28.10.2009

I always wanted a game where character creation is not limited. The developers clearly paid plenty of attention. You aren't just presented with a few choices of heads, or even just a few sliders that slightly alter the way a character looks. Instead, you are presented with a gratuitous number of sliders that have a fairly dramatic effect. If you thought that Oblivion had a pretty impressive character creation system, then think again: Aion actually lets you create a very distinctive looking character, to the point that you can probably tell people apart purely on visuals without looking at their names.Visually, Aion is solid. Character models are well detailed and they certainly have a style to them,and - as suggested by character creation - there is plenty of variety. Armor is similarly well detailed and - provided you like the art style - you'll be pleased by how everything looks. Not only are the character models well done, but also the various mobs you'll find in the world also appear to be equally polished.Players create a character from one of one of two factions, the angelic Elyos - who live on the temperate and blessed half of a shattered world, or the black-winged Asmodians - who brave much harsher climates and have evolved to survive them. While each race might hold a stereotypical hero/villain appearance, neither fit these stereotypes. However, that doesn't mean that players won't be seeing plenty of combat between the two sides, and their true enemy, the NPC-controlled Balaur.When playing Aion, I noticed that the feeling of gameplay changes depending on your level range. When players begin the game, their character is a Human - as in, they don't have wings, and they only have one of the four basic classes.As you level, you will begin to gain some of the abilities of your basic class, learn some of the background of the world, run through quests, and bash some mobs. Eventually you will reach level 9, which gives you your Ascension Quest, that upon completion, will auto-level you to level 10. Here is where you gain your wings, your advanced class, and ascend to join the immortal Daevas!Gaining your advanced class can be a pretty big deal, too. For example, my main character was a Chanter. As a Priest, I was mostly using ranged spells as I leveled up as a Human. However, upon ascending and becoming a Chanter, I became less and less reliant on ranged spells, and far more reliant on melee abilities. A Cleric, on the other hand, would notice less of a change as they continued to focus on ranged magical attacks mixed in with their healing abilities. For a Cleric, it is a natural flow, but even for my Chanter, the change was gradual over a few levels as I gained new abilities.Even once you have your wings and your new class, Aion still pretty much plays like every other game. Glaringly, your flight is heavily restricted in most of the game. In fact, outside of the Abyss and a few key areas, you won't be able to fly at all.During the earlier parts of the game, you won't notice much strategy in combat. However, as you go along, you gain more abilities, more chains, and there is a hint that eventually it'll get a bit more strategic, which ultimately it does.Outside of combat and PvPvE, Aion provides you with the other standard gameplay system found in most MMOs: crafting. Crafting is a very straight forward affair in Aion. You have a recipe, you get the materials you need for the recipe, and you click "Craft". Or rather, you gather enough to make multiple versions of an item and click 'Craft All' which automatically queues up everything for you. There's nothing special about it, but it does work. However, I warn all future crafters: you'll take some serious losses while crafting. I've known people to make money with alchemy, but beyond that, unless you're very clever, crafting will be more of a time and money sink than a way to pay the bills.Aion is probably one of the most polished freshly-released MMOs I've ever seen - not surprising, given that it actually was released a year ago in Korean and China - but it does mean that the game is stable, fairly well balanced, and it contains plenty of content. It may not do an awful lot new, but what it does, it does very well.

