Grand Chase is a 2D side-scrolling action MMO with co-op and versus gameplay modes. Play through dozens of instanced stages on three different continents with up to four players on a team or battle it out in PvP mode. New players start with access to 3 characters and can unlock up to 5 more.

Publisher: Ntreev
Playerbase: Low
Graphics: Low Quality
Type: MMO
EXP Rate: Medium
PvP: Versus mode
Filesize: 584 MB

Pros: +Co-op gameplay. +Every account can play as all classes. +Plenty of quests, good rewards.

Cons: -All three starting characters are female. -Poor graphics. -Must repeat each stage many times. -Lousy tutorial.

• Overview
• Full Review
• Screenshots
• Videos
• Links
• System Requirements

Overview

Grand Chase Overview

Grand Chase is one of the few free MMOs that emphasizes old school co-op gameplay. Rather than a single persistent game world, Grand Chase has a continental map that acts as a sort of lobby where players can either join or host rooms. There are a total of eight characters only three are available from the start, players must complete quests in order to unlock the rest. Grand Chase lets players to freely switch between characters that they have unlocked, each earns its own experience and equipment as they’re played. Most characters have a total of four job advancements though they are not yet released in the North American version of the game. The classes are:

Elesis (female) – She is a close combat specialist who has the highest defense in the game. Elesis has the ability to deflect arrows and go Berserk, causing enemies to levitiate than drop to the ground.
Her job progression is: Knight ? Spearman ? Sword Master ? Savior

Lire (female) – Lire is an Elf who has masterd the bow. Her long distanced attacks keep her out of harm’s way but her ‘heel stomp’ and grab abilities are useful when cornered.
Her job progression is: Archer ? Crossbowman ? Arch Ranger ? Nova

Arme (female) – The mage character of Grand Chase, she is the master of offensive and defensive spells.
Her job progression is: Mage ? Alchemist ? Warlock ? Battle Mage

Lass (male) – Quick and agile, Lass is the rogue of the group. His attacks are not as powerful, his defense is not as high but his speed more than make up for his faults.
His job progression is: Thief ? Assassin ? Dark Assassin ? Striper

Ryan (male) – In tune with nature, Ryan can transform into powerful beasts and deliver devastating combo attacks.
His job progression is: Druid ? Sentinel ? Viken ? Xenocider

Ronan (male) – Ronan mixes magic with his sword attacks and is best described as a warrior/mage hybrid.
His job progression is: Druid ? Sentinel ? Viken ? Xenocider

Amy (female) – Amy is a skilled dancer who’s moves enhance her allies fighting ability. Her high mobility allows her to take part in battle though she has the lowest defense and vitality in the game.
Her job progression is: Dancer ? Muse ? Siren

Jin (male) – Jin is a martial artist who can deliver extremely fast kicks and punches.  He has the ‘burning’ ability which allows him to raise his attack power and a counter attack ability.
His job progression is: Fighter ? Grappler

Here is a small chart of which jobs are currently available for the North American version:

Elesis, Lire, Arme, Ronan – 1st-3rd
Lass –     1st-2nd
Ryan -    1st-2nd
Amy  -    1st
Jin  -    N/A

Grand Chase Screenshots

Grand Chase Feature Video

Full Review

Grand Chase Review

By Erhan Altay

Grand Chase was developed by the Korean company ‘KOG Studios’ and originally released back in 2003. Only in the beginning of 2008 was the game localized and brought to the North American market by Ntreev, the publishers of another 2D MMORPG with cute graphics — Trickster Online. The graphics of Grand Chase were not very impressive even back in 2003 but fancy visuals were never the goal. Instead, Grand Chase is a casual friendly game with simple controls and a mainly cooperative gameplay style. Side scrollers are hard to come by these days so it’s always good to see imaginative games like this being brought over from overseas.

Three For One

Grand Chase doesn’t have a character creation process, instead new players have access to three female characters; a melee fighter, archer, and mage. Each of these can be selected at any time before starting a game. Each levels up and has their own equipment and missions. There are an additional five characters that can be unlocked, 4 of which are male but the fact that none of the starting characters are male can be frustrating. For a detailed explanation of what each character does and their job progression, take a look at the overview tab. Overall, I feel Grand Chase has a good concept going here. Why bother forcing players to make multiple characters or accounts? Since each character must be leveled up independently, this feature also adds a lot to the game’s play time. Unlocking and leveling up all 8 characters is not something must players will commit to but there are always those complitionists out there.

