Black Desert or Blade and Soul

[Lost River]

I was given money early for Christmas; I can afford Blade and Soul or Black Desert, which one and why should I go for them?

[Jana]

They're both free to play games; just look for websites giving away beta codes to play both before deciding which one you want to spend money on.

[Leggerless]

 

Off-topic, but did a bunch of font on the website change?

 

 

If I had to compare combat? Black Desert is like Vindictus while BnS is like TERA. I haven't played BDO, but I know BnS doesn't have a dedicated healer/tank class; everyone is dps. Classes can slot in aggro generation in their skilltrees at least though and KFM (Kung-Fu Master) and BM (Blade Master) are the "tanks" in the current meta. Each class has some level of support, but some are better support roles than others.

 

BnS also has ranked arenas, 1v1 and 3v3, and is even part of the eSports scene in Korea. Right now, I can name you the Imperial Network as a PvP community tournament--one I'm personally looking into from an event organizer standpoint--for the NA/EU audience.

 

I'd say go to BnS if you don't mind some linear leveling and want to PvP. If you'd rather have a sandbox and visually pleasant experience, then take a look at BDO. You're looking at a theme park (BnS) and a sandbox (BDO).

 

No idea, but I think BnS even has an RP community in the works? Seems all over the place imo.

[TheLastCandle]

They both offer the Korean MMO specialty of Slog and Grind, so pick your poison. Blade and Soul seems to offer more customization (as in less classes inextricably tied to a certain race/gender) while Black Desert is more impressive on a technical level.

[Lost River]

Well, Black Desert is no longer FTP, it is a BTP game like Guild Wars 2.

 

 

And the grind is fine with me; which one will have the most RP community though, that is the question.

 

 

Unless, Black Desert has auto all the time PvP, then BnS for me entirely.

[TheLastCandle]

I haven't heard whether or not it's going to be the same in NA or EU, but in Black Desert's KR servers, open world PvP opens once you reach a certain level (50?) and you cannot opt out of it.

[Lost River]

I dislike forced PvP. it annoys me.

[Leggerless]

I dislike forced PvP. it annoys me.

 

PvP in BnS is, quite literally, putting on a faction outfit in the open world and also the Arena. It's an opt-in choice.

[Lost River]

I went ahead with the starter pack of Blade and Soul; if I like what I see, I'll get the bigger packs.

[Lost River]

Update: So far, so fun; only negative to it? It uses nProtect GameGuard, positive? It is a newer non-crash your PC version or eat up your resources version.

[Tyndles]

Not to hijack the topic a bit, but can you use a controller in either game?  I prefer action combat with a controller.

[Lost River]

You can use a controller in Blade and Soul. not sure about Black Desert

[Arrelaine]

So far I like BDO, but I've never played B&S either so.

[Lost River]

Does Black Desert Online have nProtect or anything like that?

[Arrelaine]

It's not on any lists, from a quick google search, and I haven't noticed anything like that.

[Lost River]

I'll have to wait a bit; as it is only in CBT1, I don't want to drop 100 dollars on a 'maybe'. haha.

 

I'm glad both games have upgrade features.

[Arrelaine]

You can preorder until the day before. The game is already finished in Korea, it's just going through testing in NA and I don't know if the Russian version is getting anymore testing.

[Verilys]

To give my take on things...

 

B&S is a more traditional, focused, and silly MMO packed with a linear level progression, instances and raids, and pvp with a 'TERA'-esque combat system. BDO is a more open ended, 'realistic' (yet fantasized) MMO that puts focus on trading, crafting, housing and open world events and PVP and has a more 'fighting game'-esque combat system.

 

Black Desert Online would be my preferred game.

[Lost River]

I just don't like PvP forced into my RP; that is my main concern.

[Verilys]

*nod nod* As someone else said elsewhere, BDO does have open world PvP past a certain level (in this case, it's level 40, though there's a quest to allow level 35's to also participate).

