u/FrostYea

I've been a long-time BDO player since release, but always on the casual side of the game.

I absolutely loved that game despite its flaws (the shop, the extreme grind... but you could argue that's just Korean MMO design).

And one thing I loved above the rest, besides the combat of course, was the world.

The cities. The forests. The DESERT. It was one of those MMOs where I had thoughts like, "Mmmh... what should I do today? Yeah, I need to grind. But where and what?"

(I wasn't really a min/max player.)

And I would think, "I want to have some green vibes, some deep forest vibes," and I went to Trent to hunt Ogres for a chance to get an Ogre Ring drop.

Or I went there with my lifeskiller just to chop some wood, and it was soooo relaxing, just being there in that beautiful place.

Or going to Blood Wolves because I wanted the infinite HP potion; the location changed completely and so did my mood.

Or going to Mediah, which was my hub for desert grinding.

And don't get me started on the Pirate Island era.

There was so much world in that game. All the NPCs, all the background lore behind every one of those places.

Well, all of this is just to say that I really, really hoped Crimson Desert would be set in the same world as BDO, because I loved it so much.

And I was a bit disappointed when I found out that it wasn't the same world.

But nevertheless, I still bought the game and started playing it.

I'm only 60 hours deep into the game, but I've already noticed that this game is truly a love letter to those who loved the world of BDO, despite being a "parallel" one.

There are TONS of references. In fact, I feel like every boss, every NPC, and every unique weapon we find is a direct callback to BDO.

For example, there was an NPC with a side quest called "Muskan" in a village. I instantly thought about the Muskan shoes in BDO.

I instantly thought about the grind it took to get them.

Or my face when I saw Patrigio here and instantly remembered the energy I spent on the OG one in BDO.

Even some armor sets from the BDO shop had special names, like Goyen if I remember correctly, and here they are: same name, different story.

It's a constant stream of nostalgia that makes me love the BDO world even more and makes me appreciate the Crimson Desert one too.

Heck, even the animation of getting leather from animals is the SAME as in BDO, and as a lifeskiller, I really felt that.

I don't know about you guys who played BDO, but apart from playing Crimson Desert as it's meant to be played, I have an extra desire to explore just to find even more references to BDO.

I really do think that Crimson Desert is a love letter to the BDO fans who loved the world of the original MMO.

Thank you, Pearl Abyss.

EDIT: BDO is the acronym for Black Desert Online, the original game Pearl Abyss made and the one that generated enough money to start the Crimson desert project as we see it today. It's a Korean mmorpg, very grindy, from 2016 if I'm not mistaken