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Dragonica Online: sugar in the salt grinder
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Quit yer crying! (THQ*ICE)
I recently wrote up a review of Dragonica Online, in which I said:
If your first thought upon entering Dragonica Online is that you've gone into diabetic shock, you're not alone. There is no denying that Dragonica Online's graphics can make Free Realms look realistic in comparison, and that surely the game is aimed at little girls who still wear frilly dresses more than one day a week.
Now, I'm not taking those words back, but I do want to explain why I have a problem with the way Dragonica Online approaches things - and it wasn'st just the fact that I felt I was stuck in the happy, sugary side of American McGee's Grimm.
A lot of "import" MMOs (those which are created in Asia, and then translated and localized for an American audience) use anime styling. Out of that large batch that tries to mimic the popularity of anime to draw in local players from its country of origin, some of them go even further and drive the cuteness level to as "chibi" as they can get. Dragonica Online is a prime example; but take a look at games like Holy Beast Online, Wonderking, Sugar Rush, Maple Story . . . you get the point.
I don't know how audiences overseas take these games, but I know that when I sit and play an "import" MMO that's styled so cutely it makes me feel like turning on Saturday morning cartoons, I don't expect it to be complex, and I definitely expect it to be a push-over for going through content. I don't expect to have to watch a chibi warrior dolled up in a wedding dress have to grind their way for hours in the wilderness to be able to go rescue a girl's lost puppy.
I don't care if a game looks sweet and sugary - heck, I test out a lot of these cute imports, and I even play Free Realms. But I expect gameplay to match the graphics, and unfortunately, too many "imports" are just reskinned MMO business models, banking on a business, rather than game quality.
Ultimately, all that does is put sugar in a salt grinder: you expect salt, you work your hand into a knot to get salt, and you find out your steak tastes more than a little off.
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