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Dare to compare? Black Desert vs Archeage
M4ko
Member Posts: 385
So it's a Korean MMOrpg with lots of similarities to other Korean games.
Graphics are much better in BD. Animations also seem to be better. What other aspects can be compared?
Comments
Better combat
Very complex NPC interaction
Worse housing (if they go hybrid instanced/noninstanced than remove this con)
Mounted combat
It has parkour (aka assasins creed)
less complex crafting (theres not much info about crafting)
eve like economics
probably smaller, though more detailed world - but this is just a guess
everything is seamless including dungeons
no flying mounts
naval combat in development
I think I actually spent way more time reading and theorycrafting about MMOs than playing them
I saw a housing video, which included crafting. Crafting is sort of complex. You have to gather different types of materials, you then have to have recipes, different type of crafting requires different type of housing upgrades and and items in which you craft, such as cauldrons, anvils and such. You can also hire NPC workers to do crafting
Other PROs - Automated trading system by NPC caravans, which can be attacked. You can hire NPCs to attack caravans too.
reading the Russian dev forum, I notice how people are dissatisfied with Archeage in comparison to BD
well everything is confirmed from my knowledge, just to add that housing it will become hybrid and that crafting is deep but also weird, considering the fact you need to hire workers ...
All servers? You mean the one alpha server? Where they just banned 16,000 bots? ... yea, totally a dead game.
Troll or downright stupid, hard to tell.
Black Desert looks like a much better game to me on the surface.
but, who knows when us here in the west will even be able to play it.
at least I know I should get to try Archeage sometime this yr
All servers? There was ONE Alpha server open. Just one. They recently opened one more server for Alpha due to overcrowding. There were three times the number of people on the server than it was intended to hold. You really should know what you're talking about before you make these statements.
Sure we can try to compare. At this stage of both games it would be hard to be accurate, but you can at least try to compare the things we do know. With Archeage, sure its released already in parts of the world, but with NA version still Alpha, we dont know what the release version will be. There have already been major changes from the KN or RU versions to the NA, so take that for what it is. With Black Desert, it just finished, what, CBT2? in Korea. The RU and the NA version will definately be heavily changed from the Korean version as well, and the NA version is most likely a year or two away. So again, try to compare if you like, but everything thats stated here is subject to change before either game is actually launched.
That being said, lets start:
Graphics, Environment, and Character models. Honestly, some may disagree here, but they are so similar they could be copy/pasted and interchanged. The edge up here goes to BD just because of the character creation, but the graphics themselves are not better or worse than AA. Also the weather systems in BD far outweigh other MMOs, I love the "wet" look during and after rains, and places are left muddy with puddles. This is unique to BD, and a huge plus, even though the actual textures arent any better than other MMOs, like AA.
Classes in AA are combined from multiple skill lines, which gives you about 120 different class choices, in BD CBT2 there were 4. Not only that, but BD will have gender locked classes. Some of the classes sound like gender counterparts, male warriors to female valkaries, and male wizards to female sorceresses, but they will have unique abilities and wont truly be equal counterparts, so yes, fully gender locked classes.. Thats a huge negative here.
Housing in AA is full open world. Even farming is tied into the housing land available and it means real estate is a very important part of the game. In BD housinig will be instanced, which means anyone can have it, and its not contested. What it does have is the tents. These work similar to AA farms, in that you place them in the open world, and you can farm and cultivate around it. Unlike AA though, when you are done with it, or moving on to the next location, you can just pack it up and take it with you. That means the land is open world use, but not nearly as contested as AA in that housing/farming plots are permanent, and there doesnt seem to be a tax or upkeep to the tents. I wont mark this one in either games favor, since some people will be happy they can have a house without fighting over the land, although I will say, that I feel AA is more "sandbox" with this feature having open world housing and not instanced, and the permanance of the land use, making it contested and highly sought after.
Combat This is one again people will have mixed feeling about. Combat in BD is much faster paced and requires alot more button presses, and some would argue "skill", to be effective. AA combat harkens back to MMOs of old, with multiple hotkey bars, and button mashing, and moving away from the new action combat of roll dodging, blocking and limited skill sets. BD is trying to use key combos to get that "arcade" feel, but if anyone remembers Age of Conan, that system is doomed to fail. Sure its unique and fun at first, but pressing a million key combos to kill every single trash mob you come to gets very repeatative and boring. This in the end makes combat a chore, not something that is fun and exciting. Luckily, they have a limited skill hotbar you can use, to add a small number of skills, to alleviate the massive button pressing from combos, so in the end that could save them. The biggest flaw in combat comes from no healers. Combat in its current state requires potion spamming, and in many fights the victor is the one with more potions, not skill. Hopefully this gets corrected at some point, but until it does, BD combat is doomed to fail.
