Blade & Soul

 PC
  • Publisher: NCSOFT
  • Release Date: Jan 19, 2016
User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 281 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 98 out of 281
  2. Mixed: 42 out of 281
  3. Negative: 141 out of 281

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  1. AJCk19
    Apr 19, 2023
    4
    Get rid of management or people who make the lead decisions on this game. Because they are strangling such great potential. The combat, Asian aesthetics, rpg elements, and graphics are top tier. But they decided to not optimize the games coding, so you need a 2k or higher machine from year 2023. In order to run it between medium and max settings. Even in this situation, when things get toGet rid of management or people who make the lead decisions on this game. Because they are strangling such great potential. The combat, Asian aesthetics, rpg elements, and graphics are top tier. But they decided to not optimize the games coding, so you need a 2k or higher machine from year 2023. In order to run it between medium and max settings. Even in this situation, when things get to crazy in the battle, your fps might still drop.

    Then the final nail in the coffin for me, was them getting rid of controller support. If the game doesn't care about retaining its' user based, it is bound to fail at that point. One thing about a mmo, it needs a dedicated base more than other games. It is no fun playing on a souless server.

    If I could give half point ratings, I would even be willing to give it a 4.5, but it just doesn't deserve a full 5 out of 10.    … Expand
  2. quix0te
    Aug 6, 2022
    1
    This is, in fact, a bad MMO. It has good elements (the twitch style play had a lot of potential). I sank five or six hours into the game and finally gave up. Its possible it got better later, but I wasn't hanging around.
    The core gameplay appeared to be:
    1)Talk to questgiver, often with a mandatory cutscence. 1min 2)Walk to quest location, 3 to 5 minutes. 3a)Talk to another person.    This is, in fact, a bad MMO. It has good elements (the twitch style play had a lot of potential). I sank five or six hours into the game and finally gave up. Its possible it got better later, but I wasn't hanging around.
    The core gameplay appeared to be:
    1)Talk to questgiver, often with a mandatory cutscence. 1min
    2)Walk to quest location, 3 to 5 minutes.
    3a)Talk to another person. 1 min.
    3b)Fight a thing. Just one. 10 secs to 30 secs.
    4)Go back to quest giver/on to next quest giver. 20 secs to 5 mins.
    Repeat.
    I stopped at lvl 18.
    At no time did I feel threatened nor did my life bar dip below 80%.
    The overwhelming majority of the game was trudging. There is a sprint mechanic, but it uses stamina, which gets exhausted after 20 secs or so.
    This is a bad game. If you haven't played Guild Wars 2, play that instead. It is superior in every. single. way. I believe it is free as well.
    For 10$, you can play Elder Scrolls Online, which is also superior in ever.single.way. Except the auction house, which is kind of crap in ESO.    … Expand
  3. Chrisplaysmore
    Sep 19, 2021
    0
    What an garbage game, nice graphics but that is the only positive! Why would anyone plays this when there are so many better games out there?
  4. Sandre
    Sep 8, 2021
    1
    To be crystal clear it is a grinder, but it is created to grind your money and nothing more.
    This is one of the worst game i ever played since 1989.
    This is extra linear and the quests are boring and almost useless. As usual the fill you with tone of trash to buy space into your inventory and the endgame is awful. And if you thinking you can avoid the pay to advance or win : you    To be crystal clear it is a grinder, but it is created to grind your money and nothing more.
    This is one of the worst game i ever played since 1989.

    This is extra linear and the quests are boring and almost useless.
    As usual the fill you with tone of trash to buy space into your inventory and the endgame is awful.

    And if you thinking you can avoid the pay to advance or win : you are dreaming !

    EVERYTHING is created to trap you around compulsion, addiction, upgrades and skins.

    This game have so many different money inside the game good luck to even understand,
    just forget it and focus the moment and even in the moment, that's way way too much.

    NCSoft have proved 1000 times per year they do not give a **** about players but they really care about money and only money.

