Aion: The Next Best MMORPG

I was skeptical when a friend told me about some of the new MMORPGs that were coming out. I'm a huge fan of them, mind you - I played in EQ (Everquest) and EQ2. I eagerly awaited WoW (World of Warcraft) when it first came out, and I rushed to preorder Warhammer Online, grabbing it hot off the presses. I may be a grandmother, but I still love my MMORPGs.

Unfortunately, though, I tend to be the ADD poster child for online role-playing games too! Mind you, Everquest had me hooked and I suppose that's why the others always fell short - I loved Everquest and all its challenging (and expensive!) expansion packs. Everything else seems to be fun for the first week and then the glitter rubs off and, ho-hum, I really don't want to go on ANOTHER collection quest...

Enter Aion.

I had the good fortune of squeezing in to the open beta testing for Aion and, honestly, all I can say is WOW (and I don't mean World of Warcraft either)! While I had a few gripes with being completely logged out of the NCsoft launcher when the servers were down, I got over that disappointment (and laziness) as soon as I saw my character options. For those of you who enjoy originality, you're in for a real treat. When you get down to the nitty gritty of making your character, it's absolutely amazing!

Off to the Races

One downfall of Aion, that I do for see some grumbling about, is you don't have the variety of races that are offered by other games. However, the two races that you are allowed seem to have a rather rich history. The Elyos are a beautiful race who live in a happy bright world of light whereas their sister race, the Asmodians, exist in an icy world of darkness. Both characters have resulting traits due to this, but I won't ruin all the fun by telling. I will say, however unlike many games, neither race is good or evil, per se - just different. There is a third race in the game (NPC only), called the Balaur, who seek to control the world and must be defeated. They are appropriately big, evil, and ookie-looking as any bad guy should be.

I Wanna Tank!

So what classes can you play? Aion kept it relatively simple for us, just starting out - You may choose to either be a Warrior, a Scout, a Mage or a Priest. It won't stay that easy though - further down the road, the Warrior may choose to either become a Templar or a Gladiator, while the Scout can go either Assassin or Ranger. Mages may choose to become the force of nature Sorcerer or control the elements as pets, choosing to walk the path of the Spiritmaster. Meanwhile, the shield and mallet-wielding Priest can either live a life healing people as the local Cleric, or can become a battle crazed Chanter, urging his companions on to bigger and better fights.

And, of course, you get wings!

Not buffalo wings! Real, honest-to-goodness wings that you can use to fly!

Now there's a first!

Character Creation

One gripe I always had with other MMORPGs (aside from EQ), was that we all tended to look the same when we finished with character creation. Warhammer was a fun game, but the washed-out graphics and lack of originality wore me down in no time. Similarly, I found WoW characters to just be plain ugly.

Of course, in reflection, that might have been my insistence on playing a Troll but, anyhow, back to Aion...

New characters can choose from a variety of body styles (girls, for instance, may either be slender, average, athletic, small (dwarfish), petite, or curvy (which I like to call the body-builder chick from Heck) and there are more than 20 different faces and hairstyles to choose from, before we even go into colors. Advanced tools offer slide bars, where you can custom your character's facial features and body structure even further, and then there are a wide variety of skin tones, hair colors, eye colors and tattoos to choose from. If you custom your own character, the chances of finding your exact twin in this game are going to be astronomical. And for those who are still skeptical, the characters have a definite anime style beauty to them that reminds me of the Final Fantasy characters I was so fond of. These aren't your homely WoW Night Elves, boys and girls!

Another nice bonus, is that they give you the option of not only turning your character this way and that, but you can also see how your character looks in their newbie clothing, their mid-grade armor and advanced armor, to give you a future glimpse at just how buff you can aspire to be. By this point, I was already chomping on the bit - if the game was anything as good as character creation, I was bound to be in heaven.

Game Play

Right off the bat, you start rolling up your sleeves and getting dirty, attacking local critters and gathering needed supplies. While the game is run off the typical questing format that we've grown used to, characters level much slower than other games I've tried - Gone are the days of dinging 10 in an hour! I played pretty hard and long to get my character up to level 10 and I had a great time doing it, too.

So, provided you aren't the type to slap on a pair of adult diapers and grind until you collapse, this game should provide the average gamer with a great amount of bang for the buck. Characters level nice and steady, which is a really nice relaxing change. Granted, I'm sure we'll get our share of power levelers and gold farmers when the game gets up and running, but I think they'll have to work for their money, either way.

In addition to questing and killing monsters, I also spent a great deal of my beta time collecting objects and learning to use my wings as I tested out various aspects of the game. Oh yes, you get to fly in Aion, and will need to learn to do so for some of your quests and combat down the road. Talk about fun! I, myself, am not very good at it but no one ever claimed I could type and chew gum at the same time either. My teenage son informs me that it's easy and reminds me to tap this to glide or press this to break your fall... I usually find a trip to the generous woman, who gathers souls and revives them, works quite well for me.

As the teenager would say, cackling with laughter, "Aion Fail!"

Yep, my Daeva biffed it again. She doesn't fly well, but daaaang... she looks good!

In Summation

Aion is an outstanding PVPVE (Player versus Player versus Environment) MMORPG that offers beautiful character creation, stunning graphics, a nice level playing field, and lots of great quests. Preorders on the standard and limited edition games are being taken for a short time, with pre-ordered clients being given a 2-day head start on the game, starting 09/20/09. Aion launches on 09/22/09 for everyone else, with servers catering to US, European and Oceanic clients. Already, NCsoft is boasting nearly 400,000 preorders of the game, making it the top-selling MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game of the year. Add to that, the impressive number of awards this game is racking up, from PAX's "Best MMO" by Inside Gaming and Gamescon 2009's "Best Online Game," and I'm sure most will agree that Aion is a definite must-have for any gamer.

Aion can be purchased at Amazon, Best Buy, EB Games Canada, Fry's Electronics, GameStop, Steam, Target and, of course, at the NCsoft Store.

Did We Buy It?

Of course - We've already got our preselection servers chosen and our starting characters made! If you're looking for a great new MMORPG, this one is sure to be at the top of the list.

Hopefully we'll see you in game!

Sources:

With Record-Breaking Preorder Sales, Aion Takes its Place as the Biggest MMO Release of the Year - NCsoft Press Release, September 17, 2009

Aion Online - http://www.aiononline.com