When Crimson Desert first launched a little over a month ago, there was a lot that the gaming community had to say about it. There were so many details that critics and gamers pointed out as potential areas of improvement. But the good news is that the developers listened, and has since delivered on a lot of those changes, making the game feel more aligned to the grand vision it brought to open world games.
But, of course, we gamers are a discerning bunch. So much so that we now run the risk of sounding a tad ungrateful, as we’ve come with an entirely new list of fixes and additions to the game that we’d like to see. While you might say some of it is wishful thinking, we’re quite sure you’re going to agree with more than a few of them.
Curious? Good. Let’s get started!
1. Gear Transmog
You’ve probably collected quite a few pieces of armor for Kliff, Damiane, and Oongka only to relegate it all to your Private Storage at camp simply because you’ve invested too much into the set you’re wearing, or perhaps need their unique effects and stats.
But that’s a damn shame considering just how much fashion matters to our growing community of Greymanes. In a game with the level of freedom that this one offers, not having the option to change what your armor looks like is something that should have been added from the very start in our humble opinion.
2. More Dedicated Content for Damiane and Oongka
Although we’re really happy with how the developers have allowed Damiane and Oongka to take on significantly more content than the release build, the fact that there is only one mission each that is exclusive to each of them is something that needs to be addressed.
We’d love to see more of Damiane’s ties to Demeniss, or perhaps learn more about Oongka’s time in Calphade in the aftermath of the Greymane’s loss to the Black Bears. Heck, even a few missions that explain how they happened to gain Axiom powers would be welcome at this point.
3. Better Companion Integration in Exploration
Building on the last point, we’d also love to see Pywel recognize Damiane and Oongka beyond them just being Greymanes who happen to be helping out. Unique dialogues, interactions, banter, camp dialogues, and perhaps expanded traversal options unique to them are all ways that would make them feel more integrated into Pywel’s landscape.
Perhaps Oongka’s raw strength lets him batter down barriers better than Kliff or Damiane? Or maybe Damiane gets a significant bump to her stealth skills? There are so many possibilities and we hope to see this fantastic pair of playable characters have a more significant part to play in the game’s future.
4. Boss Fight-Specific Camera Improvements
This was an issue in even our second review of the game, and it’s worth mentioning until it’s sorted. Managing the camera in boss fights has proven to be a challenge that’s on par with the devastating attacks that these formidable foes bring to the table.
It doesn’t help that locking on doesn’t always work as intended, and having to keep track of functions that we take for granted in other titles is definitely not ideal. But we’re hoping that the developers consider this when bringing boss rematches to the game, and make those repeat fights go a whole lot smoother.
5. Better Wagon Controls
Oh, those dreaded wagon missions. It’s too annoying to drive a wagon around thanks to how the darn things behave on the road. That’s particularly annoying since exchanging Trade Goods is a brilliant way to earn extra camp funds, and frees up quite a few Greymanes for you to send out on missions instead of having them working security all around Pywel.
While you could load up a few items on your horse and summon it to the trading post you’re at, that’s only a stop-gap solution that cannot, and should not, be a substitute for selling a wagon load of goods in one fell swoop.
6. Improve Tracking Missions
If you’ve wandered around a wide search area following a golden line that takes you in circles before you find the enemy you’re looking for, you know that those things take a while. What’s worse is that the enemy in question is likely a multi-phase boss who gives you the slip after you whittle down their first health bar, making you repeat the tracking exercise all over again.
If you happen to die, either to the boss’s underlings who populate the search area, or to the boss itself, you’re forced to start the whole thing from scratch. We’re sure you all agree when we say that this needs to go, and better pathing and checkpointing through such missions is definitely something the developers should consider.
7. A Dynamic Rival System
Speaking of bosses, a good majority of them just run away from the fight once they realize that you’re too much of a threat. But aside from the return of one very memorable foe in a missable fight that happens so much later, we never see or hear from the ones we defeat ever again.
