Noble's Court Officer located at Auch, Reboldoeux or Coimbra
• Receive your flags (along with other goodies, not applicable to Righteous flags)

These back items are mainly for decoration purposes but they do flaunt an image of power, showing your prestige of reaching such rank. It isn't easy getting your family level to at least 20 because it will involve a big number of characters with high levels. Aside from the flags, you will also recieve the following items:

• 1x Hrin's Liquor
• 10x Triumph Fillers
• 10x Mystic Ampules
• 10x Soul Crystals
• 50x Progressive Health-fillers
• 50x Progressive Soul-fillers
• 1x Ancient Shelter Pass (1 Day)
• 1x Field Survival Manual - Expert (1 Day)
• 1x Combat Manual - Expert (1 Day)
• 1x Tactics Manual - Expert (1 Day)

Also, they also give out special versions of such flags. These flags are labeled as "Righteous" because of the special buffs you will receive while wearing them. The main difference is that these "Righteous" flags only last for 30 days from the day you equip them for the first time and they don't come with the other items that come bundled with the regular flags (mentioned earlier). So far, all Righteous flags grant +1 Defense Rating and +10% Attack Speed.

Which role will you play?

I'll make sure to cover up the different ranks as I progress. I'm slow but no way to go but up!

If I had 84,000 G-Points... (shopping guide of sorts)

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS ABOUT A PROMO RUNNING FROM JULY 1, 2009 UNTIL SEPTEMBER 30, 2008. DO NOT USE THIS AS "FACTUAL IN-GAME DATA OR MECHANICS." YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED.

Seeing this "Back to School" Promo from IAH Games really has me going on. The deal? 20% increase in all G Point loading. That's right. From the humongous 70,000 points to the measly 230 points get 20% more.

I am really tempted with grabbing myself with spending PHP 2,000 straight out of my recent payday and I thought to myself on how or what am I going to spend for 84,000 G Points? I'm no financial advisor/consultant but here's my take if I ever get my hands on it...

First option: Splurge on the costumes and Preimum Items I really want and need. Costumes for RNPCs cost 7,700 G Points apiece. For stock characters, it's 9,900. Consumable stuff you'll need are Promotion Scrolls, Crack of the New World *ehem* Mystery Powders, Enhancement Boosters, Enchantment Traquilizers, EXP Manuals and I could just go on and on! Maybe a little table will help us summarize things...

Item	70,000	84,000
Costume (RNPC)	9	10
Costume (Stock)	7	8
Mystery Powder	318	381
Promotion Scroll - Veteran	15	19
Promotion Scroll - Veteran (bundle)	15	21
Promotion Scoll - Expert	12	15
Promotion Scoll - Expert (bundle)	15	18
Promotion Scoll - Master	10	12
Promotion Scroll - Master (bundle)	12	15
Barrack Slot Expand	63	76
Warp Slot Expand	31	38
Enchancment Booster	127	153
Enchantment Tranquilizer	318	382
Socket Processing Tranquilizer	32	38
+5 Impervium (Normal)	7	8
+6 Impervium (Normal)	6	8
+5 Impervium (Veteran)	5	6
+6 Impervium (Veteran)	4	5
+5 Impervium (Expert)	5	6
+6 Impervium (Expert)	4	5
Combat Manual - Beginner (1 Day)	1,000	1,200
Combat Manual - Average (1 Day)	500	600
Combat Manual - Expert (1 Day)	318	382
Tactics Manual - Beginner (1 Day)	1,000	1,200
Tactics Manual - Average (1 Day)	500	600
Tactics Manual - Expert (1 Day)	318	382
Ancient Territory Pass (1 Day)	32	38
Ancient Shelter Pass (1 Day)	21	25

This little table shows you items I would purchase if I got my hands on the G Points. This ain't a complete list because my needs can change from time to time, whenever the need arises. The numbers are self-explanatory so I leave it to you how to figure this out. With what we have here, I could...

• Get (almost) every character that I have dressed up
• Make lots and lots of Vis
• Make a good number of +(5-7) equipments
• Make a good number of other items that need premium stuff to come true
• Fill open all my barracks in no time
• Get a good number of characters promoted to the next rank
• Lots and lots EXP Manuals to go by

If I focus on making money, I want to post at the forums on what will be the consensus' needs. Of course, I want to make sure I have "something for everyone." The last time I sold Premium Items for Vis was kind of catastrophic. Anyhoo, this is something I'd like to get off my chest and mind as well. Let me hope for better things and save up on my cash. Unless, of course, my sister bugs me to stop buying WiiWare games and go for the bigger titles (damn, she wants Trauma Center!).

