Everyone has a fighting chance
The Chinese Wuxia genre is one of the most celebrated martial traditions in modern films and video games, and Blade & Soul, a new free-to-play MMORPG from NCSOFT, looks to put that genre on center stage. Blade & Soul, which will launch with a fully realized, three-act story at launch, will feature high-level, competitive PvP, with hardcore features like a 1v1 arena in which gear will be equalized to promote player skill.
Whenever an MMO is localized to the West from a different country, there are a whole host of challenges involved. Not only does all of the dialogue have to be translated, but content has to be localized as well. Material may have to be changed or censored or updated for a new audience and payment models are almost never the same.
As we announced elsewhere on the site, Blade & Soul is finally coming to Europe and North America this winter, with a closed beta beginning this fall. The Free to Play MMORPG from Team Bloodsport and NCSOFT has a lot of pent up demand behind it, and we got our hands on the Force Master, Blademaster, and Summoner classes to give you our first impressions.
Some might say that 3 years is too long to wait for an Eastern bred MMORPG to come to the West. In the case of Blade & Soul, it seems like the long detour to an English client has only created more pent up demand for the Wuxia-themed game from NCSOFT and Team Bloodlust. And we’re happy to announce that Blade and Soul is indeed launching as a F2P MMORPG in the US and EU this winter, with a closed beta to begin this fall. The wait, as it were, is almost over.
Over at Reddit, in the same thread that apparently verifies WildStar is going Free to Play, a Carbine Studios employee let the cat out of the bag that Blade & Soul is still coming to the West, and that it’s already in Friends & Family beta testing internally.