Blade and Soul is an online MMORPG that spreads the ever-captivating Chinese martial arts narrative around the world and the game blends the traditional elements of action and combat games. However, the game doesn’t stand that much taller than others in its genre. Instead, it’s just another addition to the mix, offering a familiar game experience and satisfaction.

Like in most MMO games in recent years, you’ll sojourn in a mythical land, climb tall mountains, head into dungeons, and raid creepy jungles. Besides your primary mission, there are also skills like crafting for you to hone and use.

A Familiar Story in A Different Light 

Your master and friends have been sent to the land beyond by some unscrupulous elements. You now have no other goal in life but to give them a taste of their own medicine. Just like every other revenge story, there’s the blood-thirsty drive to defeat your enemies, so get ready to run around as you annihilate your foes. Such quests dominate the game, and you rarely will find something very different and exciting. There’s always this stamp of “oh, just like the last one” as you move from one quest to the other. The villages may look visually different, but the tasks you’ll be assigned are basically the same. Things are not so different with the zones either – there’s just a particular theme that boxes them.

However, if such traditional quests never constitute a bore for you, Blade and Soul will be just fine. Besides, completing these quests is the only way to progress in the game. There are PvP encounters that can give you points, but they only pass as a longer route to leveling up. So if you want to move up faster, you have to complete the quests as they pop up.

Running into dungeons is another good escape from the lackluster questing. But it’s safer not to raise your expectations too high as these dungeons aren’t what you’d expect. Many were just caves cut from the same rock, with little or nothing to remember. Larger dungeons had no serious party of foes to deal with. To me, many of the dungeons were simply walkovers.

When you’re not questing or engaging in PvP fights, you can attend to your skills. Blade and Soul lets you join two gathering guilds and two crafting guilds. There, you can put your skills to work and create the items you want. However, the guild system only understands the language of money. You pay for what you want to gather or craft, and you get it after some minutes. So there’s really no work there for you, unlike in other MMORPGs.

Take In the Environment in Blade and Soul.

Absolutely spectacular – nothing describes it better. Blade and Soul’s world is an artistic masterpiece, calling for exploration every single minute. Although it’s pretty apparent the environment is fantastical, the graphics even more tangible.

When it comes to character creation, there’s a lot of tweaking you can do. However, there seems to be a direction every character is headed, no matter the buttons you press. The women always end up with bouncy bossom and skimpy clothing. I wanted to have a fierce-looking martial artist but had to settle for the scantily-dressed, balloon-breasted character. But when it comes to PvP combats, none of that really matters.

PvP Combats: The Shining Light

I have played countless MMORPGs, and very few can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Blade and Soul when it comes to PvP combats. It’s a true testament to the ingenuity of Chinese martial arts. It was a thrill knowing my kung fu was so good, and I finally got be the badass I’ve always wanted to be. There’s no doubt that these PvP fights will be the highlight for many players. 

PvP fights happen in the Arena after being pitted against another real player. The good thing about these combats is that both players step in on equal foot in terms of gear. So with no player having better gear stats or more equipment, it becomes a true test of your skill, grit, and experience. It’s important to note that some of your abilities can only be accessed as you level up. So being matched up with someone at a higher level puts you at a disadvantage.

At the beginning of the game, you choose one of the seven classes. I didn’t hesitate to go for Kung Fu Master, and that did determine my combat style. In Blade and Soul, you’re in full control of your character and can deploy a variety of skills during combat. Combat presents you with one set of attacking skills at the beginning. But that changes to another set as the fight progresses, depending on the state of your opponent. 

PvP encounters include 1v1 Duels where you battle it out with a single player; 3v3 Matches where you team up with two other players, and World PVP where you throw yourself into the ring of players from around the world.When you step out of the Arena, PvE combat is several miles away from intriguing. It’s as though the monsters were programmed not to put up a fight. Since you can’t skip fighting these boring computer characters, you have to stay through the boring episodes. 

Final Thoughts

Blade and Soul could be a great MMO game but doesn’t live up to that potential. With the exciting PvP encounters taking forever to reach, many players will drop the baton before getting there. Worse still, the PvE and quests offer little excitement to keep people’s attention till level 45 when they can duel with other players. 

The PvP is where the meat of the game is, and developers could do something about getting there on time. All in all, Blade and Soul is a good play if you’re looking for a fighting game you can throw yourself into. It’s Easter foundation makes it even more enthralling.