Blade & Soul – NCsoft previews upgrade to Unreal Engine 4 for Asian fantasy MMORPG

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NCsoft recently release a “Vision Preview” trailer, highlighting what the development team is preparing for the hit Asian fantasy MMORPG, Blade & Soul. There is currently no actual timeline set, and we suppose it is still in the early days, but Blade & Soul will indeed be getting an upgrade from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4. Depending on the manpower, this could take up to years to implement. Of course, with the engine upgrade, players can expect hugely improved game graphics with the usage of physically based rendering (PBR).

Other than just the change from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4, NCsoft is preparing new life content to Blade & Soul. These functions include gathering functions and fishing, with a view on a more social and community-based experience as well. Changes are also being planned for Mushin, such as physical animations, a new role in the main storyline, and new sound effects. Artwork based on the mysterious Divine Realm was also teased.

Replies • 23



Don't think it changes something. Their anti-huck system makes game as slow as UN3




That's pretty surprising news when I think about it. I remember less than two years ago someone was discussing how in order to get past the technical limitations of the Unreal Engine 3 (terribly optimized, garbage framerate, 24 man raids dropping fps to 5), they'd have to upgrade to Unreal Engine 4, but they'd probably sooner just make an entirely new game called Blade and Soul 2 or something, in Unreal Engine 4. Instead, they're just rebuilding it from the ground up. I know this'll take years and years (and may even be canceled), but I feel like the fact that they already have all the assets they'll ever need to use to get everything up to date content-wise might expedite the process.

That being said, wouldn't they have to create new content for both Unreal Engine 3 and 4 at the same time when updating? Otherwise they'd never be able to release the new client because it'd be behind the old client and that'd cause people to lose everything that wasn't "current". That sounds like a monumentally exhausting task. 




Lunar
KaHeKu KeH said:

Don't think it changes something. Their anti-huck system makes game as slow as UN3

Is only NCWest that is too stubborn to use a real client and not an anti-cheat system that everyone make fun of