Aion Forum » General Discussion » First Look

So just a first impression of playing, nothing in depth and no predictions of greatness or failure.

The first thing you notice is the character creation...aside from the lack of random races, the creation process was top notch.  Lots of choices, not too in depth, you can only customize so far, you cant change the look of the evil side to have bright cheerful colors. 

You get dropped into the game with no "ive never played a computer game before" tutorial, which is nice, and i havent gotten the usual "hey your new" window spam of tips hints and help.....again nice.

I noticed off the bat that the ground texture and other textures were...well dissapointing.  Low detail.  Wasnt untill i wanderd to the giant glowing tree in the cool looking lake...water textures were top notch and beautiful.  Im hoping that they patch in better textures for everything else before release, and i play aoc on max so its not that my rig is low power or i didnt have every setting as high as it could go (yes bloom and aa on max).  The animations were nothing to complain about, i rolled a mage.

Sounds, i think people will either love or hate it.  Its really video-gamey.  The action sounds and effects all sound like an action arcade in a way, it was fun to be honest and a nice change of pace from the drull realistic sounds im use to and the brm so far is good.  The sound fit the games look and feel very well.

It plays like any mmorpg you played before.  Its very familiar but with the look and sound its diffrent feel.  When you jump over things you do a side scrollewr action game style "many flips", which adds to the overall feel/theme.   You level pretty slow, wonder how it is later though.

So overall it have a upbeat and fun feel to it, might not be for everyones liking but its a nice change of pace.

Two things that are killing me so far is the clunky zoom, feels like a high/medium/low setting than a zoom to where i want function.  No mouse looks is very hard to get use to, i like to look at myself while i cast/run/fight...cant mouse look in combat without moving, and i see no settings to change this.

and the big one....i ding...yes!....looks for something to do.....no stats/skills/attributes......So i keep going untill i can learn new skills, gotta run back to town buy the book read it then head back out...few more dings and i gotta run back....

give me something to do when i level other than run my ass back to town and back...PLEASE....some stats, points to improve my skills, something..

Aside from some minor, and one kinda big gripe, the games pretty polished and fun......anyone else get the arcade videogame feel...?

Yes, it does feel more like a console game then a computer game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0uJh0NAtZ0 -> 0:36 for how to use your mouse ingame :p

I agree it has something of a gamey and linear feel to it.  Much of it is very similar to a lot of others games already out there.  But, it's beta testing the low levels - probably not going to be too earthshaking.

A couple of points: you can mouselook, but it's done by holding down your mousewheel button.  I don't believe there is any way yet to change this in settings, in the same way you can't inverse the mouse settings.

Also, and I probably don't need to say this, but you can buy the skill books before you earn the level to train them, so there's no need to run back and forth (unless you can't afford them at the time).

Very accurate description of the how the game feels and starts out. I felt like it was Guild Wars but with no instancing. Some may like that. I am not a huge fan of GW, so I will happily be taking this preorder and switching it at my local Gamestop for Champions Online instead.

I don't see what the hype is about really. It's an ok game. I can't see myself buying it ever. It still FEELS like a korean free to play, I can't put my finger on what though. Oh well, good luck to those who enjoy it, I want more depth from my mmorpgs and more atmosphere.

Also, a couple of points, after 2 hours of play, I got a message from the game system saying "You have played for 2 hours. Please take a break for your health."

O.O

Ok, I guess they think I'm 2 or something? Sad. Anyway, no mouselook is driving me nuts when playing this. Also, they dying penalty is not cool, making me walk slow for a minute or more? Bah.... Combat also feels slow to me, I really wish they would institute an action queue so I can hit the button before the cooldown goes, and have it just fire when its ready.

not quite sure its accurate to call the asmodian side "evil" lol, ive read up on just a little bit of the lore of the 2 sides. they may be at war but i cant quite look at either one side and peg one as the symbol of all that is good and one that is "evil" . its a bit more of a greyish area really, not a clear black/white of good and bad people. or perhaps my view is wrong. either way, after a quick sampling of the char creation and a look at the gameworld i found it pleasant. i first hopped on i think during the initial onslaught of those starting the beta for this session so it appeared a bit bogged down and crowded. char models were nice. animations seem solid and enjoyable to me at least. i dont mind the artstyle one bit either. and it doesnt come off as being a power house machine needed to run type of game as they've said in interviews. so ill be looking forward to testing it out once i take my already solid gaming rig i have now and upping the graphic and ram power a bit haha. it has the feel of being a fun game though so ill look forward to it at launch

Originally posted by elocke

 Bah.... Combat also feels slow to me.

