First off, i want to get off my chest that im not here to flame or bash a game, im giving a down to earth equal oppurtunity review here, so here we go:

Aion in general is really just a korean mmo (albeit smaller than some grinders) mixed with some western things to sell on the NA market. It has some good points about it and it has some bad points about it.Lets start with the good shall we?

The Good:

The Graphics

All in all the graphics in Aion were probably the second best thing that's in the game, it looks really nice and its easy to get immersed in the beautiful surroundings. Animations are smooth and all the characters look really nice. All in all the graphics were superb.

Combat

The combat in this game is actually relatively good, with moves for different situations, chains, etc. Probably one of the most interactive combat systems ive played with fingers flying to hit the right buttons for the right situations. Lets move on.

Gliding

This is probably one of the most awesome features in this game. jump off something high, hit space bar... yeah... it was nice to hear the sound of wind whooshing past your head... and mastering it was not that hard, who needs a mount anyway? But unfortunately actual flying lacked.. but more on that later.

Character Creation Customization

Seriously, this game has got to be the best in character creation customization department. I literally could make any character from any game i wanted given that it was human or looked human. I made a Lilty (from final fantasy cc) looking characters.. and it was awesome. I think this is one plus everyone could agree on to some extent.

PvP

Personally i would perfer the pvp to be a bit more open in some areas... but all in all it wasnt bad, it was more good than anything. So thats a plus. Lets be real here... the game was meant for pvp. Thats the point, even if it has pve things.

The Bad:

Grind

You can argue untill your blue in the face, but the grind is there... but its not the actual grind that kills me, its knowing its there without actual content to keep me immersed to forget about it. Crafting, quests, grinding for money becuase theres not many other ways to grind it without leveling more. So really the grind is so obvious in some parts of the game it kinda ruins the experience among all the pretty graphics and nice combat systems. Which brings me to..

Quests

How many kill x of y quests can you slap on a game with boring text untill someone crys? I dunno... but aion seems to try to do so... with the occasional "go click on this" for me quest... its not enough for the blandness of quests to shine through. Dont get me started on the gathering quests... forcing people to gather (aka not thier playstyle) is a no no in my book.

Flying

For a game that touts flying and arial combat as a feature they sure as hell dont tell you on the box that its limited... i mean wtf.. when i hit 10 i was sad to see that i hit the ground after only 1 min. Wtf? And this 1 min limit continued untill higher levs, which still wasnt much of an upgrade. So yeah... flying in aion? Not as free as it should be for a game that touts it as its feature. Not to mention it makes aeither grinding much more time consuming to level up. OH and lets not forget some areas dont even allow you to fly.... yeah... gg aion

Crafting rewards

Anyone that has crafted weapon smith or armor smith in your guild has probably cried out the same thing I'm about to post: "WTF A NAIL FOR A REWARD?!" not much of a reward considering many recipes require more than one. Sure the green design is nice after going through 30 levels of that crap, but its really too random for my takes, id rather they give us designs or money randomly.. not a damn nail...

Linear Areas

Some may argue about this, but in all reality if i cant climb a mountain or land on top of one via flying... then its just another linear "lead me here.. take me there" game. Some areas you cant even access until you complete certain quests. And that in my books is a big immersion killed among us explorers.

The Ugly:

The Gold Farmers

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that gold farmers are killers of a games economy. They flood the AH with items, undercut, overcharge, they generally control the AH unless your lucky enough to see that good deal and buy it just in time before they do and put it up for a higher price.

The spam is rediculous... today i actually had to remove some of the older names off my block list just to block new ones.. it was full! This has gotten out of hand.

Bots

I see a few on every channel.. every time... they have a hold on this game. Its sad.

Aion GMs

Yes i went there... their acceptance to simply delete the characters of the gold farmers instead of banning accounts tells me that they are NOT thinking about this seriously enough. Because lets be honest here.. if they were banning accounts the farmers would have to buy more games... and that would just curb their business...

