• 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

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  1. Mar 3, 2016
    5
    Blade and Soul is not a bad MMO, however it's definitively not a good one either.

    I really tried to love it, but sadly it just doesn't bring much to the table that hasn't been done before already, and well done way better. Except the combat. Combat is just outstanding, and by far the best in this genre. However you can't really invest a years worth of time into an MMO which is
    Blade and Soul is not a bad MMO, however it's definitively not a good one either.

    I really tried to love it, but sadly it just doesn't bring much to the table that hasn't been done before already, and well done way better. Except the combat. Combat is just outstanding, and by far the best in this genre.

    However you can't really invest a years worth of time into an MMO which is exceptional only with it's combat design. All the content it has to offer is mediocre at best, well PvE content is so bad it's not even worth mentioning.

    I really hope BS finds it's place in this genre, perhaps PvPers will love it due to it's combat. The game is on par with WoW, perhaps even a little bit better. However it's definitively way behind ESO, GW2 and FFXIV. I'd put Elder Scrolls Online as the best MMO currently, it's improving crazy fast, and well there is really nothing that BS does better than ESO. The comparison in quality is gigantic. Try it out for yourself.
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  2. Jan 20, 2016
    10
    Blade and Soul is one of the most fun Asian styled mmo's i have ever played. I have been playing the NA/EU Version since Alpha Testing and have enjoyed every single minute i have played the game. Don;t trust these reviews from people who have not even played the game and are writing low reviews because of NC soft as a company, or they played one of the Asian servers and found it grindy.Blade and Soul is one of the most fun Asian styled mmo's i have ever played. I have been playing the NA/EU Version since Alpha Testing and have enjoyed every single minute i have played the game. Don;t trust these reviews from people who have not even played the game and are writing low reviews because of NC soft as a company, or they played one of the Asian servers and found it grindy. The NA/EU Port was very well done and the game has an amazing story. Also PvP while fun is not required to enjoy the game, but the PvP is insanely fun and skill based instead of gear based. I was able to attack and kill someone 7 levels higher than me because i knew my class better. it is a real rush! And the Tag Team Arena Matches have so much awesome and surprising twists it is amazing!

    My Main point is since the game is free to play, please try it for yourself before you decide to follow the advice of people who have not played this version and base it off the past.
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  3. Jan 20, 2016
    10
    I cannot believe all these negative reviews. The game is so much fun. Combat is totally engaging and the best I've ever experienced in any mmo.

    This is mainly a PvP game that is face paced and completely satisfying. There is PvE though. There are dungeons and these need to be farmed to get items to upgrade your gear. The classes are very well balanced since this game is an esport
    I cannot believe all these negative reviews. The game is so much fun. Combat is totally engaging and the best I've ever experienced in any mmo.

    This is mainly a PvP game that is face paced and completely satisfying. There is PvE though. There are dungeons and these need to be farmed to get items to upgrade your gear. The classes are very well balanced since this game is an esport in the East.
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  4. Jan 19, 2016
    10
    Very fast, very fun. Opening half hour gave me goosebumps. Never been so invested in an mmo story.

    The Controller controls take some getting used to but over all they are manageable, you can always just use m&k. Character customization is very flushed out, and if that's not your thing there is lots of presets. The voice acting (when used) is very immersive, easy to understand, an
    Very fast, very fun. Opening half hour gave me goosebumps. Never been so invested in an mmo story.

    The Controller controls take some getting used to but over all they are manageable, you can always just use m&k.

    Character customization is very flushed out, and if that's not your thing there is lots of presets.

    The voice acting (when used) is very immersive, easy to understand, an d match the characters very well.

    Character model movements are very fluid and mostly uninterrupted.

