“Bless Unleashed and Bless Online are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!”

So here we are. Again. Talking about Bless. But not Bless Online – at least, not as the focal point of this video. On August 24th I posted a video titled “Bless Unleashed – An Upcoming FREE TO PLAY MMORPG Remake Of Bless Online Launching In 2019!“.
The video itself went on to garner over 50,000 views, have almost 500 people comment – most showing their distaste and disinterest in the game, and it had a 90% like ratio.. with upwards of 700 likes.
While I’m not using this as a way to gloat about the video, I do want to use it as reference to show that there are still a lot of players – MMO players, not specifically just Bless players, that are still interested in the game.
Whether that interest is purely to see the game crash and burn further than it already has, or if it’s to see whether the game will ever get better.
Regardless, there is still a large amount of interest surrounding the game.

At PAX West this year, Bandai Namco released their first official announcement trailer for Bless Unleashed.. and let me just get this out of the way first: It looked good. The announcement trailer itself looked good, it looked like what Bless Online should have been.
They’re using a new engine to power the game so the game itself looks a lot better. Character movement is much more fluid, combat is faster and looks a lot better.. but that’s it.
All we saw from the new announcement trailer is that the game looks a little prettier. Underneath that new shell, the game is still another game under the Neowiz owned Bless IP.
At PAX there were quite a few people allowed to get their hands on the game.
I was personally invited up to PAX to test the game out through email and talk to the development team behind the scenes, with promises of clearing up any confusion – in an attempt to improve my disposition towards the game, especially after my last video.
Unfortunately, with my trip to Disney World next week, I didn’t have the time nor funding to fly out there for that, so I ultimately had to turn it down.
Although I have been promised a 1 on 1 call with the development team in the near future (keep an eye out for that,) the fact remains that what people have said.. hasn’t been all that promising.

As I had pointed out in my last video, the classes are the same.. the world is the same.. a lot of the game, including resources and designers are the same.
They did make it a point to very adamantly profess the game’s difference from Bless Online.
The lead Producer for the game actually went on to say that “The biggest difference between Bless Unleashed and Bless Online is that they are actually completely different.”
He went on to mention that “the teams are producing some very different gameplay styles“, and “there are not even any common areas, actually.” but that was it.

Then there is the removal of tab-target all together, making for, what they claim is a true action MMORPG.
Bless Online had an action camera mode, and Bless Unleashed seems to be fully scrapping any and all ideas of tab-target whatsoever.
This means that the combat is much more comparable to Black Desert or Elder Scrolls Online than, say, something like Final Fantasy XIV or WoW.
And while the combat did actually look alright.. and I can’t say for certain since I wasn’t there and didn’t experience it first hand, I don’t think it’s as drastic of an improvement as they make it seem.

So we have improved graphics, a re-telling of the story from a different perspective, and the removal of tab-target combat.. but that, at least at this point in time, seems like is it.
Although there are technically “new teams” working on Bless Unleashed, the IP itself still belongs completely to Neowiz. At the end of the day, Bandai Namco confirmed that it will share a lot of the same resources and designers as Bless Online.
That in and of itself is reason enough to steer clear of Bless Unleashed.

I’m not much of a pessimistic person, often preferring to remain optimistic about games and their releases, just as I was for Bless Online.
However, Neowiz have screwed players over to such an abhorrent degree that I cannot with any faith recommend anything they’re associated with. Especially something they’re lending their designers and resources to.

I mean, sure. Bless Unleashed is going to consoles – a market where there isn’t much in the way of competition for the genre. You have a few games, but the market itself – on consoles, especially, is quite starved for diversity.
The game is also going free to play, meaning you won’t be required to spend a single cent on the game to play it.
But, at least pertaining to the latter statement, that means that the game is going to have quite the hefty price to pay in terms of a cash shop.
If any of you have played a South Korean MMORPG you know full well how damaging their cash shops are.
And you can be certain that Neowiz, who screwed over their PC fanbase – the ones that gave them the funding to continue pushing out other titles for a few bucks are greedy as all hell.
They value your money more than anything – clearly, otherwise they wouldn’t have released Bless Online in such a wrecked, such a ruined state. It was absolutely disgusting, the state it was released in.

Bless Online itself is barely able to hold a thousand concurrent players online at any given time.. what makes you think their.. fourth? I think it’s fourth? Maybe fifth? I dunno, I lost count at this point.
Regardless, what makes you think their console version is going to be any different? What makes you think their console iteration of Bless isn’t going to be another cash grab?
Because it’s being done in association with Bandai Namco? Please.

Bless Unleashed is Bless Online with shiny new wrapping. People will realize that and the game will die as fast as Bless Online did.
But that’s not before the game releases onto Xbox One, then onto PS4, makes a shit ton of money from their cash shop and gullible players, then decides a year later to re-port their console version to PC as a free to play title. Just watch!
They already have Bless Mobile planned as well. Their goal to royally screw over as many players on as many platforms as possible is coming to fruition.

They’ve already fucked us PC supporters in the ass. Console players, you’re next.

Now, while I don’t, won’t, can’t, and likely will never support any Bless title.. I’d still love to talk to the developers about the game.
I’d still love to hear what they have to say, what they plan on doing differently, and how they plan on tackling the fact that there is so much hate for the IP as a whole now.
I want to know what they honestly believe they can do that will harbor any good will from the playerbase – what their thinking is behind why they believe the game will be any form of success.

And finally, while I am pessimistic about Bless Unleashed.. that’s just me.
I believe Bless Online was ruined by poor management, no bug testing, no alphas, no betas, developers making radical changes to the game such as large damage buffs and nerfs, and a general lack of understanding of how to publish an MMORPG.
But if they’re working in conjunction with Bandai Namco, then maybe it’ll be handled better. Maybe this version of Bless is the version of Bless we should’ve gotten for PC.
Maybe if Neowiz had released Bless Unleashed on PC instead of the failed, recycled piece of trash we got, the game would’ve succeeded. It certainly had the hype to.
What I’m trying to say though is that this is, ultimately, at the end of the day.. my opinion.
I’m not with 100% certainty and clarity claiming that Bless Unleashed is going to be absolute pay to win garbage. I’m saying it will probably be pay to win garbage.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t play it – I’m saying you should go in cautiously – knowing that it could be as terrible as Bless Online. I’m saying you shouldn’t get your hopes up.

I’m saying.. just, be careful. Like every MMO, good or bad, I’ll be checking it out and giving my honest impressions of the game after a solid 10 hours when it releases.

Now, what are your thoughts on Bless Unleashed? What do you want, what don’t you want? The fact that the Bless Unleashed team watched my video and responded to some of my concerns shows that they are actively watching..
If you want your voice heard, if you want your opinion seen.. make sure to write it all out in a comment below. Be civil. Who knows, if enough of you care, they may take notice and make changes accordingly.