Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Play Aion MMORPG

As the last closed beta event ended last August 17, all eager hands are set for the game’s full release in September. The game enjoyed a major positive reaction from MMO players, switchers or newbies alike. If you  haven’t played in any of the past six beta events, then you don’t have that much idea about what Aion really is. Allow me to give you a quick rundown of the game’s major highlights and give you an idea what to expect from the game. (Arranged in no particular order). Read on the top 10 reasons why you should play Aion Online after the jump.

Background
Aion is an MMORPG developed by Korean company NCSoft. The game was first released in South Korea November last year, then followed by China on April of this year. It is set to be released in September to cater  European and North American audiences. Due to the success of NCSoft’s previous titles Lineage I and II, Aion has become the most anticipated game in South Korea ever since its announcement. At the end of 2008, it was  chosen as the “Best Korean Game of the Year” for its “epic scale, immersive story, and stunning graphics and sound design”. Now, it has become one of the most anticipated MMO titles for this year.

Story
The game’s story is set in the planet Atreia that was split in two due to the cataclysmic events involving the Tower of Eternity. Long ago, the god Aion, ruler of Atreia created the powerful dragonic Draken race to protect  the humans. Time passed and the Draken started to rebel against him, prompting him to create 12 Empyrean Lords. These powerful protectors erected a barrier to protect the humans from the Draken, which are later known as the Balaur. Humans later learned how to harness the power of aether, which enabled them to become Daevas – winged beings under the leadership of the Empyrean lords. Ten of these lords gathered an army of  Daevas against the Balaur while the other two remained to serve as guardians of the Tower of Eternity – the embodiment of the god Aion.

After a failed attempted peace talk initiated by the Tower Guardians, the Balaur invited inside the tower launched an attack, prompting the guardians to sacrifice themselves – severing the world into two. Then born the two selectable races in the game. The Elyos, pure angelic beings resided in the lower half of the world. The abundance of light gave birth to lustrous vegetation and majestic landscapes. Asmodians reside in the harsher yet alluring upper part of the world. Exposed to the tower fragments and the dark, freezing world, Asmodians evolved talons as feet, darker complexion and red eyes t adapt their unfriendly environment.

1.  Engaging atmosphere, beautiful imaginative environment.
Aion features a sublime, ethereal fantasy world, blending Eastern and Western cultures. It is as if you’re in a breathing, living concept art. As you traverse the vast world of the game, you’re sure to find eye-catching
landscapes, exotic flora and fauna, interesting landmarks and beautifully rendered locations. The weather and time of the day changes realistically, immersing players in the world. Players may also change perspectives at a roll of their mouse scrollers. You can zoom out for a full, third-person view of your character or zoom in for a full first person view of your surroundings. You can even view NPCs, enemies and other objects up close in full  detail.  The game is built with CryEngine, and NCSoft sure know how to fully utilize its power and bring the very detailed, high quality world to life – without requiring high-end PC components. Players using mid-range cards  should be able to appreciate the wonderful world of Aion even in medium-low settings.

Illustration 1:

2. Enhanced Character Customization
It is every player’s dream to create a unique character worthy of calling their own. Aion offers a powerful character customization tool that players can use to directly modify almost every aspect of their character. Aside from the presets, players can modify smaller details including the daunting yet rewarding task of facial reconstruction. Players can also define their characters’ heights – so don’t be surprised to see armored kids
running around with massive weapons strapped on their backs.

3. Partying Up Encouraged
You won’t be able to go far in Aion as a lone wolf, since some of the missions will require you to team up with other players, simply because the common mobs are just too powerful (even if they’re at the same level as you) or you’ll need to defeat insanely difficult bosses that requires several characters to take down. The party system of Aion is very effective and player-friendly that partying up with others never seemed to be a hassle. For example, players can share objectives and loot. If one quest requires them to kill a boss, it doesn’t matter who in the group kills lands the finishing blow to it; as long as all party members have the same objective, it will be completed or updated for everybody. Experience, kinah (game’s currency) and items are evenly distributed. Rare items are put up in an automatic dice roll, with the highest number declared the victor and the owner of the item. Besides, “elite” enemies drop high amounts of exp and loot, making party grinding a mutual benefit for everybody in a group. And with the variety of classes in the game, players will learn to take up their roles in the team and cooperate to win battles.

4. Characters have wings
Unlike in other games, wings in Aion are not just for display but for practical use as well. Though players can only fly on selected areas of the map, just find a slope or an elevated area and “glide” with your wings. This
provides an easier way of escape or faster way to travel. Later in the game, you’ll be introduced to aerial combat, where you need to fight other players and enemies while airborne. Flying (and gliding) in Aion is not long-lasting however as it consumes “Flight Time” (default is 60 seconds). It is replenished while on the ground. There are also some areas in the game where you need to fly to meet up certain NPCs and gatherables. Also later in the game, players can access more spectacular wings to attach to their characters, adding more eye candy to your beloved character.

