Fueled up on caffeine, sugar, and the best in Free-to-Play gaming, it is that time again! Yes, it’s the return of Flat Broke Gamer Review, and this week we’re going full-tilt into the MMO
Dragon Nest is an instance based MMORPG developed by Eyedentity Games and published in North America By Nexon America. It was released in September 2011.
BLUF: A whimsical art style matched with true character variety and a very open ended design makes this a game to enjoy. The interface is occasionally irritating, but overall gameplay is fun, fast-paced, and designed to encourage team play.
SCORES
Playability: 4/5 The tutorial is simplistic, the basic gameplay easy to learn, and the direct control of targeting instead of the standard auto-target system makes this game easy enough to learn and enjoy, whether you’re a hardcore gamer or strictly casual.
Atmospherics: 5/5 The art for this game is truly unique. A light, often whimsical style to every character and monster gives the whole game a fresh approach. The music is good, but not overpowering, and the variety to the characters and settings make this an enjoyable game to watch.
Learning Curve: 4/5 Each character has REAL strengths and weaknesses that translate to a definite need for teams in the higher difficulty dungeons. Additionally, characters have several different options to advancement, allowing for different approaches to each character.
Community: 3/5 Not a lot of interaction outside of the dungeons, and unless you bring your own group, going solo is about the only option left. Getting assigned to a party is a bit of a crap shoot, as you may or may not get the chance to trade for the drops that your character would need.
Support: 4/5 The regular updates and rapid response to problems is a strong point of Nexon, not to mention the stability of their servers. No real problems ever cropped up.
Cash Shop: 3/5 I found that the cash shop was mostly important to those who wanted a particular look for their character, but it does provide several items that help you along the way without truly affecting gameplay. Prices are reasonable, but the variety of styles is limited.
OVERALL: 23/50 This is a fun, beautiful game, and with the projected expansions and new characters, I think it is definitely worth a try. It’s nice to see that you can have serious gameplay matched with such soft art, but this game pulls it off so well that you truly enjoy the experience.
BACKSTORY
The backstory for Dragon Nest is a little convoluted, a lot over the top, and sounds something like this:
In a bid to regain stolen power, Desmodeus, the ruler of the Gods ordered his two daughters to create worlds that would produce mortals capable of bringing back what was stolen. Althea created a world of light, Verathea, and Vestinel one of darkness. When their father preferred Althea's creation, Vestinel poisoned her sister and disappeared with the only cure. The poison changed Althea's world, and led one of it's races to try and wrest power from the Gods, only to see their world be nearly destroyed by their hubris. The damage not only affected Verathea, but the dark nameless world as well, and from the dark world came the Void Dragon. Althea's two defending dragons of her world battled with the Void Dragon, and eventually though both died, they defeated the Void Dragon, separating it's power into the dragon lustres which were scattered around the world. Men coveted them, died for them, but until now, they had no way to unlock them.
Until a key was found, in the form of a girl named Rose.
And from there, each of the character classes has their own view on the history of the world. There are four classes currently available: Cleric, Warrior, Archer, and Sorceress.
The Cleric is driven by a belief that evil must be vanquished, and that the ends justify the means. He is difficult to solo, but makes any party far more powerful as he spreads his protective and healing abilities around.
The Warrior is on a quest of self discovery, about his lineage, his birth, the death of his mother at the hands of monsters, and about his place in the world. Warriors are the easiest class to solo with, and focus on close combat.
And the Archer, an elf from far lands who travels on a quest to find her destiny. The archer excels at ranged damage, and has several tricks to keep from being pinned in by forces that get too close. Similar to the Sorceress, she is meant to hang back, but does more damage to single targets than the spellslinger.
Oh, troubles, the Sorceress has in spades. She left her training behind, got into a mountain of debt, and now returns to find her order neck deep in the problems of the world. Sorceress abilities give you major crowd control and damage, but you have to be careful about keeping your distance, as you are not built to take a beating.
STARTING OFF
I actually started playing for the review as an Archer, but had to take a few days break due to real life getting in the way. When I came back, I decided on a whim to try the Sorceress class. What I was pleasantly surprised to find was that each character has their own starting quests, character interactions, and that the development of the story has its own slant, depending on which path you choose. After so many games where the differences were minor, it was nice to see one that took the time to develop its character plots like this. The tutorial is available from the trainer you meet in the first town, and can be repeated if you want, but the real playing starts the first time you enter the dungeons.
The first thing I was struck by was that the style of this game's look is so completely different, it was amazing. Unlike some games that go for gritty realism, over the top fantasy styles, or cartoonishly bright schemes, the light, airy colors made it a delight to look at. Several effects added to this; distant objects are fuzzed out, every surface is decorated in its rendering, and the light seems diffused and softer. Also different was the lack of auto-targeting. Sometimes this was nice, especially for the Sorceress as it allowed you to take advantage of her Area-Of-Effect (AOE) abilities to cut off certain attack routes, but sometimes it was annoying to realize that you weren't shooting anything because your targeting crosshairs were a smidge off. Still, once you got used to it, it was really great to be in control of where you were facing at all times, and to be able to choose your target without having to hit something to switch between the minions.
