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Has cultural bias led people to accuse aion of being a grinder ?
most of the negativity i ve seen about this game comes from a few people that have played the beta weekend have played less than ten levels and had the stupidity to call it a grind when every other mmorpg has simplistic grindy levels at the early stages . other people because its asian seam to think it has to be a grinder non of them have proof of this they just have a cultural bias . from my understanding aion may be an asian game but it plays far more like a western mmo . ok it might not have elves or gnomes or orcs in it and it may take you out of your comfort zone when it comes to fantasy worlds but that does nt effect its gameplay . i ve also spoken to people that have said they ve been playing on the asian servers that have said they did nt like it but when i questioned them further about what it was like . it became all to clear they were being economical with the truth .
does anyone know if any of these asian servers offer an english language server ? because i doubt many of us speak chinese or korean in the west . this would effect someones view of the game if they did nt understand the storyline or quests enough to work out what to do beyond killing x number of mobs .
the other thing is the beta weekends have had a level limit of 20 on them . (although i think the next one is 25) this means most of the comments in these forums are based on players being in the areas where your learning to play your character .the quests in these areas are always kept simple in nearly every mmo i ve ever played . i think the first quests i did in warcraft entailed me killing little gobliny type things , spiders and pigs if i recall . oh and i think i had to gather herbs and search for items etc . so in actual fact aion is no different at all to warcraft in that respect or lord of the rings etc .
its far too soon to tell what aion will be like . all most of us in the west really know is that its a very polished game in the way it looks and plays . we cant call it a grinder untill a few weeks into its release imo .
most of those doing so now are doing it for reasons of cultural bias against asian titles or for reasons of thier own ( possibly because they fear it will effect the numbers playing whatever beloved game they are playing at present .
Comments
Of course it did, but I think it's more out of ignorance. Regardless of if most MMOs from Korea are in fact grinders, that doesn't automatically make them one. For some reason there is a great deal of hate towards Asia, and Asians in general, in western MMO communities. Pretty annoying when you're Asian yourself.
Yes, that's pretty obvious because of the misconception on asian games that are usually F2P and feature very long grinding as the main thing to do.
This is not even a F2P game.
And yes, I have this bias on F2P games and item mall breaks balance in games. It's part of the human nature to develop this kind of bias (negative or positive) towards something specific just because of unsuccesful or succesful past experiences.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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In almost every mmo the first 20 levels (2days - week of play) ARE THE BEST in the game.
They are the easiest the most constructive of your character, the dungeons in these areas are some of the best in the game and so are the quests.
Wow
WAR
AOC*
AO
DAOC
more and more.
I am sure there are expetions, but your statements are inaccurate and wrong. Maybe most asian grinders are this way (no they aren't, that was a joke the first levels in asian grinders are also more fun doing simple and general activities than the later levels).
So maybe AION just messed up and made the start of the game tons of fail and the rest of the game fun, but i doubt it.
Im guessing the people who felt the first 10-20 levels were fail will think the rest of them are also tons of fail.
This being said i still have hope for this game, we shall see.
P.S. i look the nice asian not the bad ones.
(rofl i should have just left that alone, but i can't. The above statement doesn't mean anythign i just typed it mindlessly to point out that most people themselves understand that some group/class/age/nationality of people are seen as bad while others good. I personally, don't know these for asians because i live around 0, thats right 0, asians; but i can say this i want to steal their women. Darn this ps rocks so hard).
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
The subject of grinding comes up ALL the time around here... I've said it before and I'll say it again, even in a skill based game you are very likely still going to kill X amount of creature A, or B, or C just to get your swords skills, or your magic skill, up... So it really doesn't matter to me anymore because I am prepared to have to kill repeatedly to progress my character.... Now in the case of games like WoW, LOTRO, and now Aion, if you also get exp and rewards for killing X of said creature, I find that to be A LOT more rewarding than just killing those same creatures over and over just to get a few percentage points increase in a certain skill.
Solareus main reason to hate AION is very resonable...
ITS A KOREAN GRINDER.
Yes you are culturly biased. And since i am Asian myself i don't like the generalisation done by western gamers.
And for the millionth time Aion is not a grinder. You can hit lvl 45 in Chinese AION in less then 4 weeks (casualy).
My first fantasy-based MMO was FFXI (developed by Japanese studio Square Enix) and I loved that game to death. I think in a one year period, I had been logged in for ~160 days (~3840 hours). I loved that game, and will probably love FFXIV as much if not more.
