Review in Progress

SBFord · January 2016

Review in Progress

We’ve been playing Blade & Soul alongside the million-plus new players to NCSOFT’s latest game over the past week and a half. In that time, we’ve leveled up an Assassin to 25, a Blade Dancer to 25, and several other alts. One thing’s for sure… B&S combat is superb. But is there more to it than that? Read on for our review in progress.

Read the full story here

heerobya · January 2016

So it's pretty, action packed, and more shallow than a kiddy pool - or pretty much the exact same thing as just about every MMO released in the last 5 years.

Awesome, thanks!

"It's fun and looks pretty lol questing" is getting really, really old...

Righteous_Rock · January 2016

I'll second what heerobya just said.

gwei1984 · January 2016

heerobya said:
So it's pretty, action packed, and more shallow than a kiddy pool - or pretty much the exact same thing as just about every MMO released in the last 5 years.

Awesome, thanks!

"It's fun and looks pretty lol questing" is getting really, really old...

According to the first reviews coming out, its even more shallow than your average MMO in the last 5 years. Besides the good Beat'emUp combat, the game seems to miss everything else.

But wait, its got boobs and tons of bots and spammers.....at least....

Viper482 · January 2016

DMKano said:
The devs KNOW the current playerbase - they come play a new MMO for 2-6 weeks and majority jumps ship - this happens *regardless* of depth, quality of game etc....

Then people come back for a week or so to check out a new patch etc...

So the new games are designed for short term crowd, and short term play and patch rush.

Whats the point of in depth systems when 80% of playerbase won't even care to try, so the devs focus on immediate features for the locust playerbase - combat, arenas etc....

This is how it is for mainstream MMOs

Stop making excuses for this Kano. Players jump ship because it is shallow. This review says it all, the fighting is the only fun thing about it and there is not much to do outside of that. How long would that last for ANY game? Of course people will get bored of this quickly, just like they have all the other crap that has been put out lately.

And you claim "regardless of depth/quality", which I think is absurd. First of all, enlighten us to the MMO's that have been release in the past 2 years that feature any kind of depth to them. Your opinion is anecdotal at best, you are just speaking from your point of view. This is fact because you don't have enough MMOs with depth to even apply any kind of logical assessment. Share with us all of these MMOs with depth that the masses left after 5 weeks just because. And don't say AA, we all know why there was a mass exodus out of that train wreck.

BillMurphy · January 2016

I look at games like ESO, FFXIV, GW2, and the forthcoming BDO, and I see games that offer a lot more to do than kill and quest until you level cap, then quit. It's too soon to tell how people will stay with BDO, but the former 3 have a lot of staying power, just as games before their generation did.

Lurianar · January 2016

I've leveled to 45 and I can attest that it's a whole other game than the first few levels. The combat becomes marginally more difficult as you level. Once you hit max level, you unlock challenging dungeons and group dailies that are incredibly fun. Also, crafting becomes relevant rather fast once you hit max level because of all the materials required for weapon upgrades.

I've spent a lot of time on this game. This review points out some things, but it's really a bad thing to generalize the whole game ariund the 25th or so initial levels.

This comes from someone who never loved tera and only leveled in rift/GW2 and Wow.

Scott_Jeslis · January 2016

Bill, great write-up. I've not done the PvP yet but I agree with you on every other point. The repetitive leveling thing I saw coming that's why I'm focused on one toon, a summoner (currently level 29), and probably won't bother with an alt until probably the Warlock hits our shores.

Guess it's also worth mentioning:

1) The ridiculous size constrains on clans and what it takes to rank them up. We're Rank 4 (I think) and can only have 60 members, kinda kills it for a worldwide guild as large as the one I'm in.

2) Getting copper and coin is a ridiculous grind. I'm level 29 and only have like 32 silver! Part of it is the ridiculous cost to place/deliver a crafting order remotely.

omidus · January 2016

I understand perfectly what this review in progress is saying about the game, but my question is how many ways can you reinvent questing and dungeon in the current frame work of MMO or even games in general?

Like what are you expecting? a new wheel being invented every time there's a new MMO out? And secondly the reason people play Blade and Soul is because of it's PVP depth and for the PVE main storyline.

