Great review, pretty much mirrors my own at

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/255744/L30-Aion-Review-You-dont-order-beef-and-then-complain-it-tastes-like-beef-910.html

The problem I have is the reviewers lack of knowledge of mmo gaming in  general. Everything in Aion was "new " to "him" even though when you google his name he has played Vanguard, WoW , and many other mmo's which had flying combat in some way shape or form, so he is now a liar on that marrit. The second problem is his over  exented look at the "content" of the game. You are going to sit there and tell me Aion is a content rich game. When has NcSoft ever shipped a content rich game out of Korea ? Never.  3rdly , the Reviewer is in the industry and looking for cookies for good deeds done in his town of Austin Texas, damn the internet has so much information.

Given enough time I will bust this review to shreds with even more google searchers, public record searches as well as any other search I deem feasable to prove that this particular "writer" using the term very losely when it is just copy and past from NcSoft themselves is full of shit.  Seriously if Aion isa 8.7 , then LotrO, Vanguard, AoC, and  Warhammer are 9._ titles, because everyone who is an mmoplayer on this particular site knows the difference between comeplete rubbish m, and something that actually makes sense. This review is bull shit. Half this thread has called bullshit and half of the web sites around the world that arent affiliated with "mmorpg portals" are calling aion bull shit.

Makes me wonder now if this sight was not bought out by the same fuckers who bought Allakazam. If that is true that this site was bought,, make it official and let people have the dignity to cancel there accounts.

Originally posted by bloodaxes

If a mod reads this thread wow how many pages will go back lol.

So many emotional people it's just a review /sigh

I don't think it is "just a review" if you permit a guy who has plastered 25 other postive Aion reviews on the web, while living on the doorstep of the game makers.

It shows something and confirmed something I always knew from mmorpg.com.

We have a chief editor here who even stated in forums he found WAR a very good game, with hardly anything wrong with it at launch.

Only a personal opinion of course :)))

It doesn't work that way guys.

It doesn't add anything and you get the complete opposite reaction from the MOST important part of your public:

The players that need to pay subscriptions.

So we should ALL worship Blizzard? No, but games can NEVER be hyped on the long run if they don't deserve it.

And that 8.7 rating (compared to the industry standards) will hang in future years as a big block around the neck of mmorpg.com's credibility (if it even still has some).

As your playing aion lol yet you keep on bashing it that tells me more then enough on you, even zondorf doesn't spam as much as you in aion threads/pictures.

8.7 is high yes but your exaggerating with your rage and feelings on a game your not playing.

When you review a game you review it's features and if they are done good, aion is polished and has few bugs bots and gold spams are not the huge part of a review.

Next patch will increase quests exp by 3x or 4x for those that mostly wanted to reach cap fast so this maybe will lower some people's whinings.

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

Nice honest review, of a great MMO.

Aion is the highest rated MMO on this site for a reason, i believe the polish and PvP components is far ahead of any current released game. Just look at xfire, people are loving the the game.

Originally posted by solareus

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

How do you know that sum were you involved? gold spam and bots are a problem YES I didn't deny it did I?

I'm giving ncsoft a chance to see if they will do something to reduce the spams and bots what about you? will you keep on writing on game's sections that you don't like? why do you need to hate a game so much? don't have anything else to do?

I heard you play or played eve or lotr why your not playing there instead of flaming and may give useless warnings and bans on people that are short tempered (not me of course I'm posting politely as far as I know)

LOTRO, one of the best games out there and the top ranked game on this site has an 8.5 review score. That's after 2 years of growth and (i assume) a re-review here at some point.

So now you are saying Aion less than a month in is overall 'better' than LOTRO?

I find it really hard to believe and I bet you that in a few months (especially after mirkwood) the numbers will speak for them selves.

All I'm trying to say is: however much the reviewer may have liked Aion, the score needs to be in some kind of context in the market otherwise it's more of a marketing effort than an objective review.

Originally posted by solareus

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?

We need a re-review.

I gave these guys credit for having the balls to give WoW a 8 score and they reinfocred that by going against a good number of sandbox fans by giving DF a 6.

This site for me atleast has been known for giving fair reviews with the exception of Eve (they seem to be catering to us a bit).

Now we get Aion the highest rated game on this site, honeslty can one of you guys chime in on this? Aion is nothing but a nice looking Lineage clone with random portal pvp.

