Developed for the PS3 (through an exclusive deal with Sony) and the PC, Blade & Soul will feature fast action paced combat with plenty of over the top gorgeous moves and combos. Here’s a quick look at the races, classes, gameplay, PvP and what NCsoft are doing different.
Looking at a Q4 2011 release, Blade & Soul had their first closed beta at the end of April this year where players got to play through the first 20 levels. As usual with Asian MMOs it features beautiful graphics, plenty of wonderful over-the top combos and attacks, and (unconfirmed for B&S) a levelling curve that might make you cry. The difference in this game however, is its control scheme which allows for active counterattacks, blocking, dodging and a variety of combos depending on your circumstance and the skills you use. Really putting the player, rather than the character, in the front seat when it comes to PvP combat …at least that’s what we are promised.
The game has got quite a gimmicky feel, similar to AoC, and all the extensive moves makes it feel like an RPG fighter, akin to Soul Calibur – which does make it perfect for the console. It looks very fun to watch, and hopefully it will be fun to play too. Blade & Soul will initially be released in Korea, and there is no date available for a western release. Even so the game looks very promising so we thought we’d share it with you anyway (You could always just learn Korean!). The second beta event is scheduled for August.
Check out the 2010 trailer here, which features gameplay footage of the different classes
Classes and Races
The game will include four races and eight classes, but only five of the classes have been released so far.
Races
- The Gon
- The Gon are massive beings; their size is a symbol of strength and power in the world of Blade and Soul. They are built with sculpted muscle and subtle elegance. Their extraordinary height allows them to tower over the other races, striking fear and intimidation into any who may oppose them. The Gon represent the spirit of earth; strong, proud, and steadfast.
- The Jin
- The Jin are the closest to what we perceive as “normal”. But don’t let their appearance fool you. The Jin’s spirit is far superior to that of the other races, and thus they are far from “normal.” The Jin have the capability to master anything they put their minds to and will stop at nothing to complete a task. Their determination is clearly without equal. This gives them great advantages when training in the combat arts of Kung-Fu and Blade Mastery.
- The Kun
- The Kun are what elegance, beauty, and grace are made of. This race consists of only women and are believed to have embodied the strength of the phoenix. Their beauty is so striking that they are sometimes mistaken for goddesses that have descended from the heavens and thus the name “Kun” meaning “Sky”.
- The Lyn
- This small and adorable race, known as the Lyn, have exceptionally cute features such as big furry ears, tails, and a petite frame. They are a gentle and mischievous race, but they do hold mysteries of their own. They have inherited the ability of a legendary creature, the Kylin. This trait allows Lyn to communicate with the realm of the dead and grants them access to secrets and mysteries hidden from the ordinary folk.
Classes
- Blade Master
- The Blade Master class specializes in sword combat to deliver a variety of attacks. Using their sword, they utilize skills like the “Batto Jutsu” technique to attack or defend against their enemies. Blade Masters are quite good at parrying their enemies’ blows, leaving them vulnerable to effective counter attacks. They don’t always rely on close combat to bring their enemies down; they can use a flying sword technique that will harm their enemies from afar.
- Destroyer
- The Destroyer’s power comes from their immense physical strength. They wield large axes to deliver fatal blows to their enemy targets. They also enjoy taking advantage of their winning situations, grabbing enemy corpses and tossing them at other foes. Destroyers have great defense, which makes dealing with melee attackers and multiple enemies at once much easier. Destroyer bodies were trained to withstand even the harshest attack; they often become the strong root of their allies.
- Force Master
- Force Masters use their inner Chi to deliver a variety of devastating blows to their enemies. Using the Ki-Gong-Pe, a Chi bracelet they wear around their wrist, they can shoot off many different forms of abilites, ranging from fire explosions to chi leeching techniques that deliver unavoidable attacks and grabs. Force Masters are the masters of control, and they can apply movement impairing effects to multiple enemies, allowing them to take on more than one foe at a time.
- Kung-Fu Master
- Kng-Fu Masters utilizes their own fists and feet to defeat their enemies. Most of the Kung-Fu Master’s attacks are delivered in combos for fast and very effective melee ranged blows. With such quick reflexes, Kung-Fu Masters can attack and defend with ease, able to react to even the most dire situation as quickly as possible. They have absolutely no problem taking the advantage over their enemies during battle with such speed. Their defense and offense abilities are very fluid, like water.
- Assassin
- Little is known by the Assassin as it is the last class to have been revealed, but videos seem to say it will get stealth, bombs and various lock-down abilities like daze and stuns – they also seem to have some AoE attacks. The assassin should be available in the next beta so we will know more then.
You might notice that all of these classes are damage based, and Blade & Soul has no specific tank or healing classes. Every class is expected to learn how to attack as well as defend to be able to survive in any type of combat.
Gameplay and PVP
The control scheme for B&S uses no more than 15 buttons (customizable), which includes all movement, skills, and items. You will be given many tactical options like actively blocking, dodging, grappling and counterattacking which will require timing, something made easier by having less keys to press. Many skills also require you to aim it towards your chosen target rather than just sticking a target and auto attacking (which, for the record, doesn’t exist in this game).
