Ok, here is my new ongoing review on Aion, having been a little delayed due to rerolling on Kahrun to avoid the queues (which has been a great move btw... brilliant server in general).

To start this is, let me say once again that my background is very much classic EQ onwards. I personally enjoy well built challenging traditional MMORPGs with a strong co-op group play element, believing that community only can come from strong group based game design and that community is what makes these games special. Yes, soloing should be there, but for me I look for interdependent play as the games focus. Community is created through game design.

I am not personally overly interested in casual or ez mode games. I like risk vs reward based play and death penalties. I like bosses that drop random loots and I like a certain level of grind as my group hunts these bosses for that loot.

I also, ideally, like my MMOs to have more open sandbox elements then Aion offers, but I get that isnt what Aion is designed to be about so I won't hold it to account for being a themepark quester, though as I have found out the game gets less and less linear as you level.

Though I like Aion a lot, I wouldnt class myself as a 'fanboi' (as much as I hate the lazy over use of that term), and I am not blind to it's flaws. Saying this, I refuse to hate a game for not being what it isnt trying to be, nor hate a game because it dosent happen to fulfill my personal demands.

I will judge Aion on what it is, not hate it for what it isnt. I get that not everyone likes it, and nor should they. The fact that they don't dosent threaten me or offend me. I am playing no other MMORPG right now, and have no agenda in promoting one or putting down another, even Aion.

OK, that said, heres what i think of my first 30 levels. I play as Elyos on the EU Kahrun server;

OVERVIEW

I have had fun and I am enjoying it. Aion is exactly what I am looking for in an MMO, having the right mix of PvE, PvP, crafting, grouping, and soloing. It just gets it right for my tastes

Aion, IMO, is, so far, a traditional (in the best sense of the word) MMORPG. If you don't want that, don't bother trying it.

It isnt revolutionary in it's quest systems, they are the same that I have been seeing for a long time in these games, and it dosent set the world alight with it's NPC dialogue, but there is definitly something in it that has captured me and the quest cut secenes are a nice touch for flavour.

Actually, at this time, I think it's the 'flavour' and atmosphere that has drawn me in to this game... It's just soaked in it. As linear as levels 1-20 are in Aion, it's really not a journey I minded being taken along on... and it does tend to open up after that through quests and mobs being spread over multiple zones, rifting, and the abyss (at 25). The campaign quests are spinning a decent tale out that is leading me through this story and I am having fun. Whether I would want to play through it (on the Elyos side) more then twice I don't know... i could see myself being very bored the third time until new content goes in. For sure, I can to go to another server to try the Asmodian side of things, but I don't really want to.... I personally get attached to the server I am on. We will see.

PERFORMANCE

Aion, on the whole, has performed stunningly. From the second I logged in amongst a stack of people on the first day of headstart it has run smoothly for me and the general implementation has been great.

ART & MUSIC

Both are simply beautiful.

The game world has a magical and otherworldy feel to it that 99% of the MMOs I have played havent managed to capture and the art direction is often stunning. The environments are imaginative and inspired, with more then a few 'wow' moments where you feel like a rubber necked tourist as you take yet another screen shot.

Full marks here then, with special credit to the avatars which are very well realised and really come to life through their emotes and idle animations.

The only downside are the fugly speech bubbles that are everywhere from all the private player shops that are EVERYWHERE. It can be dissapointing... sometimes it feels like have climbed Everest only to find a Tescos at the top... This needs fixing imo.

CHALLENGE & CO-OP PLAY

Pretty much from 1-18ish, and a lot after, of Aion can be soloed. This dosent mean it's ez mode, and the death penalties can be harsh as you rise in levels (a good thing imo).

Of course, this means it IS pretty much soloed (people being what they are) and are used by most as an extended tutorial where players learn what their class is actually about and their place in the world. Despite this, it is still challanging, and the death penalty gets more harsh with every level, though the game has many player tools (quest tracker, location giver etc) that take the edge off things if one bothers to learn how to use them.

