Blade & Soul NEO Classic Server is Coming, Previews Art Improvements to Viridian Coast

mmorpg.com:

Blade & Soul NEO Classic, which NCSoft calls “The start of a newBlade & Soul journey” is a classic server in Unreal Engine 4 with promised new content and more to come. The team has begun previewing some of the features and what makes this upcoming classic server stand out.

After recently announcing the release of the remastered server, the NCSoft team answered a few questions about what we can expect. TThey have begun releasing new “Soul Logs”, and opened a NEO Classic minisite to continue these development updates and sneak peeks.

First up, is a new blog on the art of the Viridian Coast, complete with new video teaser and some before and after images showing the changes through use of redesigned and enhanced graphics. The images show off things like the Bamboo Village that, in Unreal Engine 3 was a bit patch but in the upcoming Classic release, has much lusher grass, more realistic bamboo, and better lighting.

In fact, changes to lighting look to be significant in the development of this new classic server option. We get a look at how this has been applied to caves. Other peeks take us into the graphics and environmental effects that improve things like water. Gone are flat representations of water, smoke, or fire and in their place are more layered and dimensional presentations.

Still, in many cases, they’re not going to throw out the old, but simply renew and refresh the graphics of existing items. “While we were able to create more detailed realms through the engine upgrade after converting B lade & Sou l to UE4, the inability to replicate the unique colors of UE3 has remained as a source of regret for both us and Blade & Soul players,”but they are continuing to work on the updates to polish up what they can.

This