by Mrs StixBlack Desert Mobile Launch Impressions
Today I’m back again to take a look at Black Desert Mobile that recently launched free to play earlier this month for IOS and Android.
Black Desert Online is a monster that has dominated quite literally every platform for a sandbox MMORPG, so it’s only natural that it would shift over to mobile as well. But for someone that comes from the PC version of the game, I had expectations, and boy were they met.
So first off, let’s just get the big obvious thing out of the way, yes, the graphics are still phenomenal even from the phone. If there’s one thing anyone can say about Black Desert in general, it’s that it looks damn nice. The character customization leaves nothing lacking, while the classes are minimal, they’re still fantastic. There were 3 possible server choices, all of which were labeled as “busy,” which is a great sign right out the gate. Too often have Stix and I logged into a new game and seen the population display “medium,” or even worse, “low.”
As of this video there are currently five classes available. The Warrior, Ranger, Witch, Giant – yes, that’s actually the name of the class, not the race, and Valkyrie.
Just like the non-mobile platforms, these are gender-locked. More classes are of course to follow after the game moves through its launch and into more stable waters.
One of the first things I noticed while playing the game was that this game felt more like a traditional MMO than the non-mobile game does. There’s a sense of a more linear course of quests and more input of voice acting, and they took their time with it.
This of course doesn’t hinder the very open-world feel of Black Desert, it just gives you a sense of a bit more purpose while playing.
And before you say, “But Mrs Stix, there’s loading screens,” yes, there are loading screens between areas unlike the traditional BDO, but honestly it doesn’t diminish the feeling like you could just go anywhere and wander around quite a bit.
Within these regions are world bosses that you can go and tackle by yourself or with fellow BDOers that you’ll see wandering around at every corner of the game.
There’s daily quests, daily log in rewards, and events like the winter celebratory log-in event going on right now to help boost your character, so now is a great time to get on and join in on the fun.
Another big change between the traditional BDO and the mobile version, is the addition of your own camp.
Here you can hire workers from a pub, hope that they can sober themselves up enough to build up lodging, have a forge going to get more black stones to enhance your gear, and just so much more.
There’s also even some ancient ruins you can enter into and fight a boss with other players to give yourself boosts and gear.
There’s even a spot where you can craft, and there’s a gathering system within the game where you can go out and get supplies to come back and build up your base, craft potions and gear and so much more.
There’s just so much that goes into the camp playing a major part in your life in the mobile game that I’d recommend looking up a guide.
You also have a stable which you can breed two horses that have reached max level to create an even better horse. Oh, and to put the icing on top of the cake, your horse just pops out when you whistle for it in the world.
No more leaving your horse behind and forgetting where you put it or having it die not on your watch. I can’t tell you how many times that has happened to me on the PC version.
At level 18, you unlock the PvP arena where you can go head to head with other players. PvP has never been my strong suit, but the auto-play function is not active during this feature.
You can choose to have it on or off whilst playing in-world, I personally prefer to turn it off as I like feeling like I’m in charge of my own mobile destiny.
And let’s be honest, if you’re going to play BDO, you’re going to play it for the pretties and the combat, so you might as well do it yourself! There is also auto-pathing just like the PC version, so no real change there.
Another quality of life change that they made for the mobile version is the use of black stones, yes, they’re still apart of the leveling of gear, but now your gear levels can be transferred to higher quality gear with ease!
So that 7+ green gear you have can be transferred to your new blue gear. Your gear will also no longer break when you’re leveling it, which to me, is a life saver.
You can also enhance your black spirit with gear you’ve collected and not using. And also after you defeat the boss Giath, you unlock Black Spirit Mode, which will run for three hours after you’ve exited the game to continue garnering you xp and items!
So to say that Black Desert hasn’t gone all out on making their mobile game something unique but a wonderful echo of the original game that we know and love, would be a straight up lie.
This is perhaps one of the best mobile games I’ve played in all my time. There’s just so much to do.
I will admit though that the user interface feels a little clustery at the start, and even overwhelming, but after I kept playing it for awhile, things started to make sense to me and I felt less…I guess less baffled by it as time went one.
I understand why they had to make each thing on there as there is just so much offered within the game itself. But you guys are going to have to see how you feel about it for yourself! Download and try the game today!
This was Mrs Stix, logging off for now, bye!