    And to be honest UE4 or Not the game looks old and they remove now the game pad option, into ue4 ahah what a joke. Do not even waste 1 minutes of your time into this cash grab.    … Expand
  5. XredeemerX
    Jul 28, 2020
    0
    blade and soul is a solid 0 out of 10 game run by the worst publisher on the planet
  6. uazzz007
    Feb 27, 2020
    4
    This game has interesting mechanics. nice art style and level design and worst developers ever. it's 8 years old and there **** tons of bugs, especially collision bugs and they just dont care. it has ****ty performance(especially during raid bosses) ****ty net cod, it constantly crushes, and for some reasons has bad input registrations (sometimes it takes 2-3 times to press same skill toThis game has interesting mechanics. nice art style and level design and worst developers ever. it's 8 years old and there **** tons of bugs, especially collision bugs and they just dont care. it has ****ty performance(especially during raid bosses) ****ty net cod, it constantly crushes, and for some reasons has bad input registrations (sometimes it takes 2-3 times to press same skill to make it work (never had same problem in other games), main quests are interesting but for the first time. if you want make second char you will die of boredom, coz most of them are go here and there and talk to someone. to sum up, it could be a better game if it was made by humans, but not by bunch of apes.… Expand
  7. Angel_Zerp
    Jul 21, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Отличный сюжет и боевая система, но все это очень быстро наскучивает и тебя завставляют качать по 100 твинков, чтобы прокачать основу... коридорная ммо до ужаса. Про открытый мир забудьте, вы будете бегать от данжа к данжу по 200 раз. Заняться в этой игре кроме как ходить на арену и проходить одни и те же данжи просто нечем.… Expand
  8. switchkong
    Jun 2, 2018
    1
    A 1/10 for stellar graphics. That's it. This game has wayyyy too many keybindings and controls and is too confusing and frustrating to navigate and find things. Good grief. You can't even move attack buttons from the mouse to the 1-0 keys like a standard MMO. (For those with wrist pain.) Awful.
  9. JeisnWeid
    Mar 20, 2018
    0
    Can't really find a thing to like about this game, nothing about it stands out.
  10. Shekky
    Feb 22, 2018
    0
    Great gameplay, interesting storyline. Arena will be good again when scripters finally get banned.

    Poor optimzation of the game causes horrible framerates, and all servers being in texas cause horrible ping for people in canada and those farther away from the server location. Developers need to focus on optimizing the game for newer hardware rather then pumping out content. Update: I    Great gameplay, interesting storyline. Arena will be good again when scripters finally get banned.

    Poor optimzation of the game causes horrible framerates, and all servers being in texas cause horrible ping for people in canada and those farther away from the server location. Developers need to focus on optimizing the game for newer hardware rather then pumping out content.

