My AoC Review

Czzarre · May 2008

I put together my impression of AoC in the review entitled 'Age of Conan: The Review. "A great Game with a fatal Flaw"'. Read it HERE. Please take a look and let me know what you think.

UPDATE: I added a few paragraphs to the review based on many of your comments. I know there is still a lot about this game I havnt touched on. However, the NDA is still in effect and I already tread way to close to that line (even crossing it a bit). I will keep it updated and please feel free to keep commenting.

Thanks All!

Dremac · May 2008

Excellent review thanks for writing it!

Babuinix · May 2008

Nice read, altough i consider the High Requirements to play more like Evolution, not a flaw.

Flaw is trying to play the game without the necessary tools to enjoy it.

Sarile · May 2008

Nice review, well done, I agree with the author about the fatal flaw.

AmazingAvery · May 2008

Not a bad write up at all. But reviews are for finished products, for example it would be nice for someone to write up looking from the outside in about the PvP servers come release. Also its billed as a Guild Vs Guild game, yet there is no mention of this in your review? Did you join any groups? what was group play like with the different classes, how did you find this? How do classes work off one another etc?

I liked your write up of your experiences you had, will you be intending to update with some of the above?

Czzarre · May 2008

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Not a bad write up at all. But reviews are for finished products, for example it would be nice for someone to write up looking from the outside in about the PvP servers come release. Also its billed as a Guild Vs Guild game, yet there is no mention of this in your review? Did you join any groups? what was group play like with the different classes, how did you find this? How do classes work off one another etc?
I liked your write up of your experiences you had, will you be intending to update with some of the above?

Updates? Absolutly. I agree that reviews are only a snapshot in time. And AoC will certainly be changing almost on a day to day basis for the next few weeks leading up to release and the next few months thereafter. As such I plan to keep this updated (er, dont expect day to day..Ill probably update next with launch...which seems the most appropriate.

Yea, there is a Lot to AoC I did not cover. I will add more as they come forward. Guilds are certainly something that I am working on.

just stay in touch with the article, and keep the comments (both pro and Con) coming. I dont mind criticism, so long as its constructive.

Thanks all

Illius · May 2008

Personally I'm all for higher requirements when it comes to hardware for your PC. For the past ~3 years more or less everybody's been playing WoW and their PC's have been in the same state since the day they upgraded them to where they could run WoW in a flawless manner. If they have a problem with the current specs then I'm sure they were complaining about not being able to play WoW on their Pentium 2. It's one of those inevitable arguments that are gonna come up every time someone or something pushes the currently established boundaries.

If someone does not lead, no one will follow.

Czzarre · May 2008

Indeed Illius.

ONe could infer that if the worst part about the game was actually extrinsic to the gameplay itself, thats a good thing. However, I wrote the article from a practical standpoint.

lonhelyg · May 2008

Top notch review of what we have so far, and you are 100% on the mark about the ridiculous system requirements.

There will almost certainly be huge problems for alot of peeps on release, I have a fairly decent rig ( 3.4 ghz , 2Gig Ram and GeForce 7600GT ) and I can only run it acceptably on the very very lowest settings, if I attempt to even put the settings up to Medium all I get is a " Slide Show " !! . If Funcom had of looked closely at Lotro's launch I think they could have learned alot.

That being said yes its a great game but I think the system spec problem is going to be huge gate crasher at Funcom's party .

sandgrown · May 2008

my pc is slightly more powerful than yours and i m having no end of trouble running it on even low specs . its passable in open areas but once your in a city it freezes up . if you read through these forums theres no end of people with mid range machines saying the same thing . i m not going to upgrade souly for conan when it plays just about every other modern game at high settings . if this game had been released in two years time when the average pc could handle it .i think it would be a massive success .

theres one simple rule in massive multiplayer online games . they need to run well on joe publics mid range pc and just not some fanboy gamers beast of a machine .

conans success has already been limited by funcoms overestimation of what the average pc is . in my view they ve made a big mistake .

it will certainly be a gate crasher at thier party .

delete5230 · May 2008

I'm not in any betas, So I would like to know more about life after level 20, you tuched on it a bit, but does it really open up and with less load screens, and npc cut scenes ?. This is the deciding factor for me to play AoC and can't seem to find the answers yet. so far most everyone knows everything in your review.

