Part 3 of 3: e-Games Domination II Event: Awards, Secrets Revealed and a Dinner!

Photos courtesy of NineMoons! I wish I had a camera... NOTE TO MULTIPLY READERS: PLEASE VISIT http://menatales.blogspot.com FOR ANY UPDATED VERSIONS OF MY EXISTING POSTS. THANK YOU.

Alright, this is the best part of the event (for me, that is! :P). It's the much-awaited Faction Recognition and Granado Espada Philippines Community Hero Awards! I was able to snag both the titles of the Blogger and Filmmaker for this one.

This one's for the Filmmaking Award

Now the (whole) Philippines knows that I'm the voice behind Reclusion's movie, Le Blanc! At the request of Veya and Hrin, I did a live demonstration of my role of Andre Janzur! Looks like the crowd appreciated it to the max! Of course, I got this award along with NineMoons, Reclusion, Fiksdotter, Artaxerxes, deEspania, Familier, Mortreux, Fettuccini, Behringer, iCeZ, Kincaid, Weisswritter and Sigrid!

Yeah! The whole team! For the win, Philippines!

Since all of the FFA Grand Finale Winners were all from the Philippines, we were able to have an awards ceremony for all of the Grand Finale Winners! First up was the Pasta Team with their entry "Perdonato." Then, was Team Le Blanc with the film "Le Blanc" were I starred as Andre Janzur and Lastinka Inka Jerjer-Baks! Of course, our Grand Winner is none other than the Bloggers' Team with their winning entry "Not Another Love Story: Ze Musical!" Looks like Veya kept her promise that if a Philippine-based team won the Grand Finals, that team would win three Palit Video Cards courtesy of e-Games. That promise was fulfilled and those vid cards are hella powerful!!!

This one's for the Blogger Award

Now, we bloggers are too awarded for our continued effort to educate the community about Granado Espada through experience and research. I got this award along with NineMoons, Reclusion, Fiksdotter and Welling! Yay! For this one, Veya and Hrin bugged me to do another voiceover. This time, I did my role of Lastinka Inka Jerjer Baks but it didn't turn out pretty since it was the result of software engineering. Oh my! I revealed that I am the voice actor... For a female role?!?!?!? That's something I will discuss in the future! :D

Other awards included Colony War Correspondents and Faction Recognition. NineMoons has a better coverage of the event if you're interested to read about it. Oh yeah, Hrin invited the players for dinner with her! How could I possibly miss the chance?

Hrin in all her glory!

After the awards ceremony and such, me and some fellow bloggers decided to get some drinks since the Pepsi booth outside is totally out of drinks! We took the effort to head over to the nearest establishment (rather the department store) from the SMX Convention Center. We came back to wait until the event is over since we had to rendezvous at the GE Booth for the dinner with Hrin! To kill the time, I took the liberty of trying out the High Striker game on a nearby booth. My highest score was 925 Points and that includes me getting a headache because the hammer rebounded when I did my strike!

After the wait, we headed over to Pier One and finally had that dinner Hrin, along with the other VIPs from IAH Games! Their host ordered something for them to try: Balut! Earlier, we wanted Hrin to try out some Filipino dishes and we got the hint that she didn't want to eat anything exotic. Looks like their host decided to let our guests to give the balut a shot and we (the bloggers) were able to let Hrin have a taste. This is what happens next:

It's just culture shock. No harm done!

Well, at least some of us are happy that Hrin tasted balut already! Other people caught up with us and they were able to have dinner with us as well. Looks like Hrin here is an MMORPG player and has good knowledge about Granado Espada. When Reclusion asked about who are the 10 Nobles of Vespanola, Hrin told us to play the game to watch the story unfold. Looks like I gotta level up pretty soon to progress! I was also able to confirm that Leticia (the Premium Item vendor) is indeed her best friend!

It was getting pretty for some of us, so I decided to hit the road too! Well, thank you so much Hrin and it was an honor to meet you in real life! Now, I can die peacefully knowing that I have met a REALLY IMPORTANT PERSON in an online gaming community. Well, looking forward for great things from IAH Games and you are indeed a blessed person, Hrin. You must be an angel (or a goddess) sent from heaven... I'll will never forget this day.

