Crimson Desert

Pearl Abyss

Pearl Abyss has been known for its lightning-fast reaction time to issues with Crimson Desert. Big issues, much of the time, many of which have transformed the game enormously since the review period over a month ago. But there is one issue that isn’t being discussed, not even for a months-long roadmap, that remains a big issue with the game.

I’m talking about the game’s alternate characters.

Crimson Desert made the decision to let Kliff be joined by two other playable characters, Damiane and Oongka, both of whom have their own weapons, upgrade trees and playstyles. It’s a somewhat odd idea in the context of this game, but it could be fun if you want diversity in gameplay or even just aesthetics.

But it doesn’t work. You are given three choices here: 1) Split points between them and Kliff, which you cannot afford because you need Kliff super juiced for many story bosses. 2) You can respec entirely and give them points any time you want to use them, which is insane, or 3) You can simply wait until Kliff is “done” to start giving them points.

How long is that wait? I am at hour 260 in Crimson Desert. I have killed almost everything on the entire map. I have 222 Abyss points invested in Kliff’s skill tree (which is not even maxed) and 48 invested in one armor/weapon for him set. I have just put my first points into Damiane’s skill tree as of today.

There is a “solution” coming soon, where old areas that you cleared will be taken over again and bosses will return, so I could grind out XP there for more upgrades for them (which is still going to take forever), but that doesn’t help how the game is supposed to work, that you should be able to jump around between characters as you play the actual game, not just at the end 200 hours later when everything is done. I see almost zero gameplay clips from Damiane online, just fashion show photoshoots. I literally never see Oongka at all. No one is using these people despite the effort that went into making them.

There are two parts to this. One is that there are so many restrictions on when Damiane and Oongka can be used in the game that it’s exhausting to try to figure out when you can play as them. I’ve gone through dozens of hours where I’m at some story point where I’m told they’re “out on important missions” and I cannot select them at all. They were only recently patched to solve some of the puzzles. I still don’t think they can go to the Abyss. They’re just not usable enough.

Then it’s the skill points thing. It’s a little more complicated than simply sharing skill points, as there’s also the issue of needing 40-50 to also fully invest in gear sets for them, and there’d have to be a way to prevent Kliff from also using bonus points for that. I’m sure there’s a way, but yes, this current system of needing to hit 150-250 hours so it feels like you’re allowed to power them up is ridiculous. I maintain these characters shouldn’t have existed at all, and these skill trees and weapons should have gone to Kliff so he can use guns and battle axes and stuff, but here we are. And this needs some big changes.

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