A view of the capital of the Elyos, the Sanctum, from the Sky Canal.

And the week-long open beta for the much touted new MMORPG, Aion Online, has finally passed, finishing at 3 AM EST on Monday, the 14th of September. Originally, I wanted Shadro to review this new game, which I have heard about vaguely and mistook for another online MMO until I resolved the issue (the other one was Aika Online), but since the more I learned about the game, the more I became interested, and the fact that Shadro has no time to do it, I decided that I will take it upon myself to review the game as I played in the OBT.

 
First of all I must thank the support department of NCSoft for helping me through my problem despite never being able to fix it (I will talk about why later) and staying with me throughout the period of the last closed beta, which I never managed to get in. I must also express my gratitude to the players in OBT who helped me in various ways or group quests, especially the group that I joined in for the manhunt right before the end of OBT. With that in mind, I shall proceed for what I hope to be a largely unbiased review.

Before this, my only other true experience with what could only be deemed as a MMORPG (remember this?) would be Granado Espada. Quite frankly, since I never played World of Warcraft series, I am unable to comment on how similar or different it is from that game, though by a glance, a friend of mine who plays that game said the interface is largely the same, only a little more cleaned up. Looking at early chats in-game on the same issue, one can only say that comparing the game to WoW is inevitable, but the same as comparing an apple to an orange – both are fruits, they just bear different flavors, even if only slightly so. Yes I know, weak analogy.

I hope thus that the reader understands I just want to give my subjective view of the game in as objective a manner (paradoxical, I know) as I can, but since my experience is already limited to just one MMORPG beforehand, you may choose to also take this review with a pinch of salt, if you so wish. For reference, I only managed to get to level 21 at the end of OBT, while the level cap was level 30.
 

Another view.

Storyline

Every story has a beginning. And for me, the storyline is one of the most important factors for a game…that is to say, single-player game. I am not that much impressed with the usual storylines of MMORPG’s, simply because I cannot get into the spirit of things when you have thousands of other players doing the same quests as you and going through the same storyline (like someone said in-game, “everyone is a hero”). That aside, Aion’s storyline does make me pause and read all the different chats when I accept or look for quests. I used to do that with GE but frankly GE’s story is really lacklustre compared to Aion’s.

Basically, the introduction (when you first go into Aion) shows you a cutscene of a battle between the Elyos (the “good”) and the Asmodians (the “bad”), with a narration to tell you what is going on. For me, I chose the Elyos (personal reasons why left for the end of the post) and thus saw the defeat of the remaining Elyos army by the Balaur, the “other” race (monsters) prevalent in the game. After that, you hear a voice telling you to “wake up”, and you start the game.

Anyway, the story revolves around you being a Daeva, one of the chosen “few”, who are able to rise to greater heights, especially with the exception of having wings to fly with once you ascend. The thing is, you were once a person of great importance, but the battle in the Abyss took away your memories, and here you are normal again. You embark on a quest to retrieve your lost memories while assisting your side in the fight for Atreia.
 

Atreia is the “planet” or “world” on which you fight. It is split into three main areas. A cataclysm long ago caused the planet to be divided into two, separated by the Abyss, a magical void. The top half remained in darkness, and came to be the home of the Asmodians, while the bottom half became perpetually bathed in sunlight, and gave rise to the Elyos. There is no real “good” or “bad” in this storyline; just because the Asmodians look more “evil” through conventional lenses does not mean they are necessarily bad. Once you choose either side, the other side becomes the “bad guys” after all.

The storyline has not been something that is entirely worthy of praise, but it is not something to be thrown away as mere words either. So far, I am liking it, if only because it actually is pretty relevant to what you must do during quests and throughout your time in the game.
 

At the Miraju Holy Grounds in the Verteron region. This screenshot shows you the color of the mob that still has loot on it (lootable), as a light blue aura at the right of the screenshot.

User Interface (UI) & Gameplay

Obviously, the gameplay is everything; no matter how good the story, a lousy gameplay system only serves to undermine the integrity of the overall game. Like any other MMO, Aion starts out the first ten levels in what can be described as a “cookie cutter” sequence – completing the quests as they go is the easiest and fastest way to gain experience.

The UI is easy on the eyes, but they really could do something about the transparency of the chat window. In the screenshot above, you see it to the left of the screenshot and above the avatar portrait. At times, if you change the color of your font, you are unable to see what is exactly being written (even default colors have problems in certain areas). There is an option to change the font color and size but not the background transparency? At least you can choose channels easily, and even create your own (I never did this). You can also choose to filter out either combat or chats by changing tabs, and can always add a new one just showing your group chat and the combat stuff, for example. Flexibility is good, but I think they likely had this in WoW already.
 

