The launch of Blade & Soul got much attention
NCSoft’s upcoming martial arts MMO Blade & Soul will put players in a grand Wuxia adventure filled with sorcery, betrayal, and fluid combat. The title recently added a seventh character class to the roster that will be available when the game launches in the West, but no release date or Founder’s Pack options were announced at that time. blade and soul gold That changed today with the release of three Founder’s Pack options alongside the announcement that the game is scheduled to release in early 2016.
Nearly four years ago, NCSoft launched Blade & Soul in South Korea. It’s an MMO built from NCSoft’s best and brightest, featuring the art of superstar Hyung Tae-Kim and a robust action combat system. The game has since been distributed to China, Japan, and Taiwan, but North American fans have had to muddle through a different language to enjoy the game. Those fans have been asking for a Western localization for years and NCSoft West finally delivered in January. Has Blade & Soul been worth the wait?
Blade & Soul is visually striking right from the beginning. Sure, Unreal Engine 3 shows its age here with relatively poor textures if you look at anything closeup, but the general artstyle is wonderfully unique. This is a Korean MMO and that culture is painted upon every surface, alongside some heavy wuxia influences. Mountainside cities stretch into the clouds, waterfalls dot the landscape, and vast deserts stretch out before you. Blade & Soul has some stunning vistas.
We learned earlier this year that that filming will begin this July for the Blade Runner sequel and now a little more information has surfaced for it. While didn’t have a premiere date at that point in time, Warner Bros. has now set that and it’s an interesting one as they’ve picked January 12th, 2018. We’ve seen growing movement into the winter months for films that normally wouldn’t be seen there as they’re able to do some good money if the material warrants it. Case in point is Deadpool but also some Christmas Day films that rae done as limited releases to generate Oscar buzz.
So the potential of a limited Christmas opening, ala The Revenant, and then a shift to full blown push afterward is there too. Add in new Star Wars films every Christmas season and by January 12th folks will be looking for something else, well, this blast from the past is definitely well situated. Founder’s Packs for Blade & Soul contain many benefits that players might expect. The three tiers of packs all include closed beta access in the fall, a three-day head start, character titles, and Premium Points. The Initiate Pack, at $24.99, grants these benefits for the cheapest price; however, players will receive more character titles, Premium Points, and other benefits for purchasing one of the two more expensive options.
As Blade & Soul veterans will know, the release of the game in North America and Europe is understandably behind the latest versions in Asian territories. Apart from a few classes that haven’t been made available yet here in the States, the story only leads through the first three acts of the game, whereas the Korean version is already through Act 7. NCSoft knows that it has to play catch up quite fast, as they admitted in a private meeting with me where they shared a wealth of information, especially if they expect North American and Europe to compete in the Blade & Soul World Championship on as equal footing as possible.
To that end, the developers already have an aggressive schedule in the content pipeline to be released over the first half of this year. The next choice of Founder’s Pack for Blade & Soul is the Disciple Pack at $74.99. blade & soul gold This pack includes everything in the Initiate Pack but also has an extra title, even more Premium Points, a name reservation slot, two extra character slots, 2,400 NCoin, a character alteration voucher, and a booster pack. The NCoin included in the Disciple Pack is about $30 worth of NCoin for use in the game. The pack also includes a 30-day Premium Membership to Blade & Soul.