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Dragon Saga

Dragon Saga is a side scrolling fantasy MMORPG with anime inspired graphics. The Dark Dragon Elga and former hero Paris have become allies to plunge the lands into darkness, and players must team up, as Humans or Dragonkin, to become powerful heroes and vanquish Elga and Paris from their lands. With two races and six classes, Dragon Saga gives players a fair amount of variety.

Publisher: WarpPortal (Gravity Interactive)
Playerbase: Low
Type: MMORPG
Release Date: October 28, 2010 (NA)
Pros: +Fast paced and fun combat. +Great skill and combo system. +Tons of item customization.
Cons: -Repetitive gameplay (Playing the same stages). -Slow solo progression.

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Overview

Dragon Saga Overview

In Dragon Saga, players must become mighty heroes to defeat the forces of the Dark Dragon Elga and the former hero Paris. Become a powerful Human or Dragonkin, and fight through waves of evil creatures to bring peace to the land. Start as one of 2 playable races and 6 classes with job advancements available at level 20. Dragon Saga originally launched as Dragonica, but was later renamed to Dragon Saga.

Dragon Saga Key Features:

  • Side Scrolling Gameplay - Explore the world of Dragon Saga with side scrolling gameplay with some 3D elements.
  • Choss your Class - Play as one of 2 races (Humans and Dragonkin) and 6 playable classes (Archer, Magician, Thief, Warrior, Shamans, and Twin Fighters).
  • Team Up with Others – Dragon Saga provides experience boosts and buffs when working as a team, which encourages party play.
  • Complex Combos – Players can string together combos and air juggles, creating a deep combo system. Players are rewarded bonus experience for chaining long combos too.
  • Player Housing – MyHome allows players to relax at home with their friends and gain useful benefits.
  • Craft Powerful Equipment - Players can improve their equipment through Enchanting, Soul Crafting, and Socketing.

Dragon Saga Screenshots

Dragon Saga Featured Video

Dragon Saga : Worlds Collide

Classes

Dragon Saga Classes

There are two races and six classes in Dragon Saga:

Humans are the majority race in Dragon Saga. Players can create Human characters from the start, and can choose one of four classes:

  • Archers attack from a range, using their high attack speed to quickly take out enemies. Their skills revolve around increasing their speed and mobility, as well as quickly hitting targets. At level 20, Archers can specialize as either Hunters or Marksmen.
  • Magicians use strong magic to heal themselves or deal massive damage to enemies. They have low health, and are best used at a distance or in parties. At level 20, Magicians can specialize as either Monks or Wizards.
  • The Thief excels at one-on-one combat, dodging enemy attacks while they chip away their health with haste. At level 20, Thieves can specialize as either Bandits or Infiltrators.
  • Warriors use brute force to overpower their enemies. Their massive amounts of health and defense allow them to absorb many attacks. At level 20, Warriors can specialize as either Knights or Gladiators.

Dragonkin are the second race in Dragon Saga. Available after reaching level 20 with a Human character, Dragonkin can choose from two different classes. Unlike Humans, Dragonkin classes only have one advancement path.

  • Shamans use spells and powerful summoned creatures to defeat the forces of evil. Shamans are particularly challenging to play at earlier levels, with their high-damage abilities not available until their 3rd job change. At level 20, Shamans become Summoners.
  • Twin Fighters are unique in that players control two characters. One character punches while the other kicks, allowing for high-damage combos. Each character can attack different targets, allowing Twin Fighters to attack multiple enemies and directions at the same time. At level 20, Twin Fighters become Twins.

Full Review

Dragon Saga Review

By, Dimitri Jrodan

Dragon Saga, initially known as Dragonica, is a side-scrolling 3D Fantasy MMORPG developed by Gravity Games and published by Gravity Interactive, Inc. It was released on October 28th, 2010. In most markets the game was advertised as Dragonica, however all servers have been shut down aside from the Dragon Saga server, catering to North America. Dragon Saga features gameplay similar to Dungeon Fighter Online and Elsword, with players navigating side-scrolling stages as they fight their way through instanced dungeons.

