I've tried playing this game a dozen times so far. It was really a mediocre gaming experience for me at best, nothing grabbed me. It honestly feels only a couple notches better then your typical Free 2 play with a little extra polish.

But I have a feeling its going to do very well in the mainstream. Its like a watercolored interactive Anima cartoon, something thats very popular at the moment.

I guess I like my games with a little more grit.
 

In my opinion it would be a poor business decision for NCSOFT to make Aion very gritty seeing Lineage is NCSOFT's baby.  For example,  with Lineage II, the minute you step into the dark efl village it is not just grity, but the environment, ambience, and music are all sadistically wicked.

I think it's an entertaining game. Would be kinda funny if it fails in NA as it may just be the final message to MMO devs to just create for every market except NA since there's a larger audience and more chance of success everywhere else.

Nice game so far. Nothing revolutionary but since all the "new improved" games are failing, why not something that works? The majority of whining I see on the beta boards are from WoW players wanting it to be more like WoW. This is good news, long as NCSoft doesn't listen to them.
 

I really enjoyed playing this game (chinese version) for a while. It's essentially like WoW and every other game in the sense that you run around and collect stuff or kill X number of monsters for quests.

What I like is that the quests are far more immersive. Reading them feels almost like a short story that helps you forget that you're leveling.

Other than that, the game is beautiful. I find flying particularly fun. The feel and look of it just makes me happy.

In the Chinese servers, it seemed like the asmodeans needed more quests for leveling. I was actually able to skip quests on Elyos but not so for asmo.

Oh yes. Character creation? Huge amount of options = great. Trying to make a very ripped Elyos man and ending up with an overweight weird guy with an awkward run = bad.

The Asmodeans all come out ripped and the Elyos look more like pansies.

The General Tao Rating: 146/179 (Pretty Friggin OK)

I tried the beta this weekend and I thought it was mediocre.  I was ultra psyched about the game before I tried it.  I built it up way too much in my head.  The graphics are beautiful though, and the sound is absolutely the best.  The controls are ok. (response time to casting / moving) 

The few things I just plain out dont like about it are the slow movement.  Yes I understand you will probably...maybe have a mount later although I haven't seen or heard anything about that feature so I could be wrong.  Another thing that bothered me was the way the quests were set up.  I would run halfway accross the starter map and get a quest, then I could do the quest but the turn in was back at where I loaded into the game upon creating my character.  What is the point in having to run that far to turn in a quest?  I didn't get it and don't like it.  One thing that I didn't like very much was the fact that when I cast a spell and im already hitting the button to cast again it isn't registering that im hitting that button until the global cooldown is completely finished cooling down.  I like to know that when I press the button that it is registering as an attempt to press that button...yes just like in wow if you are a mage casting a fire ball and hitting any other spell it shows an attempt to cast the next spell while you are mid cast of another.  It's a small preference and definitely not a game breaker but I don't like that either.  

Another thing that I don't like is the fact that I have to start out as one of 4 basic classes and then at level 10 chose which class I want to be.  It makes leveling 1-10 extremely boring if you plan on leveling alts and such.  I don't understand why they couldn't have put in ~10 unique spells per class and just had you chose which class you wanted from the beginning instead of making everyone the same pretty much. 

I thought the game was decent and I had preordered the collectors edition.  I will be going to cancel that pre-order this week.  I guess i'll have to stick to EVE and SWG until the new SWTOR comes out or hell maybe even Champions.  

Originally posted by mantii

I tried the beta this weekend and I thought it was mediocre.  I was ultra psyched about the game before I tried it.  I built it up way too much in my head.  The graphics are beautiful though, and the sound is absolutely the best.  The controls are ok. (response time to casting / moving) 

The few things I just plain out dont like about it are the slow movement.  Yes I understand you will probably...maybe have a mount later although I haven't seen or heard anything about that feature so I could be wrong.  Another thing that bothered me was the way the quests were set up.  I would run halfway accross the starter map and get a quest, then I could do the quest but the turn in was back at where I loaded into the game upon creating my character.  What is the point in having to run that far to turn in a quest?  I didn't get it and don't like it.  One thing that I didn't like very much was the fact that when I cast a spell and im already hitting the button to cast again it isn't registering that im hitting that button until the global cooldown is completely finished cooling down.  I like to know that when I press the button that it is registering as an attempt to press that button...yes just like in wow if you are a mage casting a fire ball and hitting any other spell it shows an attempt to cast the next spell while you are mid cast of another.  It's a small preference and definitely not a game breaker but I don't like that either.  

Another thing that I don't like is the fact that I have to start out as one of 4 basic classes and then at level 10 chose which class I want to be.  It makes leveling 1-10 extremely boring if you plan on leveling alts and such.  I don't understand why they couldn't have put in ~10 unique spells per class and just had you chose which class you wanted from the beginning instead of making everyone the same pretty much. 

