Tripp Reviews: Dungeon Fighter Online [ALPHA]

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Dungeon Fighter Online

Image Copyright: NeoPle Inc, 2014. 

 

Dungeon Fighter Online is an Action/Beam 'Em Up MMORPG for the PC which is currently in Alpha release by the South Korean based Developers NeoPle. A member here, MegaZero64 (whom I've known personally for many years) suggested Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) and gave me a link to download the Anti-Cheat shield and downloaded so I could play it. MegaZero64 is none other than DatLoli. MegaZero64 may release a review based on his perspective as a seasoned player, even before NeoPle took the project on.

 

I am a completely new player; someone who never played this game before or any of its series. 

Review may contain bad language.

I have to admit at first I wasn't sure what I was looking at, honestly. I even said to myself "Fuck that doesn't look like something I want to play, ever." I tried MapleStory, made by the people originally behind this game Nexon, I will talk about that later. But even as I was typing my initial impressions I was thinking about events that happened earlier this year; short version of the story behind this is in the quote below.

Basically events earlier this February gave me a chance to learn about my fiancee's family more. I *TRULY* kept an open mind and for once; and I got to learn about them; they got to learn about me but most importantly I got a chance to speak to her dad about stuff and life. He reinforced what I learnt, unknowingly in loads of different ways. Like making me try something new (Like adding red wine to beef while I was frying it!) I honestly did a lot of stuff that I never did before. Sure I didn't like all of it but I did like the trying new experiences and ultimately I decided that I'd keep more of an open mind.

So as I was saying; I remembered to try something new. Hell "You never know. You might fucking like it." So I said "Fuck it. Bro; I'll at least try it." To cut a long story short; Good decision. I went to the website, and connected my Facebook account to it (I'm not sure if that's mandatory; it could be optional). It wanted to download a "Plugin" as well as HackShield by AhnLab Inc, as an administrator I wasn't overly happy about it but I took the plunge still. So downloading even on my own connection was a bit slow at first. In total the game used 3.21GB on my hard drive; but I don't know if it grows the more areas I visit (and thus cached). There was a small issue originally - I had no idea what I was doing. Ultimately if you don't have a fast connection downloading it may take a while.

System Requirements (Curtsy of System Requirements Lab):

Minimum:

CPU: Pentium 3 800 MHz or Higher (Athlon)

CPU Speed: 800 MHz

RAM: 128 MB

OS: Windows 2000

Video Card: nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440

Sound Card: Yes

Free Disk Space: 5 GB

Recommended:

CPU: Pentium 4: 3.0 GHz or Higher

CPU Speed: 3.0 GHz

RAM: 512 MB

OS: Windows XP or Better [in fact you shouldn't be using XP - Friends don't let friends use Windows XP.]

Video Card: GeForce FX Series with Support for Pixel Shader 1.4

Sound Card: Yes

Free Disk Space: 10 GB

Once I was actually in game I found myself going through to select a server; however I selected the wrong on (A more advanced server) it's best to go for the Beginner Servers and advance up. I didn't know this but I do now. I should point out that I have played MapleStory before, years and years ago for all of an hour. It didn't hold my interest (And still doesn't). I had started with a Male Fighter Class - I usually find the best way for me to start as I've said before, is if I have the choice my first character of any game will be male (like me) and will be a Gunner (Or someone who uses heavy weaponry a lot, the exception to the rule for this was PayDay2, a review for another time.) I called my character Tripp (surprised it let me, to be honest) and off I went.

 

As soon as you select your character and name it you're shown some backstory associated with your character. It gives you a feel for the game and I'm told that it's different per character type. I think this is a good touch and it's very well done.

I found myself going through a Tutorial of sorts. Mashing keys on my keyboard I'd normally never use in this way. Before I knew it I completed the tutorial but still had many, many questions about how to do the simplest stuff, luckily I had MegaZero64 over on Steam Voice Chat answering every annoying question I possibly could; like a good 'newb'. But I took attention and really the learning curve wasn't all that bad actually. I truly feel the game was completely unbalanced, in the gamer's favour. but really "it gets more challenging; and a hell of a lot more fun" (and it's already pretty fun) or so I am told.

Two hours went by in a flash, and by then I was already picking up the game at a fantastic learning curve. I figured out that I didn't need to mash keys and that really I could do some impressive combo-stuff. And BOY did I take that chance. I like to think my little Digital Tripp was learning as I was learning.

Now apparently that they do a lot of resets; or have done resets in the past but as you all know if I had a gripe about this I'd be; 1) Hypocritical and 2) Stupid or ignorant. As I said it is in alpha phase at the moment (Not even in Beta) so I expect shit like this to crop up from time to time, and honestly it doesn't feel like an Alpha. Sure some it looks very Beta (coming soon stuff), for a free Alpha it functioned, operated and preformed beautifully, I explain this later. I should point out it is something you can play on your own; but it is much better with a friend or four.

Unfortunately Neppy then informed me that it was 2AM and she was going to bed. She said she didn't mind me staying up and continue playing but I decided to call it a night and off to bed I went.

... Moving on to the next day (Sorry everyone! xP)

After I played an unrelated game (already mentioned, tut tut) to do some much needed "Anger Venting" (Things during the day piss me off sometimes. Non-Neppy related things.) I got into a Voice Conversation again and hopped back on to DFO. My second day kicked ass.