After 20 the game really opened up for me... This is not saying it started being 'fun', I was having fun anyhow, but it changes... It gets less linear and PvP pokes it's head in. You suddenly get the chance to go to the enemies lands to quest or PK, which is just awesome fun. At 25, it changes again as you head into the Abyss (which is a genuinlly epic feeling the first time you do it) and becomes even more open as it offers you a vast arena zones that encompass varied stunning environments for questing, grinding, and ofc, PvP.

At 33 I am not bored in Aion. There is just so much to do, and I feel that if someone IS bored they prolly are actually bored with MMORPGs in general. I don't get why some people play a MMORPG, rather then a MMOFPS or whatever, and then hate on it for being just that.

You don't order beef in a restaurant and then complain that it tastes like beef.

As I level am very glad to see the solo content interspersed with (largely optional) group content. Aion has struck a great balance on this. I get that this wont be the view of the 100% solo crowd and understand that they will hate this game for it, but it is to me and it should be to anyone willing to build in game relationships and find their place in a server community.

The game itself isnt massively hard... but nor is it easy mode. It hits it right on the majority of the time I think, with some areas being particularly unforgiving and the death penalty adding a sting to failiure.

Overall, a really nice balance of tension vs chill.

COMMUNITY

General chat, so far, has been ok, with a lot of good people being really helpful and friendly, though the racists and bigots out there are doing their best to ruin this and there are obvious trolls. They arnt hard to ignore though. On a 1:1 basis I am incredibly impressed with the people I meet, and I am even liking the asmos I talk to via forums, which is great. It's a good thing to have opponents that you can have a friendly competition with and makes a huge difference from games like Darkfall.

I won't let the LFG channel drama trolls ruin my game, or my judgement of the community at large when they are so easy to block. It is also still very early days. We will see.

GRIND

Has it got grind? The short answer is yes, yes it has. Is it a problem amount of grind, meaning have I been bored with it? No, no it hasnt.

I might enjoy grinding more then the next guy, I enjoy hanging out with my guild and farming areas for loot, XP, and quest objectives, but to me it's been fine.

The fact that the classes are so fun to fight with has a lot to do with this.

CRAFTING

Crafting is a weird one tbh.

The grinding or work orders isnt all that interesting or fun, I usually watch a movie while I do it, but the making of the items themselves once you reach level is great, so it's a double edged sword.

If you don't like the grind of work orders though, spend the time earning kinah and buy the goods off people that do. it's easy enough, and noone in this game is forced to do any gathering/ crafting they don't want to. Even the gather quests can be completed by simply buying the mats required.

All the crafts have value though and all are worth doing in terms of game benefit, which is something I love to see.

GOLD SPAMMING

This needs fixing imo.

My problem isnt with the moving text of gold sellers, I couldnt care less about that and can block them all when I log in with a couple of clicks nps. My problem is with bots and the blatant existance of RMT in the game.

If anything will make me walk away from Aion it will be NCS doing nothing to control the botting and attempting to protect the games economy by the artificially created kinah that creates obscene inflation to price items beyond the reach of the honest player. They have stated that they are on this though and so I am willing to give them a little time.

Something extreme needs to happen soon though. NCSoft need to take more action now in order to stop this ruining the chances of a great game in a very hostile market. At this time they are just giving the drama trolls and shills ammunition to ruin Aions rep by focusing on the bad and they need to stop that.

OVERALL

My overall opinion of Aion, based on lvls 1-30, is that it's a great great game thats experienced some server/ handling issues caused by NCSoft at the very beginning, most of which have been dealt with now. None of the problems I have are with Aion itself.

I am having a ton of fun both duoing it with the GF and grouping with the guild and others, and PvP is simply the best I have played in any MMORPG. It is skillful and meaningful.

To put it bluntly, I am loving the game, with all it's inspired attention to detail, and enjoying my time spent in it.