Conclusion:

While Aion has alot of potential I have to say that simply having it is not enough.... they need to "fly" with it so to speak... and up the flight times... improve quests... add more content to mask the grind etc... oh and for the love of pete get rid of these gold spammers... your clearly not doing enough... tells... mails... spam in gen chat... yeah...

Aion was good for a time... but now its time to move on and hope some gaming company out there gets it right sooner or later...

Just my two copper. *tips hat*
 

This game is simply not the messiah of the mmo industry most people thought it to be. It has some decent features, but it is no different than AoC, Warhammer, or any number of games that have been released in the last 2-3 years. Yes the game is gorgeous, but so was AoC and what did that get us?

People should take Aion at face value for what it is, a decent game but like many others average.

soon EVE will get you all

Originally posted by bambook

soon EVE will get you all

Played EvE and found out it wasn't twitch based...done and done.

Originally posted by bambook

soon EVE will get you all

A cure for insomnia?

 if you dont like mmo just say you dont like mmo anymore instead of trying to pull us all in your melodrama boat about grind grind grind lol

its an mmo,MMO your supposed to play years in an mmo and  your trying very hard to play it all in days lol

it makes me lol when player dont understand your suppoosed to play a long time in the game 

grind isnt worst or better then vanilla wow its the same .the only thing bashing this game do is send gamer to the tv screen because theres nothing else ,NOTHING ELSE

wow will be good at cataclysm and most skip wow so they can come back next year and enjoy it instead of feeling burned out

its like theres a conspiracy trying to make sure all mmo fail gees

its the title you see now or tv screen !!

Originally posted by Zarynterk

This game is simply not the messiah of the mmo industry most people thought it to be. It has some decent features, but it is no different than AoC, Warhammer, or any number of games that have been released in the last 2-3 years. Yes the game is gorgeous, but so was AoC and what did that get us?

People should take Aion at face value for what it is, a decent game but like many others average.

Exactly. And to be honest its kind of sad. I wanted a friend to play Aion so i could forget about some of the bad stuff in it but she said "No, i heard the flying is limited in timer and areas, that kills it for me"

So yeah lol... face value indeed.

Originally posted by drbaltazar

 if you dont like mmo just say you dont like mmo anymore instead of trying to pull us all in your melodrama boat about grind grind grind lol

its an mmo,MMO your supposed to play years in an mmo and  your trying very hard to play it all in days lol

it makes me lol when player dont understand your suppoosed to play a long time in the game 

grind isnt worst or better then vanilla wow its the same .the only thing bashing this game do is send gamer to the tv screen because theres nothing else ,NOTHING ELSE

wow will be good at cataclysm and most skip wow so they can come back next year and enjoy it instead of feeling burned out

its like theres a conspiracy trying to make sure all mmo fail gees

its the title you see now or tv screen !!

You clearly didnt read it all, thus have to be trolling. *puts out a "don't feed the troll" sign*

The grind can be a problem for some people, I don't really mind it. However, I will say the number one problem in my opinion are the bots. Bots and gold sellers need to be NCSoft's priority in this game if they want it to really succeed in western markets.

Originally posted by ArcheusCross

Originally posted by drbaltazar

 if you dont like mmo just say you dont like mmo anymore instead of trying to pull us all in your melodrama boat about grind grind grind lol

its an mmo,MMO your supposed to play years in an mmo and  your trying very hard to play it all in days lol

it makes me lol when player dont understand your suppoosed to play a long time in the game 

grind isnt worst or better then vanilla wow its the same .the only thing bashing this game do is send gamer to the tv screen because theres nothing else ,NOTHING ELSE

wow will be good at cataclysm and most skip wow so they can come back next year and enjoy it instead of feeling burned out

its like theres a conspiracy trying to make sure all mmo fail gees

its the title you see now or tv screen !!

 

You clearly didnt read it all, thus have to be trolling. *puts out a "don't feed the troll" sign*

i read and its mostly bashing post you put here ,you could have just added you post to the 20 k other post that try very hard to say all game suck .

you love wow go play wow lol and thats it.

