The Korean Wuxia MMO Blade & Soul is finally coming to the West after many years. In a live stream, there were details about the West release. We summarize it.
Blade and Soul will be released simultaneously in the West and the USA. Closed beta in autumn, launch in winter.
They are adopting a Free2Play model. Will provide more details in the coming months. NCSoft excludes Pay2Win and does not intend to establish “paywalls”. Players should not pay for content. This would drive the player base apart.
Too sexy for the West?
Blade & Soul will be tailored for the West, but sensitively
The Western Blade and Soul will be tailored for the West. This is nothing new; the same was done with the Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese Blade & Soul. These adaptations have shown great success. For instance, in China, up to 1.5 million players logged in simultaneously. Even in the billion-people country China, a significant success.
Currently, they are in the EN 1 phase of translation – everything has been translated 1:1 from Korean. “With Google Translate?” jokes one. “No, no, we already have authors,” they say. However, in this phase, cultural customs have not yet been considered. In the final launch, some Korean peculiarities, such as bouncing vampires, will be better explained in the translation. They don’t want to overdo it, will not have any “John Smiths” walking around, but they will make it easier for players to immerse themselves in the strongly Asian background.
The European servers will be based in Frankfurt am Main.
They want to leave nothing out of the original, rather add something new.
The Western Blade and Soul will not have a “Fatigue” system, as in other regions. This usually limits the number of activities possible in one go.
As a preliminary assessment, the ESRB gives it a “Mature” rating.
The game will not be censored. This was one of the most frequently asked questions. The game is meant to be enjoyed as it was intended. They do not want to interfere with the art style.
The race “Kun” will be renamed to “Yun” in English. It is too close linguistically to “Coon”, a highly offensive term with racist connotations.
Eastern narrative tradition reflected in storylines
Blade & Soul is an “over the top” Eastern Fantasy Martial Arts MMO, which they are aware of. They want to preserve that essence.
Differences in narrative tradition are significant. In Western fantasy, there is a clear depiction of good and evil. The good is chosen to defeat the evil and must save the world. In Wuxia narrative tradition, it is about avenging wrongs suffered. That is much more personal. The hero usually has something taken away from him and seeks revenge to repay it. It is somewhat reminiscent of Kill Bill or classic Kung Fu movies. A change in the MMORPG sector.
4 races and 6 classes: Assassin, Blademaster, Kung Fu Master, Destroyer, Summoner, Force Master. As is common in the West, not every race fits every class.
The character creation is also as one would expect. With choices, sliders, and a “Randomize” option that produces odd faces.
This is what happens when you hit randomize. Allegedly, the character creator also includes something like George Clooney.
The game will also be released in German
They will also translate Blade and Soul into German and French – and will also address cultural differences.
In the game, there will be a fully voice-over in cutscenes, a full dubbing of the cutscenes, to be heard in English, German, and French.
Some players would like to play it with Korean and Chinese voice packs. They plan to offer these as optional downloads. This is not yet certain.
The gameplay: walking on water and through the air
One of the strengths is the movement in the game – it should be typically “Eastern”. Players can glide through the air – almost like on a flying mount or as in ArcheAge with the glider – but entirely without aids, just thanks to their abilities. Players can also sprint on water.
There will be “Dragon Streams” found in the world, which are “Click A, arrive at B” travel routes that allow characters to jump and glide through the air in a martial arts fashion.
In combat, they are relying on a highly reactive system, within certain time windows, players must react.
There is no healer class; everyone has the responsibility to support others and take care of their own health. With an active combat style, they did not want a class that watches from the sidelines.
Those who die can attempt to crawl to safety and return to life through meditation. Defensive classes can assist with this.
Blade and Soul is expected to launch polished with many luxury features
Group search for instances runs via matchmaking (an LFG tool), taking all servers as a pool, so this should be relatively quick. These luxury options can be offered because the game is already mature and polished due to the long development time in Korea.
They want to start with a client that is up to date, but does not contain the entire story. In Korea, they have 6 “Acts” available, while in the West, they plan to start with 3 and deliver the rest later.
A lot of attention is being given to the possibility of continually upgrading one’s weapon. Players should be able to continue using a weapon from the beginning to the end if they wish and continuously upgrade it. The mechanics and prices for this will be adjusted based on player feedback. Weapons cannot break during the upgrade process.
Armor functions as a “Soul Shield”, the items are not visually represented on the avatar. That is handled by “costumes.” This also fits the Wuxia style, as one doesn’t necessarily show off their power outright.
For PvP, they have come up with something. They signal PvP activity by wearing a specific costume. This makes the opposing mobs clearly recognizable, resembling an army.
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Mein MMO states:The live stream was professional, entertaining, and amusing – featuring likable faces that appeared to be comfortable in front of the camera. Particularly amusing was how brand manager Juliane Harty embraced her Summoner role. Also, the “Hey, don’t diss me just because I’m British” moment is worth mentioning. The language was relatable to players with many film references and numerous MMORPG topics. One can clearly see the difference between NCSoft and a second-tier MMO publisher.
The English localization with the dubbing also seemed high quality, at least in the little that was shown. Given the negative reputation that Asia Free2Play games have here, it is certainly nice to see that a AAA publisher is stepping in and apparently giving the game high priority.
The impression was created: NCSoft West is aware of how unfortunate many things have gone in the past and that the game is arriving late, and they are trying to make up for it now.
Concerns plague the skeptical MMO fan until the exact details of the Free2Play model become clear. Here, the “weapon upgrade system” smells of a costly endeavor that flirts with player frustration and then invites them to the cash shop. But that is still speculation that arises from a “burned child dreads the fire” experience with previous Asia imports. Such “weapon upgrade” systems, as appealing as they may sound, are often a delicate matter.
Blade & Soul by NCSoft is a popular Free2Play action MMO from Korea. Characteristic of the fantasy MMORPG are the artistically high-quality style and the combat...
