So, I had a birthday. Turning 30 was indescribably horrific to me for some reason, but something made it better. I obviously needed a distraction, right? Right. That’s where my new game came in to play (pun intended). I am now the proud owner of a collector’s edition of Aion. Firstly, let me tell you I was not expecting the game to be that beautiful, but it truly is. The music, the graphics, and the models are all gorgeous. Maybe not the best game engine for some, but it still manages to work well with what it has.
One of the annoying things was trying to remember my account name for NCsoft. I swear I spent HOURS trying to get it right and only managed to lock myself out. That’s right. I locked myself out for hours when the website said to try again in a few minutes. Their definition of a “few minutes” seems to be way different than mine. I even tried on another computer, but still couldn’t log in. Ridiculous. I tried to have my password sent to me, but I never, ever received an email. I eventually just gave up and made a whole new account.
Once I managed to get into the game (finally), I was greeted by a wall of stupidity in chat. Within the first fifteen minutes I used my /block function no less than ten times. That’s not even counting the gold sellers that have already managed to take over the chat. I’m not sure if the game has anyone moderating chat on the different servers, but they seriously need to get some people in there. Any new release needs to be monitored. Whether it’s just a new release in a different country, or a new game period SOMEONE needs to be checking things out. You are always going to be slammed with morons comparing the game to WoW or just generally being idiots. (Seriously, some of the chat was X-rated. If I wanted that I’d rent a porno or something.)
Back to a good point; while the game’s UI was not entirely intuitive, once you figure it out it’s easy to navigate and some of the features are really awesome. One of my favorite features is the ability to pick and choose which person/mob/area you want to locate. While you can only locate one at a time, the fact that the “X” showing you where a mob is moves to another one if that one dies made me extremely happy in those areas that were so overcrowded the spawns were practically nonexistent.
The quest lines are interesting as long as you take the time to read them. Most people I know (myself included) are guilty of just clicking through and getting the quests. We act like it’s going to kill us to spend a few minutes reading instead of grinding up to the next level. I played a character on both the “light” side and the “dark” side. Notice I didn’t say “good” and “evil”. I’ll let you decide for yourself whether each of the factions is good or evil. The starting areas were different in appearance, but the quest lines and the mobs were extremely similar. It would have been interesting to see different plot arcs in the different zones. The stories are different but what you have to do to finish the quest was entirely too similar.
Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed myself in the game once I managed to get over the bad points. Being able to turn off channels and switch tabs for chat was a lifesaver, or should I say game saver. There were times that I thought I was going to have to log off because the chat was so stupid. Now that I understand the basic mechanics of Aion I can spend hours – literally hours – playing and not even notice that much time has gone by. Granted, I haven’t gotten to the higher levels were, I’m told, the entire game is PvP based, but for now I am enjoying the overall experience. I have to say I’m surprised. My last few experiences with NCsoft have not been pleasant. I hope this one stays as good as it is, and maybe even improves. If not… well… I don’t think I’ll ever play another NCsoft game.
Questions? Comments? Hit me up.
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