Dragonica Online (Review)
Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:53 pm
Another somewhat cute-ish game without the girly-ness. I wanted to post this quickly since it's finally open beta as of June 4th 2009 and is a pretty fun game. So I'm eager to share. I haven't had much time to play it but I was quite impressed from the start. Alot of info is from snippets either from game sites or the official site. I urge you to read the "tidbits" section as there is alot of important info there you will NEED to know. Enjoy~
Story
Since the close of the Dragon War, dragons and humans lived in peace on separate worlds – humans on their homeland, and dragons exiled to the depths of the Aether. It was not to last. Consumed with the desire for revenge, the Dark Dragon Elga led a revolt that brought the death of the Dragon Lord and an invasion of the human world. One thousand years have passed since the Five Heroes of legend defeated Elga in battle, and imprisoned him in the labyrinth prison of the Shadow Cabinet. Now, an unlikely agent threatens to release the Dark Dragon, spreading evil’s corruption across the land. And as before, heroes must rise to beat back the darkness.
Gameplay and Controls
Dragonica is about 99% keyboard based. It's a 2D side scrolling action based mmo with 3D characters and monsters. To the usual point and click players, this will take time and practice. The controls are smooth and it becomes better over time. Don't brush it aside just yet! The gameplay makes up for it and even I myself have VERY to NO patience with keyboard based games. This game is action based and it's got no short supply of it. Apparently you can use a controller to play this.Tempting. Quests and grinding. It seems to be a mix. There are a good amount of quests to keep you busy when you first start. Some quests are a must for job change and there are some quests for guilds only.
Graphics
It may not seem so at first but this game has some pretty nice graphics, especially environment. The backgrounds are very well detailed. The characters have that chibi Final Fantasy-ish style to them without the overly girly cuteness. The music is also fitting for the game, not too repetitious. The graphics are what kept me trying this game and the fact that it's different from most others I've tried. There are well made CG movies in game to boot.
Classes
There are four classes to choose: Warrior, Magician, Thief and Archer.
Skills
Don't worry to much about skill builds before job change. You get a scroll which resets your skills when you change job. Skill points can be brought over to your second job. So after you reset your skills upon changing jobs, you can put all your skill points from your previous job into your second job. Do take into consideration that there are level requirements for most skills and when you first change job you might not have enough skills to add your points into.
Quests
In Dragonica, quests are separated into several broad categories.
Mission quests — available to all classes and are used to better your character in terms of experience, money, and gear.
Field quests — the most common kind, done in field maps.
Dungeon quests — objective of the quest is inside an instance.
Hero quests — available to all classes; undertaking one will unlock specific scenario mission instances that have unique missions and scenes.
PvP quests — quests that require you to engage in PvP.
Repeatable quests — can be soloable or for groups.
Scenario/Story quests — available to all classes and are the main methods of furthering the in-game plots. Required to job advance.
Class quests — special quests with special, unique versions for each class. They advance the character through the job tree, as well as reward them with unique gear rewards and stat bonuses.
Guild quests — can only be done with others in the same guild and will result in guild experience, needed to level up the guild.
PvP
Dragonica’s PvP features frantic arcade-style action, a straightforward and easy to use interface and epic battles allowing up to ten players to battle head-to-head. Players have the choice of a variety of options to play alone or as part of a team, with free for all, team death matches and last-man-standing modes available. There are also plenty more modes to come including capture the flag and dedicated Guild War modes.
These can be played in a variety of locations from across the land of Dragotaka. Battle on a narrow strip of land in a magma chamber deep underground or elude your foes in the mysterious labyrinth. Bring the fight to a mushroom village hidden deep in a forest or descent into the crater of an active volcano. Regular players can earn special achievements, while Combat Points earned in PvP mode can be cashed in with an in-game character for a unique set of armor to assist you in the main quest and identify as a top PvP player to the rest of the Dragonica community.
Whether you are a hardcore or casual player, you can quickly jump between the main quest and battle modes. Starting or joining a multiplayer game in Dragonica is simple, easy to understand, and allows you to quickly get straight into the action with a click on the PvP button. From the matchmaking screen you can view your friends list to see who is online and join them, or browse through the games and join the match that best suits your mood and skill level.
Tidbits
Free to play with item mall.
Character deletion is immediate. But you must wait a "few weeks" to re-use the name.
There are bosses and instance dungeons on almost every map.
A good variety on character customization.
Characters can perform combo moves, on ground and in air. There is a combo counter as well.
The level cap is currently 42. The full cap is 100+
Pets, housing and matching system.
You can map your keys onto a USB gamepad for console-style.
Client is 799MB.
Higher combos - higher exp.
You can avoid attacks by performing manual moves.
No SP farming.
Tons of quests.
The game is fully Englished.
1 server with 10 channels. More servers to come.
Screenshots
Media (Watch in HQ for best results)
Links
NA Version Official Site
NA Official Forums
EU Version Official Site
EU Official Forums
Download Links
Dragonica Wiki
Controller Guide
Skill Calculator
Overview
This game is actually very enjoyable. Enough for me to really consider getting a controller just to play it or I'll attempt to learn the keys. Either way I'd definitely NOT let that stop you from trying out this promising mmo.
