Aion Beta weekend No. 4
Today saw the commencement of Aion’s fourth beta weekend event. Thanks to the different time zones the kick off for me was 5am. Unfortunately I’m working today and 5am is what time I normally get up for work. This is my first beta weekend in Aion, having only just received my beta keys, and I was desperate to have a look at the game, so I got up at 4.30am which gave me about 40 minutes of game-time before I had to go to work. This little review is based on that 40 minutes, so bear in mind how little time I’ve had to get a feel for the game. Still, it’s enough to give my initial impressions.
Character creation is quite in depth. There are a number of pre-defined looks you can choose, around 20+ faces, 5 or 6 body types, a large number of hair styles, and colour palletes for hair and skin tone. There is also an advanced settings tab where you can adjust all the details of the face; eyes, ears, brow, nose, lips, chin and so on. I didn’t spend a great deal of time creating my character because I was eager to jump into the world and take a look around.
When I finally zoned into the world I was greeted with chaos. There were probably 50 or 60 other players in the newbie zone, many crowded around the first two quest givers or in the immediate area killing mobs. I quickly familiarised myself with the controls, turned off player names which cleaned up my screen a lot, and found the option to display Frames-Per-Second (FPS). I grabbed my first quest and headed out to kill mobs, along with 30 other people camped in the area. Needless to say it took me quite a while to kill the three mobs I needed for the quest, but that was ok because I had a good look around. I didn’t notice any lag at all, even with so many players around, and I was getting FPS of 70 to 130+. The game was running very smoothly in all regards. It was hard to find fault with the engine at all.
Aion did feel very much like an Asian MMO however. In fact it reminded me very much of Requiem Bloodymare, a Free2Play Korean title that I’d tried some time ago, albeit with better graphics and game engine. But the cries your character makes when he goes into combat and the sound it makes when you strike mobs all had that anime cartoon hero feel to it. I’ll be honest here and say that I didn’t like it. This is still beta though, and I’m of the understanding that they’re still transitioning over sounds more suited to us Westerners.
Lastly I want to touch on the graphics. I turned all my graphics setting to maximum when I got in game in an effort to try to bring out the most in the game. My PC setup seems to handle this game easily, with flaming high FPS. The character models look good and what armour I saw looked good and the world looks good, but this still makes it the second best looking MMO in my opinion, with Age of Conan taking out the title. The graphics crap all over Warhammer, as does the performance, but it’s still not as good looking as AoC. Again, this is only the newbie zone, and EQ2’s newbie zone wasn’t as impressive as the first time I saw Qeynos, so I’ll have to wait and see if there are some zones or structures that really impress me.
So far Aion hasn’t blown me away, but it hasn’t driven me away either. In fact, I’m itching to get back and play, and in truth I’ve seen almost nothing of the game and experienced very little of its content. So much to do, so little time.
Comments
Comment from Keiry
Time: July 18, 2009, 5:21 pm
@Openedge, I see your point, but I have to respectfully disagree on the replayability. From my point of view, the sheer number of quests that there are to do at the low levels make it replayable–coupled with the fact that most of the classes (except caster) appeal to me. With WAR, there was only ONE class I had any interest in, and the rest fell far short for me for a few reasons I won’t go into here.
AoC is by far a better-looking game, no question. And the three regions to quest in are nice to contrast with. When you get bored with one, you can go to another. However, it still has the same issue–just in a different way. Once you’ve done the three regions, you could argue that the replayability of that game is low as well.
However, I’ve done Tortage and all three starter areas in AoC numerous times–and I’m not sick of it yet. I imagine Aion will be much the same for me. Of course, maybe I’m weird. *shifty eyes*
What I am eager to see is if Aion can keep my attention after I get out of those newbie zones. The rate of leveling is much slower than anything I’ve played recently (although AoC has slowed down a lot for me at 73 =/). All in all, Aion is new, shiny, and I’m liking what I’ve seen so far. 
Comment from caliga
Time: July 19, 2009, 5:40 pm
@Openedge. Replayability is certainly something I’m concerned with in any MMO, but for me, content is king. Sticking with AoC as the example, when I played that at release, by the time I hit 60 I was bored with the game. Of course, one year later the game has evolved and now has a ton of additional content and I’m still enjoying it 6 months on.
It’s too early for me to know if Aion has the content I need to stay interested. I certainly like the visuals of the game, the range of emotes, the character models and armour, and the many little touches it has such as pulling out a chair to sit on or having your own stall for selling items. I still need to look into the crafting, which will have to wait for the next beta weekend. It is the same old MMO that’s for certain, but I’m not necessarily looking for innovation, but rather, I’m looking for quality and quantity.
Comment from Aunwyn
Time: July 19, 2009, 11:06 pm
Caliga, is the music CD any good? Let everyone know if you get into any pvp how it is.
Comment from caliga
Time: July 20, 2009, 12:36 am
Some of the music is good, some of it I don’t care for much. It doesn’t have that epic feel that Age of Conan’s soundtrack has, though. I doubt that I’ll get into any PvP, not until the last beta probably (Abyss is only available from level 25). The leveling is slower than other MMO’s I’ve played lately. I hope to play around with my class some more next beta weekend and take a look at the crafting.
Comment from aionguides
Time: July 23, 2009, 7:20 am
For 40 minutes, that’s a pretty decent review! I kinda had the same impression as you: while it didn’t really “blow me away” as you said, I am eager to play more and can’t wait for the next beta weekend.
caliga
Comment from Openedge1
Time: July 18, 2009, 11:53 am
When I played last beta, I got one impression from the game..
Good for 30 days.
The game is beautiful, runs very good (may not look as good as AoC, but sure does run a site better), and the character models are top notch.
But, if the two starting areas is it, I see a total of one play through with no replay or Alt-itis that most games have.
AoC may funnel you through one area, but each quest in the night quest line is great, plus at level 20, you have 3 new zones to choose from to quest in. Each zone in Aion was a duplicate of the other with different mobs.
But, it definitely puts WoW to shame visually, and plays like WoW with some Lineage 2 thrown in..
Thus..30 days…maybe another 30…but…why go any further…it is still the same old MMO.