Until then, hope to expect more from me! :D

The Helena Tarot Card Event

PLEASE NOTE: THE PROMO IS OVER. THIS IS JUST TO "HISTORICALLY" RECORD THIS EVENT BECAUSE I WAS HYPED FOR THIS EVENT, EVEN IF IT MEANT ME NOT GETTING MYSELF A PIECE OF THE PRIZE. YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED.

As a teaser for version 3.4 to be released in sGE, IAH Games had a promo that if you send an SMS (a.k.a. texting) with the correct response, you get a piar of Rojo Puesto del Sol wings. You can uncover the answer within four days by looking at the Tarot Cards daily. Let's start of by showing these cards that appeared during the four days:

The answer lies within the cards

Now the mechanics of the promo was to send an SMS containing a secret word/answer hidden in these cards and if you got it correct, you'll get a pair of Rojo Puesto de Sol wings for every correct answer you send. As you can see, there are "hidden letters" in the imagines of these cards. These happens to be the bosses you will be fighting in the Chateau de Borgogne, a special dungeon in v3.4.

I never gotten far in the game as my leveling progress is slow but I'll see what I can make of with these characters. The character taking up the title of "Magician" happens to be Louis Arsene III, leader of the Arsene Circus Troupe. The lady in Card No. 2 with the title of "Two of Swords" is Celine, who wields claws as her weapon. Frost is the name of the jester-like character from Card No. 3, which fits his represnetation of "death" because of the scythe he wields. Finally, that big brute at Card No. 4 is Mario.

Pretty much, a lot of people got their wings but I was one of the few who sent in the correct SMS format (in their repsective countries) with no prize. Sure, it was treated as an invalid entry as I was reducted PHP 2.50 every "correct message" I sent. I sent numerous messages with the correct format in different ways but it's either my cellphone provider or IAH's system screwed me up. With this unsolved, I didn't bother to pursue for the wings. Ain't my style, anyways.

Speaking of which, this brings up a subject why I have been very slow with GE lately. That I'll cover up on another post as well. Until then, happy grinding to Master you fortunate players.

Oh dear... Looks I did get the wings! It's a miracle!

Granado Espada Achievements: Elementalist Stances

Just for the sake of fun, I have always wondered on these Achievements that Microsoft has and I've taken the liberty of coming up some "achievements" for Granado Espada.

Stance Achievement: Elementalist
	Possessor of the Elements
	Reach level 25 of three Possession Stances
	Evoker of the Elements
	Reach level 25 of all three Evocation Stances
	Dominator of the Elements
	Reach level 25 of all three Domination Stances
	Master of the Flames
	Reach level 25 of all three Fire-based stances
	Master of the Cold
	Reach level 25 of all three Ice-based stances
	Master of the Storm
	Reach level 25 of all three Lightning-based stances
	True Lord of the Elements
	Reach level 25 of all Elementalist Stances

I'll update with pics and more "achievements" soon. Spur of the moment...

EDIT: Here's even a shot of me getting an achievement! :D

Achievement!

A reflection and an epiphany

Looking back on this entry I wrote, I began to ask myself if Granado Espada was worth pursuing or not. I have a few friends who left the game for good or for a short while. During my downtime, I pursued new interests such as trying Dungeons & Dragons and even blogging my adventures of being a spear-wielding centaur. Other PC games invaded me as well, namely The Last Remnant and Plants Vs Zombies. I always wanted to get some ABS searches or get more G Points but looks like my money got caught on others things such as other indulgences and tempting food.

I check updates through one of the tabs I placed. It's nice to see these people persevere and even provide updates. I guess my spirit came back to play GE because of kGE's latest version. I was intrigued how the story is unfolding so far and I'd like to witness it myself. However, it was through this song that really lifted my spirits:

It's the climb!

Through this song, I could see myself struggling to make it to Expert. It's a long journey, from where I'm at. It could take longer, since I have other interests to pursue. Thinking being an Expert makes it seem impossible. But it's the drive and the "climb" I'm taking to make it there. As the lyrics say:

There's always going to be another mountain
Opportunities I get to play the game
I'm always going to want to make it move
Of course, I want to make progress
Always going to be an uphill battle,
It's a constant struggle to get EXP
Sometimes you going to have to lose,
There are times I won't make the most of it
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Doesn't matter how fast I get EXP
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's not about hitting Expert
It's the climb
My drive to continue on!

The italicized text shows the connection between the lyrics and what I'm going and what I should go through! This is becoming an emotional journey now. I'll continue going forward, with out without help. My friends, I hope you reading this. I finally found my drive... No... My climb to Expert! To experience more of Granado Espada!

