About BSR |
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| Release Date May 14, 2020 |
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Developer NCSoft |
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Publisher NetMarble |
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Country of Origin South Korea |
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Blade & Soul Revolution’s global launch is on May 14, 2020. Developed and published by mobile titan NetMarble, the game is available in Google Play and Apple Store, for Android & iOS devices respectively. If you’re like me, you can play it on your PC using the Bluestacks application!
The game originally launched in Korea in December 6, 2018, so we should expect a quite polished first-time experience. Spoiler alert – this is not the case. ? But stick with me and let’s see what this game does good, and what it does bad!
Appearance Customization Screen, Blade & Soul Revolution
I’m still waiting to discover the “next big thing” in a mobile MMO character creator, and I didn’t find it here too. There are 15+ hairstyles and 15+ face presets to choose from, and even though they look quite good, there are no customization options for them, apart from the hair & skill color.
Body types offer a bit more flexibility – as we should expect from BnS – so there are quite a few sliders there to tweak each part of the body, and its… thickness. ?
Login Queue Notice, Blade & Soul Revolution
What’s a good launch without queue times? Well, it’s not a good launch. ? I’m glad I was faced with a “400 players in the queue” message, and it wasn’t one of these cases where the countdown is faster than you can count. It took me almost 15 minutes to clear the queue and finally login to BSR.
Why’s that good? Well, the more people that want to try a new game, the more hope there is that they’ll stick with it – if it’s good. On this front, I think NetMarble could work on polishing a few features first, and delay the global launch of the game for at least a month.
Story Cinematic, Blade & Soul Revolution
BSR follows the same storyline with the PC Blade & Soul game, which is arguably a quite good story, especially for an MMORPG! It’s long, features a ton of interesting characters, and even more plot twists!
What’s really cool, is that all the cinematics and voiceovers are completely remade. So even though it’s the same story, you will get a new experience with it, which is a big plus for PC players like me, that are hyped with BSR’s global release!
Chi Restoration, Blade & Soul Revolution
It’s nice when a mobile MMO is translated from a PC MMO, and the devs take care to transfer features & mechanics that make the original MMO unique.
Fortunately, we get plenty of those in Blade & Soul Revolution! Gliding, Chi Restoration, Windstriding, Faction Selection, as well as combat mechanics like side-stepping and backstepping, bring an original BnS flavour to BSR, which I’m sure is definitely appreciated and endorsed by BnS addicts!
Race / Class Selection Screen, Blade & Soul Revolution
Even though I’ve tried the Korean version of BnSR a few months back, I expected a bit more from the available race / class choices, and especially classes. There’s only 4 out of the 11 we have on PC, which is underwhelming to say the least. ?
With the race selection, I’m content. There’s Jin, Yun, Lyn & Gon, so all the main “body types” are supplied. What’s bad though, is that Yun & Gon are gender-locked
User Interface Overview, Blade & Soul Revolution
No one likes “copycat” games. Sure we may install, and even play them for a long time, but at the end of the day we crave for something new, unique, unheard of! This great mechanic or gameplay feature that will turn a game from a tryout to your main game!
NetMarble just did that with The 7 Deadly Sins (a gacha JRPG that innovates at multiple fronts, while being as polished as possible), but sadly doesn’t offer the same with BSR. I hold some restraint here until I reach the “deep” endgame, but a few hours in the game, and I’m not sure if I’m playing BSR or [insert generic mobile MMO here].
Combat Overview, Blade & Soul Revolution
The combat mechanics don’t seem to offer something extraordinary, just what you would expect from the average mobile MMO. There’s a few cool things like Blocking & Counterattacking, as well as Sidesteps & Backsteps. I’m curious to see how these will work in endgame PvP, but I’m even more curious what’s the future for combat in mobile MMOs.
Auto-combat looks satisfying, but fighting yourself doesn’t feel that challenging or creative. Am I asking for a lot here?
Namsoyoo, Blade & Soul Revolution
It’s true… And it’s the proof that the graphics of Blade & Soul Revolution, could be much better! We are talking about a NetMarble game here! Lineage 2: Revolution is a few years older, but looks 3 times more polished than BSR.
I do hope that this is due to optimization issues, and they will work on providing higher textures in the near future. The visual standards for mobile games have gone up extremely, so we hope they’ll get to meet that stasndard.
Shop Overview, Blade & Soul Revolution
There’s no such thing as a mobile game without 100$ packages. But if everyone is doing it, why someone wouldn’t? It’s counter-productive for the game’s earnings, so I won’t judge.
The good thing is that there’s no flood of offers in BSR! I was ready to actually publish this article, when I remembered “wait, why there is no P2W section? Why wasn’t I shoved with 15 “exclusive” offers so far?”.
So good job NetMarble! The cash shop is there, but at least you don’t have to remind me about each and every offer on it every 2 minutes. I call this a quality of life feature. ?
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Babalon, Mother of Abominations
16-hours / day in front of the screen entrepreneur, of which 6+ are spent on gaming. MMOs, CCGs, RPGs and many more, Steam-addict & achievement-w***e. Currently wasting life on BDO & Gacha Games.
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