21.10.2009

Reading all the reviews for Aion, has made me want to write one myself, and defend Aion's case.I don't think any of the reviews are fair what so ever, as they all seemingly appear to be based on the pre-release version of Aion, or very early into the release at best.I just started playing Aion about 2 weeks ago, and I have to say that every minute I have spent on it I have been nothing but amazed.I don't like how people in some reviews have been heavily slating the fact that Aion has had a few teething problems within the pre-release versions, and around release. I think these are extremely unfair comments to make, as everybody that plays MMOs know,every MMO is going to have hickups at the start; and according to everyone I've spoke to that has played WoW from the beginning, WoW to had problems. And besides, what do you expect within a PRE-RELEASE/BETA product? It's not going to be perfect is it? and anyone that signs up to them shouldn't be stupid enough to expect it to be perfect. The other complaint I keep hearing is the server queue times. Fair enough, I can see why it would be annoying. But again, what do you expect? It's a highly anticipated MMO.... M M O!! The first "M" meaning MASSIVELY. This means A LOT of players. Most mmo developers can't even anticipate how many people are going to be signing up on day 1. All they can go by is the pre-orders and the players on pre-release (which is probably one of the reasons they even do a pre-release). Imagine if they didn't have that! You will never know how many people are going to buy the game on day of release, and server queue times could have been up to around 10 hours! Sure, they might have seemed slow in fixing the problem. But you can't expect them to have more servers set up and ready to go within 5 minutes can you?Well after my little rant, all I can now say is that besides the odd bugged quests in the early part of the game (which actually work on a different channel), pretty much all the problems brought up in the other reviews, have been fixed. I have had nothing but pure fun and enjoyment from Aion.The only thing which may make this review irrelevant to a lot of you, is that I haven't played WoW (not properly, at least). I've played it for a week or so on a trial, and watched a lot of friends play it. So i can't start comparing the two games (which might actually be refreshing to some people).I have however, been a hooked Final Fantasy XI ONLINE player, and a Phantasy Star Online player. So I do know what an MMO is and how it should play. And I can say that for me, Aion has hit it right on the mark. It still has those typical MMO quests of "collect 10 of these, kill 15 of them, and come back to me for a present" throughout the game, but they are nonetheless new and challenging. And regardless of whether you have been playing WoW for the past 3 years or whatever, it's a new world, with new characters, and new abilities, so you are still going to experience that "new" feeling and the accomplishment. But then, when you hit level 20, you're shot into the world where your allies and the enemy can meet at any time through the Rift system. You could be getting on with a quest quietly, when all of a sudden a portal (rift) will open up just in front of you, and 20 of your PvP enemies will come running at you full force. Nothing is more exhilarating than announcing where these enemies have appeared on the chat system, and having an army appear to resurrect you and chase down these unwanted guests that have entered your world.I'm in work at the moment so i'm going to end my review there before I get caught :P Which also means i wont be reading over and correcting errors. So I apologize for that.But there is so much more that I have missed out and would love to write about this game. I'm sure IGN or some other review site can fill you in on the massive gameplay features that I don't have time to write about.So in short, any problems that were around at the start (queue times, gold spammers, etc etc) have all been sorted and fixed. And the game itself, well in my opinion, it deserves a great 10/10. I'm absolutely loving it. So buy it, and make a decision for yourself :)-John