Originally posted by arenasb

The grind can be a problem for some people, I don't really mind it. However, I will say the number one problem in my opinion are the bots. Bots and gold sellers need to be NCSoft's priority in this game if they want it to really succeed in western markets.

ya bot are a knightmare ,but then ncsoft is fighting ige or whatever the owner of zam.com is !and that a big gold monster to fight

Originally posted by drbaltazar

Originally posted by ArcheusCross

Originally posted by drbaltazar

 if you dont like mmo just say you dont like mmo anymore instead of trying to pull us all in your melodrama boat about grind grind grind lol

its an mmo,MMO your supposed to play years in an mmo and  your trying very hard to play it all in days lol

it makes me lol when player dont understand your suppoosed to play a long time in the game 

grind isnt worst or better then vanilla wow its the same .the only thing bashing this game do is send gamer to the tv screen because theres nothing else ,NOTHING ELSE

wow will be good at cataclysm and most skip wow so they can come back next year and enjoy it instead of feeling burned out

its like theres a conspiracy trying to make sure all mmo fail gees

its the title you see now or tv screen !!

 

You clearly didnt read it all, thus have to be trolling. *puts out a "don't feed the troll" sign*

i read and its mostly bashing post you put here ,you could have just added you post to the 20 k other post that try very hard to say all game suck .

you love wow go play wow lol and thats it.

Not everyone who finds fault with Aion is a WOW fanboy. I saw the same thing as the OP, except the PVP, from closed beta and I chose not to buy Aion and am by no means a WOW fan. Wonder when "go back to Aion" will be obligatory as a response to someone finding fault with some other game? Never.

Originally posted by drbaltazar

Originally posted by arenasb

The grind can be a problem for some people, I don't really mind it. However, I will say the number one problem in my opinion are the bots. Bots and gold sellers need to be NCSoft's priority in this game if they want it to really succeed in western markets.

ya bot are a knightmare ,but then ncsoft is fighting ige or whatever the owner of zam.com is !and that a big gold monster to fight

Are they really fighting it enough though? Are they banning accounts? One would think if the "monsters" lose money by having to buy new games becuase their accounts get banned, then this problem would be solved... it was for the most part in ffxi... why not here?

Oh! that's right.. isn't NCsoft Korean based? Ill have to go check...

Silly me.. ^^

/sarcasm

Didn't Turbine do a blanket ban on Asian IP's in Lotro? Perhaps NCSoft needs to do that in NA and Europe.

Originally posted by Zarynterk

This game is simply not the messiah of the mmo industry most people thought it to be. It has some decent features, but it is no different than AoC, Warhammer, or any number of games that have been released in the last 2-3 years. Yes the game is gorgeous, but so was AoC and what did that get us?

People should take Aion at face value for what it is, a decent game but like many others average.

There are other games around the corner...well next year or two. Worth checking out where console mmorpg goes in the next year or so too. 

Originally posted by drbaltazar

if you dont like mmo just say you dont like mmo anymore instead of trying to pull us all in your melodrama boat about grind grind grind lol

its an mmo,MMO your supposed to play years in an mmo and your trying very hard to play it all in days lol

it makes me lol when player dont understand your suppoosed to play a long time in the game

grind isnt worst or better then vanilla wow its the same .the only thing bashing this game do is send gamer to the tv screen because theres nothing else ,NOTHING ELSE

wow will be good at cataclysm and most skip wow so they can come back next year and enjoy it instead of feeling burned out

its like theres a conspiracy trying to make sure all mmo fail gees

its the title you see now or tv screen !!

