Ever since I had a “high-speed” internet connection (remember when 100 kb/sec was considered “high-speed“?), I have loved MMORPGs. I will never forget playing the beta for World of Warcraft in 2004. I knew the moment that I began playing the game that Blizzard had tapped into something very special. Over the next few years, everyone was releasing an MMORPG. Now, some of these were very good, and some not so good, and some were just terrible. Over the years, I’ve played a lot of MMORPGs, either through purchase, free trials, or waiting until the game became free to play.
So, knowing my love for the genre, the folks here at Handsome Phantom asked me to review Black Desert Online, and I reluctantly agreed. Please keep in mind that I’ve only played about 5 hours of this game (and arguably not very well), so these are just my first impressions. I’ll follow up at another point in time when I’ve had a chance to play significantly more of the game.
The first thing to notice in the game is the character creation portion, which is absolutely and ridiculously extensive. Personally, I have never looked at character creators much past size, hairstyle, and hair color. However, Black Desert Online intrigued me because EVERY ASPECT of the character is customizable. If you want to change the shape of your character’s upper lip, you can do that.
If you want to make the character’s swoopy hair slightly shorter in the front, you can do that too. This character creator gives the player truly unique customization options, so if that is something you’re looking for, this game is definitely for you.
The second thing that I noticed is the beauty of the Black Desert world. The art style of this game is clearly influenced by the Korean developer Pearl Abyss. Even the character’s (Players and NPCs) clothing and weapons look vaguely Korean in style. All of that to say that the world is stunningly beautiful. The colors are bright, the graphics are particularly hefty for an MMORPG, and the combat has a beautiful fluidity and grace.
Now for the not-so-positive things…….
Black Desert Online is EXTREMELY grindy. There’s just no way around it, most of what you do is undirected exploration and grinding experience points so that you can level up. Now, there are quests; however, I found 
them really hard to follow, it was unclear where I was supposed to go, what I was supposed to do, how to get more quests, and even how to “track” my progress. The quests that I did have were quite repetitive. I found the combat system to be really confusing, both in the use of skills as well as development of skills upon leveling up. The last thing that I found distracting was the user interface, which I would call “crowded” at best. Your eyes are constantly being distracted from the beautiful scenery by the weird skill bar, the minimap with confusing markers, and the labels on EVERYTHING, which causes tons of overlap (refer to the picture above).
Overall, I would say that Black Desert Online is not a true MMORPG, but rather a sandbox game with some MMORPG elements. I have not yet gotten into some of the more “creative” aspects of the game, but I suspect once I do, I will be even more sure that it’s “sandboxy.”
So, if you want to play a great MMORPG, don’t get Black Desert Online. It isn’t what you’re looking for. However, if you really like Minecraft and want to play a more combat heavy and beautiful version, pick up Black Desert Online and you’ll probably have some fun with it.
Also, at the price point of $9.99, it’s not too steep of an investment to give it a try.
