AION still isn't different enough. MO, DF, JGE, KOTRO, Agency, ect are going to make head way in the industry.
Well, there's not a big buzz on MO, I wouldn't bet the ranch on that. Little info about it coming out, the boards aren't moving much. Probably Niche unless its working VERY properly and bug/lag/balance issue free.
Darkfall. I hope this game comes out and is good, I'd definitely like to try it. But this one you'll have to agree is a "wait and see". You cannot seriously bank a lot of hope until its out, released and working properly. I am encouraged by things I read from The Noob reviews, but it's not actually in the box yet, so I can't count it. At any rate even if sucessful, this DEFINITELY is Niche. Everyone knows this.
JGE I don't think is going to surplant EVE. There might be some waiting to try it, but this is not the game people are waiting for in 2009. Most people already have proven that with a very good game such as EVE, they simply don't want to spend hours/hours/hours in cold dark space. Again, even if this game is great and functional, Niche. Space MMOs are not gigantic sellers.
KOTRO I do not think will be released in 2009 at all. Too big and too much to do yet I think. This one they will want to take their time releasing so you will not see a release ala Warhammer/AoC. They definitely have been watching those others flounder and will not make those mistakes of beta games being released to the masses with a lot of pre-hype. Don't want to upset Lucas; too much force in that one. Don't look for 2009.
The Agency. Cash shop game? We know most MMO players at least in the NA hemisphere do NOT like cash shop games much or games with this type of product in it. Look at SOE's current announcement of cash shop items and how it's being received. This will probably open with moderate numbers if it gets the padded reviews like Warhammer got, but unless they can REALLY do something with this, it's gonna hover. This game will definitely be a Niche game.
The etc games I assume you mean F2Ps. Nuff said about those.
Aion has a WoW influence as all modern MMOs pretty much do. The difference between Aion and all those above games you listed?
Aion is right now as we speak, and has been racking up fantastic sales numbers to it TARGET audience already. You have to know that if anyone from NA/EU or elsewhere buys this game, that's just like an added bonus to NCsoft. They already are meeting their sales projections. (Probably blowing them out). So even if only 100k like Aion between EA/EU/CN, won't matter. The game will still be a huge hit. Those games you listed above cannot say that. Almost each one would be happy with 250k, except for KOTOR.
So again.. who cares if there are balancing issues.. there's still at least 3-4 months before it hits the shores here. This game does not have to be perfect to win. It already won. If you don't play it cause the pvp isn't balanced, they will not miss you or the millions of others outside the Far East.
I do take comfort in that.. knowing a game I'm waiting to play will actually be in a box very soon and they already have pretty much nailed down the part of it I'm interested in.
The topic creator is actually being rather logical.
Although, I think the question in general is in fact the wrong one, thus all of the seemingless angsty and useless answers. Based off of what the OP stated in his ORIGINAL post, instead of asking "What is the point of this game?", the question "What sets this apart from every other MMO that it deserves my money?" should be asked instead...
You might be right on all thoes accounts, but I never said they would be huge successes just they offer enough differences for people who are looking for a non-clone game, although from the buzz on the KOTRO is that it should be ready by the end of the year, or at least thats the impression i get. BTW I'm not looking for anything really, just looking forward to DF and maybe this game once they balance out the rank system so new players can actually stand a chance against every rank in the game and being hero doesn't require having 50 nubs group together to kill it. high rank shouldn't = easy mode
Originally posted by Cynthe He just wants us to do his research for him and not have to lift a finger. OP, No the official site doesn't have much info, but do go look at their fan site program listing and go from there, like we all did
Now that's funny. I generally spend hours reading up on a game before deciding whether to buy it--and sometimes spend those hours to end up concluding that the game looks stupid, and never actually play it. That's far more research in a game than most people will put into it before trying the game.
Looking into a number of other games that are near release (including just past release), I was able to find some good answers to the question that I posed as the title of this thread.
For Aion, it was a lot harder. Looking through the official site, various fan sites, this forum, and various other sources, most of what I found was so generic that it could have been said of a huge number of different games. People excited about the game seem to be of the "this is going to be a great game because, well, we have no idea why, but it just will be" variety. That's why I wasn't able to formulate a more precise question.
But now I think I've got my answer: the game is meant to be a Shiny New Thing for people who are perpetually moving from one game to another, always pursuing the Next Big Thing. And Aion will have the budget and the polish to do that very well, probably selling impressive numbers of boxes early on. Of course, no game can remain the Shiny New Thing for long, so most of those players will move on pretty quickly, when the next big blockbuster comes out.
That doesn't mean that Aion will die or be a commercial failure. It will probably retain a sizeable playerbase, especially in Korea, relying largely on attracting players who haven't played the various games that it borrows heavily from, much the way that WoW does.
But a game where the point of the game doesn't involve game mechanics is not for me.
The pvp is some of the best I have ever seen in an mmo, its fast and hard hitting and if your good at wasd and be able to control it all with flight and ground combat then you sir will be very good at pvp. And the best part is no lag, and i'm playing from half a world away from korea with full settings. And my computer is not top flight.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Lineage 2 collides with WoW and then sprouts wings. By this I mean it will pve like WoW (from what i've seen/read) and it will pvp like Lineage 2, only you will fly and fight. I think it is promissing, but do not know enough to make a real statement. Most MMOs dont really have a point. You could argue it is to get the max gear level etc. In that case the goal of Aion is to get the best castle/pvp rank. You just fight because its fun ^_^. I enjoy Korean games, hope its a success.
