The glittering gems (and valued) of Granado Espada

No, I don't mean by players/families that are role models. I'm talking about the three different kinds of gems and their importance in Granado Espada.

To start off, you'll get your first gem in a form of unpolished stones. These gems come in three colors and are based from real gemstone of their respective colors. Soon enough, you'll be getting better versions of these gem with a prefix of "Piece of ." At this point, I am not sure if their normal versions, which is a step of from their "Piece of" versions, are dropped by mobs. The high quality version is the next step from the normal gems and are sought out to those wish to craft items usually level 84 and above. The ultimate form of the gems are really rare to seek out, especially when it is needed to craft an item as well.

The thing is, that these gems are usually crafting materials for weapons and armor. All of the recipes involving an equipment (as far as I know) always need a gem, depending on what the recipe needs. So, don't throw away those gems! You may need them craft the item you need or you may sell it to those who need it the most! :P

If you want a simple way to read it, here's a flow on each of their hierarchy (lowest to ultimate):

Unpolished Red/Green/Blue Stone
Piece of Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire
Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire
High Quality Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire
Archangel's Heart/Siren's Scale/Seeds of Rafflesia

For those who craft and want the "easy way out" of getting the Normal, High Quality and Ultimate gems, you can grab crafting recipe from the Precious Metal Merchant in Auch, right beside the Anvil for Accessory Desctruction.

The NPC sells recipes for these gems (with the exception for the unpolished stones) as well as Gold Pieces (for those wanting to plunk gold at the Golden Well at Thueringen Lakeside) necklace crafting recipes and some other stuff as well. Each gem recipe share a similar material listing with the exception of what the gem stone should be. Here's the recipe list for the following:

Recipe - Piece of Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire
Level 40 - Karjalanien Exclusive
Rating: Low
[Material]
Unpolished Red/Green/Blue Stone x 3
Solvent x 5
Progressive Soul Filler x 3
Mana Stone x 1

Recipe - Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire
Level 60 - Karjalanien Exclusive
Rating: Normal
[Material]
Piece of Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire x 3
Solvent x 10
Progressive Soul Filler x 10
Mana Stone x 3

Recipe - High Quality Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire
Level 80 - Karjalanien Exclusive
Rating: High
[Material]
Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire x 3
Solvent x 20
Triumph Filler x 3
Mana Stone x 5

Recipe - Archangel's Heart/Siren's Scale/Seeds of Rafflesia
Level 100 - Karjalanien Exclusive
Rating: Ultimate
[Material]
High Quality Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire x 3
Solvent x 50
Triumph Filler x 15
Elemental Jewel x 1

Now, if we were to craft an ultimate gem from unpolished stones, here's the breakdown:

Unpolished Red/Green/Blue Stone x 63
to
Piece of Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire x 21
to
Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire x 9
to
High Quality Ruby/Emerald/Sapphire x3
to
Archangel's Heart/Siren's Scale/Seeds of Rafflesia x 1

And with each gem quality recipe price rising (not to mention required cash shop items), it's going to be very costly in producing one piece of an ultimate gem! So much for the "easy way out!"

Well, that's one thing gotten of my chest. Expect more thoughts and guide coming soon! :D

The easy way out can be costly...

This was a bit troubling for me but I had do it because I needed the stuff to myself an Elite armor I bought (the recipe) for my Scout. Checking an ingredient called "Seeds of Rafflesia" was somewhat difficult to look for and I remembered it was a gem. I checked it's crafting recipe and I was shocked to find out what I needed:

Recipe - Seeds of Rafflesia
Number of Uses: 1
Level 100 - Karjalanien Exclusive
[Seeds of Rafflesia]
Rating: Ultimate Type: Others
[Material]
High Quality Sapphire x 3
Solvent x 50
Triumph Filler x 15
Elemental Jewel x 1

Holy moly! This is gonna cost me big time! I have the habit of crafting gems since better ones are rather hard to find. So, I made a few Sapphires from some crafting recipes and got some that I have some stock. With that said, I managed to make three High Quality Sapphires, enough for to make the Seeds of Rafflesia. When I gathered the materials for it, I couldn't produce it because I needed to have a Veteran Karjalanien! I contatced a friend and it was a thrill that he had bot just Karjalanien but Andre as well! I needed them both to make the Seeds of Rafflesia, then the elite armor. It was a good thing he cooperated and I finally got what I wanted: Elite Rescue Suit.

With this accomplishment, I have realized that it was really expensive doing the easy way out. Sure, I could have gotten the Seeds of Rafflesia as a rare drop but there was no way I had the ability to even go where I can get one from a drop. Also, a sense of urgency required me to do this as well. That is, getting that armor crafted because of the benefits it will provide.

I just needed to post this. I was beginning to refelct that it's not going to be easy when you want the best things in life. Looks like I have to take things slow and one at a time as well.

Biggest thanks to EldeonRose for his help to make this possible!

Great Sword Mania event

Thanks to DeSanggria, looks sGE launched a New Year's event! When I read her entry on the event itself, I set out and explored the world of Granado Espada in search of 20 swords belonging to a person named Bravo. Well, there were in-game rewards that made this event appealing and I did get everything as well.

Discovering one of the swords

According to the reward list, here's what you can get after discovering a number of swords:

• 5 swords - 10x Snow Spray
• 8 swords - 15-day White Angel Wings (+8% Movement Speed)
• 12 swords - 15-day Black Angel Wings (+8% Movement Speed)
• 16 swords - 1x Fleudelis (Great Sword, Level 100, AR 25)
• 20 swords - White Rat Hat

I gotta agree with DeSanggria about one particular location where you can find one of Bravo's swords. Here's a pic to prove it too!

The Old Port of Coimbra, a breathtaking view...

In regards about the prizes, I can say that the White Rat Hat is a funny thing to wear and is now part of my collection. The Fleudelis itself is not very powerful but a nifty novelty if you ask me. I'm happy with my Nodachi (which is for level 92 characters with an AR of 30), thank you. The wings? I'll use them when the time comes. Snow sprays? I'll keep 'em for novelty purposes.

Gotta blast now. Here's a shot of a place I never ever went to level up (and missed a view as well!).

Behold, the waterfalls of Lago Celeste!

I'm back!!!

New Year, New Characters!

Just proof that I'm still here, despite being employed for one year at a call center with pretty big changes! Will blog soon so stay tuned!