Other of my fellow bloggers have posted about this event!

Artaxerxes: Domination II Fever!
Sigrid: E-Games Dom1nation: G.E. Aftermath!
Fiksdotter: Post E-Games Domination~Dominated!
NineMoons: [Picspam] Post-Dom1nation II, recap and review, part 1: Cosplay and Factions
NineMoons:[Picspam] Post-Dom1nation II, recap and review, part 2: FFA Winners, GE PH Community Heroes, and end
pCM Veya: Aftermath: e-Games Domination II
Reclusion: Domination II the D-DAY!

Lemme (and NineMoons) know if you have something to blog about this event! :D

Tired but happy! Me, Stiles and Reclusion

Rainbows and sunshines: Community

Sure, I may be disappointed that I didn't hit level 92 for the main team for this day off. But there was something that made it worthwhile: Being with my friends in Granado Espada.

The first instance:
When NineMoons (fellow faction member!) went online, I asked if she needed assistance in leveling up. At first, she told me DeSanggria would be helping her out. I told her that I will join them once I hit level 90. Keeping that promise, I prepared to come in only as Catherine. I got an update that Fiksdotter is online and he's went online via Reclusion's PC. Looks like he's spending his vacation over at their place now, as what Reclusion did before that. Anyhoo, I arrived bringing some equips to NineMoons and I asked if I could squad up with Breviary and Fiksdotter. Since they didn't need me, I just stayed and gave my gifts to NineMoons. However, that wasn't all of the stuff I wanted to give to her. So, I decided to check my vault on what I can do not just to help NineMoons but to help my vault from exploding! Well, I gave a bunch of armors and a few weapons to help our lady blogger get a great start in Carracci.

Friends helping out a fellow player/blogger

When I arrived, it has come to my attention that Fiksdotter tends to alternate between Fiksdotter himself and the Reclusion Brothers. When Fiksdotter saw me (as himself), he sent the squad invite and I accepted it without any second thought. Knowing I was sharing EXP, I had to do my part and kill some monsters to help speed the process. While we were helping out NineMoons, she did a little update. When DeSanggria put up her "Queen of Vespanola" statement, that's when I was surprised that she was with us! :P It was really nice to get along with friends that I've met in real life. NineMoons had to go since she other matters to attend to. Well, it was worth my time! :D

I really need a makeover!

This ain't over yet! Remember I was ranting that I didn't get to AFK properly at Topolo Durga? Well, something better happened when my powerleveling kit expired! :P

The second instance:
There were three members online (not including me and others) that were hanging out at the Tetra Ruins Forgotten Territory. I asked if I can join. Yes I could, just bring characters appropriate for that level. After taking time on who to bring, I came as Clint (Jack the Engineer), Verena (Female Auch Infantry) and Cristobal (Ramiro). When I arrived to join, they were a really friendly bunch. It was kind of boring at first, since we just leveling at a small spot. However, I decided to "expand our coverage" building cannons outside of the range of the wards these guys set up. Things heated up when I was rebuilding some cannons in one end of the spot and then a family complained that I was stealing kills from him. Well, to solve that problem, I decided to build a fortress in the opposite end. When I destroyed all my structures to set up a fortress, this is when a window popped up saying I am reported as a bot!

Can you spot my cannons? Can ya? Can ya?

The nerve! I was able to prove my innocence and that family who accused just plain played dirty. Since I had my faction mates with me, they decided to overpower this family because of the response I received. After a few minutes, that family just left the scene. Wow! That was one way to start the morning. A Deputy Faction Leader then chatted with us and NineMoons was online again! We had a great discussion about many things in GE. Looks like I enjoyed this session at the FT along with the other three faction mates with me. We were able to wrap up since the servers had to go through maintenance and will be shut down.

These two experiences really made my day because I was around a community that supports each other and knows how to have a good time. Thanks guys, it really put a smile on my face even though I didn't reach level 92 this time.

My "Thank You" shout outs:

NineMoons: Supreme Lady Blogger
DeSanggria: Queen of Vespanola
Reclusion: Legendary Movie Director
Fiksdotter: Undisputed Movie Writer
The Takhisis Faction
IAH Games for the Premium Buff testing! Freebies were great but the buff was way better!
IAH Games for the extension of the GVC Boost Promo! Yes. That means extra G Points and E. Boosters for me!

