Dungeon Runners

The multitude of games promoted under the banner of NCSoft never ceases to amaze me. At first I had troubles taking in the double account system, when you first need to setup one NCsoft mater account and then separate accounts for every game you play, but seeing how many they are, I am beginning to see some utility. We have Guild Wars with all its expansions, City of Heroes/Villains, the now defunct Auto Assault, Lineage, Lineage 2, and Tabula Rasa which will soon join them. Dungeon Runners is the one title I left out and today we’ll switch focus on this pretty much underrated action RPG which was released on May 24, 2007.

An inconvenient idea

Dungeon Runners is set in a medieval fantasy world, parody to every role playing game cliché known to man and the hack and slash game mechanics only add texture to the game concept. I still have to decide if this profane point of view to the world of role playing games is what I want, but the game has and overall casual feeling, enforced by the free to download and free to play policy. NCSoft has a premium package available for a monthly US 5$ which will nab you the right to wear the best armors in the game, along with epic swords, better healing potions and access to a larger character bank. So if you want to get in, bash some monsters, get the loot and log out, Dungeon Runners is the right choice, since you won’t be involved in intricate puzzle solving during your quests and the dialogues follow a strong satirical line.

Even NPCs are self explanatory, just like the Hermit you’ll meet in the starting area, always babbling and nagging you that he’s alone and doesn’t see many people. It’s definitely not an oversight that he’s the most talkative character in the whole game and incidentally, also a merchant. I wasn’t the least surprised when later on I entered the city of Townston and found a dark dungeon entrance to the Horrific Dungeon of Legend. I remember there being a whole wave of second rate computer RPGs in the ‘80s, filled with generic dungeon talk, lacking substance and continuity, but this time Dungeon Runners does it on purpose.

Character evolution revolves around getting better armor and improving stats. Strength gets more melee damage and armor, agility will increase range damage, just like endurance boosts your hit points and intellect changes spell damage. The interesting bit is that character surnames change according to your statistics disposition. A high intellect, low level mage using lightning spells mostly would hereby become Studious Noobie Obsidian Mage Five stat points can be distributed on each levelup. Should you get tired of the current playing style, you can always re-spec (re-specialize). In exchange for a paltry gold sum you can redistribute all your acquired stats points and turn into a massive warrior if the situation calls for it. I can see me now, playing a high profile mage, swore to fireballs, when the greatest bow in the game drops and I re-spec ranger at the blink of an eye.

Hack and Slash for your right to party

The initial choice boils down to either getting a mage, a ranger or a warrior. Dungeon Runners sports a classless system when your character evolves solely governed by the increase in attributes and the skills used. This starter pack rules the way your playing experience will be like in the lower levels. It’s a matter of preference if you want to hurl lightning bolts, swing axes or fly arrows at your opponents, because later on your character can learn each and every skill available to the game. Keep in mind that you can only use 10 skills at any given time, similar to the Guild Wars system. You just drag and drop skills to the quick cast bar and start spamming. I chose the caster type myself and found it to be a great power leveling choice. His area of effect damage spells coupled with good running speed made him a perfect killing tool by kiting two packs of creatures and then bursting them down in an instant.

As you enter the game world, three newbie NPCs wait in line to get the starting quest, as the quest giver himself tells you to get in line. Lusting for fame, fortune and ridiculously powerful loot, you get lured to this particular realm, where dungeons are ripe with monsters to kill. Be sure to get the two stating quests and head on to the dungeon represented by the reddish looking portal to the right. Remember when I praised the mage? Dungeon Runners monsters are usually grouped in packs of two to four, linked together even if they’re at a distance. I don’t really think there is a threat system thoroughly implemented, but you will get agro if you go straight in. It’s a “first seen – first attacked” system. With three assailants on your tail, the inability to kite can be a killer. Healing is handled by potions which stack up to 20 in one group and restore up to 40% of your maximum hit points over 5 seconds. Premium users get access to a more powerful version which heals 50%, and yes, this automatically implies there are only two types of healing potion in the game. The same goes for mana potions, but they are harder to come by and don’t stack up at all.

The regular inhabitants of these woods are wolves and rats, the kind that carry magic items in their pockets and vast sums of gold. The game uses item color coding, ranging from grey – for poor quality items, to green, blue, golden and finally purple. The best items in the game have some hilarious descriptions, randomized by the item creation tool; Nodnarb’s Battalion Splinter from the Unpopular Nether Region anyone? More-evil-than-evil item names are common place in the world of Dungeon Runners.

