KurtzPel's Latest Character, Lime, Brings More Than Just Support

Today, KOG Games drops an important update into KurtzPel, adding new content and addressing things brought to their attention by players. The update follows the third round of player testing in the Etheca Proving grounds where many of the game's pro players provided feedback to the developers, resulting in the game's biggest balance revamp so far. It also introduces a new character and karma weapon to the game -- as well as prepares things for the upcoming KurtzPel tournament series.

With the update just about ready, the KurtzPel team offered us a look at some of the new content arriving today and answered a few of our questions about what players can expect. Of course, the big-ticket item this go-round is the introduction of Lime and the new Karma weapon, the hammer known as the Sacred Guardian. While Lime may be new to some KurtzPel players, those who spent time in Grand Chase may remember her as the adorable Holy Knight armed with a massive hammer. Now that she has joined KurtzPel, Lime is even stronger, more grown-up, and somewhat darker -- thanks to things that have happened to her. (You'll uncover all the whys when playing her for the first time, so I'm not going to offer up spoilers.) Changes aside, Grand Chase fans will be excited to know that they brought back her original voice actor when it came time to record.

Lime -- along with the Sacred Guardian -- adds the first-ever support element to KurtzPel. This includes both self and party-healing as well as resurrection for party members.

The Sacred Guardian Karma weapon is the 6th weapon to be added to the game. It's a massive hammer and is designed to feel like one when in play. This means that the wielder will be slow and lumbering when in battle (We are talking about carrying around the digital equivalent of about 200 lbs here.) and that when it lands, players will feel the impact.

The good news is that those who chose to wield the Sacred Guardian aren't stuck with it throughout a battle. As it turns out, players can carry two Karma weapons at a time and -- more or less -- swap them out on the fly. There are some limitations to this. Most notable is that Karmas can not be swapped while one is still in action. If a player has executed an ability, they must wait for the entire animation to complete before swapping.

When obtaining a new Karma weapon, players are tasked with three related, story-based PvE missions -- each offering rewards to the players. Things are no different with the Sacred Guardian. The hammer is, however, the first Karma weapon that players will find themselves facing off against a KurtzPel over. In this case, they'll actually find themselves confronting a darker version of Lime -- fanatical in her beliefs, but led astray. The battle offers players even more lore on Lime herself. Players can even get their hands on the boss's costume -- either the one seen on the boss or a much darker version. (I'm personally a fan of the darker one -- seen a bit further down.)

In addition to Lime and the Sacred Guardian, the update does make a lot of technical changes to the game. We didn't discuss all of them because -- as was explained to me -- there are about eight pages worth of patch notes. Many of the changes players will find are based directly on player feedback. Among the changes are general balance changes and fixes to technical issues as well as quality-of-life fixes.

There are also new systems, such as the rage-break system which will allow players to use their maxed-out rage to escape combo attacks while recovering a certain amount of their stats. This system should come in useful in both boss fights and PvP -- and will hopefully give less practiced players a chance to be competitive that they otherwise would not have.

Among the QoL changes, one is a definite bonus. The KOG Games team has added a FOV slider -- meaning those who might otherwise suffer from a little motion sickness while playing have a way to fix that at their disposal.

Finally, the KurtzPel team closed out by talking a bit about the upcoming tournament series. As we posted about before, KOG Games has teamed up with the ESL for the first-ever KurtzPel tournament series. What we didn't know at the time is that the tournament would feature monthly qualifiers, with an available prize pool of 1,000€ (approximately $1,097 US). The tournaments will be 2v2 Deathmatches and yes, players will be able to use the Sacred Guardian.