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Aion: Review
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Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?
We need a re-review.
I gave these guys credit for having the balls to give WoW a 8 score and they reinfocred that by going against a good number of sandbox fans by giving DF a 6.
This site for me atleast has been known for giving fair reviews with the exception of Eve (they seem to be catering to us a bit).
Now we get Aion the highest rated game on this site, honeslty can one of you guys chime in on this? Aion is nothing but a nice looking Lineage clone with random portal pvp.
Come on guys, the game needs a re-review.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
EVE has a confirmed sub base of 300K players (a week ago even 320K). The ratio between WOW-EVE-LOTRO on Xfire was always in the 5M-300k-180K count.
In no way this game has more then 3 times the number of EVE players (see the down trend of Aion already below).
With these references Aion would have now far over 1 M players in the west ... on 32 servers. A laugh if you defend this. In Chine at launch they had 113 servers to serve thsoe 1M players in Korea it was 41 servers for around 400K.
BTW after 2 weeks even the wrongly sampled Xfire numers are DOWN with at least 20% for Aion. So I even think the active number of players is LESS now than the dual launching week of NA/EU. It is clearly less then the first launching weekend.
http://www.xfire.com/games/aion/Aion/
Now comes the "above" review of a guy plastering all over the internet.
Remember the NEVER (by NCSoft) confirmed 3.5 million so called Asian players too and I think we ALL get the picture.
Only fools can be fooled into believing in this game.
How many times do I have to repeat myself?
You do not have any hard numbers. You have no idea how much of the servers in china were actually used, just because they launched with that many users doesn't mean that many servers were actually required at that time.
Xfire is NOT a reliable source. It never has been and it never will be.
Remeber that Ncsoft NEVER denied the 3.5 million asian players
Metalhead, you're STILL trying to deceive people by calling it a Lineage clone? haven't you emberassed yourself enough last time by making that comparisson? Stop talking about games you know nothing about.
Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?
Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5. Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.
Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?
Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5. Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.
Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.
5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.
Guess the staff is losing it...what is next a "top 10 of smoothest mmo launches ever" with darkfall #1?
And yes I have tried this game for a week or so but it didn't do it for me, its not bad but def. not that good!
Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?
Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5. Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.
Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.
5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.
Average or good is basically the same shit. From 5-6 is playable and isn't for everyone but the targeted fans of that particular game.
"niche" games getting a 5-6 are right on track with the expectations of the developer.
Step away from your console rating background and realize that a game doesn't need a 8 or above to be considered good.
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?
Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5. Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.
Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.
5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.
Average or good is basically the same shit. From 5-6 is playable and isn't for everyone but the targeted fans of that particular game.
"niche" games getting a 5-6 are right on track with the expectations of the developer.
Step away from your console rating background and realize that a game doesn't need a 8 or above to be considered good.
A 5 or 6 isn't considered good anywhere. Average and good isn't the same thing, good is above average.
A niche game is a game that has a small specific target audience, to say that the developer expects low scores because its game is designed to appeal to a specific target audience is ridiculous.
I'm sure in your own little world 5 or 6 are good. However a much more common rating system that is recognised pretty much everywhere in the gaming community is this.
Anything below 5 is bad. 5 or 6 is average or mediocre. 7 or 8 is considered good, 9 and 10 are considered really good or great.
Whoa, wait a minute.
Not doing something new equals average? really? You are then saying that if a game does nothing new but there are bugs all over the place and the writing is sub par and the combat is the same type of combat but just doesn't capture any sense of excitement then that is average? Not bad?
And to further that point, if a game uses the same techniques and same types of story telling and combat types but the writing is sharp and exemplary, the combat, though the same type of combat, is fast and exciting and The game is very polished then that is also average?
Reviews should be based around what the game is trying to accomplish and whether or not it does that.
If I review a newly released rock album I'm not going to say "music is in the same stale key signatures, all 4/4 time, maybe something in compound time thrown in, the obligatory quarter note equals 120 which should make you all want to jump out a window, same whiney subject matter about teen angst and rarely modulates to anything other than the dominant. Grade C.
I'm going to say "ok, here is a rock song. It falls in the genre of a rock song so how does it stand up to what a rock song should be?"
Reviews on the same site for the same type of games (MMORPGS) should be relative to each other. If one game gets 8.7 and another gets 8.4 then it should be the opinion of the site, not just the reviewer, that the first game is considered better.
The site publishing the reviews should have some kind of responsibility for the scores they post on the site. Unless the specifically say that the review, and the score, is entirely the opinion of the reviewer and not neccessarily supported by the site.
That way the site would distances themselves for taking responsibility of the review score just based on that statement. So either MMORPG needs to do that or they need to fully admit that they think Aion is the best MMORPG ever reviewed by the site.