    Update: I have since tried to comeback and give BNS a shot again and the game causes BSOD (Critical Process Died) if you can get this game to run good luck but NCsoft support is beyond trash don't bother putting in a ticket to try to get them to solve your issue as your just waisting your time.    … Expand
  11. Doctor_GLaDOS
    Oct 23, 2017
    3
    Blade and Soul is one of those games from which you expect very little, and yet they still manage to disappoint you. Let's start with the promise of dynamic combat. Like all modern MMO's this game does have a relatively fluid combat system coded in with plenty to choose from in terms of both classes and attacks which are diverse. Unfortunately none of it matters since BnS's servers areBlade and Soul is one of those games from which you expect very little, and yet they still manage to disappoint you. Let's start with the promise of dynamic combat. Like all modern MMO's this game does have a relatively fluid combat system coded in with plenty to choose from in terms of both classes and attacks which are diverse. Unfortunately none of it matters since BnS's servers are really ( I mean really) bad with ping fluctuating between 150-200. And before you dismiss this review in it's entirety, please not that I have done my research. My connection is stable and I've checked that my normal ping with frankfurt (Location of the servers) is never higher than 60. I have also confirmed it with other players. My friend from England has a ping of around 120 on a fiber connection. And after some research i've found out that minutes after maintenance when players have not came back yet delay was exactly 60 with perfect fluid gameplay, which lasted only 5 minutes. So it pretty much confirms that their servers are at foult.
    PVP suffers from that but it's not even it's greatest fault...
    Unless you have spend an insane amount of time[or money] in the game you will be overpowered by other players not only in World PvP but also battleground which do not have any type of matchmaking in place. Myself playing nearly 2 months I can deal around 30k DPS and have to compete with other players who deal 800k per second. And you don't need to be a rocket surgeon to see that encounter always ends with me being blown up to smithereens. And that's a Battleground! With queues and stuff!
    Another nail in this game's coffin business is it's economy.
    The entire thing is based on opening loot crates you get from completing different tasks.
    The game greets you with a "spin the wheel!" screen and always tells you when there are new items in store. The grind is tedious and it would be fine if not for the fact that it was clearly designed to directly drive you to the Store with some sweet deals! Oh man those orbs which will take me a week to grind only cost 10 bucks on the Hongmoon store, I better get them so I can have a slightest chance in beating those whales who already have all of it!
    So Servers are trash, PvP favors old and wealthy players and there is constant gambling present. Well what about the story?
    Well it's Cliché cardboard cut-out of a good versus evil plot, which only a couple of memorable missions plot twists and cinematics. Most of it is traditional and boring busy work filler before you get to the good stuff that is far apart and mostly near the end. I have no doubts that it has been cobbled together just to justify it's existence as a mobile gam...I mean fully featured MMORPG.
    If you are NA/EU I do not recommend this game because it's a complete waste of time for anyone who doesn't have a lot of cash to spend to have capital letters ANY type of chance at competing with aforementioned whales.    … Expand
  12. XJT
    Aug 31, 2017
    2
    The new player experience was actually quite good. I was a Kung-Fu master which requires a massive amount of button pushing and micro management, but the game provided many nice features for the new player. Unfortunately, the wheels come off when you hit level 50 and start HM leveling. You are thrown into the deep end of the pool with players who have months and months worth more ofThe new player experience was actually quite good. I was a Kung-Fu master which requires a massive amount of button pushing and micro management, but the game provided many nice features for the new player. Unfortunately, the wheels come off when you hit level 50 and start HM leveling. You are thrown into the deep end of the pool with players who have months and months worth more of levels and huge stats compared to you. Be prepared to be berated by an elitist player base that will literally beg you to leave group content, so they can complete a daily 5 minutes faster. The player to player harassment is the worst I've seen in any game - SWG, LOTRO, GW2, Aion, D&D - none of those player communities come close the venom spewed by people who play Blade and Soul… Expand
  13. PhoenixShi
    Apr 20, 2017
    4
    It's not completely terrible, but I find it's not all that good either. Worst part is it's easy to see it could have been great, but after so many bad changes to the game, poor management, and a the horrid community, it's just not at all what I was hoping for. Take note that a lot of the reviews here are from around the time of the NA/EU launch, in one year they've put out content thatIt's not completely terrible, but I find it's not all that good either. Worst part is it's easy to see it could have been great, but after so many bad changes to the game, poor management, and a the horrid community, it's just not at all what I was hoping for. Take note that a lot of the reviews here are from around the time of the NA/EU launch, in one year they've put out content that took about four years to be released in Korea, as they're trying to get caught up in a big hurry, which isn't doing the game too many favours. The game now, simply is not like it was at the time when most of those reviews were written, so they can be largely ignored.

    After that mass of updates, the grind has increased by many times over what it was. Things that made the game stand out a bit more like the upgrading equipment system, and to an extent, the skill system, have since been dumbed down, or partially removed, because having choices to make is too hard for people apparently. They keep reducing the cost of the upgrades that still exist, but the real problem is how dependent you are on doing content with others for character bound items, and how toxic much of the player base is, who will refuse to team with people that aren't at end-game like they are, or just really hostile towards them, so many just end up quitting.

    Then if people complain in the forums, or such, there's always a group of white knights ready to yell at you, mods apparently won't penalize the hostile white knights, but may ban/suspend others over nothing. A community this bad, in a game where playing is so dependant on the community, just isn't a fun combination at all. Unless you start the game already knowing a group of people you can play with, don't even bother downloading the game.