That's all for now for this week! Hope to experience progress both in GE and in work! :D

ALL YOUR SPOT ARE BELONG TO US!!!

Woot! I'm a winnar!

Wow! I can't believe I won the "Love, Me" forum contest! DeSanggria informed me through an SMS message while I kept my phone away for work. I was so happy to be able to win a contest (again) in GE. When I had some time to go online in the web version of Yahoo! Messenger (during work), the Reclusion Family gave their congratulations to me as well.

In case you want to see my winning entry, here's the link to it! When I decided to tally how many Le Blanc Armors were given, it seems the Fighter wins by six families (including me!). The Elementalist Le Blanc follows by five families (including me again!) and tying at 3rd place would be the Scout, Musketeer and Wizard Le Blanc armors by three families. Looks like the Fighters And Elementalists are really popular.

Yay! The only problem is... I need to get reach level 100 before I can wear them! :D Well, better work on another achievement to post on the bottom! :P

The 2nd GE Bloggers' Meet!

Shucks! I still don't have a camera but it was a great experience to meet some familiar faces, along with new ones! :P

I was able to catch up with the Bloggers' meet past 4PM. It was really nice to see the Reclusion Brothers, NineMoons, DeSanggria, Sigrid, Deniva and Fiksdotter! I was also an honor to finally meet Reimaru, Ligaya, Artaxerxes (Fiksdotter's bro) and Mitchin. Looks like they covered a lot of issues but the only issues I have is that GIC I tried claim but it's still not being processed! :( What I'm talking about is that free in-game that was promised when you subscribe to the Update Text Service of Granado Espada. The free in-game item would be 5 Progressive Health-fillers and 5 Progressive Soul-fillers but after topping up the code the Leonardo Expresso guy doesn't seem to be giving it to me! :(

Anyhoo, happy did happen during the event. Photoshoots, discussions of the FFA and how underexposed GE is in the Philippines. I better find a way not just to promote the game but also things related to Granado Espada (events and such) For my part, there's something I've been doing at work as a call center agent. Since I'm in a team, I took the liberty of making something to "spice" up our team board. I'll get to that on the next post.

Back to the topic, it was really nice to meet some new faces. This bloggers' meeting turned out to be better than the first because we grew! Yes! We indeed grew! I hope we can encourage not just Filipinos but other Granado Espada or Sword of the New World players to blog their experiences. I am really disappointed that blogspotting got dropped without a warning. I just hope new bloggers can take this chance to shine on the spotlight and be part of the community as well.

Well, that's all I gotta say for now. I hope we can do this again soon! Have fun! :D

Le Blanc: Discovering Andre Janzur (2 of 4)

Let's go, mga Mudra! Let's make walalachaka-what?!?!? Boy, that part was sure amusing! :P Anyhoo, let's continue on...



The part where we left off is when Andrew narrated about Lastinka, being chased almost everywhere. When Ms. DeSanggria offered her talent for one particular scene, I was curious on what part was it. According from Reclusion, she portrayed as the female elementalists wearing the Robes of Fire, Ice and Wind speaking in Filipino Gay Lingo (here's what I can pull up so far). If you ask me, it sounded like a total foreign language that I'm not aware of! Too bad, it would be better if Andrew and Lastinka got surprised of the three elementalists who reacted on what Andrew earlier commented about their clothes. Also, the execution of the part where Andrew and Lastinka got hit by the magic spell.

I am impressed that Fiksdotter's character as La Passion. Meeting La Passion is the best scene that this part has to offer. The big bodyguards where also good as well as they sounded like brainless buffoons but loyal to their master.

For the pre-fight scene between our hero (and heroine) and the levitating-wizard-in-a-bear-costume monster, the execution of the "Eeeek!!!" wasn't good. I was surprised when you made the battle into a ATB-style. I was shocked when the director made the monster sound like a Pokémon. I decided to bear with this spoof, since I was in a mix of laughing and "what in blazes?" sort of thing. If the director wanted to spoof it better, he should have included the numbers coming out. Want a reference? Check this out.



The review is half done! Just wait for more!

