So you might not know what the upcoming MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) AION: Tower Of Eternity is. That’s okay, let’s get educated shall we?
So first, there was Lineage 2. I know what you’re thinking. What happened to Lineage 1? Who knows. No one’s every played Lineage 1. So Lineage 2 came out in 2003 in Korea (2004 here). It was a solid game. I had a lot of grinding. Which is just killing monsters over and over again for experience without any other kind of gameplay. You stand in the field, and you kill the werewolves. For hours, sometimes days.
For people with addictive personalities, this was glorious.
It also had a very distinctive style. Very asian, very anime. Lots of emo hair and slick lines. It was all swords and sorcery. One of the first games to have one giant map without any zoning (when you hit an invisible wall and the game has to load the next area.) Lots of interesting places to beat the crap out of monsters.
Unfortunately, things couldn’t stay this way forever. This game became wildly popular in Korea, and people learned how to make money off of it. The gold farmers dug their claws into this game an have never let go. They run around killing everything that the legit players need and sell all the money they earn for real cash to players.
Along with that, a copy of all the games coding was released by accident. Since then free versions of this game have been illegally (and through a loop-hole, legally) been used all over the internet.
Many games have tried to copy the style of Lineage 2 and profit from the games success. I myself have been looking for a game that was anything remotely like Lineage 2 with better gameplay. While the overall look and feel of Lineage 2 was pretty great, the gameplay was lacking. Very few attacks and customization options were available for your character.
This, is where AION comes in.
AION: Tower Of Eternity, is a new game that is coming out in 2009 that features one of the most highly customizable character generations I’ve seen in a long time. With all the style and flair of Lineage 2 and other anime games and roleplaying games. Boasting much much more customization and very very nice graphics.
Its not quite out yet. Though it is coming. I personally can’t wait. This desire to play the game was worsened when two specific youtube videos came out this past week. One depicts out first look at a party working their way through a dungeon. (I suggest clicking through and checking them out in High Quality.)
If anyone has every played an MMO before. You know this is not how MMO’s look. This looks like an action adventure game. Which is wonderful. It looks like fighting and grouping will be a very fun experience. I wonder if they’ll give us the option of leaving in the Korean voices.
The second video is shows off the customization of the character generator.
Again this is something that most MMO’s just don’t have. Especially not to the extreme that this game does.
2009 will be a good year.
July 14, 2008 at 9:30 am
Nice, article, although you may want to change “no one’s ever played Lineage 1″ to virtually no one in the western hemisphere.
Until WoW came along, Lineage was the world’s most successful MMORPG with over 3 million subscribers. Thing is, most of those subscribers were in Korea.
My thoughts are, Aion looks really interesting, but I don’t think it will catch a significant audience in the western world, especially North America. Even aside from the gameplay itself, I don’t think players here would be accepting of a Korean-driven game, especially one with a notable anime look to it. Lineage 2 has made the biggest dent here, but it didn’t exactly take off either.
Still, I’m interested in seeing more, it’s always good to have choices.
July 14, 2008 at 10:15 am
Yeah, Lineage 1 is so unknown in North America, that I can barely even find screenshots of it. I’d love to give that game a go though, see what all the fuss was about.
July 14, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Choice is good.
I am personally a fan of the Anime look, just have not found a game to match it.
I played Lineage 2, but it felt empty and devoid of a real world or life. The guild was the main home, and all of your basis of adventure was built around the people in the game (which is not a BAD thing)
It is bad when it is the only thing to keep you occupied.
Silkroad the same thing. No real motives forced you to play to kill, and nothing more.
Western Audiences feel the need for more of a story or reason to play. This is why FFXI and the FF PS2 games DID sell here.
Stories.
Now, give us some of that in Aion, and it could do pretty good here.
Cheers
July 15, 2008 at 2:35 am
I guess you’re right about FFXI. Though it really helps to be a sequel in America. It really helps a lot. EQ2, L2, WoW, FFXI, nobody likes a pioneer in America.