Dungeon Fighter Online (DFO) is an old but gold, anime-based, side-scrolling, action MMORPG that was revived back in 2015 by its developers, Neople. The game features 13 unique classes and their associated job advancements, a nostalgia-inducing, old-school look that may remind you of games like Double Dragon, and a simple yet exciting gameplay. Sounds like fun? It sure is! After all, it’s not every day an old game gets brought back to life.
Let’s start off with the game’s character creation. As mentioned, DFO features a whopping 13 classes. Each class has their own special set of skills and play style. Among these classes, the most unique class I’d say is definitely the Creator. Unlike the other classes, you’ll be primarily using your mouse instead of your keyboard to play this class. The click-and-attack gameplay makes it feels like a ‘clicker’-type game, and thus, making the game quite easy to play, and this helps newer players to ease into the game.
That said, all classes are gender-locked and there aren’t any character customisation available. Some classes are also basically the same as its original counterparts, such as the Slayer and the Female Slayer classes. However, the game more than compensates for this lack of customisation with a plethora of job advancements. For instance, once a Gunner reached level 18, he can advance to become a ranger, a spitfire, a launcher or a mechanic. Naturally, different advancements will alter how you play your character, and this may pique your interest to try all of the classes and their job advancements. Thus, DFO provides up to 25 free character slots for you to do exactly that. How many free-to-play games do you know that is as generous as DFO?
Not to mention, the game is not only appealing because its generosity, but also its gameplay. The controls are very simple to learn in DFO, allowing players to easily hop right into the game. For most classes, you’ll be using the usual WASD keys to move, the C key to jump, Z to use your character skill, and X to attack and to loot items. This makes the game seems very straightforward and simple. However, the game is not at all a mere hack-and-slash. One of the game’s main features for combat is damage avoidance. In fact, how much reward you’ll get for clearing a dungeon rely heavily on how little hits you’ve received. Furthermore, the game also has a combo system that will boost up your damage drastically depending on how many combos (continuous blows) that you’ve managed to inflict on your enemies.
The enemies will get cleverer the higher the level they are. There will also be obstacles, like trees, on the landscape that enemies can hide behind. They will know how to dodge, will move around more and have more devastating abilities that you’ll need to avoid. With so many challenging elements in the game to spice things up, it is no wonder that DFO is still here today despite being a 10-year-old game.
In terms of its PvE aspect, the game’s questing system mainly requires you to keep heading into dungeons to complete them. The Quest Book that you have is very convenient as it allows you to take all the quests while you’re in town without the need to seek out and approach each individual quest giver. You can also turn in quests via your Quest Book. Need some help to find a quest location? Your Quest Book can help you as well.
For dungeons, there are several difficulty levels you can choose from, and naturally, higher difficulty equals better rewards. You can attempt a dungeon alone or in a party, and a rank will be given to gauge your performance. The rank you get depends on your score, and points can be earned based on your style, technic (which I’m assuming is ‘technique’) and how many hits you took. What if you are a PvP enthusiast instead? Well, in that case, DFO provides plenty of opportunities in the form of 1-on-1s and coliseum fights that you can participate in.
One of the most interesting (and most debated over) features in DFO is definitely its fatigue system. The system is put into place to keep you from playing the game too much and it does help to reduce the number of gold farmers in the game. The devs also provides an attractive bonus - 2 times more XP if you have less fatigue from the previous day - for players who comply with the system.
Of course, for players who feel restricted by this system, they could always purchase and consume fatigue potions from the cash shop in order to continue to play. The cash shop in the game also stocks a variety of other items, such as convenience items, inventory upgrades, more character slots, avatar skins, and also creature eggs that will hatch into adorable pets.
In short, Dungeon Fighter Online is a game that has withstood the test of time not only because of the game’s fun gameplay alone, but also due to its strong and loyal community. If you’d love to be a part of this, you should definitely check this game out.
Old But Gold Action RPG
Many Servers
Peer to peer so if you’re connecting to the game from outside the US, you might not get a really great connection. The lag might be noticeable
Classes
- Slayer
- Female slayer – with entirely different advance jobs (not always different though)
- Gunner
- Female gunner
- Mage – only 2 adv jobs – elemental bomber and glacial master
- Female mage - 4
- Priest
- Thief - 3
- Fighter
- Female fighter
- Knight (female) – 2 adv jobs
- Dark knight – no job adv
- Creator – no job adv – uses mouse instead of keyboard to click and attack (like a clicker). Mouse to control her magical abilities – use mouse to scorch the enemies for example. Makes it really easy to play Advanced jobs at level 18 – for example, a Gunner can advance into a ranger, a spitfire, a launcher or a mechanic.
No Character Customisation
Whopping 25 character slots for free – definitely not your average free-to-play game
Story
- In the form of comics.
- A series of disastrous events befell the world, leaving it in chaos, but the world is healing itself and pieces are starting to fit back together.
- Fell from the Empyrean.
Old-School Look – Looks like Double Dragon
Controls
- Arrow keys to move – 2.5D side scrolling game.
- Double tap left or right keys to run.
- Simple attack buttons – X to attack, Z to use your skill (assigned to your skill bar) and C to jump.
- X to loot items – auto loot money and boosts Combat is very straightforward and simple Combo system – deal continuous damage Very easy at first – but as you gain more skills, the game gets more difficult – got obstacles that enemies can hide behind like trees. Enemies will know how to dodge, will move around more and have more devastating abilities.
Learn Skills from Various NPCs
- Nice dropdown text tutorial to teach you how to use the new skill system.
- Using SP points that you can get by levelling up.
- Each skill can be levelled up to Master rank.
- Can respect for free – in town.
- Can restructure your combos – set up max 6 skills for different phases of your combo. Can save multiple combos (6).
Upgrade Weapon – Use Gold to Upgrade, No Other Costs or Restrictions
Quests
- Epic and feat – keep heading into dungeons to complete them.
- Coloured to show difficulty.
- No need to go to NPCs to pick up or complete quests – can use the quest book to do that.
- The book also has location help for each quest.
Support character
- Once your character reached level 50 and above, you can summon him or her as a support character for the character you’re currently playing as .
- When the summon button is pressed, the support char will then come in and do an ability.
- Cost? Need many items that you can get by dismantling loot that you don’t need.
Equip Equipment
Move through the many areas in the game by levelling up. However, high difficulties can only be unlocked once you’ve completed the previous difficulty.
Dungeons
- Several difficulty levels for you to choose from – higher difficulty = better rewards. But you need to first unlock the previous easier difficulty first. Easy> Medium> Hard.
- Most parts of the game that are instanced (except in cities) – so if you are in a party, you can see your party members. If not, you’re alone.
- Scores are given to gauge your performance (your rank) – style and technic (which I’m assuming is ‘technique’), how many hits you took (damage avoidance).
- At the end got boss\get experience and rewards based on your rank.
- Uncover cards to see which loot you get – equipments, money, etc.
- End of dungeon – options: retry, find quick party and retry, select another dungeon or go back to town.
Game Is Linear
- PvP – 1-on1coliseum
- Earn titles - achievements
- Eenerous inventory slots
Fatigue System – Fatigue Potions
- Keeping you from playing too much.
- Reducing gold spammers.
- 2x more XP if you have less fatigue from the previous day.
Cash Shop
- Avatar skins for different classes (has expiration date).
- Can buy using either real cash or in-game currency.