 

Wtf are you even talking about, did you read his post or are you just rambling some random thread? lol

Originally posted by drbaltazar

 if you dont like mmo just say you dont like mmo anymore instead of trying to pull us all in your melodrama boat about grind grind grind lol

its an mmo,MMO your supposed to play years in an mmo and  your trying very hard to play it all in days lol

it makes me lol when player dont understand your suppoosed to play a long time in the game 

grind isnt worst or better then vanilla wow its the same .the only thing bashing this game do is send gamer to the tv screen because theres nothing else ,NOTHING ELSE

wow will be good at cataclysm and most skip wow so they can come back next year and enjoy it instead of feeling burned out

its like theres a conspiracy trying to make sure all mmo fail gees

its the title you see now or tv screen !!

You know, if you'd listen to what people are saying about Aion and what is wrong with it, you'd quit with comparing it to WoW with every breath.   One of the biggest problems with Aion is it is a grind.   Say what you will but it is a grind considering that the quest are the same ad nauseum(kill me x number of these and kill me x number of those type)and then some and if you don't quest and just flat out grind mobs(that is just sic) Aion's grind is a serious grind compared to say "other games".   Add to that the TTK of most mobs and it makes it that much more of a grind.   
 

Nobody wishes Aion to fail.   I hope it doesn't.   I just wish NCSoft to make it better.   Put it other types of quest other than just slay x number of these(how about "OMG, this village is under attack, go help defend it!"   When you've helped deffend it from raiders or whatever then you go turn it in.  Oh wait....the TTK would not allow that on the mobs in Aion.    LOL!   I forgot.  

See my point.

NCSoft has a lot to do to fix Aion - a lot.   They say they westernized it.  No they didn't.  They just coated with frosting and hid the Asian game-play aspects with that coating - but it is still there.

Fairly nice review I'd say. Just a few things I don't agree with but well-rounded nevertheless. Basically, Aion is more of the same as far as MMOs go. Not much new or different at all really. This isn't good or bad but I found it's not for me, mostly thanks to how linear it is. I think Aion showed me that I'm finally sick and bored with high fantasy themepark MMOs.

Thanks NCSoft.

Originally posted by Teala

Originally posted by drbaltazar

 if you dont like mmo just say you dont like mmo anymore instead of trying to pull us all in your melodrama boat about grind grind grind lol

its an mmo,MMO your supposed to play years in an mmo and  your trying very hard to play it all in days lol

it makes me lol when player dont understand your suppoosed to play a long time in the game 

grind isnt worst or better then vanilla wow its the same .the only thing bashing this game do is send gamer to the tv screen because theres nothing else ,NOTHING ELSE

wow will be good at cataclysm and most skip wow so they can come back next year and enjoy it instead of feeling burned out

its like theres a conspiracy trying to make sure all mmo fail gees

its the title you see now or tv screen !!

You know, if you'd listen to what people are saying about Aion and what is wrong with it, you'd quit with comparing it to WoW with every breath.   The problem with Aion is it is a grind.   Say what you will but it is a grind considering that the quest are the same ad nauseum(kill me x number of these and kill me x number of those type)and then some and if you don't quest and just flat out grind mobs(that is just sic) Aion's grind is a serious grind compared to say "other games".   Add to that the TTK of most mobs and it makes it that much more of a grind.   
 

Nobody wishes Aion to fail.   I hope it doesn't.   I just wish NCSoft to make it better.   Put it other types of quest other than just slay x number of these(how about "OMG, this village is under attack, go help defend it!"   When you've helped deffend it from raiders or whatever then you go turn it in.  Oh wait....the TTK would not allow that on the mobs in Aion.    LOL!   I forgot.  

See my point.

NCSoft has a lot to do to fix Aion - a lot.   They say they westernized it.  No they didn't.  They just coated with frosting and hid the Asian game-play aspects with that coating - but it is still there.

Exactly. I don't wish for this game to fail. But.. *shrug* I can't help it if it has issues.

And i agree.. it basically went from.. defend my village from krall to defend my village from monkey quests and so forth and so on...

Don't get be started on that "feeding a goat via things you are forced to gather" quest.

Different strokes for different folks :-)

Personally I'm loving Aion. Having a blast! I've played most of the big MMOs out right now and I'll take Aion over any of them in a heart beat. My two coppers...