Slow? If you call that slow, wait till you play Lotro or some other MMOrpg... :p

Anywayz if you don't like it, thats fine...

Originally posted by elocke

Very accurate description of the how the game feels and starts out. I felt like it was Guild Wars but with no instancing. Some may like that. I am not a huge fan of GW, so I will happily be taking this preorder and switching it at my local Gamestop for Champions Online instead.

I don't see what the hype is about really. It's an ok game. I can't see myself buying it ever. It still FEELS like a korean free to play, I can't put my finger on what though. Oh well, good luck to those who enjoy it, I want more depth from my mmorpgs and more atmosphere.

Also, a couple of points, after 2 hours of play, I got a message from the game system saying "You have played for 2 hours. Please take a break for your health."

O.O

Ok, I guess they think I'm 2 or something? Sad. Anyway, no mouselook is driving me nuts when playing this. Also, they dying penalty is not cool, making me walk slow for a minute or more? Bah.... Combat also feels slow to me, I really wish they would institute an action queue so I can hit the button before the cooldown goes, and have it just fire when its ready.

I have almost the exact same opinion. The game is very polished and purty looking, but the actual gameplay is linear and boring, and I made it up to about level 15 and played around a bit with my wings. You can go on and on about "PvP lvl20+" this and that, but frankly I want to get into a fun game now rather than do generic quests for 20 levels.

Still have ToR and Global Agenda to look forward too, good luck with Aion folks.

Originally posted by Namko

Originally posted by elocke

 Bah.... Combat also feels slow to me.

 

Slow? If you call that slow, wait till you play Lotro or some other MMOrpg... :p

Anywayz if you don't like it, thats fine...

You say that as if Aion is renowned for ultra-fast combat.  To me, the pace of combat is pretty much on par with a lot of other games out there - perhaps even a little bit slower.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.

And, most of us are just playing the beta, so we've only experienced lower level play, which needs to be taken into consideration.

Originally posted by Rohn

Originally posted by Namko

Originally posted by elocke

 Bah.... Combat also feels slow to me.

 

Slow? If you call that slow, wait till you play Lotro or some other MMOrpg... :p

Anywayz if you don't like it, thats fine...

 

You say that as if Aion is renowned for ultra-fast combat.  To me, the pace of combat is pretty much on par with a lot of other games out there - perhaps even a little bit slower.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.

And, most of us are just playing the beta, so we've only experienced lower level play.

What Aion does well though, is makes the combat feel fast. It's not fast, by the numbers at least, anyone who's played other MMOs with similar combat will know that right off the bat. But with the addition of great sound effects, animations, etc. they make it feel faster then it actually is.

ermmm no stats/atributes increase on lvl up? huh? if u play with ur chat tab on all u fail. go to normal tab and ull see the stats boosts per lvl k thanks.

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Also, they dying penalty is not cool, making me walk slow for a minute or more?

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Just pay a few hundred gold and get the penalty removed if it is such a nuisance.

Anyways I've gotten up to level 10 so far in the beta and I'm really enjoying it so far. I wouldn't really expect too much depth out of a newbie area, but it looks like there is some good chances to develop your character later on. (Stigma, for example.)

I like the feel of the game though, I have a feeling it will work out really well for PvP.

Really though I guess if I had to sum up my thoughts:

Impressed me:
-Graphical engine. Not lagging around 90-100 people is great, not to mention I get amazing FPS. This is on the highest detail settings as well (and on a laptop).

-Fast paced combat. I enjoy the combos (even though I don't start out with many as a warrior) and I like the animation of it all.

Needs fixing:
- I'll agree that an option to switch mouse look to "mouse 1" instead of "mouse 3" would be really appreciated. You can still look around while standing still with "mouse 2" but it's not as fluid. This isn't something that I'd cancel an account over but I would really prefer to have it.

- Lag time between pressing the key and actually auto running. Another nitpick but When I hit auto run I want to automatically run without the small delay.

- any movement at all closes out quest/shop windows. Again this is just a small nitpick because I find myself accidentally closing out of stuff a lot.

