Aion Review

So, let’s get this part out of the way, I have played so many MMOs in my time and NONE have been able to hold my attention as well as world of warcraft. The reason for this is because of the interface and smooth game play. Granted the graphics are not that stunning, but overall it’s a very fun game. Well, I think an MMO has come along that finally may take some of that attention away from the infamous WoW. Put it this way, take the visuals and fantasy likeness of Final Fantasy, put it with a system similar to world of warcraft using the Cry engine and what do you have? AION! One of the best MMOs I have played in recent history. Why? On with the show!

Graphics:

Alright, let’s start out with the very first thing you will notice about Aion. The graphics are fantastic; it uses the Cry engine, which is a pretty powerful engine, capable of giving you a huge open world while maintaining excellent world graphics from grass to water to the characters themselves. The level of detail in the game is fantastic. You will notice it right away from the character selection/creation screen. My system is a pretty decent system, not top of the line by any means, but I say that to reassure you that most computers can probably play this game smoothly. I noticed very little lag or graphic issues while playing the game. You can tell the developers really put time into this game to make it as beautiful as possible while not weighing your system down.

Sound:

Aion definitely has an epic sound track from the opening cut scene to the subtle environmental music it is all top quality. I love that when you engage in combat, the music changes tracks to a more fight worthy style of music. I have the collector’s edition so there are some excellent tracks included on that. As far as voice acting goes. It’s not that bad, though it is basic conversation and not a whole lot of variety, but it is an MMO. The actual story missions are pretty impressive, without giving too much away, during the story missions, you play through a sequence that reveals more of what your character really is. The visuals and sound effects are fantastic and it’s worth playing just for these sequences.

Game play/Controls

The best part about Aion is the interface. It is very similar to world of warcraft but it has a few more unique additions. For example, when on a quest and you need to find a certain object, person or area the quest will give you key details that you can click on and it will actually locate it on the map. This is very useful especially since most people don’t know where certain areas are. It eliminates the need for quest helper add-ons. Another great feature is the minimap. They have made it so that all characters and NPCs show up on the mini map and you can hover over the dot and it will tell you the name and health level of the creature or person. This is very handy when walking around looking for something quest related.

The quests themselves are split up into a few different categories, You have the quests that are campaign related, which further the story and lead you on to find out what you are and you have the general gathering quests, which are just to obtain items and money.

One thing you will notice is the combat, it is very simple, but there are some great additions to it to make it visually appealing. When you use a special ability as a melee class, you don’t just swing your sword, you do a more complex motion showing the skill you are using. I found myself really enjoying the animations, which are all very smooth and fit the characters and classes very well. When you strike with a sword or larger object, Ax or something of that form, you will notice, not just one number come up for damage, but multiple, showing the actually follow through of the weapon, the first number is the largest, the initial hit and as you slice through the enemy the numbers get smaller. Over all a very enjoyable combat system. You can also have 2 different sets of weapons equipped. For example, as a warrior you can have your more heavy duty sword equipped and have a sword and shield as the secondary. So, in a moment’s notice you can go from DPS to tank.  Another thing I enjoyed is as the Asmodians, when you draw your weapon, your eyes glow red, a small but cool little feature.

As you level when you reach level 10 you will gain the ability to fly, yes I said fly. As you progress through the story you obtain wings that allow you limited flight time, an excellent addition to the game and it adds a new dimension of control to it. If you got the collector’s edition, you get a set of black wings.

 Another thing is that aion has made it very easy to sell your items. You can now set up a trading post and announce what items are for sale. People can come over browse your store and buy products from you. I found that it was not necessary to party up other than instances. Questing is very simple and fortunately the respawn rates on creatures and items are fast so there isn’t much waiting around for items. Overall controls are pretty straight forward. Just like any other MMO. Nothing really special or fancy here, spells laid out on the keyboard, spell books, inventory, gear equips all the same.

The one big thing that I really enjoyed about Aion that sets it apart from other MMOs is the level of customization of the characters. Since the beta they have added a lot more features to use in creation. It really does allow you to make a very unique character of literally all shapes and sizes.

Aion includes 4 main classes each with their own benefits, like other MMOs. The flip side to this is that even the priest class, can wear chain mail and casters have more than just cloth at their disposal. Like other games, classes like priests can either heal or deal damage, but melee plays more into it, think of it like a paladin class from world of warcraft.  

One major downside so far is that every time you make a new character, you will have to spend at least 5 minutes blocking a majority of the chat messages. Apparently a spam filter is not included with the game, as I couldn’t even read the chat because it was message after message of “Buy our gold, POWER LEVELING!” and things of that sort.

Story:

To not give a whole lot of the story away let me say it this way, Aion is very heavily based in Viking mythology, the whole concept of Valkyries. You can choose from 2 main races The Elyos who are the more civil (good characters) and the Asmodians who are the more savage (bad) race. Overall there is a very good mix of physical combat and spell based combat. The story seems very well written and I am excited to see how it unfolds as well as what additions they will make to the game.

Final Thoughts:

Have I found a new MMO that will take me away from warcrack? I think so, honestly this game is very well put together and over all a solid MMO. Everything from the user interface to the combat to the story is all very well done. The graphics are beautiful too which is just icing on the cake.  As I said before, I am excited to see where this game can and will go, if you are looking for a good MMO check out Aion, I guarantee it will not let you down. I know may people who have been searching for something to play MMO-Wise and this is definitely a solid over all game. There are only a few gripes. Maybe more classes, more variety of clothing and weapons. But I am sure that that is all stuff that time will fix. I encountered very few bugs even during the beta. If you want to play I have a Ranger on Siel server. Azarela is her name! Come find me and we can party it up!