Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
AoC Review - A nice amusement park ride but...
admriker4
Member Posts: 1,070
I finally got in last night to play Age of Conan. It reminds me of every single MMO Ive played recently. Lots and lots of quests (too many to be honest), interesting storyline, fun combat, great soundtrack, and beautiful graphics.
Having said that, AoC is just another amusement park carnival with fixed rides. Its amazing the 1st time you try the rides. Its a blast the second time. The 3rd time, meh its okay. By the 5th time your throwing up that cotton candy and hot dog you bought from that seedy looking carny.
This will nearly always be the case with this type of MMO. Linear focus with a high concentration of quests means the game is basically a book or a movie. Its purpose unlike sandbox MMO's is to provide the entertainment, to tell a story. In essence, its an attractive ride with pretty colors.
Like all RPG MMO of this genre, that story can only be read a few times. After a while, it gets really really old. You'll notice that there are already several threads asking if the newbie area has to be repeated with alts !
There are plenty of great rpg out there but people arent playing them again and again and again. So why would a developer think making an MMO of this type would be a good idea ? Especially considering that MMO's are supposed to have long-term appeal ? This leads to another problem, keeping up.
Since the latest MMORPG's are amusement park rides, the developers are always working on the latest ride. If they take too long getting new rides into the park, players will move on to the next playground. And when a new ride is added, the players will feast on it like its a last meal and quickly ask whats next.
In the end the ride cant ever hope to keep up with player's demands.
To make an analogy...
Linear MMO's are like this, giving the player a fish to eat. You have to constantly give him fish or he will go elsewhere begging for more fish. See WoW, LOTR, Age of Conan, and several other similiar MMO's
Sandbox MMO's give the player a fishing pole, the bait, maybe a soda to cool off, and an instructor to show how to fish. After that, the player is on his own but he has the necessary tools / skills to get all the fish he needs.
I like Age of Conan. Its pretty to look at. The combat is fun. But its not going to be my home for the next several years.
Comments
I respect your review, but I would like to ask you one question...What level did you get too. Because I hear that after level 20, it's a whole new game. (Getting out of Tortage.)
right now Im lvl 23 PoM on Wiccana
I think you TOTALLY missed the point of his thread.
So which sandbox MMOs are currently examples of your definition of eternal gaming bliss, OP?
I agree in that the point is missed..
What we see is what ALL MMO's are and will be...
We must enjoy that ride while we can, because the next time it may not be as fun..
All I know is right now AoC feels like a brand new Porsche...
Until it ages...and then I will be driving a clunker...
Good points indeed
I think you TOTALLY missed the point of his thread.
No, because he talks about it being an amusement park ride. Going around a few times, etc etc. If you want to talk like that, then technically he has no right to review it untill he has gone through the WHOLE ride. Not just a portion of it. I do not wish to have said that, but in some respects it's true. So please, don't criticize my comments.
Great review, but point is missed. Level 23 though, eh, i hope you realize max is like what, 80? you've got a whole nother 60 levels before you could give us a flat out answer of ,
" Is this just as amusment park ride or something more?"
However, i will take this review as , " Just another ride up to level 23."
----------------------------
Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz
honestly none really. EVE comes close but I dont much care for sci fi. Star Wars Galaxies was perhaps the closest to pure nirvana but SOE didnt understand the term "quality control". Ultima is just too old (2d) anymore.
My hope for a decent sandbox MMO sits with Fallen Earth currently.
Meanwhile, I'll enjoy the rides here in Hyboria, probably hop a tram over to Bree and check out the expansion when it comes, and maybe peak at Warhammer in between.
Your'e talking about the lvl 1-20 starter area, right? I heard you will be able to skip it, to actually travel directly from Tortage early on. Arent there other areas you may travel to?
True Sandbox mmo=EVE
SHOHADAKU
The ultimate problem here, is that we have a critic giving a review about something that he has not fully researched or fully played out. While I appreciate your opinion, it is premature. Why post your thoughts on a game when you have not hit 80 or tried out the end game content? I mean seriously. I could play wow for 1 hour get to 10 and say this game is not only easy its stupid. But most of the fun stuff comes later between 60-70 respectively. And I am a person that is willing to play the game many times over to try out new classes and learn new crafts. The OP basically gave me 1 thing that makes sense, all MMO's become boring after you have played them enough times. Sure maybe for people that dont have active imaginations and only want to play to uh...level 23? Please play the game through and then post your review. Untill then this is not only a bad review, but premature.
I would suggest there is another option in AoC. Don't do the quests. Just go out and do what you want to do (grind). You'll level up... slower... but you will still level.
I have to admit, you have the first 'review' I've read that suggested there were "too many quests." Actually, I think that's an absurd notion. But then again, I actually like doing quests... whereas you prefer to grind.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Maybe your game will come some day. Me, I'm going to be enjoying the hell out of Conan's "too many quests".