I've watched Bill Murphy play MMOs, and I don't understand this mentality of players who are terrible at games delving into a game trying to "explore" its depth. You clearly don't spend the time to explore the area you should be exploring like the PVP part of the game. You are looking at it like it's a casual PVE mmo. This game is made for pvp. You didn't even explore the pvp side and you are like are streamers gonna stick to it? This is bad journalism; how can you ask questions, when you do not test out your own hypothesis or even attempt to understand the game?

Is MMORPG that starved for content? This is like a typical 18 year old's highschool essay for a Friday assignment. Let me ask superficial questions on top of my superficial report in progress, and then report some superficial facet of the game that every MMO has. This "report" will pretty much work for ANY game that's out right now.

I'm not defending BnS in any shape or form, but what gets me is the this type of incomplete and none-specific "reports" that act as content for a website that is suppose to generate good content and non-superficial information.

heerobya · January 2016

BillMurphy said:

I look at games like ESO, FFXIV, GW2, and the forthcoming BDO, and I see games that offer a lot more to do than kill and quest until you level cap, then quit. It's too soon to tell how people will stay with BDO, but the former 3 have a lot of staying power, just as games before their generation did.

That's true.

Instead of saying "just about every MMO released in the last 5 years" I should have said "every MMO released in the last 5 years except for ESO, FFXIV, and GW2."

I hope BDO is entertaining beyond the combat/questing. I'm currently trolling through ArcheAge, but already getting quest fatigue - I'd love to explore the deeper elements in trade and housing etc. but I'm way too late for that party.

I like that BDO is doing housing in the open world that is phased so multiple people can "own" the same house. To me that is the perfect solution to how to do housing in an MMO. The trade system looks interesting, I just don't like that it is apparently "powered" by questing, seems counterintuitive.

[Deleted User] · January 2016

The user and all related content has been deleted.

BillMurphy · January 2016

omidus said:

I'm not defending BnS in any shape or form...

Keep telling yourself that... /rollseyes

vveaver_online · January 2016

The combat is good enough to carry the rest of the game, it's a fightingame / mmo. Most of my friends who hate MMO's normally and only play games like streetfighter and tekken love B & S

Xanzo · January 2016

Kind of spot on so far with the review. Combat is great and the story is ok. There is really nothing else to do besides the combat though. It's super boring if you get sick of just fighting. The fact that the game forces you to run dungeons over and over again for loot to upgrade your weapon (otherwise it will never level up) is really awful in my opinion. PvP is ok if you like arena or open world. No battlegrounds here. For me, this game just doesn't have enough things to do and judging by the Korean version, that's not going change. They can add end game dungeons all they want (remember, you only upgrade, you don't get new weapons and such), but it's still the same things and no new mechanics.

MihoshiK · January 2016

BillMurphy said:

omidus said:

I'm not defending BnS in any shape or form...

Keep telling yourself that... /rollseyes

WTG to address the posters valid points regarding amateur journalism.

jesteralways · January 2016

DMKano said:
The devs KNOW the current playerbase - they come play a new MMO for 2-6 weeks and majority jumps ship - this happens *regardless* of depth, quality of game etc....

Then people come back for a week or so to check out a new patch etc...

So the new games are designed for short term crowd, and short term play and patch rush.

Whats the point of in depth systems when 80% of playerbase won't even care to try, so the devs focus on immediate features for the locust playerbase - combat, arenas etc....

This is how it is for mainstream MMOs

As always you are spot on.

BillMurphy · January 2016

MihoshiK said:

WTG to address the posters valid points regarding amateur journalism.

Image: http://www.mememaker.net/static/images/memes/4400855.jpg

(Also known as - me realizing that opinions are like assholes, and it's all OK if we don't like the smell or sight of one another's... opinions.)

Hariken · January 2016

vveaver_online said:
The combat is good enough to carry the rest of the game, it's a fightingame / mmo. Most of my friends who hate MMO's normally and only play games like streetfighter and tekken love B & S

I have to agree with this. It doesn't really feel like a mmo to me. Its an online fighter game. It would be perfect as a console game.

