Gamecyte's hands-on Preview of Aion

[dalin]

thanks to Kieron for pointing this one out...

a very straight-forward, unbiased article...

It’s definitely a new way of entering the oversaturated MMORPG market. Frequently, newcomers to the field will try and handle the unstoppable presence of WoW by asserting that their game is different enough that there’s room for both titles. Aion, on the other hand, seems to be taking the opposite route: the game is similar to WoW because WoW is a good game, and its millions of players will be able to quickly and comfortably slip right in to Aion — and once they’re there, they’ll find a number of vast improvements.

[justamemory]

Correction: "Aion, on the other hand, seems to be taking the opposite route: the game is similar to WoW because WoW is a good game, and its millions of players will be able to quickly and comfortably slip right in to Aion — and once they’re there, they’ll never go back, muahahaha."

[Tareith]

My hosts explained to me that their process involved more than simple translations; Aion has undergone what the team calls “Culturalization.” The American developers have gone through each quest again and again, making sure the dialogue flows correctly, tweaking certain story elements to appeal to the cultural identity of the target market.

Cheers NCSoft, that was one of my biggest worries.

Decent writeup tho, thanks. ^^

[lyankyj]

Thats kinda sad, since the korean folk-tale will be completely different, as theyve wrote it.(

[dalin]

another choice quote:

More than anything else, though, NCsoft is hoping that what gamers will appreciate — or, more accurately, what they won’t notice at all — is the thorough and uncompromising globalization efforts. Our hosts told us that they were keenly aware of the negative stigma attached to Korean MMOs by American gamers, and they have spared no effort in making sure Aion doesn’t fall prey to the usual low standards of localization. My hosts explained to me that their process involved more than simple translations; Aion has undergone what the team calls “Culturalization.” The American developers have gone through each quest again and again, making sure the dialogue flows correctly, tweaking certain story elements to appeal to the cultural identity of the target market.

doh! apologies Tareith...

[justamemory]

to appeal to the cultural identity of the target...but I play games to explore new identities, and USA identity is boring Culturalization sounds more like Socialization, maybe not intentionally but at least mechanically. I would have liked to enjoy any asian cultural identity. I guess it just comes with the territory; language/idiom translation. stupid language always getting in the way.

damnit Jim, I'm a gamer not a drone!

[Tareith]

Personally, I'd prefer the lore to be 100% Aion lore, which I'm betting it mostly will be. Just need it presented in a way that the target audience will understand, different methods of thinking and all. Still, it shouldn't be a huge deal, as long as they don't put in pop-culture referrences like other games. I want immersion in Aion, not MTV-Aion. ^^

[gaeanprayer]

Possibly the most unbiased, honest preview of the game I've read. Very good post, thanks for sharing. Not only did it clear up a few things but it put them in a better perspective to appreciate them.

[Fleiva]

I think they were missing a bit of info in terms of the abyss and how the stuff has been in Korean CBT, they basicaly played only with what they were given, thus creating a kind of wrong opinion, specially when they talk about the comparative with WoW, explaining it will be similar and what not. Whoever knows a bit about this market should know that open world pvp changes the dynamics completely, and WoW's pvp is mostly developed on battlegrounds.

[Arvalo85]

that and wow sucks and Aion doesnt, you forgot about that :P

[Pezhead]

Aww.... but I like WoW... or I would if I enjoyed playing a game with graphics that reminded me of cartoons I watched when i was five...

On another note, this was indeed a good, unbiased review... albeit incomplete as was pointed out earlier- a lot of the endgame cannot be sampled in 30 minutes, it's just not realistic.

[Eau]

Oh, so now that someone writes an article about the similarities to WoW, so now everyone agrees? I've been slandered and flamed for days about this subject!
Whatever, I guess... =/

[Longinus]

NCsoft’s Chris Hager was remarkably candid, admitting immediately that “Aion doesn’t introduce anything radically new. What I think it does is polish things from other MMOs.”........It’s definitely a new way of entering the oversaturated MMORPG market. Frequently, newcomers to the field will try and handle the unstoppable presence of WoW by asserting that their game is different enough that there’s room for both titles. Aion, on the other hand, seems to be taking the opposite route: the game is similar to WoW because WoW is a good game, and its millions of players will be able to quickly and comfortably slip right in to Aion — and once they’re there, they’ll find a number of vast improvements.

Nice. If this is indeed Aion's approach then they are off on the right foot and its very encouraging to hear. Ive been playing MMO's for a long time and seen so many fail after WoW because developers seem to be learning impaired. Despite what all the WoW haters like to claim, WoW is the immense success it is precisely because it is an excellent game and currently the best MMO around, because Blizzard didnt really reinvent the genre, they were simply smart and HUMBLE enough to learn from all the MMO's before them and improve on if not outright fix all the major issues. And they continually make improvements.

Ive been telling my MMO playing friends for years that the game that may eventually put up a good challenge or topple WoW is not one that will do things completely different, its the one that will keep the elements of WoW, but make small tweaks here and there, such as graphics which I think is one of the few legitimate issues that people may have.

[dalin]

couldnt have really said it better myself... ill admit, when i quit WoW, virtually every other MMO i sampled left me wanting "more"...

i finally realized what i wanted was something that felt "more WoW-like"... something about their mix of story-telling, and how they bring the environments to life with colorful characters... it just works... for me at least...

extremely excited to experience Aion in greater detail...

[Cyroth]

the fact that they didnt get time to play for more than half an hour means they wouldnt have beena ble to experience any of aions pvp aspects, you cant expect themt o compare intricacies in the game in that space of time. Besides the reference to wow was more in relation to the games aesthetics, very much surface layer comparisons, nothing in depth, fact is, whther you like it or not, wow has 11 million players, refining wow's qualities is very smart. NCsoft clearly aren't releasing aion with the intention of revolutionising the market, im expecting more of that from blade and soul, i tihnk aion is something to break into wow, take away some of blizzards customers. Specualting more than anything here, maybe ncsoft are trying to develop some brand loyalty here, if they can take enough of the wow player base with aion and make the whole thing a success, blade and soul will undoubtedly do well at release, gameplay pending after that

Sure, aion has some kinda new stuff but its all safe within the genre, based on the limited information we have on blade and soul, i think its going to really push boundaries, but like we've seen with tabula rasa, you cant just dump a completely new concept into a gaming genre and have it work like magic, well, maybe if it was a toal masterpiece. I reckon blade and soul includes a lot of the newer concepts of aion, provided they work of course, and something completely new, it just makes sense, the whole 'new strange concept' thing won't seem alien because there will be a fair few elements there from a previous mmo (aion). People don't like an instant change from black to white, i dunno, maybe the last 2 paragraphs were just plain wrong.

Sorry for drifting vastly off topic, alright preview, decent read i guess, cheers