Hope you enjoyed! Will update and edit when needed ^_^;
SRF IGN List NA Ver
Story
Since the close of the Dragon War, dragons and humans lived in peace on separate worlds – humans on their homeland, and dragons exiled to the depths of the Aether. It was not to last. Consumed with the desire for revenge, the Dark Dragon Elga led a revolt that brought the death of the Dragon Lord and an invasion of the human world. One thousand years have passed since the Five Heroes of legend defeated Elga in battle, and imprisoned him in the labyrinth prison of the Shadow Cabinet. Now, an unlikely agent threatens to release the Dark Dragon, spreading evil’s corruption across the land. And as before, heroes must rise to beat back the darkness.
Gameplay and Controls
Dragonica is about 99% keyboard based. It's a 2D side scrolling action based mmo with 3D characters and monsters. To the usual point and click players, this will take time and practice. The controls are smooth and it becomes better over time. Don't brush it aside just yet! The gameplay makes up for it and even I myself have VERY to NO patience with keyboard based games. This game is action based and it's got no short supply of it. Apparently you can use a controller to play this.Tempting. Quests and grinding. It seems to be a mix. There are a good amount of quests to keep you busy when you first start. Some quests are a must for job change and there are some quests for guilds only.
Graphics
It may not seem so at first but this game has some pretty nice graphics, especially environment. The backgrounds are very well detailed. The characters have that chibi Final Fantasy-ish style to them without the overly girly cuteness. The music is also fitting for the game, not too repetitious. The graphics are what kept me trying this game and the fact that it's different from most others I've tried. There are well made CG movies in game to boot.
Classes
There are four classes to choose: Warrior, Magician, Thief and Archer.
Spoiler!
Skills
Don't worry to much about skill builds before job change. You get a scroll which resets your skills when you change job. Skill points can be brought over to your second job. So after you reset your skills upon changing jobs, you can put all your skill points from your previous job into your second job. Do take into consideration that there are level requirements for most skills and when you first change job you might not have enough skills to add your points into.
Quests
In Dragonica, quests are separated into several broad categories.
Mission quests — available to all classes and are used to better your character in terms of experience, money, and gear.
Field quests — the most common kind, done in field maps.
Dungeon quests — objective of the quest is inside an instance.
Hero quests — available to all classes; undertaking one will unlock specific scenario mission instances that have unique missions and scenes.
PvP quests — quests that require you to engage in PvP.
Repeatable quests — can be soloable or for groups.
Scenario/Story quests — available to all classes and are the main methods of furthering the in-game plots. Required to job advance.
Class quests — special quests with special, unique versions for each class. They advance the character through the job tree, as well as reward them with unique gear rewards and stat bonuses.
Guild quests — can only be done with others in the same guild and will result in guild experience, needed to level up the guild.
PvP
Dragonica’s PvP features frantic arcade-style action, a straightforward and easy to use interface and epic battles allowing up to ten players to battle head-to-head. Players have the choice of a variety of options to play alone or as part of a team, with free for all, team death matches and last-man-standing modes available. There are also plenty more modes to come including capture the flag and dedicated Guild War modes.
These can be played in a variety of locations from across the land of Dragotaka. Battle on a narrow strip of land in a magma chamber deep underground or elude your foes in the mysterious labyrinth. Bring the fight to a mushroom village hidden deep in a forest or descent into the crater of an active volcano. Regular players can earn special achievements, while Combat Points earned in PvP mode can be cashed in with an in-game character for a unique set of armor to assist you in the main quest and identify as a top PvP player to the rest of the Dragonica community.
Whether you are a hardcore or casual player, you can quickly jump between the main quest and battle modes. Starting or joining a multiplayer game in Dragonica is simple, easy to understand, and allows you to quickly get straight into the action with a click on the PvP button. From the matchmaking screen you can view your friends list to see who is online and join them, or browse through the games and join the match that best suits your mood and skill level.
Tidbits
Free to play with item mall. Character deletion is immediate. But you must wait a "few weeks" to re-use the name. There are bosses and instance dungeons on almost every map. A good variety on character customization. Characters can perform combo moves, on ground and in air. There is a combo counter as well. The level cap is currently 42. The full cap is 100+ Pets, housing and matching system. You can map your keys onto a USB gamepad for console-style. Client is 799MB. Higher combos - higher exp. You can avoid attacks by performing manual moves. No SP farming. Tons of quests. The game is fully Englished. 1 server with 10 channels. More servers to come.Screenshots
Spoiler!
Media (Watch in HQ for best results)
Spoiler!
Links
NA Version Official Site
NA Official Forums
EU Version Official Site
EU Official Forums
Download Links
Dragonica Wiki
Controller Guide
Skill Calculator
Overview
This game is actually very enjoyable. Enough for me to really consider getting a controller just to play it or I'll attempt to learn the keys. Either way I'd definitely NOT let that stop you from trying out this promising mmo.
Hope you enjoyed! Will update and edit when needed ^_^;
SRF IGN List NA Ver
Spoiler!
I'm going to wait till then ^^