Originally posted by Cynthe He just wants us to do his research for him and not have to lift a finger. OP, No the official site doesn't have much info, but do go look at their fan site program listing and go from there, like we all did
Now that's funny. I generally spend hours reading up on a game before deciding whether to buy it--and sometimes spend those hours to end up concluding that the game looks stupid, and never actually play it. That's far more research in a game than most people will put into it before trying the game.
Looking into a number of other games that are near release (including just past release), I was able to find some good answers to the question that I posed as the title of this thread.
For Aion, it was a lot harder. Looking through the official site, various fan sites, this forum, and various other sources, most of what I found was so generic that it could have been said of a huge number of different games. People excited about the game seem to be of the "this is going to be a great game because, well, we have no idea why, but it just will be" variety. That's why I wasn't able to formulate a more precise question.
But now I think I've got my answer: the game is meant to be a Shiny New Thing for people who are perpetually moving from one game to another, always pursuing the Next Big Thing. And Aion will have the budget and the polish to do that very well, probably selling impressive numbers of boxes early on. Of course, no game can remain the Shiny New Thing for long, so most of those players will move on pretty quickly, when the next big blockbuster comes out.
That doesn't mean that Aion will die or be a commercial failure. It will probably retain a sizeable playerbase, especially in Korea, relying largely on attracting players who haven't played the various games that it borrows heavily from, much the way that WoW does.
But a game where the point of the game doesn't involve game mechanics is not for me.
Anyway, thanks for the replies.
It seems to me, if you are still reading these forums, is that its enough like WoW to attract that crowd, enough like FFXI to attract that crowd, but different enough due to the Ai system, character customization, When you chose FFA PVP, and combo system (if you can call it that) to take away subs from the ones it pulls players from.
Play it or don't play it, the choice is yours to make and I don't care one way or the other. All I know is that it plays fast and furious in reguards to pvp. For that only its worth the monthly fee.
fuk yea its a blast in pvpve. The question is can you handle fighting off a mob and a player at the same time or a group of both.
The point of any game is to get your blood pumping when you get stressed out in-game....it happens all the time in aion. Most of the time i'm on the losing end but still its a rush.
That is the point of any game.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Play it or don't play it, the choice is yours to make and I don't care one way or the other. All I know is that it plays fast and furious in reguards to pvp. For that only its worth the monthly fee. fuk yea its a blast in pvpve. The question is can you handle fighting off a mob and a player at the same time or a group of both. The point of any game is to get your blood pumping when you get stressed out in-game....it happens all the time in aion. Most of the time i'm on the losing end but still its a rush. That is the point of any game.
You'd be happy playing any FFA PvP game, unless you want FFA on your terms that is, which most PvE players because they don't want to be questing or boss hunting in the normal game and then have someone kill them to prevent them from completing the quest or steal their boss from them.
Edit: Every game that has FFA PvP is PvPvE, the only difference is the third faction in this game are ran by NPCs only which means that its RvRvR(NPC) so they gave it a fancy name just to make it look diffferent, which it really isn't.
Edit: Every game that has FFA PvP is PvPvE, the only difference is the third faction in this game are ran by NPCs only which means that its RvRvR(NPC) so they gave it a fancy name just to make it look diffferent, which it really isn't.
What fancy name? That's what the style is called.... NCsoft did not coin that term, it's an industry term that TcoS and Fury were using before we even heard of Aion.
Although, I think the question in general is in fact the wrong one, thus all of the seemingless angsty and useless answers. Based off of what the OP stated in his ORIGINAL post, instead of asking "What is the point of this game?", the question "What sets this apart from every other MMO that it deserves my money?" should be asked instead...
That would have been a far better way of putting it. But that's not how he phrased it. Asking what's the point, is asking for angsty posts as far as I'm concerned.
Also after several responses instead of clarifying what he meant, he just attacks the posters. So my conclusion is this is a clever troll post meant to point out just how foolish it is to wait or anticipate a game we have very little news about.
Or OP is just naturally grumpy.. /shrug )
I can't wait for an actual objective new poster in these parts, free cookies for you whoever you are!
Of course, no game can remain the Shiny New Thing for long, so most of those players will move on pretty quickly, when the next big blockbuster comes out.
Wow was a Shiny New Thing when released and it's still going immensely strong and growing. Plenty players still playing it, even through several IP blockbuster releases of established properties. It proved a MMO doesn't bank or need LONG term fans who will stick around for years, which is what I think you're looking for, a game where you can drop roots for 10 years and call 'Home'.
It shows if you have a complete, stable and reliable game with plenty of content, people will come no matter how simple it is. The real world is huge enough to rotate around this player base as long as Blizzard doesn't try and change the formula much. This is something the "innovative" games like Vanguard, Warhammer, AoC, Hellgate, Tabula Rasa, PoTBS, and plenty others that never even made it into a box haven't figured out. The 'innovation' Wow brought was simplicity to gaming.
Think of sports and Micheal Jordan, Lance Armstrong and Micheal Phelps. This is how Wow is; the kings of their courts while they are out by a mile. Now there are other players who do this thing/that thing better, but overall everyone knows who the king is.
The 'next big blockbuster' doesn't come along often. These giants do not come along once every few years, it takes huge amounts of time to pass. There won't be a 'next big blockbuster' in the MMO field for quite some time like Wow because gaming is changing.
