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L20 Aion Review
First off, let me say my background is very much classic EQ onwards. I personally enjoy well built challenging traditional MMORPGs with a strong co-op group play element, believing that community only can come from strong group based game design and that community is what makes these games special. Yes, soloing should be there, but for me I look for interdependent play as the games focus.
I am not personally overly interested in casual or ez mode games. I like risk vs reward based play and death penalties. I like bosses that drop random loots and I like a certain level of grind as my group hunts these bosses for that loot.
I also, ideally, like my MMOs to have more open sandbox elements then Aion offers, but I get that isnt what Aion is designed to be about so I won't hold it to account for being a themepark quester.
Though I like Aion a lot, I wouldnt class myself as a 'fanboi' (as much as I hate the lazy over use of that term), and I am not blind to it's flaws. Saying this, I refuse to hate a game for not being what it isnt trying to be, nor hate a game because it dosent happen to fulfill my personal demands.
I will judge Aion on what it is, not hate it for what it isnt.
I am playing no other MMORPG right now, and have no agenda in promoting one or putting down another, even Aion.
OK, that said, heres what i think of my first 20 levels. I play as Elyos on the EU Spatalos server;
OVERVIEW
I have had fun and I am enjoying it. I have also been frustrated at times, but thats mostly to do with the nature of a new MMO and the headstart. I have also been annoyed by the way NCSoft have handled things, but more of that later.
Aion, IMO, is, so far, a traditional (in the best sense of the word) MMORPG. If you don't want that, don't bother trying it.
It isnt revolutionary in it's quest systems, they are the same that I have been seeing for a long time in these games, and it dosent set the world alight with it's NPC dialogue, but there is definitly something in it that has captured me and the quest cut secenes are a nice touch for flavour.
Actually, at this time, I think it's the 'flavour' and atmosphere that has drawn me in to this game... It's just soaked in it. As linear as levels 1-20 are in Aion, it's really not a journey I mind being taken along on... The campaign quests are spinning a decent tale out that is leading me through this story and I am having fun. Whether I would want to play through it (on the Elyos side) more then twice I don't know... i could see myself being very bored the third time. For sure, I can to go to another server to try the Asmodian side of things, but I might not want to.... I personally get attached to the server I am on. We will see.
PERFORMANCE
Aion, on the whole, has performed stunningly. From the second I logged in amongst a stack of people on the first day of headstart it has run smoothly and the general implementation has been great.
Except for the lag at primetime.
Lag on my server, Spatalos, has been insane the past few days around peak time and the game becomes pretty much unplayable for a hour or so. This obviously isnt excusable and needs addressing asap. Add this issue to the fact that people are logging in after 2 hours of queuing into a a lagged out game and you have a problem.
Those that have already purchased simply arnt getting the service they have paid for.
ART & MUSIC
Both are simply beautiful.
The game world has a magical and otherworldy feel to it that 99% of the MMOs I have played havent managed to capture and the art direction is often stunning. The environments are imaginative and inspired, with more then a few 'wow' moments where you feel like a rubber necked tourist as you take yet another screen shot.
Full marks here then, with special credit to the avatars which are very well realised and really come to life through their emotes and idle animations.
The only downside are the fugly speech bubbles that are everywhere from all the private player shops that are EVERYWHERE. It can be dissapointing... sometimes it feels like have climbed Everest only to find a Tescos at the top... This needs fixing imo.
CHALLENGE & CO-OP PLAY
Pretty much from 1-18ish Aion can be soloed.
Of course, this means it IS pretty much soloed (people being what they are) and are used by most as an extended tutorial where players learn what their class is actually about and their place in the world. Despite this, it is still challanging, and the death penalty gets more harsh with every level, though the game has many player tools (quest tracker, location giver etc) that take the edge off things if one bothers to learn how to use them.
