Beta phases are very important in any development. They allow for many users to test your software, report bugs and abuse it in ways you haven't considered possible. However, there is a different aspect in every beta testing, and that is appeal. You are presenting your product to the world - never mind that it's still beta, people will judge it. And that's exactly what might end Dragon's Prophet before it's even out. Let's take a look at what Runewaker made for us.

Cinematics are a big thing in any game. They give you some insight and reveal the lore behind all that questing. So imagine my surprise when I fired up the game and cinematic subtitles didn't match what characters spoke. It wasn't a typo or two, but the subtitles, that were "on" by default, were wrong. Come on. It's not a feature so it can be bugged during beta testing, it's a damn video. Hell of a first impression to make.

The game offers you 4 classes at the moment, one of which is sort of unique, and that's Oracle. Mid-close range magic damage-dealer with a scythe. Who could ask for more right? But, as hard as it may be to guess, the game isn't actually about characters. Or you even. It's about dragons! According to developers, there's over 300 dragons in the game, just waiting to be captured. Someone said Pokemon? Well.. yeah. Now, we've seen this before right? The concept of character that's not really any class, but has a summon to fight for them? Demonology warlocks and beast master hunters in World of Warcraft, Summoners in Lineage 2 and basically every other class in any game that has a summon. Those classes are fun, but you are still limited to one role that you don't perform all that well. For instance, demonology warlock can debuff, but not as good as an affliction one. Dragon's Prophet let's you pick either a warrior, an archer, an oracle or a mage and have that same type of fun, while being able to perform as your main class.

The dragons can be used for various purposes, considering some of them swim, some fly, others glide. But your disappointmenet will be major once you capture your first dragon and it looks like an aligator. You can mount any dragon, but you can also use them as pets, to buff you or to do damage, depending on which type you summon. Oh, and you can have multiple dragons out at the same time too! They do have a timer, and once the timer expires, dragons hit sort of an inner cool down and can't be re-summoned instantly. But hey, 300 dragons, just summon another one. If you like dragons fighting for you, Runewaker lets you crank your "Charisma" up and tame them easier, or "Dragon Affinity" to make them hit harder, at the cost of other useful stats such as Strength. Good thing is you can have a set of gear on a side that has a lot of Charisma, so you simply equip it when you want to capture the animal. To tame a dragon, all you have to do is take out your Poké Ball.. no wait, I'm sorry, you engage a dragon and play a type of mini-game, where you are trying to keep an icon within the smallest of 3 circles, while the dragon is trying to push it out. Below your Health and Action Points bar, you will find one called Dragon Soul. For each second you spend playing the mini-game, you will lose a certain amount of Dragon Soul, while gaining "taming points". The amount of points you gain and soul you lose depends on which circle your icon is located. You can also beat up a dragon before trying to capture it, making it much easier. Please don't tell PETA.

According to the developers, you can capture any amount of dragons of the same kind, but they will have different stats and sometimes even abilities. Once you do capture a dragon you like, you may improve it. You can send it out to do resource gathering missions for you, which is generally what you want to do, but there's other options, such as skill training missions that will improve one of your dragon's abilities. The third, field training options, lets you pass one of your dragons skills to another dragon. You can't choose which skill or what dragon will receive it. Fun, right?

Did you notice how I wrote dragon 25 times? That's because this game is all about that. Literally. There's lore, there's quests, but there are no factions, meaning Runewaker wants you to go around the world capturing dragons undisturbed. There's a nice combat system, like the one found in Aion, where you can chain skills together into powerful combos. Oh and combo points are upside down here. While hitting your target, you stack combo points on YOU. There are events, there is guild PVP, you can even go ahead and purchase a house. But it's still all about the animals. I didn't even bring up the bugs, and there are many, to judge this game. Almost every aspect of the game is broken at the moment, even though open beta is open for more then 2 weeks, they still haven't worked their way out of bug empire. Skills are broken, cinematics are broken, all mobs have a knockdown, some quests are broken. If you are anxious about this game, I'd suggest you wait at least a patch or two, as you will be disappointed if you try it out now.

So, my fellow trainers, does this fire up that dragon spark we all have? Do you expect to see Poké.. Dragon battles soon too? Will you download the game and "Catch 'em all"? Make sure to let us know in the comments!

BONUS: Check out this sweet ride!