I thought the game was decent and I had preordered the collectors edition.  I will be going to cancel that pre-order this week.  I guess i'll have to stick to EVE and SWG until the new SWTOR comes out or hell maybe even Champions.  

You'll probably have the same experience with SWTOR or Champions becuase as you said you built it up in your mind.  No game will ever meet a person's imaginination.  Better off not following game development much, games are more enjoyable that way. 

Oh and BTW  not sure you can cancel pre-order if you have already played beta.  I know the gamestop pre-order specifically says you cannot cancel pre-order once using the beta code.

Oooh.  I did not know that.  I'll have to check into it.  Worse comes to worse I can probably get more than retail price for it on ebay since there are only 35,000 CE's being made for NA.

Oh and BTW not sure you can cancel pre-order if you have already played beta. I know the gamestop pre-order specifically says you cannot cancel pre-order once using the beta code.

I canceled my preorder just fine. If they try to charge me anyway, I'll just deny it.

Incidentally, you gave a good piece of advice. I wasnt following this game closely myself, yet still found it a disappointing experience.

I can honestly say that Runes of Magic offers better early gameplay than this game.

Originally posted by LogothX

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Oh and BTW not sure you can cancel pre-order if you have already played beta. I know the gamestop pre-order specifically says you cannot cancel pre-order once using the beta code.

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I canceled my preorder just fine. If they try to charge me anyway, I'll just deny it.

Incidentally, you gave a good piece of advice. I wasnt following this game closely myself, yet still found it a disappointing experience.

 

I can honestly say that Runes of Magic offers better early gameplay than this game.

I am very proud of you for using "than" correctly.  My eyes light on fire everytime I see "then" in its place.  I'm not sure about RoM.  It looked really goofy to me in the videos I watched.

Originally posted by mantii

I am very proud of you for using "than" correctly.  My eyes light on fire everytime I see "then" in its place.  I'm not sure about RoM.  It looked really goofy to me in the videos I watched.

I wouldn't exactly call RoM the best MMORPG around, its competent. Nothing more. The first 10 levels don't take 5 hours, and the chains actually make sense. The lore is pretty uninspired and the PVP at the moment favors cash shop and gibbing, so it's far from perfect; but I'd play that before I play Aion, a game that cant even get the newbie experience right.

Originally posted by LogothX

Originally posted by mantii

I am very proud of you for using "than" correctly.  My eyes light on fire everytime I see "then" in its place.  I'm not sure about RoM.  It looked really goofy to me in the videos I watched.

 

I wouldn't exactly call RoM the best MMORPG around, its competent. Nothing more. The first 10 levels don't take 5 hours, and the chains actually make sense. The lore is pretty uninspired and the PVP at the moment favors cash shop and gibbing, so it's far from perfect; but I'd play that before I play Aion, a game that cant even get the newbie experience right.

Yea because aion is designed around the 1-10 starting area you idiot!!! morons like you don't deserve to play a masterpiece like like Aion. Aion is best and most polished MMO ever be released and will put WAR's so called PvP to shame.

Originally posted by supbro

Originally posted by LogothX

Originally posted by mantii

I am very proud of you for using "than" correctly.  My eyes light on fire everytime I see "then" in its place.  I'm not sure about RoM.  It looked really goofy to me in the videos I watched.

 

I wouldn't exactly call RoM the best MMORPG around, its competent. Nothing more. The first 10 levels don't take 5 hours, and the chains actually make sense. The lore is pretty uninspired and the PVP at the moment favors cash shop and gibbing, so it's far from perfect; but I'd play that before I play Aion, a game that cant even get the newbie experience right.

 

Yea because aion is designed around the 1-10 starting area you idiot!!! morons like you don't deserve to play a masterpiece like like Aion. Aion is best and most polished MMO ever be released and will put WAR's so called PvP to shame.

Did someone's opinion on the first 10 levels of a video game offend you?  It sure seems like it did.  Maybe we should check you into a hospital or psych ward.

I think it is very polished, fun, and has an awesome soundtrack.  I find myself extremely immersed in the world, and while the quests are pretty standard fare, I find myself reading them and generally connecting with the world and story (have not been talking to as many NPC's as I did during Elyos preview event, though).  The biggest thing for me is that I am attached to my toon, and I am losing track of time.  Granted, I am not some jaded burnt out WoW elite gamer who has played every MMO under the sun.  Still, I find Aion to be a good game that will only get better with time.  It does not reinvent the wheel, but I can tell that I will enjoy exploring it and its world.  The only thing left is to find a pleasant group of players to team with.  From how much fun it appears people in game were having, I think there will be a lot of people to join up with.