Leveling in AA comes naturally. You get a decent amount from grinding mobs, and huge chunks from questing. Its pretty common fair these days, but its nice that they give players the option, instead of requiring all questing, or all grinding. In BD right now, its 100% pure Asian grind. Questing offers zero xp at all, so ALL leveling comes from mob grinding. This is a huge negative, and subject to change, but if it doesnt, will drive away nearly all players but the most dedicated grinders.
PVP i will skip over, because BD as of now doesnt have a working PVP system. Also tied into PVP is the castle siege system, which is incomplete and currently doesnt work in BD, so you cant compare it to AA, which has both a very full working PVP system and castle sieging system.
Auction house in BD is very small and limited to the area around it. This means there is alot of traveling to find just the goods you need, and limited both supply and demand, and it takes alot more work from the supplies to advertise which town you need to be in as well. In AA, the auction house is cross-server. This means a very wide supply and demand structure, which some will argue means lower prices, but not necessarily. As supply grows from having multiple servers worth of people listing items, so does demand, with the same number of people buying those items. The difference here is the convenience of being able to find the item you are looking for. In BD you have to be at exactly the right place at the right time, and talk to the right person, in my book, this is a huge negative.
For any other systems I missed, like crafting, I just dont know much about, so I left it out. Feel free to compare them for yourselves, or just wait until theres more information. For a more indepth look at Black Desert to expand on the things I have written here, check out this guys hands-on impressions of the beta. He covers way more, and shows alot of footage of the things hes talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqlLe4Nhn-U
If they pull off Black Desert I and many many other will be there. I just however don't think they can pull it off and it will feel and fail like Two Worlds back in the day. Please though make me wrong I want the game as much as most.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
i'm a sandbox fan, i played both CBT1 and CBT2 (although i only played 7 hours during CBT2) and the game did not appeal at all to me. that game feels so wrong for a sandbox.. i mean there is everything, but at the same time everything feels so poor.. well that's my opinion.
as for archeage, i really like that game. the fighting is a bit lacking but all the rest is so good that it covers up that little default
Women can't be priests? Men cannot be the male equivalent of courtesans? Then it is retarded like it or not.
Actually, the more appropriate statement would be "Men can't be VALKYRIES?! MADNESS!"
There is a point where this gender politicking gets kind of stupid, and from what I've seen of Black Desert the line is in the sand.
I hope BD is not like archage in most important aspect - every game begins (and ends) for me with it's combat system. After all the visuals and trailers i vent to Archage and afterr seeing/feeling combat system it was pretty quick quit/uninstall.
The era of "clickers" have ended long ago, about when AOC and some other involving action combat games like Terra appeared. No visuals or anything will save a game if it's combat system is bad, primitive and unininvolving
Gender lock is plus for me (not a huge one, but still). It makes the classes feel less generic.
Cross-server auction house is not desirable in games like these. Such an easy way to give life and interaction to the game by having trading limited. I don't understand why game companies don't realize this. Why pretty much nuke concept of logistics and trading from sandbox game. Especially if it's PvP focused game, ugh. Didn't know Archage was case of this.
I have very little knowledge of BD so far but what i have seen none looks very good.
The animations/combat are more in line with arcade type action which i don't like it looks too cheesy.The animations are that 100mph spam type again not what i like.The buildings/structures look a typical Korean meaningless 2d structures but i would have to see a lot more to know if this is common throughout the game or not.
Me personally i am always looking for a good new game but it is not about comparing to other games but it has to justify itself on it's own accord.
I simply don't have enough on BD yet to know weather i would like it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Meh, i've typed two pages worth of text just to flush it with the "back" button...
Anyway, i don't know much about either of these games, though i'm in the OBT of AA.
Im yet to see what it holds late game.
Because the starting zone is what i've seen in 999 other mmo, just with a lot more bug.
Like an NPC talking to you in English, the switching to Korean at the next sentence.
At the other hand, i don't expect being able to play BD in the near future within EU.
But after watching a few video i can tell, im going to love BD's combat system over AA's for sure.
So as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Also, sad as it is, by the time we get our hands on it, we will look forward for another upcoming title, and so on.
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I'd rather compare it to Boobs & Soul though. The combat and art style is closer to that one.
I just hope it won't be another game that can be "finished" with just using a single skill continously, combined with 1-2 auto attack to regen "rage". Because B&S's action combat is degraded to such extent, even a monkey could reach endgame.
^ i concur x100
Witty & Wicked
Black Gold is made for adults, not eye candy auto run to every quest while rainbows fly out your arse.
Archage: want to mine, you cant no points, want to NO points..........
Black Gold has a set of Brass Balls THIS BIG
Havent' played BD or AA, but have seen some AA vids, and lots of BD ones, so i will only post about what i (think i) know. I will try to convey my feel towards Black Desert mostly, and not so much a methodical analysis of it. It's worth what it's worth. Feel free to add or correct anything i might have missed or left incomplete.
