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Real non-WoW Fanboi's (or gurl's) First Evening in Hyboria
WiccanCircle
Member Posts: 336
I have to say, this was a fluid smooth launch. (Delayed by a few minutes but, meh, best I have ever heard of in any game, anywhere, anyhow) This launch was beautiful. Kudos FunCom et al.
* AoC Game Mechanics *
Graphics - I have a high-end Quad non-overclocked machine with 8Gig RAM, Dual 8800GT Alpha Dogs in SLI, have a Clean Vista64 install, dedicated OS Harddrive, dedicated Gaming Harddrive and have fully updated drviers... so guess what? No a single glitch, hiccup, lag, slow-down or FPS decrease that could even be seen by the human eye. Once logged in, I ran the entire day on Max DX10 settings and was basically watching a movie and controlling one of the characters.
Sounds - I was unsure what the Voice 1, Voice 2, Voice 3... options were so I tried a different one on each of five characters... I found that the voice-overs were too soft to hear? Not sure if I have set something up wrong, but the ambient sounds were very well done. (Though I had to stop playing the Necromancer because of the squeeling pig noise of her major DOT spell) 
The game sounds could be better, they are still the best I have played in an MMORPG though. When compared to the crappy ping-bloop WoW sounds of some old game like WoW, it really shows how far MMOs have come since then. I do hope that they improve the sounds anyhow over the course of the next few years. There is always room for improvement.
* AoC Chracters *
Major gripe - Character names. Come on FunCom, it is the 21ist century, not pre-Y2K, let us have a given and a surname. What is wrong with you? I can't believe we are stuck with single word, pet-style names, Fluffy... Bandit... Spot... grrrrr that was a mistake.
I did enjoyed seeing the character generator that was used in AoC. The skin tone doesn't seem to match up between the generator and the game itself. A slight tan might be very dark ingame or lighter than you expected depending on the race. I also thought that there should be more options for hair color (Heck, I have had more variation than this over the last few years) And most definately, there needs to be more hair styles and EYE COLOR.
I have not made it off the island yet but each of the five characters I have been trying are beginning to look markedly different in their armor/clothing. I have not spent much time analyzing the equipmentso I have no way to know good or bad.
* Game Play *
I have tried two casters, one archer, one melee, and one DT (half & half) There is no way anyone could be in the position to comment on the spells, skills, abilities if they just started playing this afternoon. They seem interesting (Not as good as Asheron's Call wide range of abilities and spells, but it should have some room for growth over 80 levels) If people played CB, or OB then they might know enough to comment on the skills, but nobody commenting on these today after a quarter day of playing is worth reading. You simply can not know yet and if they are complaining about them at this point, then they have another agenda.
(Though I still see the damage that EQ has done to MMOs in the class structure system that is being implimented here. That is also caused by PvP and the rediculous falasy - beliving that you can ever truely balance characters that have different abilities. So they need to stop trying and just make great abilities, not balance.)
Starter Area - I did it about six or seven times and kept five of the characters that I ran through. I wandered all over the areas that were open for travel and had a really pleasent time. (I am an explorer in these) I was shocked to see how different the loot could be between different characters. I had some that had to trash items to make room and others that entered the city with a few slots left in the bag. It was a good tutorial and a fun starter area that didn't pander. (Compare this to Tabula Rasa or WoW's trainer areas and you will see the extreeeeemmme difference between the games.)
I don't like instances, but never ran across a load screen that lasted for more than a few seconds. There are still some missions that were "Pizza Delivery" in style and I wish they would put more effort to disguise those, but while delivering my Pizzas to the warf area, at least I had gorgeous ocean backgrounds rather than flat, 2-dimentional coloring book style from WoW.
All in all it was a very wonderful first day in Hyboria.
Fantastic job FunCom. Be proud of your skills devs. You have made THE next leap forward in MMOs. Everything from this point forward will have a higher bar to leap over. Many games currently in developement are in trouble. They will hit the shelves looking, playing and feeling old and outdated like WoW is now.
