Preview: Aion

[solsticesins]

It's not quite a fighting game where you hit a specific button for each strike... but it's a big step up from press button wait for creature to die... it's more like keep pressing the right buttons or you'll be the one that's dying. Mobs are pretty hardcore in this game >.> you can't take on more than 2 of your own level.at a time most of the time (maybe in the starter zone that's acceptable occasionally).. and if you're taking on 2 casters at your own level... get ready to die pretty right quick. The caster type mobs in this game are flat out ridiculous, especially as you get to lvl 20 and above, their nukes are horrific, if you don't trigger your defensive moves at the right time you're asking for a trip to the Obelisk.

There's a bit more excitement and a real PvE threat even when you're just grinding out quests... and the combat is really flashy, should take away from some of the boredom. Not going to lie and say it's boredom free though, some grind sessions get pretty repetitive after a while and once you get into a combo routine you are just hitting a series of keys in sequence every 8 seconds, for a Chanter at least, other classes might have more epic combat but the Chanter is the only one I have hands on experience with beyond lvl 10.

 

[solsticesins]

Ok, so, my question is this - is Aion worth trying if I've not really got into MMORPG's before? I did play Guildwars for abit before getting bored, and City of Heroes/Villains for a time too - but they've not really keep me beyond a week or 2.

Probably not, if you're not into MMORPGs then Aion isn't really for you. Like the preview said, it doesn't reinvent the MMO. All that can be said is that it incorporates the same MMO staples and executes them really well. The questing is still questing, you still kill x mob y number of times and go back to quest giver z to collect a reward and experience and go out and do it again. PvP is still PvP, they kill you, you kill them. You still have the odd collectibles like titles to add to your name, gear sets, etc.

However, everything is done with an extra layer on top. Questing made easy with mob/NPC/item locater and map overlay. PvP on the ground and in the air in travel form. Collectable titles add buffs to your stats instead of just being there for looks. Gear can be customized in color and even in its base skin graphic if you have a modification pattern you can make the gear skinned to look like some other piece of loot.

So... technically, no, if you're not a MMO kind of person, it's not going to be anything brand spanking new that'll hook you into the genre... >.> but it's definitely worth a look if you have an developing interest (that and it's really friggin' pretty).

 

[Swaki]

damn you mr. funk and you seducing voice, i just used 60 euro i dont have.

 

[Alphacron]

I listened to the music in Aion, feels like Ncsoft just copied some of the files from their Mabinogi.

The interface doesn't appear to bring anything new to the table.

The character customazation is a nice touch, but i'm not going to buy it so i can recreate my D&D Characters.

Flying *looks* neat, but i have a feeling blizzard, with the mounted combat and flying mounts, will soon have areal combat too, plust theres city of heros that does that.

From what i saw in the PREVIEW, this doesn't seem to be anything unique or make me start trying anything past a free demo when it comes out.

 

[Nerdfury]

EDIT:
Reviews: Aion: The Tower of Eternity Preview Supplement. Really? Do you have to break the very fabric of time and space just to give this one a title? Wouldn't First Impressions: Aion: The Tower of Eternity Preview Supplement, be a better title?

Would it cause a massive rift in the fabric of reality to not sound like an ass?

OT: The only thing stopping me from considering this game is the fact that after you shell out for it, you have to keep paying to play. Considering it'll be about $25-$30 AUD per month, I object to paying that much for the pleasure of playing a game in the scant hours between working and sleeping.

 

[samsonguy920]

Sounds very appealing to me, and it does remind me of another MMO, a freetoplay one, Perfect World. Just put together a lot better. Hopefully there's a trial offered, I hate to jump into anything fullbore. (Call me a wimp, I wont mind)

 

[mykalwane]

Well this looks nice, I may try to find a free preview or trial of it. The only question I have is if it can get over the same flaw that has kept me out of playing the game is it being A fun or B what I do feels like it matters. The A I can understand depends on a game, but the deal is with most MMOs is they can't keep my attention for the full trial period. If all it is, I hit you, you it me, and whoever is higher level wins seems unfair. All I ask for in a game is it feels like it takes a bit of skill or feel like what I do matters. It is a simple thing I ask for is what Pong and any good game does it make it feel like what I do matters. That me moving left or right at the right time matters. A simple thing Mario did in Donkey Kong if you are not getting me in that moving right or left or jumping at the right time to avoid a barrel coming forth fells like it is my fault if I fail or succeed. Something not WoW or City of Heroes has done. Maybe it is because I was born with a controller in my hand instead of a keyboard I haven't found a fun PC past Organ Trail(orginal one that was found at schools like Math Munchers), or Don't Know Jack which are fairly simplistic games. Both just feel like what I do has an effect just as well as what I don't do.