I am very glad to see that the game is now featuring more and more group content now though. This to me is a great thing. It wont be to the solo crowd, I get that and understand that they will hate this game for it, but it is to me and it should be to anyone willing to build in game relationships and find their place in a server community.
I have no doubt that as I rise in levels this trend will continue, especially once I hit the Abyss.
This is a good thing.
The game itself isnt massively hard... but nor is it easy mode. It hits it right on the majority of the time I think, with some areas being particularly unforgiving and the death penalty adding a sting to failiure.
Overall, a really nice balance of tension vs chill.
COMMUNITY
General chat, so far, has been ok, with a lot of good people being really helpful and friendly, though the racists and bigots out there are doing their best to ruin this and there are obvious trolls. They arnt hard to ignore though.
I won't let these screwed up people ruin my game, or my judgement of the community at large. It is also still very early days. We will see.
GRIND
Has it got grind? The short answer is yes, yes it has. Is it a problem amount of grind, meaning have I been bored with it? No, no it isnt.
I might enjoy grinding more then the next guy, I enjoy hanging out with my guild and farming areas for loot, XP, and quest objectives, but to me it's been fine.
The fact that the classes are so fun to fight with has a lot to do with this.
CRAFTING
Crafting? Well, I have dabbled, but thats it right now. So far crafting has been ridicously simple, but then my idea of a good system is original EQ2 or Vanguard. It's fine for what it is, and it has been well realised within the game with created items seeming to have a real value within the world, but there is little challenge in it. It's something I do when I feel like watching a movie.
SERVER QUEUES
Yes, they exist. Yes, they arnt fun. No, they shouldnt be anything like they are, no matter what excuses or reasons that NCSoft give. They knew how many pre orders they had sold, and they knew we were all fans that would want to play at the same time. This wasnt an unknown quantity that caught anyone by surprise and it shouldnt have been allowed to ruin what could have been a perfect launch.
At the very least, just to start, NCSoft need to remove Private Shops for the next month in order to significantly reduce the wait times. End of.
Add these queues to the lag issue and you have a situation where good will compensation is definitly required. You have a lot of angry players out there in forum land that need calming. This is a service we have paid for and, in a lot of cases, not properly received.
NCSoft need to take more action now in order to stop this ruining the chances of a great game in a very hostile market. At this time they are just giving the drama trolls and shills ammunition to ruin Aions rep by focusing on the bad and they need to stop that.
OVERALL
My overall opinion of Aion, based on lvls 1-20, is that it's a great great game thats experiencing some server/ handling issues caused by NCSoft right now. None of the problems I have are with Aion itself.
I am having a ton of fun both duoing it with the GF and grouping with the guild and others, and I can only see it getting better with what looks to be excellent PvP in the mix. I am loving the game, with all it's inspired attention to detail, and enjoying my time spent in it.
If you like story driven/ quest based traditonal co-op play MMORPGs that expect you to learn as you go then this game is a natural choice for you. Probably the best one you could make at this time. If you don't, not so much.
To put it short, Aion has that certain something that LotR (in terms of PvE), WAR, and AoC just didnt capture... It has, I guess, a 'soul'.
I can see myself with this game for the long haul, especially if NCSoft give it the love it deserves and carry on adding content like they have up until now.
8/10
It would be a great shame if the only conversation about this game became about the queues and lag, because it really is a gem if it is the type of thing that you are looking for.
Please, NCSoft, realise that REPUTATION is maybe a MMORPG's premium asset and that getting it right from day one is essential in these days of viral shilling. Give the trolls and shills an inch and they WILL drag you the full mile.
Don't let this great game become lost in the white noise of server problems at launch.
Comments
very good review, i agree completly, except for the queues.. as of right now they are at unacceptable levels, but its just anouther step for them to balance every server.. they hope by making it like an 8 hours wait time youll say fuck that and go to a less populated server... and by that the population gets spred out to the EXtreme capping out all they`re servers making the end game PVP more insane and exciting
they shouldnt be there but i see why they are and accept the fact that in a months time they will be gone and the game will be better for it being there
If you use the recommended servers you will be fine, no queues on Canton
Good review, but I have to ask...
