As soon as I enter the world, an uncommon scenario for most MMORPGs unfolds. I expected an initial city or something of the sort, but an open and green field is before me, and like a magic trick, a short elf appears on the screen.
— Hello! I came to help you get to know Dungeon Gates World better! Do you want to do the tutorial?
An pop-up appears. "Do you want to do the tutorial?" and the options "Yes" and "Yes".
What? Did the game come with bugs, or is the tutorial mandatory? No, no, for sure, this is the work of a disgruntled intern, but it must be just visual, soon... One option is to decline! I just need to hit it, and... Think... Normally, the "no" option is on the... Left side!!
— It will be a pleasure to give you a tutorial of the game!
Shit.
— Dungeon Gates World is a revolutionary game in the MMORPG industry. One of the reasons? Our proud infinite map!
Infinite map? I've seen that in a cube game.
— Our highly developed artificial intelligence ensures that a world is generated as the player advances on the map, meaning it never ends! And it's worth noting, new things appear; it's not something generic and repetitive.
But is it a purely aesthetic map, or will there be things to explore? I'll have to find that out...
— And it's important to emphasize! It's not purely aesthetic! There are dungeons and bosses being created by our system!
Damn! Is this elf reading my thoughts now?!
— We'll give you a basic combat tutorial, but first, we need to analyze your attributes.
Name: Katsu Khan Level: 1 Class: Warrior XP: 0/50
Strength: 10
Vitality: 15/15
Resistance: 6
Agility: 6
Magic Power: 2
Magic Resistance: 4
SKILLS: Swordsmanship
— Pretty strong, huh? All warrior characters in Dungeon Gates World start with the same attributes.
Plim!
— You will learn the game mechanics now by fighting a... Cave Slime!
Could it be any more generic than this?
— By the way! It's worth noting; our game has various secret achievements. When you get tired of training with the slime, officially start your journey by clicking the end tutorial button!
Secret achievement? This can only mean one thing... OVERPOWERED ITEMS... Or even better... COSMETIC ITEMS! And she mentioned that in the tutorial? Then there's a chance of finding one here... Sorry, Hajime, but this time I'll be the SlimeDestroyer69. But without the 69, that's gross, perverted guy.
Several hours pass...
Okay. I must be close, not 10, 50, 100, or even 500. 1000 slimes will surely do the job; it's impossible to put a quest for 5000 right in the tutorial. Although I've become quite proficient at killing slimes, as pathetic as it sounds, since I reached level 4, I gained new combat mechanics. This game is much more challenging than it seems; the angle, direction of view, movement, jump, there are dozens of variations of attacks and animation cancels, even with only two types of special attacks, I can produce a hundred combos... And the most efficient is...
Pluf! - Slime Spawn
Better just do it than think too much.
Khan starts running toward the slime and then performs a diagonal dash upwards, while in the air, the character performs a basic attack, stopping right on top of the slime. Then a lunge attack downward, dealing critical damage to the slime, and a backward dodge, only at this moment does the slime notice Khan's presence; the combo was done in a matter of seconds. The next move is a forward lunge attack followed by a spinning cut canceled in the middle by a basic attack; and the slime is dead.
+1 Exp
There are many keys, but this way, I can kill them in about 4 seconds, I think it's worth it. I call this, THE SLIME KILLER COMBO... it sounds goofy when said it loud.
Achievement Acquired! Tutorial God!
And the reward...
Cosmetic item assigned! Slime Hat!
AWESOME!!! COSMETIC ITEMS RULES!
Equip? Yes.
Name: Katsu Khan Level: 4 Class: Warrior XP: 400/500
Strength: 25
Vitality: 25/25
Resistance: 15
Agility: 15
Magic Power: 5
Magic Resistance: 12
SKILLS: Swordsmanship ⋯ Lunge Attack ⋯ Spinning Cut
No status but.
In the left side of the status, an image of the character and his slime hat.
It's perfect. Worth every second invested.
Click.
Entering the world...
Novice city! Classic. But it doesn't have such a medieval feel... It has more of an elvish tone? They're reversing the order here; killing monsters in an elvish world should be a level 50+ mission. Many people are moving around the city. Finally, I finished the tutorial; how many hours have passed since I started playing? About 2, 3... NINE?! I SPENT NINE HOURS KILLING SLIMES?! I have a serious problem. By the way, almost everyone here is practically wearing mage clothes; is that the game's meta? Just when I'm playing with another class? That's unfair. Anyway, I should look for quests, which are probably in some adventurer guild? The cliché guides me!
Pop-up: Notification! Journey Start Quest Started!
Oh, that works too.
In the pop-up: What path will you follow?
Option 1: Adventurous.
Option 2: Merchant.
Option 3: Collector.
What? What kind of weirdness is this? Are there people who play this game with the intention of being a COLLECTOR? What kind of sociopathic behavior is this? Isn't it easier to simply get a job and... I don't know, collect unfinished hamburgers from tables in a fast-food joint? However, I'm the guy who killed slimes for 9 hours... Whatever, an adventurer for sure.
Click.
Go to the adventurer guild to register as an official adventurer.
I never miss. The cliché is divine.
A path of luminous blue arrows appears
This makes my life 200% easier. Now I just need to turn off my brain and head towards rushing all the main quests until only additional exploration is left, a dream. Looking closely, I have to admit that this city is very well crafted; it's different from the others I've seen, the NPCs are so well-made that I can't differentiate between players and them, the only thing guiding me about that is the generic first set to new characters. The scenery at first seems like that of a normal MMORPG, but for some reason, this one is much more "alive?" I can't say for sure. I think the guild is up ahead, but what's going on at the door?
— New adventurers! Hand over your leather and steel armor to me before entering the guild!
Hand it over? What is this guy talking about?
— Hey! You there with the slime hat!
Uh-oh, he's talking to me.
— Huh? — Where did you get that? — In the tutorial, just came from there.
— Came out of there at level 4? What did you kill? About 100 slimes? — The man starts laughing.
— You're bad at math, multiply that number by 10 and then you get the number. Are you a child?
The man clearly gets irritated
Some people start laughing around
— You remind me of a very unpleasant guy I know, slime hat, let's do the following then, 1v1 noob?
They still use that expression in 2047?
— Sure, why not.
— Let's make a bet, if you win, I'll give you this sword I bought by selling armor of noob fools like you... If I win — The sentence is interrupted by Khan.
— It doesn't matter if you win; that won't happen; send the invitation.
The sound of an anime opening theme begins to play in Khan's room.
Damn it, is the alarm to go to class? Already? Damn, I always go to classs staying awake overnight on exam days. If I go poorly in this exam, my mom might exchange this computer for an electric orthopedic massager... I have to be quick, finish this in about 2 or 3 minutes.
Notification sound!
HerosGOD(Lvl 7) invites you(Lvl 4) to the battle!
"Accept" or "Refuse"
I can see that this is going to become routine around here. Can you turn on the option to automatically accept all invitations?
Click!