Review of Aion

Aion is a good looking game, this is true.Looking past the pretty façade I however am left underwhelmed by the game.It doesn't seem to offer anything particularly new or exciting.

Character creation is decent, there are quite a few options to customize both your facial and body features.I can't really fault it in any way considering that you'll eventually be decked out in armor and character creation in such a game usually stands as a generic look.There unfortunately isn't much avoiding looking like everybody else in a broader sense because there are only two races.Upon close inspection you should find that most characters manage to create a pretty unique look.As you progress through the game you can choose to maintain various armor looks despite equipping other pieces though which is a nice way of looking unique in the long run.

There have so far been pretty annoying race lockouts on certain servers in an effort to balance them.For example I haven't been able to play with many of my guild mates because no more Asmodians are being allowed on their server.I imagine this will be fixed to some extent but I can't really lie and say that I'm not a bit bitter about being blocked from playing with my friends.Hopefully those who choose to jump in to the game after my writing this don't have this minor annoyance to deal with.

After some initial hiccups at launch the game actually runs quite well.Again the game looks gorgeous with interesting environments and flashy attack animations.The default UI is alright, pretty standard action bar with health bars, but if you're coming from another game it may take some getting used to.I for one am hoping for add-on support or UI customization though since I would personally prefer a slightly more minimalized UI.

The introductory zones come paired with help messages which offer limited video and audio help which I found to be a pretty nice newbie feature.Quests also have a keyword location feature which is like a built in quest helper.I find this feature to be pretty neat, I feel that it adds a sense of authentic adventuring to it for some reason and it doesn't clutter you map with all sorts of quest waypoints. So with these two features getting in to the game and advancing up to level 10 is rather painless.

At level 10ish you become a Daeva which grants you wings and allows you to choose from 2 specialties with your class.There isn't really anything of particular note here but it does add a bit more depth to game play.

Following level 10 it seems that the game becomes increasingly grindy which I don't much care for.Following level 15+ leveling is still quite doable but the rate at which I'm being rewarded for my time is a very important factor for an MMORPG for me and I don't feel that I'm gaining skills or equipment quite fast enough to hold my interest in the game.This has nothing to do with slogging through content too difficult for my character or being oblivious to other questing hubs, I'm simply noting that experience gain tapers off quite quickly.Gaining levels doesn't appear to get you anything aside from skills another factor contributing to the slow feel of the game.It has thus far been quite common for my character to go 2-3 levels getting very little aside from statistical boosts.This is hardly an issue unique to Aion but again it's another one of those things that takes away my desire to get from one skill to the next.

Eventually you get access to Stigma Stones which are sort of like a generic talent tree that allows you access to more skills.I was a rather let down to find out this was the feature which NCSoft was heralding as the way to play your character totally different from another player.While it is true that it allows you to diverge away from other players within your class specialty it isn't so broad in its choices that you'll find a slew of viable builds.I'm looking at it right now as something that will easily be theorycrafted to a point where everybody competitive will play a given class in maybe one or two ways.

Skills are pretty standard for the most part but one pretty cool thing so far is that you get chain skill where one initial attack triggers the use of further more powerful attacks.Unfortunately you can't use chain skills out of sequence but I do like the feel of an attack coming off cool down allowing you to unload on an enemy all at once.Having more than one chain attack generally allows you to be in constant active control of combat.The various chains and what you need to complete them are listed in your skills window and there appears to be quite a variety for the various classes.

Another feature I like is having your own personal shop which others will be familiar with from games such as Ragnarok Online or Fiesta Online.Basically you can open a little shop anywhere and sell your stuff.I far prefer this to auction houses typically because it allows you to be more competitive as a salesman than an auction house typically does because location becomes a valid choice and undercutting doesn't kill all chance at profits.It's also good for going afk for extended periods of time.

Flying is a big part of the game considering you have wings and all.I haven't liked flying much at all so far and I'm really kind of dreading parts of the game where it becomes more necessary.The controls seem very clunky and the limitations of cool down between use and the overall flight time lead to a high preponderance of ineffectiveness of death.You can modify your wings and combat abilities while flying so perhaps by the time I really need to worry about flying it's more tolerable but up to where I'm at now it seems little more than a poorly implemented gimmick.After quite a bit more practice with my wings I'm still only finding the flight mechanics to be marginally more tolerable, perhaps I suck but be fairly warned.

PvP has so far been respectable, especially for a rather new game.I haven't personally encountered any particular class which I feel is broken beyond belief despite some community complaints of balance issues.There does seem to be an attitude of this game and its PvP being "hardcore" and I have to comment that I feel this is a rather glorified designation.The flying adds a bit of depth and skill to PvP but I feel that's where the unique aspects of PvP in this game end.I don't think anybody playing WAR or WoW, particularly PvP servers, are going to switch over to this game and be refreshed by the PvP.It's fun and well implemented but at its core this has been done before.

Pros:
Good looking
Overall solid game
Seemingly popular

Cons:
High grind possibility
Awkward flying
Race lockouts

In summary, I don't think I'll be sticking with this one for long, I'm simply not being moved in any particular way by it currently.It's different enough from other games to warrant some consideration but it also hold so many cliché similarities that prevent me from getting too excited about it.The game has great potential for many players but I recommend taking a long look at it before biting the hype bullet.If I had to recommend it I feel that fans of Guild Wars, Lineage 2, FFXI, or even first time MMOers would like the game quite a bit.




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