Grand Chase

Grand Chase
Developer(s)	KOG Studios
Publisher(s)	Gamania, SG Interactive, Level Up! Games, Megaxus
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	KOR August 2003 JP August 10, 2005 BR June 28, 2006 NA March 8, 2008 PH November 4, 2008 IND May 8, 2010 SA March 3, 2011
Genre(s)	Fantasy MMO Fighting Platform Side-scroller
Mode(s)	Multiplayer
Distribution	Download

Grand Chase (Korean: 그랜드체이스, lit. Grand Chase) is a free-to-play, two-dimensional side-scrolling MMORPG developed by the South Korean company KOG Studios.

Grand Chase has servers in South Korea, Taiwan & Hong Kong, Brazil, Philippines, United States, Latin America, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Alternate names for Grand Chase include 3小俠 (Chinese: lit. Three Young Heroes) used on the Taiwan server; however, it has now been changed to 永恆冒險 (Eternal Adventures). Another name used previously was 彩虹骑士 (Rainbow Warriors) by the Chinese (Mainland) server. The reopening of the Chinese (Mainland) server will also use the name of the Taiwan and Hong Kong Server.

Gameplay

While gameplay in Grand Chase is primarily keyboard-driven, the game menu's interface is, by contrast, primarily mouse-driven, although some in-game key commands may be user-defined. Due to the combos and special attacks, the game has a feel that is similar to side-scrolling fighting games such as Double Dragon, while the appearance and design of the backdrops, as well as the characters and monster, puts the game in an anime-esque setting. While it is an action game, the designers took care to not make a "button masher".^[1]

The game is free-to-play, where players need to earn currency known as Game Points (GP) from completing dungeon quests, individual missions, or defeating other players to buy better equipment and items, but there are some items that can only be purchased with real-world currency. In Grand Chase, players start off role-playing as one of three main heroines (or Sieghart on the Korean server, and as of the latest update, Rin), and will be able to unlock more playable characters by completing specific missions. These missions can be bought with GP or from the cash shop. However, the player may freely switch among the characters he or she has unlocked before entering combat, each with their own specific equipment, skills and experience level.^[2]

Experience

After each expedition into a dungeon, characters gain experience points. While the amount of experience gained is partially dependent on the player's performance in a dungeon, and the player's character's level, every player will gain some experience. The player's character is also given additional experience upon the completion of every mission. When sufficient experience is obtained, the player's character will advance by one level. Higher levels improve statistics and grant access to better equipment. Experience can also be gained through player versus player.

Dungeon Mode and Parties

When entering a dungeon, a player may form a group of players, also known as a party, to complete it. When choosing a dungeon to play, the player is given the option to create a party of their own or join one created by another player. The creator of the game, known as the host, can regulate whoever joins his or her party by locking the game with a password, or otherwise leave it unprotected, allowing any user to join. He or she is also given the option to kick any player prior to or after the completion of a dungeon. Each dungeon consists of a certain number of floors, or levels, usually with a boss on the final floor.

Items needed to complete quests will automatically be given to the player at a certain rate after the monster is defeated by any member of the party. All other items are distributed to different party members by a "dice" system. When an item is picked up by any party member, each member of the party rolls their own set of dice; the outcome ranged from 2 to 100. The player with the highest number wins the item. The player is unable to roll the dice for items if their inventory is full. The size of the inventory can be increased with +10, +30 and +60 Bags, which can be acquired by purchasing with Cash or through some Events. To encourage group play, there is a slight experience boost when working together. Because each party has a maximum limit of four players, and each player may freely choose whichever character he or she wants to use, there is a chance that two or more players will control the same playable character. However, they can be identified separately through their screen name.

Relay Dungeon

The Relay Dungeon can be entered the same way as a normal dungeon. Up to 4 players may form a party and attempt the Relay Dungeon together. In the Relay Dungeon the player fights through every boss on the Continent in order. The bosses in the Relay Dungeon have increased statistics, making them harder to defeat. After a boss is defeated, a chest opens, which contains many valuable items, including Cash items. Any boss that has been released in a dungeon can be chosen. This mode is only available during certain events.