17.8.2009

Although I only played up to level 10, I can tell you now that this game was fantastic, and this review is coming from a die hard WoW fan for a long time. I decided to give Aion a shot, even though by looking at it I would have instantly associated it with Lineage II which did not appeal to me, but because WoW had grown boring over the past few years and I wanted to try something new.You start off being able to choose Elyos or Asmodian (Alliance or Horde) and then there are 4 classes which at level 10 then change into sub classes such as ranger or assassin (hunter or rogue) I decided to roll a Scout which would then later allow me to become an Assassin.My first impressions were that Aion is a very pretty game,not beautiful, just pretty. Also it seemed that Aion brought nothing new to the MMO table, as I progressed through the 10 levels, mostly by questing. The quests are all very much the same, kill 10 of this, kill 10 of that. There really is nothing new here which was slightly disappointing but still enjoyable and very addictive.Although Aion boasts that gear is fully customizable, you can spot any of the 4 different starter classes a mile off because everybody looks the same. Levels 1-10 took me around 8-10 hours to do and I must have only received 30 pieces of armour/weapons from quests and mobs, the majority being useless. I didn't replace my starter chest piece until level 9 and I still had no gloves at level 10! Aion does promise there will be more different gear in the upcoming 1.5 patch, so we shall see.When reaching level 10 it allows you to choose whether you want to be a Ranger or an Assassin if you are a Scout. I found that when I chose Assassin my damage increased ridiculously, it felt like I'd been dragging myself through the last 10 levels just because the makers didn't want to copy World of Warcraft. Flying at level 10 is interesting, you start off with only being able to fly around for a minute, the controls are slightly irritating at first but you get used to them. Again, this feels like another way of doing something that World of Warcraft does with mounts but in a different and less effective way.An issue that I picked up on is that all 4 starter classes on Elyos begin in the same area, and obviously all 4 starter classes on Asmodian start in another area. But still, when this game is officially launched it will be absolute mayhem and is likely to be an unpleasant gaming experience.If your PC struggles to run World of Warcraft on maximum settings then you will be playing Aion on very low settings and will only be able to see a few meters ahead of your player at any one point, which to be honest, sucks. Another downside is that Aion isn't available for Macs but is confirmed to work with Boot Camp! Personally I think the minimum system settings that NC Soft provide were pulled out of a hat because computers with much lower specs will be able to play this, although obviously not take full advantage of the graphics unlike a computer with high end specs.Although I have just touched the surface of Aion and mostly picked up on seemingly bad points. This game to me seems like a temporary replacement for World of Warcraft, it has all the same traits that make it a fantastic, enjoyable and addictive game but it just seems like certain simple things are missing for the sake of not copying WoW. I will definitely be playing this game to fill my spare time!

26.10.2009

As far as all the comparisons people seem to be making go, this is nothing even remotely like WoW.This is a PvP orientated game, but having said that, it doesn't push that marketing point until you hit level 20. Before that, it's all PvE which is good, it starts gentle.The cap is level 50 so far, so it's a fair sized start before you meet the factor which decides, for a lot of people, whether they will stay or leave. Unlike other MMORPGs that I've played, built solely around massive PvP (by that I mean over 100 people in a single fight), Aion gives plenty of quests and makes the whole leveling experience a lot less of a grind than your average Korean MMO. It's a lovely thing to have,

26.9.2009

The main issue at the minute is the queue to get into the game, estimated wait for me right now, 22.47 on a Saturday night is 32 minutes. Could go up and be more, could work out being less, not a huge factor to me as I only like to play here and there, but a major game killer to those with a limited amount of time to play.The combat is simple at first, but then builds up as you get chain skills i.e. one attack opens up another higher than it, and then as you increase in levels you get a choice of different chains for different effects, like fast damage, big bursts, poison, or slowing the enemy dependent on your class and level, and there are Stigma slots: high powered or tactical abilities for your class that you choose to equip,

5.8.2009

This is an amazing game.Think of FFXI online, Age of Conan, WoW all mixed together and then add flight = Aion.One game that has been looked at very deeply, be it questing, grinding, pvp or mix, this is your game to come!Been beta testing this game for long time now and can honestly say, they have checked every bug and fixed them and then re tested them, to check all is OK.None of this half test beta stuff, that most games have done and rush released the game.This has been fully tested and still is being tested before being released.Graphics are like nothing i have seen before, with full settings on, its a magical sites to see and experience.Even with min settings on, this game is visually stunning!Starting areas,

14.8.2009

Since the last beta is due to commence tonight, it's pretty likely that this is just going to be testing localisation-inherent bugfixes and such. Therefore, I can give my genuine opinion on the game.Having never played WoW (due to the sheer amount of updates the game expects me to make just to do a 10 day trial), I can't judge it against that yardstick, and the most recent game I played was CABAL, which was a long time ago.This game will run on any half-decent PC at a good resolution. My £329 tower that I bought at a sale runs it at a minimum 20fps, with the furthest drawing distance on a 512Mb ati radeon at 1280x1024 resolution. It uses the FarCry engine, and looks awesome because of it.The combat is solid,

