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[Dragonica: Paris Strikes Back] Improved EXP gain! Finally!
Aldo
Hippo HoorayRegistered User regular
Hippo HoorayRegistered User regular
Dragonica
What: free to play MMO side scrolling fighter. Pick between 4 archetypes (mage/thief/warrior/ranger) and nuke away on all sorts of cute wildlife. It plays a lot like Castle Crashers etc. The art of this game looks ridiculously cute and anime (you can't really tell the difference between males and females), but don't let that fool you. To do well in this game you'll have to bring your top game.
Where: There is THQ*ICE; their site is here.
Starting June 4th you can also play this game over at IAH; their site is here. There is also a European version at gPotato this is their site. Problem is that they're lagging behind THQ*ICE and IAH in development.
Who: some folks not tired of the grind
Why: One of the better free MMOs I have ever played.
basic rundown
You start the game by selecting a server and channel (pick Kaye and a low populated channel), after that you get to make your character. You can pick between the four classes, pick your gender, hair style, colour and face. After you pick a name you can start the game. You start with a tutorial level explaining the basics to you, after that you're dropped in your class's starting town. Here you can pick up some quests that send you to the first area. Here you can just run around with everyone else and kill stuff. Try and kill some mobs for the early quests, head back to town to receive your first pieces of armor. The next quests will be easiest to do in the mission area. This is an instanced map which you have to commit genocide on, after which you can face off against the boss. You start on difficulty F1 and you unlock F2 to F4 by killing the bosses of the earlier difficulties. F5 is unlocked by following the main quest. Through murdering the local wildlife some more you gain levels and you get to pick skills. It pays off to invest in one that does damage to flying enemies and in one that allows you to launch enemies in the air.
missions
Every mission has a simple goal: eradicate all mobs and the boss. You get crafting/questing loot and money from mobs (pick stuff up by walking over it). After you kill the last boss you get some time to loot whatever is left around the boss, after that a screen pops up. Your score is being calculated: depending on your score you can receive up to 4 items (mostly armor). Your score depends on quite a few things: going from most important to least important: (air)combos, damage received (less=good) and damage output. Even though it shows how long it took you this appears to have no effect on your score. Try to kill mobs with no downtime in between, because that resets your combo meter. Try to dodge as much as possible by jumping or dashing backwards.
multiplay
In essence all mission maps are solo-able, through elaborate dodging, healing and potions you can kill almost anything yourself. To get high scores and get through the missions fast it pays off to play in a group. Party size is 4, everyone's score is calculated individually, so slackers won't tear your score down.
progression
Level cap is currently at 60. You get your first job change at 20, there is a hidden one (not sure if it's activated yet) at 30. The last job change is at 40. For every job change you can reset your skills. All other skill resets will be costly, so pay some attention to how you divide everything. First 10 levels are fast, next 10 are doable, after 20 it becomes a huge grind.
cash shop
There is a cash shop, at the moment it is unclear how important that will be.
Skills/builds: here's a site that lets you play around with skill builds. There's also several guides/opinions on the various official forums.
useful site: http://dragonica.barunsoninter.com/guide/library_1.aspx
I want to use a gamepad: Read: http://my.mmosite.com/mouju/Blog/Item/47820c5bed30001e89c9aefa2e687ae8.html or http://www.motioninjoy.com/blog/show/8
Shut up already, i want screenshots:
Aldo on
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Highly recommend using some form of gamepad (via joy2key or xpadder) for the full console experience.
EDIT: Also worth noting there's 3 versions. IAH is the 'international' version. GPotato is hosting the European version. THQ is handling the NA/US version.
There's more than just back and forth along a line. You fight on a 2d surface. I didn't play much, so I don't know if there is jumping. The combat seems more fun than MS too.
o_O? Jumping is one of the first things they teach you. So what you're saying is that you didn't play beyond "walk straight"!
Came back the next day and the little beta period was over.
EDIT: I killed the freaky eyed wolf. There may have been jumping, but I probably forgot about it.
This game is nothing like Maple Story. This game plays like a fighter. You've got ordinary attacks, you've got combos and you've got special skills that you launch with a different hotkey.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxMM0yPky_A
Which version? THQ servers are constantly full due to stress-testing, but the game is smooth as butter once you're in, at least for NA users. I can't speak for GPotato, but IAH was pretty stable during the last beta test.
Dragonica basically builds on everything that sucks about Maple Story. The leveling curve isn't "hey I capped out today" but it's definitely a lot better than the standard f2p MMO. Of course, it could feel like that because the game is just fun.
