Reviews VideoGame / Dungeon Fighter Online

HIT THE LEVER (and practice your fighting game special moves, too)

I've been playing DFO for more than six years as of this writing (and a scant few months of Nexon's version before its server sunset), so I figure it's about time I jot my thoughts down somewhere.

DFO does its namesake well - the dungeon battles are great (especially some of its raid bosses), and the fighting-game like nature is something that continues to be unique to the MMO genre to this day. What it doesn't do well... well, that's a very, very long list:

• Excessively draconian anti-cheat ostensibly used to stop bots (and, rumor has it, also chargeback fraudsters)
• DFO's fighting game-esque control scheme and limited number of hotkeys can throw people for a loop, especially for those expecting another tab targeting mouse aim Korean MMO (ironically, the Crutch Character for such people is locked behind a level 70 requirement)
• Lightning-fast leveling (two weeks from 1 to 100, at worst) and the Fatigue Point system can, again, discourage players who are expecting otherwise from other Korean MMO experiences
• Arcane gearing systems such as enchanting, reinforcement/refine, and/or amplification that are never explained anywhere in the game (or given so little explanation that it may as well not be there, in the case of enchants)
• An endgame treadmill that's commonly described as "a glorified gacha" - if the thought of getting nowhere after a year of repeatedly doing the same raids and dungeons and/or spending thousands of dollars is off-putting for you, stay away from this game
• An endgame community that's notoriously elitist even by Korean MMO standards
• If you are a Dressup Fighter Online player, cosmetics lean hardcore into the FOMO philosophy of monetization

If, by chance, you are as "weird" as I am and play free-to-play games solely for their core gameplay and not how much gacha dopamine they can offer and/or have the patience of a saint, then you are in for a treat. DFO's side scrolling beat-em-up gameplay still continues to keep me addicted to this very day - being raid-ready just happens to be a convenient side effect of liking the game so much.

If you are not one of those people, have your best anger management method on hand (for some, it's as simple as cursing at the game publicly◊), and pray that your gambling addictions can carry you into the rich kids' club, far and away from any elitism you will inevitably encounter.