2.6.2011

Being obsessed with MMORPGs since ultima online i have tried most MMOs out there in the market whether its asian made or western made, and few have the quality to keep me hooked for more than 3 months except this game.The graphics is very beautiful for a MMO with a very user-friendly UI and and questing system. I have played this game since launch and i am still playing it!Graphics: 9/10 - if your system is within the recommended specs, the new graphics engine with the recent 2.5 update made this game the best looking MMO.Sound: 8/10 - Beautiful orchestral sound track! The english voice overs in the game however can be a bit lame at times.Gameplay: 8/10 - The core and major part of MMO.

2.12.2009

Yes it contains some grinding. But let's be honest, most people play games for a few months and then move on to the next big thing. Seen in that context, Aion is a lot of fun. The lvl 1-30 experience is very solid, with a graphically well-realised world with its own unique flavour, and from lvl 20 onwards the rifting pvp is exciting. Moving through the content at these levels is not onerous, and there is enough of it. This might take a month or so, if you play casually.Whether you decide to stay with the game really depends on how you react to what happens above lvl 34. The game gets more grindy, there's more pvp, and the content also starts to thin out a bit. But if you try it with a decent social guild,

12.10.2009

Brought Aion on release and really enjoyed the game in every aspect the graphics are good and sound and story.The biggest drawback for me was after hitting abour level 24 there was no quests to do i even done all the campaign group quests up to level 30.So here i am killing creatures to try and level which if you like spending all your time online doing that for a subscription fee..... fine but i dont.In WOW EQ2 LOTR and many more i have played i have never really resorted to just killing things unless there was a nice quest xp reward.Another bad thing is i have over 100 gold spammers in my block list something ncsoft dont seem bothered about.Also some players are not that helpful its all out

2.9.2009

Unfortunately it appears that once your first 30 days are up then this game will be subject to a monthly fee like WOW. Initially I had hoped that they would market it as they do in Korea where you buy 30 days game time and it is 30 days in the game world not the real world - letting you spread your gaming experience over a much longer period - ie just playing at weekends. Had they used this system I would definitely have purchased it as the game itself looks very good. I for one however do not want to get sucked into the compulsive "got to use up my game time scenario". I will be passing on this one as a result and will wait patiently for Guild Wars 2 (which promises free play).

28.9.2009

This MMORPG is the first I have truley enjoyed in a while, though my level is still low I can see many options that are availible in the game to help you create a unique character and if you so desire to earn alot of money with the many different types of crafting there is weather its weaving for cloth armor making weapons or food, there should be quite a lot to entertain you for a while. Leveling in this is also easy NCsoft have removed the pure grind thats usualy associated with leveling. On the whole a good game though its had a poor launch to many players with too fewer servers a problem that should be removed given a week or so

30.9.2009

I have played games for over 30 years on all formats and to be honest these days games hardly ever give me a real buzz.I have played many mmos and i have to tell you this game is perfect)If your under the age of 18 stay away and keep playin wow, its for kids and its great for its target age group.However if you crave a fantastic experience with all the bells and knobs and such depth as i havent seen in a long time, buy Aion..also i must just add apart from the odd queue which is only down to massive uptake on launch,,,,it never crashes it is so stable for a game a few days old proper)Wonderful i promise

17.4.2010

As many have said the game does show some of the characteristics that other MMORPG's have shown. However it seems to bring a charm to the now ageing genre.Flight gives the game a new dimension of game play to keep you preoccupied for all of the levels and end game.The graphics are enough to make you at least try the game. Everything seems to look so beautiful and makes the game fly by.If you are looking for a traditional MMORPG with a twist then this is the game for you.

29.11.2009

This is a very good game, you do get the feel quickly for it,many hours of enjoyment can be had, as it is new it will be interesting where else this will go in the futureregards scott

Aion: The Tower of Eternity (PC) - Reviews

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