Dragon Nest is one of the most highly anticipated MMOs to demo at PAX East. Somehow, Ten Ton Hammer braved the crowds of eager fans to give this upcoming Korean import a shot.

Dragon Nest is a fantasy-themed MMO that focuses on adventuring parties of up to four players. These players must stop an incredibly evil-looking villain from obtaining ultimate power. Along the way, they will destroy hordes of monsters, gather piles of treasure, and band together into guilds. Incredibly, this highly-polished game will be based on a free to play pay model.

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Story

The instance we previewed centers on saving an "ancient" who is the last existing member her race. The main villain of dragon nest, already no lightweight thanks to an evil dragon deity, is trying to further augment his abilities by stealing the ancient's power.

The battle starts on the cliffs of a mountain guarded by goblin-looking critters, delves into a cave infested by creepy-crawly spiders, and culminates on the peak of a mountain, where we must try to save the ancient from a flight of harpies. Before the final stage begins, a cut scene incorporating my adventuring party shows that the harpies are preparing to turn the ancient over to the main villain. Even after winning the boss fight, the main villain still shows up to kick our butts, grab the ancient, and head for the hills. I see this happening and think, "Yeah, I'm gonna get that guy."

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Graphics

The first thing to strike me about the game is how polished it looks. Everything adheres to a single artistic vision and seems finished. At first I was a bit concerned that Dragon Nest would be too cute, if you know what I mean. I am not the sort of gamer that normally plays fantasy games, let alone something as immediate and casual as Dragon Nest. I need not have worried. The combat is pulse-pounding and visceral: characters get beat up, thrown onto the ground, and exploded. It isn't grisly, blood-spattered, or anything like that, but one is definitely fighting these monsters, not cuddling with them.

Notably, the player perspective is a bit different than most other third-person games: rather than having the camera be located right behind your character, it is skewed off to the side a bit. This means that your avatar is not obstructing your view of the action. It takes a second to re-calibrate how aiming works, but in short order things are back to normal and you can blow up varmints with the best of them.

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Gameplay

Dragon Nest combines the most addictive aspects of Diablo with the romping fun of the old Gauntlet series of arcade games. We're talking hordes of monsters, piles of treasure, and a liberal amount of incredibles badass abilities. This game is addictive. The crowd at PAX East seems totally hooked, and I know I am.

The controls are a standard mouse-and-keyboard setup, with the numerals activating various special abilities. The special abilities can be combined to make combo attacks that have amplified or modified effects. Certain attacks would reflect off of walls and hit enemies twice, and at times it seemed like they were combining with other players' abilities, rather than just my own.

I played the sorceress class, who can lay down some serious long-range spell damage or a sort of poisonous radius. Some of the less explosive spells were a bit tricky to aim, but that probably has more to do with me than with the class.

After finishing the instance, my adventuring party was presented with a selection of four treasure chests, each containing an unknown treasure. When each of us chose a treasure chest, they opened and we could see what we had won.

Overall

As a free to play game, there is no reason not to give Dragon Nest a shot once it hits the market. If you like fantasy-themed MMOs, you will not be disappointed.


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Dragon Nest Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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