Does anybody have framerate issues handling the immense amount of people within Altguard and the Main city? I find myself dropping below a stable framerate a lot so far. I can't tell if that's server-side or if it has to do with a performance issue, otherwise I really enjoy what I've played so far.
"IRL is a pretty upstanding MMO with thousands of classes, a lot of PvP and even some pretty unique emotes and titles you can acquire. Explore that world first, then we'll talk about this virtual one."
If you bothered to check his server, then you would see he plays in Europe.
NCWest screwed up big time and all the excuses they spitted out this week is just to cover up the fact that they don't have any extra servers at hand at all!
You are not going to take desperate messures into raising the server caps to such critical heights, that servers become unstable and a total lagfest (wich has happened the last 2 days.... even 2 NA servers crashed 2 days ago because of their experiment).... still have large queues, if you have extra servers at hand.
Especially here in Europe, they could have easily added one extra English server almost immediately and we still would have had queues on all them, albeit less ofcourse.
The fact they didn't and came out yesterday with the news that they will be opening up 1 single extra server in NA and in EU, simply screams that they fucked up BIG TIME! And are now desperately trying to scramble extra hardware to put up extra servers.
Seeing the still existing queues on the 5 english EU servers and us launching officially tomorrow. This 1 single extra server isn't gonna help one single bit!
You can already smell upfront, that at least here in Europe, tomorrow all hell will break lose with massive queues on all servers!!
That's why I won't be picking up my Pre-Order box tomorrow (going on holliday for couple days next week anyway) and wait it off till NCWest got this mess sorted!
Cheers
This is fine, but a lot of us followed guilds and friends.
The unofficial server designations also played an important part... I really need to play these games on a ENG server that actually speaks ENG, so that effectively limited my choice.
The truth is 2 more servers should have been in since launch, and that private shops should not have been implemented for the first month (though I would like to see them gone completely).
Like I say though, I don't want the conversation about this game to become all about these solvable issues... the game is too good for that.
Yes, there are problems right now, but Aion is good enough for me to bear it out and give it time to settle.
Now, if it is still like this at the end of month 1, then we have issues.
Nice read but I would like to read a lvl 50 review. At lvl 20 you havent experienced Abyss which is the main area of the game and the main focus of the PvPvE in game. After exeriencing all that you may give the game a 10/10 or a 4/10 but without experiencing abyss we cant review the game properly.
I loled at the Eurogamer reviewer who reviewed the whole game having only reached level 22 or something and never been to Abyss.
Not a bad review at all, but I also agree regarding the Abyss - you need to experience that to review the game and score it accordingly as well.
Awesome review.
I'm up to lvl 13 now and it's been great, finally figured out how to glide effectively and have gotten really good at it (who needs a mount haha).
I have had no problems with server queues... longest time I think i had was 15 minutes but I think it went by faster than 15 minutes. People also have to think about the future with this because it will get better and I'm sure character transfers will be available so not sure why everyone is crying about it. Oh and I'm on the east coast (US) so still don't understand what people are talking about.
Also I think this has been one of the greatest launches ever. No server crashes, maybe a few random d/c's but not many and the lag spikes aren't bad at all... maybe people just need to update their computers? lol
Nothing is perfect at first, geez it's been 2 days since release and I can't believe all of the crying I have been seeing... it's going to get better, like mostly every other MMO that has ever been released.
I also agree that it's not all grinding and the campaign quests are great with neat cutscenes to keep things interesting... with the side quests to mainly discover new areas and crazy new creatures (loved killing the dinosaurs haha)
As of right now I also give it an 8/10 mainly because it just started but i'm sure it will get to 9/10 .. 9.5/10 in the future.
GREAT REVIEW!!!
