Need to get this game added to the list here at mmorpg.com. Its looking pretty good so far and its still quite early in development.

From an interview on Steparu (http://steparu.com/previews/mmo-rpg-previews/897-black-desert-online-interview) here is some key information / features they touched on:

1. Beautiful looking seamless world

2. Action / Dynamic combat with manual attacking,  dodging, blocking.

3. Mounted combat ( (inspired by games like Red Dead Redemption) with features like horse drifting

4. Known list of races (not confirmed if complete): Giant, Hobbit, Elf, Dwarf, Human

5. Known classes (May be incomplete, and names may change): Fighter, Ranger, Sorcerer, Beast,  nd Tamer (? im assuming that is supposed to say Beast Tamer, but could be wrong, maybe 2 different things)

6. Siege system which incorporates things such as friendly fire with siege weaponry, manual moving, loading, aiming, and firing of cannonballs & cannons

7. PK is possible but the system & rules hasnt been fleshed out yet

8. There will be a guild war / GvG system

9. Chance to drop items when killing another player, though certain bound items will not drop. Sounds like a partial loot system, not full loot like in DF

10. The ability to develop unique relationships with NPCs which can gain players access to buy special items, receive gifts, special quests, access to special areas, or assistance in their journey. Developing relationships with some NPCs changes your relationships (or blocks your ability to have relationships) with other NPCs who they are opposed to.

11. Mix of open world and instanced dungeons

12. Mix of solo, party, and raid dungeons

13. A lot of cosmetic gear for unique looks

14. "Parkour System" - think along the lines of games like Prince of Persia, Assassins Creed, etc with wall climbing, crazy jumps, etc. Mor einfo on this here: http://steparu.com/latest-news/910-black-desert-online-parkour

15. Player housing. Housing can be purchased by players in fields, towns, and cities. Though you will not be able to freely build complete houses wherever you want in the fields, you will be able to  setup "tents" for temporary housing. (Details so far on housing: http://steparu.com/previews/mmo-rpg-previews/905-black-desert-housing-system)

16. Housing allows you to customize your home with things such as stores, smithing houses, etc.

For your viewing pleasure:

HD Screenshots: http://steparu.com/previews/mmo-rpg-previews/880-black-desert-hd-screenshots

Preview trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNtB5DoJ6OI

Unfortunately it looks tlike theyre aiming for just a Korean release in 2013, but the game is looking great so far and hopefully it makes its way to the rest of the world not long after.

preview trailer looks great! 

Those close up of the characters was pretty amazing.....The faces look great lol.

This game has a lot of interesting things. But I'm not sure yet how much freedom it will offer as a Sandbox game. Will the cool clothing and/or wearables be class/level specific? Will level grinding dominate and separate players into zoned content?

I have to say I don't like the idea of "bind on pick up". That brings to mind too much of a Themepark experience, but I'm not sure yet. Will players be able to sell/trade bound items? Is this to level base the items? If the only reason is to protect players from loss to PKers, then a strong "Justice System" can be effective without such restrictions.

They should have a better idea of how to handle PKers from the start. I'd suggest either a strong Justice System or a limiting Faction System that's based within the world.

It's critical that they get both the PvP systems and the social elements (through level power gaps and trade) right, or they may have a Themepark experience with mostly useless Sandbox features.

The housing system sounds great. I love the idea of player houses being an integral part of cities and villages.

Overall, I'm hopeful. There's things that make me think they may just get this right for a great Sandbox World full of adventure and excitement. I have those fears though, that they'll let old ideas creep in and spoil what could be.

Originally posted by Amaranthar

This game has a lot of interesting things. But I'm not sure yet how much freedom it will offer as a Sandbox game. Will the cool clothing and/or wearables be class/level specific? Will level grinding dominate and separate players into zoned content?

I have to say I don't like the idea of "bind on pick up". That brings to mind too much of a Themepark experience, but I'm not sure yet. Will players be able to sell/trade bound items? Is this to level base the items? If the only reason is to protect players from loss to PKers, then a strong "Justice System" can be effective without such restrictions.