But what if that wasn’t the case? What if a few high-ranking foes from a faction remember the defeat they’ve suffered at your hands, and attempt to take you on again at a later time? Or perhaps gain ranks or additional power from defeating Kliff in the event that you lose the fight? It might be wishful thinking on our part, but it would certainly make Pywel feel more dynamic if it were to happen.
8. Route Guidance to Custom Waypoints
This one ties in to our point about wagons, but is equally important even when you’re on foot or on a horse. Having your mini map highlight the right roads to take could make navigating Pywel a whole lot more intuitive, and would certainly be quite the time-saver even after the new way to access your map that’s been added in the latest update.
9.Horse Auto-Follow
Aside from having the right roads highlighted when navigating to a waypoint, having your horse auto-follow the road can leave you free to take in Pywel’s sights and maybe even grab a few photos along the way.
We’d love it if our horse trots along at the normal pace, while sprinting needs players to take direct control of our mounts. That would be a great balance between a relaxed playstyle and a more involved one in our book.
10. Regional Reputation and Consequences
This might be unpopular, but we kind of liked it when your Contribution to a specific region went down with every illegal action we performed. It was a nice kind of push and pull that felt directly tied to the Greymane’s efforts to leave the land better than what it was when they first got there.
However, a reputation system that comes with consequences outside of your Contribution could be a great way to make Pywel feel like it’s responding to you at all times. Shopkeepers already refuse to serve you when you have a bounty on your head. Why not build on that to make things all the more immersive?
11. Rethinking Boss Rewards in the Open World
We’re saying it even as we rock the Odeck Protector Set without defeating the boss that rewards it, but we do think that unique armor and weapons tied to bosses should not be in the open world. Why would we attempt to take on a challenging foe if we could just pick up the rewards from that fight with a little bit of digging and travelling around?
But we must acknowledge that it’s a good idea to have the gear from endgame bosses available for the taking considering how you might not have a chance to use it as much as you’d like if you wait to get it off a boss. Still, some sort of middle ground would make unique gear all the more interesting.
12. Camp and Settlement Rebuilding
We’re quite attached to Howling Hill, although the move to Pailune felt so damn good from a narrative perspective. But we think that the Greymanes shouldn’t be restricted to just those two areas, considering just how much of Pywel they’ve been instrumental in freeing from the hands of other, less noble factions.
It would be great to see a few liberated areas become outposts for the Greymanes, acting as trade depots or supply camps that you can stop by when you need to stock up on consumables, or maybe take a breather and pass the time.
13. Separating Abyss Artifacts from Gear Upgrades
With three playable protagonists, each of whom now has access to some devastating skills and moves, it just doesn’t make sense to have Abyss Artifacts a part of gear upgrades. Not only does that effectively limit the number of sets, and by extension builds you can have on you, but it also creates the scope for unnecessary Artifact farming in the event that you want to skill up characters other than your main one.
Yes, Faded Artifacts are useful, but once again, they’re only a stop-gap solution while a real fix would be most welcome.
14. Resource Tracking for Gear Upgrades
If you’ve been regular with refining your favorite weapons and armor, you know that each level brings quite a long list of materials. It can get hard to remember just how many of each material you need, and while there’s an option to check on those numbers from your inventory, we think there’s a better way.
It would be great to have the option to set a mission that tracks each resource and marks it on your map, sending you on a sort of mini-quest to gather enough of them for your next upgrade. It’s a system that has worked well in other titles, and would be a blessing in this one.
15. A Mobile Base
Once again, this might be wishful thinking but we can’t help but wonder why the Greymanes don’t have a sort of mobile base going around Pywel. Yes, the camp and the house that it brings do make things personal, but that train in the Crimson Desert almost feels like it wants us to take over its operations, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate style.
A mobile HQ also makes sense for the Greymanes and the mission to work for the betterment of Pywel, and could be a great way to indulge in some trade too.
And that’s about it for things we’d love to see in future Crimson Desert updates. We’re quite sure that a few of these ones are already in the works as the developer races to make the game everything the studio and its players want it to be, while others might prove a little too far out of its reach.
We’re still going to be having a jolly good time in Pywel regardless, and hope that you’re thinking along the same lines too.