I just wish for more after 20

thanks

twistedvenom · May 2008

WOW what a great review. thanks

ajax7 · May 2008

Let me say a few things here because this is not the Age of Petium, Petuim 2, or Petium 4! I glad new games will use the power of the new hardware that has been out for about a year now.

This is now the Age of of the Intell Core 2 Duo! Which are not that expensive! I picked up a Intel Core 2 Duo 6750 with a Giggabyte MB for only a 159.00. I also bought 4gig of corsair ram for 129.00 with the rebate on the ram it was $99.00. For a person who works a full time job a new system can be built that kicks butt for about $1100.00 dollars or you could buy a HP premade one with a AMD core 3 chip and 3gigs of ram and a 19in flat for 789.00 at Fry's this was last Fridays add.

You see if you can't save this much in a month or two then you need a new job or you need to go to work and stop suckling your parents nipples. Or maybe you shoud not have bought that expensive car that is draining your bank account like my friend did because it does not connect to the inernet.

New Games that have great graphics will need new hardware its called progress WoW has set back progress in the MMO world FUNCOM is not looking for WoW players they are looking for Adults who want to be part of a online world that will be imerssive and fun!

So bascially your main beef about hardware in my opion blows smoke!

Czzarre · May 2008

Originally posted by ajax7

Let me say a few things here because this is not the Age of Petium, Petuim 2, or Petium 4! I glad new games will use the power of the new hardware that has been out for about a year now.
This is now the Age of of the Intell Core 2 Duo! Which are not that expensive! I picked up a Intel Core 2 Duo 6750 with a Giggabyte MB for only a 159.00. I also bought 4gig of corsair ram for 129.00 with the rebate on the ram it was $99.00. For a person who works a full time job a new system can be built that kicks butt for about $1100.00 dollars or you could buy a HP premade one with a AMD core 3 chip and 3gigs of ram and a 19in flat for 789.00 at Fry's this was last Fridays add.
You see if you can't save this much in a month or two then you need a new job or you need to go to work and stop suckling your parents nipples. Or maybe you shoud not have bought that expensive car that is draining your bank account like my friend did because it does not connect to the inernet.
New Games that have great graphics will need new hardware its called progress WoW has set back progress in the MMO world FUNCOM is not looking for WoW players they are looking for Adults who want to be part of a online world that will be imerssive and fun!
So bascially your main beef about hardware in my opion blows smoke!

"..FUNCOM is not looking for WoW players they are looking for Adults who want to be a part of a online world that will be immerssive..."

I think that common business sense goes against that statement. Funcom is not some MMO newbie. They have been in this industry for some time. I wager they are well aware of the current trends and desires within the WoW community and MMOs in general. It is not that Funcom should want WoW players...they should expect them.

The above poster's (and several others) statement that games must follow technology is not lost on me. We cannot expect to play newly developed games forever on computers made 2-3 years ago. This is the subject of numerous threads already on this forum, and I do not wish to re-thread that topic.

However, in my opinion (thats all these reviews are) it is the #1 issue with the game. As I wrote above...You could spin that to be either good or bad. The gameplay can be great fun. However, the investment needed for some prospective players to achieve that gameplay will be more than the box cost + subscription.

I will continue to update the review with impressions on instancing, guilds and >lev 30 play as time and NDA alows (I already tread the NDA line perhaps too closely)

ghostinfinit · May 2008

A very intelligent and well written review, ty.

ProfRed · May 2008

Great review! I am a big fan of the game and i'll say that honestly and be proud of it mainly because I really believe in the lead designer. That doesn't mean I believe in the devs behind him being able to implement all of his ideas, and I agree with the flaw to a degree.

I built my system for around $1,000 last September and it runs AoC great. These days the same system would probably cost around $700. I don't think that upgrading technology is a bad thing but at the same time my brother is only 15 and has other things to spend his allowance on. He won't be playing AoC because he can't run it, but the same held true with EQ2. I am torn on this because on one hand I want nice graphics, but on the other I want my brother to be able to play with me. In the end though I am glad that they went the way they did, and I don't care about having millions and millions of subs. As long as there are full servers i'll be happy.