If you like story driven/ quest based traditonal co-op play MMORPGs that expect you to learn as you go then this game is a natural choice for you. Probably the best one you could make at this time. If you don't, not so much.

To put it short, Aion has that certain something that LotR (in terms of PvE), WAR, and AoC just didnt capture... It has, I guess, a 'soul' and I love it for that.

I can see myself with this game for the long haul, especially if NCSoft give it the love it deserves and carry on adding content like they have up until now.

9/10

Great Review !

Agree with everything. They need to sort out the gold spam and bots though ... this is getting a bit too annoying.

I agree with the above posters. Crafting is just weird. Nothing special about it and it takes longer to make something than to buy the same thing in the auction hourse. I should think with crafting, something special should be able to be made without the ability to sell it. You could trade it or mail it to another player, just not sell it.

The gold spammers HAVE to go!! Every day logging on, there is a whole new number of names you have to block in order to have any sort of communication. Making money in Aion is so easy, I don't even see why someone would want to use a gold spammer. NcSoft, PLEASE GIT RID OF THE GOLD SPAMMERS!!!

Pretty much agree with everything you said, especially with the crafting.  I really wish you could select how many work orders you could pick up rather than having to tab in and our to hand them in and pick up a new one.  Yea that might be making leveling crafting essencially botting, but when you are doing work orders you arent really playing anyway.  Just my personal view. 

Gold spammers?  i usually just block the 2 or 3 spamming the general channels and im set for the 1-2 hours i usually play a night. 

Im having fun with Aion, definately dont regret the purchase. 

Yea it's been a while since the MMORPG genre has gotten a game that requires you to earn your progression. Some people may think that this makes it a "Job" and that's fine, there are plenty of other games for them out there, WoW, LOTRO, AoC, all of these games have pretty much eliminated any sort of dedication required to progress.

Some of us, however, like to earn things. It doesn't mean we are crazy masochists, but some of us go through life trying to do the best that we can at what we do and that includes our gaming.

There is a theory of cognitive dissonance that deals with personal and implied justifications. Often times we tend to like things more that we work harder for, and by often I mean there are many studies and experiments about exactly this topic. If you take a year to level, you will have a much higher regard for your max level character and the experience that brought you through to that max level character. Ever wonder why EQ / DAOC folks are so nostalgic about their games? Because they didn't play for 2 days and finish the entire game. It took effort, it was difficult, but they did it anyways.

Now some people may say that justification doesnt make the game better, it just makes it seem better. But isn't perception all we really have? Does it matter if you "Feel" that you like a game or actually do like a game? Because to me those are exactly the same thing when using this context.

So forgive us MMORPGers who like Aion style gaming, where we have to work for things, and get a sense of justification out of it. Is it anywhere near the amount of effort that went into EQ / DAOC or the likes? Not even close, but it's the closest we've had in a long while and it's the best we'll have until another game developer dares to think outside the WoW-shaped box.

Originally posted by Jimmydean

Yea it's been a while since the MMORPG genre has gotten a game that requires you to earn your progression. Some people may think that this makes it a "Job" and that's fine, there are plenty of other games for them out there, WoW, LOTRO, AoC, all of these games have pretty much eliminated any sort of dedication required to progress.

Some of us, however, like to earn things. It doesn't mean we are crazy masochists, but some of us go through life trying to do the best that we can at what we do and that includes our gaming.

There is a theory of cognitive dissonance that deals with personal and implied justifications. Often times we tend to like things more that we work harder for, and by often I mean there are many studies and experiments about exactly this topic. If you take a year to level, you will have a much higher regard for your max level character and the experience that brought you through to that max level character. Ever wonder why EQ / DAOC folks are so nostalgic about their games? Because they didn't play for 2 days and finish the entire game. It took effort, it was difficult, but they did it anyways.

