Why is this game getting bad reviews

[zullee]

i was checking out some reviews from pc gamer and game spot and they are giving it bad reviews. i don't think they are realizing its an older game just getting released in the west. They say graphics are outdated and quest get repetitive (what mmo quest don't get repetitive) ect. i for one have having a good time playing and love the game.

 

Just wanted to see what you guys and gals think about the reviews.

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/blade-and-soul-review/

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/blade-and-soul-review/1900-6416349/

 

p.s sorry if my spelling is not so good im sending this on my phone and i got fat fingers :)

[enem]

they're giving it average review scores, which in all fairness is pretty accurate. aside from the combat there's not a lot that this game is doing that isn't being done better elsewhere. the quests are super repetitive, dungeons and their resulting boss fights are not particularly interesting, and the graphics are not up to the same level as many other mmo's. 

 

Is it still enjoyable? sure. 

 

At the end of the day don't let reviews convince you that it's a bad game if you're getting enjoyment out of it. 

 

[OkamiTsuchi]

Statement of outdated graphics is always a hilarious remark to me. While graphics can improve certain situations, making graphics the bleeding edge always dooms games today because there just aren't enough people with the hardware to take advantage of such graphics and thus it ends up being a colossal waste of resources and time.

 

Needless to say, concerning PC Gamer and Game Spot, they both have shady reputations as far as reviewing goes and I rarely trust them.

[Neurotic]

Because BnS is an old mmorpg that goes with what most mmorpgs go with. "Gather quests, go to point A and kill/collect this than return to point B, ect."

 

The combat helps bring in something ... "fresh" but I think with a boring and aged quest system as well as a rather ... mediocre story line, combat and pvp are the things going for BnS and not everyone likes to pvp, or maybe the combat system is a bit hard to get used to.

 

Another thing is that it takes a while to get to some real meaty content. Around lvl17-19, can't recall, you finally get a "choice" in how you want to skill build, now from leveling a few characters this can take about 7-9 hours or so? And that's with skipping all the text for quests/story. Maybe why we have so many people drop out early on.

 

Also we are missing out on content so technically another strike.

 

I mean personally I still enjoy BnS even with it's faults. I think getting reviews in now isn't the best thing since the game is still "new" so I'd take these reveiws with a grain of salt.

[jwhennies]

• Bots
• The Disconnecting
• People getting banned for buying ncoin
• Support takes a long time to get back to you
• also support not reading the tickets just copy paste.
• there are no devs here talking to us telling us whats going on
• outfits are not account bound
• Having to buy $20 of ncoin to get 1 month of premium 
• The bad translations and voice acting 
• Cross server dungeons leader can just take all the loot (ncsoft said this was ok)
• marketplace always crashing
• we are missing out on content
• server stability (mostly EU)
• "bugs" that are costing people Real cash

[princode]

what the review say is actually quite true and the only thing that make it shine and better then any mmo out there is the pvp =). Maybe lets compare this to the new mmo black desert that game seriously suck to the max the only thing good is only its graphic. 

[Aluvis]

I don't understand how Blade and Soul has "outdated" graphics or "average to bad" graphics. Its graphics seem to me to be better than WoW, GW2, Rift, Aion, TERA, Vindictus, ArcheAge, etc. I'm not totally in the loop with current/upcoming MMOS, but the only one that I've personally seen with better graphics than BnS is Black Desert.

[elliv]

Graphics are outdated?

They must have rated WoW 0 in graphics department.

[OkamiTsuchi]

4 minutes ago, Aluvis said:

I don't understand how Blade and Soul has "outdated" graphics or "average to bad" graphics. Its graphics seem to me to be better than WoW, GW2, Rift, Aion, TERA, Vindictus, ArcheAge, etc. I'm not totally in the loop with current/upcoming MMOS, but the only one that I've personally seen with better graphics than BnS is Black Desert.

They will always say out dated graphics because it's not using functions like occlusion, tessellation, top of the line particle effects that make video cards go in seizures, etc, all that stuff modern graphics engines push for but most gamer's never really use if they are looking for the best performance. 

 

As far as game play, it's bog standard for any MMO, so I really don't get the list above proclaiming it has an outdated questing system. I have yet to play a modern MMO that still doesn't use the bog standard quest design that was pioneered since Everquest, and refined by WoW.

[Aluvis]

2 minutes ago, OkamiTsuchi said:

They will always say out dated graphics because it's not using functions like occlusion, tessellation, top of the line particle effects that make video cards go in seizures, etc, all that stuff modern graphics engines push for but most gamer's never really use if they are looking for the best performance. 

 

As far as game play, it's bog standard for any MMO, so I really don't get the list above proclaiming it has an outdated questing system. I have yet to play a modern MMO that still doesn't use the bog standard quest design that was pioneered since Everquest, and refined by WoW.

 

Haha, true. I think most people forget that Blade and Soul was released in 2012, so the current quest system that it has wasn't so outdated back then. The only MMO that doesn't quite use the same standard as the majority (that I've played) is Guild Wars 2. It's quite different and a  bit refreshing, but it still has its repetitiveness.

