PAX East 2011 Preview: Dragon Nest

“The Goddess Altea, creator of the land of Lagendia, is poisoned by her evil sister Vestinel. The poison can only be cured using an antidote made using the source of the poison itself, Vestinel’s magic grail, which has disappeared somewhere within Lagendia. The players as heroes of Lagendia must comb the land fighting evil dragons in order to find power stones that enable them to communicate with the sleeping goddess in order to find the grail, wake her and save the world.”

This is the world of Dragon Nest, the new free to play MMO developed by Eyedentity Games, and published by Nexon. Currently the game is in open beta in China, but already released in Korea, Japan and soon to be here in the US. Characters so far are currently limited to gender locked classes of the Warrior, Archer, Sorceress, and Cleric, with each having two secondary jobs available to them at higher levels. The Warrior’s being a Mercenary and or Sword Master, the Archer being a Bow Master or Acrobat, The Sorceress being Elemental Lord or Force User, and the Cleric being a Paladin or Priest. The targeting system is all mouse controlled, so players have the freedom of switching from enemy to enemy mid attack. The targeting system allows free movement when attacking or defending, meaning much more dramatic and realistic combat situations.

The game is beautiful, and flows very well. Bright colors throughout levels make enemies in the level stand out, giving them a dark evil look to them. While cut-scenes in the game introduce mid-level bosses and bosses in certain dungeons. The scaling of monsters compared to the player controlled characters is immense, but in a good way. Fighting larger bosses and enemies gives you the feeling of how large of a task you have at hand to save the Goddess Altea.

Expect to see Dragon Nest out this summer here in North America, and if you haven’t already check out the teaser site that has already gone up at Nexon.