Reviews

Though it may appear hardcore on the surface, casual players will most likely enjoy it more

In Aion, players have the option of playing one of two factions – the Elyos and the Asmodians. Its lore tells of a world split in two, with the lower half’s inhabitants – the Elyos – blessed with the gift of light, whilst those dwelling beneath the planet’s upper half – the Asmodians – forsaken to eternal darkness. Each of these two factions have adapted to their respective worlds. The former takes on a sort of angelic appearance, with large ethereal white wings and an otherwise beautiful and completely human form. The Asmodians, on the other hand, posses black wings, a striking furry mane on their backs and eyes that glow red when they’re angered.

These two factions hold much animosity towards one another, but their real enemy is the NPC race known as the Balaur. The Balaur’s purpose is to keep the balance in the world, and they rise up with more force against whichever faction is more dominant.  This element of gameplay known as PvPvE is what is said to set Aion apart from its counterparts, through promising hours of enjoyment by attempting to cater towards everyone.

Art direction, graphics and world design

The world lore may suggest an almost sci-fi like setting, but make no mistake about it – the developers opted for the high fantasy direction...with a twist. You see, whilst it’s all about sword and sorcery, the world itself is very diverse. You’ll experience everything from snow-capped mountains to shimmering lakes to enchanted forests and huge floating boulders in the sky. Each zone is so big, and its parts are so different, that one can’t help but stop and marvel at the beauty that surrounds them.

That being said, the graphics aren’t anything groundbreaking. The character models are top-notch, as well as most textures. Unfortunately, ground and sky textures are a bit of a letdown. This shortcoming spoils what would be an otherwise breathtaking world. Why on earth the developers opted for such shabby textures is beyond me. It would be understandable if high-res textures affected performance for players with low-end systems, but that’s what graphical settings are for.

Eventually, one learns to live with the ground textures and eventually tends to not notice them anymore. Players are meant to be able to look up at the sky and see their opponents half of the planet, due to the concave shape of the world. Unfortunately, the developers failed to deliver on this concept. It’s simply a glorified and badly rendered wallpaper.

What is top-notch is the world design. Whilst zones differ from each other greatly, so do the different areas in zones. One minute you’ll be in the middle of a forest, and the next you’re walking through a cave into rocky terrain on the other side. Exploration is fun. I found myself wanting to see more, not rush through the game.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look at the finer details of the game – starting from the beginning.

System requirements and pricing

According to the figures on the box, Aion’s minimum system requirements are as follows:

Microsoft Windows XP SP2

2.8Ghz CPU or equivalent

1GB RAM

NVIDIA 5900 Ultra with 128MB RAM/ATI Radeon x700 with 128MB RAM or higher

15GB available hard drive space

DVD-ROM drive (for a boxed copy)

DirectX 9.0c (6/2008 update)

16-bit sound card

Broadband internet connection

On the whole, the official requirements are what one would expect from the average game these days, so those with a mid-range setup should have no issues running the game at all. Cost-wise it’ll set you back at least R350, which is pretty much in line with most new MMORPG releases.

Installation, patching and account  creation

Up until I was eventually logged into the game, I was not at all impressed with Aion. NCsoft had launched their new gem in various Asian countries around a year ago, and a few weeks prior to the European release – which we were a part of – they released the game in North America. I expected them to have gotten the launch down to a tee by the time our turn came, but that was not the case.

The patching servers were overloaded, there was a ridiculous queue to log into the servers once I had my client patched up, and on some servers – in order to keep factions balanced – character creation of a specific faction was closed.

However, it has now been a month since release and it would be unfair to base my opinion of the entire game upon a rocky launch. Should you purchase Aion today, you should have no trouble patching up the game, creating an account and finally creating a character.

Moving on to account creation – you will need a credit card or an NCsoft game time card in order to create an Aion account. Once you have entered your details and started playing, it is immediately possible to cancel you subscription and enjoy the firs t30 days included with the game.

