Aion is a fantasy MMORPG delivered to us by the folks over at NCsoft. It is already nearing its first birthday in the East, but here in the West we have had to wait until late last month in order to get our taste of it. So was this long wait worth it?<\/p>\n
I excitedly picked up my pre-ordered copy on launch day. I installed it as quickly as possible and began my attempt at patching it up and getting down to business. I was extremely excited, and had been following its development since early 2006.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t realise just what an ordeal something so simple would be. With pre-orders apparently exceeding 400 000 copies, it seems a very large number of people had exactly the same idea as I had. The patch servers were completely overloaded and it took me around 24 hours to download a simple 500Mb update.<\/p>\n
Frequent disconnections were common during this annoying process. I wasn’t there, so I can’t speak out of personal experience, but the actual game servers were said to have had queues of thousands of people too. This would all normally be acceptable, except for the fact that NCsoft had already launched the game in numerous territories before the European launch. One would think they they’d have had enough practice by now. Alas, clearly not.<\/p>\n
Eventually, late the next day, I managed to get the client up-to-date. Account creation was frustrating, as it requires a valid credit card or time card code in order for me to make use of my 30 days of free time (included upon purchase of a boxed copy). A friend came to the rescue and using their credit card I was able to validate my account and remove his credit card details within a few minutes. If you plan on playing, make sure you have access to one of the above, as there’s no getting around this!
With much relief, I started the client and was greeted by a great CGI cinematic that provided a summary of the game’s lore, which had be virtually drooling with anticipating. Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived, and when I got into the game I was greeted by a queue to log into the game servers.<\/p>\n
45 minutes later (thankfully I didn’t attempt my first login during peak time) I was finally creating my first character. If you enjoy toying around with the provided tools in order to create a truly unique character, you’ll love Aion! The possibilities are practically endless. You can alter almost any part of your character’s body, and there is a large variety of hairstyles and body art available too. A nice touch is the preview option that allows you to view your character in starter, mid-game and high-end armour.<\/p>\n
Once I’d decided on a character I was happy with, I entered the game. The first thing that I noticed was that Aion felt very familiar. At the risk of being flamed, I will say it against; if you’ve ever played World of Warcraft, you’ll feel right at home in Aion.
Overall, it makes use of a similar questing and combat system. The interface is also reminiscent of World of Warcraft’s well-designed default interface.<\/p>\n
However, not all was familiar. Aion does host some notable differences to the big cheese. Firstly, the most obvious is that of the ability to fly. Flying is a strategic part of gameplay. Aerial combat is available, however you’ll have to time yourself right, as flight time is limited to a minute or two. You will only get your wings when you hit level 10, though. Flying is also limited to certain areas. A nice touch, however, is the ability to glide in these no-fly zones – effectively allowing you to travel quicker if you master this fun art.<\/p>\n
Another difference is the combat mechanic, which makes use of skill chains. These are basically special skill bonuses that you receive if you execute your skills in a specific order. It adds a great element to gameplay, and lessens the need for random button-smashing, as some other games encourage.<\/p>\n
Lastly, the quest system, whilst similar to World of Warcraft’s, is different in two important ways. The first is that there are important storyline quests that automatically become available to your character as it levels. These basically tell the main story of your character as the game progresses. Many of them include a cutscene in which your character plays a role.<\/p>\n
Secondly, there are Work Order quests. These involve crafting and provide an alternate means of leveling. It’s a great touch should you wish to escape the tedium of grind-leveling. Currently, the level cap is set at 50, and that will take you a good number of hours of gameplay to achieve. After a good thirty hours of playing, I’m at level 17.<\/p>\n
It is important to note that not everything is rainbows and smiles. Performance-wise, I am not impressed. My PC just meets the minimum requirements (dual core 3ghz Pentium 4, 1Gb RAM, GeForce 7300GS graphics card), and whilst one may laugh at that fact, achieving 8FPS on the lowest settings possible is hardly what I call playable. I have heard of some people running it very smoothly with less-than-amazing PC’s, and then others experiencing issues on high-end systems. It seems your performance really is not guaranteed.<\/p>\n
Second opinion: Performance (Ed)<\/strong><\/p>\n Aion is a great looking game, but it does consume resources so a decent graphics card, Dual Core CPU and at least 2Gbs of RAM are recommended. Playing on a Phenom II 955 Black Edition, 4GB RAM, and a HD 5870, I have been able to play with all settings on maximum quality at 1920×1200, with 4xAA\/8xAA depending on the area. If you can experience Aion at these settings, then you truly are in for a treat as it looks simply amazing.<\/p>\n Back to the preview…<\/p>\n Lag problems also exist – at least for me. My lowest latency so far has been 550ms. My average is around 800-1000ms. This seems to be lowering as the servers become less busy over time. I can only hope to achieve a maximum of 500ms in the future, as is the case with most other online games such as World of Warcraft and Guild Wars.<\/p>\n Second opinion: Lag (Ed) <\/strong><\/p>\n Using shaped bandwith from Afrihost on a 384kb ADSL line, I have experienced some lag, but not to the extent that the game is unplayable. Typical latencies range between 450ms and 800ms. Noticable lag is fairly minimal, but occasional spikes can become frustrating.<\/p>\n Back to the preview…<\/p>\n Overall, my experience has been a mixed one. The game is fun, and I want to play it, but the server queues (which are shortening now that the launch hype has died down), and the performance issues are overshadowing the fun factor at the moment. Time will tell if NCsoft is able to sort out the issues on their side and whether this will be incentive enough to continue playing.<\/p>\n Second opinion: Overall (Ed)<\/strong><\/p>\n My experience has been less plagued by performance and lag issues. Lag will have a lot to do with your connection, ISP and proximity to your exchange. At the moment, these issues seem more prevalent than they are in more established MMOs, but this is to be expected early on.<\/p>\n Queues seem to have almost become extinct, and recently I have at most have to wait 5 minutes to get into Gorgos (the server of choice for most SA players choosing Asmodian).<\/p>\n The game itself is quite similar to other grind-style fantasy MMOs such as WoW, but with far more impressive visuals, and some changes to the combat and questing systems. At this point, it is difficult to say whether I will continue to play Aion after the first month, but many of the key ingredients which make the likes of WoW so addictive are there, so the future looks promising.<\/p>\n