Recent reviews by MCCCXIII

Black Desert is like a black hole. It sucks you in and tortures you in subtle ways while keeping you ensnared in its gravity. But listen - you'll love it. And hate it too.

This game, as its core, is a sandbox. It lets you do whatever the heck you want. However, it's balance leaves A LOT to be desired. From vast differences in profitability in the many, many activities the game has to offer, to the absurd imbalance in class power (both in PvP AND PvE).

I spoke of activities. You can either grind monsters (and the combat in this game is absurdly good), gather, craft, hunt, quest - but the strangely translated text kinda messes that one up - collect knowledge, sail away and kill sea monsters (and other players), barter, decorate a house, train horses and fish. PA likes to implement new things. The problem? Is that most of the time said things only come out in a half assed state. If we are lucky, they pick it up again in a couple of months and finish it. If not, it could be YEARS before they finish/fix it/rebalance it. Meanwhile, said activity will be just...there. Being utterly useless.

PvP suffers not only from balance issues but also from desync and code issues. You see, PA doesn't do balance. It eludes them. It also had the utterly **magnificent** idea of tying damage done to game FPS. Yeah, it's literally pay to win that way. Most people run the game in the lowest settings even when they have a monster PC so they can have more FPS. It's a shame, because the game is really pretty.

Now progression is tied to your gear. Be it life skill gear or combar gear, the better enchanted it is, the better. Problem? RNG. The entire system runs on RNG. BUT! You can BUY said gear from players in the market. Grind the money and buy it, trust me, enchanting will only make you hate the game and burn out.

Seasons are a great way to get free stuff. Usually there are 4 seasons per year. New players should start with a season character. It gives them easier exp, good gear and other assorted supplies to get them started. Even veteran players get good stuff from seasons.

Is this game P2W? Yes. MTX offer a LOT of stuff to help enchant gear and stuff that is just plain helpful. Like the tent. Pretty outfits too! Those CAN be bought on the market from other players. It also offer 3 (!) types of subscriptions. Getting all 3 is expensive. If you only want one, get the value pack. These subscriptions can also be bought from the market. Can you be F2P? Yes. You will take a bit longer to get there, but it's still doable.

In the end , I recommend it because of its potential. The game is good, but has the potential to be GREAT. The combat is amazing. The graphics too. The idea behind the whole game is amazing. If only PA could decide on what direction they want to go with it.

The constant (free!) work that goes into this game is mind boggling. As are all the improvements Hello Games made along the way - and more are coming! If you want a chill space sandbox game, this is it.

For me, this is currently the best ARPG out there. Lore-wise, it goes deep, if you are looking for it. Nothing is shoved in your face, and you can ignore the entire thing is that's your thing too. Lvling is not as slow as Titan Quest, and not as fast as Diablo 3 - but the build diversity is superb , especially compared to Diablo 3, and (almost) every class/skill combo can at least finish the game. The skills look good, the combat satisfying, the loot is diverse, plentiful and useful.
(now with a loot filter if you are farming for specific things only!)

One of the issues I have with this game is that it can take a while before you truly "get" the game. For a beginner the sheer amount of masteries(and respective combinations), skills, devotion skills, components (and their skills), augments, modifiers, suffixes, prefixes, items, Monster Infrequents, faction reputation and secrets can be a bit overwhelming. Thankfully, there is an amazing skill calculator/database online (grimtools) that can help out - but only if you go out of your way to take a look. For those who want to figure out everything by themselves, it will take a while.

When you do manage to dive into it tho, it's a joy. The sheer amount of stuff you can do is mindblowing on an age where "ready for consumption, just add water" characters are the norm (I know PoE is different! But it's not an AAA title) and AAA companies are convinced that the "1 size fits all" approach is the only one they should take, this is a breath of fresh air.

The other issue is how...grim it is. Yes, it's in the title, and I love me some gothic, depressing atmosphere - but sometimes it's overwhelming. This is a non-issue if you do not pay any attention to the story or do not feel empathy for game characters - but I read every single lore note and dialogue and get depressed at the amount of death and despair that are presented. Granted, there is hope in there too, in the little pockets of humanity that are left - but those are few and far between.

Do I recommend it anyway? Hell yes.