    Game plays very optimized for just releasing, on my gtx 660 i get easy 60fps on high graphics.
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  5. Jan 20, 2016
    10
    What an amazing game! The action combat has changed the way I look a MMO's. I will never be able to go back to a game like WoW again where I mash buttons in a rotation. Every kick, every punch, and swing in Blade and Soul just feels so right.
  6. 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. Jul 28, 2020
    0
    blade and soul is a solid 0 out of 10 game run by the worst publisher on the planet
  8. 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
  9. Feb 11, 2016
    1
    Ok how the PVP system works is amazing it's really good, if it wasn't laging ever since the game released and NCsoft is doing nothing about it. To sum it all up everything is pretty much meh except the pvp and it lags like crazy talking about teleporting opponents 300ms input delay basicly unplayable. Might aswell started playing it when it was released in korea as i have the same ms hereOk how the PVP system works is amazing it's really good, if it wasn't laging ever since the game released and NCsoft is doing nothing about it. To sum it all up everything is pretty much meh except the pvp and it lags like crazy talking about teleporting opponents 300ms input delay basicly unplayable. Might aswell started playing it when it was released in korea as i have the same ms here in europe............ Expand
  10. Mar 3, 2016
    10
    'So its been about 2 months since the release of BnS and I am curious to see its user score on metacritic...' 5.6... well... I'll go **** myself. I feel like I have to defend a beautiful girl being pestered by a bunch of thugs and receiving a black eye for ever intervening (represented by the no votes on this review). Are we even playing the same game? Giving a game a zero rating is such a'So its been about 2 months since the release of BnS and I am curious to see its user score on metacritic...' 5.6... well... I'll go **** myself. I feel like I have to defend a beautiful girl being pestered by a bunch of thugs and receiving a black eye for ever intervening (represented by the no votes on this review). Are we even playing the same game? Giving a game a zero rating is such a troll score. The game is booootiful and very much enjoyable. 10/10 Expand
  11. Feb 23, 2016
    9
    An honest review of the game. Blade & Soul was marketed as a PvP game and still remains as a PvP game. If you do not enjoy PvP at all, than do not play this game as PvP makes up a large portion of it. The Arena does a good job of eliminating equipment as a factor in PvP. Within the Arena it comes down to player skill and extra skill points, but ultimately skill triumphs. Open world PvP isAn honest review of the game. Blade & Soul was marketed as a PvP game and still remains as a PvP game. If you do not enjoy PvP at all, than do not play this game as PvP makes up a large portion of it. The Arena does a good job of eliminating equipment as a factor in PvP. Within the Arena it comes down to player skill and extra skill points, but ultimately skill triumphs. Open world PvP is no holds-barred. If you put on the Faction outfit, you are flagged for PvP regardless of your location or level. Classes aren't perfectly balanced yet. There is hardly any grinding in this game compared to other MMOs. It takes 24 hours to reach the maximum level (excluding Hoongmoon levels) if you really tried. The upgrade system is a no **** system. What do I mean by no ****? Well, once you can have the appropriate material to upgrade your weapon or accessories, the upgrade chance is 100%. Whereas in other games the chance of success to upgrade lowers as you get higher. There are no mounts because of the unique "transportation" system. Characters are able to move like they do in cliche Kung Fu movies; dashing up walls, jumping over obstacles, running across water, etc. It feels like I'm in a Kung Fu movie.

    The game requires more optimization patches for a smooth experience. Right now, gaming rigs will drop low in FPS in heavily populated areas (Blackwyrm). Bots and gold sellers are common, but really what MMO doesn't have this problem? There is only one server location for the NA servers (in Texas). This is a poor decision as it is so far central south of US. A centralized server such as Chicago would have been a better choice (based on demographics). Overall, this game is addicting as I have been putting a good 7-8 hours per day into it since head start. It's definitely not perfect. It needs some polishing and I hope the developers will do so.
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  12. 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.
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  13. 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.
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  14. Feb 2, 2016
    5
    Blade and Soul is an okay game. Its graphics are very dated (not bad looking, just dated) and PvE is rather dull, which in the face of more modern MMO's set it back quite a bit. The translation for English is also horrendous, with various story elements plain rewritten to suit the translator's agenda. Localization is one thing, but when the translation plain breaks the story it's enteringBlade and Soul is an okay game. Its graphics are very dated (not bad looking, just dated) and PvE is rather dull, which in the face of more modern MMO's set it back quite a bit. The translation for English is also horrendous, with various story elements plain rewritten to suit the translator's agenda. Localization is one thing, but when the translation plain breaks the story it's entering into the realm of just plain making stuff up. I don't know what's up with the translators but they need to be fired if the game wants to appeal to the PvE population.

    What's great about the game are its combat system and PvP. The combat system is fairly fluid and complex, which ties in well to making its PvP feel very good as well. It rewards skill a lot and there are quite a bit of tricks you can learn to improve yourself. It's one of the more fun PvP in MMO's I've played in a while now.

