Aion: Tower of Eternity

[Zyrusticae]

Anyone else messing about with the Chinese open beta?

I'm finding it surprisingly engrossing. The combo system for the combat shows some promise, with an arseload of options at higher levels. The graphics are extremely purdy.


Most of all, though, I'm just a sucker for the incredibly in-depth character creation. I literally remade my PSU character Teranu, right down to the last detail:

Spoiler!

I'm really looking forward to trying out the PvP component later. Also, yes, flying is a big part of the game, but I haven't been able to find much use for it thus far (as I'm still only level 10).

If you want in on this, follow the instructions here: http://www.elitepvpers.de/forum/aion/230364-how-aion-faqs-guides-links.html

Note that the beta is only running 'til the 16th, however. (Ironically, just in time for STD. The stars shine on us today, eh?)

[Split]

those characters look pretty different if you ask me...

[Rubius-sama]

those characters look pretty different if you ask me...

[Zyrusticae]

Har, har.

But, seriously. I am impressed. Considering I've been burned out by EQLive, WoW, EQ2, Vanguard, Age of Conan, SWG, RO, and CoH/V, the fact that the game is able to hold my attention is most impressive.

I must emphasize the game's good writing. They actually provide some compelling reasons to go out there and kill stuff again with their dialogue, which is a refreshing change of pace considering other games usually have me fast-forwarding through everything without a second thought.

And then once you're actually fighting, you have to pay attention. Unlike every other MMO I've played, you do not keep auto-attacking while you're using a combat art. Also unlike said MMOs, your auto-attack is extremely important. Your DPS drastically changes if you can time your use of combat arts correctly and avoid interrupting your auto attack before it can start. This really mixes things up in PvP - on the one hand, you might want to blow through a skill chain in order to reach that final attack so you can knock down or disable your opponent, but on the other hand you might want to time things right to maximize your DPS. What's also interesting is that if you're in a group, and you have a combat art that requires the enemy be knocked down or something similar, if anyone else in the group provides the needed effect, you can jump in and capitalize on that opportunity. This means that, while you don't have any solo- or group-specific arts, your tactics can and probably will change drastically depending on which situation you're in.

Also, besides the character customization, they have a very neat system where you can change the appearance of any armor piece by replacing it with the appearance of another piece of armor at cost, in addition to the now-requisite dye system, so you can really make an entirely unique-looking character if that's your prerogative (it certainly is mine, and it brings me great joy to do so).

Mind you, the game does have balance issues, but everything is just so beautifully well-done it's really rather hard for me to care. (Considering their pedigree, I have no doubt that the game will be rock-solid upon its release on US/EU shores this fall).

Edit: Have some more pics for your viewing pleasure.

Spoiler!

Wind-up to an epic attack...


Cool spell effects.


SLASH!


"Eh? What's that about my hips?"


"Ready for action..."


"UBWAA!?"


One of her old outfit. Chainmailly goodness.


View of the tower at night in Elysea. I imagine the view is a bit different in Asmodia.


Some truly breathtaking vistas in this game...

[darkante]

It looks kinda interesting. Shame, i just don´t have the time for MMORPG.
Nothing is worse then things taking over 1 hours to do to make things happen and then you can´t log out without losing that "progress" or taking long breaks.

Casual games is something i do have time with. =)

[Zarode]

Another WoW clone, nothing special. And before anyone cries out of their ass, I have played the beta.

[Zyrusticae]

And I really don't mind it being a WoW clone. It fixes the things I most hated about WoW, with the gaudy art style, the incredibly dated graphics technology, the silly/joke races, the million variants of elves (and yet the only variance between them were their skin color, faces, and hair, and even then it was limited), the complete omission of any detail in the character creator... Maybe I'm being petty, but personally it's like every other MMO I've played without the massive suck.

[joefro]

And I really don't mind it being a WoW clone. It fixes the things I most hated about WoW, with the gaudy art style, the incredibly dated graphics technology, the silly/joke races, the million variants of elves (and yet the only variance between them were their skin color, faces, and hair, and even then it was limited), the complete omission of any detail in the character creator... Maybe I'm being petty, but personally it's like every other MMO I've played without the massive suck.

WoW's art style is waaaaaaaay better than the art style in this game, in my opinion.


I seriously doubt that this game will take off, but good luck.

[Zyrusticae]

Heh, we'll see.

I only got into this because a friend of my younger brother's was hyped up over it. I came in with very low expectations and was very much pleasantly surprised.

[Rust]

WoW's art style is waaaaaaaay better than the art style in this game, in my opinion.


I seriously doubt that this game will take off, but good luck.

I find WoW art style pretty terrible, personally. Sceneries look like they've been ripped from a random cartoon, and out of all the races, only undead, orcs and dwarves ain't looking like crap.

By looking at the screens of this one, and what Zyr' (mind if I shorten it?) said about character customisation, this one would seem to be a better option to me.
I'd like some more precisions about the gameplay, though most likely I won't even try it (judging by the quality of the graphics, my poor old laptop will be brought down in no time by this game).
At first, with all that combo stuff and all, it seemed like it was kind of a hack'n slash gameplay, ala PSU, but reading those last posts, especially Zarode's one, leads me to now think it's the kind of MMO I call 'point & click', which I tend to avoid like plague.

So, for battles, is it all about targetting a mob, then unleashing a combo of skills or regular attacks through a bar of macros, with no regard about your position towards the enemy, like 98% of the MMOs on the market?
If so, prolly I'd get bored of it pretty fast. This type of gameplay isn't appealing to me at all. I like to be able to do a defensive roll to avoid an enemy charging, strafing to dodge an arrow or a fire beam, getting better chances of hitting when I attack someone in the back, having accuracy lowered when I try to attack while running at full speed, or hitting several targets when I slash my greataxe around me without targetting one specific mob among the ones that surround me.