The producer of Blade & Soul answers some questions about the design of the story, additional content, and players’ passion for collecting.
The colleagues from pcgamesn had the opportunity to speak with Nicolas Coutant, the producer of Blade and Soul for NCsoft West, and extract some answers from him. Questions were raised about the story, the combat system, and players’ collecting passion.
New content remains free
Developers’ plans to continue releasing new content for free in the future are certainly pleasing. The game started with the 3 initial acts of the story but will soon bring the 4th act to the live servers. However, that’s not the end of it for this year. Acts 5 and 6 are also expected to follow this year.
In Korea, the 7th act has already been released. It’s only a matter of time before it comes to us as well. Those who haven’t played for a while and miss the story shouldn’t worry. All chapters of the storyline are self-contained, and players can start with the latest patch if they wish.
Collecting is always an option, regardless of the values
However, Blade & Soul takes somewhat unusual approaches in other areas as well. There is no “real” item spiral, as most of the obtained gear is simply dismantled and then invested in upgrading the main weapon. According to Coutant, players’ passion for collecting is still quite pronounced, especially since the appearance of the character can be determined by a costume:
“The temptation to find new equipment still exists in Blade & Soul, but it takes different forms. Players hunt for rare costumes or visit dungeons to find crafting materials for their weapons.”
Being a hero, but not “the chosen one”
Lastly, there was some discussion about the story and how Blade & Soul approaches it differently. In comparable MMOs, the player character is usually “the chosen one” with a particularly bright future ahead. However, once you enter a quest area, you see hundreds of other players who are exactly the same – this destroys the immersion of a cohesive story. Therefore, the character in Blade & Soul is one of many, but “with the potential to be the chosen one”.
This fits perfectly into the setting, as in the martial arts world of the game, there are numerous factions and their followers, so it is only logical to encounter someone from them every few meters. Nevertheless, the story is not impersonal – a good balance has been found so that you are never the “superhero” but also do not go unnoticed as “a face in the crowd”.
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...