I don't think I have any major concerns though, mostly small nitpicky stuff like I said above.

Originally posted by robgyorgy

ermmm no stats/atributes increase on lvl up? huh? if u play with ur chat tab on all u fail. go to normal tab and ull see the stats boosts per lvl k thanks.

Hmm mabey i wasnt clear.  Its not that i was complaining over the lack of stats, but lack of user intervention.  Every aspect is automatic.  If you dont get that then its not going to be a problem for you.

Aside from that, the rest were just nitpicks, its still fun but i wonder how fun its going to be not being able to customize my character byeond a few equipment upgrades.  Games that lack decent character building get boring for me around levels 30-50, especially if those levels are long and grindy, not saying aion is long and grindy however.

anyone know if the plan a graphics upgrade before launch, as far as textures go?

About the inconvenience of returning to town every 2~3 levels for skill training, you can buy the books and leave them in your cube (backpack) so you don't have to return to town especifically do learn skills.

Good first look "review", I agree with most points in there, both positive and negative. I also feel the lack of something to allocate when I level up, but maybe I'm just too used to other MMOs, every skill upgrade still feels like an evolution as you are always getting some interesting new skill.

The leveling system in this (when you level up) reminds me exactly of FFXI.

You don't have to put points into anything (stats) you just have to buy the next abilities you can use (like spells in FFXI)

I dunno I kinda like the fact that most of the choices are a little higher level (like the Stigma system) so that way you can just play the game and don't have to stop to make up your mind as to what to do.  (Like  you know go look at wiki pages to make sure your not making the wrong choice that can never be taken back.)

Anyway, just my thoughts.

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Originally posted by Namko

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Originally posted by elocke

 Bah.... Combat also feels slow to me.

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Slow? If you call that slow, wait till you play Lotro or some other MMOrpg... :p
Anywayz if you don't like it, thats fine...

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I have played LOTRO and many other MMOs. I have a 60 minstrel in LOTRO and the combat is alot better now than it was before the expansion.

I guess what I'm looking for in combat is the WoW, EQ2 similar type speed. Hell, I even prefer AoC combat and that's different than WoW or EQ2. But this one...I think the cooldown is too long and I feel like I'm just standing there waiting to push my next button doing absolutely nothing but watch a mob run towards me.

Originally posted by EricDanie

About the inconvenience of returning to town every 2~3 levels for skill training, you can buy the books and leave them in your cube (backpack) so you don't have to return to town especifically do learn skills.

Good first look "review", I agree with most points in there, both positive and negative. I also feel the lack of something to allocate when I level up, but maybe I'm just too used to other MMOs, every skill upgrade still feels like an evolution as you are always getting some interesting new skill.

*facepalm*

still, at least give me a point every level to add to a skill of my choosing or some passives, im not as motivated to finish out a level if i know im not going to be able to add to my character....no unique builds to try out ect.  Mabey ill get over it and not notice, but it feel like empty leveling almost....this better have some top notch pvp...

Originally posted by crunchyblack

Originally posted by EricDanie

About the inconvenience of returning to town every 2~3 levels for skill training, you can buy the books and leave them in your cube (backpack) so you don't have to return to town especifically do learn skills.

Good first look "review", I agree with most points in there, both positive and negative. I also feel the lack of something to allocate when I level up, but maybe I'm just too used to other MMOs, every skill upgrade still feels like an evolution as you are always getting some interesting new skill.

 

*facepalm*

still, at least give me a point every level to add to a skill of my choosing or some passives, im not as motivated to finish out a level if i know im not going to be able to add to my character....no unique builds to try out ect.  Mabey ill get over it and not notice, but it feel like empty leveling almost....this better have some top notch pvp...

Once you get higher level you can get certian things to customize your character, they're called Stigmas.

NCsoft has admited they want to really flesh out what they do, and make it so they offer more customization than already available by the system.

Right now they add some nice little tricks that are similar to glyphs on WoW.

Hopefully we'll see what they have up their sleaves soon when it comes to revamping this system.

Very early impressions

1) Can't swim... you can WALK underwater (and take dmg) however... which is lame, imo.   I swear to god it's the CRY engine FFS.... implement swimming properly.

