9Dragons bills itself as the first authentic martial arts MMORPG. I found the game after it was nominated for the best PVP at MMOSite.com. Being a pvp fan, a martial arts fan for a long time and given that this game is free to play, I decided to give it a shot and see if it could really stand up to some of the better free 2 play MMORPG's I've been testing lately, like Silk Road Online and Last Chaos. All of these games have a recurring theme and that's "WoW-like' graphics and free. There are several good MMO's out there like Flyff and Ragnarok that have japanimation cartoonish graphics that I've never been able to get into. I like more realism in my characters. This game definitely obliges me in that field. Let's get on with the review.
Graphics (9 out of 10)
The graphics in 9Dragons are well put together. They are comparable to Silk Road Online, and on a higher level than Rappelz. The art in this game looks amazing and you will feel as though you have traveled back to feudal Japan. The buildings are screen shot worthy, and look very close to their historical counterparts. The water is nice, although not as realistic as some games I've played. The terrain will sometimes have some issues when you are crossing over a hill. The camera will sometimes go behind an object and give you a partial or full blue screen. This is probably to be expected of a game in open beta and tolerable. Performance seems smooth, with the game performing well at full settings on my laptop or desktop. When it comes to graphics, in-game screenshots probably surpass all the text you'll probably read. So, I've compiled some of the screenshots I've took from around the land.
View our 9Dragons Gallery
Gameplay (9 out of 10)
To me, this is where 9Dragons really excels. The game sticks closely to a martial arts theme, and it's different in many ways to the standard MMORPG. First, the level structure.
Leveling
Instead of your basic leveling structure like 1, 10, 50, etc., 9Dragons has a main and a sub-level (called Chengs) for every player. There are 18 main character stages, and 12 chengs within each stage. Let me show you what I mean. Here are the main character stages:
Level 0 None
Level 1 Losing Self
Level 2 Gathering Chi
Level 3 Opening Chi
Level 4 Revolving Chakra
Level 5 Raising Light
Level 6 Five Dragons
Level 7 Sun and Moon
Level 8 Golden Blossoms
Level 9 Elemental Crown
Level 10 Floral Crown
Level 11 Crimson Snake
Level 12 Golden Lotus
Level 13 Humble Master
Level 14 Little Master
Level 15 Hermit
Level 16 Projected Soul
Level 17 Dissolved Body
Level 18 Immortal
So when you start out in 9Dragons and choose a clan (more on that later), you would be Losing Self (Cheng 1). Many players shorten this to LS1. If you reached LS12, and your next level would be Gathering Chi (Cheng 1). You would then work your way up through the 12 chengs of Gathering Chi. As you can see, it's a structure that differs from your standard MMO.
Leveling itself in the game seems rather easy. The standard that is talked about on the forum is about 1 level per hour, and I tend to agree although it seems that some levels might take longer because of the absence of good grinding material or new skill training. So, your character might experience these "humps" where it could take longer, and at times experience "slopes" where it seems very easy.
Clans
9Dragons has structured clans, much like Alliance and Horde in WoW. The difference is, there are a lot more of them. In 9Dragons, you have a choice between 6 clans to start out with. Three on the White Clan side, which follow the emperor, and three on the Black Clan side, which do not. Each clan has different level requirements to get in, so check the forums for this information. Even though you will make this choice after your first minutes in the game, you are considered a vagabond until you actually meet the requirements to join a clan. Here are the six clans you can choose:
White Clans
* The League of Beggars
* Shaolin
* Wu-Tang Clan
Black Clans
* The Brotherhood of Thieves
* Sacred Flower
* Heavenly Demon
Outside of that, your character can choose to join the three advanced clans later in their life. These include:
Black Dragons
Disciples of the Iron Fist
The Union of Noble Families
I have liked the clan system so far. It gives you a lot of choice for character customization while at the same time making you feel as though your a part of a huge group and want to work your way up the ranks. You can find out a lot more about clans on this thread at the 9Dragons forum.
Quests
I have found an abundance of quests at the lower levels. They all follow a good story line and don't necessarily require you to grind on monsters in order to complete them. There are timed quests, delivery quests, and many others to keep you busy. A quest that is available to you is indicated by a exclamation mark over an NPC's head. When you have completed the requirements, an NPC will have a question mark over their head. The main storyline quests available in 9Dragons are as follows:
Road to The Dragon
The Road to The Dragon is a journey that can transform you into a true warrior and leader of your clan.
These are the main storyline quests of 9Dragons. They usually begin
with an order from a ranking NPC disciple of a clan, and you will often
receive a higher rank in the clan as a reward.
Road to Enlightenment
These are quests that shall honestly reveal one's deepest motives to one's own inner self.
Basic quests of 9Dragons. You may receive these quests at all levels.
