Thursday, February 26, 2009

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!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Leveling up Calyce (part 2)

This post also marks my official first visit to the Ancient Territory! Looking to get away from the crowded 1st Floor of the Skullic Dungeon, I used one of the passes that I got in past events. Better put some good use to these babies! They've been in my vault for as long as I can remember!

As I entered this territory, mudmen lurk in this area instead of skeletons. Here's my early impressions of my first visit:


It ain't the undead...


...instead, it's mudmen!

These mobs resembled the undead soldiers that Gavin Jameson produces from the corpses of fallen Brestia soldiers, mush to their unrest. The prominently appear in Prison de Joaquin and target mobs in the Land of the Dead for Pure Otites. This time, they're colored in brown with cracks to resemble drying mud. The best part about these suckers is that they don't possess knockdown skills, unlike those annoying spear wielding skeletons that knock you down every chance they get! Plus, there's a quest involved in killing the mobs and it's for some Cinderella equips but it'll take me a long to finish that (not to mention a number of passes to be used!).

Like the Forgetten Territories, this place has four spots where you can start at depending on your needs. That means an area with a specific level range so you can get the most out of your EXP. As always, I got my Expert EXP Boosters activated plus one of the Devil Wings I got from a giveaway before Version 3.0 was released.

Of course, I plan to go for another 24 hour marathon but I hope I won't tire myself out! Since I had to chores to do that day, I needed to balance sitting in front of my computer and checking out the summons of my puppet army. There are times I died, there are times I was able to summon another army. When it was time to give one of my two doggies a bath (and loosen the dirt of soaked footrugs and drench them in diluted chlorox), I had to change my leveling strategy. Seeing people AFK'ing with Musketeers using Outrage Shot stance dared me to try the same. After leveling the stance for a while, I amazed at the results it delivered! So I sent Scarlette, Samantha and Shannon to Fire Island...


The usual sight to behold in Fire Island

Of course, I did a 30-min trial before I did the AFK itself. I minimized the game (yes, I play it on windowed mode) and did other stuff like play casual games and surf the web. Going back to the game and I was satisfied on how it turned out. In fact, I was able to try out the "Dancing Revolvers" skill of the Outrage Shot stance. It was really funny how the animation went! It looks like the Musketeer is teleporting left and right! Doesn't look very realistic but it is deadly!


Behold, the Devil Wings!

Anyhoo, I decided to leave them alone as I did my chores. When I came back, they were on their feet. Oh well, I better get my Musketeer better armor and max out the stance. Since the computer has my "undivided" attention, I decided to keep the same team and went back to the Ancient Territory of the Skullic Dungeon. Looks like this working well like a charm! Not only am I leveling Scarlette up but I'm also leveling Samantha's Outrage Shot stance as well!


Slap those pistols, girl!

Well, I better at this point now since I'm in the progress of hitting level 100 for Scarlette as I am making this post! If I can get her to 100 by tomorrow morning, I be happy like the time I won 300 Linden Dollars from a nightclub in Second Life! :P

As a treat (again), here's another bonus trivia!

For all Calyce owners, you probably notice that something comes out of her crossbow when she fires. You'd obviously guess that it's an arrow or bolt that fires away. If you ask me, I see something else.

Taking the liberty of capturing a screenshot (or two) of this "arrow," here's what I got so far:


No arrow. Better try again...


I got it!

Let me "zoom in" on this object I see...


Is that a... sword?

I knew I wasn't seeing arrows or bolts coming out! But it's so strange that a sword comes out of the crossbow. Programming error or bug? Trying to save on memory? Who to blame? Let's see if I have another picture to prove it's a sword!


By golly gee! Is it a sword!

I just don't know what to say. IMC, can you make some adjustments on this one. It doesn't look right seeing swords popping out of Calyce's crossbows. I have a feeling the same thing goes for the Sagitta stance, which is the main reason why I am leveling Calyce now!