2) No voicovers.  I know not everyone wants these but EQ2 did it 4 years ago.  Seriously... time to step up folks and make a decent voice-overed game. 

3) Quests are boring and repetitive.  Go kill X of Y and come back.  Kthksbye...

So far?  Not worth paying a subscription.  Runes of Magic or whatever it's called, is better and it's F2P.  Though the graphics in Aion are far superior so far the gameplay is sub-standard.    Not sure who it was that said it feels like Guild Wars... it feels NOTHING like Guild Wars.  Guild Wars had decent graphics but it's combat system was far superior and far more involved and the character development was far more intricate.

It's still early on and I'm still playing it to see if it improves later on in the game but so far?  For all the hype?  I am unimpressed.

EQ2 is better, WoW is just as good.  Have yet to see anything new or exciting other than the flight mode that you apparently unlock later in the game  (whoopety doo, I can fly but I can't swim???)

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2) No voicovers. I know not everyone wants these but EQ2 did it 4 years ago. Seriously... time to step up folks and make a decent voice-overed game.

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We're getting voiceovers on launch IIRC, they are still finishing the english voices I think. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Originally posted by Taram

 

1) Can't swim... you can WALK underwater (and take dmg) however... which is lame, imo.   I swear to god it's the CRY engine FFS.... implement swimming properly.

This part really does suck I agree.

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Originally posted by Taram
Very early impressions
1) Can't swim... you can WALK underwater (and take dmg) however... which is lame, imo.   I swear to god it's the CRY engine FFS.... implement swimming properly.
2) No voicovers.  I know not everyone wants these but EQ2 did it 4 years ago.  Seriously... time to step up folks and make a decent voice-overed game. 
3) Quests are boring and repetitive.  Go kill X of Y and come back.  Kthksbye...
 
So far?  Not worth paying a subscription.  Runes of Magic or whatever it's called, is better and it's F2P.  Though the graphics in Aion are far superior so far the gameplay is sub-standard.    Not sure who it was that said it feels like Guild Wars... it feels NOTHING like Guild Wars.  Guild Wars had decent graphics but it's combat system was far superior and far more involved and the character development was far more intricate.
It's still early on and I'm still playing it to see if it improves later on in the game but so far?  For all the hype?  I am unimpressed.
EQ2 is better, WoW is just as good.  Have yet to see anything new or exciting other than the flight mode that you apparently unlock later in the game  (whoopety doo, I can fly but I can't swim???)
 

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I said it feels like Guild Wars. Obviously, you are confusing the "feel" of the game with mechanics. They aren't the same subject. The graphics look very similar to GW, the way my character moves, the music, the sky, everything non game mechanic feels like GW. Game mechanic wise it feels like every korean FTP I've ever played.

Originally posted by Laughing-man

Originally posted by Taram

 

1) Can't swim... you can WALK underwater (and take dmg) however... which is lame, imo.   I swear to god it's the CRY engine FFS.... implement swimming properly.

 

This part really does suck I agree.

No collision detection as well...feels unnatural to be able to run though all the mobs and people.  Not a deal breaker for me though.

I will say im not impressed with the engin/texture detail, not a huge deal because the games kinda fun, and thats all that really matters.

Anyone know if we get new music for the western markets as well as voice overs? 

*edit*

sorry i cant get over the 2-D blotchy vine pattern texture for the ground...this is the best out of asia?

The agro system is also almost non existent which adds to its simplicity at least up through lvl 10.  You can almost run through mobs and they don't even bother attacking until you attack them first.     It really makes it completely mindless.

The zones just don't seem beleivable.  They're just linear roads with stuff scattered around like in WAR.    There just doesn't seem like any intent has been made to create a world that seems lived in or has purpose.  The starter areas on both sides seem like carbon copies and the quests are copied and pasted as well.  "Go kill or gather 4 of X" and whatever it is just happens to be 10 ft away.  Litterally, they'C'mon guys.  Its all VERY gamey.    Aion so far is just a bunch of quest hubs with things designed to be killed as close as possible to one another.

The art and animation is nice.  The combat is fun as far as MMO's go.  But the world doesn't grip you.   I was expecting at least some variation between the 2 races and their environments.  There really is nothing that screams this is one race and this is another.   NCSoft didn't even bother trying.  Maybe it gets better at 25, but if 1-10 is hardly worth it, why muddle through 11-20?