Grand Fantasia is a free-to-play MMORPG set in an expansive and carefully crafted fantasy world. Recently it entered the open beta phase, so it’s a perfect time to learn more about it.

FreeMMOGamer: Can you introduce yourself and your role on Grand Fantasia?

My name is Jehanzeb Hasan and I’m a Jr. Project Manager on the Release Team at Aeria Games. Our team has dabbled in a little bit of everything during the launch process for Grand Fantasia, from localization and design to marketing and community management.

FreeMMOGamer: What is Grand Fantasia?

Grand Fantasia is a free-to-play fantasy MMORPG that introduces a variety of new features to the genre. In addition to refining traditional western MMO gameplay and mechanics, Grand Fantasia offers players an innovative pet management and crafting system, an incredible variety of mounts, a player-based economy, team-based PvP battlefields, player statue and romance systems, epic dungeons, huge world bosses, and much, much more.

FreeMMOGamer: How many classes are there, and which one is your favorite?

The game actually offers branching class trees, so, although players choose from among four starting classes at level five, they work their way up to specializing in one of eight master classes – Berserker, Paladin, Assassin, Ranger, Cleric, Sage, Wizard, or Necromancer. The crucial class decisions arise at level fifteen and thirty.

Personally, I enjoy playing the role of tank in groups, so I naturally lean towards the Berserker class. I must say, however, the Assassin has some nice looking class-specific armor, and I’m a sucker for that sort of stuff, so I’m a bit torn.

FreeMMOGamer: What about mounts? How many are there?

If you include all the variations of different mount types, there’s a total of 86. We have a video on our YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/GrandFantasia) that showcases a few of them. The game offers quite a range of mounts – everything from wolves and pandas to unicorns and dragons. Not all mounts will be readily available at launch as some will be released in future updates.

FreeMMOGamer: You mention Sprite companions. What are these and their purpose?

This is probably one of the defining features of our game. When you create a character, you also create and customize a guardian sprite companion. Although you start with one, you can have up to three at a single time. These little guys have dynamic mood, energy, skill, and relationship scores that can all be affected by player actions and events.

Sprites can be outfitted with talents, clothing, and items; gather resources and craft valuable items for you; and chat with you as you progress through the world of Saphael. Additionally, if you ever grow tired of your Sprite, you can release them at an altar and acquire bonuses based on their growth.

FreeMMOGamer: Do you plan on introducing micro-transactions in Grand Fantasia?

Eventually, yes. We have a fairly large virtual mall in the works. The kinds of items we’ll be offering, however, are primarily items of convenience and vanity – nothing that will dramatically affect gameplay or imbalance the game. Maintaining an even playing field is very important to us.

FreeMMOGamer: What is the Player Romance system?

Although we don’t plan on launching with the romance system, it’s certainly something that’s on the horizon. Once implemented, players will be able to form unions, unlock a relationship panel, and accrue relationship points. These points serve as a kind of in-game currency that couples can use to purchase special skills and items. Additionally, players in a relationship will gain certain bonuses while playing together.


FreeMMOGamer: Can you elaborate on the Player Statue feature?

Sure. We don’t want to reveal too much about this feature just yet, but what I can tell you is that there are certain legendary feats players can accomplish to earn themselves a huge in-game statue bearing their name. Statues stand outside the gates of major cities throughout the world and bear the likeness of the character that unlocked it.

FreeMMOGamer: How is the Closed Beta going? Any valuable feedback from players yet?

Closed Beta just came to an end recently, and it was a smashing success – both in terms of the number of signups and logins, and the overall stability of the process. From what I’ve heard around the office, it’s been the most successful launch Aeria Games has had to date.

Our community is definitely one of our greatest assets. They’ve been very helpful in zeroing in on bugs, providing qualitative feedback, and working with our support staff to test numerous features and mechanics. We’re already in the process of incorporating changes to the game based on their input.

FreeMMOGamer: When do you expect the final version of Grand Fantasia to be released?

Very, very soon. Open Beta is already up, so anyone interested can download the game and give it a try. Best of all, players who participate in OB will be able to keep their characters and retain their progress when the game officially launches. So, if you want a head start, now is the time to visit the official site (http://grandfantasia.aeriagames.com) and start playing.

FreeMMOGamer: Thank you for your time!