Come on guys, the game needs a re-review.

Originally posted by Zorndorf

Originally posted by Gameloading

400k players? you do realise that these were pre - order numbers and the game has been avaible for a month now, right?

 

EVE's subscriber base is about 200k subscribers. if Aion sold only 200k copies this last month, that would mean it has 3 times as many active accounts. It really isn't rocket science.

I absolutely love all the people going apeshit over this. MMORPG's score is pretty much the average review score Aion is getting. It's a good game people, get over it. 

 

EVE has a confirmed sub base of 300K players (a week ago even 320K). The ratio between WOW-EVE-LOTRO on Xfire was always in the 5M-300k-180K count.

In no way this game has more then 3 times the number of EVE players (see the down trend of Aion already below).

With these references Aion would have now far over 1 M players in the west ... on 32 servers. A laugh if you defend this. In Chine at launch they had 113 servers to serve thsoe 1M players in Korea it was 41 servers for around 400K.

BTW after 2 weeks even the wrongly sampled Xfire numers are DOWN with at least 20% for Aion. So I even think the active number of players is LESS now than the dual launching week of NA/EU. It is clearly less then the first launching weekend.

http://www.xfire.com/games/aion/Aion/ 

Now comes the "above" review of a guy plastering all over the internet.

Remember the NEVER (by NCSoft) confirmed 3.5 million so called Asian players too and I think we ALL get the picture.

Only fools can be fooled into believing in this game.

How many times do I have to repeat myself?

You do not have any hard numbers. You have no idea how much of the servers in china were actually used, just because they launched with that many users doesn't mean that many servers were actually required at that time.

Xfire is NOT a reliable source. It never has been and it never will be.

Remeber that Ncsoft NEVER denied the 3.5 million asian players

Metalhead, you're STILL trying to deceive people by calling it a Lineage clone? haven't you emberassed yourself enough last time by making that comparisson? Stop talking about games you know nothing about.

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by solareus

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

 

Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?

Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5.  Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.

Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by solareus

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

 

Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?

 

Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5.  Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.

Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.

5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.

Guess the staff is losing it...what is next a "top 10 of smoothest mmo launches ever" with darkfall #1?

And yes I have tried this game for a week or so but it didn't do it for me, its not bad but def. not that good!

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by solareus

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

 

Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?

 

Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5.  Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.

Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.

5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.

Average or good is basically the same shit. From 5-6 is playable and isn't for everyone but the targeted fans of that particular game.

"niche" games getting a 5-6 are right on track with the expectations of the developer.

Step away from your console rating background and realize that a game doesn't need a 8 or above to be considered good.

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by solareus

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

 

Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?

 

Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5.  Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.

Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.

5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.

Average or good is basically the same shit. From 5-6 is playable and isn't for everyone but the targeted fans of that particular game.

"niche" games getting a 5-6 are right on track with the expectations of the developer.

Step away from your console rating background and realize that a game doesn't need a 8 or above to be considered good.

A 5 or 6 isn't considered good anywhere. Average and good isn't the same thing, good is above average.

A niche game is a game that has a small specific target audience, to say that the developer expects low scores because its game is designed to appeal to a specific target audience is ridiculous.

I'm sure in your own little world 5 or 6 are good. However a much more common rating system that is recognised pretty much everywhere in the gaming community is this.

Anything below 5 is bad. 5 or 6 is average or mediocre. 7 or 8 is considered good, 9 and 10 are considered really good or great.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Dragonalf

Have to agree with everyone else questioning the scoring of this review.

This question is to Jon Wood: Is the intent of this site to let every review stand on it's own? Or do you guys shoot for a score that compares the new games merits to those that have come before it ... i.e. a relative scoring approach?

Based on the data posted by xyzax, it appears you guys are using a "vacuum" approach to reviews. The reviewer fairly admits that the game does nothing new which screams "average", 7 out of 10, a 'C' grade to most people. He unabashedly admits he likes the art style and there is a general overly-enthusiastic tone to the whole piece. A neutral reader can't help but come away from the review thinking that the meat of the review does not match the tone and final score of the review.

I believe in order for reviews to mean something beyond being a fanboy or hater dissertation corroborating their point of view, there has to be meaning to the scale. A relational approach is more useful in that one can, at a glance, look at the rating of a new game and be able to compare it to the highest (and lowest) rated games to get a relative feel of it's place in the MMO universe.