Also jumping is literally the second thing you do when you login to your first character, after 'walk forward', so there's definitely jumping. There's a lot of focus on air juggle combos. Game is 2.5D. Think Yoshi's Story on N64 (obscure reference I know).
EDIT: Should also be noted that half your skills are tied to buttons, the other half end up being tied to button combos. Up+Attack is basically everybody's launch skill for example, while Down+Attack while in air is usually your standard ground pounder. Videos give a pretty fair representation. Without rambling in too many circles, the best way to sum it up is that it plays like it looks.
that about sums it up
(yes, i can tell after 4 hours of play)
So, let me get this straight: as a thief in this game, you can summon a wind-up dancing Russian man, which plays the Tetris theme, turn into Michael Jackson and do the moonwalker to back up, and hide in a box like Solid Snake? I had no idea that that's what being a thief is all about!
And no, this game is not high fantasy, nor does it take itself serious.
Well, the THQ version is getting some nasty lag spikes at times. Plus the server is always full, though that has more to do with having one server/one channel.
Do they segregate classes for the first few levels, or is everyone actually a thief?
Max lev is (for as far as I have heard) 60.
The IAH version is open beta now? Soon (June 4th)?
the game is essentially an mmo beat em up. really, instead of comparing it to another korean game it would be fairer to compare it to uh, i dunno, castle crashers I reckon... of course I will be unfair and say it's better than any korean thing I've played. I think it's because of the combo system
for the record this stage of beta lasts 10 days before the "open" one. so if you can't find one of the many ways of if they are already harvested, it's a little wait away. i'd recommend just going with your region though, I know I'm not going to play on euro servers unless it's just vastly easier to get in game. i would think they would put more servers in the next stage, though.
--
I can't get in the IAH version, and their site doesn't tell me when OBT is going to be. Does anyone have a link to an official announcement?
What I mean by this ('cause I seem to have caused some confusion) is that everyone I have seen thus far playing is a thief. Are the starting zones instanced by class or am I just unobservant/lucky?
they are segregated, but I think you can get between them.
That said I was playing my mage and everyone I saw was still a thief.
Got into the THQ stress test, not a bad game, not sure how well the classes mesh together though. My mage skills kept tossing the enemies out of the reach of everyone else.
And yeah thieves are retardedly common, all the anime boiz wanna play assassins I'd wager
Made a warrior, think I'll probably go gladiator later. I'm loving the skill that smashes the ground with a giant hammer made out of ice.
Well smack them with my cane at least
(Press Down+Attack on enemies lying on the floor after a knock down)
edit: yeeeeeeah I wish I had known about this earlier, ive had so many combos broken because I couldnt attack a dude or missed a grounded enemy with my spell. also, it's AoE.
*e: made an account. am now waiting to get in. I guess this is why I liked IAH better. :P
I usually get in within a minute or so
Moonwalk - Can be usefull to dodge, will depend on playstyle as weither or not it is worth the points.
Moonwalk shot - Completly useless, takes 10 mana to fire a single arrow with another button press, while you are moonwalking. Does increase the damage of the shot, but moonwalk is so short, you are better off just using one of the other skills.
Rising Arrow - really good, knocks the enemy(s) into the air, and lets you use anti air shot on them, this will be your bread and butter when solo'ing, and when doing CC in groups.
Anti air shot - bread and butter, cheap mana wise and very fast, so you can spam it. Every hit also slows the fall of an airborne enemy, so you can usually kill the target before it hits the ground, even when it is 3 levels or so above you.
Double strike - again really good, slightly less damage than multishot, but much farther range, and less mana cost.
shootdown - lets you shoot 3 arrows in a spread to any downed targets, can be usefull.
multishot - shotgun attack, not great, not horrible. Double strike beats it out except in terms of pure damage.
relaunch - knocks them back into the air after being downed, haven't grabbed it yet so no experience with it. Also haven't needed it...soooo.
bow mastery - yes, raise asap each time.
rapid step - raise when possible, very noticable.
So basically I would recommend raising these skills:
Bow Mastery 5/5 - Huge damage increase across the board.
Rapid Step 5/5 - Makes it easier to dodge.
Rising Arrow 5/5 - To take several enemies out of the fight and kill them.
Anti Air Shot 5/5 - See above.
Double Strike 5/5 - For damaging bosses.
Use rising arrow and AA shot against normal mobs, try to bunch them together first before you pop them up so you get multiples at once.
Use double strike and your base attack against bosses.
For THQ: /roll 1-100
For IAH: make an account now and I think you can get in June 4th.