Anticipated Game: Blade & Soul

Hey guys, Little Miss Squish here. I know I haven't been blogging in several months and I feel bad for not doing so. I don't have an MMO to review or time to do so at the moment, so I'm posting about a game I'm almost literally dying to wait for it to come out: Blade & Soul.

(taken from bladeandsoulwiki.com)

Finding out information for this game is a little tricky. They have a main website but other than a promotional video and some pretty graphics, there isn't any information. Instead, you must go to Blade & Soul Dojo (B&SD) for the latest information and Blade & Soul Wiki that is in the process of updating to the current information. It can get a little confusing. In short: for the newest info, stick to the B&SD. Also, the game developers haven't released TOO much information on the game; we know races and classes and some other features, but that's about it. I understand the game is still in development-- it had its first closed beta testing in Korea from April to May-- so things are still new and not completely finished yet. I imagine by the time the game is ready to be released (I think it's 2012, if I'm not mistaken?) that there will be more information available.

Let's talk about who's in charge of the game. The publisher is NCSoft, which, for some, is a big friggin' deal. They've produced eye candy games such as Aion, Lineage, and Guild Wars. Let that sink in. For me, that means it'll hopefully be awesome. Aion and Lineage (II) are the only games of NCSoft that I'm familiar with, so my opinion on them is based on those two games. NCSoft's games tend to be really friggin' beautiful and have some interesting features, but they usually end up being either generic or repetitive within their own game world to really be worth playing. I hope Blade & Soul isn't like that, but I can't say for sure. Also, I don't know at this time if Blade & Soul will be pay-to-play or free-to-play. I imagine it's PTP, like other NCSoft games. If the content seems really awesome, I might actually want to pay monthly for this game. I like it that much.

The graphic design team is led by Hung-Tae Kim, who is probably known for his artwork in the Magna Carta series. I love Kim's art style; even though many of the women have rather large breasts and skimpy clothing, there is still a sense of beauty that makes me stop and stare for a moment before I find myself smiling. I love the way that Kim shades his artwork and overall, if you look at Blade and Soul, you can clearly tell that he has handled the art for the game in many aspects. Check out this video, one of the first promo vids for the game:

This video was one of the reasons I fell in love with this game. It was such a vivid, detailed, beautiful world and the people in it seemed like they naturally belonged there. Part of the reason I say this is because I've played MMOs where the graphics were beautiful, the environments were rendered to be breathtaking, and the characters' designs were awesome. And yet the characters seemed to not fit into the world they lived in. Like, as if they were just dropped into that world and that was it. Blade and Soul's graphics blend the environment and character designs so well that I feel like my character would actually exist within that world. I love how the environment and the characters' appearances (in terms of light and shadow) change with the weather or time of day. I love how the characters actually seem to take damage and physically react to being hit. Maybe that's how martial arts MMOs work most of the time. I don't know. But it's refreshing to see the character's head be thrown back from a punch or to see blood spurt out of them when they're hit. It makes me feel like I'm playing a living person with a tangible body. I mention the fact that martial arts MMOs (maMMOs) may have physical reactions and things incorporated in their gameplay because Blade & Soul is a maMMO. Of course, to go along with that are many of the stereotypical elements you'd expect to find in a martial arts movie: lightining fast reactions, amazing jump speeds and lengths that seem almost superhuman, and combat moves that seem to be nigh impossible. But Blade & Soul seems to take all those elements and account for why you can do them. Or at least make their presences in the game seem more logical and have a basis than not. I won't go into detail on how those things work because frankly, I can't remember how they explained it and don't really want to recall the specifics. If you're curious about it, go look it up. :P I don't normally EVER play maMMOs, but the fact that it looks as beautiful as it does and seems like it will have awesome content is definitely persuading me to at least try it.

(Edit: I realized that I never discussed healing classes in this post, so here's a brief insert as to what they have to offer for healers.)
In terms of priest/healing class, from what I have seen, there isn't one, but I've heard that there are mechanics in the game that will allow players to heal themselves. I assume they  mean potions and food type items, but I hope they eventually create either a healing class or a specialization within one of the existing classes that allows for healing. If they go with the latter, I imagine it would be the Force Master class, because they do magic-oriented, elemental style attacks, from what I've seen. I think, with the classes that have been released, I would probably play a Force Master, since it's the closest to a magic-caster in the traditional RPG sense and those are the classes I like to play. I would, however, still give the others a shot, particularly the Assassin and Kung-Fu Master. I don't think I care much for Destroyers, but meh, we'll see.

I'm sure as more information comes out, I'll want to gush more about Blade & Soul. For now, those are my thoughts regarding the game. I'll probably post more when things like beta testing come out, more information regarding professions, character customization, lore, etc. etc. come out. Y'know, the usual things I look for.

This is LMS, eagerly awaitin' this game.