Review of Granado Espada

There's a MMO in Singapore called Granado Espada. For those of you if no idea what it's about, Granado Espada is an Age of Exploration fantasy MMORPG. Think the discovery of America in a new fantasy world.

I will give them this. These folks are giving their all to promote this new MMO. Advertisements on TV, a lauch party at Zouk, free sign-up plans with Singtel; the marketing people of the game are doing a great job. But that is marketing; how is the game?

Now, technically, I can't suggest you play it. First off, there are still some bugs in the game. You start by creating a Family. You then start creating your characters and can control 3 characters at a time in the game. You contol one character and the other two will follow your lead. You attack someone and the other two will attack the monster along with you. Unfortuately you can only have one leader and I find that you cannot switch leaders. The game allows you to switch the leader but everytime I do so, the other two characters will stop attacking the monsters. They will follow you around but that's it. They will do nothing else.

Also, when you put on new armour and weapons, the graphics does not change. This is just unforgivable to me. You see your new stuff when you put them on. That is just a given in any RPG! Not in this game. And everyone starts from the same city, so there is lag whenever you enter the city. Avoiding the city is almost impossible as all the traders and quest-givers are there.

However, the game did get some things right. First off, the setting is good. Age of Exploration is a setting no other RPG has taken on so far, so in this it is one of a kind. The music is solid, it fits the game perfectly. The graphics are also clean and colourful. AKA, it looks and sounds great. I also like the fact you can recuit NPCs to your family. You do their quests (or series of quests), and they will stay with your family along with the characters you have created. (For some reason, these NPCs you recuit cannot level up. I don't know but maybe it's another bug.)

The game is still in early beta, so there should be improvements in the near future. Overall, Granado Espada is a game that shows promise, but doesn't quite deliver. It will need to much better if it intend to lure me away from 9Dragons.