Leveling up Calyce (part 1)

Wow... Been some time since I last posted. Just posting just to let you reader that I'm still doing everything I can to enjoy Granado Espada, even if the Nintendo Wii and Second Life is totally distracting me!

Anyhoo, here's what I've been up to: leveling Calyce to 100. That's right. Calyce. The lady who can use a crossbow. I've been leveling her up after I got her to level 72. What I did first is that I leveled her up within the Old Port of Coimbra. It also had another purpose, since I was collecting Unknown Green Gems to get myself a Catalyst Powder. It didn't improve my chances in getting a better rumin. So much for 1500 pieces of Unknown Green Gems...

Getting back on track, I then proceeded to level her up in Forgtten Territory of Joaquin. That places gives me memories of my life of leveling up many characters and Calyce is now part of it. Coupled with Expert EXP Boosters, this really lessened my workload in getting the EXP. Of course, I attempted to play for 24 hours straight but I needed to fall asleep. Of course, here's what I finally got to see during my stay in the Joaquin FT.


Fallen Champion spotted!

You saw it, alright! The Fallen Champion appeared in the area where the highest level spawns of this FT existed. Surely, I took the chance of fighting it with my puppet army (thanks to my Catherine, of course!).


The battle wages on...


...and to the victor goes the spoils!

But the spoils of defeating this so-called champ were worthless (to me), so I just opened the chests up and left it to rot and fade away. I did hit level 89 at that time and I needed to move on to bigger places. The Skullic Dungeon was the obvious choice but it got crowded lately and I am not able to level up in peace as expected. Oh well, I better try the Ancient Territory in Skullic Dungeon this time, I've got passes that I got for free from different events.

Now, a bonus trivia on my Calyce! I named her after a North American blogger who goes by the alias of Scarlette. Yep. Aside from these characters I created after my blogging friends, she's now included in my family as a dedication as a fellow GE blogger. Presea, you will be part of my family soon!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The enigmatic, floating Broomy

Originally named Buppet, this little, floating scarecrow actually heals and buffs your party. It's effectiveness will depend on how well your party fends off the enemy since it gives it benefits slower than your usual healing character.

Since you are able to "collect" different pets, you can own a Pilfurr and a Broomy. You can only call one of them at a time, though. Realizing this, I decided to go on another quest to get another Moss covered Egg, with Claire, Grace and Emilia the Sage (an experimental team for AFK'ing with Broomy). After acquiring another Moss covered Egg, the Pet Expert just placed in incubation at the Green House.

Claire here was really cheery getting her own Pilfurr, since the Mena Family owns one. She cleaned the egg, removing all the moss surrounding it. She returned the next day, growing impatient...


Where's my Pilfurr already?!?

Grace replied "Now, now. These things don't hatch overnight, even in this place." "So this is how an egg looks like... Interesting..." Emilia commented. But Claire was so impatient that she threw a fit. "Ohhhh!!! Iwantoneiwantoneiwantoneiwantoneiwantone!!!" Of course, this led Claire to be very clumsy that she accidentally spilled her Nutrition drink on the egg.

"Arrgh!!! Now look what you've done!" Grace angrily replied. "Oh no! My drink! The egg!" responded the shocked Claire. "We gotta clean it off before we get out of here!" Emilia noticed that the Nutrition quickly dried off the egg and the egg started shaking. "Hmmmm? What's this?" "Wha~?!? Is it hatching?!?" remarked Claire. All three girls were shocked to see the end result...


It hatched- Wait, WHAT'S THAT?!?!?

Uh oh... Looks like Claire got something else than what she wanted! "Awww... It's looks ugly! I don't want it!" remarked the disappointed Claire. "That's what you get for being hasty! I'm not getting that!" Grace replied. "According what the Pet Expert said, it'll recognize the first thing it sees as its mother!" Emilia told the ladies. Just so happens that the little creature stared at Claire long enough. "Oh dear... Looks like you're its mother, Claire!" commented Emilia. "Yuck! Get away from me! I don't like you! Arrgghh!!!"

