NCSOFT West’s bid to bring the winning Korean formula to North American players is an exciting one, as Blade & Soul features some of the best combat I’ve ever experienced in a MMORPG. While Eastern –MMORPGs have long dealt with a reputation of being grindy, pay-to-win endeavors over on Western shores, Blade & Soul’s over-the-top martial arts fantasy dispels that notion by serving up exciting gameplay that doesn’t get dull, monster after monster, dungeon after dungeon. Despite plenty of generic quests and unexciting monsters to beat on, the combat systems propel Blade & Soul to greatness.
While the story and tutorial don’t do much to bring the player in (a tired, cliché “vengeance for my fallen master tale”), players get a real sense of what the game is about quickly as they unlock abilities for their class, each of which has their own special flavor and mechanics. Whatever class you choose, skill, timing, and attention count for a lot. My character, a Destroyer, is a tanky frontliner who wields a massive axe – not a wholly novel concept. The originality shines in execution of combat maneuvers; with a customizable set of powerful grabs, launchers, knockdowns, and stuns, my character can walk up to enemies, pummel them to the ground, and pick them up and smash them repeatedly before flinging them through the air to knock into other foes or delivering massive blows that will put the enemy down for good. It’s like Street Fighter’s Zangief and Soulcalibur’s Astaroth had an MMORPG love child.
Each character has a difficulty rating corresponding to how active and responsive you have to be in combat, chaining combos and linking moves, and this system shines in single-player and player-vs-player encounters. It’s even more fun when you group up via the cross-server dungeon finder and start integrating your abilities into other characters’ combos and knockdowns. You can let the group hammer on a defenseless monster you’re lifting, or you can follow up on another character’s launcher with your own devastating attack.
This combat system is the absolute gem of Blade & Soul and the reason to play it. Other systems, like crafting, seem barebones and boring compared alongside other modern MMORPG offerings – you simply click a crafting or gathering button and wait hours and hours for your items to collect or complete, sometimes waiting up to 20 hours for a completion. That said combat kept me loving every encounter, from the lowliest bandit and the most dangerous opponents – other players.
Blade & Soul’s leveling process is short compared to some other MMORPGs. Even if you’re a solo enthusiast, you’ll probably team up casually during “field boss” encounters to get yourself a cool outfit or a pile of powerful soul shards (an analog to armor sets from other games). By placing armor into the soul shard slots instead of clothing, players are free to show off their style in their wardrobe selection instead, as decorative wear has no need to bestow stats. You may be sporting the same weapon through the whole process, but you feed it other equipment to increase its power and change its appearance.
As players look to the endgame, they’ll find the same things they’ve come to expect from other MMORPGs such as high-end dungeons and raids and daily quests, with the addition of serious, competitive PVP for unique rewards for those interested in that element of the game.
Blade & Soul is worth a try based on the combat alone (it’s also free-to-play, by the way). If you’re one of those folks who is looking for a MMORPG but the combat always feels stale, get ready to be wowed by active counters, parrying, and stimulating battles that feel extremely satisfying.