    ____________________________________________

    Other things:
    The servers have always been kinda poor, and performance of the game client is weak.

    It uses a soft lock-on system, where when you aim at something, it's suppose to it lock-on automatically. If there's only one target, that works fine, but it can easily mess up in a group fight. Often enough I've been in cases where I'm aiming at a target in front of me, but my attacks will be flying off to my old target since I'm still locked on to it, even if it's now off screen.

    Making suggestions is largely a waste of time, as they're just pumping out the Korean content as quickly as possible. There isn't even a suggestions, or patch discussion forum section like most any other online game, even other NCSoft games have, which gives you an idea how little interest they have in suggestions, or what you think.

    Instead of improving the existing guild/clan system, they added Social Clans. A player must spend in-game money to start a Social Clan, but then has basically no control over it at all, as it's permanently open for anyone to join without being invited, you can only kick one person per day, but they can always hop right back in after you do so, which means you can't keep out disruptive players.

    If you don't like it when a game sells the materials you're suppose to be playing to get, then stay away, as they'll even do their best to remind you that those items are in the cash shop.

    Inventory/storage space gets to be a big problem due to all the *many* types of tokens/currency, materials, consumables, cosmetic items, and so forth taking up space.

    You can't customize your control scheme much at all, and it will use the same key, to do too many things, with no way to change what things are done on a key, or their priority, causing you to for instance pick an item up, rather than use an attack, since they use the same key. Also different classes will let you do the same sort of action, but each class may use a different key to do so, which makes playing multiple classes more difficult than it otherwise would be.

    Due to the amount of grind, number of character bound items, lack of control customization, and constant updates, if you like playing more than one character in a game, this isn't for you.

    Don't get too attached to your current skills, after the next update, you may find that some have been removed, heavily altered, or your option to select them blocked due to the further dumbing down of the game, forcing you to try to come up with a new skill rotation, again.

    Most events, even those supposedly aimed at helping players get to end-game, are aimed at end-game players due to being related to higher level dungeons, and the nature of the community.

    Getting the *character bound* upgrade equipment you need is very RNG based. Unless you're willing to keep buying special keys from the cash shop that guarantee you get the one you need, you could end up opening dozens of chests before you get the one you need. Then if it drops in a dungeon, some players will bid against you, even if they can't use it, since again, the community is often toxic.    … Expand
  14. Newksol
    Apr 11, 2017
    1
    Typical Korean grinder and child molester trainer. Avoid at all costs. Horrible art, music, 'combat' and you get to play dress up with underage girls. A true NCSoft quality product
  15. Ainalcar
    Jan 18, 2017
    1
    A well made pvp mmo buried under horrible servers (literally unplayable without a vpn despite living 100km away from the server's location), repetitive grind and to date the worst customer support I have ever witnessed.

    Keep your hands away from NCWest at all times.
  16. AiurDJS
    Nov 27, 2016
    0
    KEEP AWAY from this **** game.
    The combat system on PvP requires you to have maximum 100 ping.
    But the servers of ncsoft are so **** bad you will never see a better **** ping than 150, even if you live next doors. Disconnects happen all the time, game is poorly optimised and buggy, you will get FPS drops in all situations and high ping regardless of your internet connection or PC setup.    KEEP AWAY from this **** game.
    The combat system on PvP requires you to have maximum 100 ping.
    But the servers of ncsoft are so **** bad you will never see a better **** ping than 150, even if you live next doors. Disconnects happen all the time, game is poorly optimised and buggy, you will get FPS drops in all situations and high ping regardless of your internet connection or PC setup. Also, the class balance is just a total failure. To have fun at PvP in this game you have to play only one of the few classes that are just easy to play and less ping-dependant. PvE is just a huge grind. Everything you drop is untradeable, so you will never get anything you need from other players, you just have to do daily quests for 3 months, the same 3 quests every single day and grind your way to some better PvE items. Also, those PvE items are used for battleground PvP, so unless you play this game for 2 years, you won't be able to do ANYTHING in any kind of open PvP or battlegrounds. It's just 100% gear dependant.