A dead end...

After doing all those leveling up (and with my new department in the call center industry), I have run out of goals and motivation to continue on. All because I couldn't finish certain quests on my own two feet.

First things first. The Katovic Snowfield is ridiculously hard to traverse solo. Why? Those boxing beasts have really high HP and they keep uppercutting when they get the chance. Plus, the area where I am supposed to activate the next quest has monsters roaming around. Absolutely no chance to surviving on my own.

Plus, I got frustrated on my own stupidity about the dungeons in the Capybara/Toubkal Mines. Sure, who would expect me to go on raids? I volunteered and I literally screwed myself. That prompted me to question myself whether I am a team player or not. At this point, I AM NOT TEAM PLAYER AND/OR PVP MATERIAL.

To get this depression away from me, I had to leave the faction I had trusted for so long. It's not that I hate everyone, it's because you can't get enough help these days. Well, looks like my past was easy to achieve with some help but these times are TOO DIFFERENT. This is where I face a dead end in my existence of Granado Espada.

Treat this as a rant, treat this as a whine, treat it WHATEVER YOU LIKE.

Oh by the way, looks like updates are coming in too soon. I still HAVE A LOOOOOOONG WAY TO GO.

Is this it? Grinding crafting characters to level 100? A dead end?

Leveling my main team

Decided to see how fast would it be if I level up my main team in the Ancient Territory dungeon. So, I prepped up Marvin (Male Fighter), Stephanie (Female Elementalist) and Sabrina (Female Scout) for trip to the Ancient Territory of the Skullic Dungeon. Of course, this will be a powerleveling session, so I got another Pet Bonding Package for my Broomy to help while getting all the EXP Boosters.

It's raining ice!

As Veterans, I was better off fighting level 102-105 mobs in that place. Well, I wasn't just leveling them up, I wanted to improve their stances althogether. Although I tried, I only have one last stance left to maz out for my Scout, Esgrima. That will come in a future time, though. Moving on, I was able to max out Marvin's Stave Guard (I think it's better calling it Stab Guard) and Stephanie's Domination Lightning. Running out of stances to level up, I checked out Marvin and Stephanie's skill windows. At this point, I am driven to get the Domination Ice stance for Stephanie while I pursued a stance that fighters normally shouldn't use: Pistol Shot stance!

While taking a break from grinding, I prepared the Domination Ice stance book and began to level up the Evocation Ice stance to meet the requirements. Once the level has been reached, I immediately learned it and got busy. I am impressed what Domination Ice had to offer and all Domination stances are indeed strong. Of course, I had to "borrow" the Elite Beam Gun that Samantha (Female Musketeer) was using for Marvin to master the Pistol Shot stance.

AFK grinding with this team is okay but if left alone for too long, disaster may strike. So far, I have gained at least 42%-45% EXP for everyone during the leveling period. I have to say that this may be slow or it's the best that anyone can. Well, I think I have to blame it on leveling stance but I don't want the EXP to be wasted, is all.

I look forward to another grinding session with my mains so I can reach Expert soon! :D Catch y'all later!

What to expect from Granado Espada V3.2

For a mere 95 MB, I'd say that this major patch is relatively the smallest amongst the updates I've downloaded in my career in Granado Espada. But nevertheless, major things are going to be added to this newest expansion and out of the three new features, two of them only caught my appeal.

Team Arena!

Stolen shot from Hrin's blog!

Based from what I have read, this new PVP type feels like playing an advanced Warcraft 3 map that's designed for each player to defend their bases from waves of attacks and to defeat the opposing force, just like the famous "Defense of the Ancients (a.k.a. DotA)." It'll involve killing to earn coins to get buffs to the edge over the opposing force and summon bosses to defend your base. Nothing much to say. I'm not a big fan of PVP because I am usually the first one to die (when sent as a front liner).

New Pets!


Stolen pics from Hrin's blog again!

Two new pets will be arriving and they sure are promising! The Pigling (the pig, obviously) has a better item retrieval rate and range compared to the Pilfurr but its activity rate runs out quickly. Well, the price of accelerated abilities (not to mention its a pig, so itt eats a lot!). Of course, the Pan Pan has caught my charms and it's gotta be a useful pet in a unique way! According to this blog, it gives a special buff that stacks on top of EXP and Item Rate manuals. How's that as an added bonus! Of course, I need to be able to check them out myself to see them to believe (and review) them!

Combination Buff!

A stolen shot from this article!

Known as the MCC Buff from kGE, we're finally getting this feature which allows the player to experience a special buff when a combination of characters are used in the field. I did write something about it but it's best you check out this article instead!