The dungeons are accessed through gates found in the fields outside of town, and several branch off from each gate. Each also has a varying difficulty rating, similar to many of the games I’ve tried so far. Here's where I started to really like this game. While you do have to beat the normal difficulty to open the hard, and the hard to open the harder, you don't have to go back to the same dungeon over and over until you've beaten all the difficulty levels on it in order to open the next, nor do you have to try a certain level of difficulty for any of the quests I tried. Then it got even better: the difficulty ratings actually made sense! The harder settings were truly harder, to the point that I got my butt handed to me on some of the levels! Now I know you're asking yourself, “Why is he excited about being beaten?” Most of the games I’ve tried up to this point, the more difficult settings were not any harder to complete than the easy ones, so to finally have a game that “Hard” or “Very Hard” actually mean you'll be challenged to beat them is a nice change of pace. It also means that getting a party together is actually worth it! The game even reminds you as you leave the town that the dungeons are dangerous, and offers to find you a party to adventure with. So even if your friends don't want to have anything to do with this game, you can find a party to go out and play with.
Beating dungeons gains you the standard drops of gold, consumables, armor, weapons, and the ever important EXP. As you raise in levels, you get the opportunity to spend skill points to learn new skills or improve old ones. You can only do this while at a trainer for your class, one of which is in your starting town, and can be found in the later towns as well. All of these skills use up your mana, so be careful to know how to best apply them, you don't want to be caught without.
Side quests are fun and give you another reason to revisit some of your past exploits. Being able to complete them on any difficulty level is great as well. Now don't get me wrong, I didn't run through on the easy mode on every dungeon and quest. But if one dungeon was particularly troublesome, and I was going back, being able to do so at an easier setting was really nice. Increased difficulty also ups the EXP and drops, and the drops get better on harder settings, just make sure you're ready for them before you go all gangbusters on the hardest setting.
The monsters in the early dungeons are your average fantasy fare; goblins, trolls, bats, minotaurs, evil cults, etc. however, they each have their own style of play. Some are bold and will charge you, others ill only attack in large groups. Some will even try to run away! Learning the various groups you'll see will help you to survive, and even thrive, against the waves you'll see in each section of the dungeon. In order to move from one section to the next, you do have to kill all the monsters where you are, and each section only has one entry and exit. Bosses are unique in their attacks, much more hardy than their minions, and tend to act more intelligently than you'd expect. One of the early bosses in the Sorceress storyline raises dead monsters to fight you, so closing with him is the only way to ensure that the skeletons stop popping up.
I think this is one of the better designed AI games I’ve ever seen. I truly found myself wanting to go back to try the dungeons again and again to see whether certain tactics worked better or worse against each type of enemy.
ONWARD, EVER ONWARD
Each of the classes, at level 15 and again at level 45, can choose between two subclasses that focuses and refines your character, developing certain strengths and advancing skills beyond the basic level. This development also comes with a consumable that allows you to reset your skills chosen up to this point. This redefining is great, allowing you to get rid of skills you thought would help but weren't , and allowing you to truly refine your playstyle to your specifications. Whereas most games only force you to fill a specific role at the endgame levels, this one makes you find what works for you, and what doesn't from the get-go. I actually found I preferrred the Sorceress's AOE spells to the Archer's more selective shots, but the Archer's agility at getting away was far better than the Sorceress. Try them all, and see what style works for you.
COMMUNITY
The community was actually kind of non-existant. Not that there aren't players out there, just that I found that if I wanted to play with a group, even with the “find a party for you” option, the majority of players really didn't give a crap about you, or what you wanted of the drops. Playing solo is fun, but as I said, this game is truly set up to encourage you to go get a team. So if you can, bring your friends with you to try it out. They will likely find the game fun, and you'll have no problem.
There are also several maps of PVP arenas, with a variety of gameplay styles such as Free-For-All, Team, Domination (capture and hold), and two that I found to be interesting: Ladder and Ghoul. Ladder games are matches that move you up and down in ranking, and earn Ladder Points that are gained and lost as you win or lose. Ladder Points can also be spent for PVP gear, and so if you get on a win streak, you can get some sweet gear. Ghoul games change a few random players into ghouls of various types and powers, and all other players into humans with bows. The ghouls win by beating or converting all humans into ghouls, the humans win if even one of them stayed human for the full ten minutes. Because the PVP matches even out all stats, playing in them early on can be a whole lot of fun.
CASH SHOP
The cash shop carries a few items that help you out in gameplay, but not directly affecting stats. Heal potions, mana potions, resurrect scrolls, and inventory expansions are all available, and at fair prices. Pets can also be purchased, these will help in the basic dungeons, but can't help in PVP or in the high level dungeons, known as Nests. Cosmetic changes are also available, from costumes to eye and hair color changes as well. NX is the virtual currency available for money at the rate of $1 for 1000 NX. Dragon Scales are an alternative form of currency that can earned from certain events, but have a set expiration date. I really didn't see that I wanted to spend money, but if you want your character to look a certain way, or if you really need just a few more slots in your pack, the prices aren't too bad, and several package deals allow you to get a little bit of everything.
THE FINAL WORD
A unique entry to the gaming world, Dragon Nest leverages those differences for good, making for a fun, satisfying experience. With levels and gameplay styles to match whatever your preference is, this is a game that you should try.
Well, that's it for this week, be sure to come on back next week for the MMO Fallen Earth. And remember, if you agree, disagree, have a game to suggest, by all means let me know in the comments!
GG!
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