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AION - as unbiased a review as possible
16 years ago
General
Lift Hard.
This journal entry is just for the curious. I posted the other day to see if anyone
was playing and i decided to give it a try.
AION is a story about two factions of a world torn apart when the Tower of Eternity,
the physical embodiment of the god Aion, is destroyed. The upper half of the world
was shadowed in Darkness and the humans that lived their evolved accordingly
to survive in their harsh environment. The bottom half of the world was bathed
in light and they prospered accordingly.
Then shit happens and they stumble across eachother and end up fighting, but
not before a 3rd evil faction pops up to threaten them both.
Now that that little backstory is out of the way let's get on with first impressions.
Graphics
Pros: The game is beautiful. No joke. It is very very very very well done
graphically. From the water effect to the armor and all the other numerous details
the game is breathtaking. They really did a lot with this game to make it immersive.
In snowy regions your character acts cold when left idle. Leaves fall from trees and
dance on the wind. Giant Whale like creatures swim in the sky. It's stunning.
Character Creation is awesome you are given the ability to create a very unique character.
I spent hours creating several different toons. It was engrossing.
Cons: It's still glitchy. Sometimes you'll pan the camera and textures will
overlap or flash as something else. Thought it might be my computer but low or high
settings it still does it. Like most MMOs alot of monster skins are recycled.
Sound
Pros: Great music. Great ambient sounds. Water sounds like water!
Cons: The voice acting is stiff. Some character made sounds are not
redone in english from the original Korean so It sounds high pitched
and overly melodramatic when they were just speaking English in another voice.
The Grunts from the female Scout as she's attacking seriously get annoying after a while.
Gameplay:
Pros: WINGS!!!!
Cons: Discussed below
Overall the game is breathtakingly beautiful but its not as polished as it should
be considering it had been out in Korea for a year prior to being released in North America.
Just to get a taste of the gameplay experience I leveled four different characters.
All of them base classes that can then branch into the advance classes. I took all
four toons from 1-10 up through the ascension quest where you get your wings.
I leveled a Warrior and Mage first through the Asmodaian Area. I chose Gladiator
and Sorcerer for their advanced classes. Then as a flip I leveled a priest and scout
on the Elyos side and made them a chanter and assassin respectively. I can say solidly
that I prefer the Asmodian characters. The story and gameplay on the Asmodian side
seemed to flow better. The terrain wasn't as hilly as the Elyos areas and was easier to
navigate. And I might be mistaken but when I leveled on the Asmodian Side I got a
necklace and a ring while running through the lowbie areas but didnt see anything like
that on the Elyos side. Speaking of the 1-10 experience only one starting zone for each
side blows chunks. No variety when you want another toon you have to go thru the same
starting zone. it's kind of linear too.
Being an MMO there are bound to be some growing pains so I'm letting alot of the cons slide
for now. Especially the insane amount of AFK people setting up their bazaar's so they don't
automatically log because of AFK. This seemed to happen more on the Asmodian side btw.
Speaking of the Asmodians they are the more popular race accoring to live sever status
measurements holding a 51% to 49% majority on all servers except the newest Fregion.
The Asmodians also tend to have the biggest diversity in character designs. I see people
making hulking orcs, burly dudes with feminine faces. and tiny midgets with giant heads.
The Elyos tend to be more human the biggest variation I saw among the Elyos was simply
a preteen aged toon as opposed to the standard mid 20s to 30s toon.
Misc toughts about Aion and MMO's in general
1. I hate quest based EXPing. No one wants to grind thru mobs for exp anymore?
2. I wish more MMO's would steal the FFXI job system. I enjoy the flexibility in being able
to change what my roll is for a group without having to log onto my other toon. WoW almost
got it right with the Talents and Dual Talent builds. This touches on Aion a little. There
needs to be more variety. Clerics being the only class to res with a spell is retarded
and Templars being the only tanks will create shortages eventually. You get multiple
Damage Dealers but only 1 tank and 1.5 healers with chanters being the .5
3. At least it will hold my attention till FFIV hits the market.
4. ?????
5. Profit!
COMPLETELY RANDOM THOUGHTS THAT PROBABLY ONLY INTEREST ME
1. I'm glad I listened to a friend who recommended watching True Bood. Its a good show.
Does anyone know what song plays during Godric's scene with Sookie? I must have it.
2. Sofia Vergara is tasty. Very, very, tasty.
3. The Patriots are in a slump but they will bounce back. Come on Belichick!
4. I hope the hype surrounding the Miami Hurricanes doesn't get to them. I miss
seeing the U on the national stage.
