Blogpost 8: Grand Chase: A Game Review

               MMORPG is my favourite gaming genre. I like the way of how an actual MMORPG story is weaved through and the part I play in my character’s role. I notice too that most MMORPG games have a very fascinating story, involves medieval scenarios that I personally love. I played almost at least 10 different MMO’s and this is one of the best games I played so far.

 Grand Chase is one of the many MMORPG games I played. With its 2 Dimensional side scrolling interface, it was one of the most unique MMO I played. Grand Chase features a total of 19 playable characters as to date. Five of them are already yours for free while the remaining 14 acquires a quest completion. Most MMORPG has an avatar type of system wherein you will create your character; Grand Chase is the only game I know that doesn’t do this type of system. Aside from that, this game also features also features a unique way of interface.  It promotes a room system wherein your character will enter a room and play. Players will play in two different modes, whether dungeon or PVP (Player versus Player). Dungeon is a storyline attached gameplay that allows 1-4 players in one room while in PVP total number of players that can play at a single room is 6. In my opinion, though this type of system makes a secluded gameplay of players, it is somehow organized and makes the flow of the game easier.  When I was a newbie gamer, I didn’t found it hard to play this game. With its arcade style of controls, it is very easy to level and gain experience.  Plus this game is free to play so no need for those crazy subscription payments! According to the article “Best Free MMORPGs” by Brandon Widder, “Free-to-play gaming is a young concept, but it’s an alluring one. Whereas big-name titles like World of Warcraft and the upcoming Elder Scrolls Online still require monthly subscriptions, many publishers and developers opt to create titles that are readily accessible on PC (and other platforms) at absolutely no cost to consumers.”

                From my previous blog, I said that one way to classify a good game is by its graphics and visual effects. This game, contrary to most MMORPG, promotes chibi-style characters. Through the first years of the game, graphics is not as astonishing as of today. I encountered gamers that hate cartoonish characters. But to those who likes a cute, bubbly anime ones I suggest playing this game. It may be cartoonish but the visual and digital effects of the game pulls off the quality. According to the article “Cartoony vs. Realism?” by Sophie Linney, “Cartoon games which are praised and valued for battling gaming conventions (Journey, Limbo) are often short in length, quite abstract and open to interpretation, more like an interactive work of art rather than an extensive experience of a story, but perhaps it does hint at a future for a deeper experience of games that are also in this style.”

                Each game has its own pros and cons but we all have this unique taste for whatever we play. I would accept the criticism about my favourite game because not all of us can appreciate anything. But we all have this passion and dedication on whatever we like.