Black Desert - Fall 2015

2014 Trailer:

Website Launch Trailer - June 2013

Combat Footage Fall 2014

Character Customization Preview:

Pre-Alpha Siege Warfare:

More Information: http://black-desert.com/

Got my eyes all over this one and totally wishing I had a korean ip atm. Game looks solid though it would need some restrictions and reworking of the guild system for GSCH to consider it. The limit is so low

Very unlikely that guild cap will be altered.  They're looking to keep individual guilds small. Anyways, game is being released in Korea in December. They already have an NA/EU publisher which will be DAUM, a well known Korean publisher who is expanding into NA/EU. English translation had already been underway before they even had a publisher. So hopefully we will see the game in NA/EU late 2015.

It is a maybe in my book, like the look.

  Only thing that ATM  which I know may change is , there are only 4 classes , and if you play a fighter you are a male human, if you play the bezerker  class it is  male  Giant , and if you play a ranger or sorc, the only choice is a female elf.

  I have never liked preset gender/race for x class .stikll its not final, they are supposedly adding 2 more classes , but they need to make them any race/gender can play any class .

WANT! Take My Money!!!!! i have been watching this game for some time now.

Black Desert without a doubt is the only game i have seen so far in this list that is actually taking some steps forward in the industry, and is probably the most polished at this point.

It will be interesting to see what the other games look like when they are in a more finished state.

Definitely interested. 

New open beta Korean trailer 

  if they don`t change the preset race and gender to play x class then i`ll skip this one . 

http://steparu.com/previews/mmorpg/1675-black-desert-online-faq-and-ama-ask-me-anything

Watching the seige warfare just made me laugh. Just love this guy..  It looks like there are possibilities here. 

Been lurking for awhile since I set ESO down. Excited to see this is a chapter hopeful.

I totally agree with Dirk, if presets for gender and race are what determine class then I'll be passing this one by. Looks interesting otherwise.

» Edited on: 2014-12-13 06:14:53

It is still early I suppose, but that game has definitely peaked my interest:)!

Thanks for that awesome feature video Izzy.  :)

When i watch that video, it felt like Pearl Abyss was/is taking large strides in correcting the mistakes ArcheAge made when it came to open-world sea exploration.

Black Desert looks more like a game that puts a lot of emphasis on the "Hunter-Gatherer" aspects of the human experience during a Fantasy-based Middle-ages/Viking period , and i love that.

I would give this one a try.

My curiosity was piqued by the graphics, but I would like a shot at the Beta to get a better look before deciding.

Having just watched the 'Whale hunting' video, I must say it looks like a boring grind.  Seriously, you follow a whale shooting it hundreds of times with nothing else going on.  The whale just undulates at surface level, so it is easy to follow and shoot.  You spend minutes just attacking it without really anything else to do.

That just looks boring, personally.  I won't judge it fully on this alone, but if this is the level of gameplay to be expected I will be out for sure.

Note:  From everything I have seen and heard the HP bloat is strong with this one.  Expect prolonged fights even with non-bosses.

speaking of ArcheAge does this have that rather broken same alliance player pvp setting off/on on a whim... even making it so that you can walk up to someone and toggle pvp at the last sec and then right after the fight toggle it back off again...

also, i really like what i see here, but... the fixed gender/race ... that is ok for something like diablo, but, not for a mmo imo.

watch these world bosses very generic tank and spank fights not exciting at all. Hopefully the PvP had more to offer then the PvE. I only found one castle siege video but it was a standoff where nothing much at all happened

Keep in mind that this is a Korean MMO and the "grind model" is what their hardcore player-base likes.  Not all of the Korean players like it, but enough of them do, to keep the Korean developers wanting to use the grind design as a common base to build around.

We may also get older builds, up to a year or so behind, where things are broken and fixed in the other regions, but we'll have to suffer through the bugs until we're given those patches.  (its one of the problems with Archeage, as well as it was with Aion, early on)

edit: Current top games in Korea, just to give folks an idea of what they find popular and maybe what to expect from Black Desert

Of note, a very noticeable title that is missing from current listings, is Archeage.  Back in 2013, Archeage was actually beating out Lineage (aka Lineage II) for the #2 spot, right behind LoL.  However, Archeage took a departure from the traditional grind design, by making the grind purchasable with real life money, via a cash store and it looks like its fallen out of favor with the general Korean player base.

I lord, haha - League of Leg..... (throws up in mouth)

I'm not interested in imported and translated MMOs. The Asian consumers appreciate drastically different gameplay aspects than I do. Also, that combat looks horrible!

Graphics look interesting, however fixed class/gender makes it very unattractive.