My gaming blog
Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?
Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5. Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.
Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.
5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.
Average or good is basically the same shit. From 5-6 is playable and isn't for everyone but the targeted fans of that particular game.
"niche" games getting a 5-6 are right on track with the expectations of the developer.
Step away from your console rating background and realize that a game doesn't need a 8 or above to be considered good.
Say what? Good, in the context of reviews, are relative to other entities, above average. Average is average in relative to other reviews so in no way are they the synonimous.
Having a score system that goes from 1-10 and then saying a score of 5 is good would be very strange since that is the average score in that system and good should then be above that average.
My gaming blog
Cant rate this higher then 8/10. Too linear, to standard, to grindy. Beautiful and polished tho
You can defend and score this game as high as you like. But the truth is it's going down the tubes, cold hard facts.
"Everything the light touches is our kingdom" -- Mufasa
---
8.7 score ............. 1$ per visitor
8.4 score ............. 0.5$ per visitor
8.0 score ............. 0.2$ per visitor
score 6.0 and below if you don't pay anything at all, not even bother to pay us for a big ad. banner.
season special discount: 8.7 score + big flashing ad of a half-naked asian girl for all time best price 1.2$ per visitor.
REALITY CHECK
I actually thought Paragus had a better/more detailed review of the game since he touched on post 25+ more. By reading that review he'd probably rate it an 8 which is probably where the game falls. I'm actually surprised that the game got reviewed so quickly, normally it takes much longer for this site to put a review for a game out. I think the reviewer is correct that Aion becomes almost a different game post level 25. Perhaps we can have a review that specifically focuses on that part of the game since everyone who plays Aion has developed the slogan 'Wait until level 25'.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
I'm not saying you're wrong Solareus, but I have a few points to make:
1. This is not a reputable news source. It's a gaming website, with a community mostly made up of people who wouldn't know the difference between a reputable and illreputable website. So taking anything seriously on this website is a mistake.
2. You're getting angry over a website, that wrote something biased about a game, a GAME! It's not that serious! So getting angry over it only makes you look like less of a person to those handful of people who actually are worth something on this website.
3. I've been using this website since early 2005, and I only seriously use it for one thing: To learn about what MMO's are releasing soon. They're quick enough to let us know when a mmorpg will be released, so this website is worth putting on your Favorites bar for just that reason. The forums and reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, because it just isn't worth any serious energy or emotions. It's great for some drama filled entertainment, but don't get emotionally involved.
Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?
Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5. Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.
Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.
5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.
Average or good is basically the same shit. From 5-6 is playable and isn't for everyone but the targeted fans of that particular game.
"niche" games getting a 5-6 are right on track with the expectations of the developer.
Step away from your console rating background and realize that a game doesn't need a 8 or above to be considered good.
A 5 or 6 isn't considered good anywhere. Average and good isn't the same thing, good is above average.
A niche game is a game that has a small specific target audience, to say that the developer expects low scores because its game is designed to appeal to a specific target audience is ridiculous.
I'm sure in your own little world 5 or 6 are good. However a much more common rating system that is recognised pretty much everywhere in the gaming community is this.
Anything below 5 is bad. 5 or 6 is average or mediocre. 7 or 8 is considered good, 9 and 10 are considered really good or great.
this right here shows how flawed the system is.
Shouldnt a 10 be a perfect game? have you ever played a perfect game? I know I havent.
Anyway the rating system means nothing, read the guys review The con calls Aion a mostly standard mmo.
A standard MMO deserves to be #1 on the site?
PLaying: EvE, Ryzom
Waiting For: Earthrise, Perpetuum
Im just surprised that a site called mmorpg.com writes a shallow review like this one. I would expect something with more depth than the regular gaming sites but this was a real dissapointment.
It doesnt say more of the game than reading the Aion website about the features of the game...
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
Deleted
That's logical.
It'd make sense that 10 represents perfection, but let's temper this with reality. Nothing is perfect, so perfection shouldn't be the standard of measurement. Instead, what's offered should be measured against the ideal, and against other games in the same genre.
So a 10 would represent top of the line graphics, stellar gameplay, feature rich, great customer support, no stability problems with recommended specs, bug-free, and great replayability. A 1 would obviously be the complete opposite of that. A 5 would be right in the middle, or average. It's not the only way to rate a game, but it makes sense to me. It sounds logical.
While innovation would be nice, it's not needed to create a great game, so I don't count innovation, evolution, or revolution of the genre as a requirement to get a great score. It certainly helps, but does not hinder at all.
Also, whether a game is sandbox or themepark doesn't weigh in either, because that's just a preference, which is highly subjective. The same goes for fun.
Graphics are either techinically good or not good. A low graphical game can still look good artistically, but it wouldn't compare to a game that looked as real as technology allows.