MMOs are becoming more highly specialized and niched, and that's a GOOD thing. 200k subs here, 250k there. 300k here, 150k there. Take a look at the MMO list to the left of this webpage. If you cannot find your niche game in all these markets, I simply don't know what to tell you, gaming isn't for you. You don't have to go with the 9 or 11 million sub game if you don't like. Find a good 10k game like A Tale in the Desert or Wurm Online if you want innovation. Just don't expect droves of people to follow you and demand the same thing.
Good luck with your perfect game search. Perhaps when holodecks are invented, you may just find your perfect MMO. Until then, may I suggest the myriad of PC games, consoles and board games for your gaming pleasure?
I really do feel for you and I do hope you find something to play soon. You really sound as if you need a lifesaver with no ships on the horizon.
Well... i dont know if the op is still reading... but in any case... what AIon is doing is what WoW did last generation, taking the tried and true, best parts of popular MMO's throwing them together and then improving on them.
Here's a couple of examples.
Flying is of course seen in many games from WoW, to Perfect World. The flight system in Aion is added, with combat as a bonus (including knockback-anti flight abilities) and best of all.... it's limited flight. You can't keep flapping forever...
"so wait... i don't have a fast travel ability?" Actually, there is a glide ability where you can spread your wings and "float" .
Button combat- same as wow, same as WAR same as CoH... uses combos pretty straight forward.
Graphics-not Cryengine2, but still decent for an mmo (oh, and i personally like the art style)
Guild based pvp-you can get standing for your guild and control fortresses providing your guild with rep and income
Story driven quest line-Complete with cinematics and linear progression right alongside basic quests.
Relatively low amount of grind- Is there grind? It's an mmo... there always will be. Is it Lineage 2? Not by a longshot
Amazing character creation system-possibly the most user friendly in depth system ever created?
There is many more features that i could list, if you want, i'll keep going in another post. Not of these are innovative-persay, however, name an MMO that has all these features thrown together in a single package-this is the attractiveness of Aion.
Although players have many reasons for wanting to try a game.(for me a big thing was the soundtrack and the art style)
It's almost 2010, and I am just not wiling to tolerate clunky graphics while being told that "gameplay is more important than graphics". That excuse won't wash with me any more. I expect my games to have both good graphics and good gameplay. -Quote Isoke(VN boards)
Aion stands out because the game in theory, has taken the best parts of other mmorpgs and aimed to improve on it...one of them is the character ranking system that rises or drops based on pvpve, as everything you do contribute to it and into making your character better, but at the same time there is a limit to how many top-ranked characters there can be so that most of the rest have to rely on skill to keep on rising up.
The graphics are great compared to other existent mmorpgs and hopefully, the programming will be done decently unlike in WAR, so-so graphics demanding more RAM then it should. But overall, all this hype is still based on theory...they do say that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is
Aion stands out because the game in theory, has taken the best parts of other mmorpgs and aimed to improve on it...one of them is the character ranking system that rises or drops based on pvpve, as everything you do contribute to it and into making your character better, but at the same time there is a limit to how many top-ranked characters there can be so that most of the rest have to rely on skill to keep on rising up. The graphics are great compared to other existent mmorpgs and hopefully, the programming will be done decently unlike in WAR, so-so graphics demanding more RAM then it should. But overall, all this hype is still based on theory...they do say that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is
In therory AoC was suppose to work as well. And many people find that game to be pretty graphics thrown over poop.
Of course, no game can remain the Shiny New Thing for long, so most of those players will move on pretty quickly, when the next big blockbuster comes out.
Wow was a Shiny New Thing when released and it's still going immensely strong and growing. Plenty players still playing it, even through several IP blockbuster releases of established properties.
...
I really do feel for you and I do hope you find something to play soon. You really sound as if you need a lifesaver with no ships on the horizon.
A lot of games have been a Shiny New Thing, but many of them have also been something else. I don't care to follow the crowd on the latest rush to play some hot new game. Indeed, my capitalization of the concept is intended to be mildly derogatory.
In the case of WoW, the point was easy soloing up to the level cap (which is common today but was less so at the time), making success or failure almost entirely dependent on level, gear, and group/raid size, and heavily polishing the game. That last one and effectively marketing the game to people who hadn't previously played an MMORPG are the biggest reasons why WoW has been as successful as it has been.
And no, I'm not stuck with no game at all to play. I firmly believe in never quitting a game to go play some other game. Rather, quit a game because you want to quit that particular game.
The problem is that if you quit a game with nothing else in mind to play, then you're stuck fishing for a new game to play. Better to have some other game in mind, and order it when you can see the end of the line coming on the previous game, so you've got the next one in hand when ready to move on.
Indeed, not having some other game in mind can make one hesitant to quit the previous game; I stuck with WoW way too long, and in retrospect, it seems absurd that there have only been three other online games that I played for longer than WoW.
But just having one game in mind as the next one to try can be insufficient. The next game in mind might turn out to be awful and not last long. Or it could remove itself entirely, as Tabula Rasa did shortly before I got around to trying it.
At the moment, I'm playing Wizard101, which is pretty good, but also pretty short, so it's not going to last long. Even with Dragonspyre coming out soon, I'll probably be out of content within a few months. After that, The Chronicles of Spellborn is the only imminent release I've found that looks likely to be something I'd really like. I'll go back to Guild Wars at some point, but I'd rather wait about another year on that; getting ten characters to Legendary Guardian is quite enough of one game for a while.
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Is there any way to have a quote box for more than one person in a single reply, rather than making separate quote boxes? Failing that, I'll just use horizontal lines.