Sovrath · May 2008

That's actually a very good review.

clarkrw · May 2008

My problems with AoC are that the combat, while awesome, is heavily dependent upon not crashing and server stability and not having lag. Possibly more so than other non-"Real Combat" systems.

The mission system is the same as so many others for me which is boring and sometimes difficult outside of a team. I really don't think they'll have a good launch for a variety of reasons.

The first is they're stress testing with a rumored "less than the best" build. Even if this isn't the case their stress test was really a very large closed beta with only 50k people getting into that set of servers. We have no idea how 100k+ people will do when they all charge the servers the same day trying to download updates and login. It's one of the smallest Open Beta's I've ever been in and that's what makes me worry the most.

The graphics are quite nice, not mind blowing but very nice and my machine doesn't have a terrible time running it. However, especially right now in America with the economy starting to hit the crapper people just don't have the funds to go buy more memory or a new gfx card to play a game that they still have to pay a monthly fee for. For many in that situation if it comes down to buying 2-300 bucks in upgrades to run AoC reasonably or using that money to pay for their next 3 years of WoW, CoX, whatever, they'll probably choose the later.

gamerman98 · May 2008

you cant really review a game that hasnt fully launched yet lol..should have called it "my OB review" would have made more sense.

Praxus · May 2008

Considering that a geforce 8800GT isn't much more than $150, same for a fast core 2 duo.....I don't think the requirements are too out of line.

With those two components and a recent hard drive, the game runs fine on High with 2 megs ram.

Ephimero · May 2008

You can't call yourself "gamer" having a pentium IV. TM

[Deleted User] · May 2008

The user and all related content has been deleted.

mike470 · May 2008

I posted it on your forums and I'll post it here..

Nice review!

Unknown · May 2008

I don't agree with your characterization of what "alot of PvPers" want.

Your description of the gankers paradise in AoC is neither fun nor hard to my mind. Its just assinine, moronic and unrealistic.

If I voice this opinion I am called a carebear or told I am not a real PvPer or that I am weak or soft. Yet in real life I do competitive Jiu Jitsu against real people. PvP ing in real life every week and risking potentiall broken limbs or being choked out by people who have every incentive to not be friendly.

I do not believe this is what "alot" of PvPers want. Its just a very small minority of people who do a simple polical trick and change the classification so that "everyone" in their "group" agrees with their point of view. It just happens to be that they make they and 5 other people are "everyone".

It amazes me how many people fall for this trick and let these idiots define what the PvP or hardcore PvP classification means. Sorry I PvP and I am not even close to a wuss about it and mindless ganking is still mindless and the people who want it are wimps who have no desire for a challenge they simply want to inflict the pain they have experienced onto others.

Any decent PvP game can and will have "WTF how did they get me?" stuff in it. Even something as highly structured and highly balanced as Guild Wars GvG has this. That is partially the entire point of why PvP gameplay offers something that PvE currently rarely does. But that is not the same as the crapfest of ganking that most of these wimps agitate for.

If AoC turns into a decent GvG game like Avery hopes maybe this won't be true. But if its like your description then it is not "hard" its just dumb. Smashing your head into a wall over and over is not hard even if its painful.

This "its not for everyone" BS has got to stop. Nothing is for everyone. Gankfests are crap. Period. Not saying that everything should be a duel, but the gankfests and roving execution squads etc are BS and generally are the result of poor PvP design that gives people nothing better to do and/or do not allow proper control of a zone. And in a game of very little skill like an MMORPG its just made exponentially worse.

This sort of crap should never be toelrated. People freak out when quest text is off or some minor piece of art is off but they toerlate this kind of crap. Well that is why you have crap is so astronomically bad that you have to put a HUGE caveat in front of it everytime you mention it.

Ephimero · May 2008

Sorry, but the comparision between ingame PvP and "Real life PVP" made me giggle.

"HOW DID YOU WIN, BARBARIAN? I HAVE BLACK BELT IRL! HOOOOAAAYAAA"

"LF real life Boxers to create the best PvP clan"

Czzarre · May 2008

As I said in the article, I would not assume there will be any sort of unspoken honor system or civility. For good or bad ...This game is not set in the setting of a 1940's Robin Hood film...its more like Alien Vs Predator.

I agree it would be nice to have a honor code....code of the Ronin...whatever. However my experiences do not bear this out.

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