Player versus Player

Players can also compete against each other in combat. There are two types of player versus player combat in Grand Chase, Team Battles and Survival, with additional options of choosing between Tag and Fight, No Item and Item Mode. Win/loss statistics are recorded for these matches. There is no time limit.

Modes

Team Battles

Team battles consist of two, four, or six players and can be played in one-, two-, and three-a-side formations. Each player is given the option to join either the Serdin Team or Kanavan Team, although they cannot change sides during a match. As such, it is theoretically possible for a Team Battle to be unbalanced in terms of the number of players per side; but this is only possible if one of the players disconnects during the loading or leaves in the middle of the game, otherwise the teams must be even in order for the host to start the match. Team battles encourage players to plan their attack strategies and co-operate with one another to defeat the opposing team. Players are unable to harm their teammates.

Survival

A mode where anywhere between two to six players battle with the other players until only one player is left alive. The surviving player, once a match is over, is given first place and then it is ordered based on whoever has the most kills. The top ranked half of the Players in the room will get a win (if there is an odd number of players then the number of winners is rounded down). This is done to encourage players to fight instead of hide and run from the others until he or she is the only player left alive aside from the actual winner (the person who fought and survived against all others (the winner in terms of fair play).

Smashing

This mode appears as a special event, usually centered around holidays like Halloween and Christmas. This mode is generally considered the same for all special events. The only difference in this event is the target of the "smashing". For example at Christmas the target of the smashing might be a snowman and for Halloween the player might be asked to smash pumpkins. When smashing, two teams attempt to smash the special seasonal items that belong to the opposing team. The team who accomplishes this first wins the game. However, like Team Battles, the opposing teams can be unbalanced. Players are still allowed to kill other players in this mode. However, it should be noted that every player in a smashing event has unlimited lives during the event and if a player is killed he or she will respawn after a 3 second countdown.

Honor Guard

This mode is essentially a team battle where one member of each team is randomly selected as a 'Warlord' upon the start of the match, shown by a red/blue marker. The aim of the game is to successfully defeat the opposing team's Warlord twice before your own is beaten. Warlords are given double regular stats to help defend themselves from the opposing team, while other players have stats equal to each other. Furthermore, a Warlord has only two lives, whereas other players can respawn after defeat endlessly. Should a Warlord be defeated once, the other team's Warlord suffers from a drastically lowered level of defense for 10 seconds. As well, warlords cannot regenerate health. Similar to the Smashing modes, respawn time is increased to 5 seconds for all players.

Options

Tag Match

Tag Match allows players to play with two characters of their choice. By pressing a button, they can switch characters during the course of a fight. However, if one of the characters is killed, the player can no longer switch to that character. Then the player is automatically switched to their other character.^[3]

Item Mode

When Item Mode is turned on, power ups will be dropped onto the battlefield at regular intervals throughout the match and can be used by the player that picks them up. These power ups grant the player special abilities, such as invisibility or invincibility, for a short duration of time. Each player can store up to three power ups at any time and use them in any order they wish. If a player is killed while holding items, the items are dropped and available to be picked up by another player.

Characters

There are multiple playable characters to use and players can switch characters between dungeons. Each character is leveled and equipped separately. Equipment is character-specific, but not all accessories are character-specific and the choice of character is similar to class choice in most games.

These are characters which the players may play, and advance their classes and develop their skills accordingly. In the Korean server and in the American server there are 9 females and 10 males.

The base characters starting on 1/21/14 include Elesis, Lire, Arme, Rin, Edel, and Veigas. Edel and Veigas are unique as they have character specific quests to complete before you can use them with other players.

The other characters include Lass, Ronan, Ryan, Amy, Jin, Sieghart, Mari, Dio, Zero, Ley, Rufus, Rin, Asin, and Lime.

Players are given six characters as their starting characters and unlock other characters through quests. These quests can either be purchased through GP or real-world currency. There are currently a total of 19 different characters available ; each of which have (or will have) four jobs of their own (excluding Asin and Lime who have "special jobs). New job classes hold an entirely new weapon, except for Action Point (AP) characters, Edel, Rin, and Lime who stick to the same weapon, but unlock a new skill tree.