I admit that FFXI was a group-based mob-grind, not because the developers were of a specific ethnic background, but because the game is what it is.
"Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success, you know." William Saroyan
More than likely yeah, I showed some screenshots and a video to a friend and he shortly after declared the game was another asian grinder.
At which point I decided to wreck his balls.
It's not cultural bias thats to blame, it's the flood of Asian grinders into the western MMO marketplace thats to blame. Can you really blame people for taking a look and going 'Meh, another Asian grinder' even if it isn't. It's not about cultural bias, it's about people feeling jaded after playing the 20th Asian grinder, so if one finally comes along that is actually a good game and not a grind at all, well you can understand some people not getting that at first.
So for me I think the more correct statement would be: A history of poor Asian grinders has lead people to accuse Aion of being a grinder.
As for Aion, I've no idea if it is a grinder or not, I gave up after about level 8. Couldn't deal with the lack of an invert mouse option, stale combat system, cutesy over the top graphics, small world, themepark feel etc. But I guess thats all for a different thread. (Although if they ever get round to putting in an invert I'll try it again).
The mob grind in Aion has been pretty heavy prior to 1.2 patch. It is still heavy past early early levels. The patch 1.5 is going to add more quests to make it possible to level to 45 with ease, apparently.
Here is a link to what content will be introduced in 1.5, which will be the patch that NA/EU will start at release.
www.aionsource.com/forum/general-discussion/20946-patch-notes-v1-5-update-shadow-balaur.html
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
The point is, Aion is an Asian grinder, but it is FUN! However, in the North American market, people tend to hate grinding.
I think players are staring to redefine what "grinder" means, like now it seems any game that will not allow you to quest your way to the top and you have to kill mobs as a go between levels, most players consider grinding. Or any game that forces you to turn to mobs to grind exp because questing exp is a very ineffective way to level is also considered grinding.
No matter if you're only doing it for a level or two, which to me is NOT anything close to a grind. I'd like to have these people try something like DAoC or FFXI where you'd grind mobs for days to see your exp bar move a inch, then make a foolish mistake of dying and getting that whole week turned into a waste of time....lol god what we use to put ourselves through....
But let's get the record straight: Aion is a product of asian developers......check!
And players WILL have to grind mobs to level up between some quest lines........double check!
Well it looks to me to be an Asian Grinder! So what!
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
I've lost a lot of interest in the game over the beta period but it's definitely not because it seems like a grinder. From what I understand many more quests and dungeons are going to be implemented as well by the time release hits with that 1.5 version. I've been playing other mmos where Aion gets brought up and imany people start bashing it because it's going to be "another asian grinder" which is just wrong in my opinion.
Huh? You did WHAT to his balls?
I do think it being an eastern style game probably is a big part of bias against the game. Between "lol korean grinder" and "lol anime crap" it's just sort of the two things uninformed guy's shout when they don't really read up on the game.
Needless to say it doesn't feel like a "korean grinder" at all.
I guess im to old and playing MMORPG for to long. Playing EQ was a grind sometime fun most times not. WOW I just couldnt get in too but cool game. but I like diversty and will try any game. it is sad in this day an age that small minds cry about those things that are not catered to them. The ability to see that there are more things in this world than ( Westeners) allows one to embrace diffferences instead of crying about them. This game is very profitable as it is and will be profitable, if it comes to America or not. The game has flaws as all game do, but its look and sound are not a flaw but a CHOICE. You should use yours and find you a game that caters to how you think the world should look.
Sad little mind, Japanese have a higher standard of living than you do and last time i checked they were (ASIAN). For the record they are 8th and America is 15th and that was before our current recession.
how funny i don't recall japan being big on MMOs
more proof of my point
From what I have read in kilkil2s PvP-thread (I can recommend it to everyone), you have to grind for a while in the later levels. But to a degree you have to in most MMOs.
The bigger problem seems to be the ingame currency. Since the melee classes are very dependent on equipment and the drop rate seems to be low, some guys have to "work hard" to gather useful weaponry and stones, to participate effectively in PvP.
You may correct me though
You did not provide proof. You made a statement. Fact most games written for the Japenese market are not made available in America. Point two the reason many Asian country have timed accounts is not because they are Poor but because they have had numerous deaths from players dying of exhaustion playing MMO and in some countries it is law. look out the window sometime there is a world out there and they dont look like you.