I can't wait to some of the Combo Buffs that I can make! I'll make a new post in Combo buffs and my personal opinion on each! Remember to download the patch and get it ready!

Domination 3: The Dinner (Part 3 of 3)

Well, after the whole event (the Singapore trip raffle results were not announced), we have all decided to eat at Taste Asia, which is located on the North Wing of the SM Mall of Asia. I went for some sisig and a bottle of lemon iced tea.

We talked the night away almost any topic that we could think of. Little Nate kept poking me because he wants his special treat from me. Actually, he kept nudging me about before the event until I finally gave in gave him what he wanted. This resulted in a long trip to the establishment where his cravings started and I got him some... Maybe a good amount... Dozen? :P

We went back and it was finally time to say goodbye and I am very thankful of what happened on that day. I am very thankful that I have seen some of my friends once again and gained new ones in the process. Well, I hope I can attend another GE related event! :D Catch ya later, folks!

After event dinner gathering!

P.S.
They say that NineMoons came over but she had to leave early. exebolt stated that he also attended but it's either I didn't see or notice him at all... Also, there was supposed to be another contest but it got canceled due to time restraints.

Domination 3: The Festivities (Part 2 of 3)

I got inside the event and I went straight to the Granado Espada booth and the first person I bumped was none other than Darrick! Yay! It's been ages since I've seen him that I was so thrilled! Checking out the booth I was able to see that a competition was going and PVP regular Welling was there (as usual)! Good thing I brought my O RLY? hat with me and I did get some attention! :D

Look at that smirk!

The CM of the Philippines and Nate (Darrick's little bro) were busy watching over the PVP event. Seeing CM Aetherin and Nate working was a sign that the phGE community is getting involved in the activities. Of course, who could forget Reimaru/Blacksword as he was very active in keeping us updated (along with Patronum)! This Patronum lady happens to be an Internet Cafe owner. Wow... It's really amazing to see such a person attending this event, as its also a sign that iCafe owners are getting involved as well.

Nate and CM Aetherin facilitating the event

Although I missed a number of events, I was able to try a "live Adelina's Booty Search" right by the registration booth for Granado Espada. I just rolled the dice and all I got 20 ABS searches. Better try my luck now, I guess... Cosplaying was also happening at the same time but I was able to check out the Female Wizard and Female Elementalist cosplayers when they hanged out at the GE booth. The Female Wizard was wearing the maid costume while the Female Elemtalist was wearing the La Ventistica dress (with matching LOE Bracelet!).

Maid and La Ventistica ladies

After the whole PVP event, I just wandered around and checked out the GE booth, waiting for more familiar faces to arrive. Presea was able to show herself there and I was thrilled so much she was shocked to see me react as well! She noticed the hat I was wearing and wanted to try it out! Also, I bumped into a good friend of mine, Fiksdotter! I missed him so much I hugged and carried him!

CM Aetherin called out attention because we were going to have some awarding ceremonies and a raffle! With the help of Nate, CM Aetherin awarded the Best Fanart, Best Faction Banner and the winners of the ClubGE event. This is a sign already the there are Internet Cafes using the Premium Buff! Also, we had a raffle because 16 Limited Edition Boxes were at stake. I was hoping to win one to sell it off but to no avail! I was able to spot Stiles from the crowd and he told me he was there all the time, didn't realize it was me behind my O RLY? hat! :P

Nate and CM Aetherin on the podium

We had a great time and I decided to stay until the end of the event. Looks like they didn't reveal the result of the winner to the trip to Singapore raffle. After some discussion, we ate at Taste Asia, the same place I had dinner after the Black Party celebration months ago.

Domination 3: The Journey (Part 1 of 3)

As an attendee of the Domination 3 event, I have to blog as a way of sharing how wonderful my experience was before, during and after the event.

To start off, I shall discuss how I got to the event and the plans I had to get there.

Original Plan:

If it weren't for my faulty assumption of my schedule, my plan would have gone like this.

• Get up in the morning
• Head to Mall of Asia real early (like 8:00am)
• Attend gym at Fitness First
• Shower up afterward
  
• Leave stuff at the locker
• Head over to the SMX
• Have fun
• Get bag from Fitness First locker before it closes
• Whatever goes after the day
  

Revised plan:

The revised plan is simple: GET TO THE SMX CONVENTION CENTER AS SOON AS I LEFT WORK. PERIOD. Sure, I took a taxi to get the most out of the travel time and I was so giddy in meeting my friends, at the same time worried that I may miss more events. Upon arrival at the SMX convention center, I am shocked to see a crowd still trying to get inside! It took me at least two hours to haul myself in side but overall, I am impressed on how they controlled the flow once you have arrived inside the building itself. Outside was like hell but inside was a smooth flow. Looks like it's even better than last year!