There are up to three quickbars, including the two that are shown above. If necessary, you can add a fourth (I think), and this is the default number without using any modifications. Imagine the shortcuts available to you. There is also a macro system like in WoW, and is, again, versatile while user-friendly enough for you to exploit it for your own means.

Combat is fairly straightforward – right-clicking on a mob or object attacks/interacts with it. You can also double-click but why go to that bother? For those who prefer not to use the default WASD movement controls, you can always uncheck “Disable click to move” and just use your mouse to keep moving. This is useful if you are running a long way and need to keep up the communications between your group or friends.

The shortcuts are somewhat easy to remember, and the experience actually scales (why would it not, for a P2P) as you level up, so you have the choice of completing quests or grinding as you go on playing the game, in order to level up.
 

The character selection screen after you log in to your Aion game client.

Quests are as usual, talk to the NPCs to gain them. At least, like in WoW, you have a quest dialog box you can call up on command and even locate (except for certain quests) your objectives, which makes it way easier for you to find your way around. This should be the way, dammit. Common sense for game developers to do this. Main (or campaign) quests are defined by golden words (or golden arrows on top of the NPCs) and side quests by blue words (or arrows).

As you can see, the UI also allows you to reflect up to 7 quests (both main and side included) and “paste” them on your UI, reminding you of quests to do should you choose to put them there. I find this useful for the different areas, reminding me of the quests in that particular area I have yet to complete, or to prioritize quests and let myself know which quests I want to or should do first. Again, this was already in WoW, though my friend mentioned it did look better than the one in WoW.
 

The main difference in Aion is the ability to fly, obviously. But you can only fly in certain areas, and you initially start out with just 60 seconds of flight time. You only really get into flight beyond level 25 with various boosts from quests and items, so I am unable to talk about that. You can glide just about anywhere starting from the time you ascend to a Daeva (level 10, you receive your wings then). You simply jump off a higher vantage point and press spacebar again (first spacebar is jump). Gliding differs in that you can only descend and control the speed and direction but cannot rise (except with the help of updrafts in certain places).

Titles are also somewhat unique in Aion, in that unlike WoW, these titles do give small additional buffs, and they differ according to the titles you collect and put on. Only one can be “worn” at a time of course, so you can always switch titles to reflect your need for different small buffs for different situations. You usually obtain these titles through doing quests, but there are ones associated with PvP-ing as well.

I did not manage to get into PvP since I was too low-level, but the manhunt was quite the experience. I will leave it for near the end of this post though. If you have any other questions about gameplay (I really have no idea what else to say without being specifically asked about things) just ask in the comments and I will respond as best as I can.
 

Awesome graphics glitch like in Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 is awesome.

Graphics

Aion is undoubtedly a very resource-intensive game – the OBT game client itself was a whopping 9.1 GB in size, and this was without the updates they further implemented (the latest, implemented near the end of OBT that caused it to be extended for another 6 hours, was 630 MB). I did try to play it with other programs on, but quickly gave up. Performance-wise, I have 4 GB RAM, an Intel Dual Core (2.0+ Ghz, I forgot the exact number) processor, and more than enough HD space, with an 8800 GTS. So yeah, I put all my settings not even on high and I find that at times my graphics card still gives up on me (the screenshot above is a prime example).

Otherwise though, the graphics really deliver. They are in fact on the level of GE or more, if you have the power to back them up. Also, I decided to take screenshots of a nice female avatar in-game, which you can use to compare the graphics of characters at mid- to close-range. The subject is a female gladiator named Atonia, who happened to be the same level as me and was doing the same quest I did at the time I met her.
 

There you have it. I should say the graphics are pretty well done enough, then again we are paying good money for this, so one would expect a certain level. But still, the backgrounds, surroundings and monsters have all been well animated or drawn, and I really have no complaints in the graphics area.
 

Background Music & Sound Effects

As can be expected of a fantasy MMORPG, the OST has been really good so far. There are certain pieces I can certainly identify with, and I really like fantasy pieces, so that helps a lot. I am looking to get the OST once it is out (if it already is out someone point me to it). Of course, I am not too sure if that sits well with everyone, but I would urge you to keep the music on. Dynamic changes in music for combat or towns keep the flow going, and the darker tribal tones of the music associated with what are known as the Krall (a lot like orcs) can be especially rousing at times when you are in the area.

As for sound effects, I really have no say one way or another, voices are discussed below. So far so good, I guess. The voices are what I find more important.
 

Voiceovers

Before I go on, I must say that I have no idea if replacing the English voiceover with the Japanese (or any other language) voiceover is illegal or not. Can that be considered modifying the game outside of legal terms? I mean, is it any different when the text is the same, and just the spoken voice is not? Some people may know English, but prefer a different voiceover language, like me for example.