Hopefully that will change at release, otherwise I will pass.

Surprised to see this one on the GSCH seed list.  I do not expect it to be much different than Archeage, and it will certainly draw in the same player base.   Open-world PvP at all levels, trolling opportunities classified as emergent gameplay, and the same atmosphere in faction chat.

Keep in mind that this is a Korean MMO and the "grind model" is what their hardcore player-base likes.  Not all of the Korean players like it, but enough of them do, to keep the Korean developers wanting to use the grind design as a common base to build around.

We may also get older builds, up to a year or so behind, where things are broken and fixed in the other regions, but we'll have to suffer through the bugs until we're given those patches.  (its one of the problems with Archeage, as well as it was with Aion, early on)

 

edit: Current top games in Korea, just to give folks an idea of what they find popular and maybe what to expect from Black Desert

- League of Legends - Sudden Attack 5 Lineage 1 Dungeon & Fighter 1 Blade & Soul 1 Maple Story 1 Between Surfers online 1 Aion - Warcraft 3 - Icarus

 

Of note, a very noticeable title that is missing from current listings, is Archeage.  Back in 2013, Archeage was actually beating out Lineage (aka Lineage II) for the #2 spot, right behind LoL.  However, Archeage took a departure from the traditional grind design, by making the grind purchasable with real life money, via a cash store and it looks like its fallen out of favor with the general Korean player base.

Hit the nail on the head 100%.   These import don't work for the GSCH family.

Actually i belive thats lineage 1. In ncsofts financials they list both lineage and lineage 2 separately  and lineage 2 is about 7 times more profitable than lineage 2. Its their most profitable game. Its the game that made them richer than activision. Lineage 1 is way more successful than lineage 2.

Regarding grind. Think back to your most memorable  experiences in mmorpgs. Daoc.... that has a massive grind. Everquest.... grind.... ultima online... grind.... wow..... grind. All of the games we loved in the day had this. In todays gimme  everything easy games weve lost the memorable journey. All those grinds were social engagements. I remember  meeting so many people grinding my way to 50 in daoc. Made so many friends that i still have today. Nona for example. Her and i grinded the crap out of shrouded isles and became good friends because of it. Grind isnt always bad. Making everything soloable imo is the worst possible thing developers can do.

edit:  Hm, "Lineage 1" was shut down in 2011 for North America.  I was however able to find PlayNC's website for Lineage, it looks active, so I guess that it's still open in Korea.  I don't know, I can't read Korean.

• Lineage: http://lineage.plaync.com/
• Lineage 2: http://lineage2.plaync.com/

It's interesting that PlayNC's most profitable and popular game, failed to be profitable and popular within the Western market.

Yeah their fiscal report shows Lineage 1 as being their bread winner.

http://www.mmogames.com/gamenews/ncsoft-quarterly-financials-show-massive-growth-lineage-1

and here's their fiscal chart:

I never played EQ, UO, or WoW.  (Yes, I wouldn't even recognize a screenshot from WoW.)  

My online games so far have been GW1, Aion,  Eve Online, Tera, GW2, Elderscrolls, and Archeage.  Some of these have been at opposite ends of the grind spectrum.

Group grind can be a bonding experience with the right people.  In my experience Aion, Tera, and Archeage (all aftermarket imports), though, it leads to more exclusion than inclusion.  If one friend in a group falls behind in progression, or starts the game later, they never achieve a gearscore to contribute to the rest of the group.  Instead, they need to go find new friends to play with or play long hours alone.   PvP in particular suffers the most exclusion.

I feel that the GW2 Manifesto was correct about the "boring grind to get to the fun stuff".  Now I generally examine new games with two categories in mind: 1.) Fun all the time, or 2.) Boring grind to get to the fun stuff.

Some new interesting  info for guys. The translation is being handled in korea by a team they put together to do translation to the game while its being developed. They are putting the game into 6 languages (currently) simultaneously. The english version is already done. They do not want to be another asian game going west where players have to wait months to get content. Their ceo actually said that in an interview last week. 

They have setup shop in Amsterdam to handle westernization. More importantly  is their building 2 games at the same time. The asseta are shared but the engine differs based on east and west. They are building western black desert in a western style while eastern black desert is fpcused on eastern style. The ceo mention that the 2 versions ar ebeing built simultaneously  and his goal is to deploy updates on each at the same time globally.

His primary focus was to be the first game that captures a global market. So it will be interesting to see what black desert west looks and feels like. Definitely  something to watch. Might give way to a new philosophy  on game development that can bring us a lot of content from the east in a style we can enjoy.