Starting Up

When first starting the game, players are prompted to create their character, choosing from class, gender, hair style and color, and face. After reaching level 20 with a Human character, players will also be able to choose between creating a Human or Dragonkin character.

The controls for Dragon Saga become more complex as players gain more skills. Players move by using the arrow keys, and skills and consumable items are assigned to the 1-8 keys, Q-R keys, and A-F keys. X is used for basic attacks, while Z is used for charged attacks. Finally, C is used to jump. As players gain more skills, they are able to create combos with their attacks and skills. To ease players into creating these combos, players are able to unlock premade macros, which will execute multiple commands with a single button press. For example, Magicians have a macro that will use two skills, make the character jump, and use an in-air skill.

The First Few Levels

The first few quests will quickly make players familiar with the instanced dungeon system, finding parties, upgrading equipment, and gaining skills. Most skills have 5 levels, though some have only 3 or 1 level.

By level 15, players will begin to gain levels at a slower rate, and this is when finding parties is most important in Dragon Saga. Quests will send players to most stages and provide larger experience boosts, but players will spend a majority of the time replaying stages without the bonus quest experience. Finding parties will allow players to run through these stages faster, as well as play at a harder difficulty to gain more bonus experience.

Gameplay

The gameplay in Dragon Saga is intense and action-oriented. Players will have to gain a solid understanding of the combos that can be chained together by mixing basic attacks, charged attacks, and skills. This is even more true when playing in a party, and players can work together to chain their moves together.

The grinding may present a tedious challenge for some players, especially those unable to find a party. Parties are not as readily available between levels 10-30, so players who have only spent a small amount of time playing may find it boring to replay through level-appropriate levels solo. However, if players can make friends early on, these levels will pass quickly, and after level 30 parties are much easier to find. This is especially true towards the level cap of 85, with many players at these higher levels needing to replay stages often to gain the final levels.

The skills are varied enough that two characters in the same class can have different playing styles, and the class options provide plenty of customization between end-game players. The emphasis on equipment customization enhances this further, with players able to enhance equipment by enchanting, soul crafting, or socketing their equipment. They can even shift enhancements from one item to another, or add elements to weapons. This grants players a large amount of options for customizing equipment.

Features

Dragon Saga features a complex equipment customization system, and the MyHome system allows players to relax in a private area with friends, as well as reap benefits from decorations placed in the home.

There are three main systems of customizing equipment: socketing, soul crafting, and enchanting. When players socket an item, they create slots where a socket card can be used. These cards improve stats like defense, attack, evade rate, and more.

Soul crafting can be used to dismantle equipment into souls, remove curses, and improving soul grade. Some equipment, after being unsealed, can be cursed. Players must then use souls to remove the curse. Improving the soul grade of an item improves its stat bonuses, but at higher levels has a high chance of destroying the equipment entirely.

Enchanting uses materials and gold to raise an item’s base power. This results in an item’s name ending with +1, and can reach a max of +20, greatly improving the item. At lower soul grades a failed enchantment will revert the item to +0, and at higher soul grades a failure will result in the item being destroyed.

The MyHome feature allows players a private space to be with friends. Players are able to rent a home for 20 gold, plus a 1 gold tax every week. Players can customize their home with wallpaper, floors, furniture, and more. Objects in a player’s home grant them a boost, such as increased experience gain or attack power. If a player does not pay the weekly tax, bonuses from their home are suspended, and the tax grows with each unpaid week.

PvP

There are four types of PvP in Dragon Saga: Practice Mode, Ranking Mode, Battle Square, and Emporia Wars.

In Practice Modes, players can freely participate in general PvP. This mode becomes available at level 20, and is open 24 hours a day. Unlike the other modes, there are no rewards for Practice Mode aside from gaining experience in how to PvP in Dragon Saga. Practice PvP rooms can be either Teams or Free-for-All, Death Match or Elimination, have a specified player and level cap, and a time limit of 3 to 10 minutes. Players can also set passwords, allowing only certain players to join.

