Crimson Desert GamesCom gameplay trailer: Thoughts and expectations
GamesCom 2023 opening night featured a trailer of brandnew gameplay for Crimson Desert(“CD”) from PearlAbyss(“PA”) after two years of silence.
Crimson Desert is a single-player RPG with co-op elements based on the world of Black Desert Online (“BDO”), a MMORPG that had a major update not too long ago. CD was revealed with a story trailer on 2019 followed by a gameplay premeire trailer on 2020.
Where the second trailer was a general view of the in-game world and characters, the new trailer is a focused showcase of individual gameplay elements such as horseback combat, trading, NPC interactions, travel mechanics, and more.
The ambitous trailer garnered varied response and one of the trends is that the trailer looked too good/massive to be true. Based on my experience playing BDO, it’s likely the featured gameplay accurately represent the actual game as a large portion of the gameplay are refined features from BDO.
My concern is how well those individually impressive gameplay elements are meshed into a cohesive game. The release of BDO is a good example to look at as it felt more like an impressive tech demonstration for industry professionals rather than a finished product for customers. In other words, a collection of PA’s strengths and weaknesses.
There’s so much stuff shown it can’t actually all be in game!
-It is, whether they’re all implemented in an engaging or satisfying method is another question.
The graphics can’t be that good!
-It is, yet the mythical concept of “optimization” eludes PA as your graphic card melts laboring over unecessary effects you don't even notice except when taking close-up screenshots.
-Oh, and one can never have enough particle effects. You won’t be able to see anything but that’s a sacrifice PA is willing to make.
There’s no way that’s actual MMO combat.
-It is1, shame there won’t be anything fun to use that combat on if you don’t plan to engage in PvP.
The world is so massive!
-Yup, hop on your horse cause this is gonna be a long ride. Fast travel? We don’t do that around here.2
A new world with its history and story to learn!
-Yes, it exists. No, don’t expect the game to tell it.
All experiences reminiscent when viewing trailers for both Crimson Desert and Dokev, another game in development by PA. That said, I’m leaning on being optimistic as the trailers show focus on improving on where PA is the weakest. Namely storytelling and PvE.
The story bits of the first and second trailer has me invested in Macduff, his crew, and the world far more than five years of playing BDO did.
PvE gameplay shows off varied enemy movement opposed to the straight beeline every single monster in BDO rides. Player vs monster Interactions are also varied such as Dragon’s Dogma-style monster climbing. And any amount of inspiration from Dragon's Dogma is a plus in my books.
Speaking of inspirations, the third gameplay trailer shows influence from other popular games beyond Dragon's Dogma. Which is fine. If you're having trouble with a certain area on your own, might as well learn from the best.
A list of inspirations I’ve noticed on the third trailer are as follows;
Dragon’s Dogma: monster climbing on a yeti, treant.
GTA: Stealing rides and criminal status
Assasin’s Creed: Refined parquor and ledge-hanging.
Nier: Bullet-hell boss pattern.
Zelda BotW/TotK: Shrine puzzles, hang glider, sky islands
Though PA has yet to prove they can make an engaging final product out of these individual technically impressive elements, the improvements shown on the third trailer has me looking forward seeing Crimson Desert releasing with flying colors proving my concerns wrong.
Combat was heavily criticized during CBT for feeling clunky which was significantly improved for the third CBT and continued adjustment over the OBT.
I personally respect the choice to maintain immersion of how massive the world is but I also believe it would have had less blowback if the rest of the game also didn’t feel so cumbersome. I think vanilla World of Warcraft found a good middle ground with flying points and major city portals.