Trivia / Dungeon Fighter Online

• All-Star Cast: The Japanese version of DNF consists of well known seiyuus such as Kana Ueda, Soichiro Hoshi, Daisuke Ono, and Nobuyuki Hiyama.
• Author's Saving Throw: Neople developer MJ is well-known for pulling these on DFO Global.
  • Avatars released in 2018 onwards were made tradeable between players due to numerous complaints about Avatars being untradeable.
  • After MJ had a rather spectacular Random Number God-induced meltdown on the official DFO Discord server regarding the Korean version's MIKUMIKU package^{Say what now?} He spent hundreds of USD worth in Korean won trying to roll an aura MJ designed himself, and he still never got it, he promised that Global's version of the package would have none of that. Indeed, when the package released on August 4th, 2018, no RNG elements were present.
  • Averted with the stealth removal of the NeoPremium contract from Canna's slot machine. MJ wasn't informed of the change and the best he could do was lay out the problem^* People were getting too much of a supposedly subscription service for free, plain and simple without the "PR speak" that incensed the fanbase in the first place. The reveal that NeoPremium's monthly subscription price was going to be dropped from roughly US$30 to US$9 did nothing to stem the anger. As one /r/dfo user puts it:
  "Reminder that 9$ is not a reduction from 30$, but an increase from the 0$ they left in so long it turned into the default state of our server."
  • For the Korean version, the gearing changes made after the release of the level 95 cap are this. Raid-ready Epic gear is orders of magnitude faster to get than in level 90 cap, and one can even change the armor type of said equipment through recipes if need be. Even so, Kang Jung Ho, the game's director as of December 2018, noted that more long-overdue quality of life improvements are in order, such as the unusual difficulty in obtaining swap gear.
  • Lv. 110 cap greatly overhauled endgame progression in response to numerous complaints about the extremely grindy nature of Lv. 100 cap. Compared to previous level caps, where Epics were incredibly rare and worked best in sets due to Set Bonus, Lv. 105 Epics by comparison are extremely easy to get, are completely functional as independent pieces and allow players to fully gear a single character in less than a month. The new grind takes the form of a new Equipment Upgrade system called Option Growth, which allows players to build towards endgame by slowly upgrading the potency of their gear's effects over time, making the process of upgrading to endgame feel more natural. The options to farm for Lv. 105 Epics are also incredibly diverse between standard and Advanced dungeons, giving players a ton of breathing room to grind how they want rather than being funneled into time-gated content as it were in Lv. 100 cap. As an added bonus, the Daily/Weekly dungeon system was overhauled into the Play Point system, where players can use Play Points earned by completing DFO Missions to buy entry tickets into advanced content without being arbitrarily limited in daily/weekly runs.
• Bad Export for You:
  • In addition to the changes down the page, exp tables were generally inflated to gross levels, bugs were rampant (to the point where one event may mess up social features of the game), and generally an inferior experience. Nexon had the gall to call it a "unique experience", something people remember because of this trope.
  • DFOG in some ways inverts this as there's certain tweaks like drop rates of normal gear/quest items being boosted that make it stand out compared to most versions. Otherwise it's very much on par with kDnF.
• Cash-Cow Franchise: You wouldn't know it by just looking at the Global playerbase, but Dungeon & Fighter is wildly popular in Asia, to the point where it prints more money than Nexon's other popular MMORPG. In fact, it makes so much money, it's made more money in 15 years than the aggregate box office sales of the entire Star Wars franchise, grossing at least 1 billion USD every year for the past decade! For comparison's sake, these◊ are the total earnings of every version of the game. China is two whole orders of magnitude more profitable in USD than in its home country of Korea.^Translation Top to bottom: Korea, China, Japan, Global, Total; Left to right: 2018, 2019 It certainly helps when top CDNF streamers are willing to drop more than 20 million yuan on their accounts to be the best at the game. As of 2021 it is now the single highest grossing video game ever made, eclipsing most multimedia franchises.
• Christmas Rushed:
  • The first Twitch stream that aired after the level 100 cap release had one of the developers admit the update was rushed, and it clearly showed; a fairly important endgame farming dungeon was completely omitted until the next maintenance and the dev team was rushing to fix optimization issues they accidentally re-introduced with the patch, including a Game-Breaking Bug concerning the game's 32-bit nature (the game crashed when more than 3 GB of memory was reserved).
  • As noted under Executive Meddling, the male Slayer's 3rd Awakening had to be released earlier as a response to the Chinese version of DnF announcing the content earlier than expected.
• Colbert Bump: Fighting game spinoff DNF Duel attracted several new players between its pre-release promotional trailers and first open beta test. Most of them didn't even know what DFO was or its Cash-Cow Franchise status in east Asia, mostly only coming from the trailers, word of mouth from fighting game-focused YouTube channels like The Online Warrior, Koefficient, and Jiyuna, and the simple fact that Arc System Works (BlazBlue, Guilty Gear) was publishing the game and 8ing/Raizing (Fate/unlimited codes, Marvel vs. Capcom 3) was in charge of development.
