It's the end of Graal as we know it...

[VGWarrior]

First of all, if this topic doesn't belong here, I'm sorry, but this is urjent.

I have copied some important news reguarding Graal's state and what it will become. Please read now.

"May 2002 Plans
Classic and Player Worlds plans for MAY

- Classic server and Player Worlds servers will be free for all players that have registered Graal Classic. All limitations on player worlds and Classic servers will be cancelled (no more ghost mode).
- The registration of Graal Classic will be a lifetime registration - pay once and play as much as you want.
- There will be a special introductory price for the current player base that will be around $15.


IMPORTANT: All players that have already paid once for graal2001 will be automatically registered and will have access to Graal2002 alpha and beta test,another good reason to! Subscribe now if you want to be the first to play Graal2002 !

Players that have not registered Graal will be in trial mode. This mode is made to test out the game before registering; it's not done to play weeks without registering Graal.


Limitation in trial mode will be:

- Trial mode character will not be saved on the server; this means that when you leave the server, you lose what you have done.
- Trial mode players will not be able to send messages from the player list but they will be able to answer messages from registered players, it will still be possible to speak from the game window. (No more newbie masses!)
- Trial mode players will not broadcast client side information's to other players, meaning that cheating in trial mode will not be possible. Sorry guys, live with it.
We will experiment with a new way to register Graal by phone that will not require a credit card; Graal subscription will be billed directly on your phone bill.

For players that cannot afford $15, you will be able to buy a ticket to play a week as a registered player. The price will be around $2, details to follow.

IMPORTANT: Accounts not registered by May 20, 2002 will be scrapped, so get that PayPal account opened now!

Future plans for Graal Classic include:

- Space on our server to store your levels, Remote Control will be used to control files for players.
- A system of skins to customize your Graal tiles and Client graphics.
- A voice system that will allow peoples to communicate by voice."



Graal, the one game that has been free for 3 years and introduced the payment system at the beginning of the 4th, wants to do away with the free-based plans at the 5th!


Any way we can convince them otherwise?

[Mak-X]

- The registration of Graal Classic will be a lifetime registration - pay once and play as much as you want.
- There will be a special introductory price for the current player base that will be around $15.


I'd say if I'm reading this right that $15 for a lifetome registration for Graal Classic is fair. $10 might be more fairer.

I used to play Graal so much during version 1.32-1.41. I finally stopped because I realized it just wasn't a good game. The engine was sloppy and choppy, the enemies weren't "solid" and there was nothing to do but Player kill. However, the whole idea of the game and the kind of game it was, a Zelda 3 style 2-D overhead online Action-RPG (Adventure) MMORPG, is really what kept me playing.


TSA, if your reading this, you probably would have died or been hopelessly hooked on Graal when I played. Imagine Zelda 3, but online with people all over the world, just not as good.
I tried making my own levels, and was modelling some of it off of Hyrule Castle in Zelda 3.
http://www.geocities.com/gamemastermak/makgraal.html


Unless its really changed, I don't see a reason to pay for Graal unless your that into it. They don't have a choice, they have to charge for Graal. The fees of running a server was killing them years ago. Its not the same as someone running a game server on a cable modem where about 20-50 people come to play. Hundreds of people play Graal. I guess its not surprising that they're charging for Graal. If they handle it right, they've got a good game/product to sell, and if they charge for it, they can make a living off of it.

You know, if you have Version 1.28 of Graal that came with the Server, you could host online Graal games with up to 8 players. But its not exactly allowed or legal since Graal Online later came out with a statement stating that the old Server programs are only to be used on LANs, not the internet, because they wanted to stop people from hosting their own game server instead of going to the main server. Probably one of the reasons Player World's got started.


One of these days, I want to make a online RPG in the style of Zelda 3 and Secret of Mana, if not MMORPG, then limited meeting in a main chat lobby to get into groups and go off on a quest so there's some actual point to the game.


Maybe Link64 will stop by and tell us all about the days of Graal and the Knights of Hyrule and how Graal used to be fun.

[War Lord]

You have to make money somehow. If the game is good enough to be paid for(I wouldn't know, haven't played in a long time, and only played a few minutes then), Then they have every right to do away with a free model.

[theplustwo]

Originally posted by War Lord
You have to make money somehow. If the game is good enough to be paid for(I wouldn't know, haven't played in a long time, and only played a few minutes then), Then they have every right to do away with a free model.

I may be misinterpereting that but I sure hope it's not a foreshadowing of ZC...

[Mak-X]

Originally posted by fmehmobile
I may be misinterpereting that but I sure hope it's not a foreshadowing of ZC...

No one could ever sell Zelda Classic. Its a Freeware fan project and if it were sold, Nintendo would soon find out and attack. (there would be a huge uprising against selling ZC on the forums anyways)


Funny Graal story:

I decided I would have some fun so I changed my nick to "NPC". I stood in one spot and kept saying over and over
"I am a NPC."
"Welcome to Graal"
"Say !Help for more info."
"Hello, I am a NPC."

One guy came up to me as I'm doing the message. He attacks with his sword but then stops after reading my messages (It appears over my head). I said
"Say !Help for more info"

He said
"!Help"

"What would you like to know? Say !Horses !Hearts..."

"!Horses"

My response was to slow and he responded
"Your not a NPC!"

and then continued with his attack, killing me. It was so funny.

[J.J. Maxx]

OKay, for the stupid person like myself.. what exactly is GRAAL? Can I download a program and try it? Why's it so good? Why's it so bad? I WANNA KNOW!! :)

[Mak-X]

Originally posted by JJMaxx
OKay, for the stupid person like myself.. what exactly is GRAAL? Can I download a program and try it? Why's it so good? Why's it so bad? I WANNA KNOW!! :)


Graal started out as a Zelda 3 online clone called "Zelda Online". The graphics from Zelda 3 were later edited and the name was changed to Graal ("Grail" in French). Basically everyone was "Link" in abilities and you went around getting Heart Containers and items. The main goal of the original main world was to collect the 4 Graals so you could enter the Golden Gate to the final area to get the best stuff in the game.

Check out these pages of mine JJMaxx if you want some examples of what Graal is like.

http://www.geocities.com/gamemastermak/makgraal.html
http://www.geocities.com/gamemastermak/gowalkthrough.html
http://www.geocities.com/gamemastermak/graalservers.html

There was a server a long time ago called Damasca that had a world just like the Zelda 3 Light World. Dart Zader runs the Damasca project now I think.

The bad part of the game is it wasn't really that good the last time I played like I mentioned in my first post. But everyone that liked Zelda 3 should have at least tried this once, though it used to be free a long time ago.

[Dart Zaidyer]

Before you play Graal, be sure to check http://sg111.realgamers.net for much needed info that Graal's administration is desparately trying to conceal. If you can stomach the "lamer humor" as well as the idiots who hang around there, you'll find out startling truths, like Unixmad's illegal activites such as DVD piracy, blackmail, selling information, and not to mention all the countless legal threats he's made to people who've sneezed and it sounded like "graal" without permission.

Don't get me wrong, Graal is a good game, but it's run by and played by complete morons.