They should have a better idea of how to handle PKers from the start. I'd suggest either a strong Justice System or a limiting Faction System that's based within the world.

It's critical that they get both the PvP systems and the social elements (through level power gaps and trade) right, or they may have a Themepark experience with mostly useless Sandbox features.

The housing system sounds great. I love the idea of player houses being an integral part of cities and villages.

Overall, I'm hopeful. There's things that make me think they may just get this right for a great Sandbox World full of adventure and excitement. I have those fears though, that they'll let old ideas creep in and spoil what could be.

It's not really a sandbox game. They already confirmed that player house creation would not exist. You can have a house but it has to be one that's alreaady there in the city and you have to win it in an auction. So you can't go making a house wherever you want. 

To me that makes it a non-sandbox game.

Originally posted by Razeekster

Originally posted by Amaranthar

This game has a lot of interesting things. But I'm not sure yet how much freedom it will offer as a Sandbox game. Will the cool clothing and/or wearables be class/level specific? Will level grinding dominate and separate players into zoned content?

I have to say I don't like the idea of "bind on pick up". That brings to mind too much of a Themepark experience, but I'm not sure yet. Will players be able to sell/trade bound items? Is this to level base the items? If the only reason is to protect players from loss to PKers, then a strong "Justice System" can be effective without such restrictions.

They should have a better idea of how to handle PKers from the start. I'd suggest either a strong Justice System or a limiting Faction System that's based within the world.

It's critical that they get both the PvP systems and the social elements (through level power gaps and trade) right, or they may have a Themepark experience with mostly useless Sandbox features.

The housing system sounds great. I love the idea of player houses being an integral part of cities and villages.

Overall, I'm hopeful. There's things that make me think they may just get this right for a great Sandbox World full of adventure and excitement. I have those fears though, that they'll let old ideas creep in and spoil what could be.

It's not really a sandbox game. They already confirmed that player house creation would not exist. You can have a house but it has to be one that's alreaady there in the city and you have to win it in an auction. So you can't go making a house wherever you want. 

To me that makes it a non-sandbox game.

I don't agree with you at all. Even a great Sandbox game can't be perfect and totally realistic.

I do think it could be better than this. Myself, in an ideal Sandbox world, uyou'd be able to build anywhere but also be subject to destruction from MOB attacks, the elements, faction enemies, etc. That would give city housing a reason, and make thing more realistic and add game play.

But that would require a new level of code to answer all the problems. So, I can give on some things in the interest of a great Sandbox game. This is better than urban sprawl like UO had, and gives cities more meaning as a "home" to the players.

As always though, we don't know enough to be able to see how this game will play. Themepark or Sandbox? Could still be either one.

http://translate.goo...907090/&act=url

Based on what I could piece together from Google-Translate (which we know how well Google Translates Korean! /sarcasm), this is all the news I could figure out from this interview. I can not determine if the developer being interviewed is actually the lead developer from the Korean team, or if it is the lead developer from the Japanese Company that has signed a contract for publishing and localization in Japan. Kim seems to be a common Korean name though, so I will assume it is one of the head developers from PearlAbyss.

Combat:

I'm not 100% sure on this, but from what I tried to piece together it sounds like there may be an implication of use for each hand as far as basic attacks go. (Such as attack on one mouse button, and a shield block with the other mouse button as an example akin to Skyrim) There will be special skills on a hotbar just like any other MMO which is to be expected that will allow people to use special abilities with the numerical keys. Stamina also is supposed to play a part in the system. Interestingly enough, some of the words that translated on the webpage of different abilities (generalized as pertaining to a warrior, not sure if they're things that might be implemented for other classes as well), were things such as Kick, Block, Grab, Shield, and Attack. Kim says that he wants attacks to feel powerful, and that combat should have a realistic feel to it. I'm hoping that this means that it will be less button mashing, but using timing, and exploiting openings in your opponents defense as a means to fight rather than, hack and slash until one persons health runs out. If this is the case, the combat in this game has the potential to be completely amazing.