Nothing against the OP, but he gave a review like he's gotten through the ENTIRE game. I mean sierously, it's not even officially out yet! How can you review something when it's not out! Sorry OP, but next time, please understand fully what you are reviewing before you can say its...
"Like taking an amusement park ride."
Check the OPs post history.... it's pretty obvious he's biased negatively to AoC and therefore should not be taken with any credability as a reviewer.
honestly none really. EVE comes close but I dont much care for sci fi. Star Wars Galaxies was perhaps the closest to pure nirvana but SOE didnt understand the term "quality control". Ultima is just too old (2d) anymore.
My hope for a decent sandbox MMO sits with Fallen Earth currently.
Meanwhile, I'll enjoy the rides here in Hyboria, probably hop a tram over to Bree and check out the expansion when it comes, and maybe peak at Warhammer in between.
Wurm Online might fit your taste. At least for a while - if you can live with almost no sounds and decent animations, that is ...
If essential features are missing, even a sandbox can get old very quickly.
There is no such thing as eternal happinesss when it comes to games. Sooner or later, the game will be repetitive. If not, then the game won't be friendly to new comers causing it to eventually die. between a rock and a hard place.
there is literally no difference between the climb from 1-10 than 60-70 in WoW except that 1-10 is less painful to do. I have played dozens of MMO's reaching the cap in all of them. I dont need to reach the level cap and play every class to see when a game is focused on Linear play focusing on quests.
Its still a story Im reading whether Im lvl 10 or 80. The difference is in a sandbox MMO I get to make my own story, follow my own path.
Im not saying its a bad ride. Im enjoying myself, for now
honestly none really. EVE comes close but I dont much care for sci fi. Star Wars Galaxies was perhaps the closest to pure nirvana but SOE didnt understand the term "quality control". Ultima is just too old (2d) anymore.
My hope for a decent sandbox MMO sits with Fallen Earth currently.
Meanwhile, I'll enjoy the rides here in Hyboria, probably hop a tram over to Bree and check out the expansion when it comes, and maybe peak at Warhammer in between.
Fair enough, and I respect your opinion.
But I frankly don't think it's really fair to come into AoC, or any other modern "amusement park ride" MMORPG and say "It's not sandbox enough". That's because it's two entirely different methodologies of developing an MMORPG that appeals to different people.
It would be like playing a sci-fi MMORPG and saying "It's not fantasy enough" or vice versa. Some people, like myself, actually enjoy those roller coaster rides. We are given a world with a background and objective written in from the very start, rather than dropped in the middle of nowhere without a map and compass. Then we can use these guidelines to know which direction to head in, and the developers can line the paths to our goals with some very cool stuff.
Now I will grant you that games like this eventually get tiresome and bore the people playing it. That's fine, but that's just the nature of my hobby. Even in the most currently successful single-player sandbox titles (such as the Sims 2, Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto 4, etc.) I'm eventually going to get tired of just the environment in general and go head for either another sandbox entirely or go to a different amusement park with another set of rides.
Does this remind you of anything?
LOTR is a pretty decent game. Best graphics around and fun to play.
Having said that, I would have preferred the Middle Earth Online (MEO) version that Sierra had envisioned.
Linear games with levels and focused questing is like an amusement park. The rides are fun and cotton candy and soda are great at first. By after a few months, the ride loses its appeal to me.
sandbox MMO virtual worlds have long-term appeal (see Ultima, 10 years old 2d game and its still going)
So, no matter how much something sucks, you can't say it sucks until you've gone through it all, since it might actually be good at some point? Guess we can never review MMOs then since there's really no definite end in them. Congratulations on being an idiot
Guess its preety obvious why OP doesnt like the amusement park rides youtube.com/watch
So, no matter how much something sucks, you can't say it sucks until you've gone through it all, since it might actually be good at some point? Guess we can never review MMOs then since there's really no definite end in them. Congratulations on being an idiot
well no, there isnt an "ending" but the "end" would be lvl 80 and when u have tried all the end game content.
IMO sandbox games are crap... just wonder around without really acheiving anything. Save for a few, the "sandbox" elements are what make me dislike a game.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion though.
I would suggest there is another option in AoC. Don't do the quests. Just go out and do what you want to do (grind). You'll level up... slower... but you will still level.
I have to admit, you have the first 'review' I've read that suggested there were "too many quests." Actually, I think that's an absurd notion. But then again, I actually like doing quests... whereas you prefer to grind.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Maybe your game will come some day. Me, I'm going to be enjoying the hell out of Conan's "too many quests".
To me questing is a grind. And I dont feel like Im accomplishing anything when I turn in 3 quests and get handed 5 more. Its very irritating in fact. Sometimes I would rather just go explore and kill anything in my way. But these linear games make it practically a requirement (questing) to progress. Its forced on me. And most of the quests are just annoying time sinks designed to purposely slow down my climb up the level ladder.
typical quests in linear MMO...
By the time I finish that chain, Im ready to pull my hair out. I'll take the "grind" over that quest stuff any day