 

[VegetaPrinceofSaiyans]

the game looks good, but as a die-hard, addict WoW player i am sorry to say that even though this game looks good i just dont think it's gonna make the WoW lightning strike again, no matter how much u WoW haters want it to just to see the game knocked down a peg, but with Blizz just releasing Patch 3.2 Call of the Crusade(normal 5 man welfare epic farming ftw bitches!!!) and with Icecrown Citidel on the way in 3.3, which will probably be the most epic patch...ever, not to mention there are rumors flying around about Blizzard announcing a new expansion pack for WoW at Blizzcon later this month slated for a mid-late 2010 release date, i just don't see how this is gonna make that big a dent in Blizz's american market share, being that it is Ncsoft, i can see the posibility of WoW maybe losing some of it's market share is Asia but I really don't think it's gonna matter. WoW is just too damn good

 

[Singing Gremlin]

And I will meet even more people that will play Aion for 2 months and come back to WoW.

Just like Vanguard
Just like Age of Conan.
Just like Warhammer Online

The saddest thing is I keep seeing these bland MMO titles that bring nothing to the table but manage to completely miss the key points as why Warcraft is so popular even after all this time. The only MMORPG coming out in the distance future that will be worth looking at will be whatever the hell Blizzard makes next and that makes me really sad because it tells me the MMORPG industry has done nothing but move backwards for the last 10 years.

See, I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one. Firstly, whatever the hell Blizzard brings out next will go through what every new MMO is going through; the influx, and the exodus. It simply will not match up to WoW; no new release MMO is going to. Blizzard will, admittedly, have longer with the cash cow that is WoW to get it to a better state than normal, but they aren't going to be able to create something that can compete with a two expansion pack, well established MMO.

WoW will die not because some "WoW Killer" is released like everyone preaches every time a new MMO is released. It will slowly be eclipsed by the MMOs that survived in its wake. AoC recently gave itself a re-release, having held on long enough, and is now growing again. WAR seems to be going the same way. EvE will slowly be poaching the nitpicky hardcore from the market, especially with the constant new content they're releasing (ambulation, I'm looking at you).

If you look at WoW now, and I recently returned to it (though certainly not for long), it's a farce. The game is obviously not getting fresh blood, so Blizzard have entirely geared it to their established fanbase. Mounts at 20, heirlooms so you can level yourselves twinks double quick. Hell, their latest patch lets you stop levelling, so's best to own on the battlegrounds. Which, while certainly effective at keeping their established base in, tolls the knell for the game's decline. Blizzard would not have done so if they were getting enough fresh blood. And their current players are slowly going to be poached by the competition. Then, when the WoW numbers are low enough, Blizzard will release their next MMO, and people will see it's not light years ahead of the competition.

I do not believe the market is anywhere near as one sided as you paint it to be. All other MMOs are in no way pale imitations of WoW - many are, but far from all. Each is slightly tailored to suit a different kind of player, and I think each will reach an equilibrium, and WoW will wither and die before them. With it removed, we'll see a more level playing field, and more acceptance of each MMO for it's particular style.

Although, admittedly that's nothing more than speculation, I can't see how you could see Blizzard as the be-all-end-all of MMO devs.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Although, admittedly that's nothing more than speculation, I can't see how you could see Blizzard as the be-all-end-all of MMO devs.

Especially as Everquest is still going with filled servers. That's the game that was going 5 years before WoW, did almost everything WoW did first and still draws people in despite its blocky graphics, bugs and grinding.

WoW is popular in the same way that SKY TV is, not from innovation but sheer marketing + timesinks.

 

[starmike]

There were a few things wrong with your review.

The name of the world is Atreia, not Aion. Aion is the name of the god.
Skill chains aren't new(-ish), they've been in games like EQ2 for at least 5 years now.
You can't fly everywhere you please like your video says. It's a serious flaw in the review since it makes the game seem like you can fly all the time, wherever. You did fix it in the text, but not everyone will read it.

You also didn't seem to make it past level 10. At level 20+, you start to run out of quests and you need to grind. A lot.
Also, at level 22+, you start to get steamrolled by a pack of 20 or more enemies because the rifts spawn in places where you NEED a large raid group to get to the other side, so you have no chance to win. It's not like other games where the pvp is a one or a few more.