I'm playing on the Triniel server. So far my queue times have varied. Yesterday, I had a 5 min. queue time which wasn't bad. I'm having fun so far. What I'm really waiting to see is what the PvP is like before I pass my final judgment on the game. If the PvP is anything like what I'm hearing, then I may stick with the game for awhile.
I agree with the OP the lag times have to be reduced and the private shops need to go away-especially since there is an auction house
For a new player though they do NOT have to roll on the most crowded server. I tried to roll on spatalos at the headstart but was greeted with a 4 hour Queue so i went over to Castor and waited 30 mins, since then i have only waited 15 mins once. The server is still really busy though.
The Myth that the [ENG] servers are all invaded by foreigners cracks me up, im on Castor which has apparently been invaded by spanish people and russians! I have seen russian ONCE in general chat and spanish a few times but just about everyone is happy to speak english in general.
I also don't think that as many people are going to flood the servers tomorrow when the game releases in the EU as people think, most of the people wanting the game will have pre ordered and i think tomorrow we will see new players but not massive amounts like when headstart kicked off.
Thanks for the well written review.
On the subject of server problems. I play on Marchutan and my experience, for an MMO launch, has been superb. I played at the launch of Warhammer and each WOW expansion....Aion has been a dream compared to those. For me, I've seen less server crashes on Aion than I have on just about every WOW patch lately.
I understand the frustration when you only have a certain amount of time to play and you see an hour queue (the longest I've had is 20 minuts on Marchutan). I also understand the problem of launching too many servers and in a month having servers that are barren and underpopulated. It's a tough balancing act for sure. NCSoft is obviously playing it safe
I think the review is spot on. Interested what the OP has to say at L40 about the grouping and how the PvPvE plays out.
I have been lucky I guess to have had very little lag only in major cities for a brief moment, and only once did I have a queue (21 mins but went quicker than that) I hope that others will be patient and understand it is for our benefit to have balanced full servers.
Good post!
Except for the lag at primetime.
Lag on my server, Spatalos, has been insane the past few days around peak time and the game becomes pretty much unplayable for a hour or so. This obviosuly isnt excusable and needs addressing asap. Add this issue to the fact that people are logging in after 2 hours of queuing into a a lagged out game and you have a problem.
i play on the same sever but i dint have anny problems whit lag Queing yes but no lag at al
Nice review , thx a lot for spending the time to share ur experience with us.
Aion sounds and i am sure will be a nice game to play.
Well, have to say, general chat when it's at it's worse tells me i am not the only one... I read plenty of people saying death to lag, rewinds, and rubberbanding is goin on all over.
This is probably on the dev radar already though, so I won't bang on about it. Hopefully they will nail it before live.
Thanks to all you guys who have said they like the OP, and yeah I was hoping to do an update at 30 with a PvP slant to it, then 50 on the game as a whole.
i remember your TCoS reviews Vesavius and i pretty much agreed with everything you wrote about that game, and i have to say this is as good to read. I didnt do the headstart thing, but knowing you like the same kind of games as i do and like aion has put my mind at rest. i cant wait to start this game now
its too easy to let the trolls and haters put doubt in your mind sometimes
hehe yeah, your probably right, but it's hard for some to take the leap of faith, especially after whats been posted on various forumes.
Nice review!
Very, very nice review.
Perhaps I'll buy this game in a month, until something original is released.
Thanks for that very nice review. I have been reading up on Aion and I do want to try (I actually have the box sitting on my desk, unopened) but I am waiting for the Lag/Queue fixes and possibly a North American (EAST) server to open before I start.
10 minute queue on Saturday 8:35 pm on Lumiel - pretty populated (even Asmodian side is open for character creation)
don;t wait too much there is a lot of fun getting into an MMO with everyone else
They are opening new East Coast servers this weekend
Great! I'll be starting on that one. Can't wait. I hope to pleasantly surprised by Aion. Most other mmos I've played lately just haven't been much fun.
Once I play for a while I'll add my thoughts about the game here.