Lost Ark released a video on April 1st showcasing how the MMORPG could look through a VR headset. Although this likely will never happen, MeinMMO author Mark Sellner says: “Damn, this is exactly what Lost Ark needs.”
What kind of video is this? I want to crush all hopes right from the start because the well-made video is actually an April Fool’s joke by Smilegate. The video features a trailer that presents a VR version of Lost Ark. Like most April Fool’s jokes, the trailer has been well-received by the community.
One can see from the trailer that the developers invested a lot of work in the construction of the video. It not only shows a new perspective for the MMORPG, but also the menus and animations have been adapted and displayed for the VR gimmick.
Furthermore, the clip shows you how some of the most impressive scenes in Lost Ark would feel if you could view them from a first-person perspective. This perspective is exactly what Lost Ark needs. Regardless of whether it’s with VR or not, this virtual reality experience is not that important to me.
You can watch the entire video here:
How breathtakingly immersive the world looks in first-person has completely captivated me, and now I sit here wanting a first-person mod for the game. And that’s despite the fact that the perspective of Lost Ark has never bothered me.
Why would this be good? A major criticism from many who have tried Lost Ark is the unfamiliar isometric perspective of the MMORPG. My colleague Alexander Leitsch already mentioned in the podcast that he simply couldn’t immerse himself in the game.
He is not alone in this opinion, which quickly becomes clear when you browse the forums and reddit for Lost Ark. For all these players, the first-person perspective would be the opposite extreme. The video only takes a few seconds to completely immerse me in the world.
Even if I’m not one of the players who has any kind of problem with the isometric perspective, I am impressed by the scenes from the video. Seeing Luterra Castle from the first-person perspective is insane, and I wish I could experience more of Lost Ark this way.
Please don’t take me too seriously
What are the problems? Of course, a permanent first-person or VR version of the game is not easily achievable and certainly not what Lost Ark actually needs. Especially the battles in Chaos Dungeons and Guardian Raids would likely be more of a hindrance than a help from this perspective. Many of the mechanics would hardly be playable from this viewpoint.
But not only in battles would visibility suffer significantly. As much as I want to explore the glorious cities and calm areas in first-person, I find them annoying in the regular open world. Lost Ark is simply too hectic for that. Even though streamer Asmongold says that VR is the future of the genre.
What could Lost Ark really need? What I actually wish for since I saw the fabulous video from Smilegate is an expansion of Lost Ark’s photo mode. It already exists in the game and allows you to change not only the perspective but also the surroundings partially.
This allows you to completely hide characters, names, and other players and capture your avatar in angles that normal gameplay does not provide. And that’s a shame because now I know from the video that there could be so much more.
Give me new features for the photo mode: The existing restrictions in the photo mode can be quickly summarized. I cannot move while experimenting with the various perspectives. Additionally, running is also severely limited when I zoom in close to my character without the photo mode.
What I actually wish for, thanks to this video, is the ability to move in photo mode. This way, you could experience exciting cities like Vern, Luterra, and Stern’s Origin in all their glory. This would allow you to immerse yourself more in the world of Arkesia than the MMORPG sometimes manages in the isometric perspective.
What do you think of the idea? Would you like something similar? Or do you have no desire to view the world of Arkesia from another perspective? What do you generally think of the video? Feel free to let us know in the comments here at MeinMMO.
