I fixed a friends computer the other day and as a thank you they got me a pre-release card for the new MMORPG by Ncsoft (Company that does Guild Wars) called Aion. I never heard of it, but my card goes live this Sunday.
They are also going to buy me the game and the first month's subscription fees.
Has anyone heard of it? The "hook" is that character creation is VERY customizable (see this video of an Obama Character) and it introduces flying and flight combat. See this video at the 1:56 mark.
The reviews look limited but really positive. I am not trying to get into any type of MMORPG, but it is free to me. It goes live on the 22nd and those who ordered the pre-release can play it on the 20th.
We have a fairly established gaming community. What have you heard? Can it compete with WOW? Is it all hype? I have never heard of it but it seems to have a huge grassroots support base.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
It's "free" in the same sense that the first few samples of heroin are.
The game actually does look interesting to me, and if there's a free trial I probably actually would check it out. As it is, I don't feel the need to shell out 50 bucks I can't afford on a game that, awesome as it looks, I really can't afford the time to play.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
I've read about it, and I'd be interested in trying it, but I don't want to shell out another $50 and pay a subscription fee as I already have an active WOW account.
Lately I've been playing Dungeon Fighter Online with my brother, it's free, and it's like playing Golden Axe again, but your character gets progressively more awesome.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
It does look very interesting, and as a former WoW player it might end up being like heroin as well. But the full customization video really caught my interest, that and the idea that I'd have to be defensive even while making a long flight, getting ganked always sucks but thats what makes mmorpgs interesting. I'm probably gonna go and do more reading about it, try and understand what exactly do each class do and I almost am led to believe that the classes are gender specific, which bothers me because I dont like playing female avatars that much. If you do start let us all know how it is and I just might join you after Im done my latest console game.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
I've read a bit about it, but nothing grabbed me as a reason to try this over WoW. You could say the same thing about what I read of Age of Conan, D&D Online, Warhammer Online, LotR Online, and a number of other games. They seem like perfectly fine games, but to start over on a new MMORPG it's going to take some pretty impressive features.
For isntance, Star Wars: Old Republic has enough stuff that differentiates itself from WoW that I'll almost certainly play that when it comes out.
Champion's Online is something I am interested in as well. I loved City of Heroes, and only stopped playing it because it wasn't deep enough to hold my interest for more than a few months. The reviews on Champion's Online have been fairly mixed it looks like, but creating and developing a superhero is so much different from the typical MMO fantasy that I very much want to play it (even if only for a month or two). Has anyone tried this one? I'll make a new thread on it maybe if anyone wants to tell me their impressions.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Don't play Champions for at least a few more months; all I ever hear from people playing is how terrible it is right now because of the lag.
I'd love to play Aion, but that's precisely why I'm not going to buy it.
BB, I might try Dungeon Fighter in the near future. If I do, I'll bug ya.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
The looks interesting enough that it COULD be different from WoW, depending on how interesting the flying thing turns out to be. The flavor seems to feel different. Assuming the quests and overall execution were of similar quality to WoW I'd be willing to give it a try it there was a free option. (I'm not currently that invested in WoW though. I want to play... but what I really want to play is Cataclysm, which doens't come out for a year, and would probably destroy my life if I started).
By the way, since this seems to be becoming a generic MMO thread, does anyone know of any 2D platformer MMOs other than Maplestory? In the past year I've become enamored of 2D games because of the artistic flairs they can add that are harder to do in a 3D game (Braid, Aquaria and Paper Moon are the best examples) but Maplestory doesn't bother to do any of that.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:The looks interesting enough that it COULD be different from WoW, depending on how interesting the flying thing turns out to be. The flavor seems to feel different.
Yeah, the problem with me and Aion is that I'm not looking for another flavor of WoW.
I think Aion lost any chance of serious consideration for me when I went to the Classes page and saw Warrior, Mage, Scout (Rogue), Priest. Oh, there's subspecs. The Warrior comes in a tanking and dps variety? Yuck.
Hopefully SW:TOR gets away from the tank/dps/healer triad. At least with dual specs in WoW now I can be a healer when needed on my Shaman, but can still beat on monsters when I am sick of looking at heal bars.
City of Heroes was great at this, with "Defender" "Striker" "Blaster" "Tanker" and "Controller" being distinct roles, and none of which are required for a good group. No tanker? We're fine, we have plenty of controllers. No defender? Not a big deal, since we have two tankers. Just throwing together 8 random dudes often made very effective groups. Of course it also made the content rather easy, which could be why I got bored after a few months.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: BB, I might try Dungeon Fighter in the near future. If I do, I'll bug ya.
You better.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Im not so much sick of WoW content, but sick of Blizzard. I foolishly played a mage main and clawed my way to 80, epic flying and a good set of equipment.... but now they just seem to be dumbing the whole game down to recoup the loss of former serious players. So I wouldnt be against the formula, but I need a very new result, and atleast Aion (while anime style) look alot more human than WoW ever did.
And after watching video of in-flight battle from Aion, it seems to be alot like when you had to fight turtles and fish underwater in WoW, you dont really have to line up or move around much. But I hope they have particular techniques for when your in the air that you cant use on the ground and vice versa, just to add strategic variety to ganking the other faction.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
Oh...My....
I can't play the game, but I can reserve and create my character. I have never seen such fantastic character creation. That alone is worth the game.
I just made my son. I mean, I just MADE MY SON. Wow!!!
33 default heads types. 8 default body types. But that doesn't really matter because you can select multiple aspects to fine tune.
Examples:
Jaw hight, chin jut, neck length, arm length, wait, hips, et cetera. I wish you could modify hair tho. There are a pre set number of hairstyles....40 I think.
I can only create my character today, and I can only create two. I am working on making me now.
The character creation is a joy tho.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
Finally starting to get more reviews. Here are some memorably quotes.
quote: "It is fantastically gorgeous, with thousands of little details to gorge on." - MMORPG.com, June 2009
"The screenshots don't do this world justice at all. It's true epic fantasy." - Examiner, June 2009
"The world of Aion is high fantasy at its finest." - GameSpy.com, August 2008!
It has been out for a year in Asia, so it is supposedly already really polished.
Posted by Parkour (Member # 12078) on :
I am happy at Aion's character creation and its visual polish. Underneath that the game is very weak. I really want a replacement for WoW, but this is not it.
Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
Have you played the Chinese or Korean version? I am looking for just that type of feedback from someone who has played.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)