About
Sword of the New World
Granado Espada, known as Sword of the New World: Granado Espada in North America is a Korean fantasy MMORPG developed by IMC Games Co., Ltd., and published in North America by K2 network. It launched in the summer of 2007. Granado Espada won the 2006 Korean awards for Best Graphics and Game of the Year, with features previously unseen in an MMORPG (such as the ability for players to control multiple characters at the same time). Granado Espada features a unique art style based on the Baroque period of Europe, differing from the standard swords and sorcery fantasy themes of the genre.
In the Sword of the New World there are some game features, for example: Multiple character control: Granado Espada distinguishes itself from many modern-day MMORPGs with a Multiple Character Control, or MCC, system. Rather than playing one character at a time, or using multiple clients, players may control a party of up to three characters at a time, making game play similar to a real-time strategy game. Up to three characters can be selected to be part of a team within the "Quarters" at the barracks. Any member of the party can be selected to be part of a team, regardless of differences in levels or classes.
There are various modes by which the party AI will automate the other two characters to adapt to different mob situations and areas, among them an Assault Mode, in which the team will attempt to engage all mobs they encounter; a Defend Mode, in which the scout or healer (if any) will automatically heal all members upon fighting mobs, and other modes for areas with a lighter concentration of mobs. The player is responsible primarily for controlling the lead character, while the other two characters will act and react according to the mode manually set by the player using ctrl commands. Areas and quests: The dungeons in Granado Espada are interspersed between towns and generally composed of three levels with successively more difficult mobs. There are Waypoints or saved locations that player characters may teleport to for a fee, or through the use of a warp scroll, to save an explorer much of the journey back and forth. Each dungeon's final level terminates in a Mission Room for a single player, or a room in which a boss mob may be challenged by teams of players. Missions are instances, wherein players get their own "instance" of a specific map just for themselves, thus there can be several players attempting to kill a boss in a dungeon within their own instances.
Traveling to different areas is extremely convenient as players are allowed to warp to any waypoint, regardless of whether the area has been visited before. Thus a new player will be able to visit most of the towns at an early stage and is not required to make exploration trips to find a new town. Areas are also provided with a full local area map, to save a player from the trouble of having to explore a newly-discovered area.
Quests are not an integral part of Granado Espada, but do serve to provide some rewards such as "Vis" (the game's currency), experience cards, equipment or RNPC (playable NPC) cards. Various NPCs throughout the towns and in some dungeon locations may be spoken with to initiate quests, which, like in traditional MMORPG format, usually consist of killing a number of monsters and/or obtaining their drops. Dueling and team PVP: Granado Espada has a Dueling System by which a player may issue a challenge to another player's team. Both teams then enter a combat arena separate from the rest of the actual game world to do battle.