Dragon’s Dream

The First Console MORPG!

Did you know that Phantasy Star Online wasn’t the first console MORPG?

Dragon’s Dream (ドラゴンズドリーム) was an MMORPG jointly developed by Fujitsu & SEGA and published by SEGA in 1997, exclusively in Japan.

Not available at retail, this was distributed at no cost for all who wished it.

Watch: https://youtu.be/3XcJ9z_OaH0

It was the first online multiplayer RPG released for a home console, 3 years before Phantasy Star Online would hit Dreamcast in 2000.

The game was never available in stores, but was offered FREE upon request from SEGA & Nifty Serve. SEGA distributed the software at no cost in order to promote the Saturn’s online capabilities in Japan, and because profits would come from the service rather than direct software sales.

The game utilized and required the SEGA Net Modem and Saturn Keyboard. There were rumors of an XBAND version in development, but no such version ever materialized.

The Japanese modem was quite different from the North American NetLink.

The keyboard was also necessary. Later, a Saturn-to-PS2 (keyboard, not PlayStation) adapter became available.

Summer 1997: Beta version begins
December 20, 1997: Official Saturn service begins
April 1998: Connection fee lowered from ¥10/minute to ¥6/minute
April 1998: Distribution of Windows version client started
October 1, 1999: Servers shut down

Software Price: FREE
Data Management Fee: ¥500 per month for each Nifty Serve account
Play Connection Fee: ¥10 per minute (later reduced to ¥6 per minute)
*(In addition to the Nifty Serve account & Play Connection Fee, NTT phone fees were separately required)

Here, gamers are pitted against a white dragon.

The game is a 3D Dungeon Crawler RPG, in similar vein to Shining the Holy Ark or the Etrian games.

The player logs into the game by launching the client software and dialing the Nifty Serve access point.
*(play via the Internet was not implemented)

In TOWN, you would create new player characters and buy/sell items.
It also functioned as the “lobby” area, including general chat, bulletin board and mail transmission/reception.

BARS scattered across the city were basically “chat rooms” where you would form new parties and head out for dungeon exploration.

A unique DUNGEON was generated for each party, and separate parties would not encounter each other during the adventure.

The temple, the post office, the airship landing grounds, and so on.

However, by disbanding the party while in the dungeon, each player character would continue alone and possibly encounter other player characters.

A future software update was planned to implement dungeons that would allow multiple parties to coexist and encounter each other.

Nifty powered the server.

Nifty Serve used only a single cross-platform server for the game world, and all participants would play on the same server, regardless of platform. That means that both SEGA Saturn and Windows users would occupy the same game world and could form parties together.

There were two main WORLDS, the world of the human race “MESSERIA” and the parallel world of the demons “TAIZERIA”.

An experiment conducted by scientists in Messeria was said to have caused a hole in space-time, resulting in an invasion of the demons from Taizeria.

MESSERIA – has four cities:
・ “Miliapolis”, a city centered mainly on Duran
・ “Angel Palace”, a city centered mainly on Angela
・ “Dragon Square”, a town centered mainly on Dragnewt
・ “Lunaria”, a town centered mainly on Rulers

Starting from each city, players would proceed to a separate dungeon quest.

TAIZERIA – has no cities, but only bars, forts and dungeons, as it is the world of demons.

There are bars everywhere. What’s an Elfine to do?

Off to the Races

Players could select any of the following eight races to create their Player Character:

DULAM: Human race. Average ability score. Considered to be a race often found in Miliapolis. The appearance of humans who originally lived in Messeria has been inherited almost as it is, but over the years, the blood mixture with the race of the Taizeria has progressed slightly, and it seems that the body is slightly stronger than its ancestors.

ANGELA: Angel family. Agility type. It has a pair of large wings on its back. It is a race often found in the Angel Palace. It was born during the Great Invasion of Taizeria by genetic manipulation with angelic demons. It should be noted that among the genetically engineered species, the blood of the Taizeria appears to be the most intense and the malformation is likely to occur. It is rare for a pair of wings to be born in a neat form. Although it is a rare species in the setting, it is the most popular in terms of its ability value, and is actually a race with a large player population.

DRAGONUTE: Dragon people. Muscle type. An upright green dragon covered in scales. It is considered to be a large race in Dragon Square. It was born during the Great Invasion of Taizeria by genetic manipulation with the Dragon Demons.

RULA: Slime tribe. Magic type. It seems to be a person because of interaction with other races. It is considered to be a large race in Lunarria. Formerly an aquatic race said to have lived on the seabed of the Lunaria region. Due to its aquatic race and dark green body color, it was commonly known as “Wakame” by players.

RUGOLAM: Giants. Physical type. It was born by genetic manipulation with the giant demons during the Taizeria invasion.

ELFINE: Fairy tribe. Magic type. Long ears and sharp tips. It was born by genetic manipulation with a fairy demon during the Taizeria invasion.

BEAST: Beast/Human race. Agility type. Men look like dogs and women look like cats. It was born during the Great Invasion of Taizeria by genetic manipulation with the Beast Demon.

The Alf Race. Kidding… they are called Alef.

ALEF: Mental race. Physical / mental / magical type. It emits light blue. The ability value is high overall, but most items cannot be equipped because it is a mental body. It is said to be a former Taizeria demon who settled in Messeria due to the aggression of the Taizeria invasion, but its roots are not clear.
Due to the characteristic of luminescent organisms, it was sometimes called among the players by the product name associated with that characteristic.

SEGA promoted their SEGASATURN Network heavily.

Though Dragon’s Dream was eagerly anticipated by Japanese gamers as the first online console RPG, the title had trouble gaining awareness among the mass consumer market. Further, the additional cost of the required modem and keyboard presented a greater barrier to entry.

At the time, participation fees (such as the Data Management & Play Connection fee) adopted by many online games today had not yet been introduced to the public, and these considerable costs were significant obstacles when it came to marketing the game to consumers. With a “pay-as-you-go” system, dedicated game play resulted in a higher overall cost, often exceeding ¥100,000 (2020 equivalent $1500) per month in communication fees.

Most Japanese gaming news outlets focused on and criticized its service fees, and as a result, many players withdrew after only a short period of time. Just four months after the service launched, the Play Connection Fees were cut by 40% along with the introduction of the Windows PC version. The high cost of running such a robust server in the late 90’s, combined with the significant price cut to consumers yielded insufficient profit to sustain operation. As a result, the service ended after just two years of operation.

During its operation, however, the small number of total participants contributed to a close cooperation and exchange between players.
This experience later informed SEGA’s development of Phantasy Star Online and the Dreamcast’s Online services.