WoW veteran’s first impressions of Aion

I will admit that though I have owned a WoW subscription since early release; I had been lured many times away by promises of other games that have (had?) a rabid cult claiming every time that “This is the WoW killer”. In most cases these so called “WoW killers” failed to kill anything and ended up just fading away. I don’t really need to mention them since I am sure you all know the ones I am talking about… *cough* Age of Conan *cough* Tabula Rasa *cough* … (Oh boy is it dusty in the office.) Those come to my mind immediately, and I am sure you all know of many more! If you were like me, you ended up buying the retail box and played the game for a month (more like a week…) before unsubscribing and uninstalling the game while loading WoW at the same time. In short, we always end up going back to WoW.

Let’s get to Aion now, is it a “WoW killer”?


If you are looking for the answer to that question you won’t find it here! The purpose of this particular blog is to give the perspective of a veteran WoW player’s first impression on Aion right from the initial loading screen.

Intro:
After starting the game from the news launcher resembling much like other popular MMORPGs; I was greeted by the familiar NCsoft logo.

Title Screen:

The title screen was breathtaking on my 30″ monitor running the game in high resolution. It was a definite tease of what awaited in game. Behind the log in box, was an amazingly crisp environment. The waterfall that hung over the green canopy was fluidly animated that had me staring at it mesmerized. The selected music was top notch, as can be expected from something produced by a Symphony Orchestra. The whole ambiance did bring nostalgic feeling from Lineage 2.

Character Creation/Selection:
I carefully typed in my user name and password and was greeted by the character selection page. On the particular server I was playing in, it warned that that I would only be able to create characters from one chosen side. This warning is similar to the one given when creating characters on the PvP servers in WoW. Once you make a character in a given side, you are restricted from making characters of the opposite faction unless you delete all your characters of that faction. All classes were available for both sides, and the choice of picking a side would ultimately fall on aesthetic values for most people (or if you are hard core, exclusive spells only available to each side may lure you toward one side over the other). Depending on the side you decide to pick your character selection page will either reflect a serene shire, or a chaotic polis. They are both gorgeous and detailed.

After clicking on ‘create character’, I was introduced to a brief blurb on the two conflicting races and given the choice to pick one. I am not a big fan of dark dreary races, so choosing Elyos was a no brainer for me. This is the first time you actually get a glimpse of the character models. All four classes and both genders posed around a magnificent landscape awaited my selection. Clicking on a given class and gender showcased a brief animation that really showed off the game’s fluid animation and incredible ‘power’ effects. The actual character models themselves looked painstakingly detailed. I don’t mean to jump into comparative graphic analysis between Aion and WoW, but if you are like me, you will be glad to know that the armour in Aion is not like the ‘mesh’ style in WoW.
The outfits in Aion are actually like a model of their own adorn by the character model. It physically moves on its own like a separate model on top of the character. This significantly increases realism and immersion. That was one of my biggest gripe in WoW. I understand that by putting ‘textured skin’ in the form of armour directly on top of the character model reduces the stress on computers (And is easier to develop); but I really didn’t like how plate legging (and chest for that matter) were like tights on character with the illusion of jutting out. The only obvious separate model in WoW I found was the shoulder armour only.

I didn’t mean to go off in a tangent like that but I found this visual difference between the two games to be significant enough to mention. It really distinguishes Aion from WoW in the visual department which really boosted my initial impression of this game.

Once you have decided on the race, class and gender, you are moved to the next step which features one of the most customizable character creations I have ever seen to date. Browsing through Aion forums, I sometime stumble on what I like to call as “celebrity recreation”. One of the most memorable was Barack Obama, which strikingly resembled the picture posted beside it that was inspired by. I wouldn’t be able to do justice on the character creation of Aion without devoting an entire blog on it, so for now, take my word for it.

Initial Reaction:
I can’t stop praising how phenomenal the game visually looks, as soon as I was cast into the world I couldn’t help just to rotate my camera around and really appreciate the beauty. Fog and rain is amazingly rendered. Speaking of rain; little things like how your character reacts to the environment really immerses you into the game some more. For example when it rains, your character will react to it and will convey visual emotions through body language and facial expression and if left idle, will pull out a ‘leaf umbrella’ and interact with the rain some more. Another one is where a character will wipe the sweat off their face due to the heat. It’s these little details that really enhance the experience.

Interface / Control:
The control and interface felt very familiar to me; probably because they pulled a page straight out of WoW on this one. Anyone who played WoW before will feel right at home. No complaints here; actually, they made some improvements. For example, when I casted a spell it would automatically run up to the max range. There was a hot-key to auto loot also. A ‘quest helper’ like system is also built into the game similar to WAR: online. Even being able to link items on chat is possible just like WoW! All in all, it felt polished and solid, and most of the ‘convenience’ of WoW has been adopted in Aion such as hover item comparison for example. The combat is very active and fast pace just like WoW and very little ‘downtime’ occurs thanks to super regeneration outside combat and items like bandages for example.

Final Notes:
Overall, I am very pleased with the game, the familiarity to WoW controls is welcomed and the distinguished art style is more to my taste since its anime like which I am into compared to WoW comic style.

Stay tuned for future blogs for my comments on topics such as:
Quests/Missions System
Item and Enhancements
Crafting
Mail System
Instancing
Flying
PvP
Class Breakdown
Levelling Guide

- SkyRi

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