I was enthralled by the game too, until I got past level 20.

 

[Syntax Error]

That would be limitations of our automated system, unfortunately.

Hmmm, makes sense. I got confused when I saw the video in the front page. I thought this was a review of the game. Well played sir.

 

[mykalwane]

Although, admittedly that's nothing more than speculation, I can't see how you could see Blizzard as the be-all-end-all of MMO devs.

Especially as Everquest is still going with filled servers. That's the game that was going 5 years before WoW, did almost everything WoW did first and still draws people in despite its blocky graphics, bugs and grinding.

WoW is popular in the same way that SKY TV is, not from innovation but sheer marketing + timesinks.

I thought that was because the fans are the most vocal zombies out there. Is that wrong or just another reason why?

 

[Nurb]

I hope they're going to come out with a trial upon release if they want my money. I can't seem to get into any beta I apply for, and I'm not wasting my money on another like I did with warhammer online, that POS. I wonder why all these companies think they're above making a trial easily available considering the competition. I installed the Conan trial from PC Gamer only to find out the company isn't handing out trial keys yet. Same with LOTR online, they have these limited windows of time where you can try it and I usually end up missing it, so I've never played either even though I'm interested.

 

[Noirez]

I've been playing beta for the past few weekends now and stopped at level 24. First impressions is that yes, it's a beautiful game, but I'm not getting all the raves for the graphics. It's like a more polished version of Wow's cartoon-ish art direction. Maybe more colorful and vibrant with some cuter type mobs, but it's certainly not something fresh or particularly amazing to me. Lots of green forests, sparkly lakes, then dry desert type area.... mushroom land, then and frozen wastelands....etc etc. Like I said, nothing most MMOPG players have not seen before. But then again after years in Wow and Lotr Online, I'm quite tired of the high fantasy type art direction so take that as you will. It does runs very smoothly with high settings on my average PC though, and I had very little lag in beta.

Most of the armor designs however are pretty spectacular even at low levels, and the character creation options are some of the best I've seen.

Gameplay wise is really meh to me. There is nothing particularly fun about them. The majority are the annoying kill 10 of these and collection/delivery of notes type quests. It's already grindy at low levels and gets worst after level 20. If you've played Wow to 80, you've done these quests before 1000 times. I do get it, we need to level, but couldn't they try to have more variety or think of something different? Even Warhammer Online had something different - Public Quests that made questing more fun and sociable.

The combat is alright but like something above me said, the chain skills things has been done before. Classes are uninspired, the usual Ranger, Warrior, Tank, Healer and Mage type. There is no one class that seems unique to me like Lotr's Lore Master or Warhammer Online's Disciple of Khaine / Dwarf Engineer.

The whole 'flight with wings!' was disappointing. I understand how you can't have everyone flying where they please but the flying zone are pretty limited. And I don't understand there is such a short time limit how long you're able to fly. Maybe you can extend flight time at higher levels but right now, it seems really short for something so hyped up.

I honestly really wanted to support and enjoy Aion, but it just feels like a bland, prettier version of Wow with a lot more PvP action. This can be a good or bad thing. If you're looking for a mmorpg with fresh, deep and innovative gameplay,you're not going to find it here. If you want a visually beautiful game with that is easy to get into and feels safe, then Aion might just be for you.

 

[Mordwyl]

It's just guild wars repackaged.
There is zero innovation and the appeal of the game won't last past it's leveling curve.


There is NOTHING under the hood of this game if you have played NCSoft titles before but I mean if you haven't then you might have some fun with it but don't expect it to last.

Wrong. Guild Wars WITH City of Heroes/Villains AND Lineage 2. As I've seen it's pretty much an amalgam of all the NCSoft games merged in one.

Regarding your opinion on the decline of MMORPGs, frankly I blame that on both WoW itself and developers. After seeing the mountain of gold that game has made developers feel it has become a standard, therefore attempt to clone it, plaster their own ideas and finally try to sell it off as a "WoW killer". Even the gameplay of WoW itself is heavily taken from Everquest, especially the part where you'll spend the rest of your days hunting for gear from big bosses that require gigantic groups of people to defeat.

This of course isn't a question about an idea's pre-emptive popularity since Warhammer and Lord of the Rings have many more fans than Warcraft ever had. It's not about eyecandy either since well... WoW's in-game models are very simple (the textures fix that problem somewhat). Actually, one should take an example from a similar game that exploded in popularity a decade or so ago: Pokemon. While the game was a completely new idea it was pretty much a turn-based JRPG with dated graphics for its time and a very minimalistic plot. Hell, you couldn't even catch ALL the pokemon in a game.