Now some people may say that justification doesnt make the game better, it just makes it seem better. But isn't perception all we really have? Does it matter if you "Feel" that you like a game or actually do like a game? Because to me those are exactly the same thing when using this context.

So forgive us MMORPGers who like Aion style gaming, where we have to work for things, and get a sense of justification out of it. Is it anywhere near the amount of effort that went into EQ / DAOC or the likes? Not even close, but it's the closest we've had in a long while and it's the best we'll have until another game developer dares to think outside the WoW-shaped box.

Jimmy, your a ray of sunshine on a very cloudy day.

Thanks for the post :)

Even with the botting and the rampant gold spamming, you give the game a 9/10?  For those reasons alone, the game should not go higher than a 7.  Those are 2 HUGE reasons why people would leave a game. 

 finally an honest review .not too biased negativly not too niased positivly 

GREAT REVIEW!

ps : i agree with previous poster 9/10 is a bit high 

but review is great

Originally posted by junzo316

Even with the botting and the rampant gold spamming, you give the game a 9/10?  For those reasons alone, the game should not go higher than a 7.  Those are 2 HUGE reasons why people would leave a game. 

Those issues are not game issues, and I was reviewing the game and I marked the game. My 9/10 stills stands for Aion as a game.

I fully recognised the gold seller issue though, and i also said I was willing to give NCS some time to nail it in an extreme way. If they don't then that would be a massive issue for me and I would probably walk away myself. I don't defend the situation at all, nor do I ignore it.

I would walk away sadly though, because Aion itself is a great game and imo probably the nest MMORPG since the heyday of vanilla WoW.

Originally posted by vesavius

Originally posted by junzo316

Even with the botting and the rampant gold spamming, you give the game a 9/10?  For those reasons alone, the game should not go higher than a 7.  Those are 2 HUGE reasons why people would leave a game. 

 

Those issues are not game issues, and I was reviewing the game and I marked the game. My 9/10 stills stands for Aion as a game.

I fully recognised the gold seller issue though, and i also said I was willing to give NCS some time to nail it in an extreme way. If they don't then that would be a massive issue for me and I would probably walk away myself. I don't defend the situation at all, nor do I ignore it.

I would walk away sadly though, because Aion itself is a great game and imo probably the nest MMORPG since the heyday of vanilla WoW.

I would have to disagree.  To me, those are most definitely gaming issues.  If they impair my ability to play, then it is a game issue.  Just as the community can be considered part of the game.  Again, just my 2 cents....

Originally posted by Jimmydean

Yea it's been a while since the MMORPG genre has gotten a game that requires you to earn your progression. Some people may think that this makes it a "Job" and that's fine, there are plenty of other games for them out there, WoW, LOTRO, AoC, all of these games have pretty much eliminated any sort of dedication required to progress.

Some of us, however, like to earn things. It doesn't mean we are crazy masochists, but some of us go through life trying to do the best that we can at what we do and that includes our gaming.

There is a theory of cognitive dissonance that deals with personal and implied justifications. Often times we tend to like things more that we work harder for, and by often I mean there are many studies and experiments about exactly this topic. If you take a year to level, you will have a much higher regard for your max level character and the experience that brought you through to that max level character. Ever wonder why EQ / DAOC folks are so nostalgic about their games? Because they didn't play for 2 days and finish the entire game. It took effort, it was difficult, but they did it anyways.

Now some people may say that justification doesnt make the game better, it just makes it seem better. But isn't perception all we really have? Does it matter if you "Feel" that you like a game or actually do like a game? Because to me those are exactly the same thing when using this context.

So forgive us MMORPGers who like Aion style gaming, where we have to work for things, and get a sense of justification out of it. Is it anywhere near the amount of effort that went into EQ / DAOC or the likes? Not even close, but it's the closest we've had in a long while and it's the best we'll have until another game developer dares to think outside the WoW-shaped box.

Well said indeed, I couldn't agree more.

