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Aion beta review
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Aion Beta ran from July 2 - 6. The focus of this beta test was on leveling the Asmodians, the demonic race, from level 1 to 20.
After hours of downloading the game, the player is treated to the stunning log in screen. This is just a glimpse of the gorgeous graphics and scenery that players will experience throughout the game. Despite the wonderful graphics, there does not appear to be too much of a strain on the computer. Even with both the available servers having a high population, there was little lag.
After choosing the gender, and one of four classes for the character, comes the character customization. There are many options when customizing the character. There are hundreds of hair/face combinations, and additional markings and tattoos that can be added. The faces appear to be derived from photographs, and have a life-like look to them, not cartoonish like many other games.
There are even more customizations when it comes to the body. Height, width of shoulders, hips, chest… yes, the size of the chest can be adjusted, and on the female characters, not just how wide. Even the size of the hands, feet, and neck are chosen. This makes for a wide variety of characters running around, so there won't be too many clones. This kind of uniqueness is what MMORPGs are striving for now days, as with Champions. This is a wonderful feature, and makes for some great looking characters.
After the character is complete, they are placed in the world. The quests begin. Quests don't bring anything new that players of MMORPGs haven't seen before. Talk to this person, deliver this item, collect so many of this item, or just kill so many of this kind of mob. One quest required players to kill 15 of a certain bug mob, but let the player choose between two kinds, which would they rather kill. One quest was picked up from a scroll. There were various levels of loot that could be obtained from the quest, and if players read the scroll, they knew how to answer the questions to maximize the rewards. A bonus for taking the time to read the in game text.
There are two types of quests available in the beginning, Campaign quests, which further the overall main story, and Standard quests, which are more area specific, and have their own side stories. Campaign quest givers have a yellow chevron over their heads, and standard quests have a blue chevron. When a quest giver sends the player out to get or do something, then report back to that same quest giver, once the quest objective is complete, they will be marked on the zone map with a blue chevron, and with a blue arrow on the minimap. However, when the quests go to someone else, they are not marked on the map.
Quests are easier than they seem at first. The places to go for a quest are not always clear in the quest text. The quest just says, "Deliver this leather to Denma." There is no further explanation who she is, or where she is. However, certain names of people, places, mobs, and items are highlighted in blue in the quest text. Players can click on these to bring up another window which has additional information. Then, there is a Locate button. Clicking this will mark the person (or place or thing) on the main map with a purple X. Also, a purple arrow on the minimap will direct a player towards the X. It is like a built-in QuestHelper. It is easier to just locate objectives than read and reread quest text looking for what to do.
If the character is a melee fighter, and the player right-mouse clicks on a mob that is a distance away, the character runs to the mob to fight. It is nice not to have to position the character correctly, so the fight can begin on the player's terms. The character may need to be moved if there is an obstacle in the way. Several attacks don't rely on just a cool down, but for a proc, activating off of a successful evasion or some kind of action. This keeps the player alert, not just going through a rotation of attacks coming off of cool downs, but waiting for the proc, and hitting it quickly. There is the standard action bar on the bottom of the screen, but when these actions proc, the icon appears in the middle of the screen, allowing the player to click it there, watching the action, not the action bar. There are other actions and attacks that are just on cool down.
The graphics and customization are reason enough to check out this game. It is still too early in Beta to determine if there is enough End Game content to keep players coming back day after day. Quests, at least the early quests, are nothing new and exciting, but there are enough to level from questing instead of having to grind. Combat will seem familiar from other games, and doesn't redefine MMORPGs. For those who like what they've played before will still enjoy it, in a new world.
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