Ragnarok Origin

 

Ragnarok Origin published by Korean developer Gravity was released on the iOS and Android. The game released in Korea on July 7, 2020, Japan on June 28, 2021, and in the United States November 10, 2021. The game is a call back to the original Ragnarok Online which released August 21, 2002. The graphics have a very similar feel to the original game and the game play mirrors it very well for being on a mobile platform. Both games are MMORPG based in the world of Rune Midguard. 

Ragnarok and I go way back. I was in the original beta test for Ragnarok Online when it first released in the United States. At that time there was only one major area, and it was centered around the desert town of Morroc. There also were only about 4 classes to choose from after being a novice. After about six months of the US audience complaining about the game and not offering any constructive criticism to the developer, it was pulled from the US market and the rest of the game was tested by the Korean audience. A year after its full release it was finally reintroduced to the US market. Thats when I was able to pick the game back up.

Game play for this new iteration into the franchise is a hack and slash style. Whereas the original was a point and click to target enemies. You can still click on targets, but it will also auto lock when you've pressed an attack action. Beneficial spells will automatically cast on yourself and party members when cast. This game adds an auto attack feature where you can either set it to attack all monsters in the area or set to attack specific monsters within the current screen.  Skills/Spells can be set to one of six spots on the skill wheel which can be cycled to a second wheel for a total of 12 skill spots.

Most of the paid items in the game are to gain cosmetics for your character. Some of the items do give stat buffs but not so much so that it would be considered pay to win. The in-game currency can be used to purchase items to upgrade your gear and add card slots to your items. The is also "battle passes" and "holiday passes" that can be purchased. 

There are a ton of quests in this game that can be done which increases the replayabilty of this game. There are also boss fights that can be done in a party of five as well as guild events. With six different classes to pick from and completely customizable builds for each character you could play this game differently each time. And with the original game to consider we can look forward to a secondary set of classes off of the original upgraded six classes. 

While Ragnarok Origin feels a lot like the original in game play and look, it doesn't seem to capture the magic of the original for me. There is defiantly quality of life improvements within the questing. The auto attack feature could allow you to farm an area of monsters without having to actually play the game. Though you would need to leave your phone open while the game plays for you. But there is something lacking that I just can't put my finger on. The game is well polished and looks beautiful. And I could see the current generation of gamers liking it. So, I would give Ragnarok Origin a 6.5.

Be sure to listen to the full episode of the podcast to see if the game received our seal or not. 

Dungeon Fighter Online

By Elliot

Before I really start with how this game plays, I think it is important to explain just how much of a pain it was to download this game. Dungeon Fighter Online is available on Steam, so of course that was my first thought about where to download the game. However, it ending up taking three attempts of downloading this game to actually get it to work. Once from Steam, which it turned out that Neople, the developer and publisher, banned my account instantly for some reason. I went to game page on Steam and found that this was a very common problem. So I went to Neople’s actual site, where it took two more times, using two different emails to get an account that worked. Before I even began to play I was already very frustrated, if I wasn’t reviewing the game for the podcast I would have given up. Several days after my first attempt to download the game, I received an email from them saying they suspended my account, and they wanted feedback on what I thought of the game.

Gameplay here is similar to classic 2D side-scrolling arcade hack and slash games. You could almost say it plays out a little like Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, or Battle Toads Double. I say almost because those games of old did side scrolling fighters better than this does. Using the arrow keys for your movement instead of the wasd keys is a huge mistake in my eyes. Instead all the letter keys go toward using your moves. And there are a billion of them. I found myself figuring out which spell would heal or buff my character, mapped that key to something I would remember, and then just pushing random buttons as I played to use offensive spells, they all did damage, so it didn’t matter.
Levels are incredibly linear, there are zero choices to be made here. You fight the monster on one screen, once you kill them you find the door, which is in a random direction (top, down, left or right) but there is rarely multiple choices to make here, maybe when you get further into the game play you see some of that, but didn’t all week.

Dungeon Fighter Online also takes after games like Diablo and Path of Exile. There is a regular leveling mode, and then a hardcore, once you die your character is gone mode. I never once felt the fear of dying, but I guess it does happen. There are a lot of classes to choose from as well, more so than most games like this, and there is usually a male or female version of each. Classes seem unique with unique moves and looks about them. I would be remiss for not mentioning that the female version is not 100% safe for work either.

There was a lot I did not get to experience here. None of the guilds, pvp, or raids. Reading about end game content there seems to be enough stuff to keep you busy. I have read that the end game content can get tiresome quickly, which I wouldn’t find surprising.
I found gameplay to get stale very quickly. I started with the Priest class, played until I unlocked the subclass, played that for a bit before trying a ranged class. I found the range class to just be terrible. I then thought I would try another class, but was only allowed to make two characters a day. I tried a few more classes. They all feel different enough for a bit, but it really is just button mashing.
The story did not engage me either, most mmo type games struggle with this so I don’t hold it against the game.

I found the controls to be terrible. Not being used to using the arrow keys really made for an unpleasant experience, and there was no way you could use a controller with so many spells.
Overall this game is a pass. If you want to do real dungeon crawls go play Path of Exile, it’s free, looks better, and has more content updates.

You can listen Budget Arcade's episode on Dungeon Fighter Online on Anchor, or search for the podcast by name.

Elliot is a part of the weekly Budget Arcade podcast. Find him on Twitter at Elliot_Argues You can also find his other podcast Tessa and Elliot Argue where you find podcasts.