Releases

Grand Chase was officially released in Korea sometime in August 2003, and Brazil on June 28, 2006.^[4]

There was also a Japanese version of the game that commenced beta testing on August 10, 2005, and went gold three months later. However, the Japanese servers have been taken down as of June 22, 2007.^[5]

A Chinese (Mainland) Server was opened on June 1, 2006 and closed down a year later on August 30, 2007.

Beta testing for the SEA server commenced on November 21, 2007 and ended on December 28, 2007, whereupon it was officially released to the public.^[6] The SEA servers have been taken down as of April 14, 2009.^[7]

In North America, the game was officially released on March 8, 2008.^[8]

A server has been set up in the Philippines in October 2008 and is in commercial release as of November 4, 2008. ^[9]

A server has been set up in Thailand in September 2009 and is in Open Beta release as of October 22, 2009.^[10]

Another server has also been set up in Indonesia March 2010 and is in Open Beta release.

A Spanish server for Latin America Players has been set up in March 2011.^[11]

The Hong Kong server has closed down and Gamania has opened a transfer page to the Taiwan server. The transfer page has since been removed.

A European CBT server was set up in February 2012 but was then closed on the 22nd of the same month.

The Chinese Mainland server has been announced to be reopened under a new company. Closed Beta was on May 16, 2013.

Expansions

In January 2008, KOG Studios released an expansion titled Grand Chase Season 2, which is essentially a patch featuring a plethora of new feature, map and characters. Currently, all servers have officially incorporated Grand Chase Season 2. In December 2009 Koreas Grand Chase upgraded to Grand Chase Season 3 was released and started off with a new character, Mari^[12]

Currently as of March 18, 2010, Grand Chase Season 3 has been incorporated into the Thailand Grand Chase server. On April 28, 2010, Grand Chase Season 3 has been incorporated into the North American Grand Chase server. On May 12, 2010, Grand Chase Season 3 has been incorporated into the Brazilian Grand Chase server as well. On June 1, 2010, Grand Chase Season 3 has also been incorporated into Grand Chase Philippines server. It features an all new rewards system, improvement in graphics, added abilities to weapons, new changes to existing continents as well as two new continents, new missions and an overhaul in the storyline as well as character's appearances.

Another expansion to Season 3 called Grand Chase Season 3 Act 2 has been incorporated into all servers. This expansion features monsters cards to power up equipment to characters, as well as a new item system where you are able to create and dismantle items. On December 9, 2010, another Expansion called Grand Chase Chaos (a sub-project of the Project EF, a major expansion/review of the game's storyline/characters) has been incorporated into the Korean servers releasing content which furthers the story line and a new character, Zero, However, the Brazilian server was the first server to receive Zero and right after it was secondly released in the Korean server, mimicking Dio's release into the North American server.

As of May second, another expansion called Grand Chase Chaos has been implemented in the North American Server of Grand Chase. Grand Chase Chaos consists of a new streamlined UI, Dual weapons system, Fusion (Avatar System) system, Animated accessories, Level cap increased (From 75 to 80) New Seal Breaker, and New Gacha Items.

All servers of Grand Chase have different contents/updates prior to the implementation of Grand Chase Chaos, since not all of the servers were opened at the same time.

As of March 2012, another expansion called Grand Chase Heroes was released in Korea and USA. The Survey and Mailbox System and as well as a new character with a new playing style named "Rin" was released.

Another Expansion released is Grand Chase: Resurrection but was released in the Philippines and Northern American servers as Rebirth.

Later with the release of the new character, Edel Frost, the next Expansion, titled Grand Chase: Eternal, was released.

On Dec 5,2013 KOG published on Korean Sever Released another Expansion titled Grand Chase: Season 5, Including many changes to improve the game.

References

External links

• Grand Chase at IGN
• Grand Chase at MobyGames
• Grand Chase ID at Megaxus
• Grand Chase PH at Level Up! Games Philippines
• Grand Chase - Mainland China at ChangYou
• Grand Chase BR at Level Up! Games Brazil
• Grand Chase NA at GameRage
• Grand Chase Korean Server (Main Server) at Netmarble
• Grand Chase Lantino at Axeso5