Battle of Destiny is an MMO that was just released by Cubizone. It is another attempt at a 2D side scrolling MMO but completely different from those brought to you by MapleStory and Nexon. It plays more like a classical side scroller such as Turtles in Time or Streets of Rage from 2 console generations ago. For some reason, I feel that this MMO is poorly put together.

Story:

You are some new adventurer who just arrived on a boat. Prepare for your epic journey of some kind.

Graphics:

The graphics are in 2D for the most part but it looks very nice. There is a lack of character customization and equipment doesn't really show other than your weapon. Some heavier armor shows, but a lot of items don't seem to change the look of your character. If you want some items to show you have to do it through an NPC which can be annoying at times. Skill effects look great and there is a nice diversity for monsters, but for players, not so much. If you want to look different, you need to obtain Fashion items which will most likely be from the item mall.

Gameplay:

Character creation is basic. You start with a name and a basic weapon and then choose a hair style, hair color, and clothing color. Your basic weapon doesn't matter the game uses more or less a free skill system only limited by your weapon.

Characters have 2 types of exp. Base character exp which effects stats, and skill exp which affects how many skills you have access to and the points you can spend into those skills. All fighting will grant regular exp but in order to obtain skill exp, you must fight using that type of weapon. It is crucial to diversify your fighting technique otherwise you cannot access the high powered combo skills and you don't gain as much stat points per level either. There's also a rest timer to boost your exp gains by 3 times the normal amount. The irony is that you have to be online and AFK in town in order for the rest timer to increase.

There are 5 stats. Strength which affects standard attack damage. Agility which affects physical critical rates, attack speed, and bow range. Endurance which determines how much HP you have. Intelligence which determines skill damage and max MP. And finally Mana which determines your recovery rate and magical critical rate. Stats automatically increase as your character levels up and your stat points will be automatically distributed accordingly based on your current skills.

Skills are broken down into weapon types with an extra skill set for general skills. Skills only have a character level requirement to learn for the most part. Some have stat requirements. Skill combo can only be activated once your character has a red glow and you activate the correct type of skills in succession. The result is a powerful combo skill but sometimes a skill spam is just as effective. The main annoyance is the level requirement for skills. Especially passive skills. Some of these skills feel like it would have been much more useful at a lower level and near useless at a higher level. These skills feature very different properties so each skill has a different use.

The controls are fairly simple and the buttons are close together to allow for easy access. Its possible to use a gamepad or customize the controls to your liking. The default setting is already fairly good but the option to set your own makes it even better.

The world itself is composed of several cities. Each city in the game has its own set of NPCs with quests and shops. From there you can access instance dungeons where you can grind, farm and complete quests. Instance dungeons usually are divided into 3 segments. These are the entrance, the center, and the depths. Or just consider it as easy, normal, and hard mode of the same stage because that's basically what it is. Defeating the boss at the depths usually grants a special and very powerful for weapon. The enemies generally gain 1 level between each area.

The stages are quite short and each one can generally be completed in less than 5 minutes alone. It gets more difficult at higher levels but usually not too much. Enemies come in several varieties in each stage. They have different attack patterns and animations but they usually follow a category of either close range, long range, or stationary ranged enemies. The problem lies in the fact that special and boss enemies have an invincible attack frame. During this time, they unleash a very powerful attack and you are unable to stop them. All you can do is try to get out of the way.

The major problem I have encountered with the game is the quest system. There is a main story quest and tons of side quests. The main story quests are REQUIRED if you want to advance in the game. This is fine sometimes, but the fact that you are only given a hint to a general area where the item can be found makes it annoying. For example, one of the early quests requires you to go to the Forest Outskirts to hunt for 1 item. Too bad they don't tell you where it is or what drops it and its nearly completely dependent on luck. If you don't complete this quest, you won't be able to access the next area for levels 9-12. There is a map for lvl 12+, but the gap in monster strength is huge. but This is very annoying considering that the best part of the game is probably the ability to just fight through a dungeon with friends. Making players quest to unlock new areas makes it tedious rather than fun considering how little guidance is given to players in the first place.

The second problem is you must stay up to date with your equipment. If you don't its very difficult if not impossible to fight monsters at your own level. The upgrade between a level 1 and a level 5 item or a level 9 and a level 12 item is huge. There are literally hundreds of points of difference in damage in just 2 levels later on. This is the same for all equipment including armor and not including rare drops which already have hundreds of points of damage difference between items at the same level.

Guilds:

N/A

Overall:

If you're into 2D side scrollers you should like this game. If you like MapleStory type games but are a bit tired of it you might want to try this. The problem itself lies in forced questing for progress otherwise you are locked out of areas in the game. It is very basic and easy to learn but there are numerous advanced techniques for higher skilled players to learn and experiment with. Otherwise it is a fairly decent game.

Final Score:

6/10 – Its a decent and rare 2D beat em up but it could use much improvement.