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Complete AOC review
paladinum
Member Posts: 120
Im making a review considering this is an Massive Multiplayer online rpg
Disclamer: im no fanboy...this is my review of the game, im a realistic player, what you fanboys normally call a troll.
good things:
»» stunning graphics and detail
»» fatalities
»» char animation in general are not bad
Not so good things:
»» combat system »» it feels nice..but at lvl 80..when people have to press the combo+upper right+lower left+lower right+up+upper left for exemple a 5 key combo..pressing the keys without any mistake..when you are running in circles trying to hit a jumping rogue and have to pay attention where he is running and what he is doing,... same for your char isnt very easy task...its easyer to press one key and make the combo with only one key press..humans are too lazy and practical to like the system...( many will use gamepads to record macros to use combos in one key)
Really bad things
»» the size of the world overall and zones is too small..any lvl 80 saw everything there is to see even without trying
»» loadings everywere...doors, zones, taverns, caves »» it should have loadings only in places like dungeons, or if changing from one big part of the map for another...keep loadings at minimum
»» instancing everywere »» ok its good to have instancing in dungeons, but in zones? instanced zones its ammo breaker..it should be a common world to all players....its needed in aoc..because we would have 3000players in tortage all at the same time and its impossible, all quest npcs would be sorrounded by people, mobs always killed and camped etc...so to solve this why not make more starting areas? like in any other mmo? make zones bigger so that more mobs can be added and more people can be in a zone, make soft loading in the zones like in vanguard...
»» no freedom to go anywere »» go swim and then feel an invisible wall, at least make it like wow..getting tired and its about to die because its getting to far away from the coast...,tortage that is 25% of the total game is made of roads...paths, no freedom, after 20 it gets a bit better but still no freedom, you are always sorrownded by mountains, or trees..have some large path to follow, zones are small...
»» no replay value »» make a char to 80..and then make another..only thing different is the class..the rest is all the same...no new zones, nothing..a lvl 80 knows every inch of the map ingame just by leveling once...
What did funcom give us thats new and revolutionary?»»» beautifful graphics and enviroments
What step foward in the mmo industry funcom did?»»» did 5 steps backwards
What did funcom give us with aoc? »»» a beautifull game that is clearly unfinished, has a smaller then normal world, has an annoying amount of loading everywere, has instancing in all zones of the small map ingame...( hyboria complete map is big. game total playable map is small )
My predictions for the future? »» aoc unfortunatly will decay in 2-3 months..and have just enough fanboys to keep it running...
Comments
Fanboy is actually supposed to be spelled "Fanboi" on this forum. Get it right.
If yu actually played to level 80, give us more info about the end game. Levels 1-40 are pretty much covered.
Yet another "I don't like the game so it will fail!" thread. Nope, move along.
good review.
I agree with the zones and instances. Its gonna be the one thing keeping this game from prospering years down the road.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Zones are so small. If you look at the entire world of Hyboria, they only use about 15% of the world and the 15% of this they did pick you cannot explore 100% of it. Only about 70% of it is explorable. The rest is invisible walls.
But post 45-50 you're pretty much grinding a lot because there are too few quests and some of the quests you do get does not work and a couple zones you need you cannot really go into without technical difficulties
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I'm still playing the game and will be for a few months but I agree with the OP I don't like all the instancing and restricted maps/paths, It makes it feel like crappy guild wars not an mmorpg but a morpg and I stopped playing those games when mmorpgs came out.
This game is good enough to go on like Lotr but it's no classic and while it might attract a large initial following I suspect it will lose a lot of this when warhammer comes out, me included!
My predictions for the future? »» aoc unfortunatly will decay in 2-3 months..and have just enough fanboys to keep it running...
Now this comment is actually really funny. AOC will be around for a long time. Just because a small handful are not liking the way FC made it doesn't mean it isn't good. For every doom and gloom post we see there are many thousands who are having a great time playing.
There is no endgame..aoc is unfinished...
It seems that people are asking for something that is simply technologically impossible atm for a game that is to be widely distributed, meant for hundreds of thousands of computers of varying capabilities.
You simply cannot have the level of detail in AoC's graphics + thousands upon thousands of players + no instancing, or a largely uninstanced world.
The instancing provides you the ability to have those graphics. It provides you the ability to play with others without lag and still have those graphics.
The first question you need to ask is, would I like AoC as much if it had less intensive animations, less detailed world, less detailed characters, less less less in every aspect of its graphic system?
