Blade & Soul

Blade and Soul is a Korean MMORPG that was actually released a few years back in the East. It got many people excited and thankfully now we all can get in on Blade and Soul and see what all the hype s about.

The Story Is Fun

Some folks may not get into the story of Blade and Soul, but it is pretty fun and something like you would have seen on a Saturday morning cartoon back in the ’80s. The basics of the story are that once you have created your character you are out for revenge! The evil and the mysterious Jinsoyun killed your master and your friends and you want revenge and answers. The story unfolds quite slowly, but it is well enough written and interesting enough to keep you hooked.

Teenage Fantasy Character Creation

Talking about the character creation tools in Blade and Soul is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, you have a lot of options at your disposal and it is very easy to create any kind of male or female character you would like. On the other hand, some folks may not like the scantily clad, bouncing boobs of the female characters that they have gone for. To be honest, it is all personal preference, but one thing I will say is that you can make some pretty badass looking warriors in this game.

PvE For All

You may think you will jump in, do the tutorial and then just head into the PvP aspect of Blade and Soul. Well in order to get fully leveled up as quickly as possible and to also unlock cool items and abilities you have to put your time in the PvE portion of the game. To be fair the story is interesting enough that you will actually want to do this and it is fun. There are many quests most of which are your standard MMORPG style of go there, collect that, bring that to me, kill that, save that and so on.

Awesome Combat

One of the best things about Blade and Soul and one of the reasons so many people have been excited about it is the combat. Blade and Soul handles combat differently from other MMORPG games like Terra Online or Black Desert. You jump into the arena lobby and you will get to go toe to toe with another player. What is cool about this is that you guys are equals in the arena. Your gear is all equalized, but you will want to make sure you have played a lot of PvE as your level will be what it is and you will only have access to all your abilities if you have already unlocked them in the PvE. Combat is an absolute blast there are not many MMORPG games that give you this kind of control when it comes to combat. The combat is very fast and fluid and you feel like a true warrior when you pull off devastating attacks. The combat in the PvE is good, but it is not as much fun as these arena battles are. The one thing I will say is that the matchmaking could be a little better as I was often paired with people sometimes as much as 20 levels above me.

Blade and Soul is a game that is the kind of game you will either really love or not get into. The actual RPG and crafting aspect of the game is not reinventing the wheel, but it does what it does well. The art style is great, the classes are fun and the combat is truly fantastic. As good as the combat is, you have to remember that you will need to get far in the PvE mode so that you actually stand a chance. Blade and Soul is free to play and it is well worth giving a try.

7.5/10

Pros:

• Graphics are very nice
• Incredibly arena-based combat mode
• The story is actually quite interesting
• Easy to get into
• Microtransactions are only for cosmetics

Cons:

• You have to get far in PvE to make arena mode worthwhile
• Some may not like the over sexualized female characters