Sunday, June 16, 2013

Dragon's Prophet Beta First Impressions


I started playing the Dragon's Prophet beta that recently went open from SOE (Sony Online Entertainment). When starting a new game you have to really have an open mind to what it is going to be like and be willing to truly give it a chance. SOE has produced Everquest II and DC Universe and they're both free-to-play but each game is extremely unique.

Having played both of these games I went into the game with a notion that it would be more like Everquest II; it is an MMORPG fantasy after all. What I ended up seeing was something unique with a hint of a combination of both of their previous hits.

Character creation is one of my favorite parts of absolutely any game; I love it! I am prone to perfecting, to hours invested, and my current re-roll record is 15 times. I love it, I love creating and manipulating and Everquest II brought to the table the best character physical creation after a longtime with WoW. Dragon's Prophet takes that even further, my (utterly true) first thought was, "Wow, these characters are sexy!"

In character creation alone, there are 7 (SEVEN!) different options that adjust boob size in some way. They put some fan service into this one. The other details are laced with new options like forearm length, foot size, waist, butt, and so much more. I spent more time than I care to admit and played with all the options. Not only can you adjust everything but it also shows you a variety of outfits to fully round out your satisfaction.



I made her in the light of what I like to call "sexy anime-ness" and you can't deny how amazing she looks. I don't just mean physically, I mean graphically. This game is destined/designed to be beautiful! I spent somewhat the same amount of time also making a viking for the manly man fans and he is equally as detailed.


I don't know if it means I am just super easy to please or amaze but I was admittedly very caught up in the character creation. Even the character selection with 3 or more characters was well done (just see it to understand). But it was about this time in my gawking phase where someone reminded me that even with a great character creation screen, chances are you are going to lose a lot of the graphic detail in game. 

I gave it thought and it was a pretty valid argument. Characters in WoW look pretty different in game than on the creation screen, but rest easy. This time SOE has perfected maintaining character image integrity in game. 


It if isn't obvious by this point, I started off a little shallow but I did make it into game play. If you start to play this game, even if you have played MMOs in the past, you should still do the tutorial, it is equivalent to the opening cinematic and sets up the story line for the three starting zones. The interface and gameplay is where the DC-U part of the combination comes into play; it is manipulated with mouse combos and a limited hotbar. It takes some getting used to but rotations are easy to learn. 


Of the 4 classes, I imagine they will play out by giving you talents and trees to specialize the direction you want to go. There is a tank tank, 2 ranged, and a priest style class. You start out doing massive damage even at level 7, so its confusing to imagine where the numbers will go to from here.

Not to far into the lore and the story but I am already hooked on this game. It is going to be free-to-play and there isn't a release date set yet but with an open beta, I doubt it will be too far behind.

Based on my first impressions, you should try this one!

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