    Don't waste your time and don't install this **** game, you will just lose money and nerves.    … Expand
  17. T3Dragoon
    Oct 31, 2016
    2
    The graphics of this game look really cool. Game play seemed fun. I do not recommend this game to anyone. The people helping you there are not helpful. I tried to purchase a year long subscription. It got declined. While trying to find out the reason the customer support bounced back and forth on whether the problem was on my end or on their end. In the end it was never resolved all theyThe graphics of this game look really cool. Game play seemed fun. I do not recommend this game to anyone. The people helping you there are not helpful. I tried to purchase a year long subscription. It got declined. While trying to find out the reason the customer support bounced back and forth on whether the problem was on my end or on their end. In the end it was never resolved all they did was say for me to try and purchase it again. I tried multiple times. Did have one person apologize. So good on you for that.… Expand
  18. Holdthedoor
    Jun 6, 2016
    2
    At first it look promising, I went through korean gameplay videos before it release for West and it was amazing, I signed up for beta and I loved it, however, after it release though thing went wrong, real wrong, it completely transcend into pay to win category game, those who have money to buy gold spend like crazy to level up weapons, at first I start catching up with those rich playersAt first it look promising, I went through korean gameplay videos before it release for West and it was amazing, I signed up for beta and I loved it, however, after it release though thing went wrong, real wrong, it completely transcend into pay to win category game, those who have money to buy gold spend like crazy to level up weapons, at first I start catching up with those rich players by using trade, earning a little gold everyday but it never enough, greed in the game trading system keep rising like clinton and G.W Bush campaign promises and even with all my account character crafting Moonwater transformation stones 4.5 gold piece each average ingame price atm for 10 stone give me 45 gold and it cost me around 30 gold to craft it sometime even higher, just left me 15 or less gold. It take 24hr to craft those stone, everyday I was going through same routine again and again, and price in market sometime goes down to 2 gold per piece, at that time I just stop crafting because it cost me more to craft then selling and get profit, but that not a problem for those rich players. They just get what they want and those player who can't do so, well we stuck with repetitive quest to farm gold everyday. For those who can only play for few hours a day, it just impossible. Game story is amazing, gameplay is amazing, graphic is also amazing for old game but for me this game is ruined by all those rich A **** players who can't stop showing how rich they are, they change fashion every week with real money from market and they buy it and showed it to rest of the server, brag about it, twitch it, twit it, facebook it, they even sms about it. Just imagine you are in group of 6, 5 are rich with fashion and stuffs, bragging about their gold or their weapon upgrade, they showed it in your face, and you stand alone there with no gold and stone to upgrade weapon with begger outfit waiting for them to end their talking, how cute their pets look, how amazing the outfit goes with the hair pin, they don't even care about dungeon quest, they hardly participate after few run, because they have everything they got why to repet endlessly. Some players are poorer then the summoner's summoned cats for god sake. THose cat have premium outfit and fashion 1000x better then a normal player.

    This game is amazing but it will be ruined by all those who want to show off how rich they are or those who want to use it to make themselve popular in social sites. Wish there MMORPG which doesn't need trade system because like all other MMORPG this game is ruined by same system every show off players created "pay to win"

    This game is only for rich people same as all other MMORPG.

    F****** rich bas**** players, not only people like you ruined the real world for us, you even ruined virtual world.

    I don't blame NCSOFT, they do need economy to run such games, its the players who ruined it.

    Good bye one of my favorite game (╯︵╰,)
    This is hodor, signing out (╯︵╰,)