 

[OkamiTsuchi]

Just now, Aluvis said:

 

Haha, true. I think most people forget that Blade and Soul was released in 2012, so the current quest system that it has wasn't so outdated back then. The only MMO that doesn't quite use the same standard as the majority (that I've played) is Guild Wars 2. It's quite different and a  bit refreshing, but it still has its repetitiveness.

 

Well, I will have to disagree there. All Guild Wars 2 is moved the goal post, and in most of the side ventures, pulled out the middle man, but otherwise, the questing is still pretty much the same even there. Except there instead of watching a counter, you fill up a bar, same scenario, a few extra repetitive actions on how you do it.

[Cyradus]

I love Blade and Soul.....for what it is. It is *barely* an MMO. This game is really a fighting game dressed up as an MMO. If you try to compare it to a "real" MMO in terms of content, ways to level alts, and dungeons/raids...it is going to fall way short. Again, I like it for what it is...the fighting and combat are fun, and it's an eSport PvP/Lobby game dressed up like an MMO.

[Eternalx]

My guess would be the horrendous start and bugs lol. Bad translations also. 

[LordLokai]

I'm going to compare this to Tera since they were both older games released here in the west and... hate to say it but, Tera was way more polished, had far less bugs, and a MUCH better f2p model after it did go f2p... problems just keep mounting up... over all is it fun? sure... if you can deal with all the BS you have to put up with. 

 

Main issues i am having are... dailys being broken, bosses resetting during battle while still in there specified area/arena, not enough cash per mission... and items being stupidly over priced, along with the *cricket* poor crafting system... lets be honest here this isn't end all be all game people expected it to be. Its a GOOD pvp game if you just enjoy arena outside of that? not so sure its great and NA isn't exactly well known for its competitive pvp in mmos we like PVE content first and pvp second in most cases. 

[Darkwingz]

47 minutes ago, OkamiTsuchi said:

Statement of outdated graphics is always a hilarious remark to me. While graphics can improve certain situations, making graphics the bleeding edge always dooms games today because there just aren't enough people with the hardware to take advantage of such graphics and thus it ends up being a colossal waste of resources and time.

Needless to say, concerning PC Gamer and Game Spot, they both have shady reputations as far as reviewing goes and I rarely trust them.

Well, I saw Elsword changed it's graphics after how many years. Now that's a sidescroller game, and changing the graphics in blade and soul would take so much time, technology, planning, and money that all countries probably don't want to invest in. Plus, well...just as you said. Not everyone can afford $1000 Alienware for eye popping wowza graphics. It's not like you really need good graphics to enjoy the Blade and Soul storyline. It's kind of like playing a game action martial arts comic, which is pretty cool. Did I mention the high quality costumes?

[Brand X]

The game could use a bit more lore introduced.  I never really worry about what people think of the graphics, to me the aesthetics are WAY more important (which means BnS isn't the only good aesthetics to me).  Love the combat system.  I love the grabs and aerials.  Dragon Step (?) is just fun and better than a slow climb up a hill for instance :p

 

I do think they purposely go lower on the scores because of the jiggles though :p  My only real hope is the game stays going for a long time :)

[BroCode]

But the graphics are outdated. the textures being used are old with fuzzy resolution being that its over 4-6 years old. That's not to say it isn't a beautiful game, but when compared to games coming/came in 2015-2016 lets just say its not up to par. Plus its the UE3 sooo lots of bad meshing.

[Azurrei]

The game is not perfect, that is for sure.  The game we have is also 3 years old and missing the vast majority of the content that currently exists...that doesn't help, at all.  Does it deserve those scores? No, imo it doesn't = it gets a solid 8 from me.  But see that is the thing, those reviews are biased whether they claim to be objective or not because those reviewers have their own opinions too.  Try it out yourself - are you having fun? Then who gives a @#$@ about what two very old, cranky gaming review sites say about the game.  Do you listen to movie reviewers? They @#$@ all over fun, entertaining movies all the time that they personally just don't like...same deal with games.

 

I also notice the severe lack of NcSoft advertisements running on those sites - probably just a coincidence that an NcSoft game got low ball scores, I'm sure...right? *cough*

[Darkwingz]

4 minutes ago, Darkwingz said:

Well, I saw Elsword changed it's graphics after how many years. Now that's a sidescroller game, and changing the graphics in blade and soul would take so much time, technology, planning, and money that all countries probably don't want to invest in. Plus, well...just as you said. Not everyone can afford $1000 Alienware for eye popping wowza graphics. It's not like you really need good graphics to enjoy the Blade and Soul storyline. It's kind of like playing a game action martial arts comic, which is pretty cool. Did I mention the high quality costumes?

 

1 minute ago, BroCode said:

But the graphics are outdated. the textures being used are old with fuzzy resolution being that its over 4-6 years old. That's not to say it isn't a beautiful game, but when compared to games coming/came in 2015-2016 lets just say its not up to par. Plus its the UE3 sooo lots of bad meshing.

Really? Do we really have to go over this again? Do you even know how much these servers cost? Do you even know how much money goes into producing high quality graphics? Millions, even billions. Plus, Blade and Soul was first out in Korea around that graphic quality timeframe. Updating it will just be a nightmare for the devs who just want to continue the story. 

