Sep 14, 2012

FYI: ‘Blade and Soul’ is Still Coming to America

DigitalWolf Discussion, Gaming, PC gaming, PlayStation 3, Previews Blade and Soul, NCSOFT, PC gaming, playstation 3, ps3 0 Comment

I don’t know if anyone has been tracking this game or not but I’ve been excited about its release since its announcement over 2 years ago. The image above is my new wallpaper after something compelled me to check for news on ‘Blade and Soul’, a Asian MMO from NCSOFT.

Upon Googling, i discovered “HOLY SHIT they updated the site and it looks glorious!” and upon clicking the ‘News’ section i find the game has already been released in South Korea with success and they still aim to release it here! The best part is that the new post is dated for YESTERDAY, so I’m pretty stoked that my sixth sense just happened to pick up on this awesome news. Here’s an exerpt…

“SEATTLE – SEPTEMBER 13, 2012:NCsoft^®, the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today confirms its Western expansion plans for Blade & Soul, the wildly successful Asian martial arts fantasy MMO developed by Team Bloodlust, an in-house studio based in NCsoft’s headquarters in Seoul. Blade & Soul has already captured the hearts of millions, consistently ranking as one of the top games in PC cafés across South Korea since its launch eleven weeks ago, and plans to reach the same level of success and popularity in Western markets.”

Sweet, what else can you tell us NCSOFT?

“Exact release timing for Blade & Soul has not been confirmed, but NCsoft is already aggressively tailoring the title for Western players, working closely with Team Bloodlust to ensure the rich Asian martial arts theme stays intact.”

Bah, alright I’ll keep waiting >:/

Anyway i guess I’ll talk about why the game is so awesome to me. So…

Graphics

Sweet mama these graphics are gorgeous, I’m a big fan of Hyung-tae Kim’s Art work and this game represents his work AWESOMELY. You might be familiar with his work from a game called Magna Carta

Magna Carta Characters

Now some people might find his drawing style weird but i find it remarkably creative. While some people stay within the boundaries of realistic beauty this man just exaggerates the shit out of what ever form he touches males and all. His work feels absolutely fearless to me and i highly admire that. So on that note prepare for the rest of this article to be plastered with his work. You’ve been warned…

And its not just beautiful characters too, look at the game scenery! Its like a vacation to a land of vibrant color. Its just madness with grass and water and shit just all over the place! Don’t even bother making sense of it just TAKE. IT. IN.

Thats not just background either…

Gameplay

Essentially, its an action MMO, played like a fighting game with stacked skills. Kinda like how one move leads to another but simpler with less button presses. There’s various things like domination(getting on top of an enemy and pummeling them), and other control factors. I could go into further detail but thats not the point here, point is, for a MMO, its pretty fuckin sweet. But one of my favorite features is movement…ever played DCU? Yeah this is better or at least cooler looking…

And that just flips middle finger to modern knowledge of Aero dynamics…You can apparently run on walls and stuff too the same way.

DAWWWWWW…..

Some Other Facinating details…

Since 2010 its been stated that the game would reach consoles, or just the PS3. Since then there’s been no specific confirmation that i know of but it doesn’t seem unlikely seeing as the gameplay could work in either direction.

I’m not going to post it here, but there is a private server based off one of the beta tests, I’ve never played it myself but I’m tempted too…

[nggallery id=59]

So yeah, really, really want to play this game…

So bad…

So, so bad…

For now i’ll keep watching the trailers and dream :/