As I submitted my pre-registration form, I finally entered the event and darted straight for the Granado Espada booth.

A shocking (and disappointing) discovery!

Iwas soooooo hyped up for the Domination III ever since my new schedule came out! Taking a brief look, I was thrilled to see that I wasn't having work on April 4th! However, when I took a closer look at my schedule, this is what I ended up seeing:

OMG... IHAVETOTALLYMISUNDERSTOODMYSCHEDULEANDTHISMEANSTHATIWILLBEMISSINGHALFOFTHEDAY'SFESTIVITIESALLBECAUSEOFAFRIGGIN'ERRORONMYPART!!!

*currently hyperventilating, needs time to cool down*

OMG...
I am so sad that I will be missing half of the day's events all because of a miscalculation in my part and I was looking forward to seeing my GE friends, attempt to grab freebies and maybe win the Singapore Trip with one raffle entry. *sigh* I wanted to blog this down because this "discovery" just hit me in the face when I reviewed my new schedule. What's worse, this schedule plotting makes a day off land on maintenance day. Pffft. Total EPIC FAIL!

Although this seems like a setback, I WILL ATTEND THE EVENT... NO MATTER THE COST!

The main reason on my recent GE activity

Veteran promotion. It will come soon for us!

Alright, let me give the reason why I have leveled up these characters to 100. What comes after level 100? Veteran, right? Well, that's the exact purpose of it. Now, I'm saving up some cash right now so I can just by the Veteran Promotion Scrolls at a bundle instead of one by one. Now, each of these characters have their importance of reaching Veteran (in the future). Allow me to explain...

For Calyce, I was very interested at her Sagitta stance when I saw it in action. Many people said it was deadly than the Arbalester stance that she has by level 60. Once I give it a try, I'll let you guys know if it'll live up to its expectations (like how impressed I was with the Outrage Shot Stance).

For Karjalanien, I am after her ability to craft the ultimate gems since the NPC at Auch cannot craft Siren's Scale, Archangel's Heart or Seeds of Rafflesia. This will increase my independence on making these stuff (and maybe doing a favor like what others did for me when they had Veteran Karjalaniens). Plus, she can craft those necklaces with nifty resistance bonuses!

For Andre, it's his trademark costumes and some of the elite armors that he can craft. Like Karjalanien, I'll be able to make those elite level 84 armors (and Veteran Costumes) without looking for someone else to help me out (especially when I'm in a bind or in a rush).

Well, Karjalanien and Andre are not the only crafting RNPCs in this game. There are others who also possess the similar ability but in different specialties. Maybe I'll have Idge next to be veteran, for generic leather and metal armor crafting (of course, elites!). How about Adelina? Yeah, she'll be able to craft one-handed blades, like swords, sabers, rapiers and daggers. Maybe main gauche is covered too, no? Grace? Pistols and rifles. How about shotguns? Lorch'll take care of that! What was the name of that big guy? Oh, Claude! I bet he can craft big weapons, like spears, blunts and great swords! How about magic-based weapons like bracelets, staves and rods? M'Boma's the man for the job!

Whew! That's another one down to get off my chest. Maybe I'll make a little guide on crafting basics... Lemme go ahead and dive into some recipes as well! Catch ya later, pioneers!

Andre Janzur is now 100!

Yes indeed! The fantazztic man in white is now officially level 100 in my family. I almost didn't make it but thanks to some contingency plans, I made it!

Crunch time! (with the lucky 7's!)

Like what I did with Scarlette (Calyce) and Saija (Karjalanien), I went on another 24-hour leveling spree to make the most out of my premium services. Applying what I learned in the past session had its rewards but looks like it kind of backfired on me.

Let me explain the part where it backfired me totally. It seems that when I don't "establish" a good AFK'ing environment with my Outrage Shot Musketeer, she'll pretty much die quickly even if my healers (Scout and Broomy) keep healing. Now, this happened when I needed to get some shuteye for the night. Sure, I was hoping the next hours a woke up, I would just be on time to open some Portable Pistol Boxes. But when I kinda slept for like, 6 hours, the results were more than disappointing. It seems I only spent a tad amount of pistol bullets when the whole party died and I had around 7 hours left to grind. Knowing I have been stumbled with a task imposed by my sister (and some I did on my own initiative), I had to closely monitor my AFK'ing habit.

