The follow-up to last year’s Black Desert Online Land of the Morning Light, Land of the Morning Light: Seoul, is here, and players can now explore its vast landscape and eponymous capital region in all its glory.
During a hands-off preview to press earlier this week, developer Pearl Abyss gave MMORPG.com a glimpse of what players can expect to see when they jump into the content of the latest expansion to the long-running MMO.
Land of the Morning Light: Seoul is a natural follow-up to last year’s excellent Jeoson Dynasty inspired expansion, and it continues much of what made that update such a success. Inspired by Korean history, folklore, legend and myth, Seoul again brings the developer’s Korean roots to the forefront for all to see and enjoy, and by all accounts it’s pretty inviting.
The landscapes of Land of the Morning Light: Seoul are once again heavily inspired by real places and the Korean peninsula itself, and eagle-eyed players of last year’s expansion may have noticed that only half the island of the Land of the Morning Light was playable.
Seoul takes place in that Western half, opening up the whole of the Hwanghae Province to adventurers. The new region is resplendent with various biomes, from forested swamps to the manicured lawns and hedgerows of the Jwado School, where the Maegu learned all she knows. Land of the Morning Light: Seoul also brings many real-life Korean sites to the game, once again providing an interesting virtual tour of the country’s greatest landmarks.
Working with the Cultural Heritage Administration of South Korea, Land of the Morning Light: Seoul is recreating the country's landmarks and wonders as accurately as possible, such as the iconic Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace. In our hands-off tour, the palaces looked incredible, especially so because the team used Lidar and drones to capture each in as much detail as possible.
It should be noted as well that with today’s launch, Black Desert Online’s Land of the Morning Light: Seoul will only feature Korean voice acting, with subtitles in various languages such as English, Spanish, and German to name a few. This is due to the ongoing Voice Actor’s strike here in the West, and there’s no real timetable as to when the English dubbing will take place as a result.
The meat and potatoes of Land of the Morning Light: Seoul, however, are its content. Black Desert Online players must have completed last year’s expansion to start Seoul, and it’s not necessarily a zone ready for new players.
Like the first expansion, there are no monster zones in Land of the Morning Light: Seoul. Instead, combat is mostly sectioned off with its world bosses and its Black Shrine bosses. There are eight questlines to complete, which will then unlock new stories for players to complete, concluding the Land of the Morning Light chapters of Black Desert Online. CM Endlaive, who took us through our guided tour, called the stopover on the island a “side story” from the main drama unfolding on the continent, and Seoul wraps it all up.
This doesn’t mean that there won’t be other stories told here, but it sounds like after Seoul, Pearl Abyss might be turning its attention back to the intrigue in the rest of the world.
One major change is that the combat in Land of the Morning Light: Seoul is a bit more advanced and will require better gear and higher levels to complete. While the first installment in the Donghae province could be completed by even starter characters, it sounds like you’ll want to venture onto the continent and level a bit, gear up, and then return to complete Seoul.
Seoul’s boss fights that are the culmination of each of the eight questlines feature characters from Korean folklore and myth, just like the previous expansion. These bosses are distinct from last year’s roster, and feature stories to uncover, such as the Tale of the Uturi, which will see players compete in the Martial God Tournament to uncover more. The Tale of Samsin sees players investigate the disappearance of children who are born underneath the boughs of the Samsin Tree, while another has you investigate a family tree that seems to excel in the civil service exams.
These bosses, which you will combat during the main story, can be done solo, and will feature challenging, though not really punishing combat mechanics. For those looking for the ultimate challenge, the Black Shrine mode is back, this time with a twist.
While last year’s Black Shrine mode was 100% solo, this year’s will require a five-player party to complete. This is a hard requirement, meaning you won’t be able to jumpstart any of the Black Shrine challenges without already being in a party of five.
There’s currently no party finder that can help players form groups based on the boss they are trying to fight, so if you’re someone who plays solo and wants to take on the Black Shrine challenge, you’ll need to make some friends fast.
I think it’s a huge miss that there isn’t a party finder or group finder that kicks off if you try to start a boss fight with the launch, but hopefully one will be added in the near future to correct this. As an alternative, you can always join a guild in Black Desert to run the content, and Pearl Abyss seems to be relying on that very fact to facilitate this new 5-player Boss Blitz mode more than anything.
However, there should be an option for players to form a pick-up group by launching the content, full stop. Making it as easy as possible for players to interact with content should be the modus operandi of any developer, and we do know that Black Desert Online supports a queueing system as they implemented one with Atoraxxion, so hopefully this isn’t something that will be missing from the Black Shrine mode for long.
Once you and four friends hop into the content, it’s a tough battle ahead of you. No potions are allowed in the boss fights; instead, healing orbs will periodically filter through the arena to provide the healing they can. The leaderboard from the first Land of the Morning Light is back as well, providing a bit of bragging rights to the group or guild that can score the highest on any given boss, providing some unique rewards along the way.
It isn’t just the quests and new region that Land of the Morning Light: Seoul is bringing to players, but new Sovereign Weapons. These are the most powerful weapons in Black Desert now, and feature ten unique enhancement levels that players can upgrade and enhance to their liking, offering some customization to the weapon. These enhancements could mean additional Attack Power (AP), more Damage Reduction, more HP, and more.
The Sovereign Weapon is available in two types: Main Hand and Awakening, and they also feature special visual effects that can be toggled on or off at your choosing.
Black Desert Online is also bringing some new palace management to the MMO, though it isn’t ready in time for today’s Land of the Morning Light: Seoul launch. The update will see players able to increase node levels by doing special quests, or fetch quests for specific NPCs, to get higher chances at better materials. The new system also unlocks nodes at Gyeongbokgung Palace, at which players can earn unique materials, while palace management will start to automate processing and trade, streamlining the system in place.
Dehkia’s Lantern is getting a Tier 2, bringing a new difficulty level for players looking for that extra challenge. This will be a good way to test out the abilities of the Dosa’s Awakening form, once it finally launches down the road.
I’m pretty excited to jump into Black Desert Online: Land of the Morning Light: Seoul today and see more of the island, its people, and experience the stories that the team has lovingly brought to a global audience. I felt like the first expansion was a love letter to Korea, and I’m hoping Seoul continues that feeling. We’ll have our full impressions of the expansion in the coming days.
