When I wrote my review for Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) last year, I was aware that, like many free online (and oftentimes Korean) games, it was still in beta, and, hence, still a work in progress. However, with boundless advertising sprawled across the Internet, as well as income earned from microtransactions, we felt that if Nexon was confident enough to release trailers and charge people for in-game perks, then they were confident enough to be critically praised – or scrutinized. Now that DFO has seen an “official” release, I revisited the game so that I might offer an “official” critique.
Very little has changed. Who would be surprised? Not only did Nexon provide the bare-bones of DFO last year when it went open beta, but it also had some meat on it (hence microtransactions and advertising). However, by “very little has changed,” I mean that the game didn’t receive much in terms of content or facelifts. Sure, they increased the level cap, released the female gunner, and introduced or improved upon a bevy of other small knickknacks, but, really, nothing monumental happened June 9th. Priests still don’t have a fourth sub-class, the Asian servers have a Thief class completely omitted from the US version, and the grind is still there; although the experience requirements were tweaked, leveling and quests still encourage repeated visits to the same place over and over. And over.
I calculated just how long it took to reach a sub-class, and it took me two full days of playing with a friend. That doesn’t sound too bad. Well, anyone with MMO experience will tell you that the initial levels are always a breeze, just so you get hooked. Then, all of a sudden, they hit the brakes: a couple levels a day turned into a level a day, which turned into one level every few days. But, hey, we’re not playing to level, right? We’re playing to have fun! Sure, that’d be nice, if only fun meant fighting the same, uninspired enemies over and over because you don’t have access to new content.
So, PvP, ne? Yeah, PvP is just as fun as I initially talked about, except now the game is swarming with veterans (read: addicts) who have started their eighth character which is currently at level 23. A genuinely new player who is level 23 has no chance against this “smurf.” Nexon’s inability to create interesting end-game content has created problems for new players, but such is the nature of MMOs. Perhaps we’re being too hard on Nexon.
One look at the variety of avatars will tell you exactly where Nexon’s sights are. This isn’t such a bad thing, though, considering that when I initially played the game, avatar variety was lacking. So, now, it’s kind of possible to appear unique and original. This should be praised, right? Well, sure, if Nexon made equal strides in other areas of the game seriously needing work, like quest design, writing (they improved on this, but not enough), AI (easily exploitable given the right class and dungeon boss), and fixing the bot system in such a way so that chat and interaction isn’t completely crippled.
Nexon got rid of the bots by disallowing global chat unless you buy a megaphone. So, in order to chat with everyone on the server (most likely to advertise rare wares), you have to pay Nexon. Genius! They also added one of those “type out these letters to prove that you’re a human” pop-ups that we all know and love – when you can read the damn things. This happened to me once, and it didn’t affect my gameplay at all, so I can’t complain. However, crippling chat in such a way that the only way to talk to someone is through a text bubble appearing over your head or whispers is short-sighted; though it solved one problem in the form of spam bots, it also took away a vital part of the online gaming experience.
Which brings me to an article that I wrote last year when Nexon advertised the possibility for gamers to write editorials for DFO. I wrote about the value of interaction in MMOs, and how meeting someone online can be a life-changing experience, or just a fun way to dungeon crawl. I thought DFO succeeded in this quite well, mostly because of the community itself – which I still enjoyed after having played again. However, rather than post the article a week, two weeks, a month, or months later, they waited until February to post it, along with some other DFO Corps articles written by other players. Now, all vanity aside, this only bothers me because it’s a sign of how long it takes for anything to happen in Nexon’s games. Whatever Nexon intends to do, expect it to take a considerably long time to emerge, and maybe not even correctly.
Final Word
I spent most of this update grilling Nexon, and speaking only of its flaws, when it actually has tried to fix many problems that the community has complained about until they were hoarse. However, points aren’t given for effort, and I can’t even say that Nexon has taken genuine steps to improve upon the game. In fact, what frustrates me the most is that I really like DFO, and I see so much potential for a flagship title leading the way toward depth in the old arcade-style beat ’em up genre that they’ve revived with a medicinal dash of RPG.
If you read my review posted last year (see below), then that’s still an extremely accurate account of DFO and how Nexon manages it. Obviously, Nexon is a business and has to make money, and Nexon’s American branch doesn’t have free reign over what happens with DFO. Though, when so much has been added (avatars) to squeeze money out of addicted players, one has to wonder if Nexon is earnestly trying to make DFO the best game it can be, or if they’re just trying to get by with the bare minimum rather than adding a few more pieces of flair to their vest.
