Black Desert Online has me locked in its grip

I had the hardest time getting into Black Desert Online. Learning to enjoy it feels like systematically dismantling every instinct MMORPGs have taught me. Black Desert, a sandbox MMO that launched in Korea last year, is the Invasion of the Body Snatchers of online RPGs; underneath its familiar skin is a refreshingly subversive experience. But the result is a game that can be confusing, frustrating, and captivating - often at the same time. Even as I continue to sometimes struggle against it, Black Desert Online has me locked in its grip.

I find this immensely interesting as it’s helped Black Desert Online’s Western launch to bypass some of the stresses of a typical MMO launch. Things like balance issues and exploits aren’t being found and hastily patched because the game has already gone through that iterative development in other territories. Users have given their response to key systems and mechanics and they’ve been tweaked in kind, likewise - and while of course the developer and publisher team are listening to feedback around the Western release all the same, the end result of the game being so thoroughly tested in other territories is that Black Desert Online feels like one of the most stable and complete launch MMOs I’ve played.

Unlike many MMO’s whose towns are filled with static NPC’s, Black Desert’s cities seem to team with life. NPC’s go to and fro, performing daily chores and errands while the player goes about their business. NPC’s even return home at night, making some available to interact with only during certain hours of the day. Players may purchase instanced houses of varying sizes within a city and then proceed to decorate them with a wide variety of goods.

Though basic movement feels a bit sloppy and unresponsive overall (though folks have politely suggested I’m just doing it wrong or it very well could be a lag issue), combat is quite lovely, at least on the Valkyrie I created for the video. My main character, a Ranger, is a bit more methodical in her attacking, having to maintain a certain distance between her and her targets. Letting loose up close and personal as a melee class is a bit intoxicating, as evidenced by my wholesale wolf slaughter around the 15:20 mark.

The only solution Daum Games can offer at this point isn’t much of one. Players will have to delete and remake their characters on the correct server. There’s a claimed pre-order item wipe happening tomorrow, with tickets reissued to the players affected. That should also fix issues with duplicate pre-order items and those that failed to be delivered to their intended recipient for technical reasons.

My first step will probably be logging out, deleting my character and then remaking him several times, trying to get him to look right. He’s not quite there yet. My main problem is I’d really love to play a Wizard (in Black Desert that’s a Witch, only with a penis instead of a vagina), but I hate the basic character appearance template. So far no tweaks I’ve been able to perform have given him the keen edge I’m looking for. I’ll probably wind up just re rolling as something else.

Finally, I’ve asked about the chance for a console version of Black Desert Online. Nothing is planned for the moment but they have thought about it, and they might add controller support to the PC version at some point. As for the official forum, which the community has been asking for, it will be available once the full website is live; news about that should arrive soon.