Webzen was on hand at this year’s Game Developers Conference to demo two of their upcoming games, Arctic Combat and Continent of the Ninth Seal. The latter, which we’ll be talking about today, is a free-to-play fantasy action MMORPG.
Continent of the Ninth Seal is hub-based dungeon MMO along the lines of Dragon Nest or Vindictus. Players can select from three archetypes: Fighter, Hunter, and Assassin, each with three sub-classes. C9 does not use your typical MMO tab-targeting system, but instead opts for more FPS-like controls. If something is in range of your weapon, chances are you’ll hit it. The game makes use of a combo system and skilled players will be able to string together some Tekken-like juggling combos. You can grab and throw your enemies, kick them while they’re down, launch them into the air, and so on. It’s fun, even though I was pretty terrible at it compared to the fellow demoing the game for me.
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The game features a decidedly Eastern art style and is visually impressive. While we weren’t able to see character creation, the character models and armor were highly detailed and the animations for my Blade Master’s various moves were slick. The enemies I fought during my demo were a bit whimsical; not really fitting in with the game’s more realistic style. However, despite their somewhat cute outward appearances, the ones I faced were still vicious. The game gauges your performance at the end of every dungeon and will reward you with up to three keys to open chests with. The better you do, the more items you can potentially earn from a dungeon run.
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On the PvP front, C9 offers two flavors: arenas and intrusion. Arenas are your standard instanced PvP for up to eight players. You can even train your skills against a variety of AI bots before you jump into a real match. Intrusion is what really stands out about C9’s PvP, however. The game allows players to invade other players’ dungeons and attack them there, though this is purely consensual. I’m not sure why you’d allow other players to do this unless there was some sort of tangible reward for defeating them (or successfully invading someone), but so far it seems titles are the only reward for PvP.
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If you’re a fan of dungeon run MMOs such as Vindictus or Dragon Nest, you might want to keep C9 on your radar. C9 currently in closed beta and is set for a launch around summer 2012.