    To all those who ruined this game and real world, both
    ............./´¯/)........... (¯`
    ............/....//........... .......
    .........../....//............ ........
    ...../´¯/..../´¯.........../¯ `....¯`
    .././.../..../..../.|_......_| ...............
    (.(....(....(..../.)..)..(..(. ....)....)....).)
    ................./.../..... ../................/
    ................... /........................../
    ..................(.......... ..)................/
    ............................ ../............./    … Expand
  19. IHateBNS
    May 1, 2016
    1
    This game is called Blade & Soul but I feel a more appropriate name is Bots & Spam. This is because everyone is either spamming or they are a bot, or worse... both.
  20. True_Reclaimer
    Mar 17, 2016
    0
    Worst game Ive ever played, had to do a chargeback on my Master Founder Pack. Everything is pay2win but gilded over as free and not p2w. Its the greediest game in the world. To get loot, you have to OUTBID your team mates. You want a new outfit? $20+ price tag and its bound to a single character, youre better off buying real clothes for yourself! Its filled to the brim with translationWorst game Ive ever played, had to do a chargeback on my Master Founder Pack. Everything is pay2win but gilded over as free and not p2w. Its the greediest game in the world. To get loot, you have to OUTBID your team mates. You want a new outfit? $20+ price tag and its bound to a single character, youre better off buying real clothes for yourself! Its filled to the brim with translation issues and missing items, and the NA version is actually gimped/nerfed harder than any other version. Prepare to grind forever and not even once feel strong or like your time was worth. The PVP is the weakest part of this game. 1v1. Over and over and over, on the same flat map. You want other modes? CTF, king of the hill, clan battles? Nope. How about 1v1s with 6 people all at once instead, where it turns into 2v1? Yeah thats "competitive" alright. What a joke. And dont bother asking NCWest Support for help. Everyone is a bot. Auto reply and close ticket. To be fair 90% of players both PVE and PVP are destroyer bots. Good luck farming quartz, the bots own all nodes. The BnS community is actually less intelligent and more toxic than the LoL and WoW communities combined. Such salt and devotion for a cartoon hack and slash grinding simulator.… Expand
  21. Menom
    Mar 14, 2016
    4
    Assets

    Great combat system and excellent concept for a PVP game Good party creation tool and good cross-server party creation for dungeons Nice tutorial Some good story and animated segments with acceptable voice-acting Deficits Grind based MMORPG Extremely linear PVE that is redundant and mundane Most dungeons are poorly done and boring Very poor PVP matchmaking Terrible    Assets

    Great combat system and excellent concept for a PVP game
    Good party creation tool and good cross-server party creation for dungeons
    Nice tutorial
    Some good story and animated segments with acceptable voice-acting

    Deficits

    Grind based MMORPG
    Extremely linear PVE that is redundant and mundane
    Most dungeons are poorly done and boring
    Very poor PVP matchmaking
    Terrible gold spamming and no effort to filter or fix
    Cross-server party creation is sometimes not available in dungeons or situations where it is badly needed
    Dead and limited clan system
    Weak, unambitious crafting system
    Small world where feel like you're traveling through a tunnel most of the time

    Given the lack of effort to fix the PVE game, they should have eliminated it altogether and made this purely a PVP fighting game with a deeper matchmaking system. Although this game is not without merit, you might be happier playing a good fighter game. Sadly I don't feel a sense of enthusiasm to improve this game. Most effort seems to be going into expanding micro-transactions.    … Expand
  22. Eikox
    Mar 12, 2016
    4
    In the first two week of the release, i reach the max lvl in that moment (45). I enjoy it in every step but after give it a break and played again, definitely don't like.

    The first impression of the game is very nice, the tutorials are fluid and the intro of your character is good. But when you are increasing you lvl, you begun to note that the quest are very repetitive (Go to A, kill    In the first two week of the release, i reach the max lvl in that moment (45). I enjoy it in every step but after give it a break and played again, definitely don't like.

    The first impression of the game is very nice, the tutorials are fluid and the intro of your character is good. But when you are increasing you lvl, you begun to note that the quest are very repetitive (Go to A, kill or interact with B and return or go to speak with C).
    -The fight system is marvelous, but the classes are highly unbalanced. Even with the recommendation system of skill points, after the second patch everything go to the dump.
    -I recommend you if you going to play it, try to enter in one of the best guild of the server, generally they going to help you with something. But if you are going to try alone everything, well you're going to have a bad time.
    -With the daily quest you can make more of 10 gold at the day, but you must spend all day doing the quest (for 10 gold) and after a few days is not worthy.
    -The market is nice, except for the price of everything (extremely high) and even if are somebody selling something more cheap, they buy it and post it with a greater increase of the price.