Post report of the Philippine Online Gaming Summit 2008 event

Alright, my fellow bloggers have posted their experiences of the event itself!

Dispatches from the New World: NineMoons goes to Philippine Online Gaming Summit 2008
Casa Reclusion: POGS 2k8 Photo Story
Fiksdotter's Box: Post Philippine On-line Gaming Summit (POGS)
Tres Mujeres: [Picspam Aftermath] POGS 2008 + Thoughts on CW
Diario el Familia Sigrid: Sigrid Invades POGS 2008!
Lady Veya's Musings: Aftermath: POGS 2008
The Deniva Chronicles: The Philippine Online Gaming Summit

G3's Coverage of the event!


When Ms. Ivee Feria was being interviewed, this was playing!!!


Yay! It was one heck of an event! :D Have fun, everyone! Colony Wars? Not now...

The Philippine Online Gaming Summit (POGS) 2008 event

I I may not have pictures to share (gotta wait from the other bloggers and friends) but my recollections are totally priceless!

I was able to snag a January issue of GAME! Magazine to serve as my ticket to attending the Philippine Online Gaming Summit (POGS) 2008 event held at the TriNoma Mall located at North Edsa. I arrived around past 10AM and I could see a lot of people already. Even though I have my magazine as the ticket, I still to register for the entrance. After doing such, I got a card that I can have stamped from several booths for freebies. Of course, the Granado Espada/e-Games booth is what I went after first! :P So, I just typed my details and got a poster. The poster was like an ad to promote G.E. in the Philippines. I did subscribe to the text/SMS updates for my cellphone number and I got a freebie item code. We'll talk about that freebie later. Anyhoo, I was looking for another booth to have my card stamped. When I approached a booth selling old issues of Hinge Inquirer Publications magazines, I had to purchase an old issue in order to get a stamp from that booth. I decided to forgo this "quest" and wandered around the e-Games gaming area.

I met Ms. Ivee Feria (please correct spelling if necessary) and asked where DeSanggria and Veya were. After a short chat, she had to go back at the e-Games booth. Reclusion and DeSanggria called my attention and we were all giddy to see each other with Veya! Fiksdotter has arrived as well and so did NineMoons! Yay, it was a happy gathering for us GE Bloggers! I took the chance to participate in the 2-on-2 PVP tourney that was gonna happen around 4PM and my teammate was Fiksdotter! We all decided to have lunch together. NineMoons led us to the food court located at the second floor since the food court I knew at Landmark has the tendency to be very crowded. After the Reclusion brothers got their order, I took the opportunity to help myself on orders of Shrimp Puffs and Shark's Fin Dumpling with Hainanese Rice to go along with these two dishes, plus a bottle of C2 Lemon as well. We were still in happy mode as we talked about many things including the Fantazzztic Film Awards. DeSanggria made the conversation lively by making us imagine Andre Janzur wearing just a white t-back walking around saying "Let's Walk Elegantly!" I did the same by "successfully" impersonating Andre's voice! :D

After the lunch, we headed back to event where we hanged out the area near the center stage. We were able to have Reclusion's two films "Not Another Love Story?" and "Lonely Hearts Club part 2" shown and it was a happy moment. We really enjoyed that moment since it was available for the public to watch! :D And to my joy, Welling made an appearance! Plus, I got to know another blogger who's been around G.E. for a good amount of time and she is Sigrid!

When the 2-on-2 PVP event started, me and Fiksdotter were among the first to participate. Our opponents were Welling and his faction mate from AF and we got simply owned from those two. They did have a tough time when I used The Defender Veteran Stance since it was challenging for them to wipe me out fast! Nevertheless, it was a great experience trying out a Veteran Stance (and not to mention a serious PVP match!). As the tourney went along, I think Welling's team won the event! Please confirm that, please! :D

After the event, I remembered something. I wanted to have my fellow GE Bloggers sign their siggies (my plural form of the slang "siggy") on my GAME! Magazine. This issue will now be forever treasured, even after G.E. We stayed a little longer for a performance by Moonstar88 and the raffle. Too bad neither of any of us won a Nintendo Wii or a Gaming PC.