Why? Marketing. Apparently, it also worked. The companies were clever enough to enthrall a healthy playerbase into their game which by process of positive word of mouth multiplied into a giant franchise, which if I may bring Runescape as an example as well; started as a hobby from two brothers living with their mother ending up into the most popular free online game on the internet.

If God gives you lemons, you find a new God.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I thought that was because the fans are the most vocal zombies out there. Is that wrong or just another reason why?

That probably helps, but that's because Blizzard made it "cool" to MMO. It used to be a passtime mentioned in the same tone as LRP and Furries.

 

[zeeZ]

You can't fly everywhere you please like your video says. It's a serious flaw in the review since it makes the game seem like you can fly all the time, wherever. You did fix it in the text, but not everyone will read it.

In the Abyss, however, their so called PvPvE zone, you can fly everywhere.

And just to clarify some error earlier in this thread: There will ALWAYS be a flight timer. Abyss gear and wing modifications increase your flight timer slightly (2 minutes and then some) and there's food, scrolls, buffs (IIRC) and two kinds of potions that refill your flight time. See this Korean guy's YouTube channel for some videos [http://www.youtube.com/user/plainshifter1]

You also didn't seem to make it past level 10. At level 20+, you start to run out of quests and you need to grind. A lot.

Allegedly later patches add more quests to lessen the grind. There's also a ton of people who just rush from quest to quest and don't lay waste to anything on their path who reported running out of quests. Don't sneak past all those elite mobs and you might actually level faster.

Also, at level 22+, you start to get steamrolled by a pack of 20 or more enemies because the rifts spawn in places where you NEED a large raid group to get to the other side, so you have no chance to win. It's not like other games where the pvp is a one or a few more.

For level 20+ there's two zones, one rift enabled, one entirely PvE without any rifts. Most of the primary quests are in rift zones though. And it makes sense. In the Abyss you always need to be on lookout for potentional danger coming from ALL directions. This is not a PvE only game. Also, rifts have a capacity of people they can take, and a level limit. A later patch also introduces a slayer system that sort of punishes invaders that kill too many people. I don't know the details from the back of my head, so go research yourself. In the betas I didn't have any issues with raiding groups, and this was with a level cap where maxed people had nothing else to do other than go explore, try crafting or rift raid.

How it turns out in the EU/US remains to be seen...

The only thing that seems to cling it's claws in from GuildWars was the skillbar, and even that is larger, more complex and the fact you have 9(and then sub-bar things) of them instead of one.

It's 12.
If by sub-bar things you mean that you can cycle through several bars:
From the options you can enable three more skill bars. Two on top of the default one (ctrl+# and alt+#), and one to the side, resulting in a total of 48 skills. You can also just click skills from your list window

 

[Singing Gremlin]

I hope they're going to come out with a trial upon release if they want my money. I can't seem to get into any beta I apply for, and I'm not wasting my money on another like I did with warhammer online, that POS. I wonder why all these companies think they're above making a trial easily available considering the competition. I installed the Conan trial from PC Gamer only to find out the company isn't handing out trial keys yet. Same with LOTR online, they have these limited windows of time where you can try it and I usually end up missing it, so I've never played either even though I'm interested.

If you're still interested, Conan is doing so now. Ish [https://register.ageofconan.com/trial/]. Although why they don't off the bat is really not hard to figure out. You've just blown all your money on your MMO development, released it slightly early when the funds got critically low (story of every MMO thus far). You need every bit of cash you can; the money from the early purchases, the first few months subscription is the lifeblood of an MMO dev. If they let the majority of their players avoid paying for the first few days then they'll have crippled their income. It would be bloody stupid business practise.

 

[Joshimodo]

The only thing that seems to cling it's claws in from GuildWars was the skillbar, and even that is larger, more complex and the fact you have 9(and then sub-bar things) of them instead of one.

It's 12.
If by sub-bar things you mean that you can cycle through several bars:
From the options you can enable three more skill bars. Two on top of the default one (ctrl+# and alt+#), and one to the side, resulting in a total of 48 skills. You can also just click skills from your list window

Ah, 12, my mistake. As for sub-bars, there seems to be a second bar above every normal bar (if you switch the normal bar, it disappears with whatever bar you were using, so it's not like they're using another normal bar up.