    I have it a blade dancer (very good class and very decent in pvps) with the siren sword and almost the last upgraded of everything in my equipment thanks to the guild, but after a time, is like all the same. (even with the guilds). The daily quest are a horrible loop, if you are going to farm something.. well good luck. If you wish to upgraded you'r weapon, you need to break you'r eyes maybe a week to have the item that you need it. And the pvps, go for summoner o assassin. After the upgraded the rest of the classes are their little b*tches.    … Expand
  23. Crackfarmer
    Mar 3, 2016
    4
    Purchased a Founders pack (120€), lvled to 45 before even released - was one of the first reaching 45 on German less populated Server. After that - i kinda lost the interest in this Game. Since release you can't speak out of the Guild chat, spammers everywhere. The Gold cost for upgrading your Gear after reaching lvl 36+ is insane, no1 can afford that without farming or buying Gold. ItPurchased a Founders pack (120€), lvled to 45 before even released - was one of the first reaching 45 on German less populated Server. After that - i kinda lost the interest in this Game. Since release you can't speak out of the Guild chat, spammers everywhere. The Gold cost for upgrading your Gear after reaching lvl 36+ is insane, no1 can afford that without farming or buying Gold. It went downhill pretty damn fast, all of my friends quitted after i left. Unless you join a super powerful Guild (which will probably require TS3 duty all day) its impossible to enjoy this Game after reaching 45.

    I don't recommend to buy this Game unless you can spent alot of Time getting into the crafting system, learning your Char ( & rotation), joining an **** Ass Guild and finally hang yourself after achieving all that.    … Expand
  24. generalteemo
    Feb 28, 2016
    0
    this game
    -worst game launcher ever
    -very very very ping reliant. you cant compete on high rank pvp if you have 100+ms latency, oh wait, you can but youll suck. -worst crafting/gathering system ever -worst loot system -bots. bots are fine. they help us farm what we need and sell it on auction for cheap price. bots in pvp? WTF? SRSLY? this game has like 90% bots 10% players actually    this game
    -worst game launcher ever
    -very very very ping reliant. you cant compete on high rank pvp if you have 100+ms latency, oh wait, you can but youll suck.
    -worst crafting/gathering system ever
    -worst loot system
    -bots. bots are fine. they help us farm what we need and sell it on auction for cheap price. bots in pvp? WTF? SRSLY? this game has like 90% bots 10% players actually playing.
    i bet sooner theyll announce that all those problems are working as intended cos they cant **** fix it, just like how they cant fix animation cancelling.
    did the dev even experienced other mmos before they created this piece of ****    … Expand
  25. Fud007
    Feb 23, 2016
    0
    Great action combat game plagued by the worst publisher in gaming history, NCSoft. There's bots everywhere. The only thing the game has going for it endgame is 1v1 arena. PvE endgame is completely pay2win. Stay far away.
  26. drobot
    Feb 19, 2016
    1
    The combat was really cool I must say. But the lack of communication and the overall **** of NCSOFT was just too much for me. This game's a cash grab. I'm **** sick of being treated like **** despite spending over $100 on this game. I'm an idiot for sure for doing that, but i've never seen a company so **** terrible.
  27. Seezer
    Feb 18, 2016
    4
    PvP is alright and the character creator is very powerful but everything else is lackluster (especially the PvE). The story is above average but still nothing extraordinary.

    The combat is actually quite deep and makes an effort to be different, but again, not many reasons to fully master it other than PvP. Dated graphics; Uninspired gear design (Little to no alternative from being    PvP is alright and the character creator is very powerful but everything else is lackluster (especially the PvE). The story is above average but still nothing extraordinary.

    The combat is actually quite deep and makes an effort to be different, but again, not many reasons to fully master it other than PvP.

    Dated graphics; Uninspired gear design (Little to no alternative from being almost naked and covered in oil); Unoptimized (games is abnormally dropping frames in places it shouldn't. On powerful rigs); Close to no effort in making the leveling phase of the experience compete with the rest of the market (Almost exclusively done through the usual quests you played everywhere else).

