Gran Saga , a new anime-style MMORPG from South Korean studio NPIXEL, is preparing to conquer Russia and the CIS countries in the fourth quarter of 2024. Pre-registration is already underway on the 4game platform.
Reasons to Pay Attention to Gran Saga
The open-world fantasy universe of Gran Saga has already won the hearts of millions of players in Asia. The game has received over five million downloads and earned nearly $200 million in revenue in Korea, Japan, Taiwan and other countries, earning NPIXEL the title of the fastest-growing unicorn in the Korean gaming industry.
What’s so special about Gran Saga? We’ve collected five reasons to pay attention to the game.
Reason #1: Plot and characters
Rarely can an MMORPG boast a deeply developed plot: as a rule, it is often sacrificed in favor of gameplay. But the authors of Gran Saga managed to come up with a story that captivates from the very beginning. On the one hand, this is an understandable adventure about the confrontation between good and evil: a squad of valiant knights sets off on a dangerous journey to save their native kingdom from dark forces. On the other hand, Gran Saga raises themes of loneliness, freedom of choice, betrayal, tyranny and the search for the meaning of life.
Thanks to a well-thought-out plot, the user quickly understands what exactly he needs to do. This helps to maintain constant interest in the game and the desire to follow the “hero’s path” to the end.
The main characters of Gran Saga deserve a special mention. At the start, six knights of different classes are available (swordsman, guard, sorceress, magician, assassin and sniper). Each of them is a person with a unique character, motivation and shortcomings. The developers tried to “humanize” their characters as much as possible. The game provides unlimited opportunities for those who like to deeply immerse themselves in the plot and psychology of the heroes. Moreover, relationships can be built not only with squad members, but also with other characters.
Reason #2: Quality Localization
The right to publish Gran Saga in Russian was received by the company Innova. It has 16 years of successful localization and release of foreign video games in Russia, the CIS, Europe and Latin America behind it. The most famous projects are Lineage II, Aion, Ragnarok Online Prime, Point Blank and others.
Gran Saga is a fantasy filled with references to Asian culture and mentality, and the game’s naming is often based on consonance and puns that lose their meaning when translated literally. It is important to carefully adapt the text for Russian-speaking players to avoid misunderstandings. More than 20 specialists — translators and literary editors — are currently working on this task. Here are some examples they shared:
- According to the game’s lore, the souls of great heroes turned into gran weapons after death. When they fell into the hands of a worthy knight, they endowed him with unique abilities and power. One of these souls is 샤킬라 (“Shakilla”), the daughter of a sea spirit and a human. The girl has shark-like features, and her name refers to the English word “shark”. But in Russian, this consonance is lost, so it was decided to give her the name “Akulla”;
- The mount (a riding creature that characters can ride) looks like a huge drop of water. In the Russian version of the game, it was called “Bul-Bul”. Obviously, the steed evoked completely different associations for Koreans, since in the original its name sounds like “Riding Sugar” (탄당).
Reason #3: Dynamic gameplay
Gran Saga offers dynamic gameplay with an emphasis on combat. There are many PvE activities available: from resource farming to boss raids. PvP fans will find an arena where they can fight other players for valuable rewards, including weapons and equipment.
While most challenges can be completed solo, Gran Saga also offers social activities, including co-op raids, guild formation, and in-game communication.
The gameplay is based on controlling a squad of three characters with unique abilities. This allows you to experiment with tactics and find effective combinations for various tasks. In some challenges, you can instantly switch between squad members to use their skills.
Reason #4: Character customization and leveling
One of the “features” of Gran Saga is deep character customization. Yes, you won’t be able to create a completely new hero, but the variety of costumes, hairstyles, skin colors and types of makeup allows you to personalize your knights as much as possible. In addition, gran weapons greatly change the appearance of the heroes, their fighting style and abilities.
Players receive gran weapons and artifacts through a summon, which uses in-game currency. It can be purchased for a donation or “earned” the necessary funds during the game. At the same time, Gran Saga is unusually generous: moving forward and completing tasks, the player will be guaranteed to receive gifts for leveling up his character. Users who pre-register before the official release will receive bonuses at the very start.
Reason #5: Cross-platform
In our dynamic age, users do not always have the opportunity to sit at the computer for a long time, enjoying their favorite game. Gran Saga solves this problem, offering players complete freedom of choice of platform: the endless expanses of Esfrozen can be explored both using a PC (in the 4game desktop application) and on the screens of mobile devices.
Bonus
The game was worked on by real legends from the world of game development: the music for Gran Saga was written by Yoko Shimomura, the author of original soundtracks for Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Street Fighter II, Super Mario RPG, Front Mission and many other games. One of the tracks – War of Destiny – can be heard in the official trailer for Gran Saga.
Yoshitaka Amano, the legendary Final Fantasy artist, participated in the development of the game’s logo and art.
Conclusion
In Gran Saga, every player will be able to find content to their liking. The game is now available for pre-registration. The more people register, the more generous the rewards will be at the start of the game . Go to the game’s website at the link , register and follow the news about the project.
After preliminary registration, players are given a personal referral link. For each registered player, they will receive additional resources for upgrading heroes and weapons.