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The story

The game takes place in Atreia, the world that was split in two… So there are two divine factions: elyos and asmodians. As the story goes there used to be one race and the world of Aion was whole. But then creatures that were suppose to protect Atreia rose against their god and decided to take full control over the world. As a result the Tower of Eternity connecting the world was shatered making the world split in two pieces. Those that were on Elysea stayed the same, but people on Asmodea started to change, due to the lack of sunlight. They grew fur on their backs and claws on their hads and feet. So these two races started hating each other and blaming for what has hapened.

The world

Now I want to start with the world itself. First thought that I got from seeing the picture of it was: bah… we’re worms. The planet looks like an apple eaten from it’s sides up ’till it’s core. And what’s even more fun is that you live on the inner side of it. So there’s the top – Asmodea, and the bottom – Elysea. By theory if you look up you’ll see the world of your hateful cousins and they can see yours. So basicly as long as you flip off up – you won’t miss.

The surroundings are amazing in size, but not in texture. I was disapointed in the way it looked. Instead of being in the game or “feeling the game” your look at it like a painted picture. Now there’s nothing bad with that if you’re a fan of these drastic attemts to show you how “fantasy” the game is. I for one dislike it to the fullest.

Once again NCSoft allowed game designers do some weird shit with animals. Now you have Taygas instead of Tigers and Stiggs which are like human-rabbits… really scary shit out there.

Surprises

YES, YOU CAN FLY as a lot of rumors were going around. At level 10 you get wings and you can perform some minor aerial feats. It’s not meant as a way of transportation, but rather strategic advantage. Flying in allowed only in certain places, however gliding is possible everywhere. You can get your wings out whenever you want, but you have limited time of using them. If time runs out and you’re still in the air – prepare to embrace rushing ground to your face. There are quite few ways to increase the fly/glide time, but those things come with higher levels.

There’s a thing I haven’t seen before. You can paint armor and make items you’re wearing look completly difrent then what they are, i.e.: you’re wearing cloth armor, which looks like rags and then you make it look like a plate armor, but still have same stats. That allows you to create completly unique character appearance.

The game reminds me of Lineage 2, created by NCSoft aswel, which I was addicted to and played for quite some time back in the day. There’s a lot of similarities between these two, but I don’t find them so interesting anymore. I believe I might have been spoiled by another great title – “Age of Conan”. I’m not big fan of any MMORPGs since I finished with Lineage 2, but I liked AoC. Went to the top level with my char and to be completly honest – i’m not seeing myself reaching the top level in Aion. The difrence between those two is huge, but I won’t talk about AoC in this article.

Conclusion

If you feel the need to play some MMORPG, to grind and make friends with similar interests, then Aion might be your thing. But if you want richer experience, connection with the game and more adrenaline rushing through your veins than you ever had from playing MMO – there’s another title out there for you…

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