That being said, the English voiceover was definitely well done, unlike GE’s. You certainly get some of the hype and can tell the voice artists really put some effort into doing the voiceovers. I just really prefer the Japanese voiceovers since I have been watching anime for some time now. The subtitles do remain in English, so it is not like I cannot understand what they say either.
 

Thanks to this post over at AionSource forums for providing the names and confirming my suspects of the character voices. Samples are available of their work but I will give my personal review of each seiyuu that I know of.

Noto Mamiko (Female System Voice 1)
I knew it was her when I was linked to the sample of the system voices in Facebook. Noto is of course famous in the current seiyuu world, being endeared by many fans for her cute personality, her unique voice, and her pretty good looks. She voices the polite default system female voice in this game, but I did not use her voice because I felt her politeness was vaguely (and sarcastically) insulting.

Hoshi Souichiro (Male Character Callous Voice, or Voice 2)
Another instant recognition, Hoshi Souichiro is a veteran in the industry and well-liked, especially for his major role as Kira Yamato in the Mobile Suit Gundam series, and later on in many other roles, most recently that of Sanada Genjirou Yukimura in the manly anime series Sengoku Basara. Now that I know he is voicing the male, it is quite obvious I will be using his voice for my male character.

Koyasu Takehito (Male Character Voice 3)
The creator of the Weiss Kreuz series and another well-known veteran, who has recently begun to shine in non-serious roles, Koyasu voices the third male character voice and is also instantly recognizable with his unique low pitch. Though I like his voice as well, it seems inappropriate for my gladiator character. Nevertheless, I am sure there are others who would prefer his voice for use.

Kosugi Juurouta (Male Character Voice 4)
It seems that, other than the default voice (the seiyuu is totally unknown to me), they used all veterans for the male character voices. Kosugi is most famous, as I mentioned recently, for his work as Tama in the Hayate no Gotoku series (recently, that is), but has gone into a variety of other roles. His deep voice will surely attract those who prefer a little more “manliness” in their character.
 

Ueda Kana (Female Character Voice 1)
I had a little difficulty even knowing all four of the female voices, but by way of elimination through knowledge, and listening a few times to the samples, the first system voice has to be Ueda Kana’s. She sounds so different from how she voices Miyanaga Saki in the currently airing and highly successful mahjong series, Saki, but her voice is indeed closer to the Kansai-ben (dialect) employed for her character in the Hayate no Gotoku series, Aizawa Sakuya. I suppose the largest relation for her to voice a character in a game would be that Ueda is already most likely playing the game as well, as she is famous for her gaming habits.

Nonaka Ai (Female Character Voice 2)
I really feel like kicking myself in the foot. I listened to her voice twice and still could not guess that it was Nonaka, despite me having undergone this test for the same exact seiyuu recently in a Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 episodic. Anyway, Nonaka Ai seemingly fits the loli role here in terms of her voice, and that creeps me out. For reference, her other recent role I know of was Shishidou Imoko (the Navi) in Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo this year.

Tomatsu Haruka (Female Character Voice 3; Female System Voice 2)
Yea this was totally out of my league because I guessed Katou Emiri at first, but it really did not seem like it would be the latter, and I have never really heard much of Tomatsu’s higher-pitched voice, which she is using in Sora no Manimani (that I am watching), so this went over my head. Young Tomatsu (born 1990) certainly is gaining a lot of popularity, but the thing I like most about her? Her legs. Oh gawd, so hawt.

Ohara Sayaka (Female Character Voice 4)
brb killing myself for not recognizing her
So we have a true veteran in the game for female voices! Ohara Sayaka should already be well-known to many but here are her more famous roles I know of – Milly Ashford in the Code Geass series, Anegasaki Tae in the School Rumble series (the nurse I believe), and Asama Miya in Sekirei. Ohara is able to do a variety of voices but her mature voice is used here, the one I really like, in fact. Her voice turns me- er, I mean her voice is really good. Other minor roles for her include Beatrice in Blassreiter and as hot Selvaria Bles in the currently airing Valkyria Chronicles. Since I will be creating a side character (female) to play in other situations than using my main gladiator, it is quite the guarantee that Ohara’s voice will be the one I will use.

By the way these voices’ order may be inaccurate, so just scroll through the available voices to pick the one you like instead of thinking voice 4 must be Ohara for example.
 

The Manhunt (14th September 0100-0200 hrs EST thereabouts)

During the OBT I had the chance to make a few acquaintances. Whether or not they will be in the same server as me is something best left for confirmation later, but one in particular did catch my attention. His name was Surged, and he was a gladiator doing the same Group quests as me and we were teamed together with a few others. The main point is that, he mentioned how us Elyos were getting “raped at the Abyss points” (in his own words) and how he would like to PvP quick.