BillMurphy · January 2016

Hariken said:

vveaver_online said:
The combat is good enough to carry the rest of the game, it's a fightingame / mmo. Most of my friends who hate MMO's normally and only play games like streetfighter and tekken love B & S

I have to agree with this. It doesn't really feel like a mmo to me. Its an online fighter game. It would be perfect as a console game.

I can get behind that. The UI would be the big hurdle.

Look, I'm not saying that all MMOs need to have a million and one different features and things to do. My point is that beyond its admittedly wonderful combat, Blade & Soul is shallow. That doesn't mean it's bad... just lacking depth.

Nanfoodle · January 2016

To much like a snack and not enough like a steak. Still hate the UI, feels like I am wrestling with it to do what I want to do. So I am playing the UI more then the game.

rapatpamp · January 2016

Yeah I hit 45 and now feel like that wall is just too high.

The weapon system that I liked at 1st has now become just blah. The high level dungeons aren't offering anything to run them, drops aren't worth anything as most aren't tradeable, money is a joke, costumes are bound, ect.

Weapons and jewelery are just food for your main stuff so that doesn't sell.

Soulstones lemme tell ya about those, you need them for EVERYTHING. You wanna upgrade, need 50 for each piece (so far). Wanna cook some meat on crafting you need 10 (WTF). You need to either do dailies (netting a couple here and there) or pvp (which I stay away from) to get them.

Basically at 45, atm, just run dailies for cash. That's it.

I hate games that are relying too much on dailies and making them the only thing to do.

spot77 · January 2016

The game is "cute" and is fun to play @nanfoodle the UI can actually be quite tailored to your liking it just takes quite awhile to get the feel of how to do it. Frankly I chose not to buy it because like many of you I have been around awhile and seen a couple of maroons i know from the RMT world roaming around.. Glad I didn't too - i knew it would get hit but not as bad as what people are saying. That being said I guess it has been cleaned up a bit?? If they actually clean it up I might take a peak around and reconsider a purchase. I like global chats man - it's fun to watch people troll, laugh and have good fun. For me as a gamer spam = no go

GeezerGamer · January 2016

DMKano said:
The devs KNOW the current playerbase - they come play a new MMO for 2-6 weeks and majority jumps ship - this happens *regardless* of depth, quality of game etc....

Then people come back for a week or so to check out a new patch etc...

So the new games are designed for short term crowd, and short term play and patch rush.

Whats the point of in depth systems when 80% of playerbase won't even care to try, so the devs focus on immediate features for the locust playerbase - combat, arenas etc....

This is how it is for mainstream MMOs

If players leave shallow games because they are shallow, the answer is to make them even more shallow?

Nanfoodle · January 2016

GeezerGamer said:

DMKano said:
The devs KNOW the current playerbase - they come play a new MMO for 2-6 weeks and majority jumps ship - this happens *regardless* of depth, quality of game etc....

Then people come back for a week or so to check out a new patch etc...

So the new games are designed for short term crowd, and short term play and patch rush.

Whats the point of in depth systems when 80% of playerbase won't even care to try, so the devs focus on immediate features for the locust playerbase - combat, arenas etc....

This is how it is for mainstream MMOs

If players leave shallow games because they are shallow, the answer is to make them even more shallow?

Ya I laughed at his reply as well lol

Gwendle · January 2016

The game is fun for about an hour or 2. After that it's all basically the same thing over and over. I think this game is the final nail in the coffin for all Asian MMOs as far as I'm concerned. I have yet to find one that isn't targeting gamers that have the attention span of a gnat.

HellboundHeart · January 2016

DMKano said:
The devs KNOW the current playerbase - they come play a new MMO for 2-6 weeks and majority jumps ship - this happens *regardless* of depth, quality of game etc....

Then people come back for a week or so to check out a new patch etc...

So the new games are designed for short term crowd, and short term play and patch rush.

Whats the point of in depth systems when 80% of playerbase won't even care to try, so the devs focus on immediate features for the locust playerbase - combat, arenas etc....

This is how it is for mainstream MMOs

not FF XIV ARR or ESO or WoW.

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