 

It depends on your personal preferences and tolerances. If you tend to like RPing in city areas and housing, you'll be fine in BDO without worrying for random PvP, since they're safe zones. If you particularly like housing, Black Desert is the only one of the two with housing in it (and it's a really cool system too). In my experience on PvP servers, I've rarely had much issue with RPing, especially in out-of-the-way locales -- so for me, the rare annoying occurrence isn't enough to cause an issue, especially when I enjoy the gameplay, the graphics and the atmosphere.

[-no longer matters-]

To give my take on things...

 

B&S is a more traditional, focused, and silly MMO packed with a linear level progression, instances and raids, and pvp with a 'TERA'-esque combat system. BDO is a more open ended, 'realistic' (yet fantasized) MMO that puts focus on trading, crafting, housing and open world events and PVP and has a more 'fighting game'-esque combat system.

 

Black Desert Online would be my preferred game.

Going to have to disagree on BDO having fighting Game-esque combat while it does have action-esque combat, BnS is closer to a fighting game (With more emphasis on countering, blocking, grappling, and combos.) and not Tera.

 

That said the major differences between these games is your personal focus, and art style prefrence. Personally I prefer the more anime-esque visuals to BnS over the more realistic BDO.

 

But to break it down.

BnS is if -

You want intuitive combat where player skill actually matters, not how well you remembered your rotation. 

World Tournament Level PvP (Yes they have a world tournament and we're being groomed for it as well.)

Well put together trinity-less dungeons, with raids on the way (per Team Bloodlust.)

A martial arts asian fantasy

Fairly balanced classes (the level 50 patch in Korea is some of the best class balancing I've seen in an MMO.)

 

BDO is if-

You want Open world sandbox

Housing

World PvP

Crafting

More traditional European Fantasy

 

both are pretty lackluster in lore. (BnS is slightly better, but only if you know the actual Korean story not the localized one.)

 

Both are lacking proper endgame, in the traditional sense (for now.)

 

Both have restrictions on classes (where BnS is race, BDO is gender locked on some.)

 

These games cater to two very different crowds of people (sure there is some overlap I'm sure.) Whether any of us feel one is better than the other, really lies in your own gaming preferences and what you want to do with your gaming time.

 

Me I'm a PvPer, and I enjoy fighting game level tournaments more so then world PvP zerg fests (BnS has World PvP too, but it's not the focus of their PvP). So BnS is more my thing.

Some of you care more about housing and crafting so BDO would be more your thing. 

 

There's no wrong answer, it's just what you'd rather do for your leisure time.

[Verilys]

Going to have to disagree on BDO having fighting Game-esque combat while it does have action-esque combat, BnS is closer to a fighting game (With more emphasis on countering, blocking, grappling, and combos.) and not Tera.

 

That's a good way to look at it, though I found things like grappling to be more akin to a really nifty and interactive kind of MMO-style CC more than any form of fighting game. Playing my Kung Fu Master kinda came down to a kind of conditional rotation for me. I find B&S to be a good (and fun!) blend of traditional MMO and action combat -- you basically hit a button and you get what you want. You might hit the button too fast or too slow... but you're still hitting a button and getting the desired effect. Certain conditions may affect when you can hit the button, but that's just a staple of many MMO combat styles.

 

BDO, you need to know which combination of buttons is the combo and be able to pull off the button press correctly. It's that inclusion of execution error that really makes it more fighting-game-esque.

[Lost River]

From what I've seen, Blade and Soul is more fighting game, Black Desert Online is more Dark Souls Action game.

 

I like both styles, just, I do not like traditional fantasy or gender locked classes. Which I know BDO rectifies. .  way down the road.

[Verilys]

From what I've seen, Blade and Soul is more fighting game, Black Desert Online is more Dark Souls Action game.

 

I like both styles, just, I do not like traditional fantasy or gender locked classes. Which I know BDO rectifies. .  way down the road.

 

What it looks like and how it plays are kinda two different things. Probably the main thing (myself included at first) that people miss out on when watching BDO is that there are a lot of different key-press combinations going on. Dark Souls, on the other hand, is just about the weapon-static move sets linked to two (or three) attack buttons.

 

I can see the allure of comparing B&S to a fighting game, but the inclusion of MMO-style abilities called 'block' and 'counter' and 'grapple' don't make it what a fighting game is -- the way you execute those abilities and how it plays are the key points.