Dragons of Kalon review
Dragons of Kalon (or DoK) is
a breeding browser game. As opposed to some similar games, you don’t
need clicks or real-life money to be successful. It doesn’t take too
much of your real-life time and manages to keep your interest for long.
It also has awesome graphics and impressive genetics.
At the beginning, you receive $25,000 and 25 scales (in-game
currency), and you have the possibility of getting 5 native dragons. You
can only choose the breed the dragon will be. If you want to determine
more, you have to pay scales for the “purchase custom dragon” option.
You also get five tickets for nests/ponds. Without a nest, you won’t be
able to do anything with your dragon.
On the dragon page you can see awesome dragon images, basic
information about your dragon (age, breed, its parents, abilities) and
emblems. Emblems are displayed in the top right corner and they indicate
things your dragon is especially good at. For example, most bone
dragons will have a golden crown. It means the dragon has unusually high
courage. It will come in handy later.
Your dragons are all babies now. You should train them in basic stuff
(like come, stay, retrieve). You do this by choosing the skill and
clicking train button. Training uses 20 energy. Your babies should train
fairly quickly, gaining 7-8% with every click.
You can also play with your babies. It is useful because it allows
you to notice what the dragon will be good at. Play uses 10 energy.
If your dragon’s energy goes to 0, you can’t do anything with
him/her. You have to wait for the energy to replenish itself. Regaining
10 energy takes 60 seconds, until it reaches the maximum of 100.
You should groom your dragon (the sponge icon) every day, as there is
a chance it will shed a scale. Yes, a scale, as in the in-game currency
I mentioned. They are worth it - some of the stuff can only be bought
with them.
The dragons age (in seasons) on 1st, 8th, 16th and 22nd of each real
life month. The small tree icon on every page shows the current season,
and the words describe the weather. The weather changes everyday and it
influences the dragons’ breeding periods.
When your dragon is 1 season old, it can begin exercises (the tab
next to the training). The mechanics of exercises is rather like the
training - click and the numbers rise, but you don’t see the direct
numbers, just the abilities (below the dragon image) increasing. The
abilities are not only numbers, they’re also color-coded, with warm hues
(red, yellow, orange) being low and cold hues (green, blue) being high.
The dragon’s loyalty will increase during its’ training, albeit slowly.
The Heart statistic is determined upon a dragon’s birth and it doesn’t
change.
When your dragon is 2 seasons old, it can begin accolades. They are
events that the dragon can do, winning money for the first three places.
You can enter a given dragon in a single accolade a day and twice a
week. You can’t, obviously, enter a dragon in several accolades, even if
they’re of the same type.
To make your dragon compete successfully, you should train him first.
You do this by clicking ‘Change Event’ and choosing the venue. Each of
the venues requires the dragon to learn some skills - some more than
others. Reading the information on accolades and individual breeds is
recommended. If you exercised your dragon, it will have some stats
noticeably higher than others. Compare the better stats with the
information on accolades and you should be good. Wait for a few
accolades too - no dragon is good immediately.
When your dragon is 4 seasons old, it will have (hopefully) competed
in several accolades and won you some money. Your dragon can now breed.
Breeding is the best part of the game, in my opinion. It is influenced
by season and weather (for example, water dragons like warm weather,
fire dragons will breed in summer and ice dragons will breed in winter).
Want to breed a fire dragon in winter? Do not worry - you can buy a
fervid oil for the money your dragons brought you (you also get $5,000
allowance every day). Slapping it on your fire dragon will let him breed
in winter or in a cold spring. The only common dragons whose breeding
season cannot be influenced by oil are earth dragons, whose breeding
season is determined by their color.
You can breed dragons of different breeds, and the egg’s breed will
be randomly determined (60% mother’s breed, 40% father’s breed).
Different breeds are good at different things, so it might produce an
interesting dragon. On the other hand, if you want a dragon good at a
single event that his breed would suggest, breeding a pair of same breed
is the way to go.
If you were successful at breeding your dragons (that’s why I hope
you had a female at the beginning instead of having to buy her) you will
get an egg. Its breed will be already determined. It will take a
real-life week to hatch. I hope you have a nest ready for the little
one…
You can also put your dragons at stud, which does what it’s supposed
to do. You name the fee (in scales or money) and the number of
breedings. A nice way to make money and allow others to profit from your
dragons.
Your dragon doesn’t do well and doesn’t produce good offspring? You
can either release him (on the home page) or sell him. If you can find a
buyer and name a low price, the latter is a better option. Releasing
does nothing apart from freeing a nest - it doesn’t bring you money.
Selling a dragon both vacates a nest and brings you scales or money.
I mentioned buying oils. You can also buy dusts (useful if you want
to go for the rarer breeds, such as bone dragons) or special equipment
(hatching hammers, sunbursts) for your money. You probably have already
acquired some sunbursts or pouches during your training. Pouches you
found are worth opening - at worst, they only contain money. At best,
you can find foxfire dust, which you can’t buy normally.
You can use the scales you acquired for buying alarm clocks, for
instance, which you can’t buy with money. Or you can save them to buy
another nest or pond for the next dragon you plan to buy or the one that
will hatch soon…
The game is great fun and is constantly being improved. It also toes
the line between being too-slow paced and too-fast paced perfectly. 4
seasons in a real-life month is a perfect time for the dragons to grow
up in. It also means that you can’t hold on to your native dragons
indefinitely - when a dragon is over 20 seasons, it will not be able to
compete and is better off retired.
If you find any bugs (they are rare, but do happen), you can report
them on Dragons of Kalon forums - and be sure that Kristen will fix them
as soon as she is able to.
If you find you got dealt really bad dragons at the start or you
can’t succeed no matter how hard you try - you can start anew. You do
not have to delete your old account. You can have as many accounts as
you want at the same time, provided there is no interaction between them
(no selling your dragons to your other account, for example).
You got lost? Don’t worry, there’s plenty of people to help you. Or you can download my breeding conditions table, colorcoded for your convenience… and the dragons list in Excel, for you to keep track of your dragons and plan on the best breeding program.