    You might love it if you are an hardcore PvPer, but an MMO should be a lot more than just PvP content, as other games have proven in the past through either their fall or success.    … Expand
  28. archanjo
    Feb 16, 2016
    1
    everything is instanced.
    invisible walls everywhere ( no exploration ).
    quests are dumb.
    the grind is real.
    no end game.
    dailies dailies dailies dailies
  29. happymealfighta
    Feb 15, 2016
    0
    Not much to say about it, some devout players will stick to it for the good combat system; but that is all about it. If you want to play something new and refreshing, that kicks you off your chair from all the excitement it delivers ... you will be direly disappointed.
    I will give a pro-cons from my perspective: first two weeks f2p then moved to premium
    ( you DONT GET INTO THE GAME    Not much to say about it, some devout players will stick to it for the good combat system; but that is all about it. If you want to play something new and refreshing, that kicks you off your chair from all the excitement it delivers ... you will be direly disappointed.
    I will give a pro-cons from my perspective: first two weeks f2p then moved to premium
    ( you DONT GET INTO THE GAME WITHOUT PREMIUM e.g. in my f2p weeks I had to wait 3 hours to get into the game due to artificial waiting queues and being dced or client crashed refreshed that timer)
    Pros:
    +Up to date graphics
    +A lot of voice acted cutscenes (I think all are english)
    +developed skilltrees with a lot of variety in each class (most dont make sense though)
    +fun pvp (with buts on cons)
    +a lot of stuff to do on daily basis (with huge cons)
    Cons:
    -no level and loot feeling at all since you ve to ENHANCE ONE SET OF ITEMS to lvl 50 (when update arives) through tossing tons of low-lvl-gear at it in addition to huge ammounts of gold and later on special daily limited currency
    -Up to date graphics that you cant degrade to a way you can play this smoothly on older machines (it is not possible to turn off other players effects)
    -outdated quest, storyline and pve system (feels like playing a korea grinder from 2001)
    -pvp can be fun if you are playing the currently overpowered classes since this NOT the finished game from current korea servers these will vary... ALOT (lots of NCSOFT made nerfs that make some classes just rediculously overpowered)
    -marketplace is browserbased, crashes alot and is not permanently available
    -shop items except costumes are one-use only and way too overpriced for that
    -playing on low-end machines makes this game living hell, you ll glitch through floors and fall off the map. You wont see enemies right away, it takes minutes to render them... or their names
    -reaching end level you pretty much ignore any other instance but the pvp-arena, there is NO other reason to go there for anything but raredroped costumes
    -no roll system on items, you ought to perform an auction on droped items, means that anyone rich enough and willing to pay for that item, he ll get that item... most likely way more cheap than its actually worth. Or, in most cases, the other teammates will bid on your needed items to make you pay for it even more.
    -frustrating worldboss mechanics (world bosses engage with an aoe instant kill move to rid off ppl, non-evadable of course except with previously bought or crafted guilditem [you need to lvl a guild to craft it})
    -crafting system is a joke, order-receive-reorder-receive.... nothing to do manually    … Expand
  30. Zer0TheHer0
    Feb 12, 2016
    0
    a potentially very very good game completely destroyed by ncsoft censorship and greedy business model.............................................................
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Awards & Rankings

43
#43 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
81
#81 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Games.cz
    May 18, 2016
    70
    Addictive MMORPG with a classic core, whose main attraction is a great and entertaining fight together with a number of well-functioning systems. Only some particular technical problems and boring quests prevent the gem to achieve the greater score.
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  2. Everyeye.it
    Apr 20, 2016
    68
    We waited a lot to play Balde & Soul, but NCSOFT's MMO arrives on the west market a little too late. The action oriented combat system is interesting and well designed, but PvP is still unbalanced and the endgame is tasteless and boring. The game, in conclusion, has very good intuitions but a very bad structure.
    Read full review
  3. CD-Action
    Mar 30, 2016
    65
    A belated game following the band of other Korean MMOs vanishing on the horizon. [03/2016, p.58]
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