Actualy game and server performance

Though the requirements may be low, in reality you’re going to need a significantly better system than the minimum requirements let on in order to run the game smoothly. This single fact is what disappointed me the most about Aion. For what it delivers, it simply demands far too much resource-wise. 

Some have reported excellent performance, and other terrible. If you’re at all worried about your system’s compatibility with the game, I highly suggest the trial as a test. Playing with lag is simply not an enjoyable experience at all. All I can say is that Guild Wars, for example, thrashes Aion in the performance department, running and looking much better on maximum settings compared to Aion on its lowest.

Lag also proved an issue, with a ping below 600ms being a cause for celebration. Due to the hype centred on its release, the server lag could most likely be attributed to excited new buyers playing as much as possible, thus resulting in high server traffic.

Character creation

Once I finally sorted out all my pregame issues, I was greeted by a fantastic Sims-like character creation menu. It’s possible to alter practically any aspect of your character’s face, their height, body art and even test how they would look in starter, mid-game and high-end armour. I was very impressed and were it not for my anxiousness to get playing, I could easily have busied myself for hours creating the perfect character. There’s a wide variety of hairstyles, eye colours, skin colours and the like to offer true variance. I very highly doubt I’ll ever run across another character in-game that looks like mine. Should you be of the lazy type, the randomizer feature does its job very well and after a few short clicks something that tickles your fancy should pop up.

It’s excellent that the developers opted to allow such freedom of expression in the form of unique characters, as there is obviously not much variety available in the form of races. Apart from minor differences, the Elyos and Asmodians are both in effect humans with a twist.

When the time to pick your class arrives, one is presented with four options – the Warrior, Scout, Priest and Mage. These are pretty much the standard classes you’d expect to find any an MMO these days. Fear not, however, as once players reach level 10 and “ascend”, they are granted the choice of specializing, effectively choosing a new sub-class. Warriors choose between becoming Templars or Gladiators, Scouts between Assassins or Rangers, Priests between Clerics or Chanters and lastly Mages between Spiritmasters and Sorcerers. As a result, players are introduced to the overall play style of their class prior to level 10, and when the time arises to specialize, they should have a good feel for which direction they’d like to take their character in.

I, for example, chose Mage, fully expecting to specialize as a Sorcerer. However, once I hit level 10 I opted for Spiritmaster instead, as it suited my personal play style more. Players shouldn’t, therefore, have an issue finding a class to suit them from the possible 8, as they are all rather different from each other.

Storytelling and questing

NCsoft have done a great job of informing players about their character’s story. Upon first starting the game client, players will be greeted with a cinematic that summarises the game’s lore very well. Once players have created their character, they will also be greeted with an in-game cinematic in which their characters play a role – taking a page out of Guild Wars’ book. These cinematics are fairly common and occur during and upon completion of important quests in your character’s tale.

The actual quest system is pretty generic. If you’ve played World of Warcraft, The Lord of the Rings Online or even Guild Wars, you’ll feel right at home. Expect a large number of quests requiring you to collect a certain number of items, or quests requiring you kill a number of mobs. There are, of course, quests that stray from the norm and thus provide entertainment in amongst the mundane, but Aion is essentially a classic “carrot-on-a-stick” MMO. Expect to quest until you reach the level cap of 50, so if you do not enjoy this type of gameplay, Aion is definitely not for you.

The developers have provided an interesting alternative to levelling; Work Orders. These are essentially crafting quests. They’re excellent if you simply can’t handle another combat-related quest, and offer a great opportunity to level your gathering and crafting skills at the same time.

Aion's trump card - flight

Aion’s central theme is flight. Not the Flyff-type flying, but actual meaningful flight.