Economy / Political / Housing

While it wasn't described in detail how each system works, Kim said that players will be able to purchase and own most real estate in the game world, from farms, to mines, lumber mills, etc. etc. You can work these locations manually, or when you acquire enough income, you can hire NPCs to work your property and establishments. There was no mention as to what limits a player may have such as how much real estate one player can own. A particularly interesting part of this discussion was the brief mentioning of economy and sieges. Specifically he spoke on raising taxes and regional exports to help fund any war efforts. This largely implies that there is most likely going to be some sort of political system in place. As they mentioned that there are two factions, and the map is divided up by multiple regions, this indicates that the political system most likely operates on a typical medieval Fief/vassal and Lord system. Each Region is specified to have one keep governing that region, and it has resources and exports that are specific to that region. This fuels the importance of trade between players, and an active economy... and of course, War. While players are unable to build cities, it was said, "players can purchase houses, real estate, and businesses within the cities." It makes it elusive on just what properties can be purchased or how many there are per a city, but I'm kind of imagining in my mind, a Fable-esque real estate system, where all houses/shops may be accessible, and can be purchased by players. NPCs will play a big role in the game, you can hire them to acquire resources from farms, mines, lumber mills you own, or set up shops and hubs of trade with them. As the siege test was done with "NPC" mercs, 40 per a developer (10 developers versus 10 developers and about 400 soldiers per a side total), it leaves me to assume that you can hire NPCs as guards or travel companions. There is no word on what the limit might be, but it might be cool if your a rich lord who's got the money to back it up, to hire a little personal army.

Siege Warfare / PvP

In the video shown at the signing ceremony, it was said that  there were ten developers in the siege combat per each side, with 40 NPC mercenaries each making a total of 400v400. Currently, they are saying they do not want to make a limit on how many people can participate on a siege. They're were running at about 20 FPS when running 400v400 at high spec, and most likely running on High End machines. Their aim is to make it very smooth and offer many levels of detail, and this is specifically why they decided to build their own engine. There are several regions in the game, and one keep governing that region. You are able to attack the gates, tear down the walls with artillery, or alternatively you can scale the walls with ladders and siege equipment.

There are at this time a total of five classes. Though the exact names I can not confirm, the translated words imply that they will be as follows:

Knight - Sword and Shield Class, and probably the main Tank class.
Archer / Ranger / Hunter (Or as translated: Elf) - type class for ranged damage.
Sorcerer - Supposed to have both ranged and close distance magical attacks.
Tamar  - Supposed to be something related to animals, and it is said to fight alongside your pet. (I'd guess between some sort of Feral/Ranger/Druid type class.)
Giant - The big guy with the two axes, and most assuredly your Melee DPS class.

There is absolutely no confirmation if any of the classes will be gender or race specific.




It was also confirmed by the developers that this game is infact, in their own words, intended to be a sandbox, and based on what we know about the economy/political/war/real estate I'd say even though you might not be able to build your cities, this is shaping up to be just that indeed. It seems like it will be a very politically motivated game with an equal emphasis on crafting/economy as much, (and Kim himself said he did not want to make the action the primary focus) if not more so than a war game.

Having read the bits and pieces and placing the puzzle pieces together I am now much more interested in this game than first glance. Its definately going to be worth keeping an eye on.

EDIT: http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09/24/black-deserts-housing-system-detailed/

Seems to suggest from the information Steparu is getting from the Devs that ALL the buildings will be purchasable.

Thanks for your take, Wes4mu089. That sounds interesting.

One very big question I have is what happens when a player buys, lets say a city blacksmith shop, and then stops playing while maintaining the account? Could cities end up being "dead" (of activity), and no way for other players to do anything about it?

It does sound economically interesting as a game world, assuming there's no problems like above.

I love the idea, and have been saying so for years, of involving NPCs in the activities of the players like this, under player control. Hirelings. It's like Player Vendors expanded, making the game world both more player controlled and NPC active, which in turn makes the game world more interesting and "alive" even when only a small percentage are online at a given time.

