by RadiumEyes, HSM team writer

The unmistakable sight of the cable car milling down the tracks, as it takes you to your four-story loft in San Francisco, immediately immerses you in the element – you have arrived in the Paris of the West, one of the great cultural centers in the United States. Anyone familiar with the Haight-Ashbury (dubbed “Hashbury” by Hunter S. Thompson) district would know of its indelible connection to rock music, with such famous acts as Janis Joplin and Jefferson Airplane once residing near there; numerous landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Alamo Square can be found within the city limits. And all this comes to attention when one arrives in Granzella’s newest personal space – the City by the Bay Loft, the second entry in the “Window to the World” series (preceded by Paris).

Choosing San Francisco as the next locale for a “Window” space makes sense – after all, it’s the Paris of the West, and what better to follow up on France’s capital city than with its ostensible Western counterpart? One receives a beautiful glimpse of the surrounding streets via cable car, which your avatar rides by hanging on to outside rails; this method of introducing you to the loft makes the space more vibrant, more alive, as one can interact with the outside world for once. Unlike other apartments, here we have a more open city, although admittedly it’s not terribly expansive as far as exploration goes – the car drops you off at your apartment after a few seconds, leaving you to walk around the apartment and a stretch of sidewalk. This may appear limiting, but the sheer scope of the background makes up for it; this space feels like it’s connected to a much larger world around it, with the bustle one associates with major cities.

This is a nice extension of the aesthetics seen in an earlier Granzella feature, the Yuma Café – there, one can see the street from the entrance, and it’s pretty lively. What makes City by the Bay unique, however, would be the sheer size of the place, as well as the aesthetics; you’re given a larger area to roam about in, and decorating it becomes a wonderful challenge. Thankfully, Granzella took the initiative to offer numerous in-space rewards to go with it – with 72 items available to find, owners of the loft will have plenty to choose from when it comes to décor. The trailer released by the developer illustrates several of them, ranging from patio furniture to potted plants; with the amount given, having enough options to furnish the house would not be an issue. Granzella really worked on this, and the acreage and item count only skims the surface.

From there, one can look at the incredible size of the loft – with four stories to fill, it’s a veritable beast of a personal space. Perhaps it is too large, however; the loft has a lot of empty space to offer aspiring decorators, and the seventy-two items one can obtain while there definitely help towards a unified motif, but can a user make the most of it all? This wouldn’t be a big question in regards to other spaces (for example, the omnipresent Harbor Studio has only one level, and it’s smaller), but with the City by the Bay, one finds a bit of a dilemma – you have practically enough space to have a dozen or so residents, but the hundred-slot limit becomes rather prohibitive in the light of so much room. This includes the exterior yard, the patio and the roof; to be fair, though, the roof doesn’t quite allow for much in the way of decoration, with an uneven surface to work with.

This new loft shows how expansive a personal space can be, and with increased living quarters comes a greater degree of decorating freedom – the downside would be that sticking with a hundred-slot maximum looks inadequate in comparison. But from this problem emerges a nice challenge; with more area to cover, you may have to space things out more to make good use out of the item limit currently in place. Unless (and until) Sony increases the amount of items you can include in a space, users will have to be creative with their item placement; it’s an issue of “too much to cover, what do I do?” and it can be surmounted with a good application of lateral thinking.

This leaves the interactive elements, and Granzella definitely delivered here; the loft allows you to choose from three different wallpaper designs, and each room can be independently refurbished. The same thing goes for the floor and curtains – Granzella’s in-space store offers additional floor and curtain options for purchase, giving you more freedom of choice. As an added bonus, if you participated in the Kikai Empire event, you automatically get related designs for here; imagine having a room outfitted with futuristic curtains and floor tiles, with a view of the San Francisco skyline. Now, the Yuma Café had that aesthetic built into the back room (the “secret base” portion), but here it’s one of many choices available; such interconnectedness works very well, and it shows that Granzella keeps these cohesive, even when dealing with disparate spaces.  Seeing Kikai-inspired themes in their newest offering makes for a great nod to their mini-event, as it reminds us of their dedication to detail.

Aside from that, the loft includes the ability to chance background noises, music and the brightness of the lighting, as well as the time of day; this can be seen in the Teahouse and Nostalgic School Days, so it’s nothing new, but the loft adds in the option of rain for one setting. One can even see water cascading down the windows with the rain active, a great detail; seeing the water flow down the glass is relaxing, and a nice way of introducing environmental effects into a space. From there, we can go outside, where one can find further interactivity – there’s a functional shower, as well as different decorations attached to the roof, ranging from laundry to Christmas lights.

Seeing all this gets me to thinking – what would be available in future from Granzella? They consistently made great spaces and avatar items, and their “Window to the World” series (which contains two entries thus far) demonstrates their exceptional talent.

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2 Responses to “Going to California: Granzella’s City by the Bay Loft”

1. MsLiZa says:

   December 3, 2013 at 5:48 pm

   The interesting aspect to decorating the SF Loft is that the space basically consists of 4 large, wide-open rooms of essentially the same dimensions. The owner must decide on unique themes for each level or one unifying theme to tie it all together. I enjoyed using the multiple wallpaper, flooring and curtain options to set the moods for each level.

   For me, the one huge drawback to the space is that the Loot radios do not seem to function there. I’m guessing that it’s due to the built-in background music and noise options. As the article mentions, music is an integral part of San Fran’s history. Hopefully, a future update by Granzella and/or Loot can change this situation.

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2. Jin Lovelace says:

   December 29, 2013 at 9:04 am

   Since I stepped foot into the Loft, I was hooked by not just the size of the space but by the 72 pieces of furniture you get for interacting with the space, or just by traversing there every time.

   Granzella has been doing quite a good job on creating excellent space and breathing some life into them. But this space here is possibly the best they offered in terms of just immersion.

   Much love on this article, Radium.

   Reply