5. Hook'em Horns
6. Sofia Vergara is so goddamn tasty.
was playing and i decided to give it a try.
AION is a story about two factions of a world torn apart when the Tower of Eternity,
the physical embodiment of the god Aion, is destroyed. The upper half of the world
was shadowed in Darkness and the humans that lived their evolved accordingly
to survive in their harsh environment. The bottom half of the world was bathed
in light and they prospered accordingly.
Then shit happens and they stumble across eachother and end up fighting, but
not before a 3rd evil faction pops up to threaten them both.
Now that that little backstory is out of the way let's get on with first impressions.
Graphics
Pros: The game is beautiful. No joke. It is very very very very well done
graphically. From the water effect to the armor and all the other numerous details
the game is breathtaking. They really did a lot with this game to make it immersive.
In snowy regions your character acts cold when left idle. Leaves fall from trees and
dance on the wind. Giant Whale like creatures swim in the sky. It's stunning.
Character Creation is awesome you are given the ability to create a very unique character.
I spent hours creating several different toons. It was engrossing.
Cons: It's still glitchy. Sometimes you'll pan the camera and textures will
overlap or flash as something else. Thought it might be my computer but low or high
settings it still does it. Like most MMOs alot of monster skins are recycled.
Sound
Pros: Great music. Great ambient sounds. Water sounds like water!
Cons: The voice acting is stiff. Some character made sounds are not
redone in english from the original Korean so It sounds high pitched
and overly melodramatic when they were just speaking English in another voice.
The Grunts from the female Scout as she's attacking seriously get annoying after a while.
Gameplay:
Pros: WINGS!!!!
Cons: Discussed below
Overall the game is breathtakingly beautiful but its not as polished as it should
be considering it had been out in Korea for a year prior to being released in North America.
Just to get a taste of the gameplay experience I leveled four different characters.
All of them base classes that can then branch into the advance classes. I took all
four toons from 1-10 up through the ascension quest where you get your wings.
I leveled a Warrior and Mage first through the Asmodaian Area. I chose Gladiator
and Sorcerer for their advanced classes. Then as a flip I leveled a priest and scout
on the Elyos side and made them a chanter and assassin respectively. I can say solidly
that I prefer the Asmodian characters. The story and gameplay on the Asmodian side
seemed to flow better. The terrain wasn't as hilly as the Elyos areas and was easier to
navigate. And I might be mistaken but when I leveled on the Asmodian Side I got a
necklace and a ring while running through the lowbie areas but didnt see anything like
that on the Elyos side. Speaking of the 1-10 experience only one starting zone for each
side blows chunks. No variety when you want another toon you have to go thru the same
starting zone. it's kind of linear too.
Being an MMO there are bound to be some growing pains so I'm letting alot of the cons slide
for now. Especially the insane amount of AFK people setting up their bazaar's so they don't
automatically log because of AFK. This seemed to happen more on the Asmodian side btw.
Speaking of the Asmodians they are the more popular race accoring to live sever status
measurements holding a 51% to 49% majority on all servers except the newest Fregion.
The Asmodians also tend to have the biggest diversity in character designs. I see people
making hulking orcs, burly dudes with feminine faces. and tiny midgets with giant heads.
The Elyos tend to be more human the biggest variation I saw among the Elyos was simply
a preteen aged toon as opposed to the standard mid 20s to 30s toon.
Misc toughts about Aion and MMO's in general
1. I hate quest based EXPing. No one wants to grind thru mobs for exp anymore?
2. I wish more MMO's would steal the FFXI job system. I enjoy the flexibility in being able
to change what my roll is for a group without having to log onto my other toon. WoW almost
got it right with the Talents and Dual Talent builds. This touches on Aion a little. There
needs to be more variety. Clerics being the only class to res with a spell is retarded
and Templars being the only tanks will create shortages eventually. You get multiple
Damage Dealers but only 1 tank and 1.5 healers with chanters being the .5
3. At least it will hold my attention till FFIV hits the market.
4. ?????
5. Profit!
COMPLETELY RANDOM THOUGHTS THAT PROBABLY ONLY INTEREST ME
1. I'm glad I listened to a friend who recommended watching True Bood. Its a good show.
Does anyone know what song plays during Godric's scene with Sookie? I must have it.
2. Sofia Vergara is tasty. Very, very, tasty.
3. The Patriots are in a slump but they will bounce back. Come on Belichick!
4. I hope the hype surrounding the Miami Hurricanes doesn't get to them. I miss
seeing the U on the national stage.
5. Hook'em Horns
6. Sofia Vergara is so goddamn tasty.
An in regards to Part 6: Yes... just yes. Good God, a thousand times yes.