    If you're into PvP I'd definitely recommend checking this game out. It's free to try after all, and it's a refreshing change from dated games like WoW. If PvP isn't your thing though or you're simply looking for a more complete game to play then I'd recommend against checking this game out because it falls behind many other games in every other aspect.
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  15. Jan 23, 2016
    5
    Graphics are ok! Better from usual korean mmo's at least. Coming from GW2, any mmo seems dull and full of grinding. Haven't played a lot yet, i like this "horny" environment, full of female characters even if it sounds a bit sexist. I really like the concept of using combos , but still fighting seems really slow paced. I also dont feel having 100% control of my character. Voice actors inGraphics are ok! Better from usual korean mmo's at least. Coming from GW2, any mmo seems dull and full of grinding. Haven't played a lot yet, i like this "horny" environment, full of female characters even if it sounds a bit sexist. I really like the concept of using combos , but still fighting seems really slow paced. I also dont feel having 100% control of my character. Voice actors in english language sounds... ridiculous. Not real action combat. Evades-Blocks etc are meh... But still a better game than any other "asian" mmos like archeage. Some improvements on the pay2win are necessary as well! I will continue playing hoping to see some more cons! Expand
  16. Feb 3, 2016
    0
    I enjoyed the game on the asian servers and started on the european servers too.
    The european servers are literally dead half of the week so far with constant crashes, client bugs and random bans for buying their itemshop currency.
    The biggest part of the community is antisocial trying to rip of other players with the unique bidding system(higher tier drops are sold in an auction where
    I enjoyed the game on the asian servers and started on the european servers too.
    The european servers are literally dead half of the week so far with constant crashes, client bugs and random bans for buying their itemshop currency.
    The biggest part of the community is antisocial trying to rip of other players with the unique bidding system(higher tier drops are sold in an auction where everyone can bid an amount or increase the amount of simply pressing the key "Y", but without any confirmation and auto-price updating if someone else is increasing the price, so if someone else is increasing the price directly before you are pressing Y you are automatically outbidding the new price)

    I enjoyed the game in the asian version with working servers and a friendly community, sadly that's not given in the european version.
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  17. Feb 10, 2016
    0
    Good combat, that's all this game has going for it. NCSoft messed up bigtime with western release though, not a lot of people realize but the servers they are using are so bad it's hilarious, expect up to 300+ ping when in dungeons and in pvp arena because they are cross server.

    Whatever the system they are using for cross server it makes the game unplayable for some classes that rely
    Good combat, that's all this game has going for it. NCSoft messed up bigtime with western release though, not a lot of people realize but the servers they are using are so bad it's hilarious, expect up to 300+ ping when in dungeons and in pvp arena because they are cross server.

    Whatever the system they are using for cross server it makes the game unplayable for some classes that rely heavily on a low ping.
    For a game that is so utterly pvp oriented the way this game is released in eu/na is downright insulting and they should be ashamed for the quick cashgrab they are attempting by cheaping out on server tech.
    Cannot reccomend this game to anyone, unless you enjoy spending $20+ on outfits you can't share across characters! and enjoy skills not going off when you activate them.
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  18. Feb 23, 2016
    10
    this Is simply the best PvP game out there.. playing with friends is super fun.. you will never look back to slow mmos like Final Fantasy or even guild wars 2 ... like ever.
  19. Feb 12, 2016
    4
    Played over 80 hours this game, and here is what i think...

    Pros: - PvP - pretty fun and fast, skill based not your eq. - Arena - the best feature this game has to offfer, no doubt.. - decent main plot, and very good cutscenes (for mmo standards) - nice combat mechanics, but it gets boring after a while Cons: - boring repetitive dungeons and i mean REALLY boring, i played lot
    Played over 80 hours this game, and here is what i think...

    Pros:
    - PvP - pretty fun and fast, skill based not your eq.
    - Arena - the best feature this game has to offfer, no doubt..
    - decent main plot, and very good cutscenes (for mmo standards)
    - nice combat mechanics, but it gets boring after a while

    Cons:
    - boring repetitive dungeons and i mean REALLY boring, i played lot of grindy mmos, but here dungeons fells very small and similar, there are some nice cutscenes on the bright side...
    - no pve end game, all you have after reaching cap(which is 1-2 week at max) atm is 6 end game dungeons [only 1 gives you decent challenge] + boring faction quests[kill xxx of xxx] u have to do in order to grind your mats for crafting.
    - very shallow crafting system
    - typical fetch game side quests - kill xxx, bring xxx etc, not even one quests that makes you use your brain.

    4/10 and im very generous, pve/crafting deserves 1/10
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  20. Feb 11, 2016
    0
    A great PvP experience... if only the NA/EU release would not have been ruined by terrible servers which cause players playing in Germany (European servers are hosted there) to have a ping reaching 200 ms...
    Please fix this NCSoft before more players turn their backs to the game.
  21. 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.
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  22. Jan 21, 2016
    10
    I have to say, I have never written a review for a game before , but I think this one deserves one. I think the game is absolutely stunning to look at, and character models look great. Prolly the sexiest asian mmo I've played. I do have a good computer and monitor. I play in 3D and it's amazing looking. The combat is so fast on my assassin and more skill based than other mmo's. You can'tI have to say, I have never written a review for a game before , but I think this one deserves one. I think the game is absolutely stunning to look at, and character models look great. Prolly the sexiest asian mmo I've played. I do have a good computer and monitor. I play in 3D and it's amazing looking. The combat is so fast on my assassin and more skill based than other mmo's. You can't just sit n click with your mouse on your bar.

