Note: I have avoided spoilers as much as possible, if I have left some in, please let me know!

Having toyed with the idea of a new MMORPG to play, rather than just be tied to Zenimax’s Elder Scrolls Online (ESO) and other various reasons, I finally, after chatting with Wuufu from the Hachyderm.io Mastodon server, went into the PlayStation store and reviewed my options. Being presented with five options was confusing enough, was Standard the right one, should I opt for the Seraph Starter Edition? I knew that starting off with Heroic and Mythical was not the way forward for someone testing the water, then the demo version caught my eye. Perfect, I thought, I’m still likely to buy the game, but on the off chance it doesn’t feel right, then this is a good option.

So I waited for the sizeable download to complete, this was late in the evening, so I resisted the urge to jump straight in and the next morning, started my first character – Thaemina, the Sea Witch, as close to my Bosmer Arcanist as I could manage, but this time I was hoping to head out to sea.

And I was off, failing dismally at combat through the opening tutorial as this is very different to ESO, I haven’t yet figured out if I can make some of the text larger, as for the displayed button combos for attacks would be much easier to read before I start pressing and hoping for the best (after a week I think I had the two base attack buttons down). I am still working on the ESO tactic of it gets too much, run away, take some potions, then head back!

Eventually Thaemina woke in present day, and then the real task of learning the interface began, oh boy! So many options (read as too many options) for harvesting, processing, crafting – yikes! This is going to take a while for me to get my head around the different menus, what goes on what method of quick access, how to access the wheel menus correctly. I worked out that there were various rewards, rather than presented on screen at log in, or directly when you level up, they are off in a menu, but some of these can come in handy. This did result in my usual RPG problem showing its face (mini game), inventory management, I just can’t seem to keep it under control, and then led to my discovery of the storage system, and another issue, remembering what is stored where and how to get to it if I am half a continent away?

After attempting to follow the main quest line for a while, I started playing with the conversation option, something I recognised, memories of playing Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls III Oblivion came flooding back, this I can handle, well as long as I can remember which order I put everyone in... Still figuring out what is required for each attempt, again I need to tinker with text size where possible.

A week in and I had progressed from the Western Guard Camp to Velia, decided that once I figured out how to buy a house, it would probably be here, with good access to the sea, and then moved onto Heidel. Much too fancy for a Sea Witch, but some interesting characters (and one who is on my hit list, I do hope they turn into a boss fight as I am looking forward to taking them down). Popped back to Velia to buy a house, got lost on how to even begin with furnishing, but there is plenty of time for that. Decided to try for some side quests, failed dismally when it came to some lost cats, just can’t seem to trigger the quest! Went for a ride along the north coast of Balenos, had cause to use the “escape” option, oh my word do I need this in ESO for when I go exploring and end up clambering down steep cliffs and then end up stuck and the game thinks your falling so unable to fast travel.

My thoughts after a week are:

• Yes it is gorgeous;
• The story line gets a bit weird sometimes but is okay, reading between the lines and using imagination helps; and
• It sometimes a bit jumpy/buggy, but then so is ESO and also anything built by Bethesda (not a fan girl per say, but I have serious hours and characters in ESO and Skyrim).

Merge Black Desert and ESO together, and I think you would have the perfect MMORPG.

Was I going to buy the full version once the demo period had ended? Yes, but this is where things get complicated, as the PlayStation Store decided I already had the version of the game, so I was unable to spend real money to continue playing. Cautiously chatted with PlayStation’s AI support chat, and to be fair it didn’t do too badly, and after a short while it decided that I need to chat to a human. This happened later in the day, case logged and then off to wait.

It took a couple of days, but received an initial answer back, their suggestion raised a question over whether I would still be able to access the character I had already created once the “fix” was carried out. This caused them to look at it again, and identify that this may not work and I still might not be able to purchase the game. A second option was given, which I will be trying out. But more searching online since has identified that Pearl Abyss is aware of an issue (11 March 2026), and is investigating this with PlayStation. This may mean that I am not alone and that a resolution wont be too far in the future.

For the time being it is back to Terraria as I was already on an ESO break, and read up more on how to get Thaemina ready for sailing and trading.

#Gaming #BlackDesert