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mini review lvl's 1 - 10
Stuka1000
Member UncommonPosts: 955
I started AoC tonight with mixed feelings. Half of me wanted this game to be superb, polished and stable. The other half had doubts with Funcom's track record, the OB fiasco and of course the late start of the EA. Before going further this is my system:
Intel core 2 quad QX6700 Extreme
Asus Striker II Formula 780i Motherboard
4GB DDR2 800Mhz
2 x XFX GeForce 8800 GTX in SLi
Vista 64 Ultimate
As you can see it's a decently high-end system so all the graphics settings in the game were shoved up to maximum, and the graphics truly are superb. Unfortunately they are also the games best feature. I have had no slow-downs, stuttering or anything like that, in fact the game runs very smoothly but on this system I didn't expect anything less. I would think that mid-range PC's will be able to run AoC on medium settings without too much drama which I will admit is plesently surprising and all credit to Funcom for achieving this.
Character creation is above par for MMO's and I can imagine some people spending quite awhile tweaking their toons look, although a zoom feature to gain a close-up of the character's face would have been helpful. Even without this though the creation process is better than most MMO's on the market today. I am not one for spending hours on this however so my character was ready to go in a couple of minutes.
A short cinematic later and I was lying on the beach and was approached by the 1st NPC and recieved the 1st quest. Ok, I decided on a Stygian Demonologist and anyone that has read REH's Conan stories knows that this is one evil SoB and this is where the game hit's it's 1st small hitch, in that the storyline quests set you up as a good guy working for the good of the kingdom and against the ambitions of Thoth Amon and his thralls. Being the class and race that I was it would have been a lot better to have had the opposite option and the ability to become Thoth's number one fan but no. Instead I end up working missions for some drunkard mage in favour of the rebellion. Part of this is to worm myself into the favour of a powefrul Stygian sorceress as a spy while gaining the added benefit of her knowledge. Again, as a demonologist this should have been screw the goody goody rebels and teach me everything you know please mistress. I have only taken the character to level 10 so far but the storyline really doesn't fit upto this point. The quests do however appear to have been carefully designed to avoid level gaps ( not being able to continue the story due to being too low lvl ) with the only break so far being between lvl's 9 & 10 when I had to go out and kill a few things to level up before I could go on. This only took about 20 minutes however so no hardship there.
This early part of the game is very linear and heavily instanced and I'm sorry to say that it felt like a chore being led by the hand from one quest to the next with no reason to ever deviate from the beaten path. Even solo each step is easy to the point of being ridiculous and I got the impression of a tutorial that just didn't know when to end. Inside the various instances there are fights that will find you outnumbered and you will die on occasion but there is no death penalty, so even for a squishy it's a matter of kill one, die, respawn at the start, run back, kill one, rinse and repeat. All very tedious.
The much hyped combat system is, in my opinion, a joke. There is nothing fast paced or revolutionary about it and I think that by level 80 even the most ardent fanboi will be bored to tears with it, although the animations are well done but again that just comes back down to graphics.
Server stability: We all remember the database lag that WoW suffered with during OB and on into release, well, AoC suffers from something similar. All appears fine as you can run around and chat with fellow players but then when you talk to an NPC ( or try to ) or cast a spell etc. nothing happens, the server just doesn't respond to the request and this is one of the same problems that existed during the OB and although it doesn't happen as often now the latency is still there. This of course will be fixed very quickly I would think but along with login problems etc. it all adds up to a less than perfect game experience.
Funcom reckon that they need to have retained 250k subscribers by the end of the games 1st three months of operation and I honestly don't see that happening, the game, at least in the early levels just isn't good enough. I will continue to play though to get past lvl 20 and away from Tortage in the hope that the game beyond is a lot better, which of course is a double edged sword. If the game is a lot better after lvl 20 then FC have seriously messed up the early experience and 1st impressions are vitally important. If on the other hand the game is much the same after lvl 20 then I think only the most rabid of Conan fans will still be playing 6 months from now. Level 1 -10 rating 4/10 and I added an extra point because the graphics are so good. Sorry Funcom but in my opinion at least gameplay is way more important than graphics.
