Grand Chase

I haven't updated in a loooooong time, so I figured I should do so involving a game I'm currently playing often. And that game is Grand Chase, a side scrolling MMORPG fighting game... yes, an MMO. It's takin' my soul, but I must admit that with friends, I really enjoy the game.

So, Loli Fighter 3000--err--Grand Chase is, as mentioned above, a sexy MMORPG fighting game. Hack, slash, hack, slash, level up, etc. It has its ups, it has its downs, but I still love it as long as I'm not playing it alone. Like most/all MMOs, it's more party oriented than anything, so doing everything solo is practically a chore. Anyways, back to the content of the game.

Basically some evil dude causing havoc, heroes wanna save the day, etc. The usual cliched story. I've never actually read the conversations going on after the newb areas. Games starts off with a swordsman named Elesis, a mage named Arme, and an archer names Lire, all lolis--er--jailbait--er--girls, which is oddly enough a major problem to new people. Instead of making your characters, you pick one to use from the storyline, so many males(I didn't. >:|) complain about why they're female and bash the game and leave. Hilarious stuff. You start with the aforementioned three and unlock more as you progress and do their quests. There are a total of 7 characters currently with an 8th on the way. The other charactes are Ronan the magic swordsman, Lass the thief/assassin, Ryan the druid, and Amy the... dancer, I guess. The upcoming character's name is Jin, I believe. His role is a monk(FF style with the fists and the claws and the punching and the etc.). My personal favorite is Ronan. Why? Aegis Knight. Fucking awesome. When used by the right person, you can block damn near any attack. Screw you nubs with your Lass. Assassins are over rated.
Each character has at least one extra class to upgrade to via missions. Elesis and Lire have their 4th in already. I want more Ronan love, but since he loses his shield as the new Abyss Knight... I don't think I'll ever use it. Ever.

So, gameplay. Simple. When you're doing jack shit, you're on a map with all dungeons you currently have unlocked. Pick one, go there, kick some ass, reach the boss, kick more ass, claim your loot. Simple stuff. Not going into detail about the combat because it would take time I don't wanna use for it, but I guess a little info would be nice. Basically spam attacks while each hit recovers MP. Your MP bar as 3 sections. 1st is 1st level skill, 2nd is 2nd, 3rd is 3rd. They each have their strengths and weaknesses. Holding the attack button will highlight your MP bar and slowly rise to the maximum current MP you have. Letting it go shortly before the 1st bar's limit(or a while before the 2nd) will execute your 1st skill. The rest is pretty straightforward from there. When using most skills, you're invincible while they are being used. Using level 1 skills helps when you're about to be attacked with something that would lead to your death. Anyways, that's pretty much all there is to it when it comes to combat. Back attacks and aerial attacks deal double damage, and... that's really it.

PvP is awesome. Why? Aegis Knight(again). Again, you Lass nubs can't take my Ronan. "Block, block, block, block, block, DIVINE SLAM." On a more serious note, the PvP in Grand Chase is fun. Teams of 3 or free for alls of up to 6 people, several maps(a couple that blow like hell)... it would be great if it wasn't so... unbalanced at times. Mostly because of Lass, surprisingly. For those people that either waste their lives or money(I'll elaborate on the money part later) on getting to Dark Assassin, they break PvP with cheap strategies. One of their skills allows them to be insivible. While in PvP and you're not being attacked, your HP regenerates. See where I'm going with this? Most... nay, ALL Dark Assassins I have encounted would do hit and runs to heal. The skill is also a level 1 skill, and since MP regens WITH HP... yeah... they can spam it like there's no tomorrow. It's irrititating seeing yourself do so well against a DA just to see them use their skill(I think it's called Invisible Step) and hide in a corner or run around the map. At least winning is much more satisfying when they DO do that. Again, "block, block, block."

Now, about wasting money... it seems Ntreev favors donators over anything. You pay with cash, you get better shit early on. Those of us that are cheap can get the items from quests, but they only last a certain amount of time. Yes, they get deleted after a while. My Ronan lost a weapon that gave 130+ attack after having it for 15 days, and because his level is too low to use higher tier equips, I'm stuck with something that obviously gives 130+ less attack. Huge mistake on Ntreev's part. I think this is one of the reasons why the game isn't widely popular. Pretty much makes you wanna donate. Oh, and using cash also saves several painful hours of work to change classes or unlock characters. They even let you get special skills and pets you can't get elsewhere. If this games wasn't so addictive and fun, I would stop playing for this very reason. Basically, anyone who donates and goes to PvP will dominate the place unless someone else does the same. Their more exclusive pets make things unfair. If you don't donate, you can only get a Slime as a pet. If you do, you can get shit like some blue fairy that can freeze you and give you a major advantage with your skills. Very fair, amirite?

Lesse... what haven't I discussed... oh, the community sucks. I've seen maybe 4 competent people there outside of friends. The rest of the population consists of complete idiots or ignorant nubs. But once you ignore them, you'll have fun. Trust me, it isn't hard to do. Even with the lack of GM activity.

The music is great. Srsly. Maybe not the login music for when you pick servers or the waiting room in PvP... but everything else is. Just felt like bringing that up.

Anyways, I think all I've done was advertise the game... eh, and I got a little rant in there. I'd suggest at least trying it as it doesn't take up too much memory and it's a nice time killer for those of you with time to kill. That and I need more people to play with. Phanir needz frendz pl0x.

I guess that's it for now. And just a heads up, I'm not proofreading this. Any grammatical errors in here will stay that way. I'm tired as I type this. Very, very tired. REVIVAL OF MY BLOG IS COMPLETE.