Looks like I was able to set everything right at that point but this really calls for an action plan: have an Elite Dragon Coat crafted ASAP! Why? So that way my Musketeer can have a higher DEF Rating than what she has with the Level 80 Pioneer Coat I made for her! That would require my Andre to be a Veteran but I am on the road to making that happen...

I don't think the wings work well with Andre...

Since I had to crunch time (using AFK) while doing the chores, I achieved level 99 with 70%-ish when I got booted out of the Skullic Ancient Territory. Fortunately, I still have some EXP cards left and after using 3 cards, I was at 99%. A quick trip at the dungeon with some kills made my Andre level up. End of story. Whew...

So, there you have it. Yet another member of my family reaching level 100. On the next post, I'll explain why I have leveled Beaumont (Andre), along with Saija (Karjalanien) and Scarlette (Calyce).

The usefulness of pets revealed! (Pilfurr and Broomy)

The Pet Bonding Package was of bring help when I was powerleveling Saija (Karjalanien) from level 90 to 100. Now, what made it helpful when it came with 50x Pet Food? Simple. The pets themselves!

Pilfurr and Broomy

To start off, I have to say that these pets, like any other things, have their own up and downs. Let's take a look at the little Pilfurr...

Pilfurr hatching!

This fluffy, little pet simply grabs items off the ground. Originally called Grabber from kGE and was named Pilfurr (a portmanteau of the words "pilfer" and "fur" with an extra "r" added).

Here's on what the Pilfurr can do and its limitations:

• Picks up the items for you while you focus on killing mobs
• Picks up ANYTHING it finds
• If your inventory is full (due to the fact it grabs equips along the way), it will stay stuck on the item it was supposed to pick up until it disappears
• Picks up at a slower rate, compared to send one character to pick up stuff
  

Experiences with this little critter proved to be very useful when AFK'ing, just make sure your have enough space in your inventory when you use him for a scavenger hunt! One note is that I noticed that it picked up an item called "A Strange Ore" from the Island of Fire. Plus, it also picked up some chips along the way and others interesting finds. I would scream with joy if this would pick an elite equip recipe!

Next on the list would be the floating Broomy!

Broomy hatching!

Unlike Pilfurr, Broomy heals and buffs your family. According to this video, Broomy was designed so players can come up with more possible family combinations. Maybe to help expand from the usual "always has a Scout or healing-type character" combination. This was originally called Buppet at kGE and its sGE name refers to the fact that scarecrows and brooms are made from the same material (maybe? just a theory of mine).

Here's what I noticed on what Broomy can do plus the limitations:

• Heals party members by 1000 HP
• When party members are fully healed, it will start buffing
• Buffs random levels of Intensify, Acceleration and Meditation between 5-11
• Healing rate is slower than that of a character using the Healing skill
• Will always cast the Acceleration buff when you use the Fortify buff

Although I liked Pilfurr because it was so cute, I have totally underestimated the usefulness of this pet! It helped me a lot when I was powerleveling characters since it helped a lot in healing my characters and put some buffs as well. Although I still use a Scout, it's perfect for AFK'ing as well so you don't have to manually buff your family and the extra healing will make a difference as well! Of course, you would get into an argument with the little sucker for using the Fortify buff because as long as you don't have the Acceleration buff, it will do its thing to using that buff no matter what.

If I get a hold on other pets, I will be more than happy to write these "reviews" to better help you decide who to take along with you on your next game in Granado Espada. Until next time, see y'all! :D

Karjalanien's at 100, AFK notes and a premium item package!

I was able to get Saija (Karjalanien) to reach 100 in a span of 48 hours worth of two days off (24 hours per week) and I was glad that I hit the deadline. I noticed how affective and ineffective using the Outrage Shot stance AFK'ing method. Allow me to list out the good and bad of doing this method:

The good...

• Allows multitasking of the user, both using the PC (if PC is powerful enough, like mine!!!) or doing external tasks (chores, physical favors, etc)
  
• Allows you to virtually leave your family alone while you catch some Z's (sleep)

The bad...

• Eats bullets as fast as 3-4 hours (not good for prolonged AFKs)
• If area of AFK is too much for your character (i.e. heavy damage from mobs), it would an extreme waste of time and effort
• Kill rate is may be slow, thus delivering minimal EXP acqusition
  

Now, to counteract some of the disadvantages, here's something I can recommend:

• Since the Outrage Stance eats bullets the most of all stances, I recommend grabbing some Portable Pistol Bullet boxes from the Feso Item Merchant. It's very cheap and it spills out 10,000 pistol bullets per use for you to pick it up. Perfect for long-term multitaskers checking their family from time to time.
• If you are actually playing the game itself, I suggest using Catherine instead. This counters the kill rate since you can summon as much as 11 puppets (or more depending your skill levels or rings equipped) to kill a lot of targets.

