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Blade and Soul Review - On Customization
Aeander
Member LegendaryPosts: 8,060
in Blade & Soul
Blade and Soul's customization is a bit of an odd point for the game. In some regards, it stands out among current MMOs. In other ways, it just doesn't quite stack up.
With this post, I intend to give my thoughts on the visual and mechanical customization of the game.
And please do note that I maintain a right to a certain level of subjectivity. There's little value in a purely objective review of a subjective medium.
Bold = Pros
Italic = Cons
The character creation system is pretty good.
While I am certainly not a fan of the race locking and the lack of race creativity, the character creation system offers plenty of flexibility. The hair style options seem pretty impractical, but there's something for almost anyone. And generally speaking, any game with sliders is doing it right.
Weapon skins are well done, and transmogrification is convenient.
There isn't much to really be said here. This should be expected, and it works.
The clothing design of this game is MOSTLY good.
Certainly, the game has more than its fair share of immersion breakers and clipping collars, but the overall quality here is fantastic and leaves something for almost everyone. Though almost is an operative word, as their selection of armor-themed outfits is very low. Perhaps that is to suit the setting, but there is no shortage of available outfits that outright clash with the setting (or any setting that isn't Saints Row, for that matter).
Fortunately, stats and cosmetics are separate.
This is more or less expected of modern MMOs, and it's important to see that this is the case here in a years-outdated MMO. Transmogrification is the usual fix to this issue, but in the case of clothing, they've decided to separate the two entirely, and I approve.
The Blade and Soul approach to skill customization is really good.
This is a topic that I covered in my combat review, but it certainly overlaps with customization. Being able to customize or outright completely change your skills through branching paths is admirable, especially when so many MMOs are streamlining their systems.
Being able to refund your skills on a whim (when out of combat) is a godsend.
In an era of freemium garbage that make you go through the trials of Hercules to reset your skills, it's refreshing to see something more friendly that encourages playing around with builds and experimenting your character. That adds a ton of longevity to pvp, and, frankly, the skill upgrade system is complicated enough to not work without this.
Soul Shields are a great idea.
Soul shields allow for a set bonus that is entirely separate from a character's main gear. And that's pretty genius. It's simple and effective, though I'd perhaps argue that this is a case of missed potential, and my next point will bring up my reasoning for that.
Soul Shields could have been much more.
With Soul Shields, there was an opportunity to have some truly whacky, Diablo-esque passives without tying it to gear. Completing a Soul Shield could have been something really flavorful, but instead they are just replacement stat sticks to make up for lack of armor stats. Additionally, having high level versions of early game soul shields could have been incredible and added a lot more options for stat variety.
Speaking of which, stat variety in this game is absurdly low.
While the game has a wide range of stats, it does not have a wide range of endgame viable gear. This means that there really isn't that much room to build to oddball playstyles. And the number one reason for that is....
The evolution system is woefully wasted potential.
My initial thoughts on being able to level up my Hongmoon weapon were positive. I thought that this would come with the ability to evolve any weapon in the game to the current max level, which would have been incredible for stat variety, skin variety, and for increasing the amount of goals a player has in the endgame. Unfortunately, the system is exclusive to your Hongmoon gear, and that makes every drop nothing more than fusion fodder - in other words, boring. The only time a drop is exciting is that first time you need it to throw it into your all-consuming starter weapon, and certainly much of that excitement dies on seeing your new drop go poof.
There's a whole world of clones.
I have never liked the idea of one-slot outfits. They absolutely kill player creativity and individuality. They hurt the roleplaying element of the game, and thus eliminate an entire aspect of the RPG paradigm - one of the most fun aspects at that. Thus having a game's entire wardrobe be nothing but outfits, with zero option to mix and match anything beyond headgear and weapon is a real killjoy. I could have forgiven that if the game had a proper dye system, but that is not in the current client at all. But you know what's more important than clothes? That's right....
The people wearing said clothes, of course. The playable races of Blade and Soul suck out loud.
Oh, hey, look! It's human, all-female human, big human, and short, furry human. Isn't Korea just full of ideas? I mean, for crying out loud, Tera at least had the common decency to add a stone man and a humanoid beast race. And that isn't even mentioning race locking. Look, I won't dock points for race locking because it's so common (and some people actually like it for some absurd reason), but it's a personal pet peeve, and it really kills me that to play a Blade Dancer, I must pick a Lyn. I would much rather stuff said Lyn in a blender and watch it become a woefully fur-gettable smoothie.
Outfit based pvp was an interesting approach to consensual open-world pvp, but it also hurts customization.
Consider this one an un-scored personal criticism because it also has strong positive aspects. I am happy enough with the consensual nature of pvp that I'm giving credit where it's due. But you know what? Early game, those crimson legion & cerulean order outfits are the best looking ones available. Late game, I want to open world pvp in any clothes I please.
So, what does that bring us to:
Character Creation - 3/5
Positive points for sliders and a wide range of cosmetic options. Negative points for bad race options.
Gear Flexibility (Performance vs. Appearance) - 5/5
Not much to say here. You can use any skin with any stat performance, and that's all you need.
Stat Flexibility - 2/5
And that one point is only there because of soul shield fusion and gem socketing.
Skill Customization - 4/5
Passive traits to tie skills together really would have helped, but what is here is admirable enough.
Gear Value - 1/5
Gear drops feel legitimately worthless. And they really are.
Appearance (Outfit) Customization - 1/5
There basically is none.