Unfortunately, as fun as it is... as much as I enjoy it, I'm still able to walk away from Aion (surprisingly).  Yes, it's a great game, but there is only one thing that trumps my addiction to games and that is my addiction to politics.  Though I have wanted to play *MUCH* more than I have, I've spent a lot of this weekend on twitter and watching the horribly repettive news coverage of the Iranian election.  I know that's unrelated, but for those who care, Aion won't hook you enough to make you forget about the outside world (well, at least not completely).  It almost has that ability, though... I find it easy to play for several hours straight and not think about what could be happening at this very moment, but then I have to take a break and I wind up losing myself to twitter for a few hours.

Still, I think the rational and reasonable here will enjoy Aion.  I realize a few rational and reasonable gamers here are very hardcore and they have grounds to object to Aion.  But, fwiw, I find the game fun and I feel like the world exists and that my character is a part of it.  I agree with some complaints that the starter zones for each race = similar, but I can live with that.  I find the game fun and it feels like that feeling will last for a long time.  One can never be sure, but I think a lot of people are going to find a new home for at least until TOR and FFXIV are released.

Okay, back to twitter.  Then going to play some more Aion after that. ^_^

Seemingly they are not going to use teh eastern payperhour system but  rather "Monthly fee required to play: £8.99* / EUR 12,99* "

It's a solid game from what I experienced, but if you're bored with the "same old same old" in MMO's, you probably won't be impressed unless you really like the Korean style artwork. It's not a bad game, but it brings nothing new to the table. This is fine with some folks, but it's not going to be fine for others. I've a friend who is ga-ga over it and I can understand why she likes it, but to me it feels very much like I'm playing EQ2, LOTRO and WoW with different styled graphics.  I'm just really bored of that "style" of MMO, no matter how polished.

Personally I'll just wait for something a bit more innovative and creative myself, unless I get so mind numbingly bored I cave and buy it, but I just don't feel all that interested or excited about it when I have 4 other MMO's sitting on my shelf that offer the same exact thing.

At least in a game like WAR, you had a number or ways or playing/leveling.  You could pvp from the start and lvl from it, which was really fun.  Public quests were something really interesting too for awhile.  Both of those were new, but Aion has nothing new in terms of leveling.  So early game is pretty standard and boring frankly.  Not saying WAR was perfect or that I liked it, but it was fun early on I think most people would say.   I think Aion will be more fun endgame than early, it'd have to be, but it's too bad they can't include more ways to level up.

How does straight grinding without questing compare to questing in terms of lvling speed?   Seem like grinding did fairly well.  A mob if I remember right, would give like 200 exp, and I finished a quest and it gave me 1200ish, which seems like grinding is doable for leveling.

i can't beleive someone would pick RoM over this game....RoM is the closest thing to a WoW clone then i have ever seen, it's like WoW for cheap people that do not want the monthly fee....

you guys are crazy

Originally posted by ghaleonx128

At least in a game like WAR, you had a number or ways or playing/leveling.  You could pvp from the start and lvl from it, which was really fun.  Public quests were something really interesting too for awhile.  Both of those were new, but Aion has nothing new in terms of leveling.  So early game is pretty standard and boring frankly.  Not saying WAR was perfect or that I liked it, but it was fun early on I think most people would say.   I think Aion will be more fun endgame than early, it'd have to be, but it's too bad they can't include more ways to level up.

 

How does straight grinding without questing compare to questing in terms of lvling speed?   Seem like grinding did fairly well.  A mob if I remember right, would give like 200 exp, and I finished a quest and it gave me 1200ish, which seems like grinding is doable for leveling.

I agree with you.

Warhammer is AWESOME the first 20 levels. However it is boring crap at later levels, and pretty pointless in endgame. After realizing this I just started making alts, PvPing in scenarios to level them ;p Epic low level game ;)

Aion takes a bit more devotion to your character. It's not as funny early on as it gets in the later levels. I haven't experienced endgame yet but lets hope it's good enough to hold ones attention. Hopefully it's not as pointless as in WAR, who knows...

As for Grinding vs Questing. I have tested this up to level 20. It is most definitely faster to do quests. I Grinded on a Gladiator and Quested on a Cleric. You can ofc Grind too if you want to, it was not that much slower.

Originally posted by ghaleonx128

At least in a game like WAR, you had a number or ways or playing/leveling.  You could pvp from the start and lvl from it, which was really fun.  Public quests were something really interesting too for awhile.  Both of those were new, but Aion has nothing new in terms of leveling.  So early game is pretty standard and boring frankly.  Not saying WAR was perfect or that I liked it, but it was fun early on I think most people would say.   I think Aion will be more fun endgame than early, it'd have to be, but it's too bad they can't include more ways to level up.

 

How does straight grinding without questing compare to questing in terms of lvling speed?   Seem like grinding did fairly well.  A mob if I remember right, would give like 200 exp, and I finished a quest and it gave me 1200ish, which seems like grinding is doable for leveling.

You can level through PvP in Aion as of patch 1.1.