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Black Gold Online


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Black Gold Online is not a good MMORPG. If that’s all you clicked on this review to find out about, then you can consider yourself informed – you may move along now. However, for those so inclined, let me go into a bit more detail. While it may still be in Open Beta, the game is charging players for feature and has essentially been released, so it’s being reviewed like a finished product. BGO attempts to create a massive, open-world MMORPG that smashes fantasy and steampunk together in an epic power struggle. While the scene is set respectably enough, the lack of execution holds back what otherwise could have been a relatively memorable experience.

Unlike a lot of other free-to-play MMOs, BGO doesn’t really have anything that lets it stand out. Other than what I’ve already said – steampunk meets fantasy – there is truly very little that could be considered unique. From the tired pseudo-action combat, to the cookie-cutter quests, and the bland environments, everything about Black Gold Online is like a foggy trip down a muddled memory lane.

AESTHETICS = 5

If you consulted YouTube, you’d think this was the next great MMORPG from a well-known and established developer, well that is to say if you liked CG videos. They’re flashy, impressive, and do a good job of turning idea to reality on a purely surface level. However, they’re not accurate representations of the game. Much of the marketing for this game has revolved around playing up the setting as “Steampunk meets Fantasy!” as some kind of hardcore dream of every gamer in the universe. While that aspect of the game more or less delivers on its promises – there are in fact two factions and the lore does in fact clearly divide them – but it’s far from being a full realization of its total potential.

Once you get past the title screen, you’ll proceed to character creation, which is once again designed to enthrall you at first glance. The lighting effects and overall glisten on the character models look great initially, but it hides otherwise lackluster designs and textures. In fact, as stated in my first impressions, some of the options appear to have even been lifted from or at least heavily influenced by other games.

Everything from the interface, font, UI designs, environments, animations, character models, textures, and anything else feels utterly uninspired. While many of the areas will look great from a distance in concept, they often feel empty and lacking on closer inspection. Some of the creature designs are interesting, particularly due to the fact that the game mixes such drastically different concepts together, but it never ends up feeling like a fully developed world.

GAMEPLAY = 4

The bread and butter of every MMO, what you’ll be doing for hours upon hours, just has to be spot on for it to be worth your time – alas, it is not in this case. Don’t get me wrong though, because it technically works, it’s just not fun or challenging. If you took the combat system from TERA and took away what made that game feel weighty and satisfying, then you’d have a pretty good idea of what to expect here. As someone that is a fan of both Neverwinter and Guild Wars 2, it was disappointing to play a game that got action MMO combat wrong on such a fundamental level.

The moment-to-moment gameplay of attacking never felt engaging and most skills for classes suffer from an annoying intentional delay. Combined with the ugly interface and the game is simply a chore to slog through. Most of the game is essentially on rails as well, with autopathing and extremely guided quest objectives. Very rarely does the game ever stray from the standard “kill X of this and do X of that” that we’ve all come to hate so tremendously. Recent games have proved that those types of tasks can be hidden amongst other more entertaining activities, but BGO does little in the way of masking the monotony.

What BGO lacks in depth, it makes up for many times over in breadth, especially if you enjoy PvP. The two-faction system is a tried-and-true way to encourage organic competition in the game and it seems to work for the most part here. The biggest thing I noticed though, is that while there are a ton of modes to choose from (Arena, Battlefield, Chambers of Greed, Energy Well, Outbreak, Instances, and more) none of them really feel…unique. It’s a hard impression to describe as they’re all quite different in concept, but everything just ends up feeling very similar in execution.

PvP, while great on paper, usually just results in most players using the same general selection of classes and most people are utilizing their battle carriers. Having large mounts and vehicles for use in combat adds a slight layer of complexity to the mix, but then it undermines the usefulness of the classes themselves. The result is that the majority of combat plays almost exactly the same. It would have been more effective if instead of taking the shotgun approach and spraying a whole cacophony of activities at players, if the developers had just focused in on a few concepts and made them more refined.