NineMoons led us bloggers to a fancy place to eat, namely at Toast Box. I decided to sample their Thick Toast with Kaya on top, plus a couple of Soft-Boiled eggs and coffee. It was a totally new experience since it was my first time. That Kaya was delicious! We parted after having our "dinner" and wished the best to each other. Another "happiest moment" is now chronicled ever since my experience during the Intel Machinimasia Movie-Making Workshop I attended and covered (not to mention getting blogspotted for it!).

Well, looking forward to great events in the Philippines related G.E. (if my work schedule allows it! :P )! If you'll excuse me, I'll just go dancing at High Street 5!

The Intel Machinimasia Movie-Making Workshop

I was able to reserve a seat at the Intel Machinimasia Movie-Making Workshop to be held at the Ascott Towers nearby Glorietta 4. I left real early from the house and decided to wait since I made a reservation for the second batch. It seemed I arrived early and decided to shift to the first batch. Also, a Granado Espada booth was nearby but it was empty. It was really a great experience to use Intel Core 2 Quad PCs but if you ask me, my cousin's PC was still the best experience!

However, this experience very different from the workshop I attended at the Hataw Hanep Hero 3 event. We were all learning here, since a majority of those who attended are not Granado Espada players. When we got to the part of making movies, that's where I had to think of an impromptu story. With my (diverse) character selection, I came up with the idea of Catherine being new to the outside world. To "spice" things up, I decided to do voice-overs since the earphones had microphones and it's top class (unlike my PC!). After capture numerous in-game footages, I now had to compile them into a 2-minute movie. I had 2 scenes omitted because it was getting past the 2-minute mark. I didn't feel embarrassed in voicing FEMALE CHARACTERS! Yes, I voiced my Female Elementalist and Catherine myself! :P While making the movie with Windows Movie Maker, they handed the attendees (including me) a free 1GB USB Flash Drive to save the movie with! Oh yeah, that's one freebie I'll never forget and forever treasure. Of course, I had to make a copy of the movie in the desktop of the PC I was using. Well, I was so happy that I was able to finish and save my movie. That's when DeSanggria arrived to attend the workshop as well!

My batch was already over and the organizers were getting ready to welcome the next batch. I helped myself for some snacks (or what's left on the table). Boy, those Spring Rolls and Danish Pastries were really yummy! I also got my other freebies from Intel, Globe and e-Games. NineMoons made an appearance and so does Philippines Community Manager Veya! While NineMoons waited for her batch, we conversed about Granado Espada and I even asked her opinion about Senator Antonio Trillanes IV's actions. Can't say anymore because it would be too dangerous for me to publicly share others' opinions in Philippine Poltics (worse, I or anyone involved could get in trouble!). Oh yeah, I asked her about it since the Ascott Hotel was formerly the Oakwood Hotel where Trillanes staged a mutiny. I also got my chance to converse with Veya every now and then.

DeSanggria wasn't able to finish her movie through the course of the workshop but she was very satisfied with the experience she learned. NineMoons was next to go and attended her batch with Darrick of the Reclusion Family. Poor little Nate didn't get to go since he wasn't able to get a slot. Little Nate ended up with me, DeSanggria and Veya outside Meeting Room 10. I decided to stay longer since I was in the company of my fellow bloggers. It seems Welling couldn't make it because of classes and Fiksdotter had to focus on his thesis (although he will attend tomorrow). When we noticed that the food was being "refilled," we helped ourselves with Spring Rolls, Siomai, Danish Pastries and Petite Fruit Pies! Oh yeah, were we happy! Little Nate was really nice to save some food for his brother Darrick. Well, the food ran out real fast (well, the Siomai ran out but there was still some Spring Rolls)! :P It also nice for the hotel staff to register for freebies at the Granado Espada booth. We talked a lot of issues in Granado Espada but I choose not to elaborate on it. Well, I can "divulge" that Selwyn isn't the Malaysian Community Manager for Granado Espada. No wonder why the Malaysian players have no... events? Also, some of the lecturers were leaving already and I got the chance to have a photo op (thanks to DeSanggria).

