Aion: The Tower of Eternity
What you've been waiting for

Tired of that great MMO you've been playing for almost a decade. Tired of picking up title after title, downloading the latest F2P or Micro transaction game only to return to your Old stomping grounds. Tired of comparing every MMO to your Old Faithful. Well... Finally an MMO is launching with some serious promise and some serious street cred...

Aion is a new MMO that is bringing alot of excitement for its United States release. Previously released in Korea and China, Aion has won Korea's MMO of the year award and broke sales records in both countries. Now I know you still might be hesitant being Korean MMOs are all grinding right? Wrong! NCSoft is handling the US and EU release with much care. They employed several published Science Fiction Fantasy writers to re-write all the quest lines. Part of "Westernizing" Aion was making the title very quest driven to eliminate the very thought that Korean MMOs are grindfest. Aion is reported to have 1500 quest on launch Sept 22nd 2009. The other big pointers for this MMO are the use of Wings to fly for short periods of time and its extremely detailed character creator - Reminisant of Tiger Woods games - which has been a serious focal point of many game critics.

Let's see what IGN, Zam and IncGamers have to say:

IGN
" ... with those visuals, that flight and the remarkably powerful character creator, it's a far more epic and lavish experience than we've seen to date"

ZAM
"Interestingly enough, however, despite the fact that I did go into this with fairly (ok, extremely) high expectations, Aion was impressive enough that I could really understand what all of this hype was about."

IncGamers
"I thought the class selection screen was impressive, but I was blown away by this stage. The face that greets you as you begin to design your character is uncannily realistic."

Source article:
http://na.aiononline.com/en/news/aio...the-web-1.html


For a Complete breakdown of Aion including Videos, Screenshots, and Beta Info consult this thread:
http://www.tacticalgamer.com/role-pl...-eternity.html

Wings and PvPvE


That’s right characters in Aion have WINGS! Once you reach level 10 and choose a specialization for your class, or Ascension, you get wings to use on your journey. There are also wing items that change the look of your wings so everyone doesn't have to look the same. Wings can be used for a short time period and only in 'Fly Zones' but they still play a heavy strategic role in combat. Most notably in PvPvE combat of the Abyss. The Abyss is Aions bread and butter. In the Abyss the Two factions you can choose from Elyos and Asmodian meet and fight for territory against each other and the NPC race Balaur (Dragon-like race) thus the PvPvE. More on each faction’s lore can be read here:
http://na.aiononline.com/en/about/lore/?src=hdr

Background: Alteria

Aion is a world Torn asunder by an ancient war against the Balaur. When Alteria (Aions world shown below) split in two the bottom half was blessed with sunlight and growth while the top half drifted in Darkness. This created two very different races: the Elyos, bathed in light, became an Angelic race of beauty. The Asmodians, forged in darkness, grew claws and dark skin to adapt to their surroundings.



Below is a Game like World Map representation of the three lands of Alteria. Asmodea is the top, The Abyss in the center and Elysea is on the Bottom. For any character of any race can visit each of these lands.



TG and Aion:

TG has been very busy in the first few Closed Beta Events already establishing a Legion (Guild in Aion) and reaching Legion level 2 of 3. With our level two legion we can customize our color and symbol (shown below).



TG has almost 40 members with a Level two max of 60 and Level three player cap of 90. We already have many excited members gathered from beta. Some of them compare Aion to other MMOs:

Originally Posted by GoldDust

From what I've experienced so far, Aion would definitely satisfy the same attributes appreciated in World of Warcraft (gameplay-wise). There is rich story background and a great personal history to draw-in your interest instantly. Like WoW, Aion is quest-given, not only quest "driven"; you have freedom to do what you want for your char's growth.

Originally Posted by RedTalon

Well I played FFXI in beta and up to just before the first expansion was released, so I do not have a current conception of what the game is like. Yet despite my long absence from the game I do not believe it really effects what I have to compare. One of the things that I cherished about FFXI was the atmosphere, the environment, the characters, and the general feel of the game. I was excited to explore new areas, and could make an argument for wearing armor that looked better than it performed (or at least keeping that set to wear around town). Other games I have played just feel disconnected, like there are pieces missing from the package. AoC had that packaged feeling at the starting area, but quickly lost it in later areas.

Aion so far has managed to emulate that full packaged presentation that FFXI presented, but looking at it you can tell a great deal of consideration went into characters, environments, and animations. I was more excited for a new set of armor for the way it looked, rather than the stats it provided. Environments in Aion make me want to hunt out their details, and traveling via a transport (Talk to an NPC and you are whisked off by a set of wings) by soaring through trees and skiming over lake tops still leaves me in awe even after several times. It is different than FFXI in that the environments are much more open. In FFXI the zones were very restrictive in the path you could travel, I did not find this a problem at all. In fact I think that restrictiveness is one of the things that built the charm of FFXI in that the developers could really control they way the environment was presented to the player. So Aion differs in feeling in that respect, if somewhat falls short because of it. (an environment that is bigger and less constrained is naturally harder to design every inch). I wish you could have that clean presentation of a constrained environment in an open ended world. However not exact, Aion does an admirable of trying to capture that charm in an open ended world.

The other area I would like to touch on it armor and animations...or rather the look of your character. Aion far exceeds FFXI in this area. In FFXI your armor looks awesome and inspired, as did the physical look of your character, tons of charm and detail. The problem was everyone else looked the same, and there was little choice of what armor set to pick for your level. In Aion the Character creation rivals that of EVE so you are sure not to have a clone running around. The armor sets in Aion have that same charm and detail of FFXI (quite similar in artistic style as well) but a deep diversity of options to choose from. Added on top of that the ability to change the color of your armor through dyes, you gain quite a diverse set of characters. You would be extremely hard pressed to find another player that looks exactly like you.

The Aion TG Legion will be using the forum links below to choose our final server choice at launch As of now and the final two Closed Beta Events we are Elyos race on the Israphel server.Well that about wraps it up for now except for some tasty Aion links:

Drop by our TG Legion Thread and say Hello:
http://www.tacticalgamer.com/role-pl...say-hello.html

Aion full write up with Videos and Screens:
http://www.tacticalgamer.com/role-pl...-eternity.html

Officail Aion Sites:
www.aiononline.com