Or would you like your cake and eat it too?
Considering you yourself said you didn't get to the Endgame, why make these claims when you can't back them up? You say you write a complete review, yet in your other posts you said that you didn't get into the high-end level area.There is no endgame..aoc is unfinished...
No offense m8, but whatever your review is, it's not complete.
Which Final Fantasy Character Are You?
Final Fantasy 7
It seems that people are asking for something that is simply technologically impossible atm for a game that is to be widely distributed, meant for hundreds of thousands of computers of varying capabilities.
You simply cannot have the level of detail in AoC's graphics + thousands upon thousands of players + no instancing, or a largely uninstanced world.
The instancing provides you the ability to have those graphics. It provides you the ability to play with others without lag and still have those graphics.
The first question you need to ask is, would I like AoC as much if it had less intensive animations, less detailed world, less detailed characters, less less less in every aspect of its graphic system?
Or would you like your cake and eat it too?
Well blizzard sacrificed graphics for style and it worked extremely well. WoW looks fine today still because the style is really well done. People complain it looks cartoony, but look what you get return? Full seamless worlds.
AoC developers made a mistake pushing for pretty graphics. When will people learn that gameplay > graphics. AoC graphics and artwork are really well done. the cities are awesome, but the gameplay isn't innovative enough (or polished enough) to convince people to shell out a bunch of money for a new comp to play their game.
People are whining and quitting en masse... do you really have ask that question?
How many people?
There is no endgame..aoc is unfinished...
Today is May 26th. You have barely been able to play a week and you maxed your toon?
Do you think they were making the game for the few who would 24/7 it in a week? Of course you don't feel there is an end game. Any fool should realize by this time that mmo's are released with enough content for the 'majority' to spend a good, long, time making it through. They can use this time, 6 months or a year (if done right), to see what worked, what didn't work, what is enjoyed the most, blah blah, to plan for their expansions and patches. In this way, the 'added' end game compliments the game much better, and the players much better (this is of course an ideal scenario).
Developers are making games for those playing about 2 or 3 hours a day, maybe more on weekends. They release enough content for that crowd, not for people who blaze thru to be #1.
With a max toon already, how much AoC that must be spinning in your head atm? No wonder you burnt out so quickly. Tell me, are you pressing combo buttons in your dreams at night? Is it like a bad 80's song you can't get out of your head? All these would be indications that you should take it easy on the comp time, and step back and say, is it's AoC's fault that I found no end game when I reached it, or is it your own fault for playing it nonstop this last week?
Third, for the people who fall within 'normal' parameters of gaming time, they won't reach your spot for awhile, I bet they feel like there is a lot more end game then you do.
Patience is a virtue. Patience is rewarded. Impulsively maxing a toon and then complaining it is 'unfinished' is ridiculous.
And please tell me the mmo that is complete and finished, where you can reach a point where you are 'done'. I want to know it's name so I can run away screaming as fast as I can.
There is no endgame..aoc is unfinished...
Today is May 26th. You have barely been able to play a week and you maxed your toon?
Do you think they were making the game for the few who would 24/7 it in a week? Of course you don't feel there is an end game. Any fool should realize by this time that mmo's are released with enough content for the 'majority' to spend a good, long, time making it through. They can use this time, 6 months or a year (if done right), to see what worked, what didn't work, what is enjoyed the most, blah blah, to plan for their expansions and patches. In this way, the 'added' end game compliments the game much better, and the players much better (this is of course an ideal scenario).
Developers are making games for those playing about 2 or 3 hours a day, maybe more on weekends. They release enough content for that crowd, not for people who blaze thru to be #1.
With a max toon already, how much AoC that must be spinning in your head atm? No wonder you burnt out so quickly. Tell me, are you pressing combo buttons in your dreams at night? Is it like a bad 80's song you can't get out of your head? All these would be indications that you should take it easy on the comp time, and step back and say, is it's AoC's fault that I found no end game when I reached it, or is it your own fault for playing it nonstop this last week?
Third, for the people who fall within 'normal' parameters of gaming time, they won't reach your spot for awhile, I bet they feel like there is a lot more end game then you do.
Patience is a virtue. Patience is rewarded. Impulsively maxing a toon and then complaining it is 'unfinished' is ridiculous.
And please tell me the mmo that is complete and finished, where you can reach a point where you are 'done'. I want to know it's name so I can run away screaming as fast as I can.