The benefits to the economic system as far as how things work can be monumental. One thing that's been missing in our game's economics is the aspect of "time of production". Making 100 swords (by one player) in a few minutes completely removes a viable aspect of economics and the game play that can be involved in contracts, negotiations, investment, value, etc. I'd dearly love to see this aspect in a Sandbox game, because it adds an entire new level of game play that can bring players together in group efforts and interdependent economic  game play.

Think this way. If you're going to build a small army of NPCs, what about outfitting them and supplying them? What sorts of armor are you going to produce for them, and what kind of weaponry? How many arrows do you need to supply them with? What about food and clothing for them? And shelter? Supply lines? Think tactical warfare.

A sandbox with classes?

Hmmm.

Originally posted by nethervoid
I think they have too many themepark elements to make a good sandbox.

You have to realize - if you're waiting for sandbox with as much sand as UO had (or more) and with reasonably big budget and professional team behind then you might as well wait another 15 years for release like that.

Medium-big budget sandbox that are incoming (they don't have budgets of size of Swtor or GW2 after all)  namely ArcheAge and Black Desert do have big themepark elements. 

If you're waiting for 'perfect sandbox', UO or SWG second coming then you're up to a very long wait.

Originally posted by Amaranthar

Thanks for your take, Wes4mu089. That sounds interesting.

One very big question I have is what happens when a player buys, lets say a city blacksmith shop, and then stops playing while maintaining the account? Could cities end up being "dead" (of activity), and no way for other players to do anything about it?

It does sound economically interesting as a game world, assuming there's no problems like above.

I love the idea, and have been saying so for years, of involving NPCs in the activities of the players like this, under player control. Hirelings. It's like Player Vendors expanded, making the game world both more player controlled and NPC active, which in turn makes the game world more interesting and "alive" even when only a small percentage are online at a given time.

The benefits to the economic system as far as how things work can be monumental. One thing that's been missing in our game's economics is the aspect of "time of production". Making 100 swords (by one player) in a few minutes completely removes a viable aspect of economics and the game play that can be involved in contracts, negotiations, investment, value, etc. I'd dearly love to see this aspect in a Sandbox game, because it adds an entire new level of game play that can bring players together in group efforts and interdependent economic  game play.

Think this way. If you're going to build a small army of NPCs, what about outfitting them and supplying them? What sorts of armor are you going to produce for them, and what kind of weaponry? How many arrows do you need to supply them with? What about food and clothing for them? And shelter? Supply lines? Think tactical warfare.

I totally agree with you, and particularly hope they put a lot of thought into the hireling system. And as far as weapons and armor go, I think some sort of time based system dependent to your skill, or alternatively the skill and amount of employed workers you have working on a particular industry site you may own. Consider EVE, for example where some high end items would take many months to craft, and it would simply be kept track of on the server and in the case of when Black Desert, you would have to go to your crafting station (Be it a Black Smith shop you own, or whatever) to pickup any mass produced objects after that alloted time period passes.

As far as the housing goes, I have the same questions as well. IF I were to take a guess, they'll probably have a similar system to LOTRO in the sense of player upkeep costs for your house. So if someone is not playing anymore, and they do not keep up with the upkeep costs of their property, eventually that House/property goes back on the market. Just a guess though and I have no concrete information to back that one up. Though, as there are town and regional taxes that likely go to the head honcho in charge running that keep, it might be a good guess that there are property taxes as well. A system like that could easily be integrated, and people who don't keep up on their taxes could get their property assumed, and put back up on the market.

Originally posted by olepi

A sandbox with classes?

Hmmm.

a sandbox with classes = Themepark, they havent mentioned whether levels are involved but it looks like there is, which also is a themepark element, it does look interesting though, although i havent seen any Sandbox elements actually described as all pretty much fall within the whole Themepark definition. Whether its released over here though, wait and see.. but its definitely a themepark based on current information available.