Eruiel said:
"Aion stands out because the game in theory, has taken the best parts of other mmorpgs and aimed to improve on it."
But that's kind of my point. Most games try to do that at least in theory. The problem is that one cannot abstractly improve on previous games in some generic sense. You can only make particular changes that some people would recognize as improvements.
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A couple people mention the AI as being something good. The usual aggro system has long annoyed me, as it struck me more as mobs trying to go through the motions of pretending to fight and then die, rather than actually trying to kill you.
So there's plenty of room to improve on AI of previous games. How does Aion propose to do so? I realize this is a complicated question, but I'd appreciate a link to something explaining Aion's AI system and what NCsoft hopes could make it something special.
The cool thing about pvp is that the other players really are trying to kill you, not trying to get manipulated into doing something stupid. Unfortunately, it usually leads to whoever is higher level, has better gear, and/or has more players on their side in the battle winning.
Someone mentioned that Aion was supposed to have pvp be rather skill-based. Is that as in, the skill of the human sitting behind the computer, or merely the more complicated level grinding in which you level a bunch of different attributes independently that people often refer to as "skill-based"?
And does the game cap how strong you can become somehow, to prevent level, gear, and numbers from dominating? Most of what I've read seems to say no, which would make the pvp quite far from being skill-based. When people try to claim that it's not that unbalancing, they usually mean that it's actually quite bad.
Let's try to focus on why people quit games first.
Most of the players will use "boredom" as the main reason to quit a game, meaning, the game failed to entertain them.
Some others quit games because of certain features and because the game isn't working as intended by the devs, sometimes, devs add way too many features, and by doing that, they are separating the population into different fields, and sometimes, those features slap each other.
Some people quit games because they didn't know how to anticipate what was coming by reading what devs explained, looking at the whole picture is quite complicated, trying to find out how things work before seeing them working is quite complicated, that leads to dissapointment usually.
Many people quit cause of bugs and lack of polish.
Some others also quit cause they don't know what to do once they've achieved everything or almost everything.
External factors such as community and balance issues would come last.
Now, what does Aion have to make people stay after buying the game?
Aion has the ingredients to be an entertaining game, it has a developed PvE system, the combat has potential and is a step further into the same old concept, which means it's easy to get into, but also has a luck factor and makes you stay active while using your skills. Aion has that addictive factor many new games have been missing.
Aion's features work nicely with each other, for example, some people would come here and ask for an arena rewards system and what not, what they wouldn't see is that they'd be killing the world pvp slowly by dividing the pvp population. As it is right now, the game design is thought out and features mesh properly.
The game at its current status is hella polished, the servers perform incredibly, the massive fights are as massive as they can be, the range of computers working with those graphics is incredibly high considering the quality, things like that are basic for a game to start well.
The endgame? Right now it's about getting higher in PvP ranks in order to use it as an advantage against people, and about sieges, adding Raids and instances to the mix. Your typical endgame pre-expansion. By the time it releases here, it will most likely have the 5 levels of endgame content missing on the Korean release also.
The community and external factors are impossible to foresee, so I won't bother.
In short, players think their reasons to play games are quite shallow, but in the end it's always about packages, they think that certain feature in their previous game was awesome, but they wouldn't have been playing if the entire package didn't work out. Aion has a nice package of features to start with, and that, sure is different, considering the turds we've been receiving lately from the MMO industry.
If that isn't a reason to at least try the game out, then there's no real reason, cause the rest will be niche stuff that some people like and others dont.
If you want us to tell you what will you like in this game, then start saying what did you like in previous games. You already know the basics are there, now tell us your personal likings.
IMO the point of every game should be to have fun with it.Isnt that what its all about?Having fun?If for example the PvP fights of Aion is fun and make me happy,then that is its point.
PvPvE - a method of creating realm-based PvP that doesn't suffer from the general flaws of population imbalance. They are promising keeps that have influence on the game, and elite mobs in the PvP zone to bring in players and generally add risk-reward to PvP
Interesting combat - they've worked on refining combat mechanics, feedback has been generally positive. From flying on down, they're promising more involved combat than most MMOs.
Interesting zones worth exploring - between flying and the effort they've put into the zones, this is a world that they want you to explore.
PvE - They're angling for rewarding group content with a high challenge level
Stigmas and character customization - they're trying to make unique characters while leaving open the abilities of the class. Instead of essentially taking away class abilities, they offer new abilities that you can learn to make your character unique.
This is an interesting premise, I would like to see it in action.
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
I cant believe that this is another one of these people saying that if a game is not innovative or different then whats the point in playing it. There is only one reason why people play any type of game whether it be FPS, MMO, Stratagy or Sports and that reason is to have a fun and enjoyable time. That is the reason why we want AION. It looks like it will be that game that will be fun and a game that we will actually enjoy playing.
Improvement works if the game stays on the right track and doesn't suddenly take a turn for the worse, WoW abandoning its old ranking system was a example of that. You had a handful of top ranked people with the best possible gear, that's not overpowered or exaggerated...but instead of a ranking system that meant for most of the player base to rely on skill and not gear(since equal rank gear was the same), WoW chose to have players rely on itemization, which in my op was a bad judgement call since it basically meant that anyone with enough time on their hands can eventually leech off some pvp equipment and newly arrived people wont stand a chance not because of skill but because they lack gear
Hopefully Aion adopts a simllar ranking system and promotes skill over gear rather than the contrary, and improve from it...fun is when you are sure you beat that player with your skills rather then because you had more time to farm gear then him
Nobody can accurately point out if this game will indeed stand out from the rest, we hope it does since many before it promised so much but in the end failed so badly to deliver what was promised
Comments
Well, there's not a big buzz on MO, I wouldn't bet the ranch on that. Little info about it coming out, the boards aren't moving much. Probably Niche unless its working VERY properly and bug/lag/balance issue free.