As I can see you have a taste for a different System, which has a lot to do with it. I love Aion for the Story plot, not for the mechanics of the game, if I was going off mechanics, Guild Wars wins on all levels for me (for multiple reasons that I won't go into). The fact that you made 4 Characters and got them all the way up to level 10 should Say something for you, Lol
On the side note, all reviews are going to be Basis, Lol Because obviously everyone has different tastes, and thank Lael they do.
not to mention that multiple zones especiially for the launch of a game spreads out the people connecting
and lowers congestion in zones considerably.
Story is nice and graphics catch your attention, but gameplay and content are supposed to retain you because it is a game.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the game. And leveling 4 characters to level 10 was to get the feel for each base class and how they play.
Using your abilities. You find out who's good at their job as you level up. You develop your own reputation
as someone who gets the best enchants the best food buffs whatever. In a game where theres very few people
at max level it should be a big thing to have your players interact in a multiplayer game,
going in groups for exp isn't grinding anymore it's just playing the game as it should be and posibly making friends. then the second half of what you just said.
I like Champions. :D
Also I had heard most of this about Aion before, I am glad I didn't get it. Thank you for sharing.
To me this game just looked like yet another boring, yet pretty, fantasy MMO which has been done to death in a dozen different MMO's over the past few years.
Right now, after dumping Champions Online which got really boring, I'm into Fallen Earth. Not the most pretty game (Tad dated, reminds me of Star Wars Galaxies) and it has plenty of bugs being a new game, but I love how involved you have to be in the game, with crafting being a big focus and no real class structure so you don't have to pick a melee class and be a melee class only, though I would assume making sure to specialize in specific things, like me going pistol and rifles will be a reasonable combo.
that are selfish and standoffish. Sure solo play is a different flavor, but this is the MMO genre the massive
Multiplayer online game experience. Grouping shouldn't be for one quest or for raids only.
I enjoy grouping with people for grinding. Especially in the early stages of an MMO like AION is primed for.
You meet people, establish a reputation, and develop relationships with other players that doesn't revolve around
loot and gear. You find out who's playing to know the game and who's just playing around. How many times in WoW
did I get into an instance group at level 80 only to find that 2 out of the 5 people in the group didn't know WTF to do.
Didnt know anything about game mechanics or their abilities, how far their taunt range was or what crowd control was for?
too many to count.
Multiplayer games depend on other people and grinding should be the foundation for that.
In theory, because most of the Aion quests are as interesting as cleaning the dishes, somehow wow did a lot better job on that.
However, you like grinding better and I respect that. It's still possible, though, just not as fast as questing. I saw your comment above, though and have to slightly disagree. Grinding through dozens of mobs with four, maybe five spells at all won't increase the skill of a stupid player more than questing with four, maybe five skills.
What brought the idiots into our wow parties was just the fact that _everybody_ can play World of Warcraft and nearly everybody does. It isn't a niché game like say, Ragnarok Online.
going to school in groups. you grow together you learn together and you find
out who among you is the smart kid and who among you is the glue eater.
In general you can say that Information travels better in WoW, at least in my opinion, after a while people on the server know who is utterly stupid and who can play pretty good. Usually these two fractions never share the same guild. Additionally, there is the Achievement system, as stupid as that was sometimes.
All I remember was you have a list of attacks you can perform now as just attacks, so no more auto attack.
WoW like maybe.
1: NO! No, no, FUCK no. Bad enough when missions are "kill this many douchetards in an area" where 20 will spawn over the course of five minutes... And you have to kill 15. oh yeah there's also 6 other full groups of (insert max team size of preferred game) running around. But just killing, mindlessly, with nothing to show for it besides random scrap salvage? Nnnno.
2: Champions Online. You can mix and match from any ability tree you like (though the higher the power, the more the requirements, like a mid-level fire power might say "Requires 3 powers from Fire, or 5 non-energy-generating attacks from any tree). They also have "stances", wherein you click one button and you go from heavy offense to heavy defense, or generalized, or "tank" or "healer" mode.
The more interesting part of this post for me, is, of course, your plugging of TrueBlood. I've been totally hooked since the first episode. I can't get enough of it. It's scary, it's funny, it's sexy, it's TOTALLY entertaining...... and there's so many delicious people in it. :3 The character of Godric was quite an appealing one. That whole scene on the roof is one of the most breathtaking and heartbreaking moments in the whole show so far. The whole soundtrack is amazing, from the intrumentals to the included songs. In regards to Godric's scene with Sookie on the roof... I don't know if that's one they wrote for that scene or borrowed from another artist. :/