Black Desert Online Review (PlayStation 4)
Black Desert Online is a sandbox, living-world MMORPG. Experience fast-paced, action-packed combat, hunt monsters, and huge bosses, fight with friends in a guild to siege nodes and conquer castles, train your life skills such as fishing, trading, crafting, cooking, and much more!
Pros:
- Gorgeous graphics.
- 50.40GB download size.
- Platinum trophy.
- 20 character classes-Witch, Archer, Wizard, Dark Knight, Ninja, Kunoichi, Valkyrie, Mystic, Maehwa, Musa, Striker, Shai, Tamer, Berserker, Lahn, Sorceress, Ranger, Hashashin, Warrior, and Guardian.
- Character creator-choose class, appearance (hair/face/body/voice), horoscope, action, and beauty album.
- Trial characters are separate and start at level 60 and also cannot earn Silver.
- Servers-PvE and PvP.
- In-game cutscenes.
- MMO RPG gameplay.
- Set character name and a family name that will show on all created characters.
- Opening tutorials with a handful of beginner quests complete with markers and a mission trail to follow.
- Freeform combat that can be described as Devil May Cry like in its velocity and pace.
- Beautiful landscapes and locations to discover.
- Daily login bonuses.
- Constantly scrolling chat window (optional).
- On-screen list of button commands.
- A minimap with icons and markers.
- Full quest control with optional side quests along with the main quests, special events and you can even click navigate on a quest and your character will autorun to the location.
- Supports the DS4 touchpad for chat purposes.
- In-game cutscenes with the option to skip.
- Big boss encounters.
- Fast respawn times of events, interactions, and enemies to kill.
- Black Spirit-can call on him at any time and from him, you can infuse, chat, get quests and rewards.
- Handy previously used tab so you can jump back into the menus last used.
- The menu can be customized in terms of the organization and whether it’s on the left or right.
- Can ping the map for the guild and party members.
- Guild-like a clan and you can get exclusive rewards, quests, and items.
- Play how you want.
- Map uncovers as you play and take quests.
- Gather materials from the land.
- Horse to ride around on, build, and customize boats.
- Pet-assign and rename pets.
- Inventory-handy up arrow displays on items/gear that is better than you have.
Cons:
- Loading times are long.
- Blue screen crashes.
- Loading times on every option change on the menu.
- Character models can take a while to load.
- Lag and rubber banding in built-up areas.
- Easy to miss mission markers.
- Very busy screen with lots of people, markers, explosions, etc.
- Such dense menus.
- So much to constantly take in.
- Tutorials do not cover how upgrading, leveling and crafting works. You can find info eventually but it’s not explicitly explained.
- Everything is just not straight forward or even streamlined in a way that is helpful.
- Requires a lot of commitment.
- The camera can go crazy.
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8/10
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8/10
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7/10
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9/10
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8/10
Summary
It has to be said, it’s been a while since I’ve had time to sit down with an MMO and I was pretty hesitant due to the time needed but I did like the look of Black Desert and always had it on my “one-day il play it” list. The game opened up as a tutorial area which I appreciated and explained the basics of combat and let me create a badass looking character, I soon learned the rhythm of quest giving and receiving, and off I went into the main game. This is when I realized I may be a while, for in Black Desert every action or menu choice is a Labyrinth of click here go here do this go there sacrifice this to him for her to give this. What I’m saying is I was just bombarded with menus and options, the main Hud of the game is an orgasm of numbers and shapes as it gives me a real-time chat window that takes up space and will not just fuck off. Quests sounded grand and fancy but in truth would go here kill this come back or go to him and return, I just couldn’t break my initial fears of all the menus and how I felt like I never knew what was going on, I would fumble through interactions as the menu would handily flash to help me but otherwise I pressed and prayed. Combat was cool however, I played like someone that came across as a witch with Devil May Cry fighting, I could kill things quickly and easily but again hindered by all the item/gear management needed. There is no denying it Black Desert has a lot of content and the variety of quests does improve but it’s a long arduous path. You really need the want to be able to get the joy from the game, you can learn the bare minimum and button mash through but even that will have an expiry date. All I can say is I came away from Black Desert impressed with the world the graphics and the scope but got put off by the cavernous menus, little guidance, and general interface issues.