The scenario follows suit in the Diablo line. You first find the entrance to the dungeon, and then kill everything in sight before going down the stairs to the next level. Rinse and repeat from five to seven times, until reaching the final map where the big bad boss waits surrounded by large minion packs. Now it would be a good time to use a waypoint scroll (read town portal) and slide back to the last visited town. Get the quest to slay the beast, if you didn’t get it already and start the fight. You know a creature is tough when the bottom right mouse over tool tip no longer says it’s “Normal”. “Champion” is a good description, but there are many others. Champions are hard to solo and a whole pack of champions definitely require a group to tackle.

As the boss bites the dust, loot can be outlined by pressing Alt. Bosses usually have a chest or two stashed away from sight so be sure to check those too. Inventory space is an issue and you’ll thank the gods there is such a thing as waypoint scrolls all over the place. Just go back in and sell for a hefty profit since gold is needed to buy skills and many, many potions. I was about to talk about plot advancing quests but there aren’t any. Some important quests reward you with king’s coins, an alternative currency used at certain NPCs to attain class armor. Let’s presume you are a powerful marksman and require better armor specifically tailored for your needs. That would mean faster running speed, agility, some damage additions and endurance is required. In Townston and beyond, friendly men work for the King and would gladly commission you such items in exchange for king’s coins. It’s the NCSoft way of rewarding players for completing quests. I forgot to mention that completing quests gets you gold and the said coins, but never experience.

What you see and hear

The control scheme is somewhat troubling because mouse look is dependent on pressing the Shift key (we're not playing poker here). This implementation comes from the inane controls which bind left click to move and right click to attack (or spell attack) and the fact that your camera will not adjust to the terrain automatically. Since Dungeon Runners features a complete 3D-modeled environment, you’ll be spending one third of your actions just for camera repositioning, even in the heat of battle. In terms of gameplay it’s still possible to kite, but harder to perform. Graphics are not that flashy and tend to create a cartoon-like environment. While you can zoom out for a better overall view, the small corridors and tight forest spaces forces you to play at half distance, third person. From this point of view textures look half decent, with bright slightly unnatural color tones. For a 2007 release, I’d say graphics are too old, resembling a 3D mutation of Diablo 2, native to technology that’s already six years old. In the end, graphical quality reflects on the low system requirements. Sounds do the job in stereo without being exceptional and background music follows the same line. It’s somewhat the standard with hack&slash games, where you focus on your next target rather than ambiance.

The Multiplayer factor

Once logged in I was surprised to see only 180 players online across 6 servers. It wasn’t prime time though, but I find such numbers disappointing for a title which saw final release five months ago. Bearing this in mind, I join the most populated PvE server, hoping for better interaction with the 80-man player base (and prepared for long solo-play hours). There is also a PvP serve available, but having only three users online defeats the whole purpose or player killing.

All NCSoft games follow the pattern of instanced content, where cities are the only places to set up trade relations, chat and group for powerful bosses. While there won’t be anyone bothering you while slaying ten beasts at a time, I find this playing style lacking. We’re talking about fully fledged MMO games here, yet the “massive” factor is nowhere to be found. You can, however, group with other players and they will be able to join the same copy of game word you are currently using. One popular request is for Sissirat groups, since he’s the lowest level world boss, not counting the one in the Dew Glades. Since there are no dedicated healer classes, the warrior type must take the beating with his massive health pool and armor, while the others deal damage as fast as possible. Since we’re talking about a hack and slash game, don’t expect crowd control capabilities. Comparisons to Diablo 2 are unavoidable, thus you can expect the same single-player type gameplay with a multiplayer component, but if you are looking for 20-man raids, then Dungeon Runners is the wrong place to do it.

Gameplay

A stunning conclusion

Dungeon Runners suffered from a very long development cycle which started in 2001. After two intermediary names, and subsequent different development teams, a long silence ensued until NCSoft started developing the title in-house in 2005. Such perilous journey usually dooms a title to mediocrity doe to the rough development conditions and I dare say Dungeon Runners witnessed the same fate. Although it’s played exclusively online, the game is addictive enough if you aim at an experience on the single player side. Hack and slash never gets old and the advantage of having a low player base is that you can rise and be the best in not time. Casual players will appreciate Dungeon Runners and its lack of intricate designs, somewhat in the vein of old dungeon crawler games that went out of fashion lately. Since the game is free to download and free to play, be sure to take a look and try it on for yourselves.

NCSoft home - http://ncsoft.com
Official game site - http://www.dungeonrunners.com

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