• Content Leak: Happens fairly often in Global, as planned updates are often grouped together in large downloads and dripfed over the course of several weeks, unlike the Korean version. Future content updates such as new endgame dungeons and Awakenings are often spoiled weeks to months in advance by players data-mining these downloads.
• Creator's Favorite:
  • In an interview with Gerri, she states that her favorite class is the Light Bringer and that she has a crush on Woon Lyonir and Ludmilla.
  • Although MJ often plays himself up as a Comedic Lolicon on stream, he truly does love mage classes, especially ones that can nuke huge areas. He only presents himself the way he does because the female Mage has been around for far longer than the male Mage in all versions of DnF.
• Creator's Pest: The developers have outright stated that they consider Creator and Dark Knight "a mistake" since they both failed at their intended purpose of being beginner-friendly characters due to their unusual gameplay. This belief largely contributed to them being locked behind a level requirement and their exclusion from multiple in-game mechanics and events.
• Edited for Syndication: The sale of Skeleton Keys was banned specifically in Belgium, Slovakia, and the Netherlands for running afoul of local legislation regarding gambling and Loot Boxes.
• Executive Meddling: An interview by the Korean version's director revealed that the male Slayer third Awakenings were basically Christmas Rushed, explaining the perceived lower quality of them compared to the female Slayer and male Fighter 3As released earlier in the year. Some people speculate that this is because the Chinese version unexpectedly made the male Slayer 3A announcement first, presumably forcing Neople to speed up their development to cater to the version of DnF that nets the most money for Neople.
• Follow the Leader: Dungeon and Fighter's overwhelming success lead to the creation of numerous semi-clones such as Elsword and Kritika, many of which attempt to bring the concept into 3D. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of these tend to be Korean MMOs.
• Meme Acknowledgment:
  • The mess that was DFOG's 2nd anniversary events (mentioned in the YMMV page) gets mentioned in the trailer of another event, of all things.
  "NO!! THIS IS NOT BETTER THAN LAST YEAR!!"
  • The above trailer also pokes a little fun at the "Deal with it" incident (see Memetic Mutation in the YMMV page for details).
  "What would you choose? Truth or power? Either will take you to a whole new different level, but you have to deal with it."
• Newbie Boom: The unexpected popularity of DNF Duel in the West lead to a sudden spike in new and returning players for the Global version of DFO, mainly from those who were attracted to the game's style and lore.
• No Budget: Global developer MJ basically said as much on a Twitch stream following the release of Prey raid, when asked why the game's anti-cheat is such a joke. The stream following this one also had MJ admitting that the Global team downsized to the point where it's smaller than it was during the beta, citing people on the team leaving for better-paying positions, compounded by the (anecdotally) perpetually typhoon-ridden Jeju Island, where both Nexon and Neople's HQs are located.
• No Dub for You:
  • While the game had English Voiceover when it was under Nexon America, Neople decided to simply publish the game with its Korean voiceover. A poll held by Neople also showed fans voted in a slightly higher margin to stick with Korean voiceover work although some did it out of the belief it would get the game out faster.
  • Although there are mods available to bring the English voiceovers that Nexon America had to the Neople version, there's still none for Female Slayer, Knight, Dark Knight, Creator, Lancer, and all of the Post-Metastasis NPCs. Making it impossible to fully avert this.
  • Averted with the DFO Global-exclusive Once Upon A Time in Arad event, which was dubbed entirely in English by English voice actors residing in South Korea. The Phantom Thief and Detective event got a similar treatment, and it also marks the first time the male Slayer has been shown speaking in English since the Nexon NA days.
  • A weird case with DFO Global: Events imported into this particular version of the game from the Chinese version are, strangely, left dubbed in Chinese. The only known exception is the Legend of Camelot event, which had parts of it return as permanent content and given a Korean dub to replace the Chinese one.
  • The MIKUMIKU avatar package came with Super-Deformed versions of the Vocaloid characters that solely spoke in Japanese. While there are Vocaloid software packages available for other languages (including in English), the characters associated with the Japanese version of Vocaloid are the most popular of the bunch.
• No Export for You: The game has gone back and forth on this over the years; for quite some time, the game was unavailable outside of specifically supported regions, and Nexon's US version eventually shut down. The western version was revived with the "Global" banner indicating that it is available to play for all regions outside of those that already have a version of DFO in their country, but due to the jump to Metastasis early in Global's lifespan, the pre-Metastasis version of Female Slayer was never brought to Global.
• Official Fan-Submitted Content: The AI-controlled Dungeon Fighters in the Tower of Anguish are all based off of actual players in the Korean version, chosen through an in-game event. The players' names and avatars are retained.