From the body of evidence around the web and within the MMORPG review itself, the consensus is that Aion is a solid but generic MMO title but certainly not a trendsetter as the MMORPG rating portends.

 

Whoa, wait a minute.

 

Not doing something new equals average? really? You are then saying that if a game does nothing new but there are bugs all over the place and the writing is sub par and the combat is the same type of combat but just doesn't capture any sense of excitement then that is average? Not bad?

And to further that point, if a game uses the same techniques and same types of story telling and combat types but the writing is sharp and exemplary, the combat, though the same type of combat, is fast and exciting and The game is very polished then that is also average?

Reviews should be based around what the game is trying to accomplish and whether or not it does that.

If I review a newly released rock album I'm not going to say "music is in the same stale key signatures, all 4/4 time, maybe something in compound time thrown in, the obligatory quarter note equals 120 which should make you all want to jump out a window, same whiney subject matter about teen angst and rarely modulates to anything other than the dominant. Grade C.

I'm going to say "ok, here is a rock song. It falls in the genre of a rock song so how does it stand up to what a rock song should be?"

Reviews on the same site for the same type of games (MMORPGS) should be relative to each other. If one game gets 8.7 and another gets 8.4 then it should be the opinion of the site, not just the reviewer, that the first game is considered better.

The site publishing the reviews should have some kind of responsibility for the scores they post on the site. Unless the specifically say that the review, and the score, is entirely the opinion of the reviewer and not neccessarily supported by the site.

That way the site would distances themselves for taking responsibility of the review score just based on that statement. So either MMORPG needs to do that or they need to fully admit that they think Aion is the best MMORPG ever reviewed by the site.

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by solareus

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

 

Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?

 

Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5.  Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.

Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.

5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.

Average or good is basically the same shit. From 5-6 is playable and isn't for everyone but the targeted fans of that particular game.

"niche" games getting a 5-6 are right on track with the expectations of the developer.

Step away from your console rating background and realize that a game doesn't need a 8 or above to be considered good.

Say what? Good, in the context of reviews, are relative to other entities, above average. Average is average in relative to other reviews so in no way are they the synonimous.

Having a score system that goes from 1-10 and then saying a score of 5 is good would be very strange since that is the average score in that system and good should then be above that average.

Cant rate this higher then 8/10. Too linear, to standard, to grindy. Beautiful and polished tho

Originally posted by fps_noob

Originally posted by Reion1

Did you guys just rate this game 8.7? HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH

 

Yeah ok.

 

Giving this game an 8 would be too much, 7.5 seems about accurate if you're going to try to blow it up like that.  But an 8.7 don't make me laugh.  How would any one rate this game so high when it has such a low amount of classes

Because making extra useless classes is a great idea

LOL. And more classes would be useless how exactly? LOL.

small world

Have you made it past the level 10 area? 

Obviously, because I know there's about four zones to each side.

and gathering/crafting that's a joke. 

How's that?

If you don't know have you made it past level 10?

Timed flying, no mounts

You just said that the map was tiny, what would be the point of mounts then? Also it would make complete sense for your character to be able to fly endlessly without tiring out. Even birds land to rest...

The point of mounts would an alternative to running on foot when you can't find that cliff to jump off.

huge grind

Have you tried doing quests? 

Yes, and there isn't nearly enough as you would want these people to believe.

Anyway, long story short this game is no where close to an 8.7.

tl:dr I don't think you played this game nearly enough to be able to rate it.

I don't think you've played this game enough to be able to reply to my post. 

You can defend and score this game as high as you like.  But the truth is it's going down the tubes, cold hard facts.

8.7 score ............. 1$ per visitor

8.4 score ............. 0.5$ per visitor

8.0 score ............. 0.2$ per visitor

score 6.0 and below if you don't pay anything at all, not even bother to pay us for a big ad. banner.

season special discount: 8.7 score + big flashing ad of a half-naked asian girl for all time best price 1.2$ per visitor.

I actually thought Paragus had a better/more detailed review of the game since he touched on post 25+ more.  By reading that review he'd probably rate it an 8 which is probably where the game falls.  I'm actually surprised that the game got reviewed so quickly, normally it takes much longer for this site to put a review for a game out.  I think the reviewer is correct that Aion becomes almost a different game post level 25.  Perhaps we can have a review that specifically focuses on that part of the game since everyone who plays Aion has developed the slogan 'Wait until level 25'.

