Age of Conan

Plenty of people have said the game runs smoothly for them with good FPS. (And not people with bionic computers, either)

Don't say 'the game will always run surprisingly slow" Because your experiences with lag shouldn't be and can't be applied to everyone else.

That right there turned me off to your review. Because it makes you sound like one of those people who probably either has a bad computer/internet connection or doesn't know what they're doing and experiences lots of problems, then includes said problems in their review as though it was the fault of the game/designers.

I'm not saying you are that sort of person but still. -shrug-

Originally posted by lamissfairy

Plenty of people have said the game runs smoothly for them with good FPS. (And not people with bionic computers, either)

I'm not saying there aren't people who are willing to accept their framerates. I'm saying the framerates are in general surprisingly low.

In honesty we weren't allowed to test the game on other computers than the ones we specified when applying for the beta. I did however try the game on a variety of different systems, and AoC somehow always manages to disappoint in the framerate apartment.

/J.

Originally posted by svperstar

Here's a small attempt at an unbiased review. Having been in closed (tech/general) beta since January 2007, I feel that I am somewhat qualified to write this.

 

The game starts you up on a beach, stranded in some shipwreck. The first thing you notice is how beautiful the game is. Having noticed the beauty, you immediately notice your FPS, which is almost always too low, no matter what setup you have.

Moving on. As you try to move your character you notice how "choppy" everything feels. Being used to the smoothness of the WoW-world, you immediately become frustrated at how badly things like the character animations are made. Speaking of animations, they are obviously made by different persons, with completely different styles of design. The swimming animation (added just half a month ago) is beautiful and smooth, while the animations for getting out of the water, are horrid.

As you move forward a bit, you begin tinkering with the UI, which has been drasticly re-designed and revamped since the first betas. The UI now feels quite solid and looks really nice, however it is still slightly lacking in customization options. This will probably be adressed (as in WoW) by the players themselves writing mods.

Progressing further you early on notice how linear the game feels (especially the first 20 levels). It is almost like playing a sidescroller on an old NES system. You can only go where the developers want you to go, and getting there involves doing the same silly repetitive quests, over and over (just as in every other mmorpg!). There is however one big difference in the questing part of this game.

Destiny quests. These quests are quite intriguing and often very different from regular mmorpg-quests, they really immerse you in the world of Conan. Sadly however a lot of these quests are not quite completed yet, and still suffer from serious bugs (which have gone ignored by the developers for years now (!)).

The combat system itself claims to be revolutionary. In my opinion it is quite... interesting, for the first hour or so, after that it becomes quite annoying. There's something about being able to autoattack and autorun that, in the long run, appeals to me personally. I'm sure a lot of people feel differently about this.

About the PVP I can only say that it's pretty good, except that its far from seamless and the "hundreds of people involved in seiges" that we were promised, got squashed quite early on in the development process. The largest PVP battles possible right now are 48v48, which is a lot, but not "hundreds". The PVP is also a bit too restricted.

First the guilds need to choose the players from each team, that they wish to participate. Then they have to meet up at the defending guilds battlekeep. Once the PVP has started, noone except the people previously submitted, can enter the battlearea (The frequently used words "Seamless PVP" and "Realtime" don't quite fit the finished product).

The last big turnoff off this game has to be the constant instancing. For example, during the early betas, the first 20 minutes of the game (following the storyline) required you to zone over 10 times. This has now been slightly improved. However the trip from the starting-beach to the city of tortage, still takes you through 4 zones. This is something that has been written a lot about on the betaforums, with little or no interest shown by the developers, claiming the zoning is something they cannot address without changing the game engine itself. Lately though, after massive petitioning and flaming, I feel Funcom has started to listen to us, and they have tried improve the situation.

To conclude this then.

Pros:

- The game is very beautiful.
- Destiny quests are fun.
- Large variety of classes.
- Lots of early level content.
- It's not WoW!

Cons:

- While the game is beautiful, it will always run surprisingly slow.
- One word: Instances.
- Badly animated characters.
- A general "low budget" feel to the game. I cannot explain this one, it might be how Funcom place rocks & bushes on paths that you aren't supposed to cross. Which you eventually end up trying to cross anyway, just to see whats on the other side. This then leads to one getting stuck and having to call a GM to get loose.
- Lack of endgame content (this has supposedly been addressed somewhat lately).
- Grouping issues. I could write a whole essay on just the grouping bugs in this game, but lets just say that with the instancing and a lack of means to locate your partymembers, the whole groupingsystem is flawed.
- Crafting system. This has a classical afterthought feel to it.

All these cons (and a lot more) have led me to not recommend anyone to buy AoC. I have really TRIED to like this game, but I can't even force myself to betatest it. I've felt guilty for over a year because I've had closed beta access to such an anticipated game, and still lacking the will to even start it up.

Thank god its releasetime!

/J.

I agree with this entirely and fair assesment

Originally posted by svperstar

 

Originally posted by lamissfairy

Plenty of people have said the game runs smoothly for them with good FPS. (And not people with bionic computers, either)

 

 

I'm not saying there aren't people who are willing to accept their framerates. I'm saying the framerates are in general surprisingly low.

In honesty we weren't allowed to test the game on other computers than the ones we specified when applying for the beta. I did however try the game on a variety of different systems, and AoC somehow always manages to disappoint in the framerate apartment.

/J.

That's some serious lie right there. I upgraded and changed my computer from the time I applied to Beta till the point where I was actually in and nowhere did FunCom -EVER- say we are required to play the game ONLY on the computer we specified.

And it's not about accepting Framerates. You are apparently totally ignoring the people who are reporting steady 40FPS up to steady 75 and more.

So much for unbiased.

A good reviewer would never say 'I recommend you don't buy the game.' That should be left to the reader to decide. For example maybe some people don't mind instances. I also dissagree with parts of your review from my experience in the game. I would suggest anyone who is interested in the game read a few reviews and decide for yourself if its worth getting rather then from the advice from an amaturish review.

The only difference is that alot of people with sub $1000 computers have said they get anywhere from 30-60 FPS. Which surprises me. That's about the only thing, thanks for the review.