In Aion, the earliest you really meet a member of the other playable race is around level 20 thereabouts. For the Elyos, it is when you move to Eltnen, and there were consistent reports about Asmodians (including people who kept reporting updates on the locations of Asmodian groups) in the region chat. On this day however, the tables were turned – because OBT was going to be over, once the reports started coming in, several people started to ask for the location of the Asmodians (and I also tried to chip in by asking people to head together in a group if possible) and to hunt them. It ended up being a 20-character or so group that ran around Eltnen (vast place) looking for trouble with the Asmodians.
 

The first reports were of a 12-man group, but apparently by the time I got there, they were taken care of and no one could be seen. Inconsistent reports soon came in, and a marathon for everyone was started. I did take part in downing two with about 4-5 others, but the very last Asmodian was certainly in a pitiable plight – he (or she, I could not even get the time to see) was chased down by no less than a group of 20 of us (almost all of us at the time I should think, if not all), and I only got one hit in from range before he/she died. The last of our group had not even arrived at the scene. Total pwn.

Of course, that made the area certainly rather safe for others, but I left when they all decided to go back to the arena for some friendly PvP, since there were no more Asmodians around, and I am unsure if, after that, any more Asmodians came through what is called a Rift into Eltnen. However, it does feel good to be part of a manhunt, almost spontaneously created, the group of us coming together for a mutual benefit and experience. OBT was going to be over, and we wanted some fun. This was my only opportunity as well in PvP, though challenging a member of the same race to a duel just makes him/her become an enemy for the time being to you; you can still fight that character in a town or whatever setting (wherever you challenged him/her). The Arena is, I presume, a place for more coordinated fights, such as team battles.
 

My Conclusion

I know that Support is a huge factor, but I decided to put my thoughts about the support department for NCSoft NA here. They were certainly very swift (especially compared to GE’s lack of response) and even more helpful, going back and forth with me in an email correspondence in an attempt to solve my problem in the most practical and down-to-earth way as possible.

The unfortunate part was that my first client had been gotten through bittorrent when the client had yet to be officially released on that, and thus the updates since the first client (which I presume to be around the time of the first CBT; there were a total of 6) made the original unplayable. My speeds then, thanks to the natural disasters and the cutting of the sea cable in Taiwan, to the West were hideous, so I opted for the easier way out. Luckily they allowed BT downloads for the OBT, and thus was I able to play.
 

In any case, their support is certainly commendable and you should have no worries regarding help.

As for the game, I can say that I am very interested in bringing my gameplay up further in Aion. There still leaves the problem of flying and PvP-ing while doing that, but that just makes it all the more fun. I would much rather put my faith in a P2P MMORPG than a F2P one, after my bad experiences. And Aion has certainly delivered, even if my expectations were never high.
 

If you have any further questions, do ask in the comments area and I will certainly answer them if I am able to. For those who placed their preorders, the pre-select details are out. I will be playing in the Azphel server (East Coast time zone). An updated list of servers and their time zones is available here, and the details for the head start are now also out. Nezekan has been announced to be the official Oceanic server, but I am not going to be on it for precisely that reason.

I also chose an EST server because I far prefer to be just 12/13 hours ahead of normal playing times than 15/16 hours (depending on daylight savings). As for my in-game nick, I will update on my Twitter once I managed to successfully reserve the ones I wanted.
 

Also, I know the gg folks are playing the game, more details if you are interested on where they are headed for Aion live.

I will be creating a legion as well, but rather than for srs bns my Clan will likely be more like a community of players who wish to help one another and only after we develop more fully as a group do we go for higher heights. Above all, playing a MMO is not just about the “social interaction” (haha what can that be defined as nowadays?); it is also about the remaining fun we might yet get out of one by playing together with people whom we can bond with.

If you are interested in joining my legion by any chance or just to chat about the game, you can usually find me on IRC (Rizon server irc.rizon.net and channel #BP).

Lastly, my appreciation goes out to the individual players who made my experience in the Aion OBT more enjoyable – Atonia (Gladiator), Yunnie (Cleric), Lavintos (Spiritmaster) and Enishi (Assassin). I probably will not see Enishi in the same server, but I sure hope Yunnie joins me in Azphel as well. Not too sure if both Lavintos and Atonia are coming to the same server as I am, at this point in time.
 

Fly safe, and cheers dudes and babes. I hope to see those of you who are interested or already are playing in the game with me.

Related posts:

1. The Current Aion Status
2. Aion – A Korean Siege
3. Solty Weekend