• Referenced by...:
  • In Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance, one of Almaz's new skills is an almost direct copy of the Weapon Master's 1st Awakening skill, with a little extra dramatic flair at the end.
  • One of the Bland-Name Product games pivotal to the plot of The King's Avatar, an MMO named Glory, is the source of many a DFO Shout-Out.
• Screwed by the Lawyers:
  • A developer stream confirmed that the reason why the Re:Zero avatar package had so many Random Number God features implemented into it (in stark contrast to the MIKUMIKU package) was because of contractual and licensing fees.
  • Shortly after the level 100 cap released, the official Twitch team was repeatedly asked why Global hasn't gotten the Dummied Out Fate/Zero and Sword Art Online collab avatars yet. Once again, the issue was licensing fees, and this time around the Global team couldn't afford them. MJ lamented that these collabs probably would've been doable a few years ago when both properties were less popular.
• Screwed by the Publisher:
  • It was after a certain point left to rot by Nexon NA, creating a lag in content updates and hackers running rampant, leading to the game's closure in North America. The cause is implied to be not making as much money as other games. In contrast in Korea it's one of the top 10 games consistently and of the sub-genre it popularized here, considered the best.
  • The Taiwanese version suffered the same fate but with Garena handling it, reminding people of what happened with Nexon NA
  • Developers to the Rescue / Uncanceled: NeoPle, the developers of the game, decided to publish the game themselves, without the involvement of Nexon NA, with an Alpha Test starting May 15, 2014 and the game being finally released at the end of March 2015.
• Trolling Creator: DFO Global's admins have been known to log in occasionally and mess around with players in global chat. For instance, giving a random channel number that's ostensibly lucky for hell mode.
• What Could Have Been
  • Early concept art for the Female Slayer portrayed her as having a ghost arm like the Male Slayer◊, instead of having an otherwise normal arm whose energies are sealed by a small stone.
  • Likewise, Early◊ concept◊ art◊ for the Knight notably lacks the Fanservice of the current incarnation, instead sporting an overall more regal appearance.
    • Her Dragon Knight and Lightbringer subclasses had different art in the announcement poster than what's currently being used.
  • The female priest's early design had a much more bubbly appearance◊ than her current design.
  • Director's notes over the years talk about various quality-of-life changes for the game that never saw the light of day:
    • A raid was planned for the Empyrean Kartel, which was deliberately going to be easier than Anton to ease newer players into learning raid-like mechanics. The closest the actual game has ever gotten to this (in any version) was tutorials that only stuck around for raid-specific events.
    • Sometime in 2018, there were plans announced to introduce a "rune" system for specific skills (think Diablo II) that changed their mechanics/damage/hitboxes/etc. to keep Chronicle set effects around after the planned removal of said sets. It took the DNF team an entire year and the sacking of at least one director to put out something resembling a tech demo for this concept in August 2019, with the real thing finally coming out later that month.
    • Level 95 craft Epics were planned at one point, but overall changes to level 95 gearing that made getting Epics in general vastly easier to do eventually made the concept obsolete.
  • Global was supposed to get "Accelerated Leveling" as a permanent feature (minus the free gear) like the Korean version did, rather than a semi-recurring event as it currently is in Global, but it was unceremoniously buried in a minor Twitch announcement, stating that the feature was axed in the Korean version due to bot owners taking advantage of the feature to make more farming characters.
  • A Chinese fan video (rough translations in the comments) revealed that pretty much everything storyline-related in the level 100 cap was slated to be released as early as 2008 (almost an entire decade prior to 100 cap in Korea), but this was swept under the rug when Nexon acquired Neople around that time period. Anton was also supposed to be a regular dungeon before Nexon higher-ups suggested turning it into a raid.
  • During WinterFes 2021, it was revealed that, among other quality-of-life, a system to obsolete and replace the existing Talisman/Rune system was also planned, but due to running short on time and resources it had to be discarded and at the moment they are only touching Talismans/Runes by adding tradeable items.
  • Early Spectre concept art◊ from the KDnF 15th Anniversary Art Book implied that she was supposed to have a doberman accompanying her in combat, wearing a distinctive red scarf. She was also originally designed with a rougher appearance, having a messy ponytail, wearing a Sarashi, wearing an eyepatch over her right eye, and generally looking less refined than her current design. Both of these things were kept around as a Development Gag for events related to her, with her old design being a free pre-release avatar set and the doberman being reworked into a paid Rewards Pass creature that specifically syngerizes with the Spectre class (said item also reveals that the dog's name is "Edge").
  • The aforementioned art book also had concept art of a female Monk◊, an idea that never made it into DFO proper, only seeing the light of day with the first Project BBQ trailer.
  • The Incubating Booster Package has what appears to be a Fairy Tail-related item icon (specifically, the insignia of the eponymous Fairy Tail guild), suggesting that porting the crossover to DFO Global might have been plausible enough in the past to not completely delete these assets.

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