Lots of people here have posted about conan's graphics (both in a positive 'its the best MMO graphics wise'  or a negative 'its broken, they lied about Direct X 10 and it needs a monster PC to run smoothly' way). But what about the sound effects and particularly the music? For me the music is one of its real strong points. Its varied, evocative and in keeping with the various settings within the game. One of the few game soundtracks that really sounds like a film score (that wasn't lifted from a film :-)) and can be listened to outside the game (the cd was in collectors box but I had to get my copy via itunes :-)). I also like the sound effects - they feel meaty and raw, again in keeping with the game world. Crunching across the snow, footsteps changing as you cross a wooden bridge, the sound of waterfalls being deafening up close etc etc.

For the purposes of balance, I'll also mention the early tortage voice overs. I liked them (though some of the actors didn't quite fit the NPC) but Its a shame (and at the time more than a little disconcerting) when they drop away after lvl 20. I know they have added more and appreciate that voicing the entire game would be a massive task but It would have been nice if all the quest giving npcs had at least 1 line of dialogue upon clicking to set the scene for their character etc... e.g. a 'what do you want!'.

Interestingly, when I tried out Warhammer, I missed AOC's music more than the graphics.. Whilst it wasn't as 'pretty', WARs graphics / art direction was stylisticlly coherent and in keeping with the source material - different rather than worse (the animation was another matter - very poor for some characters / actions). However, the sound (particularly the music) seemed quite bland. Same for Runes of Magic.. when I tried it the graphics were OK (good for f2p) but the music was not particularly atmospheric and some of the sound effects seemed wrong / missing (enviromental effects / crafting sounds in late beta - this may have changed). I was surprised what a difference it made.

My vote for best in-game music of 2008 (and possibly sound overall but thats a category with a stronger competitive field e.g. Dead Space) .

regards

S.

100%

The sound in this game is awesome.. I was so diappointed with WAR. WOW added some good sound with the expansion, but doesn't even come close.

This game is much better than all the haters ever gave it credit for, and the sound was a perfect 10 in my book.

Well there was a reason for why the score of this game was nominated for Hollywood Music awards. The composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen did an exelent job composing the score of AoC.

www.massively.com/2008/11/11/age-of-conan-composer-nominated-for-best-original-score/

The musical score was admittedly fantastic, sadly it was drowned out by the sucking sound of everyone leaving.

Flashy graphics and a gorgeous soundtrack can make or break a movie, but are just fluff in an MMO that at its core is so incomplete.

There are games on my cell phone that are more complex

Good graphics and good sound won't make an MMO long-lasting. If fanboys can't get this, then let them enjoy their delusion.

Good graphic good sound good gameplay..this game has it all

Sound, music and graphics were great in my opinion but was far from enough to carry the game. Game was like a good looking chick that could sing but whose idea of conversation was limited to school gossip.

graphics and sound may sell a box but it is the overall game play and community that makes people stay after the first 30 and that is where the game failed for me.

Before AoC I thought Vanguard sound and music were the best. I love the the sound and music in AoC best now. I will say LOTRO does have some pretty good music going as well depending where you are. Tom's house is always a favorite of mine.

I dislike Cimmeria, but the music there is awesome.

I think sound is probably the best part of Age of Conan. It's realistic and fits very well in Conan universe.

I like sound even more than graphics. Everyone keeps saying how AoC graphics are awesome but I disagree. Sure it's complex with high polygon count (or whatever) but I just don't find it "pretty".

AoC should have had much darker graphics with more "evil" feeling to it. Right now it's just too bright and happy for me. I don't see the evil of Hyboria anywhere.

The music is great but I have yet to suggest a  game to friends because of sound.

Originally posted by Krewel

Good graphics and good sound won't make an MMO long-lasting. If fanboys can't get this, then let them enjoy their delusion.

..or let flamers drown in their paranoia.

Originally posted by Sevenwind

Before AoC I thought Vanguard sound and music were the best. I love the the sound and music in AoC best now. I will say LOTRO does have some pretty good music going as well depending where you are. Tom's house is always a favorite of mine.

I dislike Cimmeria, but the music there is awesome.

Both have incredible music but AoC bring that to another level.As for the sound there's nothing on the market that can beat AoC

Originally posted by sorcielle

100%

The sound in this game is awesome.. I was so diappointed with WAR. WOW added some good sound with the expansion, but doesn't even come close.

This game is much better than all the haters ever gave it credit for, and the sound was a perfect 10 in my book.

I suppose Im a "hater" since I dont like this game but I dont think alot of us disagrees that this game has superb sound and gfx. It is the gameplay, the most important aspect, that is lacking.

Originally posted by Krewel

Good graphics and good sound won't make an MMO long-lasting. If fanboys can't get this, then let them enjoy their delusion.

You are right, but bad graphics and sounds won't make a lasting MMO either.