There, I said it. Moving on, I got my Karjalanien hit level 100 minutes before the temporary stuff expired. I amazed at this new cash shop package called "Pet Bonding Package." It's got what I need when doing my powerleveling sessions. Looks like I'm brewing yet another blog post with this!

Oooh! Items galore!

Anyway, the package contains 50x Pet Food, 1x Expert Combat Manual, 1x Expert Tactics Manual and 1x Field Survival Manual. Let me explain what these items do.

• Pet Food gives your active (summoned) pet 5% activity power. They say that 5% activity power is good for 1 hour (at least, for the Broomy and Pilfurr).
• Combat Manuals increase EXP rates for your character's level. Three different rate levels are offered, depending how much you want the rate to increase.
• Tactics Manuals increase EXP for your stance level. Like the Combat Manual, they too have three different rate levels as well.
• Field Survival Manual increases your item acquisition by 20%. If If understand this correctly, this means that it increases an item 20% of it's current rate, not 20% on top of it's drop rate. An example would be a 50% item drop will actually be 10% more, thus having a total chance of 60%. If a rare item was at like 0.1%, you would end having a very small increase of 0.02%. The total would be at 0.12%. Not a very good improvement, huh?

What does this have to do with my Karjalanien reaching level 100? Of course, the premium items helped in boosting (and shortening) productivity and the Outrage Shot AFK did some help when I had to do some chores as well. Okay guys, need to clean the other dog now since I had to crunch time before the deadline hit. Catch you guys again! :D

The Adventures of Brave Viki

The adventure begins when Viki masters the Amicus stance and makes a visit to the NPC at El Canon de Diabolica (somesort of stonepit worker). Once there, the stonepit worker says that there has been some commotion going on that location.

Brave, little Viki decides to check it out and spots a pioneering family, wearing Le Blancs, confronting Cherlyn. Just to share a fact, Cherlyn happens to be a summoning sorceress who makes her first appearance fight you and Grace Bernelli. Her next appearance involves little Viki and his grandpa, Ulrik, as she tries to better than Ulrik in terms of summoning.

Now, she makes her third appearance wandering around and eventually bumping into a pioneering family and Viki!

Treasure Golem sighted!

Viki challenges Cherlyn with each of their summoning prowess while Lauli (Male Fighter), Softies (Female Elementalist) and Dobell (Male Scout) fight alongside. Of course, with the Treasure Golem as the opponent, expect the atomic attack to take place!

INCOMING!!!

After defeating Cherlyn and her summon, she leaves the scene and the Le Blanc Family are amazed by the powers of the summoners. Viki parts from the family and continues to explore the New World, not without picking up a mysterious stone from where the Treasure Core fell.

Cherlyn at El Ruina de Memoria

Viki comes across Cherlyn once again at El Ruina de Memoria. This time, she summons a new beast called "Takion," some sort of destruction god. These two I picked for the fight didn't make the cut, so I called for two other family members fit to the task.

Cherlyn at El Ruina de Memoria (take two!)

Looks like Cherlyn summoned not just Takion, but her also her Treasure Golem! It was a pretty big fight but Saija (Karjalanien) and Scarlette (Calyce) made easy work out of these monstrosities (yes, Cherlyn included!).

Beating up Takion

After the fight, Cherlyn will disappear yet once again. Who knows when we'll see this strawberry-colored hair summoner in the future but the New World is safe once again from her clutches. Also, it seems another mysterious stone is found on where Takion fell. Maybe there's a connection between these stones and Cherlyn's ability to summon both beasts.

Paying a visit to Ulrik at his hut at El Tejado Verde will result yet another collection quest to make a Treasure Core and a Mustang Core, catalyst items for the beasts you can summon from the Castis stance. After gathering such items, you'll get one core each and you'll be given a stance book for the Castis stance. I decided to take it the "easy way out" and it did cost me oney big time! :P

Well, I'll leave you off with this cute pic of Viki and I'll plan about blogging about my progress with Saija (Karjalanien). Until next time, pioneers!

The innocent and brave Viki... cute!

Time for quickie... UPDATE!!!

Here's what I've been up to:

Another Fallen Champion... Defeated... Wow...

Also, look what I saw as well at Via Fluvial:

Dream Antelope! 'Nuff said, dog!

