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Black Desert Online's next expansion, The Land of the Morning Light, is coming in June. With it will come a brand new island to explore, based on medieval Korean architecture and folklore. After previewing the game, I sat down with Jeonghee "JJ" Jin, CEO of Pearl Abyss America. We discussed the title from the potential of easier button layouts to what makes this expansion unique.
It was an enlightening discussion, and I find myself excited for this upcoming, story-driven expansion to Black Desert Online. The Land of the Morning Light has something for all types of MMO fans, from challenging bosses to an interesting story.
Jeonghee "JJ" Jin discusses Black Desert Online's upcoming expansion
Q. First, thank you for taking the time to chat with us. Could you please introduce yourself to our audience?
Jeonghee: My full name is Jeonghee Jin, and I just go by JJ to make it easier, especially for my non-Korean friends, to remember my name. So, I am the CEO of Pearl Abyss America. As you know, Pearl Abyss America is a U.S. subsidiary company of Pearl Abyss, which is a Korean company. We are the developer and publisher of our flagship MMORPG, Black Desert.
We have Black Desert on PC and both consoles, PlayStation and Xbox, and also on mobile platforms, both Android and iOS. My team here at Pearl Abyss America in Manhattan Beach is running the live service for all those platforms for Black Desert IP.
Q. We're here to preview the upcoming Black Desert Online expansion, The Land of the Morning Light. What would you say makes this expansion unique?
Jeonghee: It's something we have never tried before. So I think it's the same for other MMORPGs because most of them are set in a very Eurocentric world, like a medieval European fantasy world, and Black Desert is the same. I think that’s what we just had to do. It's something that MMORPG fans expect to see.
We also want to make our game appeals to the global audience. After seven or eight years of live service, we thought we could probably bring in something a little more unique - something we had never tried before. So we decided to create this unique blend of the Morning Light region that really resembles Korea and is inspired by, you know, specifically the Joseon Dynasty era.
One of the biggest challenges was just to make this new, very Korean-inspired land, kind of really blend nicely in the current Black Desert world. Otherwise, it might be a little random, a little weird, like, "Oh, what is this? Why do we have to see a Korean land in Black Desert?" I believe our devs did a pretty good job at making it blend in very nicely and kind of make it fit in the entire Black Desert world. So I'm happy to see it.
So in that way, we're bringing in very Korean content, not just in costume, and not just a little cultural thing. The whole region is inspired by Korea and the Korean Joseon Dynasty.
It's a very, very big work. But I think, you know, we did a pretty good job in making it done nicely, and not only for the land itself. We also added a lot of new things that we actually wanted to better offer to our community, like, you know, a little more focus and narratives using a lot of Korean folktales and non-linear gameplay.
You know, like the new Boss Blitz. I think these are somewhat new to our players, but we were always looking for something we knew our players would love to have. So not only just the new theme with the Land of Morning Light, but we added a lot of new kinds of gameplay components that we believe our players will love. This is definitely a very big and interesting journey for us.
Q. This particular expansion is designed after the Korean medieval period, in terms of aesthetic. What led to this setting for the expansion? Were there any other time periods or settings that you considered?
Jeonghee: I'm not 100% sure. I'm not on the design team, but I believe we probably just started with the Joseon Dynasty era. So Korea has a long history, more than 5000 years as one country. But I think before Joseon Dynasty, there were a lot more wars. And I think it was a little more kind of a divided country before. And also modern-day Korea has a lot of cultural heritage from this specific Joseon Dynasty era.
So I think whenever we want to kind of represent Korean, like history or historical era - I think in many cases, like even Korean dramas, we usually pick Joseon Dynasty. This is because, you know, there is a lot more cultural relevance between that time and modern Korea. And of course, it's like old times. But, you know, probably before that - I think there is a little more distance.
Q. One of my favorite things are the bosses, because they’re all based on a particular folktale or folktales. Do you have a favorite one?
Jeonghee: I haven't played all of them. I actually saw, you know, most of the gameplay, but just not from a visual perspective. I like Bari. It's hard to explain on my end but I've just got a very scary picture. She is kind of a little crazy, can actually curse people, and she can make something really weird happen. When I watch her and when I play with her, I feel a little scared, to be honest.
I'm not really a big fan of a horror movie or a horror game. But it feels like I'm watching a sort of like Japanese horror movie, like a kind of psychological, like, horrifying thing. So I really like that visual that kind of gives it a little like a scary feeling compared to some other bosses that are more like just a big, gigantic guy.
But I think Bari is probably my favorite one because she's very unique and I think, you know, all the other new bosses we've brought in with Land of the Morning Light are kind of different, like a visual difference. And they have very different, you know, backgrounds, different stories. So I like all of them. I love to play all of them, but if I have to pick one, then Bari is the most interesting one. Yeah.
Jason: My favorite from an aesthetic standpoint was probably the Golden Pig King. I just thought he was great.
Q. And so there's got to be a lot of people that probably don't understand the setting, at least in the West. Will there be lore books or anything to help sort of educate players?
Jeonghee: I don't think we're going to have a lore book at the moment. Maybe we should consider making one. But we're going to have all the folklore and all the information about each NPC and boss on the website once we have the release.
