Oyayu

With the Penny Arcade Expo 2008 (PAX) done and dusted, it’s time to trawl through the various blog posts and articles that have come out of it.

One in particular that caught my eye was the two Aion videos that have been doing the rounds. Now, Aion is an MMO that took my interest late last year when there was very limited information about regarding it, apart from some old gameplay videos on YouTube and a few tidbits of information. Having checked out the website again recently I can see that a lot more information is now available.

The thing that is especially striking about Aion is its visuals, there is no denying that Aion is a very, very beautiful game. I’ve included a few short clips from the videos that have been released below so you can get a rough idea what I’m talking about.

The game itself is set across 3 factions, two of which are playable, Asmodian and Elyos are the two playable factions, while Balaur is the common enemy. So you effectively end up with an RvRvR situation, at least this is my understanding.

You start off with 4 basic classes, which each spout 2 further advanced classes, much like a toned down version of what is available in another NCsoft title, Tabula Rasa. More on NCsoft later though. I don’t know if you’re forced to choose an advancement on your basic class, but I would assume so, giving you a total of 8 classes to choose from, which is enough.

I could make a few enemies by saying that NCsoft haven’t produced a title worth playing. Lineage and it’s followup were both mindless grind fests in my eyes, Tabula Rasa was a (frankly) terrible game which lacked in virtually all departments, City of Heroes / Villains and Guild Wars are the only two titles remotely worth experimenting with I believe, however I wouldn’t rate either of these games as serious MMO titles.

So, to me at least, NCsoft have a history of producing pretty games with lacking gameplay… Will Aion just be the next step in this? Or have they finally learnt their lesson and produced a game which is both welcoming to new players, but also including the depth and engagement which is required to hold players? I believe the term is “easy to pick up, difficult to master” - which to me is what MMOs are all about.

With varying sources on release dates for Aion, and Beta not yet underway - nor even a rough date for when Beta will be starting, it could be some time before we get to find out for ourselves.

The Early Days - Final Fantay XI

I feel it best to start somewhere back near the beginning. My first serious MMO was Final Fantasy XI, I had tinkered with various ones before getting hooked here, including Everquest and Lineage - neither of them really kept my attention for more than an hour so, that was until the day I heard about Final Fantasy XI.

I have been a massive fan of the Final Fantasy series for a long long time, even moderating the late MGON Final Fantay forums for a few years, so the prospect of a new Final Fantasy game was all it took, the fact it was an MMORPG, at the time, was mearly a side note for me. This soon changed.

Without ranting on too much, I played FFXI for a long time, and achieved virtually all that was there to be achieved, including getting a craft 100, which as anyone who has played FFXI will tell you, is no easy task.

Following various deviations, including being a founding member of what has become arguably the most successful European Linkshell, and creating another character (not as common in FFXI as in other games due to the job switching system) - I eventually grew bored of FFXI. However my MMO flame had been sparked, and I was hooked.

World of Warcraft

It didn’t take me long to find World of Warcraft, and starting up on an RP-PvP server with a group of people was probably a wise decision, the community feel of FFXI is not quite as present in WoW, and being with a group of friendly people from the start really made my transition into the game much easier.

I didn’t take WoW as seriously as I took FFXI, thankfully, I levelled to 60 with some ease considering it was a PvP server, but I didn’t really partake in the end-game activities initially.

After a period of boredom, trying out some other games, and an eventual server change to play with a good friend who I played FFXI with, I tinkered about with a bit of raiding, and eventually quit right before The Burning Crusade came out…

Lord of the Rings Online

LOTRO was well hyped, and after playing some beta and pre-release, come the final release I was ready to get going. I was levelling a Minstrel with the friend from WoW, and FFXI, who incidentaly also has a blog at schozie.com, and also levelling a Burglar on the side.

The game was good looking, and somewhat engaging for a while, however once both those classes reached the level cap, there was really not a lot left to do. We grew bored, and one day at work we decided we should just buy The Burning Crusade and make us a couple of Blood Elves. So that’s exactly what we did…

The Burning Crusade

Schozie decided to make a Paladin, as he hadn’t been able to be one Horde side when we played the last time, and I took up Hunter. I pretty much shot to 70, got some gear, and decided it was time to raid. While raiding my way through Karazhan, Gruul’s Lair, Maggy, SSC, and TK, I managed to pick up some pretty good friends and have a fair amount of fun, more fun than I’d had in my previous end-game activities anyway.

On the side I also got my Rogue from 60 to 70, and levelled a Druid to 70 as well. I also have a 61 Warrior, who is just a pain in the arse to level, so it’s anyones guess if she makes it to 70 before Wrath of the Lich King.

The Future

Believe it or not, that is the brief introduction to my MMO history, but that’s not really why this blog exists… I want to talk about the future of the game genre, the games I play, the games I want to play, and anything else that takes my fancy.

The biggest two players coming up right now are of course Warhammer Online, and the WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King… So I guess that is where my focus will lie mainly, however there are of course some far off prospects to consider, such as Aion, Chronicles of Spellborn, and Stargate Worlds.