In Ranking Mode, matches are only available to those over level 35, and from 18:00 to 20:00 PST. Ranking Mode matches are more restrictive that Practice Mode, in that each room can only have a max of 8 players (4 for each team), must have a minimum of 4 players (2 for each team), and players must be within 2 levels of each other. Finally, teams cannot have more than one type of each class. Players will receive Combat Points at the end of each match. These points can be used to purchase special armors for PvP.

Battle Square is a daily PvP tournament that lasts for 20 minutes, in which two teams (Red vs. Blue) compete in objective based gameplay. Players must be at least level 40 to participate in Battle Square, and it is hosted from 17:00 to 17:20 PST. All participating players receive an experience potion dependent on their level, and a Gold Box that awards gold based on the amount of points the player accumulated. The winning team also receives Weapon and Armor Enchant Powder, dependent on their accumulated points. They also receive a Sign of Hero, used to purchase items from the CP Store, or to use for Job Changing.

Finally, there is Emporia Wars. Emporia Wars are large scale, guild vs. guild PvP battles where guilds fight for control of castles. The Emporia Wars takes place on Saturdays, 14:00 PST to 17:30 PST, and Sundays starting at 14:00 PST. Guilds will have to bid to be chosen for Emporia Wars, with the top 8 guilds being chosen. Those guilds not chosen will be refunded their bid. Battles are fought elimination style, with each guild battling one guild until there is a champion. The winning guild wins access to the castle, and owns the castle until the next Emporia Wars. Dragon Saga also has a mercenary system for guilds with less than 50 members, in which members of other, non-participating guilds can fight for small guilds in the Emporia Wars.

Cash Shop

The Cash Shop in Dragon Saga provides players with plenty of items that enhance gameplay without granting players large advantages over others. Players can buy a variety of costume sets, pets, and potions that increase experience gained. There are items that improve equipment enhancement chances, which may allow players to create more powerful items than those not willing to pay, but the advantages gained by this does not impact gameplay too much as the focus is not on PvP.

Final Verdict – Great

Dragon Saga is one of the best examples of a side-scrolling action MMORPG. With a solid storyline, excellent character and equipment customization, and enthralling gameplay, it’s easy to see why there is still a solid playerbase to Dragon Saga. While PvP is a little lacking, the instanced dungeons are a blast to play with friends, and at higher levels multiple characters using powerful abilities is fun to watch. Those looking for fast gameplay and a complex fighting system should definitely give Dragon Saga a chance.

Screenshots

Dragon Saga Screenshots

Videos

Dragon Saga Videos

Playlist: Dragon Saga

System Requirements

Dragon Saga System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or better
Video Card: GeForce FX 5700 / Radeon 9600 XT+
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 4 GB

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Pentium E2140/E2200 or better (Dual core)
Video Card: GeForce 8800 GT / Radeon HD 3650+
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 4 GB

Music

Dragon Saga Music & Soundtrack

Coming Soon!

Additional Info

Dragon Saga Additional Information

Developer: Gravity Games (Originally developed by Barunson Interactive)
Game Engine: Gamebryo Engine

Alpha Date: March 30, 2009
Closed Beta: May 29, 2009
Open Beta: June 30, 2009

Foreign Releases:

Europe: October 15, 2009
China: June 1, 2009
Japan:
January 20, 2010
Korea:
September 8, 2010

All the foreign versions of Dragon Saga shut down. The North American version hosted by WarpPortal is the main one.

Dragon Saga Expansions:

Tales of the Damned - Increased the level cap to 65
Paris Strikes Back - Increased the level cap to 70
Kyros Unleashed - Increased the level cap to 75
Elga Unleashed - Increased the level cap to 80

Development History / Background:

Dragon Saga was developed originally by the South Korean game studio Barunson Interactive using the Gamebryo Engine. The game originally launched in the West on THQ Ice's online gaming platform as "Dragonica" back in 2009, but THQ's platform shut down. Gravity Interactive, the company behind Ragnarok Online, Requiem, Rose Online, and several other games acquired Barunson interactive to gain control of Dragonica and later renamed the game to "Dragon Saga".