What's really keeping me on the lookout for Black Desert so far:
1. Graphics
Game has it's own engine. They are beatiful, true eye candy, and though they alone aren't a decisive factor, they sure make me want to explore the world of BD and and feel that immersion.
Graphics are therefore differente from AA, which uses the Cryengine 3.
Dont like how objects seem to pop in and out your screen, which i understand may help performance, but either there should be an option to increse the draw distance and/or to have objects fade, and not pop. I dont like the popping honestly.
2. Environment
Another aspect helping with immersion.
Day-Night Cycle that actually alters gameplay: new quests become available, different monsters come out at night, some (or most?) nps change or become available/unavailable
Rain creates puddles of water that remain even after it has stopped rainning, very cool, specially with the graphics and light reflections it looks amazing.
Parkour system: No more trying to jump over small walls and constantly bumping into them while recognizing that realistically your char could just climb over it. In BD, you do climb walls like that, and buildings from what i've seen. Adds alot to realism and immersion from my perspective.
Grass actually gets cut down out in the open field as you swing your sword to strike enemies ! Although i dont like how it gets cut down in rather large areas at a time, like you swing with a short sword and suddently a totally unproportional area of grass gets cut down. They should fix this.
3. Combat System
True Action Combat, like TERA. Aim, Dodge, Roll, Strafe, Block, Strike, Cast. Fantastic. Your skills will matter.
These are the main aspects for me right now. Here are some other aspects of the game (likely incomplete list):
4. 8 Classes to Explore: Warrior, Valkyrie, Sorceress, Wizard, Giant, Archer, Tamer, Blader
5. Skill Tree/Customization: From what i've seen the skill tree is big and allows for some nice skill custumization (further that TERA's it seems)
6. 8000+ Quests just added for CBT3
7. Variety of instanced & open-world dungeons
8. Open World PvP: PKrs get penalties for killing players
9. Siege/Castles PvPing and GvG
10. Different types of guilds:Trading and Battle specialized
11. Guild Skillpoints
12. Conquest System: Taking control of regions and regulating taxes for those regions, etc
13. Weapon and Armor Enhancing System: Much like Tera's +1, +2 ,+3, etc,., system. Havent heard about stat rerolling though.
14. Weapon and Armor Socketing
15. Field Bosses, Summoned Bosses, Quest/Mission Bosses
16. Mounted Combat
17. Knowledge/Wiki System: NPC interactions are made interesting. Minigames with NPCS become available according to the knowledge you gather around the world (like exploring areas gives you knowledge about those areas, fighting different monsters gives you knowledge about that, or advancing on your crafts, reading books, knowing NPCs, etc). Different NPCs are interested in different topics and you must have gathered sufficient knowledge points (regariding certain topics of interest) to interact with them and acess the. These minigames increse the intimacy level with the NPCS and provided you get to certain levels, these NPCS will make certain bonuses available to you, like buffs. Not sure if there are item rewards, havent looked into it that deep. You also can acess to the knowledge you gathered in form of an ingame Wikipedia.
18. Reputation System: You gain reputation and points to unlock acess to alot of stuff within a particular area or region
19. Resource Gathering System: Mining, Skinning, Sap Extracting, Wood Choping, Harvesting - Some resources you can gather yourself, other times you can hire and send NPCS
20. Crafting System: 5 crafts; Has depth all right, from gathering, to processing, to crafting. Crafting Skills
21. Non-centralized Auction House System: Different AH's are not connected; There are even other places to sell your stuff to players
22. Hybrid Housing System: Instanced and non-instanced player housing. Can even convert houses into craft shops, storages, etc;
23. Tent System: Can use tents throughout the world, plant your own seeds and harvest fruits and vegetables;
24. Mount Taming;
25. Mount Training;
26. Cow Milking;
27. NPC Pickpocket;
28. Flute playing minigame;
29. Fishing;
30. Pigeon Shooting;
31. Armor Dyeing;
32. Weapon and Armor appearance remodeling;
33. Pets;
34. Upcoming Naval System: There are plans to implement a Naval Transportation and Combat System - "Yes naval transportation and combat will be present in Black Desert Online,"; "Players will be able to control boats and ships and depending on the kind of naval unit, there will be the possibility to board it with more than one person.";
What i'm unsure about is the storyline... a game like this has to have a compelling storyline and i really hope they come up with a fantastic one to keep us interested enough. I'm guessing the 8000 quests just added may have something to do with that. Looking forward to it.
Am unsure about genderlock and how it may impact the game, considering the whole lot this game already has to offer.
This is just my own opinion and appreciation of the game. Needless to say i'm hyped up, kind of like this:
Happy playing, whichever mmo you are into.
I heard there is no levels in Black Desert and that progression is done via farming reputations. Is that true?