Darkfall. I hope this game comes out and is good, I'd definitely like to try it. But this one you'll have to agree is a "wait and see". You cannot seriously bank a lot of hope until its out, released and working properly. I am encouraged by things I read from The Noob reviews, but it's not actually in the box yet, so I can't count it. At any rate even if sucessful, this DEFINITELY is Niche. Everyone knows this.
JGE I don't think is going to surplant EVE. There might be some waiting to try it, but this is not the game people are waiting for in 2009. Most people already have proven that with a very good game such as EVE, they simply don't want to spend hours/hours/hours in cold dark space. Again, even if this game is great and functional, Niche. Space MMOs are not gigantic sellers.
KOTRO I do not think will be released in 2009 at all. Too big and too much to do yet I think. This one they will want to take their time releasing so you will not see a release ala Warhammer/AoC. They definitely have been watching those others flounder and will not make those mistakes of beta games being released to the masses with a lot of pre-hype. Don't want to upset Lucas; too much force in that one.
Don't look for 2009.
The Agency. Cash shop game? We know most MMO players at least in the NA hemisphere do NOT like cash shop games much or games with this type of product in it. Look at SOE's current announcement of cash shop items and how it's being received. This will probably open with moderate numbers if it gets the padded reviews like Warhammer got, but unless they can REALLY do something with this, it's gonna hover. This game will definitely be a Niche game.
The etc games I assume you mean F2Ps. Nuff said about those.
Aion has a WoW influence as all modern MMOs pretty much do. The difference between Aion and all those above games you listed?
Aion is right now as we speak, and has been racking up fantastic sales numbers to it TARGET audience already. You have to know that if anyone from NA/EU or elsewhere buys this game, that's just like an added bonus to NCsoft. They already are meeting their sales projections. (Probably blowing them out). So even if only 100k like Aion between EA/EU/CN, won't matter. The game will still be a huge hit. Those games you listed above cannot say that. Almost each one would be happy with 250k, except for KOTOR.
So again.. who cares if there are balancing issues.. there's still at least 3-4 months before it hits the shores here. This game does not have to be perfect to win. It already won. If you don't play it cause the pvp isn't balanced, they will not miss you or the millions of others outside the Far East.
I do take comfort in that.. knowing a game I'm waiting to play will actually be in a box very soon and they already have pretty much nailed down the part of it I'm interested in.
Good luck with your search!
"TO MICHAEL!"
Sigh.
The topic creator is actually being rather logical.
Although, I think the question in general is in fact the wrong one, thus all of the seemingless angsty and useless answers. Based off of what the OP stated in his ORIGINAL post, instead of asking "What is the point of this game?", the question "What sets this apart from every other MMO that it deserves my money?" should be asked instead...
Snip: Good luck with your search!
You might be right on all thoes accounts, but I never said they would be huge successes just they offer enough differences for people who are looking for a non-clone game, although from the buzz on the KOTRO is that it should be ready by the end of the year, or at least thats the impression i get. BTW I'm not looking for anything really, just looking forward to DF and maybe this game once they balance out the rank system so new players can actually stand a chance against every rank in the game and being hero doesn't require having 50 nubs group together to kill it. high rank shouldn't = easy mode
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher
Now that's funny. I generally spend hours reading up on a game before deciding whether to buy it--and sometimes spend those hours to end up concluding that the game looks stupid, and never actually play it. That's far more research in a game than most people will put into it before trying the game.
Looking into a number of other games that are near release (including just past release), I was able to find some good answers to the question that I posed as the title of this thread.
For Aion, it was a lot harder. Looking through the official site, various fan sites, this forum, and various other sources, most of what I found was so generic that it could have been said of a huge number of different games. People excited about the game seem to be of the "this is going to be a great game because, well, we have no idea why, but it just will be" variety. That's why I wasn't able to formulate a more precise question.
But now I think I've got my answer: the game is meant to be a Shiny New Thing for people who are perpetually moving from one game to another, always pursuing the Next Big Thing. And Aion will have the budget and the polish to do that very well, probably selling impressive numbers of boxes early on. Of course, no game can remain the Shiny New Thing for long, so most of those players will move on pretty quickly, when the next big blockbuster comes out.
That doesn't mean that Aion will die or be a commercial failure. It will probably retain a sizeable playerbase, especially in Korea, relying largely on attracting players who haven't played the various games that it borrows heavily from, much the way that WoW does.
But a game where the point of the game doesn't involve game mechanics is not for me.
Anyway, thanks for the replies.
The pvp is some of the best I have ever seen in an mmo, its fast and hard hitting and if your good at wasd and be able to control it all with flight and ground combat then you sir will be very good at pvp. And the best part is no lag, and i'm playing from half a world away from korea with full settings. And my computer is not top flight.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
Lineage 2 collides with WoW and then sprouts wings. By this I mean it will pve like WoW (from what i've seen/read) and it will pvp like Lineage 2, only you will fly and fight. I think it is promissing, but do not know enough to make a real statement. Most MMOs dont really have a point. You could argue it is to get the max gear level etc. In that case the goal of Aion is to get the best castle/pvp rank. You just fight because its fun ^_^. I enjoy Korean games, hope its a success.