Anyhow, sans a quick nap during the server patch, I have been up since 4AM for work and now play, so it is time for bed for this tired Priestess of Mitra.
Tomorrow - I shall try teaming
"The reality of the poor in America isn't the difference between The Haves and The Have Nots, it is the difference between The Haves and The Have Lots."
Comments
Excellent review, much appreciated. How much fun is combat? IS the system as unique and revolutionary as claimed, or just a gimmick that feels superficial. Also how easy is it to tyoe and fight at the same time? I always loved COH cause it had fun exciting fights, while still allowing you to banter a lot , and I was wodnering if this was similiar?
GAH!!! wish I had the chance to buy early access... stupid retailer!!.. oh well.. thanks for the review.. now I know for sure this really is what I have hoped..
Great Review!
I have already level 5 characters to lvl 12 and now I have to decide which to take to 20 first
"I don't give a sh*t what other people say. I play what I like and I'll pay to do it too!" - SerialMMOist
Hey there, nice review! I pretty much agree on all your points.
This is one Smoooooth launch, I had some issues to begin with (logging in) but after that no technical issues whatsoever.
I have a system similar to yours - no in game issues at all - absolutely loving it!
Nicely written first impression. Thanks for not calling it a review. Wierd how people play a game for 5 levels or 5 hours, then come back here to post a 'review' of a game that will keep folks busy for 100's of hours.
Regarding the naming policy. Not all cultures have last names per se. And even though we are living in the 21st century, I don't think Conan is.
Your computer sounds awesome. I would expect the game to run very well on such a rig. But the true test of Conan's performance will be on the average mmo gaming rig. If it runs well on the average gamer's rig, the game will be much more successful. If it only runs well on top end gaming machines, then it will miss a wonderful opportunity to have broad appeal as people will be turning the game away based on shoddy performance.
The combat system is good. At first it will seem like mashing on any unguarded area is the best thing to do. But then you realize if your combo finishes in a unguarded area, then thats the best damage. So at first it is gimmicky, but when you get more combos, and chain them to get the best DPS then its diffrent. I dunno about spellweaving and range though.
Darkfall for now.
Quit bashing games YOU don't like! Including WoW, you know you liked it before you got burned out.
http://live.xbox.com/member/Njai
Nice impressions.
You'll be hard pushed to find any of RE Howard's Hyborian characters with surnames by the way. I can't recall a single one. I doubt they are allowing it, but Funcom should be letting players use the dash - to create names such as Thoth-Amon, Amon-Ra, Big-Titz etc.
Wait, not Big-Titz obviously.
Nice look at the game, I like things like this and I hate the people that scream hate. So you just stoked my interest even more.
And here's one that nailed it down to the core. Exactly. Like I told my guildies yesterday; arrange your combos on your GUI so you know what direction they swing.
If you still want to purchase early access, I'm sure there's somebody on these forums that didn't get in who would sell you theirs for $5......
Lol.
But i agree with this impression of the game. I have 3.0 duo core cpu ,2 gigs of ram, and the geforce 7600 and it runs decently on the medium setting....the only time it gets bogged down is when i'm in bigger battles (5+ npcs) which in a way is going to suck for me later on when there are the massive sieges going on and mounts...I guess when the time comes I'll have to lower the setting or buy a new graphics card.
Oh and wait until you experiance your first fatality and blood hits the screen, hehehehe
i wouldnt call it a launch yet. its only early access and not many have it. the real launch on the 20th will be when funcoms servers are put to the test.. even right now as i type this their site is down due to high volume of traffic, come the 20th well see how smooth it will be when way more players will be downloading/creating/loggingin then there are currently.
i have high hopes though, nothing can surpass the shitty launch of WoW lol..
Oh Godz, I forgot Combat!! Sorry about that...
* Combat *
At first, you will go Huh?
You crawl from the sea, wet and tired, barely able to get to your feet... and just like your parents seem to do when you have a hangover, some guys comes up to you with a whole list of chores.
