Learning the Basics

As soon as you enter the game, you'll be prompted to either accept or decline a short tutorial. Normally I would suggest anyone with prior gaming experience skip the tutorial but in 9Dragons it seems to be the only way to be given a starting weapon. I skipped it with my first character and found myself chasing foxes and punching them to no avail. I quickly made a new character and, this time, accepted the offer. The first part of the tutorial is both the longest and the most painful. A Chinese woman with a thick accent slowly explained how to equip a staff for what seemed like a solid 5 minutes. After that, things got a bit more normal. I escorted her to town and defended her from a group of bandits. In town, I was taught how to meditate (sit down to heal), and completed a short mini game called Chi-Breathing that involves properly timing left, right, and two button mouse clicks. With the basics mastered, I was again given the chance to choose from the six starting locations than sent on my way.