Aerial Combat, thats what flying mean lol.
Now that's funny. I generally spend hours reading up on a game before deciding whether to buy it--and sometimes spend those hours to end up concluding that the game looks stupid, and never actually play it. That's far more research in a game than most people will put into it before trying the game.
Looking into a number of other games that are near release (including just past release), I was able to find some good answers to the question that I posed as the title of this thread.
For Aion, it was a lot harder. Looking through the official site, various fan sites, this forum, and various other sources, most of what I found was so generic that it could have been said of a huge number of different games. People excited about the game seem to be of the "this is going to be a great game because, well, we have no idea why, but it just will be" variety. That's why I wasn't able to formulate a more precise question.
But now I think I've got my answer: the game is meant to be a Shiny New Thing for people who are perpetually moving from one game to another, always pursuing the Next Big Thing. And Aion will have the budget and the polish to do that very well, probably selling impressive numbers of boxes early on. Of course, no game can remain the Shiny New Thing for long, so most of those players will move on pretty quickly, when the next big blockbuster comes out.
That doesn't mean that Aion will die or be a commercial failure. It will probably retain a sizeable playerbase, especially in Korea, relying largely on attracting players who haven't played the various games that it borrows heavily from, much the way that WoW does.
But a game where the point of the game doesn't involve game mechanics is not for me.
Anyway, thanks for the replies.
It seems to me, if you are still reading these forums, is that its enough like WoW to attract that crowd, enough like FFXI to attract that crowd, but different enough due to the Ai system, character customization, When you chose FFA PVP, and combo system (if you can call it that) to take away subs from the ones it pulls players from.
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher
Play it or don't play it, the choice is yours to make and I don't care one way or the other. All I know is that it plays fast and furious in reguards to pvp. For that only its worth the monthly fee.
fuk yea its a blast in pvpve. The question is can you handle fighting off a mob and a player at the same time or a group of both.
The point of any game is to get your blood pumping when you get stressed out in-game....it happens all the time in aion. Most of the time i'm on the losing end but still its a rush.
That is the point of any game.
Velika: City of Wheels: Among the mortal races, the humans were the only one that never built cities or great empires; a curse laid upon them by their creator, Gidd, forced them to wander as nomads for twenty centuries...
You'd be happy playing any FFA PvP game, unless you want FFA on your terms that is, which most PvE players because they don't want to be questing or boss hunting in the normal game and then have someone kill them to prevent them from completing the quest or steal their boss from them.
Edit: Every game that has FFA PvP is PvPvE, the only difference is the third faction in this game are ran by NPCs only which means that its RvRvR(NPC) so they gave it a fancy name just to make it look diffferent, which it really isn't.
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher
What fancy name? That's what the style is called.... NCsoft did not coin that term, it's an industry term that TcoS and Fury were using before we even heard of Aion.
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That would have been a far better way of putting it. But that's not how he phrased it. Asking what's the point, is asking for angsty posts as far as I'm concerned.
Also after several responses instead of clarifying what he meant, he just attacks the posters. So my conclusion is this is a clever troll post meant to point out just how foolish it is to wait or anticipate a game we have very little news about.
Or OP is just naturally grumpy.. /shrug
)
I can't wait for an actual objective new poster in these parts, free cookies for you whoever you are!
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Wow was a Shiny New Thing when released and it's still going immensely strong and growing. Plenty players still playing it, even through several IP blockbuster releases of established properties. It proved a MMO doesn't bank or need LONG term fans who will stick around for years, which is what I think you're looking for, a game where you can drop roots for 10 years and call 'Home'.
It shows if you have a complete, stable and reliable game with plenty of content, people will come no matter how simple it is. The real world is huge enough to rotate around this player base as long as Blizzard doesn't try and change the formula much. This is something the "innovative" games like Vanguard, Warhammer, AoC, Hellgate, Tabula Rasa, PoTBS, and plenty others that never even made it into a box haven't figured out. The 'innovation' Wow brought was simplicity to gaming.
Think of sports and Micheal Jordan, Lance Armstrong and Micheal Phelps. This is how Wow is; the kings of their courts while they are out by a mile. Now there are other players who do this thing/that thing better, but overall everyone knows who the king is.
The 'next big blockbuster' doesn't come along often. These giants do not come along once every few years, it takes huge amounts of time to pass. There won't be a 'next big blockbuster' in the MMO field for quite some time like Wow because gaming is changing.
MMOs are becoming more highly specialized and niched, and that's a GOOD thing. 200k subs here, 250k there. 300k here, 150k there. Take a look at the MMO list to the left of this webpage. If you cannot find your niche game in all these markets, I simply don't know what to tell you, gaming isn't for you. You don't have to go with the 9 or 11 million sub game if you don't like. Find a good 10k game like A Tale in the Desert or Wurm Online if you want innovation. Just don't expect droves of people to follow you and demand the same thing.
Good luck with your perfect game search. Perhaps when holodecks are invented, you may just find your perfect MMO. Until then, may I suggest the myriad of PC games, consoles and board games for your gaming pleasure?
I really do feel for you and I do hope you find something to play soon. You really sound as if you need a lifesaver with no ships on the horizon.
"TO MICHAEL!"
Well... i dont know if the op is still reading... but in any case... what AIon is doing is what WoW did last generation, taking the tried and true, best parts of popular MMO's throwing them together and then improving on them.