The control scheme allows the player to use various combinations of key presses to do certain actions like jumping on eaves, walking on walls, descending (think Aion) and even burrowing underground. Depending on the different circumstances you might find yourself in when evading hits, your action bar will automatically change to accommodate for attacks and combos that will match it.
Overall this makes for a very dynamic combat situation, something made evident in the video below. Hopefully real combat will be slightly faster than what’s shown in this video, although it will be interesting to see how they are going to deal with latency with the type of combat they are working on.
Targeting in the game, outside of aiming skills, is based on the facing of your camera, and the distance of your target – when the conditions are right, the game uses auto targeting to let you know which enemies you will hit. See an example here.
NPCs in Blade & Soul are categorised using the same classes as the players, and will also use the same skills, which means blocking and counterattacking will be a viable option in PvE as well as PvP.
Leveling from 1 to 20 seemed similar to most western MMOs, with most of the experience coming from questing rather than grinding. However, as this is a Korean MMO we won’t trust that there isn’t a hardcore leveling grind in higher levels until we get some proof!
Blade and Soul will feature a slightly different take on the regular PvP – it will be more similar to toggle-based (on/off) PvP than FFA, but not as far as having to use /duel to get your adrenalin flowing.
For more details on PvP check out this intro to PvP by mmosite.com
Gear
NPCs in Blade & Soul are categorised using the same classes as the players, and will also use the same skills, which means blocking and counterattacking will be a viable option in PvE as well as PvP.
Leveling from 1 to 20 seemed similar to most western MMOs, with most of the experience coming from questing rather than grinding. However, as this is a Korean MMO we won’t trust that there isn’t a hardcore leveling grind in higher levels until we get some proof!
Blade and Soul will feature a slightly different take on the regular PvP – it will be more similar to toggle-based (on/off) PvP than FFA, but not as far as having to use /duel to get your adrenalin flowing.
For more details on PvP check out this intro to PvP by mmosite.com
Gear
This needs it’s own heading as the gear in Blade & Soul is done fairly different from most games today. Armour has absolutely no stats, and its only use is appearance. This means you’re able to fully customize the look of your character and never have to worry about min/maxing your gear affecting your appearance. You will find stat bonuses on Weapons (including gem slots) and Accessories (5 slots total), and also in the Bo-Pae system which gives you an additional 8 slots for increasing your stats.
The Bo-Pae system consists of eight interchangeable stat item slots which can be found in a pie like structure located in the center of your character profile. The eight pieces contain basic stats for your character’s health, attack power, defense etc.
Each Bo-Pae piece belongs in a set which the player can collect and use to unlock further stat boosts and even physical appearance changes such as varying degrees of glow effects depending on the rarity of the set. Each set contains roughly three stat bonuses, collect and equip three pieces in a set to unlock the first, collect five to unlock the second and collect all eight to unlock the final bonus. This leaves room to mismatch sets if you feel the eight piece bonus isn’t worth it. For instance, you can collect five pieces of one set and three of another. Check out this post for more details on the Bo-Pae system.
The Bo-Pae system consists of eight interchangeable stat item slots which can be found in a pie like structure located in the center of your character profile. The eight pieces contain basic stats for your character’s health, attack power, defense etc.
Each Bo-Pae piece belongs in a set which the player can collect and use to unlock further stat boosts and even physical appearance changes such as varying degrees of glow effects depending on the rarity of the set. Each set contains roughly three stat bonuses, collect and equip three pieces in a set to unlock the first, collect five to unlock the second and collect all eight to unlock the final bonus. This leaves room to mismatch sets if you feel the eight piece bonus isn’t worth it. For instance, you can collect five pieces of one set and three of another. Check out this post for more details on the Bo-Pae system.
User Interface
See this post on the Blade and Soul Dojo for a breakdown of the User Interface.
System Requirements
Minimum:
OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 (32/64bit) – CPU: Intel Dual Core or AMD Athlon64 X2 or better - RAM: 2GB or more - Graphics: nVidia Geforce 8600GT/AMD Radeon HD4600 or better -
Recommended:
OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 (32/64bit) – CPU: Intel Quad Core or AMD Phenom II X4 or better - RAM: 4GB or more - Graphics: nVidia Geforce 8800GT/AMD Radeon HD4850 or better -
For more information about the game, have a look at the mmosite Blade & Soul community, Blade & Soul Dojo and the Blade & Soul Wiki. Also check Joystiq for some PvP videos. Click here to see the training system as explained by BladeandSoulDojo.com
System Requirements
Minimum:
OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 (32/64bit) – CPU: Intel Dual Core or AMD Athlon64 X2 or better - RAM: 2GB or more - Graphics: nVidia Geforce 8600GT/AMD Radeon HD4600 or better -
Recommended:
OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 (32/64bit) – CPU: Intel Quad Core or AMD Phenom II X4 or better - RAM: 4GB or more - Graphics: nVidia Geforce 8800GT/AMD Radeon HD4850 or better -
For more information about the game, have a look at the mmosite Blade & Soul community, Blade & Soul Dojo and the Blade & Soul Wiki. Also check Joystiq for some PvP videos. Click here to see the training system as explained by BladeandSoulDojo.com
Gameplay video going from level 1 to 4 as a Force Master.