So with that said, Blade and Soul is a game of great skill customization and no penalties, but utterly lackluster appearances.
With this post, I intend to give my thoughts on the visual and mechanical customization of the game.
And please do note that I maintain a right to a certain level of subjectivity. There's little value in a purely objective review of a subjective medium.
Bold = Pros
Italic = Cons
The character creation system is pretty good.
While I am certainly not a fan of the race locking and the lack of race creativity, the character creation system offers plenty of flexibility. The hair style options seem pretty impractical, but there's something for almost anyone. And generally speaking, any game with sliders is doing it right.
Weapon skins are well done, and transmogrification is convenient.
There isn't much to really be said here. This should be expected, and it works.
The clothing design of this game is MOSTLY good.
Certainly, the game has more than its fair share of immersion breakers and clipping collars, but the overall quality here is fantastic and leaves something for almost everyone. Though almost is an operative word, as their selection of armor-themed outfits is very low. Perhaps that is to suit the setting, but there is no shortage of available outfits that outright clash with the setting (or any setting that isn't Saints Row, for that matter).
Fortunately, stats and cosmetics are separate.
This is more or less expected of modern MMOs, and it's important to see that this is the case here in a years-outdated MMO. Transmogrification is the usual fix to this issue, but in the case of clothing, they've decided to separate the two entirely, and I approve.
The Blade and Soul approach to skill customization is really good.
This is a topic that I covered in my combat review, but it certainly overlaps with customization. Being able to customize or outright completely change your skills through branching paths is admirable, especially when so many MMOs are streamlining their systems.
Being able to refund your skills on a whim (when out of combat) is a godsend.
In an era of freemium garbage that make you go through the trials of Hercules to reset your skills, it's refreshing to see something more friendly that encourages playing around with builds and experimenting your character. That adds a ton of longevity to pvp, and, frankly, the skill upgrade system is complicated enough to not work without this.
Soul Shields are a great idea.
Soul shields allow for a set bonus that is entirely separate from a character's main gear. And that's pretty genius. It's simple and effective, though I'd perhaps argue that this is a case of missed potential, and my next point will bring up my reasoning for that.
Soul Shields could have been much more.
With Soul Shields, there was an opportunity to have some truly whacky, Diablo-esque passives without tying it to gear. Completing a Soul Shield could have been something really flavorful, but instead they are just replacement stat sticks to make up for lack of armor stats. Additionally, having high level versions of early game soul shields could have been incredible and added a lot more options for stat variety.
Speaking of which, stat variety in this game is absurdly low.
While the game has a wide range of stats, it does not have a wide range of endgame viable gear. This means that there really isn't that much room to build to oddball playstyles. And the number one reason for that is....
The evolution system is woefully wasted potential.
My initial thoughts on being able to level up my Hongmoon weapon were positive. I thought that this would come with the ability to evolve any weapon in the game to the current max level, which would have been incredible for stat variety, skin variety, and for increasing the amount of goals a player has in the endgame. Unfortunately, the system is exclusive to your Hongmoon gear, and that makes every drop nothing more than fusion fodder - in other words, boring. The only time a drop is exciting is that first time you need it to throw it into your all-consuming starter weapon, and certainly much of that excitement dies on seeing your new drop go poof.
There's a whole world of clones.
I have never liked the idea of one-slot outfits. They absolutely kill player creativity and individuality. They hurt the roleplaying element of the game, and thus eliminate an entire aspect of the RPG paradigm - one of the most fun aspects at that. Thus having a game's entire wardrobe be nothing but outfits, with zero option to mix and match anything beyond headgear and weapon is a real killjoy. I could have forgiven that if the game had a proper dye system, but that is not in the current client at all. But you know what's more important than clothes? That's right....
The people wearing said clothes, of course. The playable races of Blade and Soul suck out loud.
Oh, hey, look! It's human, all-female human, big human, and short, furry human. Isn't Korea just full of ideas? I mean, for crying out loud, Tera at least had the common decency to add a stone man and a humanoid beast race. And that isn't even mentioning race locking. Look, I won't dock points for race locking because it's so common (and some people actually like it for some absurd reason), but it's a personal pet peeve, and it really kills me that to play a Blade Dancer, I must pick a Lyn. I would much rather stuff said Lyn in a blender and watch it become a woefully fur-gettable smoothie.
Outfit based pvp was an interesting approach to consensual open-world pvp, but it also hurts customization.
Consider this one an un-scored personal criticism because it also has strong positive aspects. I am happy enough with the consensual nature of pvp that I'm giving credit where it's due. But you know what? Early game, those crimson legion & cerulean order outfits are the best looking ones available. Late game, I want to open world pvp in any clothes I please.
So, what does that bring us to:
Character Creation - 3/5
Positive points for sliders and a wide range of cosmetic options. Negative points for bad race options.
Gear Flexibility (Performance vs. Appearance) - 5/5
Not much to say here. You can use any skin with any stat performance, and that's all you need.
Stat Flexibility - 2/5
And that one point is only there because of soul shield fusion and gem socketing.
Skill Customization - 4/5
Passive traits to tie skills together really would have helped, but what is here is admirable enough.
Gear Value - 1/5
Gear drops feel legitimately worthless. And they really are.
Appearance (Outfit) Customization - 1/5
There basically is none.
So with that said, Blade and Soul is a game of great skill customization and no penalties, but utterly lackluster appearances.
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