Here's a couple of examples.
Flying is of course seen in many games from WoW, to Perfect World. The flight system in Aion is added, with combat as a bonus (including knockback-anti flight abilities) and best of all.... it's limited flight. You can't keep flapping forever...
"so wait... i don't have a fast travel ability?" Actually, there is a glide ability where you can spread your wings and "float" .
Button combat- same as wow, same as WAR same as CoH... uses combos pretty straight forward.
Graphics-not Cryengine2, but still decent for an mmo (oh, and i personally like the art style)
Guild based pvp-you can get standing for your guild and control fortresses providing your guild with rep and income
Story driven quest line-Complete with cinematics and linear progression right alongside basic quests.
Relatively low amount of grind- Is there grind? It's an mmo... there always will be. Is it Lineage 2? Not by a longshot
Amazing character creation system-possibly the most user friendly in depth system ever created?
There is many more features that i could list, if you want, i'll keep going in another post. Not of these are innovative-persay, however, name an MMO that has all these features thrown together in a single package-this is the attractiveness of Aion.
Although players have many reasons for wanting to try a game.(for me a big thing was the soundtrack and the art style)
It's almost 2010, and I am just not wiling to tolerate clunky graphics while being told that "gameplay is more important than graphics". That excuse won't wash with me any more. I expect my games to have both good graphics and good gameplay.
-Quote Isoke(VN boards)
Aion stands out because the game in theory, has taken the best parts of other mmorpgs and aimed to improve on it...one of them is the character ranking system that rises or drops based on pvpve, as everything you do contribute to it and into making your character better, but at the same time there is a limit to how many top-ranked characters there can be so that most of the rest have to rely on skill to keep on rising up.
The graphics are great compared to other existent mmorpgs and hopefully, the programming will be done decently unlike in WAR, so-so graphics demanding more RAM then it should. But overall, all this hype is still based on theory...they do say that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is
In therory AoC was suppose to work as well. And many people find that game to be pretty graphics thrown over poop.
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher
Anyone with half a brain could have realized AoC was trash in closed beta.
The PvP is apparently shite, but I'll defend AoC on immersion and story factors. This they do well.
In fact it not be a bad idea for them to quit trying to make MMOs and just give us more Longest Journey stories.... What a waste of development.
I still like AoC, but only for the graphics and the talent of the writers.
Anyhoo sorry for off topicness.
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The PvP is apparently shite, but I'll defend AoC on immersion and story factors. This they do well.
In fact it not be a bad idea for them to quit trying to make MMOs and just give us more Longest Journey stories.... What a waste of development.
I still like AoC, but only for the graphics and the talent of the writers.
Anyhoo sorry for off topicness.
PvP is skill based in AoC, supposedly, like its suppose to be in Aion.
Games:
Currently playing:Nothing
Will play: Darkfall: Unholy Wars
Past games:
Guild Wars 2 - Xpiher Duminous
Xpiher's GW2
GW 1 - Xpiher Duminous
Darkfall - Xpiher Duminous (NA) retired
AoC - Xpiher (Tyranny) retired
Warhammer - Xpiher
Wow was a Shiny New Thing when released and it's still going immensely strong and growing. Plenty players still playing it, even through several IP blockbuster releases of established properties.
...
I really do feel for you and I do hope you find something to play soon. You really sound as if you need a lifesaver with no ships on the horizon.
A lot of games have been a Shiny New Thing, but many of them have also been something else. I don't care to follow the crowd on the latest rush to play some hot new game. Indeed, my capitalization of the concept is intended to be mildly derogatory.
In the case of WoW, the point was easy soloing up to the level cap (which is common today but was less so at the time), making success or failure almost entirely dependent on level, gear, and group/raid size, and heavily polishing the game. That last one and effectively marketing the game to people who hadn't previously played an MMORPG are the biggest reasons why WoW has been as successful as it has been.
And no, I'm not stuck with no game at all to play. I firmly believe in never quitting a game to go play some other game. Rather, quit a game because you want to quit that particular game.
The problem is that if you quit a game with nothing else in mind to play, then you're stuck fishing for a new game to play. Better to have some other game in mind, and order it when you can see the end of the line coming on the previous game, so you've got the next one in hand when ready to move on.
Indeed, not having some other game in mind can make one hesitant to quit the previous game; I stuck with WoW way too long, and in retrospect, it seems absurd that there have only been three other online games that I played for longer than WoW.
But just having one game in mind as the next one to try can be insufficient. The next game in mind might turn out to be awful and not last long. Or it could remove itself entirely, as Tabula Rasa did shortly before I got around to trying it.
At the moment, I'm playing Wizard101, which is pretty good, but also pretty short, so it's not going to last long. Even with Dragonspyre coming out soon, I'll probably be out of content within a few months. After that, The Chronicles of Spellborn is the only imminent release I've found that looks likely to be something I'd really like. I'll go back to Guild Wars at some point, but I'd rather wait about another year on that; getting ten characters to Legendary Guardian is quite enough of one game for a while.
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Is there any way to have a quote box for more than one person in a single reply, rather than making separate quote boxes? Failing that, I'll just use horizontal lines.
Eruiel said:
"Aion stands out because the game in theory, has taken the best parts of other mmorpgs and aimed to improve on it."
But that's kind of my point. Most games try to do that at least in theory. The problem is that one cannot abstractly improve on previous games in some generic sense. You can only make particular changes that some people would recognize as improvements.