Originally posted by junzo316

Originally posted by vesavius

Originally posted by junzo316

Even with the botting and the rampant gold spamming, you give the game a 9/10?  For those reasons alone, the game should not go higher than a 7.  Those are 2 HUGE reasons why people would leave a game. 

 

Those issues are not game issues, and I was reviewing the game and I marked the game. My 9/10 stills stands for Aion as a game.

I fully recognised the gold seller issue though, and i also said I was willing to give NCS some time to nail it in an extreme way. If they don't then that would be a massive issue for me and I would probably walk away myself. I don't defend the situation at all, nor do I ignore it.

I would walk away sadly though, because Aion itself is a great game and imo probably the nest MMORPG since the heyday of vanilla WoW.

I would have to disagree.  To me, those are most definitely gaming issues.  If they impair my ability to play, then it is a game issue.  Just as the community can be considered part of the game.  Again, just my 2 cents....

I have agreed with you that gold selling is bad and that it needs to dealt with in Aion asap. I have said that I would walk away if it isnt nailed in the near future.

We agree on this.

I have also explained that I was reviewing the core game itself, not some meta problem of gold farming that can be solved.

Lets not get into a silly pinickity debate.

Originally posted by drbaltazar

 finally an honest review .not too biased negativly not too niased positivly 

GREAT REVIEW!

ps : i agree with previous poster 9/10 is a bit high 

but review is great

Thats fine, the score is subjective based on my personal preferences so I expected people who like different things (to whatever extent) to think the marks should be different :)

Good review but I do agree 9/10 is lol way to high. So if you have ever defended it things like this in past posts that would explain the 9/10. See you cant be a fan nor can you hate the game to give it a good review. If you ever played almost every mmo out there and I mean every.. from pay to play to free to play then Aion takes on a new light. Any way thanks for taking the time to write all this :)

I agree with the review for the most part.  I think the score is a bit too high but truthfully that's more subjective than anything and myself would probably give it an 8 so really not that much different from you.  Very well done ves.

I still say this game really comes into it's own and gets interesting at the lvl 25 mark on.  I know some feel quite the opposite but I just don't understand seeing how when you reach that point a lot more becomes available to do in this game.  Of course, that's just my opinion.

It is a fantastic game. Servers are packed to the gills and I am having a lot of fun.

Originally posted by Wickedjelly

I agree with the review for the most part.  I think the score is a bit too high but truthfully that's more subjective than anything and myself would probably give it an 8 so really not that much different from you.  Very well done ves.

I still say this game really comes into it's own and gets interesting at the lvl 25 mark on.  I know some feel quite the opposite but I just don't understand seeing how when you reach that point a lot more becomes available to do in this game.  Of course, that's just my opinion.

Wickedjelly? You play on kahrun?

Thanks for the positive response guyss, appreciate it :)

I agree with the review too even the score cause its so good and still so new, but i do disagree with the idea that the gold sellers aren't a game problem cause if left unchecked when you need 1 million kinah to buy yout level 10 items, that will severly break gameplay.

I still say this is ncsofts new flagship and certainly they can't be so stupid as to let the same thing happen here as Lineage 2

Originally posted by glofish

It is a fantastic game. Servers are packed to the gills and I am having a lot of fun.

yep europe have all the fun

Originally posted by Morgaren

I agree with the review too even the score cause its so good and still so new, but i do disagree with the idea that the gold sellers aren't a game problem cause if left unchecked when you need 1 million kinah to buy yout level 10 items, that will severly break gameplay.

I still say this is ncsofts new flagship and certainly they can't be so stupid as to let the same thing happen here as Lineage 2

Back in the early days of FFXI a site called "allgil" introduced so many RMT's into the game that 1 million gil went to $3.99.  The economy took years to start to recover.  The way the RMT's seem to be hitting AION, I would not be surprised if this will eventually happen.  Luckily SE finally got around to getting things under control, but based on what I see from NC, i'm worried they may not get it fixed in time.