AoC do have it's bad points, the game still needs a lot of more content and the crafting needs a total revamp but those things are actually being fixed even though it takes time. Of course everyone won't like the game anyways because taste differs.

But for a new game to be succesful in the long run, good graphics and sounds are almost a must, at least for a P2P game.

Originally posted by Loke666

But for a new game to be succesful in the long run, good graphics and sounds are almost a must, at least for a P2P game.

I don't think sound is that important to be honest. It's a nice bonus but I doubt anyone ever quit an MMO because of bad sound.

Personally I most of the time turn it off and listen to music, and I know a lot of people that do the same.

Gameplay is most important and graphics come second imo.

Awesome 7.1 positional sound and music added into the game (to my knowledge in no other mmorpg) enchances the gameplay tenfold. (if you have 7.1 speakers turn it up!)

Great sound effects (actually slightly different each time, again something you won't find in another mmorpg (another innovative feature) )

I love the fact that when you walk across the terrain it is a different sound each time whether mounted or not all depending on what you are walking on - for reference other newly released game just have the same bland sound.

Great gameplay, great atmosphere, everything is linked and crosses over.

Originally posted by finnishguy

I think sound is probably the best part of Age of Conan. It's realistic and fits very well in Conan universe.

I like sound even more than graphics. Everyone keeps saying how AoC graphics are awesome but I disagree. Sure it's complex with high polygon count (or whatever) but I just don't find it "pretty".

AoC should have had much darker graphics with more "evil" feeling to it. Right now it's just too bright and happy for me. I don't see the evil of Hyboria anywhere.

Agreed the Art Department seems to have never heard of Frank Frazetta (or feared being sued by him), all the art looks like Prince Valiant comics from the Sunday Paper. Age of Conan has more than enough 'Mullets' to be called Age of Trailer Park.

I'm no fan of Age of Conan, trust me, however i believe the sound is amazing in the game. Matter of fact i was sitting playing Counter Strike Source the other day thinking about the audio of the game.

Weird, but yes, i concur.

To MrTumN3s, hmmm thats interesting.. I can't quite picture (or hear :-)) which track you had in mind while playing counterstrike.. but I did something similar for another game - I was trying to get an old version of Civilisation to work on my netbook but the sound / music wouldn't work so I had the AOC mp3s playing in the background - it worked really well (the cimmeran tracks seemed to fit better than the original civ midi files in fact).

To the poster(s) that say music / sound is the least important aspect of a game, I strongly disagree.. music and sound affects how we percieve the game a lot more than we realise**.... in fact I would say that if a player feels the need to turn the music down / off, thats an indication that the sound direction on a game has failed in some way - the music is either uninteresting, inappropriate to the atmosphere / action of the game or too repetetive. For me,  sometimes a sign of good game music / sound direction is that after a while you are not (conciously) noticing it but it is still actively influencing / enhancing the gameplay and graphics (e.g. increasing the drama of a battle or soothing the player into a false sense of securtity before spring a trap / set piece).  For me the AOC music did that but there are other examples too but (based on my relatively limited experience of only 4 or 5 MMOs) I can only think of non-mmo ones at the moment though - GTA 3 / Vice city springs to mind. The cars in GTA3 were pretty basic really with exaggerated, boxy cartoon looks and  handling.. but the changing radio stations for each car gave each one a very distinctive feel and changed the way you felt about driving them (and the talk show was hilarious). Also, good game soundtracks age much more gracefully than state of the art graphics (GTA 3 is again a good example of that and looking at MMO preview shots I'd say conan probably has maybe 6-9 months left at the top of the mmo GRAPHICS pile if its lucky, whilst the music will stay on my ipod for years (assuming the battery still works / can be replaced :-).

S.

** on a slight tangent, apparently, sound even effects our sense of taste.. a team of UK psychologists published a paper on this last year that hit the news - the popular example given was that people were asked to eat crisps (potato chips) with and without headphones on (crunchy  sounds, soggy sounds, white noise etc) - the test subjects became completely confused as taste and texture seemed to change depending upon what they were hearing whilst they ate them.

Originally posted by Loke666

Originally posted by Krewel

Good graphics and good sound won't make an MMO long-lasting. If fanboys can't get this, then let them enjoy their delusion.

 

You are right, but bad graphics and sounds won't make a lasting MMO either.

AoC do have it's bad points, the game still needs a lot of more content and the crafting needs a total revamp but those things are actually being fixed even though it takes time. Of course everyone won't like the game anyways because taste differs.

But for a new game to be succesful in the long run, good graphics and sounds are almost a must, at least for a P2P game.

Someone needs to tell Blizzard that because in my opinion WoW has terrible sound and their graphics just plain out hurt the eyes. Still if a judge sentenced me to choose between having top play AoC for six months 8 hours a day or WoW for 6 months 8 hours a day I would have to choose WoW.