We went off to do some quests and kill hordes of ... By this point Fodder, and bagged ourselves a tonne of loot and gold. We even met Gabriel a few times (Trader after the boss fight) which I've learnt is a very good and uncommon thing. Eventually I upgraded my skills and leveled them up and got new weapons (ditching the cannon), armour and even a hat!

My Armour loadout towards the end was a Ring Shoulder (Heavy Armour), Red Tiger Leather Coat, Red Tiger Trousers, Leather Strap, Sya Overshoes, Cross bowgun (Weapon) Used Cotton Arm Guard, Durable Plantain Ring and an Avatar Item Navy Duty Cap. In this play time I figured out how to use my classes better, and started working on putting them closer together so I could string better combos and ultimately do horrible, horrible things to the even more Fodder. My skills? Rising Shot Lv5, M-137 Gatling Gun Lv3, M-3 Flamethrower Lv1, RX-78 Land Runner Lv4 and two more slots that I paid absolutely no attention to what so ever because by this point as I said; the game was unbalanced in our favour.

The game was no longer about mindlessly mashing keys, sure I wasn't immersed in the storyline (Might have something to do with the Spam "Buy Gold" bots that seem to be plaguing it) but I was having so much fun. This time I spent a good 3-4 hours if not more, and even went through the 02:00 - 03:00GMT invasion of the town, which as the title says the town becomes invaded with creatures which you have to kill and drive back. I learnt a lot about the mobs or enemies that were to come; as well as ways of dealing with them. MechaTau however = Screwed. All fantasy of it being lopsidedly unbalanced in my favour was smacked in my face as it came crashing back into reality, this game is going to get tough later on and I need more and better party tricks.

MegaZero64 and I contributed 26-27 wins or so for the nearly 50,000 wins that the server had. That gives you some idea how many people play this game, and that was one server. I enjoyed it a hell of a lot and I would definitely rush to do it again, it's very rewarding especially after questing and looting for hours and it was a great way to end the second night.

 

You hold down CTRL and click the enemy you want to fight (Depending on level, so watch out for what works and what doesn't. It's a great way of earning experience.

After the battle the next thing I noticed was how nice a lot of people were. And I noticed that the community snubs and dubs the enemy as Nexon, (I am largly unaware of what's going on but from what I was told; I can see why) but really they were thanking and congratulating everyone for taking part and winning (We reached our target, collectively).

Perhaps this game has something big in store. I don't know. But I could play it over and over again and that's good. Also as far as I am aware there is nothing officially in game that you can buy to advance yourself quicker, and whilst this is because it's an Alpha I actually LOVE this model. I hate Pay2Play, I hate Pay2Advance and Pay2BeAhead. The best things in life really are free, so; NeoPle - I give you free advertising. This is the first review I've written for something that I actually genuinely liked. I know NeoPle will likely introduce something to pay for the service; but right now it's awesome, it's free and stable (at least for me).

Lastly though, the negative stuff; beware of scammers. As with all MMORPG's I'm sure, don't accept trades until you know what you're doing. People will try ripping you off, it's inevitable. Spambots are fucking annoying and make the chat practically useless, as they pretty much flood the chat across all servers and can even bypass mute/blocking, which makes the Blocking quite pointless to, seeing as the person you block can just buy Megaphones and keep talking to you. Not good. The Tutorial is lacking, a lot. It didn't cover or convey a reasonable message to me about the UI (User Interface) and such. Or it did and I lost focus or attention on it, the UI isn't clear on a lot of things but once you know it's there, you pretty much know where it is. The option to full-screen should be put on the settings menu in my opinion so it is switch-able. All minor and relatively petty things that I am sure will be patched or sorted in one way or another and NeoPle should be forgiven for that considering.

All in all I give this game an astonishing 4.5 out of 5 - Why?

Pros:

• It's learning curve is actually quite excellent.
• For an Alpha it's feature rich, virtually bug free (As far as I could tell, although I know there's no such thing, really.)
• Its got a nice neutral sound track and awesome battle/boss music tracks.
• The community is friendly, from what I've seen although very random sometimes.
• No disconnects. Their servers are pretty solid.
• It's free.
• It's fun.
• Character Backstory is clear and concise. Yet optional. You can skip it. 
• Good for players new and old to the series. 

Cons:

• The Spambots. Oh fucking hell the Spambots. Abusing Megaphoning.
• No option (at least I could find) of hiding the chat. I believe it should be an option.
• Tutorial is lacking. Some of the most basic features are not in there.
• Option to fullscreen isn't made clear, to be honest it should be.
• There was one NPC who would literally die if someone didn't love him or whatever. That kid needs to see a psychiatrist, immediately. Like I would literally die if I didn't type that.

All in all the game wins it for me by being virtually bug free, feature rich, well thought out and makes you the player think about what to add to your character with varying bonuses. All in all it's the best damn Alpha I've ever seen (Well it's in the top 10. Kerbal Space Program, Take on Mars and Minecraft were/are also awesome in Alpha).

This is no an official endorsement from EcchiDreams. But the personal endorsement of a member of staff who happened to like the game. I will say under good faith; I was not asked to write a review nor was I paid. I genuinely think it's good, ultimately I think the game might be just the sort of thing people who come to EcchiDreams would play, and I highly (and personally) encourage you to "Give it a go." I haven't found Ecchi or Hentai in it, but I'm a newb so take that as you will.

Peace.

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