One of the prevailing themes at PAX this year was free-to-play, persistent-world games that are not only highly innovative but also easily accessible to casual gamers. Among the stand-outs was Dragon Nest.

One of the prevailing themes at PAX this year was free-to-play, persistent-world games that are not only highly innovative but also easily accessible to casual gamers. Among the stand-outs is Dragon Nest, being developed by Eyedentity and published by Nexon.  We had the chance to play-test a localized demo of the game and chat with assistant producer Matthew McCullough from Nexon.
   
Dragon Nest is an action-combat MMORPG with gameplay reminiscent of Devil May Cry, although charmingly colorful and less macabre.  Players can group to form four-person parties and battle their way through fast-paced dungeons complete with challenging boss fights.  Items and gold are dropped throughout the dungeon, but the real loot is awarded based on each player's combat acumen at the end of a boss encounter.  The game scores players with a familiar letter-grade system that takes into account style and combo points.

As a fan of the action RPG genre I found the game immediately accessible and engaging.  Performing rapid double-clicks with the WASD keys will allow you to dodge incoming attacks and get behind your enemies where you can unleash a furious combo of melee and ranged attacks. Players of other MMOs (read: WoW Rogues) should note that jumping around frantically while attacking can actually allow you to perform maneuvers that you otherwise couldn't.  The knockdown mechanics on some of these attacks are great, and there's nothing cooler than fireballing some hapless demon while he's still trying to scramble to his feet.  For more advanced characters there's a skill customization system that will allow you to add damage to certain abilities and specialize your play style.

We didn't have the opportunity to preview the skill customizations, but McCullough told us, "If you go to your skills window you can increase the power of your skill using your skill points.  So if you want to increase, say, your ice attacks or the fireball, you can build your character completely different than someone else would."
   
Boss fights are just as much fun as you would expect in a single-player game of this sort.  The boss we had the chance to encounter would periodically charge players, then fly around just out of melee range.  To make things even more interesting, waves of his minions attacked at the same time.  Thankfully, the game doesn't penalize you too much for dying, and you can respawn and hop right back into the action.

The persistent game elements take place mostly in the neutral player towns.  From here you can group up with other twitch-minded RPG'ers and find a dungeon.  Future support, for larger groups of players and raid-like bosses is expected.  Early on in the game experience you'll be focused more on building your character, but PvP will become an option as you progress.
   
Although the game is free-to-play, you can expect plenty of micro-transactions.  Purchasable cosmetic improvements for your character will be available, but Nexon told us that they intend to make sure paying customers don't have access to dramatic game-changing abilities or items that non-paying customers won't.
   
We know the game is being released in Korea first, but no word yet on when we can expect the English version.  Until then, keep reading zam.com and continue doing your finger-pushups!

Chris "Xenophage" McGraw
Junior Editor
ZAM.com