PSO2 vs Aion

[domokun1134]

So I've been playing PSO2 for a couple of months now, and in fact PSO2 is my first MMO. Not having anything to compare it against I was so blown away by everything in this game. I've got a good 50 or so hours into the game by now, and I'm up to Level 19. I'm at the point now where I'm starting to feel it's a bit of a "grindfest" and that client orders like "defeat X quest 5 times" are starting to get tiring, especially when you have trouble putting together a party for the needed quest.

Granted there's still a lot I haven't done yet on PSO2, I haven't experienced a team yet, or subclassing. I'm imagining things get better but right now I'm tired of doing the same damn quests over and over again.

I figured, well why not try another MMO to see how PSO2 compares? I did a bit of research and decided to try Aion. It's also free, and therefore low risk. What strikes me is how completely different it is to PSO2. The world is absolutely HUGE (which may end up having it's negatives), and overall the game seems way more complex (also may end up being a drawback). The battle system seems slower and more automated.

The graphics are very nice however and I find that the characters in Aion are drawn more realistically, particularly the way they move.

I'm not sold on it actually, and I don't really know what to do. I'm not going to play both, I don't have time for that. I just don't have enough experience with these games to know what I'm looking at. I've already put so much time into PSO2 that I want to keep playing with the hopes that it stops being so repetitive. THere's definitely things that PSO2 has that mean a lot to me:

-Anime aesthetics (bishonens and bishojos everywhere)

-In Japanese (I've studied Japanese for 4 years and this is a fun/challenging way to practice and converse with Japanese players)

-Other players are like-minded (I'm a complete otaku and it seems that a good amount playing PSO2 are as well. I'm not getting that vibe from Aion)

-NOT massive. Kinda play it for a bit and put it away. I'm afraid of Aion becoming all-consuming of my life.

So I was hoping if more experienced MMO players could offer some perspective. I really only want to play one game. Just pick one and be done with it.

[ShinMaruku]

PSO2 is not a hotkey game.

[Shirai]

Can you really compare PSO to AION? They're both two different types of games to be honest...

One's a generic Korean grindfest the other isn't.

[Z-0]

Yeah, PSO2 is a grindfest just like other MMOs I've played. However, PSO2 just has "action-rpg" tacked onto it, that's all.

Haven't actually played Aion, but posting this on a Phantasy Star Forum is going to get you a lot of bias in PSO2's favour, of course.

[ShinMaruku]

All MMOs are grindfest. Just Aion never hid it's grind. But ALL of them are grindfests. Look at wow, the master grindfest. Run heroics X times to get X Best inslot gear. If there is RNG there WILL be a grind.

[Tcrusader51]

I played Aion even before it became F2P when they were struggling. The difference between PSO2 and Aion is that PSO2 is an instance MMO while Aion is an Open World. Both can be considered MMOs but yet and still totally different.

Also Aion is an tab target and hotkey MMO in which PSO2 is more action oriented. That being said, don't let tab targeting take anything away from Aion as it is IMO the best at what it does with it's combat mechanics and animation. A lot of people may not speak too fondly of Aion but that's mainly because how NCsoft has/had mishandled the game especially when they first screwed up on the server merge and transfers resulting in a terrible imbalanced population of factions.

Point is, neither are actually any better outside of personal preference. I suggest you just enjoy both seeing as they are both F2P anyways.

[jooozek]

How are you only lvl19 when you spent over 50 hours in the game? Did you dance for 40 hours in b-20?

[Coatl]

How is it a grindfest if you haven't unlocked all the content yet? If you feel advancing into a new and mysterious area every new couple of levels is a grindfest, then you are doing something wrong.

[domokun1134]

I played Aion even before it became F2P when they were struggling. The difference between PSO2 and Aion is that PSO2 is an instance MMO while Aion is an Open World. Both can be considered MMOs but yet and still totally different.

Also Aion is an tab target and hotkey MMO in which PSO2 is more action oriented. That being said, don't let tab targeting take anything away from Aion as it is IMO the best at what it does with it's combat mechanics and animation. A lot of people may not speak too fondly of Aion but that's mainly because how NCsoft has/had mishandled the game especially when they first screwed up on the server merge and transfers resulting in a terrible imbalanced population of factions.

Point is, neither are actually any better outside of personal preference. I suggest you just enjoy both seeing as they are both F2P anyways.

Thank you. That's the kind of information I was looking for. I didn't know the difference between an instance MMO and open world and now I'm going to read up on it. I was just trying to find out the difference between the two without having to put 50 hours into it.

[domokun1134]

How are you only lvl19 when you spent over 50 hours in the game? Did you dance for 40 hours in b-20?

Lack of experience perhaps? Is it necessary for you to be so condescending?