Left to Right

Unlike traditional MMORPGs, Grand Chase has no persistent world and works more in a lobby fashion where players host rooms and others join. There are currently two servers which never get more than mildly populated so finding a full group of adventurers is not always easy. A short, optional tutorial is available to teach the game’s controls but is really not very helpful otherwise. The tutorial pits you against a motionless foe that acts as a training dummy for you to try out all of the game’s attacks. Gameplay is handled exclusively with the keyboard while interface navigation is done through the mouse. Since Grand Chase is a 2D side scrolling game, players can only move left or right, the up arrow causes you to jump and the down arrow descends players to the previous level. ‘Z’ performs your basic attack while holding Z activates special skills. Which skill your character performs is based on how long you hold the ‘z’ key before releasing. The longer you hold, the more powerful the spell. Players can also dash by double tapping either left or right and perform aerial attacks by hitting ‘z’ while jumping. By spamming the attack key, your character pulls off some impressive combos. This along with occasionally moving away and waiting for the AI controlled monsters to do their predictable attacks is usually enough to get past most stages.

Into the Forest

There are currently three continents in the Grand Chase world but players start with access to only the first. Each continent has roughly a dozen stages but it won’t take long to get sick of them. Players will find themselves playing through each stage many, many times since various quest requirements cannot be met with a single run through. To make matters worse, each stage has three difficult settings and certain quests are tied to specific difficulty settings. If you’re looking to work up more than one character at a time, expect to run through some of the stages dozens of times. The fact that you have to repeat stages so often may be frustrating but don’t let that bother you too much, the gameplay in Grand Chase is fast paced and the early stages can be cleared within minutes with a group of four players. Each level has a boss at the end which makes for an exciting finish. Items collected throughout the stage are randomly distributed at the end and the game encourages cooperation by rewarding bonus experience based on the size of the party. This makes grinding through easy stages alone unproductive but finding other players to group with is not always easy.

Side Scrolling Battles

Players looking for an alternative way to earn experience and prefer a more competitive playstyle can turn to the PvP mode. Players can actually earn more experience from PvPing than they can from playing story stages. The experience earned is proportional to how well you perform so players can’t take advantage of this experience method until later levels when they stand a chance in PvP. A tab at the top of the screen puts players in a simple lobby where they can see matches hosted by other players. There is both a team and free for all game mode with up to 6 players per round participating. Other options include ‘Tag Match’ where each player can use two characters and swap between them during the battle. A special item mode can be selected which makes power ups appear around the map. These range from temporary invisibility, invulnerability, damage increases and more. It’s usually much easier to find a PvP game than it is to find a decent group for the PvE missions but the level ranges are usually staggering.

Accessorize!

Players earn GP by completing missions, quests, and by performing well in PvP. With this GP, they can head to the in game store and buy new equipment. There are many pages of clothes, weapons, and accessories available for purchase with either GP or real money. The sheer number of items a player can have equipped at one time is hard to believe, I’ve seen people with a slime pet following them, necklaces, helmets, glowing lights around them and even a gopher over their heads all at once. Most of these items serve a functional use by providing stat boosts but almost every item is temporary, meaning they will disappear after a set time. Even equipment received as quest rewards are timed which can leave you naked until you start playing again and earn new gear. I’ve heard people complain that too many items require real cash to purchase but from my experience, the store had plenty options for free players. Currently, the max level is 60 but the early levels go by very fast which lets you experiment with all three of the starting characters and decide which play style you prefer. Overall, the story missions are relatively easy provided you have a somewhat competent team, the PvP on the other hand is much more complex. Since combat is done in real time, getting a feel for how attacks work and timing your dashes, dodges, and jumps is very important. With that said, Grand Chase has a little for everyone who can get past the simplistic graphics.

Final Verdict: Good

Grand Chase is beginning to show its age and while not the most complicated game, it has simple yet satisfying gameplay to keep players entertained. With a unique style, three continents to explore, eight characters to develop and a skill based PvP mode, Grand Chase has plenty of content to keep fans interested.