All characters ascend when they reach level 10, and this is when they earn their wings. Flight is limited to certain areas, so as not to allow players to exploit various quests or mobs, and there is a time-limit to it, which can be increased by a number of seconds by various boosts and upgrades. Aerial combat is possible and considered a tactic that should be used wisely. The trick is to time your flights right in order to make the most of your flight time. Being able to spread your wings and fly when you need to run away, or chase after someone, is very exciting. It adds a whole new dimension to gameplay. Whilst it may be limited by time, this limitation in itself makes it all the more special.

It is also possible to glide in no-flight zones, which is basically a faster means of travel should you master the fine art. With the correct button presses, you could glide your entire flight time away and get to your destination much faster than simply by foot.

Interface

That brings us to the interface. With all these new possibilities and frontiers, an in-game interface that works how you need it to it important. On the whole, I was impressed with the interface design.

It’s pretty and it’s functional. My only irk was requiring more bars on the lower portion of my screen on which I could place spells and abilities, but other than that I had no major irks with it. A simple glance is all it takes to measure your flight time available, or whether or not you may even fly in your zone.
The map works like a charm, and functions in pure harmony with the quest journal. Should you wish to find the location of a certain item or place; you need simply click the name of the item or place in your journal, followed by the “Locate” button and up pops a map to direct you there. It reminded me of Guild Wars’ quest system on steroids.

PVP

One optional component of the game where fun is most certainly to be had is its PvP system. There are arenas in each faction’s main city (which are rather underutilised), but where the true PvP is Aion is performed is in the Abyss. The Abyss is in essence the space between the upper and lower halves of the world of Etreia. Here, the Elyos and Asmodians battle it out for control of large fortresses, as well as quest – something not seen in many other MMO’s. Here, experience and loot is far greater than in the rest of the world, but you constantly run the risk of getting “ganked” by an angry member of the opposing faction. High risk and high reward is the name of the game, and it most certainly feels like a completely different game once you finally hit the Abyss at around level 25.

Aion borrows a page from the books of MMO’s such as Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online regarding its large siege battles. Players are required to work together against the enemy in order to capture or defend their fortress. This may be opposing players or the Balaur (where the PvPvE system comes into play). The aim is to work your way down into the depths of the fortress and defeat the fortress guardian. It is well-implemented, with various twists and tricks along the way that make things fun. An example is the force field prohibiting flight that needs to be destroyed before players may fly in the area.

All that being said, PvP is not a requirement. Should you wish to skip it, you may do so. That, however, would be a very silly thing to do. You haven’t experienced Aion until you’ve experienced the mayhem of the Abyss in all its glory.

Crafting

Last, but not least, is crafting. There’s nothing particularly wonderful about Aion’s crafting system. It’s a simple affair of obtaining a recipe, gathering or purchasing the necessary materials in order to craft the item detailed in the recipe, followed by clicking the “craft” button. The system doesn’t remotely compare to a system such as Ryzom’s, for example, but as with most things in Aion, there isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with it.

Strangely, profiting from crafting is a tricky business, and you’re more likely to spend money than make any. Perhaps in the future this issue will be addressed, and therefore levelling crafting could be seen as an investment, but if it’s quick cash you’re looking for, I suggest you look elsewhere.

Staying power

So is Aion the type of game I could see myself playing for years to come? Performance issues aside, the answer is no. NCsoft simply did what Blizzard did with World of Warcraft – they took what a number of other MMO’s did, did it better and added their own small twists for appeal factor. It certainly worked well, what with millions upon millions of Asian subscribers taking the bait and hundreds of thousands of pre-orders on this side of the world.

Aion does not do anything specifically wrong, but it simply doesn’t do that much right either. The attempts at innovation by the developers are to be commended, but those innovations may simply not be groundbreaking enough to keep one interested in the long run. Essentially it’s more of the same, which for many people won’t be a bad thing, but seasoned MMO fans will find nothing new here.

Though it may appear hardcore on the surface, casual players will most likely enjoy it more, as they’re less likely to have already played other similar MMO’s to death