Problem here is theres ALOT of maxed toons or close to it already. Funcom needed to make sure it was finished. I mean unless as a company they never did any research , theres alot of people who can and will hit max fast.
I am not as experienced with AoC as the OP, but here is my experience. My first exposure to AoC was the early access program. I downloaded the game in advance and started playing as soon as AoC was opened up to the early access users.
I created 3 characters and experimented a bit with each before deciding to advance the barbarian. I played in the night time up to level 12 because I was getting some lag even in solo mode and I didn't want to make it worse by encountering other players. I should say that I am running a E8400 processor, a Nvidia 8800GTS graphics board, and a wide screen Dell 2707WFP.
Tthe lag persisted the first two days but it was bearable, especially after toning down my graphics settings. Then I switched to playing in the daytime which means other players were visible. In this mode I could not get anything done. My character would jerk all over the screen. Sometimes it would take 4-5 seconds to take 1 step forward. Obviously, the game became unplayable for me at this point. I tried to play on the 1st day of general availability but it only got worse.
Now I needed to make a decision on buying the retail version or dropping out of AoC. I looked in the AoC forums and found many other players were having the same problem, so I decided not to purchase AoC until I read some future reviews the AoC was significantly improved.
As far as the other aspects of the game, I do not have a lot of experience.
For some reason my enthusiasm for AoC has died. Too bad, so sad.
How many people?
Those who have the game - (those who don't whine + people that continue to play it) = People who are whining and quitting en masse.
Thats a rough estimate FYI, if you're looking for numbers, go and find it out yourself.
Funcom made a game for those who will take the time to appreciate it.
Maxing a character in 6 days and I'm supposed to believe you have seen it all? Maybe seen it all as if from orbit.
Sorry, you are doomed to wander the gaming worlds forever unsatisfied. No one makes a game for the "how fast can I finish it" crowd. Good luck.
Man..... hearing that there are lvl 80's out there makes me want to ask this....
are you lvl 80 or very close to it because:
A. you were able to transfer your character from beta (I dont know if you can or cannot)
B. It is very easy to hit lvl 80 fast, anyone can do it
C. You got the game on the day of its official release and you reached lvl 80 (or close to 80) by now
A well written review, where the OP gives good reasons for his opinion.
Especially why this clickfest is supposed to be more tactical... maybe for hyper hyper kids who forgot to take their ritalin.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
I'm still lv6 ... i got my account since May 23.. I think the game is not right for me.
1. Too many instance even in real world (not in dungeon)
2. This game seem more like a RPG( than mmorpg) I know it is online but the gameplay seem like those Oblivion, or Zelda.
3. Chat system is big issue
I think those korean mmorpg's gameplay is even better,
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
As to the chat, FC have slated that it's a priority patch. Hopefully we'll see it in a week or so. Watch the patch notes.
It seems that people are asking for something that is simply technologically impossible atm for a game that is to be widely distributed, meant for hundreds of thousands of computers of varying capabilities.
You simply cannot have the level of detail in AoC's graphics + thousands upon thousands of players + no instancing, or a largely uninstanced world.
The instancing provides you the ability to have those graphics. It provides you the ability to play with others without lag and still have those graphics.
The first question you need to ask is, would I like AoC as much if it had less intensive animations, less detailed world, less detailed characters, less less less in every aspect of its graphic system?
Or would you like your cake and eat it too?
Well blizzard sacrificed graphics for style and it worked extremely well. WoW looks fine today still because the style is really well done. People complain it looks cartoony, but look what you get return? Full seamless worlds.
AoC developers made a mistake pushing for pretty graphics. When will people learn that gameplay > graphics. AoC graphics and artwork are really well done. the cities are awesome, but the gameplay isn't innovative enough (or polished enough) to convince people to shell out a bunch of money for a new comp to play their game.
Thats an interesting prespective on WoW since all you do when you get to level 70 is run between instances. Instance raiding, instance PvP, instance heroics, instance grinding. Yeah the seamless world is great when you fly around grinding motes/ore/etc...
AoC developers made a gamble with the instancing, because they learned alot from AO that at launch turned in to "syrup world" it was really something speacial... I recognize instances as a necissary evil. A world like this cant be built without it. This game is built to last, if you cant play it this year you might want to try it next year when the game requirements will be about what the average gamer has.
I agree with ya Vin79 on all your points.
As with most new MMOs you need a pretty hefty machine to play. Which makes sense, build for the future not the past.