Barunson Interactive is on a roll with their greatest masterpiece. Dragonica was one of the most anticipated MMORPGs ever since its development in 2006. Its super-deformed anime looks, pseudo-2D sidescroller, and cel-shaded graphics account for the anticipation and the hype. Numerous teaser gameplay videos generated much criticism and excitement from fans and critics. Early 2009 marked the beginning of a new adventure. Was the game worth the three-year wait?

The game shows off its prowess with an aesthetically-pleasing opening movie. Character creation and selection follows suit. Character creation only offers a few faces and hair selections, with bodies similar to a chibi anime form. Just like the characters, the environment looks like a 3D cartoon scenery. The developers did an artistic rendition of Dragonica’s world: lush, vibrant, alive and teeming with colors. The music fantastically complements the vibrant world, and despite the infinite loop, it sounds just as lively as the first time you’ve heard it.

Players can choose from 4 different job archetypes: warrior, thief, magician and archer. Each class has 2 different job progressions, with job changes occurring at level 20 and level 40. Character building is simple yet challenging. Stats are automatically distributed according to your class. However, skills have to be personally managed by arranging skill points provided per level. The skill system was made to prevent mastering up to 80% of the skills from first to third job. Skill point costs are in multiples of 5, the cheapest being 5 skill points per level. The game promotes different skill builds in each job, but it also forces the players to use skill reset items for a finer-tuned build. Otherwise, job progressions definitely offered multiple build varieties, a very thankful welcome in an MMORPG.

Dragonica doesn’t crimp on the quests. Most of the quests offered in the game are chained. Some single ones are also unlocked after fulfilling some conditions like the completion of a previous quest or attaining a certain level. Every single quest in the game reaps generous item, exp and/or monetary rewards. On the same note, repeatable quests often give twice the exp reward from a quest of a map’s average level. Unfortunately, the game still has its fair share of the grind. Some quests might be too difficult to fulfill, especially dungeon-based ones. Repeatable quests do give the necessary push in exp gains, but most of these can only be done once per day. Dragonica compensates the grinding aspect with a few incentives. A monster kill counter is added on the lower right corner of the screen. Characters gain treasure chests upon reaching a certain number of kills. The higher the kill count, the rarer the chest gets.

The maps in the game vary in size, but are huge, for the most part. Despite the vast map areas, monsters usually respawn at definitive points, which make camping a viable strategy when questing or grinding. Being a sidescrolling game, town maps look “long,” instead of vast. Constant visits to the town make you wish there was an easier way to reach the NPC you need to talk to, but unfortunately, running and hyperjumping are the only ways to go about. Some towns are also so far apart (Port of Winds and Libra), it takes a long trip through different field maps. This is compensated by the use of teleport scrolls though. Dungeon maps, on the other hand, are instanced and usually straightforward, with varying degrees of difficulty. The more difficult the dungeon, the more maps are added, and the higher the monster levels are. Each dungeon also ranks the characters’ performance according to combo and damage taken. Dungeons are definitely much more rewarding, item and exp-wise.

Other MMORPG staples are present, like PvP and item refinement. PvP is held in a different lobby with different arenas, divided into single or multiplayer matches. There’s minimal to moderate lag during the matches, making battles a bit bothersome but still doable. Guild sieges called Emporia Wars are also scheduled every week. Just like the arenas, some players might experience moderate lag during sieges, or in rare cases, abrupt disconnections. Next up is item refinement. This is done in two ways, by enhancement or increasing soul force. Unlike other MMOs, Dragonica gives players the chance to modify the rarity of equips through the soul force system. This gives random stat bonuses for that item. Enhancing the item raises the refine level and adds def/mdef bonuses instead.

And in conclusion, this answers the question posed a few paragraphs back. Dragonica was definitely worth the wait. Everything is lively, fast-paced and exciting. There’s the usual free MMORPG monotony as players play longer, but this is compensated by numerous in-game rewards. We can expect future fixes for the lag in PvP arenas, but so far, it’s still doable in its current state. Plus, more content will definitely be added, like pets and larger maps. Dragonica is gem on its own, it just needs to be cut and polished better when it goes commercial. This is a must play.


The Good: Numerous in-game rewards, vibrant visuals, combo system

The Bad: Lag in PvP arenas, specific respawn areas for monsters