5. Enhanced PvPvE (Player vs Player vs Environment)
Players can fight against other players in localized duels or even in larger scales of legions (the game’s version of guilds) against legions. Players can fight each other in massive battles taking place in the Abyss, the core of the broken world to capture fortress and take control of territories. Players can earn Abyss Points by killing players from another faction, killing the Balaur and other abyss NPCs, or doing some quests. These points accumulate and define the player’s Abyss Rank which unlocks more goodies and privileges – and of course, the boasting factor. These points can be also used for purchasing exclusive Abyss equipment to make your character even more menacing and powerful.

The presence of a third, CPU-controlled faction in the game, the Balaur will surely make things a lot more interesting and unpredictable as they can choose to aid any of the two player-controlled factions or better yet,
join the fray and fight both of them at the same time. Besides, fighting ground and aerial battles above floating rocks against an eerie, bottomless backdrop should be mighty interesting.

6. Ability to do business as you please
Gone were the days where you grind enemies, collect their loot and selling them to NPC merchants to earn much needed money to get those equipment you want or to at least have enough fare to travel to your
destination. In Aion, aside from being able to earn money the traditional way (selling drops, doing quests) you can also set up your own private store anywhere you please! You can sell anything and you can even set your own prices! For example, should you obtain a gear your character can’t use, you can opt to sell them yourself as they won’t sell that much from in-game merchants. You can even create your own items through the game’s extensive crafting / item creation system and make money out of them!

7. Extensive item creation system
The ability to craft your own items for personal or business use adds more depth in the already extensive game. There are six available crafts in the game (armorsmithing, cooking, handicrafting, tailoring, weaponsmithing and alchemy), each will benefit various character classes in the game. Like your character’s experience point system, each crafting skill starts at level 1 and will increase in level as you continue creating items through that “profession”. Increasing your profession/crafting level will also give you access to high level recipes and items, which can be sold at a much higher price. The crafting menus, mechanics and interface are user-friendly so expect to be an efficient crafter in no time!

8. Lots of story driven quests and worthwhile sidequests
Aside from the usual campaign quests, there are tons of sidequests worthy of investing time and effort to. Not only that they yield fair amounts of experience and item rewards, they also give you more chance to explore the areas that you won’t normally venture into otherwise. The campaign quests also includes full voice-acting short movies that will give you more ideas about your objectives and the world’s current conditions. As mentioned earlier, there are also quests that will require you to team up with other players to work on mutual interests and reap mutual benefits. Quests are categorized per recommended level and will also provide much of the necessary details to be completed. You can even locate key NPCs or areas in your map with just a few clicks. How helpful is that?

9. A good selection of character classes
Aion offers a very versatile set of playable character classes. Players start off with any of the four main classes. Once they’ve completed their “Ascension” quests in becoming a Daeva, they can then choose any of the eight subclasses available, two for each main class. Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as their own unique skill sets. This variety alone should cater the needs of all kinds players should they want to play as tanks, dps, nukers, healers and support casters.

10. More surprises that you should discover yourself!
I know that this is not a very logical reason but the first 9 features and their associated screenshots should give you more than enough idea on what Aion really is. The game’s main strong point probably is that it has all the basic features an MMO should have and even better. Aion is a unique league on its own, combining eastern and western cultures to spur the interest of the international market. The best of all? Aion’s party-based quests, legion management and strong PvP/ PvE content promotes one major aspect that is sometimes forgotten or ignored in online gaming: social interaction.

MMOs are terribly guilty of robbing people of their social lives in order to grind on their own and build their ultimate character. I won’t say Aion is free of such charges but getting involved with other people, even in your secondary, online “life” is one small yet effective step in maintaining your contact in the human world. Your adventures in Aion begin in North America on September 22, 2009 and will have its official launching in Europe starting September 25, 2009. So place your pre-orders now to enjoy some new pre-release events and privileges at http://www.aiononline.com.

References and image sources:
(images without source links are taken by the author; copyright enforced)
Story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/index.html?curid=5937742#Story
1a: http://z.about.com/d/internetgames/1/0/r/T/aion04.jpg
2b: http://www.aionfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/aion-face-creation-sliders-600×375.jpg
4b: http://matteomazzali.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/aion-wings-front.jpg
5a: http://files.getdropbox.com/u/794129/Aion/linki/Aion0377.jpg
5b: http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww190/shamunti/Aion0038.jpg

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