{"id":8209,"date":"2016-03-22T23:48:06","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T06:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/black-desert-online-review-awesome-combat-paired-a-thin-storyline\/"},"modified":"2024-01-24T16:46:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T00:46:36","slug":"black-desert-online-review-awesome-combat-paired-a-thin-storyline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/black-desert-online-review-awesome-combat-paired-a-thin-storyline\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Desert Online Review \u2013 Awesome Combat Paired with a Thin Storyline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Black Desert Online
\nPearl Abyss<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the zombie game craze is starting to die down a bit, MMORPGs seem to be slowly fading away as well. We\u2019ve seen some really standout Action RPGs such as Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen<\/em> and the excellent indie hit Grim Dawn,<\/em> as well as pure fantasy RPGs like the equally impressive Pillars of Eternity<\/em> and Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition<\/em>, but nothing since 2004\u2019s World of Warcraft has moved people\u2019s needles and kept them moving the way that that game did. I mean, to have an official clinical diagnosis based around spending too much time on a game is a pretty big indicator as to how addictive WOW was (and still is for some gamers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I\u2019m a little leery of MMORPGs myself\u2014not because I don\u2019t like the genre or anything, it\u2019s just that they require such a large time investment in order to develop your chosen avatar into anything interesting. Korean game developer Pearl Abyss sought to reinvigorate the flagging MMORPG market when it released Black Desert Online<\/em> to for the perky Korean gaming market back in 2014, using a free-to-play model. Curiously, when it finally released the same game to European and American gamers in March 2016, is was of the buy-to-play variety. So how did Black Desert Online<\/em> do in terms of boosting up the MMORPG genre\u2014did it do what it was set out to do and revolutionize it? Well, yes and no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First off, I must say right off the bat that Black Desert Online<\/em> has some of the best (if not the best) visuals I\u2019ve seen in an MMORPG, especially on higher end gaming PCs and gaming laptops. You can really tell that you\u2019re playing the latest generation of gaming technology from a sheer graphical standpoint. When I initially booted it up I was immediately struck at how highly detailed the character and equipment models were. The character\u2019s eyes blink realistically and their movement looks very natural. But when I panned through the character class selections I quickly realized that five out of the eight of them were female and gender-locked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hey, I\u2019m all for being able to select my character\u2019s gender in a game, especially anything fantasy RPG-based since they usually feature deep character creation systems with lots of variety and customization (out of all of the gaming genres), but forcing gamers to play as one gender or the other is sort of silly in this day and age. As I checked out each of the female models more closely I noticed that their bosoms had a lot of uh\u2026how should I saw this while trying to be tactful?…let\u2019s just say a lot of bounce. From there I guessed (but I may be wrong) that part of Black Desert Online\u2019s<\/em> marketing could have been based around having Dead or Alive<\/em>-style female anatomy characteristics, which perhaps male gamers might get all happy over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I actually began the game proper I also noticed that the UI was pretty convoluted and confusing. Trying to figure out how to accept my first quest (or was it a side quest?) was really daunting and I had to more or less stumble through the whole ordeal. Figuring out how to get from my starting location to where the quest took place was also a little awkward and took some time to figure out. I eventually learned to be more comfortable with the controls and UI, but making it a little less clunky and clustered might have been a wiser choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that I did appreciate was how stunning Black Desert Online\u2019s<\/em> world looked while playing it. I did notice a little bit of popup here and there (which is expected considering its vast size) but overall the environments and character models looked incredibly detailed and varied. The movement of steeds (such as horses or other creatures) in most MMORPGs can be difficult to pull off, but Pearl Abyss somehow makes them look realistic\u2014as much as such things as a griffin can be made to look real that is. Black Desert Online\u2019s<\/em> graphical aesthetic is a little cartoony for me, and almost anime-like, but that\u2019s a personal preference and shouldn\u2019t detract from its overall score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where Black Desert Online<\/em> really shines is its highly intuitive combat system, which is truly revolutionary and must be seen to be believed. You can activate your character\u2019s skills through easy to learn combos and there are equally hassle-free controls for blocking, dodging, and attacking. The developers also included an option for being able to play with either a keyboard and mouse or a gaming pad. I personally prefer the keyboard and mouse but it\u2019s still nice that they included that option for gamers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stringing together the right combo at just the right opportunity can be a real blast and the payoff for careful timing\u2014as opposed to button mashing\u2014can really give you a sense of accomplishment. These sequenced attacks also look fantastic and the effects are also well rendered. Again, both creature and character movement alike looks very fluid and realistic, and some of the spell effects are impressive to say the least. Black Desert Online<\/em> also has a deep social layer as well as a complex and fun crafting system as well, so gamers who think that this game is a one-trick pony will have to guess again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The PvE conflicts are indeed a whole lot of fun to play, but Black Desert Online<\/em> also includes a PvP component where entire guilds can square off against one another. Having large scale PvP wars where you can potentially have over eighty or ninety characters (on each side!) duking it out can be quite a marvel to behold and super-fun to play out, although it can get a little confusing to differentiate between friends and foes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re probably wondering why I haven\u2019t really mentioned anything related to a story since I usually do by this point in my reviews. That\u2019s because Black Desert Online<\/em> doesn\u2019t really have much of one and that\u2019s probably its single largest (and glaring) flaw. The same goofy little cutesy spirit that guided me in the beginning of the game stayed around for the entirety (much to my chagrin) of my play-through. It vaguely guided me from point to point and alluded to game hints but that was about as deep of a narrative experience that you\u2019re going to find here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In all, Black Desert Online<\/em> is a decent MMORPG with an extremely well-made combat system and some of the most eye-popping visuals I\u2019ve ever witnessed out of any game genre. However, its success will largely depend on if gamers can forgive its lack of an decipherable storyline (or any<\/em> story for that matter) and be content enough with its amazing combat system with its vast array of combos and beautiful effects. Only time will tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCORE: 75%<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Desert Online <\/em>sports some truly staggering graphics but you\u2019ll need an equally impressive gaming PC or gaming laptop in order to handle them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CyberPowerPC Gaming Laptop<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Visit CyberpowerPC\u2019s website<\/a> to check out all of the other great deals as well!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black Desert Online Pearl Abyss Just as the zombie game craze is starting to die down a bit, MMORPGs seem to be slowly fading away as well. We\u2019ve seen some really standout Action RPGs such as Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen and the excellent indie hit Grim Dawn, as well as pure fantasy RPGs like the… Read More »Black Desert Online Review \u2013 Awesome Combat Paired with a Thin Storyline<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":5539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2732,2741,2742],"tags":[2520,3074,741,2488,2527,67,2486,3075,1791,3076,2602,2545],"class_list":["post-8209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games","category-gaming-reviews-news","category-product-reviews","tag-4k-gaming","tag-black-desert-online","tag-cyberpower-pc","tag-game-review","tag-game-reviews-2","tag-gaming-pc","tag-ian-kane","tag-mmorpg-games","tag-pc-games","tag-pearl-abyss","tag-survival-games","tag-third-person-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15617,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8209\/revisions\/15617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberpowergaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}