You have three main combat keys for melee Overhead Downward Slash Left, Midsection Roundhouse Right, and Stab/Overhead Hammer Bow-slice (and for most characters have some ancillary spell at first level) The first thing you will do is a little kata on the beach and realize that you can mash the keys faster than the animation... that is not a preferable thing since the game slightly data logs your key sequence. And if you do this in combat you are a silly little whitebelt flailing like a schoolboy at a bully. You have to just relax, don't mash, press, think, flow with the attack. You have to time your swings so that you can adjust your attacks. It isn't hard, it isn't something that will (at first level anyhow) require much effort it is just fluid and flowing and fun. Actually, it is amazingly fun once you get over your MMO instincts to just start flailing away on attack keys as fast as they light up.
I am a student of Hapkido so I found it enjoyable to actually choose my attacks based on mob location, numbers and their stance. When you make the right choices and your attacks follow a solid progession, hit better, land in exposed areas and you can fell mobs like wheat. Try it when you get in game... mash some keys watch how you really suck at fighting. Then on the next mob, softly hit a few keys in a thoughtful sequence and watch the poor bastard as he is quickly dispatched.
Once you break out of the WoW et al mentality of "Push-da-Button, watch little cartoon man swing weapon" You will enjoy the new combat. Some people will want the old style combat from old games. They want to have a Mt Dew in one hand (I hope that is what their spare hand is gripping anyhow )
and they want to be able to just hit the same key strokes in every combat with narry a brain cell so much as de polarized. That 'could' happen here. You 'Could' just hit 1,1,1,1 and attack like that. But you wouldn't be as effective and, oh Godz! others who used their brain would be better than you 
I bet the ones that want old WoW like-combat would cry if that ever happened.
The spells are few at these lower levels and seem to come at odd times without any choices being made for what you would like to have... perhaps in this I am old school, but I like going to trainers and sages for a new skill or spell. It just seems weird to me that a person trips over a rock in the woods and suddenly has mastered a new technique
Let alone "Awww man, I stepped in monkey poop, hey suddenly I know how to call forth the fires of Hell to smite mine enemies!"
hotBar Tip - Oh, a tip to those still on the slave ship before the storm... when you first get your attack hotkey bar, it is kind of reversed from what would be normal. The attack left is on the #3 and the attack right is linked to #1... it is a little backward in sequence from LEFT-CENTER-RIGHT - 1, 2, 3 so I switched mine around and it seems more in sync with the world.
* Names addendum*
And true, I hadn't thought that even after having a brief exposure to the world of Conan, Mr. Schwarzenegger was even reduced to a single eeelooonngated name
I will get over it... maybe, with load of lithium and therapy. All I want is two names. so I can have Occam's Razor, which I have had since Asheron's Call (When I realized that I was making my characters too spread out in powers and needed to keep my self focused i.e. needed to stop taking alchemy on a main character rather than a mule etc.
So, I can understand the single name thing... no NO! I am lying... I hate it. I want two names and will never be satiated with only one.
"The reality of the poor in America isn't the difference between The Haves and The Have Nots, it is the difference between The Haves and The Have Lots."
they learned A LOT from the ao launch hehe, since they were the team behind ao until they started on AoC, i laugh at all the hate (at least for now, lets wait and see what the 20th brings us)
sounds like the game is a blast, owww i might just buy it after my exams are done
i see aoc already entered the xfire top10 with EA only, nice
MMOs currently playing: -
About to play: Lord of the Rings Online
Played: Anarchy Online (alltime favorite) and lots of f2p titles (honorable mentions: 9Dragons, Martial Heroes, Dekaron, Atlantica Online)
WiccanCircle THANK YOU !!
Finally, a mature first impression.
WOW yeah i just logged onto XFI and i see AoC in thereIt's gonna beat cod2 in the launch, no doubt about that.
Everyone, get xfire ^^
Cheers !
So "next-generation MMOG" to you is just better graphics? please...
my first thoughts on this game are exactly the opposite:
- where is the innovation? the combat system is only marginally different than WOW-style button mashing and isn't really 'real-time' at all.
