Aion: The Tower of Eternity Review

Hello, my name is Anjo and I am an Aionoholic.

I haven’t played Aion in 4 hours, doing good so far. However I have the feeling every time I use steps to jump down and soar.

Aion was released 20 Sep, so unless you were to busy glorifying Mediocrity (Halo ODST), you missed out one of the greatest MMORPG out to date.

Why do I call it the greatest? Before get killed by a bunch of World of Warcraft fanatics, let me explain myself. There were several MMO’s with PVP capability before WoW. I am not denying the great game that WoW is but I do also recognize when an equal or better counterpart has been released.

Let’s start to make a small introduction of the game by pasting information from Wiki:

In the beginning there was a god named Aion who ruled over a world called Atreia. Aion created the Draken, a powerful race sent to protect the humans of Atreia. After some time passed the Draken disobeyed Aion’s wishes and rebelled against their creator. The god Aion then created the twelve Empyrean Lords. The Empyrean Lords in turn created a barrier which prevented the Draken (now calling themselves Balaur) from attacking the humans charged under their protection. Within this barrier all things were safe. The Balaur ravaged and destroyed many of the living things residing outside of the barrier. Some humans, living within the safety of the barrier, learned how to harness some of the same energy as the Empyrean Lords, known as aether. Such humans were called Daeva and, like the Empyrean Lords, had wings. With time, enough Daevas were born to form an army. Ten of the Empyrean Lords led these Daevas into battle against the Balaur, while the remaining two were the guardians of the Tower of Eternity, the embodiment of the god Aion. The war with the Balaur lasted for hundreds of years until one of the guardians of the tower announced that they should find a way to make peace with the Balaur. Five of the Empyrean Lords vehemently disagreed. However, the second guardian of the tower was swayed to peace. The Balaur were invited into the tower for peace talks. It is unclear what happened at that point. One of the Balaur lords lay wounded on the floor and the rest proceeded to attack the tower. The two Guardians attempted to raise the shield by going to opposite ends of the tower. However, they were unsuccessful and the tower, along with the world, shattered in two. As their final act, the two guardians sacrificed their lives in order to protect a part of Atreia. With Atreia severed, the survivors banded together to face their new world. Of the original twelve, ten of the Empyrean Lords survived. Five who had opposed peace and claimed that the weakness of the rest of the lords had allowed the Balaur to attack them reigned over the dark part of the world, becoming known as the Shedim Lords. The other five reigned over the light-covered bottom part of Atreia and claim that it was the Shedim Lords’ actions that caused the breaking of the tower. They are known as the Seraphim Lords.

The new shape of the world also reshaped its inhabitants. Those that lived in the light part of the world saw little change except for an increase in their beauty. These followers of the Seraphim Lords called themselves Elyos and created the city of Sanctum. The inhabitants of the upper part of the world saw many changes. Having to walk on ground strewn with fragments of the tower, their feet became talons. Having to fight against beasts, their hands became claw-like. Furthermore, the darkness made their complexion change and their eyes grew red adapting to the absence of light. They call themselves Asmodians and live in the city of Pandaemonium under the rule of the Shedim Lords.

Source: Wikipedia

Now then, now that you are a bit more aware of the games story, we can finally start with it’s exploration.

I got the Beta a week ago and honestly I was so upset because it was giving my nothing but problems. When I started to log in, the serves were down. When I finally got beyond that, The severs were full. When I got beyond that, my computer kept crashing. I was getting g more and more agitated and putting the bar for the game really high. Because after so many issues, it better be worth it. I finally got things running and started with creating my character(s). I always create several because that is the true MMO expedience. Create several and test drive them. Just to make sure you choose a class you are comfortable with.

When you select a server you can only dedicate that specific server to one side, either Elyos or Asmodians. Not to worry! You can still play with the “other” side by creating them on another server.

Let me tell you about the character creation. You get to customize your character beyond “select a face”. You can tweak the eyes, the mouth, widen the nose, slim the bridge, you name it. It’s there! Same goes with the body, you can select everything from thick arms, to dwarf legs. This is an amazing feature that kept me busy creating characters for hours.

Here are my results. Two Elyos and one Asmodian.

Note the height of my little Magelette. (cute word for mage) and compare it to the size of my Assassin. Aren’t Character customization amazing?

The game is pretty straight forward, if you played WoW before, you will get right into it with the controls and setup. Even for a person who doesn’t have the MMO expertize can jump right into this game. You get presented with various tutorials as you progress in the beginning stages. If you receive an item to be used in a specific way, rest assure, they will tell you. For you who don’t like MMO’s because you have to read. Know this, slap yourself in the face because you deserve that for being lazy, secondly, there is a voice telling you what to do (It tells me to do things, HORRIBLE THINGS). For you guys who think that you can just jump into the game and start flying everywhere, you will be gravely disappointed. You don’t get the ability of flight until Level 10, so I suggest you’ll actually have to work hard to get that ability. Nothing in life is free.

Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts..!

The Graphics are in my opinion BEAUTIFUL! The tasteful detailing leaves you in awe. I would say that it is gorgeous for an MMORPG, but honestly, It would be able to compete with most offline games as well!

This Dino is glaring at me..as if he was going to…EAT ME! AEEK!

The battle systems are simple enough. You assign various ability’s to the Hot keys of your choice. (hot keys, on your keyboard). Once you’ve set things up it’s just a matter of pressing, and watching your enemy peril into nothingness as they T bag you.

If you feel yourself strapped for cash, there is an online brothel in which you can service…no wait, wrong game. There is an Auction hall where you can sell your Misc junk that no one wants and wait in hope that some new person buys it. Also you can set up your own store. Why not just sit in the middle of everyones way and should out various sale slogans “EVERYTHING MUST GO” “I NEED EYE SURGERY” “I AM A PRINCESS FROM NIGERIA!”. Anything to get attention, and you know, you actually do sell stuff.

Obviously the guy behind me is trying more then I am.

Moving around the map.

Let’s pretend you spent time playing the game and actually on your own reached level10. Great! There are various ways to get around. Most effective way, teleport. Now teleportation so far doesn’t take you everywhere. But there are flight routes to get to those places that you don’t feel like walking too. You can also well “fly” but there are only so many places you can do that on. So far the only place where you can actually flap around like a madman is around cities. Which makes sense since you’ll miss all the cool junk on the ground if you just, you know, fly. When you die you will loose a bit of XP, but nothing you can’t build back up fast. You also have “save points” if you are to die in battle, you will be teleported to that “save point”.
And yes yes, you also have your actions and emotions you can make! For you guys who like being goofy in MMO’s , there is a variety of emotions you can use to make an utter ass out of yourself.
I am also sure you are asking “why does it say animal lover” Above my head? As you finish quests and progress, you can assign yourself a “title” that can give you extra magic points, or healthpoints. It entirely depends on your title.

That guard is about the kill me I think..

So what more can I say? I played it, I play it and I like it!

It has both me and my fiance hooked that we barely do anything else.we have fun completing quests or selling our junk, either way. This is a promising game that I see a very prosperous future for.

Like my brother said.- “It is like a Mix of Final Fantasy and Ultima Online”

It cannot get better then that.
I haven’t been able to test the PVP part of the game yet. The Air battles must be a glorious sight. I can’t wait to get to that point!