Road to Karma
These quests effect the core nature of your relationship with The Land and those who dwell within it.
You receive one new Road to Karma quest every six Cheng (levels)
after you reach level 25. These are typically a series of three to five
quests that are somehow inter-connected, and they usually bring the
best rewards.
Road to Fate
The Buddha preached that all life is one, and these quests explore
how all life in The Land may interact through you to affect your
ultimate destiny.
Heroic Episodes
These quests allow you to test your newfound skills and gain fame throughout The Land.
Find out more at the Quests section of the 9Dragons forum.
Weapons/Armor
The game has a variety of weapons to choose from, or no weapon at all. In true martial arts style, you can learn to fight unarmed and not carry a weapon. For those that do wish to learn a weapon skill, many are available. Here's a quick list:
* Axes
* Bracers
* Daggers
* Fans
* Fists
* Flying Wheels
* Polearms
* Sabers
* Scythes
* Spears
* Staves
* Swords
Just like many other rpg's, many weapons have stat and level requirements in order to use them. It's very easy to set up a store and leave your chacter (a feature I loved in Silk Road), so you'll find the main towns scattered with people willing to sell you a good weapon at what they think is a good price.
Armor is much different in this game. It doesn't exist. Basically, everyone gets clothes, and while some clothes may offer some stat boosts or extra pockets to put accessories, they are basically all the same. This was very new to me, but I've gotten used to it quickly.
Stats
Here's a breakdown of the stats available to every character in the game
Strength: Determines character's physical damage, defense, and balance.
Dexterity: Affects physical attack rate and dodge and the number of critical hits you get.
Constituion: Increases your health.
Wisdom: Like a combination of strength/dexterity, but only deals with chi-kung (magic) damage.
Essence: Determines vital energy (much like mana), and affects chi-kung damage (magic damage).
Defense: The amount of damage you receive.
Dodge: How often the enemy hits. If more than one mobs attack you, it cuts your dodge.
Attack Rating: This is how often you will hit an enemy. This only affects close combat.
Professions/Classes
To say the professions are simple would be a gross over-statement, but to me, there are three basic classes. Fighter, Healer, and Mage. There are several hybrids, and even several ways to go about being the best at each individual class, but for a quick breakdown of the classes you can choose from, there are those three.
PVP
The bread and butter for me is the player vs. player play. It turns out that 9Dragons did in fact win best PVP out of all the MMORPG's on the market over at MMOSite.com. Once you get bored with the grind, pvp is the way to go to get the adrenaline pumping again. Acclaim tried making the game open pvp, but the community revolted, so it switched back to the old system, and promised to release a PVP server in the near future. From the forums, here's how they describe pvp on a pleasant server (restricted pvp).
On every Pleasant Server there is a special location in the game
exclusively for PK. It is called Bloody Plain, and it is where the
final Duel of Nine Dragons was fought. In this location you can PK with
anyone apart from members of your own clan or party.If you wish to fight members of your own clan you will need to wear
a mask. However, if the mask is removed by another player using their
Revealing Hands Technique then for a limited period of time you will be
given "Clan Public Enemy" status and can be attacked without
restricition.
I'll have to admit that I haven't ventured into this arena yet, as I getting accustomed to the game. With all the talk about 9Dragons PVP though, I'm excited about what the future holds in the PK arena for this game.
Community (8 out of 10)
The community in this game is exactly what you would expect from a game that just entered open beta. There are plenty of people willing to give their opinions on what is the best weapon or class, but not that much information in the way of facts. Acclaim tries to draw everyone to the forum by putting most of the information about the game there, but even that is sparse to me. I have found myself scratching through posts and wondering through the map to find what I needed. As soon as more fan sites go up about the game, I'm sure this will improve, but for now, be prepared to discover things along with everyone else. To some, this could be frustrating, and to some, it could be exciting. I'd also like to note that the community is very passionate about the game and the developers are willing to listen.
In game, people are friendly and will usually answer your question quickly. The game promotes groups by giving xp bonuses for group play, so you can usually find a group of people to join up with and do quests or just grind.
Conclusion (27 out of 30)
In conclusion, 9Dragons has got to be one of the best free to play MMORPG's on the market. It has one of the best pvp systems out there, very good graphics, and an excellent storyline that sets it apart from anything else. The storylines flow well, and it seems to do a very good job at coercing you to put just a few more minutes into getting one more cheng. I have enjoyed the game thoroughly and plan to continue playing in the near future. The game has had it's share of technical problems in the beta, but the developers quickly release patches to fix them. They also promise to continue to make 9Dragons free to play even after open beta. In game ads and an item mall will support development of the game. I hope to continue to watch the developers mold this game into what the community will enjoy and bring something out of the box to MMORPG fans everywhere.
Official trailer
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