Originally posted by mokoleus

i can't believe people can be so ignorant to be upset by a review.... it's quite laughable really.

Disingenuous question. They're not upset by the review, per se. It's more about what the review represents or seems to bring to light. If you haven't picked up on what that is throughout this thread... well.... that would be pretty sad. There's nothing laughable about it.

Also, what does being unhappy about a review have to do with being ignorant?

so please, stop complaining about mmorpg losing cred, if you want to threaten to leave, just leave, find a site that you feel isn't biased.

Wee!! Another would-be censor on mmorpg.com! 'cause we didn't have enough of those already. In every case, the mantra seems to be: "I don't like what you have to say and I don't have the self-control to simply not read it... So you all should go somewhere else".

I'll reitterate what's been said to many others here... as long as people remain within the posting guidelines of mmorpg.com, they are free to express any opinion they like. You, or anyone else, does not have a right to tell, or even suggest that people leave if you don't like what they have to say. You *do* have the right to not read it.

Originally posted by solareus

you got be kidding? Who's website is this ? Sean  Imancsoftfanby or mmorpg.coms website ? 

He wrote this turd to get into the good graces of the Austin studio, and I think it is ignorant for a website to even post reviews without even reading them and actually weighing the scale of what  the website deems fit for publishing.

Is Sean Balgar wanted fame, he has got it with being one of the most unknowledgable writers to have ever had Anything published on this website in the last 3 years I've posted here. You have no idea how angry I am that mmorpg..com doesn't ccare anymore to proof shit and actually say, "you know what, this reviewer is full of fucking shit"

I'm not saying you're wrong Solareus, but I have a few points to make:

1. This is not a reputable news source. It's a gaming website, with a community mostly made up of people who wouldn't know the difference between a reputable and illreputable website. So taking anything seriously on this website is a mistake.

2. You're getting angry over a website, that wrote something biased about a game, a GAME! It's not that serious! So getting angry over it only makes you look like less of a person to those handful of people who actually are worth something on this website.

3. I've been using this website since early 2005, and I only seriously use it for one thing: To learn about what MMO's are releasing soon. They're quick enough to let us know when a mmorpg will be released, so this website is worth putting on your Favorites bar for just that reason. The forums and reviews should be taken with a grain of salt, because it just isn't worth any serious energy or emotions. It's great for some drama filled entertainment, but don't get emotionally involved.

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Gameloading

Originally posted by solareus

I;'m not playing Saga of Ryzom, Eve or Fallen Earth eithe rbut I can recognize that they are stellar game , stell concepts from content design, visual aesthectics .  If something is justifed, I will respect it. Aion is not justified, here is a question for you, how did the gold sellers have over 100billion in gold ready to ship in Aion in the first week ?

 

Thats a silly argument. So only sandboxes are allowed to get high scores?

 

Not at all in my opinion Ryzom is a 5.5, FE is a 6.5 and Eve a 7.5.  Personally I think if a game is consider "good" it should get a 5 or 6 at the most.

Aion = 7 and thats a great score imo.

5 or 6 is widely considered to be either mediocre or average. Not good.

Average or good is basically the same shit. From 5-6 is playable and isn't for everyone but the targeted fans of that particular game.

"niche" games getting a 5-6 are right on track with the expectations of the developer.

Step away from your console rating background and realize that a game doesn't need a 8 or above to be considered good.

A 5 or 6 isn't considered good anywhere. Average and good isn't the same thing, good is above average.

A niche game is a game that has a small specific target audience, to say that the developer expects low scores because its game is designed to appeal to a specific target audience is ridiculous.

I'm sure in your own little world 5 or 6 are good. However a much more common rating system that is recognised pretty much everywhere in the gaming community is this.

Anything below 5 is bad. 5 or 6 is average or mediocre. 7 or 8 is considered good, 9 and 10 are considered really good or great.

this right here shows how flawed the system is.

Shouldnt a 10 be a perfect game? have you ever played a perfect game? I know I havent.

Anyway the rating system means nothing, read the guys review The con calls Aion a mostly standard mmo.

A standard MMO deserves to be #1 on the site?