Comments
Theres a game called WoW, has the best intuitive combat system ever from what Ive heard...
Very nice review...I am in the process of upgrading my PC since it is due for an upgrade now. I think I will still give AoC in a month or so!
Thanks for the great review!
So basically you reviewed the tutorial, not even that only HALF the tutorial. 1-20 takes no time at all and is used as a tutorial. Its the same as WoW's starting area's except you can clear it in under and hour if you wanted to.
And im pretty sure they will keep 250k Subs. Hell there are 100-200k people alone just playing early access, apprently 600k+ Pre-ordered, so a good guess for subs at the end of the month would be 500k-1m.
Well if WoW can attract 10 million subs with an even less exciting first 20 levels.. then I'm sure AoC will be just fine.
Nice review, opinions are opinions. I didn't experience the server lag you were talking about. I did get disconnected one time during the last 8 or so hours though. That's something you come to expect on occasion from all online games. I think the combat system will grow on people, Sure, I wish there were more starting areas, no instancing and alternate storylines.. but I certainly wouldn't give this game a 4 out of 10.
I've played 16 levels so far.. I'd give it an incomplete score.. but if I had to score it for the first 16, I'd give it a 8/10. Extremely wel thought out quests, very little grinding, great graphics, server stability, no crashes and huge updates, no glaring glitches or bugs of any kind. Pretty smooth pre-launch honestly. A lot better than I expected.
Thanks, lots. Needed some more insight on the beginning levels.
also imo, if you dont have a high-end machine. the graphics look like poo.
1. There is a zoom to the face, look a little harder.
2. Death penalties start at lvl 10.
3. You played a caster? Of coarse you aren't going to experience the faster paced combos which require melee.
4. Your NPC lag/database lag or whatever you call it seems to have only been on a few servers or yours alone because I noticed none at all.
5. I whole heartedly disagree with your assumption that AoC is going to lose more than 70% of it's playerbase at the 3 month mark. ( This may be a little innacurate but from what I hear EA was limited to 600k which sold out so that plus the retail players + reg launch players = 800k? )
Anyways, them losing 60-70% of their players after 3 months is HIGHLY unlikely.
*Edit* also check this thread for initial acceptance levels: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/191/view/forums/thread/180047/page/1
also imo, if you dont have a high-end machine. the graphics look like poo.
Not true, WoW has a horrible 1st impression (see WoW forums on pre lvl 20 content) which is why you see so many people saying they tried WoW and it wasnt for them. Also, my friend is playing AoC on low settings, and it looks amazing.
For zooming in on the characters face during creation, you can do that. There's an image of a head and a body on the right side of the character, click on the head to zoom in on it.
I didn't experience any server lag, and you're the first person I've heard from who's had a problem with that.
The rest of the stuff is a matter of opinion, and I disagree with a lot of things you didn't like. Even so, I think the first 10 levels is way too early to give any kind of review score for. At least you're sticking around a while longer though, and hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of it more.
also imo, if you dont have a high-end machine. the graphics look like poo.
pfft, lol, haha, mmhmm, whatever dude.
Fucom has already admitted that their casters don't really bring anything new to the table as far as combat. There's spell weaving, but you don't use it all the time.
I would recommend you play a melee class (Herald of Xotli and Barbarian are my favorite) to get a real feel for the new combat system.
The melee isn't as fun as Mount and Blade, but it's 10x better than standard MMO combat. Try it out and you will see.
You all know some one is going too place nasty comments about this game!!! Goood for you there will be more room for me !!!!!
Thanks for posting your thoughts. Please let us know if things change after the tutorial. It is a bit silly to let someone play a Stygian Demonologist and then expect them to work against Thoth Amon...