[Aimscoes]

Well i haven't read them but i could guess why queit simple.

 

First of all the game has little to much no content, level cap is low and it's not much of a whole to do in the game. Especially to other "MMO's" 

Also the amount of bugs, and other similar stuffs are just hilarious at the moment, i haven't been able to use AH for 3 days... 

 

However it's a nice game but it seriously needs a lot more love before even considering going over 5/10 

[Darkwingz]

54 minutes ago, jwhennies said:

• Bots
• The Disconnecting
• People getting banned for buying ncoin
• Support takes a long time to get back to you
• also support not reading the tickets just copy paste.
• there are no devs here talking to us telling us whats going on
• outfits are not account bound
• Having to buy $20 of ncoin to get 1 month of premium 
• The bad translations and voice acting 
• Cross server dungeons leader can just take all the loot (ncsoft said this was ok)
• marketplace always crashing
• we are missing out on content
• server stability (mostly EU)
• "bugs" that are costing people Real cash

If that bug costing money is the costume transmutation, then we have to ask the devs for a change. Server stability is tested, but it's not a guaranteed flow if you have more players than anticipated...as WildStar proved. Every game has this issue once in a while, mostly due to events and the like drawing out more people. Not all voice actors are perfect, I agree, but sometimes cheaper is better in the long run. I thought the staff told us they were thinking of account bound costumes too... so maybe a wardrobe revamp will happen after content updates. Support, ah Nexon days... support is a pile of thousands or millions of emails at once and a time frame to sift through them. Robots seem helpful, but if you're  always short on personnel... then both you and your players are screwed. Well, that is a assuming that a fix isn't already in progress. Content. Content all at once is boring, very, very boring. There is nothing to do, so they give us content in different time frames so we don't get bored.

[Dalamar6]

TERA has better looking models by  massive long shot and doesn't have the gameguard rootkit tampering with your normal, harmless software and causing system crashes.

 

TERA uses iesnare (yes even in the launcher) to generate machine identification, which is probably why their bot ratio was lower. Also, the block list was bigger than **50**.

 

I quit TERA/GW2 for a reason but I'd honestly rate them both higher than BnS. Even after GW2 went f2p, the gold spam was manageable and I'm pretty sure even now they have more players than BnS.

 

 

Quote

Really? Do we really have to go over this again? Do you even know how much these servers cost? Do you even know how much money goes into producing high quality graphics? Millions, even billions. Plus, Blade and Soul was first out in Korea around that graphic quality timeframe. Updating it will just be a nightmare for the devs who just want to continue the story. 

You have no idea what you're talking about, ncwest only licenses the game from its parent and servers aren't that expensive. Besides that NCwest has had 6+ years worth of unfixed major security issues that any real admin would have fixed in a month or less, telling us not to give them out credit info unless we want it stolen.

 

With their butchering and censorship of the game they probably cut a lot of corners too! They had to hire the feminist SJWs on the translation team that no one else would take on the cheap.

 

Anyways before worrying about the game's mediocre graphics there are far more important issues to address. And simply updating textures shouldn't be quite that expensive, look how many games have had modifications or DLCs to increase graphics Hell, Skyrim had a one man mod that made a huge difference.

[Darkwingz]

2 minutes ago, Dalamar6 said:

TERA has better looking models by  massive long shot and doesn't have the gameguard rootkit tampering with your normal, harmless software and causing system crashes.

 

TERA uses iesnare (yes even in the launcher) to generate machine identification, which is probably why their bot ratio was lower. Also, the block list was bigger than **50**.

 

I quit TERA/GW2 for a reason but I'd honestly rate them both higher than BnS. Even after GW2 went f2p, the gold spam was manageable and I'm pretty sure even now they have more players than BnS.

 

 

You have no idea what you're talking about, ncwest only licenses the game from its parent and servers aren't that expensive. Besides that NCwest has had 6+ years worth of unfixed major security issues that any real admin would have fixed in a month or less, telling us not to give them out credit info unless we want it stolen.

 

With their butchering and censorship of the game they probably cut a lot of corners too! They had to hire the feminist SJWs on the translation team that no one else would take on the cheap.

 

Anyways before worrying about the game's mediocre graphics there are far more important issues to address. And simply updating textures shouldn't be quite that expensive, look how many games have had modifications or DLCs to increase graphics Hell, Skyrim had a one man mod that made a huge difference.

That 'femenist' quest you call bad localization was actually a good way to meet the ESRB rating. It still gives you the sense of why did I even help you, and prevents parents (yes, adult always read articles to see how bad the game is for their kid before give an okay) from suing them. The original content suggested something not very well thought of or accepted in America... marriage or even loss of chastity without consent.

[Sycogenesis]

The game does have allot of bad features and problems  but im still having fun

[Darkwingz]

1 minute ago, Sycogenesis said:

The game does have allot of bad features and problems  but im still having fun

Yep, we just have to wait. Lots of fixes means lots of time. These are problems that we as gamers probably know nothing abut the process of fixing anyways, so of course some of us won't just sit and wait.