Blade &Â Soul hasn’t yet been out for a year and it’s already gotten several updates, all good news for the players. While I had assumed the delay was because of a pro-wrestler like death grip from the game’s Korean overseers, I was wrong, as I found out during my discussion with NCsoft at this year’s E3 2016.
Let’s jump first into the team’s ongoing localization efforts. See that adorable little otter in the image below? That’s an exclusive western pet for B&S online. It’s just a small hint that the Korean developers are working with NCSoft West, but it might be easy to overlook.
Although I currently live in Japan, the East Asian video game art motifs — which are overly fond of portraying girls fighting in fantasy lingerie and heels while lacking muscle mass — seem pretty silly to me and can be hard-sells for westerners, but clearly fans of B&S go crazy for it. The company also provides arguably equally titillating costumes for men and more conservative dresses for ladies. Some players worry about the “censorship” that can go hand-in-hand with localization, which is why you’ll probably never see a much more conservative push from the devs.
In addition, for anyone who has a hard time with the voice acting for the game, the team tells me it’s been working with more professional-level voice actors, which should help to further lighten the load on localization. The stories may get better just as the team improves, but better delivery can certainly help.
The art of combat
One reason I’ve avoided B&S is because I rarely hear good things about anything beyond its combat and models. Apparently players aren’t happy with the crafting system in particular. NCsoft says it’s looking into crafting; one thing that should help is a planned series of events that will grant easier access to the high end crafting materials people usually pray they receive with some help from the game’s RMT stores.
I’ve also heard that the game’s competitive scene frequently debates the need to use ping boosters. Apparently, this is because the game didn’t launch with the best backend servers, but it’s something that’s constantly being worked on, especially as the game’s been quite successful. In fact, when I asked about some recent research into the game’s success, I was told that while the team’s happy with their current rank, the devs recognize how hard it is to fight against the entrenched populations of WoW and Lineage communities. That’s why they’re hoping that other systems in addition to combat will help them achieve similar numbers years from now.
The Soul Fighter
I know, most of you are only in this article for this part. While I’m not a B&S player myself, I did check out the Soul Fighter preview, and like some of you, I was worried when I heard that a hybrid ranged/melee control character with life-leeching skills would be introduced: It sounds like WoW’s Death Knight release all over again. I was even told that overseas, certain high-ranked PvP players had switched classes and were still dominating with the new class, which doesn’t sound good to me. However, NCsoft says that this has to do with the fact that the Soul Fighter has good group-wide damage and control in multiplayer arenas. Lacking a lot of hard control and burst damage also help prevent it from being obviously broken.
Just the same, during my hands-on with the character, I admit I was a bit bored at first, but not really because of the class. Switching between ranged and melee moves was easy and quickly became intuitive. The main issue was that I was a bit overtuned for the encounter, and I’m generally not satisfied with demos in which I’m in no real danger. I was then allowed to enter a solo instance more appropriate for my character and died after valiantly whittling the beast down to about 70% health. If I’d beaten it the first time, I’d be worried. I think I could have gotten it the second time, but I was out of time for the demo, which had me itching for another fight – which after so many poor demos at this year’s event does say something about the class’s fun factor.
