Table of Contents
- Paint and embroider yourself
- One world, countless stories
- Knowledge is power
- Charming and modern-medieval art
- A great game, in all dimensions
MOBAs dominate today's online landscape. League of Legends is a worldwide phenomenon and Dota 2 also has its faithful “root” legion. Today MMORPGs are not as successful as they used to be. Who doesn't remember the Lineage II fever, which came to share space with the popular Counter-Strike in lan houses? It is in this scenario that Black Desert arrived in South America.
Black Desert is nothing new, at least in South Korea, where it was launched in 2014. However, it was only in July 2017 that it opened its South American server. The game arrived with great impact, bringing those airs of MMORPG fever again. With low price and high quality, Black Desert does it well and we explore the game in this review.
It's a Windows PC exclusive for now, but it will be published for Xbox One at the beginning of 2018. The PlayStation 4 should also receive the game, but there is no release date yet.
Paint and embroider yourself
As an RPG, character creation is certainly one of the most important moments for the player. Black Desert delivers satisfying avatar customization. It is possible to edit the face manually, with the mouse, almost like a model. The same can be done with the hair, with the waves you want.
Back to the face. Editing possibilities are complete, ranging from skin tone to oil level. The scope is so wide that the player can choose the shape of the pupils, size, opacity and color. Still, there are flaws, with few tattoos and nothing pretty. Hair colors are also limited, it would be wiser to include a manual RGB panel.
Black Desert goes beyond the look, even giving you the option to choose your character's sign. That's right, we're talking about astrology! The game's zodiac is not like ours, but it also has a good variety, being important for dialogues with some NPCs.
currently exists 10 classes on the South American Black Desert server. From warrior to ninja, with sex options. Each class has its exclusives and unique moves. The ninja displays an unparalleled evasion, while the archer can do her barrage of arrows, dealing long-range damage. The tamer has a huge creature at her side, with a few hits synchronization. So, choose your class well in view of your play style. In South Korea, there are 14 classes, each with a subtype.
Anyway, the game does a lot of beautiful in character creation. It's quite immersive to create your avatar in Black Desert, coming out as you please. After all, nothing is more important in an MMORPG than its own representation. Character done? All right? Let's go on adventure!
One world, countless stories
You woke up with no memory on a farm, next to a black spirit that only you see. Knowing nothing of what has gone before and with the company of being so weird, you still have to deal with side stories. On the political scene, there is a great dispute between the cities of Heidel and Calpheon, the former being subordinate to the latter.
Heidel is inhabited by a proud population with a great grudge against the residents of Calpheon. Meanwhile, great Calpheon looks like a perfect replica of medieval times, with a corrupt government blessed by the Church.
This is one of Black Desert's greatest triumphs, it's not all just told in the main quests. Side quests are far from distractions. They deepen the story, presenting relevant content and sometimes even necessary for some actions.
For example, in a certain series of missions, it was possible to meet a wife who gives all her money to the Church. This is how the Church carried out a kind of terrorism with the people, to always get more money promising that only then would they go to heaven.
In another series of quests, the player enters a manifestation within Calpheon. Favela residents live in a deplorable situation. A riot broke out when a girl was murdered by a noble and he will not be punished. That protest triggered other complaints, mostly revolving around the economic system that perpetuates social inequality. The environment created demonstrates an enormous reality. There is the leader of the movement, the population on the streets holding signs and shouting slogans. There are the armed and hooded members. There are also those from the favela who do not support the revolution. Reality spills over to the point that in order to get favor with a member of the army, it is necessary to invade the movement and kill some protesters.
There's a lot to discover in Black Desert, and NPCs can help. Most NPCs are interactive, with talk about themselves, geography, politics or tips. Simultaneously, your own story progresses. The dark spirit wants to influence you more and more, giving you gifts, ordering quests, and getting stronger by sucking energy from sculptures you take with you. Black Desert presents us with so many stories, assembling a plot as big as its physical world.
Knowledge is power
An interesting fact about Black Desert is how it makes knowledge necessary. For example, you can only see an enemy's HP in detail if you kill several of them; he gets easier to die eliminated more, thus accumulating more knowledge of such kind.
Knowledge encompasses everything in Black Desert. Your knowledge of alchemy allows you to converse with certain NPCs. Talking to NPCs can assign exclusivity, otherwise it would be better to say “comradeships”. That is: discounted items, exclusives, lessons, and so on.
The game also offers a high range of professions. Do you want to be a fisherman? Be! Do you want to have your own home and furnish it? You have! You want to hire workers to produce tradable items. Hire! There you go. To get an idea, it is even possible to breed horses, breed and sell. And we can't forget about the guilds, with their own missions, salaries and wars.
So Black Desert is more than quests. Making you have a difference in the world, with an almost real presence. It's a feeling you don't find in every MMORPG and it's so satisfying that it motivates the player to be active in the game.
Charming and modern-medieval art
Black Desert's visuals are stunning. It's almost the level of The Witcher 3. The environment can be colorful or dark, the level of detail will be immense. The caves look dark but tempting. The fields are beautiful and makes you want to ride. The valleys with human bones reveal that there lives an attractive danger. There are many scenarios and they all reflect the hard work of the game's production.
The worry is such that the grass shakes at your every move and is even cut by your sword. All this with a single loading screen. However, it is not uncommon to experience crashes and bugs by loading textures.
The sound is nothing short of epic. The responsibility of making the player immersed in the environment is successfully fulfilled. The exploration of a dangerous area is well explained with the sound background. The city tour also has its special trail. Riding to the music of Black Desert makes the adventure solidified by sound. You won't want to play without headphones for a long time.
A great game, in all dimensions
Black Desert is a splendid work. With an affordable price, easy in-game payment, the game offers highly customizable characters, a huge world with diverse activities and possibilities, in addition to exciting hack and slash combat. The game's numerous stories assemble a great captivating plot. The knowledge mechanic also encourages the player to always go further. Meanwhile, the screen fills with well-crafted graphics and the ears are tuned for great sound.
MMOs dominate the current landscape, we know that. However, Black Desert has the full capacity to reignite the MMORPG fever. The South American server, with little time to live, already has more than half of the existing classes in South Korea, and growing! New events introduce exciting news, building your own legion of fans. If you like MMORPGs, or want to venture into this genre, Black Desert is a definite recommendation
