But now that Dragon's Prophet it's officially live, has the game managed to keep up with the expectations of all its fans? Or will it sink in the huge ocean of mediocre F2P MMORPGs out there? Let's find out together in our exclusive review.
FIRST STEPS
Like in almost MMORPG, the first thing that players will have to do in the game, is create their character. There is only one race, the Humans, and for now there are only 4 classes to choose from: Oracle (a light-armored magic melee class), Vanquisher (your typical warrior), Sorcerer (the game's caster) and Ranger (pretty self explanatory). The race/class selection as you can see is a bit poor, but you have to know that in Dragon's Prophet there's no fixed "holy trinity" (healer, DPS, tank). Instead, each class works as DPS and can specialize its playstyle into different "roles" by build customization and using different Dragons.
On the other hand the appearance customization is huge, and you have different available preset faces/haircut styles, but there is the possibility to change size and shape of almost all your body parts (arms, legs,face, eyes, lips, nose, ears, etc). Moreover, we noticed that compared to the closed betathey have further increased the available customization options, giving you the chance to create a truly unique character even with just a single race at your disposal.
When you have finished your character creation you will be introduced to the game by a couple of cut-scenes completed with voiceover which will lead you to the beginning of your adventures.
GRAPHICS AND SOUNDS
The game's graphics are a delicate subject. The environments are totally amazing, with excellent light effects and beautiful rocks and plants. The Textures are very good for a free-to-play title too, but everything else has A LOT of up and downs. You can find very inspired and impressive weapons and armors, and ugly and poorly gear pieces, like if they were from a different, low quality game. The same thing goes with the combat and skills animation, because you will find some choreographic and gorgeous combat animations and skills and other ones that are just clunky and stiff, accompanied by unpolished visual effects. Even the double jump animation, for example, is kind of strange and unnatural as your character seems to be suddenly and strongly pulled down toward the ground.
The sound effects are average, but the presence of voiceovers during the cut scenes contribute to improving the game's immersion factor.
GAMEPLAY
Speaking about general gameplay, the game is a typical quest-hub based themepark with some public events. When you complete quests and events and kill monsters you earn XP to level-up, gaining stats points which can be used to improve every single stat of your hero, and learning new combos and active skills. That in conjunction with the dragon customization system, gives you the freedom needed to develop your very own build and create a character adapted to your personal playstyle.
We player few instances, which come in 3 different difficulty levels to give you the chance to face them alone too. The first instances offered a simple and linear gameplay experience with an easy path full of mobs and a final boss to defeat; however, compared to the closed beta, the mobs placement has been totally reworked, and this simple detail has made the dungeons a lot more attractive.
We took some time to make a tour in the housing area and we've been impressed with the variety of the available building types, which range from simple tents and old wooden cabins to real luxury mansions. Players can freely decorate their houses and visit any house nearby, but they can't use the items and furniture which are inside unless they have the permission of the owner. The Housing zones also features open PvP which is allowed everywhere with the exception of any house interior. In our opinion this is a strange design choice as we think that maybe a lot of players would prefer to have the open PvP in certain zones of the regular world and a safe housing area at their disposal where they can relax while building their personal shelter.
DRAGONS
These amazing beasts are the real deal of the game. You will find lots of dragons roaming in the open world with the other creatures, and they can be tamed with a sort of mini-game and used as mounts or combat pets. There are a lot of different kinds of dragons, each one with its very own skills and characteristics. Just by completing the first quests you will receive a flying dragon which helps you to get confident with the whole system. With just one button players can also summon one of their dragons to help them in combat for a limited amount of time. You also have a stable where you can select your dragons, equip them and teach them new skills or replace the old ones. It seems like the dragons will be a core element of your build, directly affecting your playstyle and your role in group combat. It seems a quite deep system and we really liked it.
COMBAT SYSTEM
The combat system is a nice surprise. Basically, you have your camera on the back of your character following your mouse movements and you have to manually aim each hit and perform your combos by mixing the basic attacks with the active skills. You can defend yourself by moving away from the enemy attacks, using the side-rolling dodge, or using some of the classes' skills; for example, the Oracle has an active skill that is essentially a dash which can be used to chase, retreat or dodge the enemy assaults and lead to a combo and the Vanquisher can block attacks and counterattack.
It's a skill-based system, pretty fun and engaging and will reward the players who choose to think and react in combat instead of just standing still while trading blows with the enemy like in the majority of MMORPGs. You can also sprint with a double tap of your "forward" button and by doing this you will consume your movement points which regenerate with time; you can use the sprint both in combat and out of combat in order to quickly move around your enemies while dodging their attacks or just move from one point to another quickly.
GAME SHOP
The game features a cash shop which lets you buy boosters, cosmetic items and conveniences with real money. Actually, the game includes 2 different shop currencies: Dragon Insignas, which can be obtained in different ways by playing the game and Diamonds, which are bought with real money. Infernum kindly provided us with 1000 diamonds to try the game's shop and so we bought a couple of XP boosters, a costume piece and other stuff, just to check how everything worked.
In our opinion there is nothing that seems unbalanced or game-breaking; sure, probably the experience booster will help you to get faster to the level cap, but everything in the shop is just a time-saver, a simple comfort or a cosmetic accessory which will make your in-game life easier or more comfortable.
Long story short: Dragon's Prophet doesn't seem to be "pay-to-win" at all. Thumbs up for Infernum!
CONCLUSION
Considering its free-to-play model, Dragon's Prophet manages to deliver an enjoyable and pretty straightforward themepark experience. The fast paced action combat, the deep dragons system and the housing system are three elements rarely seen in any other free-to-play MMORPG - and never at the same time - which could attract a lot of players.
Sadly, beside that, in our opinion the game plays like a generic free-to-play themepark MMORPG, failing to find its very own identity and unique style. However, if you like dragons, themepark MMORPGs, target-less action combat and the idea of building your very own house, this could actually be the perfect game for you.
RATINGS
- Graphics: 7
- Gameplay: 6
- Sound: 6
Overall: 6.5
- The Good: fast-paced action combat | deep dragons system | nice housing system
- The Bad: Generic and uninspired quests | some animations and special effects are poorly realized
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