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By Danny "Ralsu" Gourley

Deco Online places players in the role of one of two factions of humans competing for a powerful energy source. The humans from Millenia are more advanced and developed martial war techniques. The humans from Rain are the descendants of  a people exiled from Millenia and forced to live in a harsh environment with few resources. The folks from Rain were forced to develop natural talents to survive, this natural talent manifesting itself as magic.

I recently played through the Rain tutorial and wanted to give Ten Ton Hammer readers a taste of this game from Joymax. For a description of installation and character creation in Deco, read my First Impressions. This preview focuses on the Rain tutorial quests.

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Humble Beginnings

One of the first combat skills a player from Rain learns is Flame Repeated Hit.

All players start Deco without a real class. Humans from Millenia are known as Wanderers while those from Rain are labeled as Strangers. The characters from Millenia will grow into physical fighters, both melee and ranged. The characters from Rain will grow into magic users of a few varieties: offensive, spiritual, and restorative. I lean toward magic use, so I chose to be a Stranger from Rain.

I popped into the world to a dialog box that asked me to speak to the non-player character (NPC) named Nad Lucas. Even without the extra help, I think I would have found this NPC; the giant exclamation point above Nad's head was something of a giveaway. I stood in the plaza of what looked like a cathedral built into the side of a mountain. I didn't see many other players around and soon figured out that this was because my starting area was a special zone for new characters only. I'd need to complete the tutorial to get to the real game.

The First Quests

The first enemy in the Rain tutorial is the Eggvill.

Nad informed me that I'd need to complete some training exercises to prove my abilities before I could move on to the town of Rain. I was referred to another NPC, who would help me start the training. That NPC gave me the usual business about how to access my inventory and equip my weapon. Then I was sent to the battle grounds, a separate location just for practice fights.

The NPC on the training grounds taught me how to initiate combat (double-click or single-click and then use a skill). The first task was merely to defeat a few of the nearby training monsters. Called Eggvills, these were basically hoping giant eggs with a toothy grin and bat wings propelled on duck feet. It certainly did not give the picture of a sinister enemy, but, hey, it was only a training monster.

After killing a few of the not-so-menacing Eggvill, it was time to learn about combos, an important part of Deco Online.
 
Learn about the combo system in Deco Online. Keep reading.