Frankly I couldn't agree more with the original poster. The monotony of the first 20 levels is almost unbearable, and if like me you are an alt-a-holic and like to try to see a game from all sides (warrior, scout, mage aqnd priest) I dread running through this rubbish more than once.
Which I can't do as the patch server seems to be down and i can't log back in. I will play this till my subscription runs out and review it again at the end of the free month. But I'm not holding out much hope for the game given the experience so far.
A very disappointed former AoC fan.
Wow... so you reviewed 10 levels of an MMORPG.
I can't think of a single game of this type that is accurately represented in the firs 10 levels. Before you write such a long-winded review, perhaps you should play the game a bit more to see how it actually pans out.
I have played nearly every MMORPG that has ever been released and I always give them more of a chance than what you have. No matter what the game is, you cannot give a CONCISE REVIEW until you have experienced more of the game.
Let us not forget the first 10 levels of almost every other MMO that is out there. Your character gets only a couple of skills which you spam over and over again killing the same (or similar) mobs to fulfill empty and meaningless quests. Rinse and repeat enough times and your character advances to the point in the game where it gets really good.
Maybe you would label me a fanboy, but AoC seems to have done this but also included really engaging low-level combat and quest plots that have some actual relevance to the story. I can't think of another MMO off the top of my head that has had truly good story-driven quests at this level...
I do apologize if this seems overly critical, but I do not think its fair to judge an MMO on the first 10 levels... Give it more time before you give such a verbose review.
Anubsian I'd agree with that thought except, the problem is that unlike most games where there are several alternate start points or story lines so that when you play an alt you hve a different path to walk, AoC has one story line for the first 20 levels. You are stuck on the same track, no matter how interesting they make this it wil rapidly become a chore.
Plus, the individual skills of the classes make the quests have a unique approach....plowing through with a conqueror in one case, while stealthing through with an assassin, for example. there are often more than one way to accomplsih your goals.
Think!
I remember back in 1999, folks kept asking me if I was stockpiling food. I always answered, "No, I'm stockpiling ammo and making a list of people who are stockpiling food"
A review after 10 levels. You got to be kidding. It's like reviewing a car without turning on the engine and take it for a ride.
I noticed a posting you did earlier about unbiased reviews. Well sir, "mini-reviews" arnt better either.
www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/42807
WoW! Look at how the spell weaving look like!
It´s a serious spell casted here ... hehe
MAn if you think AoC is boring from 1-10 then you havent obviously played games like
EQ1 or EQ2 ... or even WOW which was ultra boring .. kill 10 x , kill 10 y etc etc...
The only fun part about any MMO is when you start doing higher level grouping and getting phat lewts.
PvP is cool too but most people just love getting phat lewts.
Please stop! Don't remind me of those MMO's! *shiver* If I ever come across another MMO where most the quests are just Kill X or fed ex it's too soon! Hehe. Back to the OP topic. I doubt I'll find the combat boring. Sounds great for those who enjoy a twitch combat from the fps genre. Nothing can be more boring now than the whack a mole UI button mash. There's only so many MMO clones you can play before you just want to shoot yourself with such a static combat system.
It's a real shame when people make posts like this. I mean it is fine to post about the experience you had, but please do not call it a review, when you clearly don't have enough knowledge about the game.
The fact that you couldn't see how to zoom into your face on character creation says it all - when you review something you should be paying more attention and trying things out.
I'm sorry this is not a "review" at all, it is simply your "experience" as an unexperienced player.
Also level 10 is when you start to get some really fun abilities, so why you would do a review up till lvl 10 is beyond me. Sure first impressions are important, but you should at least make some effort on your part.
Odd you and others should say that actually considering most people on these boards await magazine or gamesite previews of upcoming titles with baited breath, previews based on much less than the first 10 levels but hey, that's your opinion as this was mine. Also I tried to be unbiased and I mentioned both the games good and bad points, however, every review no matter the source is always simply the reviewers oppinion, some will agree and others wont.