INNOVATION = 3

The score in this category, while harsh, isn’t unfounded. BGO is, for all intents and purposes, the same free-to-play MMO you’ve played a million times before, with a slightly fresh coat of paint. Don’t let the steampunk and fantasy based-mixture trick you though – there really isn’t much new here. Some of the open world PvP elements had potential and the overall lore and setting could have led to an engaging story, but that isn’t the actual state of the game.

This was made abundantly clear to me during one of the earlier portions of the game. After making my way through an instanced dungeon, killing enemies that used overtly telegraphed AoE attacks, I realized that the entire encounter was completely staged and pre-determined. Maybe current games on the market have spoiled me into thinking that dynamic content and varied spawns should be the standard, but I could just never shake the feeling that I was “going through the motions” every second I spent playing BGO.

POLISH = 5

You definitely won’t accidentally mistaken Black Gold Online for something extra special and shiny, but it’s far from being considered broken as well. All of the core systems work just fine and I never actually encountered any game-breaking bugs during my couple of weeks playing the game. When you look more closely though, you’ll notice it feels very much like a game that never finished internal testing phases. I get that it’s technically in Open Beta still, but everyone knows that term has lost meaning in recent years. Much like an essay you’d write for school without proofreading, Black Gold Online is just an unpolished MMO that comes off like something that was hurriedly finished at the last minute. 

LONGEVITY = 4

The longevity of a free-to-play MMO is so difficult to judge. Unlike pay-to-play games that have such high burdens of delivering consistent and enjoyable content to justify their price tag, most free-to-play MMOs are content with simply sustaining themselves. With that being said, the population in the game has already dwindled significantly in just the first month of Open Beta and most chat channels are overrun with gold farmers. There will of course be a group of dedicated fans that love BGO to the ends of the earth, but ultimately there are so many F2P MMOs that are more worth your time.

SOCIAL = 4

During my time with BGO, I never felt inclined to join a group or really interact with my fellow players. The game pushes you along a predetermined path that feels almost entirely out of your control and devoid of any actual roleplaying. While engaged in PvP combat, I of course was around other players, but the experience was far from a social one. Things like grouping and guilds do exist in the game, but they are far from emphasized. The guild system does show potential though, with different facets like Technology and Contribution points, as well as the skeleton of a diplomacy system, but aren’t really realized yet.

VALUE = 3

If you were on the fence up to this point, then I hope this can be the final nail in the coffin. “But wait!” you may be thinking, “How can a free game have such a low value score? It doesn’t cost anything!” While you may technically be correct – Black Gold Online does not actually cost anything  to download and play, its payment model is one of the worst I have ever seen. Once you get farther into the game you will start fighting harder and rarer enemies that will start to drop some of the best and hardest to find loot. Naturally speaking, if you did the hard work of leveling your characters, killing that monster, and investing your precious time to gaining those rewards, you’d think you deserved them. Not the case in Black Gold Online.

Instead of, you know, giving you the loot you earned, BGO uses a Black Gold Time Save System; let me explain. The game records your play data, keeping track of all of the materials and equipment you earned during a specific time frame. You can then opt to purchase the “optional” save file, which may include rare materials and high level equipment. Think about that for a second. Rather than using a subscription model or even a traditional cash shop, the game actually has you spend money in order to purchase the potential for access to end-game items. That’s a real thing.

CONCLUSION

Black Gold Online is just not a very good MMORPG, even by free-to-play standards. The potential of the lore and setting is buried beneath a massive pile of mediocrity that makes it near impossible to glean bits of innovative entertainment. Ultimately the obsession with providing a litany of things to do caused a massive oversight in the development of those activities and resulted in a watered down and shallow experience. There are many F2P games out there that are much better than BGO, so unless you want to pay to gain access to items you already spent time earning, I’d stay away from this false nugget.

Granice mogućeg možemo odrediti samo onda, ako ih pređemo odlaskom u nemoguće.

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"ovoliko" mi je falilo da banujem čoveka kao bota :))

 xD

Fatalan copy/paste sa mmorpg.com-a :)

Ma da, samo nisam znao da će da bude ovakav a žurio na posao... xD

 

Odakle ti je to?

 

reče StaljaMikro.

 

Sve u svemu, razočaranje...još jedno...u nizu...

Granice mogućeg možemo odrediti samo onda, ako ih pređemo odlaskom u nemoguće.

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