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A couple people mention the AI as being something good. The usual aggro system has long annoyed me, as it struck me more as mobs trying to go through the motions of pretending to fight and then die, rather than actually trying to kill you.
So there's plenty of room to improve on AI of previous games. How does Aion propose to do so? I realize this is a complicated question, but I'd appreciate a link to something explaining Aion's AI system and what NCsoft hopes could make it something special.
The cool thing about pvp is that the other players really are trying to kill you, not trying to get manipulated into doing something stupid. Unfortunately, it usually leads to whoever is higher level, has better gear, and/or has more players on their side in the battle winning.
Someone mentioned that Aion was supposed to have pvp be rather skill-based. Is that as in, the skill of the human sitting behind the computer, or merely the more complicated level grinding in which you level a bunch of different attributes independently that people often refer to as "skill-based"?
And does the game cap how strong you can become somehow, to prevent level, gear, and numbers from dominating? Most of what I've read seems to say no, which would make the pvp quite far from being skill-based. When people try to claim that it's not that unbalancing, they usually mean that it's actually quite bad.
Let's try to focus on why people quit games first.
Most of the players will use "boredom" as the main reason to quit a game, meaning, the game failed to entertain them.
Some others quit games because of certain features and because the game isn't working as intended by the devs, sometimes, devs add way too many features, and by doing that, they are separating the population into different fields, and sometimes, those features slap each other.
Some people quit games because they didn't know how to anticipate what was coming by reading what devs explained, looking at the whole picture is quite complicated, trying to find out how things work before seeing them working is quite complicated, that leads to dissapointment usually.
Many people quit cause of bugs and lack of polish.
Some others also quit cause they don't know what to do once they've achieved everything or almost everything.
External factors such as community and balance issues would come last.
Now, what does Aion have to make people stay after buying the game?
Aion has the ingredients to be an entertaining game, it has a developed PvE system, the combat has potential and is a step further into the same old concept, which means it's easy to get into, but also has a luck factor and makes you stay active while using your skills. Aion has that addictive factor many new games have been missing.
Aion's features work nicely with each other, for example, some people would come here and ask for an arena rewards system and what not, what they wouldn't see is that they'd be killing the world pvp slowly by dividing the pvp population. As it is right now, the game design is thought out and features mesh properly.
The game at its current status is hella polished, the servers perform incredibly, the massive fights are as massive as they can be, the range of computers working with those graphics is incredibly high considering the quality, things like that are basic for a game to start well.
The endgame? Right now it's about getting higher in PvP ranks in order to use it as an advantage against people, and about sieges, adding Raids and instances to the mix. Your typical endgame pre-expansion. By the time it releases here, it will most likely have the 5 levels of endgame content missing on the Korean release also.
The community and external factors are impossible to foresee, so I won't bother.
In short, players think their reasons to play games are quite shallow, but in the end it's always about packages, they think that certain feature in their previous game was awesome, but they wouldn't have been playing if the entire package didn't work out. Aion has a nice package of features to start with, and that, sure is different, considering the turds we've been receiving lately from the MMO industry.
If that isn't a reason to at least try the game out, then there's no real reason, cause the rest will be niche stuff that some people like and others dont.
If you want us to tell you what will you like in this game, then start saying what did you like in previous games. You already know the basics are there, now tell us your personal likings.
IMO the point of every game should be to have fun with it.Isnt that what its all about?Having fun?If for example the PvP fights of Aion is fun and make me happy,then that is its point.
The point of a game is to have fun.
The ways Aion intends to accomplish this are:
PvPvE - a method of creating realm-based PvP that doesn't suffer from the general flaws of population imbalance. They are promising keeps that have influence on the game, and elite mobs in the PvP zone to bring in players and generally add risk-reward to PvP
Interesting combat - they've worked on refining combat mechanics, feedback has been generally positive. From flying on down, they're promising more involved combat than most MMOs.
Interesting zones worth exploring - between flying and the effort they've put into the zones, this is a world that they want you to explore.
PvE - They're angling for rewarding group content with a high challenge level
Stigmas and character customization - they're trying to make unique characters while leaving open the abilities of the class. Instead of essentially taking away class abilities, they offer new abilities that you can learn to make your character unique.
This is an interesting premise, I would like to see it in action.
In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.
-Thomas Jefferson
I cant believe that this is another one of these people saying that if a game is not innovative or different then whats the point in playing it. There is only one reason why people play any type of game whether it be FPS, MMO, Stratagy or Sports and that reason is to have a fun and enjoyable time. That is the reason why we want AION. It looks like it will be that game that will be fun and a game that we will actually enjoy playing.
Improvement works if the game stays on the right track and doesn't suddenly take a turn for the worse, WoW abandoning its old ranking system was a example of that. You had a handful of top ranked people with the best possible gear, that's not overpowered or exaggerated...but instead of a ranking system that meant for most of the player base to rely on skill and not gear(since equal rank gear was the same), WoW chose to have players rely on itemization, which in my op was a bad judgement call since it basically meant that anyone with enough time on their hands can eventually leech off some pvp equipment and newly arrived people wont stand a chance not because of skill but because they lack gear
Hopefully Aion adopts a simllar ranking system and promotes skill over gear rather than the contrary, and improve from it...fun is when you are sure you beat that player with your skills rather then because you had more time to farm gear then him
Nobody can accurately point out if this game will indeed stand out from the rest, we hope it does since many before it promised so much but in the end failed so badly to deliver what was promised