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Aion second beta weekend: Asmodians rock
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Even with a tail, she's hot
So, two weekends ago, I rocked out in Aion's beta event, and my first impression was of a visually and aurally stunning game with mediocre starting quests, a great hook, and lots of potential. I did not think the localization was finished, but I thought the interface was terrific.
This past weekend, I participated in the second beta weekend. And I discovered that I should have put "played as an Elyos" on everything I wrote on June 9. My experience this past weekend as an Asmodian was incredible.
Before I rolled up my Asmodian, I got my Elyos out of Newbie Island and onto the mainland. I wanted to test out flying, and to see if the quests had kept improving after the first handful after that first cut scene.
Briefly, the quests did indeed keep improving quite a bit, with more of the overarching plot being involved. The city I went to after leaving newbie island is spectacular. It has multiple levels, which sometimes negates the value of a 2D waypoint system - and so the designers have put in this little sparkly thing in the 3D environment you can follow. (Check the slideshow.) It's not intrusive, and fits the environment.
As I was telling a friend last week, Aion is MMO Easy Mode. By comparison, Free Realms isn't easy mode, it's Tube Feed.
Anyway, the translations are still questionable in places, with the same Korean word being translated differently in the same quest. A wine cask is also a bottle. A dictionary is also an encyclopedia. And so on.
Flying seems to be well executed. The wings are gorgeous and all the elements of flight (takeoff, landing, glide, combat, hover) are beautifully animated, even though the game can't cope with my shield in rest mode and wings at the same time. There are quests that involve flying. Being able to get back into a city without running around the walls until you get to the door is awesome. You can jump off high places and snap your wings open as you plummet, but getting the timing down takes practice.
This is where I note for the record that, um, death isn't free. You lose experience, although you can buy some of that lost experience back at the soul healer. It's not cheap, though.
Anyway, after I finished entertaining the crowded (and still lag free) market square with repeated splatter landings, I moved on to Asmodian territory. I had been told that the classes were identical, and so I assumed it would be just a quick look-see.
Man. You'd think I'd stop assuming after a decade of MMO playing.
Asmodians are AWESOME, y'all. Better written, better designed, better localized/translated/whatever, the works.
There's an immediate sense of esprit de corps. Asmodians got the short end of the stick when the world was sundered. The snooty Elyos got to keep their buildings, and the sun. Asmodians had to adjust to cold and dark (although in practice the world isn't rendered so cold and dark as to make playing feel oppressive - those of you who played the original Midgard in DAOC before the lighting and weather were adjusted know exactly what I mean). They feel like they're underdogs, and they include you right away.
The quests are written with a sense of amusement at how silly it is to send warriors after sacks of grain. The flow is better, taking you from place to place. The writing is terrific, with strong characters deftly created.
It's the same experience, same types of quests, but it goes to show what a difference strong writing can make.
Artistically, it's terribly clever. My bare hooves as an Asmodian are... high heeled. I suspect this is because my future foot armor will be high heeled, and in fact, it'll be identical to Elyos armor in structure. I suspect this because so far all of the monsters and armor are the same as those I found in Elyos, with different skins. Even the newbie zone has the same lake, hills, and sky with different textures. But the texturing was done so well that none of it feels like "a blue monster dyed red."
The Asmodians have hooves and manes, and their eyes glow red when they're pissed. But you know, it doesn't feel bestial, and it's certainly not evil. This is not a battle between good and evil. War is rarely that simple, and I'm glad to see a game that doesn't go for the easy answers.
As for me... blood for blood!
For more information: Official site. And if you'd like another perspective, check out Jamie's lavishly illustrated article!
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