So that players, whenever they have a question like, "Oh, what this is exactly what stories this is exactly about?," they can actually just go to the website and find a lot more information that's going to be helpful.
Q. Since players can start in this area at level 1, will it teach new players what they need to know? I noticed some quests felt like tutorials - teaching life skills and things like that.
Jeonghee: I believe so. The Land of the Morning Light was not actually designed to be able to start at level one. So in Korea, when it first launched in Korea at the end of March, it was only for level 60 and above. And then we thought it'd be great to have it accessible from level one.
So the devs have put a lot of effort for the last couple of months to make it that way. And I believe, maybe because I know everyone here is a player, sometimes you just don't know what the real newbies don't know, right? Because you already know everything. And sometimes it's hard to understand what the other person doesn't know or understand.
It's obvious to you because you already know that. People already, you know, forget what they didn't know seven years ago, five years ago. But for them [newbies], everything might be a little more confusing than we might think.
So I'm not sure 100%, but I believe we have put a lot of those things that can be helpful for newbies if they are applied. They can start in The Land of the Morning Light, and still can learn all the basics, hopefully.
Q. One of the things that always confuses me in BDO are the controls. Has there been any talk of say, a simplified version of the combat controls? That sort of thing is becoming more common in other genres like fighting games, so I was wondering if that has been discussed.
Jeonghee: That's not something I can answer. I think I have an idea, but I'm not sure if there's like kind of the same thing, and our devs might want to talk about it. But I think it should. There are always discussions about the control for sure because we are all gamers here and there are a lot of suggestions, to be honest.
Black Desert is well-known for combos and great action gameplay. I think for an MMORPG, we really just put the highest-level of action and what can represent great action gameplay.
For me, I'd rather just do a version of whatever I can do because it's just so hard. But I think for some players, I think it's really fun to do all the different combos, just like using all the different keys. I think we are always interested in, you know, trying something that our players will feel more interesting, more fun, or more comfortable or easier when they play games. So I'm pretty sure, you know, there are always discussions about this. I'm not sure of a specific direction.
Jason: That’s why I play on a controller! It’s so much easier.
Jeonghee: Yeah, a lot of players actually use a controller.
Q. On the topic of controllers, is there a date that’s been set for the console release? I know they are usually spread pretty far apart.
Jeonghee: We haven't confirmed that, but we are also updating Woosa Awakening for console in June. So usually like it takes, you know, a couple of months or even more than that after the PC update until, you know, the console community can have the same updates. So I really feel like we have to go faster. But you know, there are some limitations there.
Q. This is a huge expansion for Black Desert Online. Do you think it’s the right time for players to return to the game?
Jeonghee: Of course. I think it's really, you know, the best time that they can come back and try something new. And also because, you know, Land of Morning Light is a really good entry point to start with. But we have also brought in more new features. I think some players thought, you know, Black Desert really didn't have a very engaging storyline.
There are stories. I mean that is something we also wanted to improve in The Land of Morning Light. We also put a lot of effort into making storylines stand out more and try to make players kind of curious about what the story is behind certain NPC bosses so that they are more engaged in the gameplay.
And I think this can definitely be a great experience for, you know, either a newbie or veteran players who are like, "Oh, I think this is very interesting that now I know we are having more engaging storylines I really like to follow. I just want to learn more about them."
And I think this is also going to be very fun to see how an action MMORPG can kind of evolve, like from a very European or Western-centric world with only four to six classes, you know seven or eight years ago. Now we have 26 classes that are also very diverse in race and style. And I think we are really kind of offering a lot more diversity in game, whether it's gameplay or features or new regions or kind of cultural things.
So I think it's a really good time for any, you know, returning player or anyone who wants to try a new MMORPG. I think this is going to be a great experience
Q. Do you have any final words that you'd like to share with the BDO fanbase?
Jeonghee: Yeah, I think whether they have been playing like every day or whether they just sometimes check the game like once in a while, I think all the Black Desert players know that we put a lot of effort in the live operations.
I can confidently say that from my own experience with a lot of different game developers and publishers, we put a lot of effort to keep updating the title and keep improving the gameplay. But it's not always enough. I know it's not always enough to everybody because every player has a different voice.
And there are very different players who play MMORPGs and we really try to listen a lot of their feedback. We try to figure out the best decisions we can make and the best updates we can actually bring in the next couple of months or up to like a year of time frame. But it's not always easy to make everybody happy.
So I know sometimes you feel like complaining, like, "Oh my God, you guys suck, you guys are dumb." But I hope Black Desert players understand we are always trying our best to listen to their feedback and find the best spot we can land on. We are always trying to also bring, you know, something new and something more unique to Black Desert, something our players are looking for.
So I hope our fans also know that. And they also, you know, get excited for Land of Morning Light and for the upcoming updates after this. I hope they love the Land of the Morning Light as I do. It's not just beautiful, we are also bringing in a lot of new things we are trying in Black Desert.
Black Desert Online is available on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles, as well as Android and iOS. The next expansion, The Land of the Morning Light, will drop on PCs on June 14, 2023.