Gameplay can be measured by how responsive your character is in combat, and how smooth the game flows from one task to the next, one area to the next and so on. It also represents how well things are put together, and if it is logical. Complicated things seem like a no brainer when it flows and is put together well.
Feature rich means there's a lot of features. Features can be anything that enhances gameplay, such as a great and customizable UI, housing, and even an auction house. Features can be as many or as few as a developer likes, but it's a tangible that adds value to a game if they work and doesn't inhibit gameplay. For example, a death penalty is a feature, but it's a feature that can be done right or wrong. You know if it's right or wrong by if it feels natural to the game.
Great customer support is easily measured. A website that offers everything a person could possibly need? Good communication between the company and players? Technical support? In-game support? Preventive and Counter measures to cheating, botting, and illegal RMT? Speed and efficiency of service both in and out of the game?
Stability problems. Server related lag? Works well on recommended specs at the intended graphic settings? CTD's?
Bugs. No noticable bugs in sight?
Replayability? Can I play the game from 1-max level without repeating content more than once? Twice? How many times? With how many classes and races? Combinations?
Now first id like to say Aion is polished and has a pretty good story to it. But come on a 8.7 LOL this game is should be ranked in the 7ish range.
Sic semper tyrannis "Democracy broke down, not when the Union
ceased to be agreeable to all its constituent States, but when it was upheld, like any other Empire, by force of arms."
Answer these questions. And no I'm not being smart@ss. What other major MMO title has done aerial combat/character flight (meaning no mount.) What other major MMO has a combat system that allows for chains to be connected in such a way that you don't have to worry about putting them all into your tool bar? What other MMO has a world that is comprised in layers and has an abyss that is also comprised of layers and a multiple artifact system that can turn the tide of a pvp raid? Personal hand crafted guild icons? The rift system?
Again I'm not being smart I'm really asking what else is out there that does some of these things really? Because if not then I'd call some of these things if not all in it's entire package trend setting for it's genre.
Still waiting on answers...
Not meaning to be flippant here but what you're asking is really irrelevant to the discussion about the validity of the rating as pertaining to the content of the MMORPG review and then comparing it to other MMO reviews on this site.
You may feel these are exceptional points to make but apparently the MMORPG reviewer did not feel the same way. I can only assume that if he personally felt these were worthy of mention, he would have. Yet, he does go out of his way to point out that, in general, Aion does nothing really new or spectacular ...
The point is completely relevant considering the fact that people keep mentioning innovation as a sticking point. So if there's no contest to the questions of what Aion brings to the table then obviously it is innovative and therefore should contribute to the rating regardless if the reviewer that is being critiqued did so or not. In otherwords if someone is going to use that against the reviewer then they better be able to answer to the things that are indeed innovative.
I disagree. Also, where did you get the impression that no one contests whether it is innovative or not. I hadn't got that impression from some other comments in this thread (as well as other sites). But that's not really the point under discussion ...
It seems your saying that one should have beforehand knowledge about Aion and apply that through the appropriate filter when reading a new review. That's a little dubious to assume. What if it's the first review that someone happens to read on the game? If the reviewer didn't mention these points then we can't necessarily assume he meant to or not. You have to take the review for what it is and not filter it through assumption-filtered glasses.
In the end, you're arguing about whether Aion, in general, is innovative not on the relevancy of the review as written on this site. They're two different points ...
I believe I already stated that those are two separate points which you would have seen had you followed the thread. This particular point was in response to those making the argument that Aion is in no way innovative and therefore doesn't deserve the review.
Aion is a well polished game and has a lot to offer. I enjoy playing it.
However, as the reviewer stated, the problem with Aion is not with the game . . but with NCSoft itself . . . specifically, NCSoft West. As a former Lineage 2 player, I can tell you that NCSoft West's support was without doubt the worst I have ever seen in a MMO. If anything, NCSoft West is even worse with Aion.
NCSoft West needs to realize that even though this game scored an 8.7 on MMORPG.COM's review, their lack of support and apathy toward its players lowers this score by 5 points in my eyes.
Get with the program NCSoft. In today's economy, people are not as patient and forgiving as they used to be.
http://aion.24-hrgaming.net
I love how people get bent out of shape over a meaningless review, which they all are. The score means nothing in the long run, smart people don't base buying games off of others reviews (since all they are is opinions anyways)
Smart people wait for trials etc. Anyways this is why i dislike scores being added to reviews, because everyone over-reacts to the score because it doesn't fit their Opinion on it, never mind the fact that people seem to forget everyone has different tastes and this Aion score, while good for some, isn't good for others.
Perhaps you folks running MMORPG should consider not giving scores anymore and just give reviews.+
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas