Hi there! I just happen to have more time than I thought I'd have... you think I'd invest some time into visiting the city I am currently in? WRONG! I've been starving for 17hours now... I think that's good though, because it doesn't really hurt... ANYWAY...I've been using my time wisely ...or so I would like to say, but I surely am not doing so.
I discovered Dead Or Alive: Online - an sort of online roleplay game which has some nice typical Dead Or Alive gameplay - for PC on Saturday. And even though I knew that my laptop would barely be able to run it, I put it onto the laptop and took it with me. Just before I left I played some quick matches on my home computer ... it ran flawlessly and amazingly well! The graphics really impressed me since it seemed more detailed than Dead Or Alive Ultimate 2 - don't know about Dead Or Alive 4, since I didn't really got to play it... but this one is certainly interesting.
In the following I'll try to summarize my impressions as well as give you an idea of how the game works and where you can get it.
What I'll be writing about:
- What's DOA:O at all?
- Installation of the game
- Registration
- DOA:O, Windows 7 and "GameProtect" (GameGuard anyone?)
- Interface summary
- What you can and can't do
- DOA:O - releases in Japan, NA, EU?
- Communities
- Conclusion
What's DOA:O at all?
Dead Or Alive: Online is an official "MMORPG" which is all about fighting in the DOA universe online. You level your avatars, which in turn can play various fighters you might know from other DOA-titles (2 and 3 mostly). By buying better items for real money (or the one you earn from fights) you can improve your fighters as well as your main avatar.
Basically you get to play some of the characters from DOA universe on your PC - which is cool, but of course there is a counterside too: you have to level and have a certain gear (if possible). However: if you just want a fighting game you can play against NPC (or players), you should keep reading.
Installation of the game
The installation is easy. You just download the client, install it, start the launcher, update the game and run. Oh right .. and you have to have an SDO-account (registration is free of charge) for login data. After that you launch the game, login, create your basic avatar and pick your starting fighter.
You can get the most up-to-date client from here.
Registration process.
- Go here.
- Click the left most box (as shown in the image)
Now you have to enter your desired username and password to create the account. You have to confirm your password too - I suggest you take a look at the second image to the right.- After that you click the button there and the registration should be completed successfully. Don't forget to note your username and password as well as a custom number (if one is displayed at all).
As some of you might have already guessed, this online roleplay game is protected by a similar anti-cheating mechanism that tries to protect Aion, Lineage 2 etc... it's not GameGuard, but GameProtect is probably developed by the same people.
Before the newest release DOA:O had trouble running under Windows 7. However I managed to run it successfully on Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit as well as Windows 7 Professional 32bit. You might want to start the client.exe located in the subfolder "FINAL" so that you don't have to start the launcher each time and have it look for updates ... you should update the client every now and then though in order to keep it up to date and compatible.
If you manage to get past the login screen and pick a server, but are not able to connect to it and the only button that's available closes the game - you most likely have an outdated client.
Interface summary
It's an easy to use interface. However: due to the huge language barriere - I don't understand a word - it's hard to figure out what's there... and later on you have to remember all the buttons and messages. Or find a source where you can get an idea.
What you can and can't do
However: you finally can play Dead Or Alive on the PC without being embarrassed about the quality of the actual fighting scenes. You also experience the gameplay you have when playing Dead Or Alive 3 or 2. The graphics might even surpass those.
Finally it's an interesting idea of online fighting against each other - let's hope for a European or American release of this game.
Communities
As to the communities on the server: it's hard to find anyone except the Chinese people on there. Maybe it gets better as you advance, but I am level 10 now and the only fun I get at the moment is the idea of having DOA on PC and sort of getting outfits or at least finding out how they work. It's told that outfits sort of "wear out" so you have to "renew" them for the money you earn during your fights - or with the item shop.
Conclusion
This game is definitely worth a try if you are not afraid of the language. If you are, you should at least keep track of the game and try it once it hits the US and/or EU market. The DOA hidden within the game is truely beautiful to look at and renders surprisingly fast even on my laptop with an integrated graphics adapter. Of course it's not decent quality, but it works and is playable ... it's even better on my home PC.
Oh and get yourself an arcade stick or a gamepad, because even if it's possible to control your character using the keyboard, I think it's simply unbearable. You should get yourself a gamepad for this (I am using the XBOX360 gamepad for Windows, wired).
Don't hesitate to post any comments or questions and I'll do my best to answer them as soon as possible. Have a good night.
Some more images:
Keep in mind, that these screenshots were taken on my laptop, which doesn't have a proper 3D accelerator. If you had a nice ATI or nVidia graphics card and played this, it'd be perfectly fluent as well as even more beautiful (the reflections or rays or anti-aliasing).
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