- where are the new game mechanics?
- all the linear, instanced outdoor areas and continual zone loading are seriously annoying. damnit i don't want a linear game...
- why is the NPC so stupid? NPCs stand around in static spawns waiting to die in all these MMOGs. How is it possible in this day and age that MMOG NPC AI is still this bad???
The only MMOG i know of that it really pushing the boundaries of MMOGs and will be coming out soon is Darkfall.
AoC is pretty, I will say that, but a next step in MMOGs it is not.
It's WOW with better graphics.
Disappointing
Couple things..
First, excellent first impression!
You got combat down nicely. People that are used to WoW autoattack may not like the way Conan works. There is definitely timing involved - and distancing (just like the "real" world)
Have you tried dodging yet? (double tap the appropriate direction)
This combat is definitely NOT "target, attack, drink, oh cooldown up mash finishing move".
On the learning skills - I actually like this way better. If you follow the story line, you have lost your memory through magic - and are simply remembering what you knew before. Bit Cliche but it works!
The pvp servers are going to be tense. Especially when knowing you might have to break out a bunch of combo attacks at a moment's notice.
It's WOW with better graphics.
Disappointing
This line alone lost you all your credibility.Though I would ask YOU some questions seeing as most the points you stated have already been THOROUGHLY talked about:
- Did you read properly his post? what you understood from it is that "next-gen = better graphics"?
-Do you know what "real-time" means? Doesn't seem like it.
-The game opens up after lvl20. Did you know that? that would make it non-linear, much bigger zones --> less loading screens etc.
And finally: I wish Darkfall was coming out soon but it ain't, sorry.
Been up for a long time, so forgive this post, I'm on my way to bed. I just hit level 25 with a conq. and I have to say I love it. I'm not sure how it's going to work in raids as it seems I'm a more heavily armored assassin with less DPS but a nice mix of taking hits and dishing them out. The combat system is a lot of fun to me. It's nothing really complicated or exciting but it takes away the duldrums of spamming one key every 5 seconds between auto attacks. If you use active dodging as well...you'll stay busy.
Game seems to move really quick to me. No way I excpected to be 25 this early. I've had some really exciting quests and some that were your typical talk to jim to talk to bob to talk to jim to talk to bob ad infinitum. Compared to nothing else I would give AoC and 8.5/10. Compared to what's out there, AoC is my new number one.
And to clarify, since I know a rabid fanboi will be nipping at my heels. I am not biased or bashing anygame, I said this is MY new number one. Mileage may vary, buyer beware and all that.
Great review but you really hate/seem biased towards WoW lol. All your comparison to it are about something negative.
BUT much more Lag and Frames per second drops yes...
Think think think how could that be
)))
Well you're the last one who makes anyone think about anything concerning the game.Shoo, under your bridge!
It's WOW with better graphics.
Disappointing
This line alone lost you all your credibility.Though I would ask YOU some questions seeing as most the points you stated have already been THOROUGHLY talked about:
- Did you read properly his post? what you understood from it is that "next-gen = better graphics"?
-Do you know what "real-time" means? Doesn't seem like it.
-The game opens up after lvl20. Did you know that? that would make it non-linear, much bigger zones --> less loading screens etc.
And finally: I wish Darkfall was coming out soon but it ain't, sorry.
Sorry you don't like my negative assessment of the game but my point stands -- what do YOU think is genuinely new or innovative about this game? I haven't found anything yet. sure it's early days yet but already i don't like what i see, which is definitely a bad sign.
better graphics and the combo combat system does NOT equate to next-gen game.
real-time means when i swing, my character swings immediately, and the swing can be blocked, evaded, etc -- NOT i hit a combo and my char executes it 1.5 secs later. the combat is am improvement over auto-attack but it's still too static for me.
finally: darkfall devs are reporting DF comes out this year. until then, unless AoC gets better, i'll keep playing TF2.
OP, I envy the hell out of your system. Good review too, I agree with at least 90% of what you wrote so cheers
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.