Granado Espada, Top Korean MMORPG Coming To U...

Granado Espada, Top Korean MMORPG Coming To US And Europe

Not long after Gravity announced plans to bring Ragnarok Online 2 one step closer to the West, another top Korean MMORPG now sets out on the international path of glory. Granado Espada, as it's known in Korea, will also be released in North America and Europe this summer by K2 Network, who came up with the not-so-brilliant idea of renaming it as Sword of the New World. This won't be the only difference between K2's version and the Korean version, but before we get there, there are a few things we should mention about the original first.

As proclaimed by K2 in their announcement, Granado Espada is "Korea's most popular and highly decorated" MMORPG, and the winner of the 2006 Grand Award for Best Game in Korea. Even more convincing is that the game is developed by Hakkyu Kim's imcGAMES studio - Kim being none other than the creator of Ragnarok Online (which once again claims to have 25 million subscribers worldwide)!

Shortly put, the game is a fantasy MMO whose story is modeled after Europe's exploration of the New World in the 17th century, and it's set on the newly discovered continent of Granado Espada. Its most striking gameplay innovation is that it allows players to create - and simultaneously control - not only one, but a family of characters, utilizing the exclusive Multiple Character Control (MCC) system.

All that will also hold true for Sword of the New World, but K2's westernized version will offer a new character customization feature with hundreds of costume options, while an improved control scheme and in-game tutorial will make controlling multiple characters familiar and comfortable for MMO players. In addition, Sword of the New World promises to include an all-new story with hundreds of new quests.

Right now we only have a single Sword of the New World screenshot in our newly opened gallery, but more are on the way. In the meantime, the official website offers a few more screenshots at very low resolution (and not at all impressive I might add), and aside from some brief info about the game, it also lets you register for future announcements related to the upcoming beta testing phase. Of course there's going to be one!

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)