And that my friends, you should never be hasty in getting things done. Poor little Claire. She fails to see the advantages of having a Broomy as well.

The fluffy, little Pilfurr

When the pets got released in sGE, I was so eager to grab one of them Grabbers. With a contest held to give them names for our servers, we now call it Pilfurr! It's a nice name if you ask me. It's furry and it grabs stuff from the ground.

Anyhoo, the adventure to get one was thrilling! All I had to do was to talk to an NPC that wanted an egg to eat for breakfast. There was a secret hideout of these creatures located in the Island of Fire. When I found a rock, it led me to a cave and it was the first time I laid my eyes on the Pilfurrs. *insert squeal due to uber cuteness*

Now, these suckers had to die before my hands and momma Pilfurr wasn't happy about it! She appeared with her family and wanted to kick my keister real good. Defeating momma Pilfurr wasn't easy but she retreated when I literally kicked her kids' butts big time. Somehow, I ended up failing the mission. After a failed second attempt, I decided to do some research and finally got my reward: a Moss covered egg.

Bringing it back to the Egg Expert made me so excited to get my pet but looks like he really wanted to eat it. I chose to keep it but looks like momma Pilfurr and family invaded Bahia Beach and wanted to kick the Pet Expert's keister this time! Having to protect the Pet Expert was tricky, since he was doing lots of Dragon Kicks! Eventually, my family was victorious and the Pet Expert told me to have the egg incubated in the Green House.


Checking the egg...

It will take three real days to hatch the egg, as long as you visit the egg and click on it. First day will let you clean off the moss of the egg. Coming back on the second day, the egg looked pretty normal. Third day was the most exciting day of all!


I'm free!!! I mean, it hatched!!!

Whee!!! My Pilfurr has hatched and I can give it a name! I ended up naming him "Brionne." I got that name as a result of mixing the letters of two nicknames. The nicknames, you ask? Figure it out yourselves! Brionne's very useful in picking up stuff when you don't have the muscle to pick up the stuff that appears on the ground. You better watch your pockets though, he won't be able to get more items if your inventory's full.

When I got Claire, she wanted a pet too so she set off with Grace and Emilia to get herself an egg as well...

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Is that a rabbit on your head, mister?

Because I got myself a Nintendo Wii, I am more distracted in advancing to level 2 Veteran for my main team and still deciding to get one of the following characters to hit Veteran:
  • Calyce (who I am leveling to 72 now, for the Sagitta stance)
  • Reboldoeux Soldier (for the special centurion costume)
  • Andre (to get myself a special armor crafter)
  • Karjalanien (to get myself a jewel crafter)
That's my reason for my lessened attendance in GE but here's what I'm actually posting about!



Is that a rabbit on your head, mister?

Yes! My Andre indeed has a rabbit on his head! You know what? M'Boma and Alejandro can wear it too! How did I get it? Well, there's seems to be an in-game event that will last until the 25th of February and it's easy to get one!

It all started when I was running Auch to restock on some Toolbox Kits since I suddenly ran out of it when I tried to summon a doll using Catherine. On the way back to Leonardo Expresso, I noticed a little wooden sign beside the Leonardo Expresso representative and I gave a click, much to my curiosity. After reading the text, it seems that a "White Event" is going on and I have to give Andre 20 pieces of Sweet Candy. I was curious where to get this "Sweet Candy" item, so I broaded out to get my answer. Bandeau repsonded that it's the candy I get from Adelina's Booty Search. I asked if there was an alternative other than. Bandeau also told you can get Sweet Candies from Claire after you finish the rumin creating quest (I think?). Realizing I had a good amount of the candy, I decided to bring to Andre and lo, it worked! I was able to claim myself a rabbit hat!

Remember you can get Sweet Candies from ABS or doing the rumin quests from Claire. Hurry up! You've got only until the 25th of February to get it! :D

My family