If you feel that MMOs have done very little to help players separate themselves from the rest of the herd once logged onto a server, you won't have to worry about picking a head, a generic body and a class type only to find yourself one amongst many clones from a factory of genericism.
Black Desert, the upcoming MMO from Daum (probably pronounced “Day-um”, like “damn that game looks fine”) and Pearl Abyss is a huge step away from the typical MMORPGs out there. The game is being promoted as a true sandbox MMO with theme-park style engagement. You can perform things like farming, horse and animal gathering (or training), mining, resource management or even build your own little town.
The game is a far-cry from the typical South Korean World of Warcraft clones that have been flooding the market since World of Warcraft's release. This is definitely a good thing.
As you can see in the video above, taken from the game's second phase of closed beta, the graphics look phenomenal and I might be pressed to say that this has some of the best character visual and animation effects that I've seen in an MMO.
In fact, it's not just that the game has some of the most visually striking graphics this side of Star Citizen, but as pointed out by HITC Tech, the game has some of the most detailed character customization tools that I've ever witnessed in a game.
You can not only change the physical structure of your character from head to toe (literally) but you can change all sorts of other small details about your character: the frizz in their hair, the texture of their hair, the design of their facial features, the color and shape of their pupils, the thickness of their thighs, legs, waist, arms, chest and butt. You can make your character wide and flabby or thin and fit, or wide and fit... the possibilities are literally endless.
I sure hope that the tools aren't dumbed down when the game finally arrives Stateside, as I would hate to see that Americans get the ghetto Harlem edition of Black Desert while Korea, Japan and maybe Europe get the upstate Manhattan edition.
Black Desert is aiming to reshape the landscape of MMO games in Japan, Korea, Europe and North America sometime this generation.
The game could be arriving for the Xbox One and PS4 as well, but don't expect it to run at full native 1080p or look anywhere near as good as it does in the video above. We'll definitely keep you posted on if the game will launch for consoles or if it'll be another pipe dream like Blade & Soul on the PS3 and Xbox 360.