    I love the windwalking, flying , running, and dragonpulsing is amazing, never seen anything like that. Hard to explain until you see it. The crafting I have'nt gotten into much, seems diffrent than other mmo's. You join a crafting guild then place orders from mats. Then wait for like 30m for it to be ready.

    I really like the DF, It ports you to a lobby where you can choose from a list of available dungeons you are able to enter. You select the one you want, then the system brings in other players up to 6 to go in with you, you are ported to staging area. Then you enter portal to dungeon. It's not like WOW where you wait 30m to an hour. The matching system is almost instant.

    Anyways I can't wait to see wha'ts ahead. I'm only 22 and I think max is 45. Try it, it's free.
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  23. Jan 21, 2016
    1
    Was able to play briefly since I had to go to work and it looked and ran beautifully. However I have never been able to get back in since. The wait time for any spot in the queue easily rates several hours on what is shown. I even saw the timer go all the way up to two days. Unless they can at least fix the queue issue I see this game losing too many players for the wait to get in alone.Was able to play briefly since I had to go to work and it looked and ran beautifully. However I have never been able to get back in since. The wait time for any spot in the queue easily rates several hours on what is shown. I even saw the timer go all the way up to two days. Unless they can at least fix the queue issue I see this game losing too many players for the wait to get in alone. No game is worth waiting hours at character select. Expand
  24. 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
  25. Feb 7, 2016
    10
    Great combat, fantastic Open World and Arena PvP system. I've never been really in to the whole Asian styled mmo scene, but this is definitely a game worth trying.
  26. Feb 17, 2016
    10
    I normaly hate questing in MMOs... But this game bad me caught the moment I logged in, Smooth and fast phased combat, Intresting characters (I went from hateing a character to getting sad when I finally got my wish of the character being down in the dirt). Really challengeing combos for all the classes I played so far, I cant tell you how impressing some moments are in this game. ReallyI normaly hate questing in MMOs... But this game bad me caught the moment I logged in, Smooth and fast phased combat, Intresting characters (I went from hateing a character to getting sad when I finally got my wish of the character being down in the dirt). Really challengeing combos for all the classes I played so far, I cant tell you how impressing some moments are in this game. Really good and smooth graphics that I can look at for hours, Everything you do in your combos will feel like it really did something (Is that something you feel in say WoW?) The skill is all in PvP I have not faced one class that have been impossible to beat, just took abit of practise and thinking. The game can be alittle grindy to Free to play players as myself... But what do you expect it to be as free to play? I deffenetly dont feel its pay to win, You can buy almost all the stuff for ingame currensies and the things you cant buy for it is the membership that does give priority login. Faster leveling and resorces. But I havent had any problems loging in lately. Give the game a chanse and dont expect to understand everything instantly, afterall when you start to learn you feel alot better about it Expand
  27. Jan 21, 2016
    9
    Its awesome combat,skills and animations are great.
    The content give to you so many things to passing the time ingame.
    And for me crafting in this game is realy creative and imersive i love it.
  28. 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.
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  29. Feb 10, 2016
    0
    Crap laggy game. i dont lag in other games this bad. PVE is hella boring and PVP isnt balance at all. They just patched it and broke the balancing even more.... WAY TO GO MORONS! i swear game devs never get it right when there is no communication with the player base. Read the forums, i havent seen one post in the pvp section from an NCSOFT employee...but they care *rolls eyes*
  30. Feb 11, 2016
    0
    I have been waiting for this game so long. The only one hope in this game is combat system, but not at all. PvE is boring, repeat instances until you die. There is a littlw open world PvP which is even not exciting.
    Worst thing is that more than half of people have good ping (ex. 30-50), but when they enter Arena, ping is 300+. A lot of posts in the forum but developers don't care and
    I have been waiting for this game so long. The only one hope in this game is combat system, but not at all. PvE is boring, repeat instances until you die. There is a littlw open world PvP which is even not exciting.
    Worst thing is that more than half of people have good ping (ex. 30-50), but when they enter Arena, ping is 300+. A lot of posts in the forum but developers don't care and don't even listen community. Whatmore, did you know that dmg output in this game highly depends on ping? People with low ping can casts skill so fast, that there is no animation of skills, hilarious. Skill mechanic is so bad. It could be easy to fix, but developers are old, fat amd lazy people who care only about money and know only little about gameplay. Will be no better until they change stuff for young, innovative people, who knows not less than little about mmorpgs.
    Expand
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 26
  2. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  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]