Little Nate was able to sign up for the last batch but this will make his older brother Darrick wait for him. Well, looks like he wants the 1GB USB Flash Drive freebie! :D When Darrick and NineMoons exited the event, they got whatever food was left at the table. I spent some time with them and Little Nate attended the last session. It seems to come to my attention that mostly of the attendees are not GE players and a majority of them are college students. Looks like the website, in-game announcement and e-mail wasn't the only medium of getting the word out. It was getting late for me, so I had to leave and say my goodbyes to my fellow bloggers. This is one experience I will never forget! :D



My Machinima Entry!
Hope I win that PC!!! I want it!!! Wait a sec, where's my Bear Package? I did make a reservation! :P

Hataw Hanep Hero 3 and GE goes F2P

Attending Hataw Hanep Hero was really great! Of course, there was a really long line of people when I got there approximately before 11AM. After a span of two hours, I was able to get inside and the SMX Convention Center is WAAAAAY huge! Fortunately, I was able to spot the Granado Espada booth and met up with DeSanggria! She was in her Idge Imbrulia costume once again with her Castor Sword. It was my very first time to meet Philippines Community Manager Veya! When we introduced each other, it was kind of "bland" at first but when I stated who I was, we were like esctastic on meeting each other in real life! :D

After writing things here and there, I decided to take a trip around the whole convention. I was was able to to see Japanese objects, powerful PCs, the food stall and a lot of exhibitors selling anime stuff. NineMoons was able to make it and she decided to go around the convention. That Stranglehold game was really beautiful for me to play and I tried playing some racing game as well. Since most of the visitors had goodie bags, I wanted to claim one as well. I was able to find the redemption booth and I finally got a goodie bag! I decided to hang around the GE booth and wait for the film making seminar. Looks like the Fiksdotter and Reclusion families also made an appearance. It was kind of awkward because of the noise but we enjoyed in attempting to make movies with GE. We were awarded certificates for our attendance as well. Looking for something to eat, I ended buying Fettuccine Carbonara and it sparked a little idea to entertain! I bought another Carbonara and brought it at the GE booth. I decided to reenact the part when Andre Janzur felt depressed when he went out of control in drinking the tainted holy water up to the part where Andre eats the Carbonara. It seems I have amused DeSanggria and Reclusion very well. Reclusion even said that I should cosplay as Andre Janzur! :P No way I'm gonna do that! Oh yeah, I was able to bump into Syeri as I exited the convention! :D

In other news, the Singaporean Granado Espada is now Free-to-play! I was really shocked when I read the announcement at the website before I left for Hataw Hanep Hero 3. Woah, looks like the game is easier on the pocket now! I can look forward to future expansions and play at my own pace now.

Fellow bloggers have made comments on this issue:

• Fiksdotter
• NineMoons
• Novastorm
  
• Arcleaumont
• Rococo (Warning! Contains rants!)
  

Well, looks like my future in GE... is secured! :D Side note: The OutCasts Faction made an appearance as well!

1st Granado Espada Bloggers Meeting

Hey there! I'm just making an entry since I attended the first Granado Espada Bloggers Meeting (in the Philippines that is) that was organized by NineMoons. Of course, other bloggers (from Casa Reclusion, DeSanggria, Welling and Fiksdotter) and came by at the said event and it was a blast.

We covered important topics such as issues going around each server. Only servers Carracci, Caravaggio and Cervantes were covered and it seem seach servers has its own expeiences and issues. NineMoons discussed on how to improve our blogs in many ways. What I ealrned from that part was linking websites in the post itself. Notice that the bloggers' names have link in 'em. It helps linking each other and to pages where we'd like to share the info.

To give an example of the link thingy, here's what you should do:

Granado Espada is an MMORPG that allows you to control three characters. Currently, sGE is already in commercial phase while its U.S. counterpart, Sword of the New World, is Free-to-play.

It shouldn't be like this:

Granado Espada is an MMORPG that allows you to control three characters. Currently, sGE is already in commercial phase while its U.S. counterpart, Sword of the New World, is Free-to-play.

Damn, there too many stuff discussed that I only remembered a little! :P Well, at least I hope I gave my share of the experience! :D

Looks like NineMoons even had plans to go to the "New Worlds" event. Go check it out here. It also includes her share of her experience during this Bloggers Meeting.

I still want to play GE but my PC is still unstable. I better have it checked ASAP! :(