Aion: An early impression

This weekend launched the second beta preview event of Aion, the newest fantasy MMORPG by NCSoft. This time, the NDA was lifted, and I got to experience the beautiful world waiting past the login screen. (If you want to hear what it was like for preview event #1, go check out Sanya's coverage.)

Character Creation

The first thing that amazed me about Aion was its character creation system. I've come to expect a very limited character creation system from Asian imported MMOs (of which Aion is part of): usually there's no more than a dozen total choices available for each race/gender/class combination.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I realized that in addition to over a dozen preset faces and half a dozen preset body sizes, Aion's character creation system is almost as detailed as that found in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.  Not only do you have a great selection of colors for hair, skin, eyes, and lips, and over a dozen hair styles per race-gender combination, both face and body have detailed options. We're talking things like eye spacing, head size, arm thickness, and height - just to name a few. Far more detailed than most of its current subscription MMO counterparts, you're bound to spend some time perfecting your character to be as unique as you want him or her to be.

Race, Class, and Gameplay

There are two races, or factions, in Aion: the Asmodians, and the Elyos. The Asmodians are your "dark" side - more bestial, and based around Norse mythos. Likewise, Elyos are "light" sided, looking more akin to humans and elves, and ally themselves as the righteous, true heirs of the world.

There are overall eight classes to choose from, once specialization comes into play - two each of warrior, scout, mage, and priest. From the start, the four basic classes are definitely different from each other: mages are definitely glass cannons, priests have useful heals and buffs, and warriors and scouts have appropriate damage to durability ratios. At this early stage, I can't yet tell what the specialist classes will look like at higher levels - but so far, things look promising.

As it stands now, Aion's gameplay is very similar to other MMOs. Combat is a combination of auto-attacking and use of skills and skill chains. Likewise, the quest grind typical to most MMORPGs is still present, although the game seems more helpful to those going through quests for the first time, and certainly not as intense as to make each quest its own small grind-fest.

Game World

The screenshots I've included should say it all: this game is beautiful. I ran the game on the default detected settings for my computer (which only hosts an NVidia GeForce 7900 GS), and I felt simply amazed. The game world feels whimisical while serious; you feel like you're walking in a paradise where the gods and goddesses have had time to play.

Creatures are not typical to most MMOs: you won't be killing rats. The most typical enemies I fought were large bugs, but I spent more of my time encountering creatures such as bull-people, rabbit-people, gopher-people, ram-rabbits, snuffly armadillos with trunks, giant buffalo and heron-flamingo crosses - not to mention the four eyed, four horned ram.

It seemed every time I entered a new area, I had to stop, catch my breath, and say "Wow." If the game continues in that direction, no area will ever feel dull, boring, or repetitive.

Is this the WoW killer?

Being the next "hot" subscription MMO that will hit the market, there's already speculation and questioning as to whether Aion will be able to "kill" World of Warcraft - that is, if it's the game that can finally suck away World of Warcraft's subscriber base and build its own five million plus fan base.

While early game is definitely immersive and stunning, it's just that: early. It's too hard to say at this stage whether Aion will be compelling enough to not only drive us into paying for it, but to draw all our friends and peers into it. Will the game play continue to be immersive, or will it feel a drone? What will end game content be like? How often will the game change and stay "fresh"?

None the less, I think Aion's going to be worth investing in, at least in the short term. Don't forget that you can pre-order Aion now, and that pre-orders get beta access as well as early game access.