That's it, folks! Will give you more posts about leveling Karjalanien (Saija) and maybe some experiences with Viki's quest to get his Castis stance! Woohoo! :P Keep posted! :D

The Adventures of Curious Calyce

By the time you recruited Calyce, she is suspicious of her Captain's activities, namely Gerard Lauren of the Pegadilla Mercenaries. In this quest, Calyce is still troubled about trusting Gerard Lauren, who she feels that he is keeping secrets from her about the incident when Princess Gabriella was almost assassinated on her maiden voyage to Vespanola.

Picking up where the story left off, a fellow mercenary member told Calyce to try to get her mind off the whole ordeal by watching a sunset at the Desolate Quay of Porto Bello.

"I'm so confused these days. What's the Captain hiding from me? I can't trust anyone..."

But then, she saw something that caught her attention...

Looks like she noticed something from the distance!

Heading over the spot, she encounters a bandit that she believes to have met or seen before.

A bandit that Calyce is familiar with. By what means?

After some interrogating and a little beating up, the goon happened to be one of the assassins sent to kill Princess Gabriella! He also hands over a letter with some familiar handwriting. Calyce's suspicious about her Captain grows stronger and stronger.

"You two can watch my back if you want"

Knowing that her Captain will be at the Sea Elephant Cafe, she decides to head over there. Samantha and Emilia (Shannon) accompanied her there while staying in the background to witness the event.

Confronting Gerard and Jean Pierre

Before even Calyce arrived, it seems that two men were friends in the past. However, Gerard mentions that Jean Pierre uses their friendship as a bargaining chip to get more info. I am wonder what is this "thing" that Gerard wants to stay away from. Looks like Vespanola has a lot of deep, dark, shady secrets than what we may know! Calyce then leaves to search for the answers herself once again, alone.

Samantha and Emilia (Shannon) decided to let Marvin know what's going on with Calyce. Witnessing the previous engagement at Auch, Marvin heads to meet Jean Pierre at Auch.

"Calyce is part of my family now. I won't tell her anything about this!"

Jean Pierre can trust Marvin since he helped Jean Pierre uncovering clues about Prison de Joaquin and other incidents of theft that occurred in Granado Espada. The information that was shared is that the illegible crest seems to stem from a secret scoiety. This so-called society is speculated to have agents in Vespanola as well. Well, this adds a lot of mess and confusion on what's going on in this New World.

As Calyce heads back to the Desolate Quay of Porto Bello, she engages combat with a small group of thugs. Even with her mastery of the Arbalester, Esgrima and Corte Duplicado stances, she was overpowered until Samantha and Emilia (Shannon) came to her aid!

"Calyce, are you alright?!?"

Samantha was able to repel the thugs while Emilia (Shannon) tended Calyce's injuries. Out of nowhere, Fritz reveals himself and introduces himself to Calyce.

Frtiz meets Calyce

It seems that Fritz has been observing Calyce through her journey and tells her that she has grown strong. Fritz reminded the girl never to give and continue her path in uncovering the mystery of her Captain's secrets and probably reveal a connection between the failed assassination attempt and the the secret organization. As a reward, she was given a stance book that would be deadlier than her current stance.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, that's all for now! I'll make sure I promote her to veteran and review the Sagitta stance once I get a taste of all the skills. Until then, keep exploring and questing!

Leveling up Calyce (part 3)

I realized that I have fallen asleep for 5 hours when I tried to AFK my girls in a spot I tested and it worked like a charm (of course, Samantha was at the top of her game with her maxed out Outrage Shot stance!). Waking up, I noticed that they weren't moving a single inch. I think it has to do something with the Internet connection, so I immediately took action and had to crunch time since I am 2 levels away from 100!

The AFK spot

Never have I felt excited that another (upcoming) veteran is going to fill my barracks, all for a Veteran Stance that's powerful than Calyce's Arbalester stance. With around four hours remaining in the clock, I did everything I can to hurry things up.

Witness the Dancing Revolvers!

Unfortunately, I was running low on pistol bullets to meet the deadline! Outrage Shot really eats a lot of bullets, as that was my fourth batch for Samantha! I was going to immediately switch to a rifle but it didn't deliver the results I needed and got defeated by the mob! How ever, I was 93% in hitting level 100 and I realized I had some level 90 cards from the Adelina's Booty Search. I just used one card...

Lo and behold, Level 100 Calyce!

Alright! I did it! Whew! That was some stressful journey! Looks like I have to find another candidate on who will take the next opportunity to be leveled up to 100. Just a small tidbit, I'm saving up for three candidates to be promoted to Veteran because I want to buy the Veteran Promotion Scrolls in bulk, saving a little G Points along the way.

Well, that wraps it up for Scarlette! I want to give another Bonus Trivia but it'll be featured on another post. It's about getting the Sagitta stance!