If you're sitting on cloud nine and that cloud is called Aion, please don't bother looking down. Happy people make the world go round.
But if, like me, you've fallen in and out of love with far too many MMO games in the past, here's to us. Ten cold, hard, practical reasons why Aion just might be the MMO worth investing your hopes and dreams into:
Lineage - the game that got NCsoft where they are now
1. Financial Muscle
Back when other companies were still puzzling over the online genre, NCsoft was growing fabulously rich with their two MMO goldmines: Lineage and Lineage2. Concerning AION, this all boils down to one thing: MMO games cost a ton of money to make, and NCsoft's got the funds to pour in. Just in case you're not convinced that money is an important factor, consider all the independant, poorly funded MMO projects that let us down completely, were never made at all, or continue to assure us that it's being made after 5 years in development.
2. PvP Oriented Endgame
Raiding can be fun. Raids can also be the worst thing to happen to MMO games since XP grind. Organizing your time around 40 other people every day of the week in order to fight nothing but AI pixels at max levels is just.. embarassing. Embarassingly carebear. Thankfully, NCsoft recognizes this as a huge flaw. Lead developer Jang Ju-Hyung has said in a number of interviews that RvR will be at the very core of Aion every step of the way. The PvP content will be availiable in a number of different forms from smaller arena-based PvP to castle sieges involving hundreds of players at once.
3. Good publishing record
NCsoft not only made the cut in Game Developer Magazine's 'Top 20 Publishers' list as a new player this year, but also took top place in the 'Average Review Score' category. Even though this means little in terms of their abilities as game designers, it certainly proves that they've got the infrastructure down pat.
4. Post-WoW Syndrome
Hate WoW or love WoW, you can't deny the fact that the game has had a huge impact on the MMO market. Having to follow a monster like WoW means a few things, but most importantly it means you can't get away with half-assed PvE content anymore. NCsoft is not shy in admitting that they used WoW as a benchmark when creating Aion, so it seems that they've taken up the challenge in stride. At this point I can see my anti-WoW friends cringing in imaginary pain; and if this was any other developer I might share their sentiment. But for a company that created the incredible leveling simulator called Lineage2 (and I say this in a fond, loving manner) a big injection of WoW PvE might be just the cure.
Aion has Crytek's cryEngine to thank for its beautiful scenery. The engine was chosen specifically for its capabilities in expressing flora. 5. Eye Candy
For some reason it's become a minor taboo to compliment an MMO game on its graphics these days. The dialogue might go something like this:
A: The graphics for Aion are great.
B: Graphics don't mean shit. [Insert Shitty Looking Game Here] may not have the best graphics but the gameplay is amazing.
A: [Insert Shitty Looking Game Here] is a shitty looking game.
B: Your mom is a shitty looking game.
And so on, and so forth.
I suppose it's a sign of depravity when MMO gamers willingly sacrifice one part of a game (graphics) for another (gameplay) without demanding excellence in both. Based on the screenshots and the demos from E3, there's no question that Aion looks incredibly good.
Consider it a glass half full.
6. The Koreans
Despite what prejudices you might have about Koreans as gamers, they do not enjoy grind and bad game design anymore than we do. They're also the toughest, most brutally honest group of customers I've ever seen around. This makes them good allies to have in keeping the designers in line.
The acceptance of Aion as a well-designed high quality game within the Korean market - which is still NCsoft's largest and most reliable market - is critical, especially now that anti-NCsoft and anti-Lineage sentiment has accumulated into a big ball of fiery rage in their home land. You can bet that NCsoft is working their ass off to put out the heat.
7. Aerial combat
Flying isn't anything new. I never played Shadowbane myself, but I know two of its races have flight as a racial ability. City of Heroes also has flight, although it wasn't a central feature like it is in Aion.
Shadowbane's flying race 'Aracoix' is one example of how free flight has been used in other MMO games.
Aerial combat is a different beast altogether. As far as my experience goes, EVEonline was the only MMO game where there was extensive flying in combat - but that was in spaceships. Things might be a little different when you're a winged warrior swinging a spear around. It'll be interesting to see how NCsoft handles the challenge.
8. Not just another Asian MMO game
As an Asian myself, I can't help but feel a little stung when I hear people throw around negative remarks about Korean and Chinese MMO games. At the same time, I know I agree with... Well, pretty much all of it. Yeah, most of them so far have been MU and Lineage clones. Yeap, they milk the guts out of grind, and yes, they look pretty but somehow most of them sort of play the same.
I'm happy to let you know that so far, AION doesn't seem to fall into the same traps. For one, the devs are committed to extensive character customization, which like, never happens in Asian MMOs. They're also determined to put story and PvP at the core of the game while limiting grind. A lot of this has to do with the fact that NCsoft is aiming for an international playerbase with this game, as opposed to games like Lineage and Lineage2 which were always designed specifically for the Korean market. So far the only things I see in AION that are distinctively 'Asian' are the beautifully polished graphics and skimpy female armour - neither of which I ever had a problem with, personally.
9. NPC Faction with some crazy AI
An inevitable problem with any RvR game is the issue of balance in numbers. This was true in pretty much every RvR MMO I can think of - DAoC, RFonline, WoW, etc. Ideally players would choose each realm equally for the benefit of all, but of course this never happens. NCsoft's solution to this problem is simple, and an interesting game element in its own right. A third faction made of NPC dragons would act as a buffer, helping the weaker side or getting in the way of the strong one, so that neither side would dominate. The goal of this Dragon race is to win against both player factions, so sometimes they might even go ahead and say, siege a castle for themselves - making them the first pixels to participate in politics.
10. Because you won't know until you've tried
I have a friend I adore like a sister. She's amazingly beautiful, smart, and funny, yet for some reason she's only had one boyfriend so far and he was an ugly ****. I'm positive it's because she never takes a chance with any of the guys she meets.
Friends, if you haven't found your dream MMO game yet, the only way is to keep trying and trying again.
Let's all keep our fingers crossed for this one..
