Aion has been one of the most enjoyable MMORPG’s I have played in a number of years, after playing World of Warcraft since July 2005; the visuals, art style and the gameplay was like a breath of fresh air.

As a long time admirer of Japanese animation, it felt like the perfect fit and after browsing numerous Korean gameplay videos and concept art – I soon forked over with my money to buy the game.

Today is a special day for Fantasy Inspiration as we will now be reviewing the latest MMORPG’s that are either pay to play or free to play. The way we will be producing reviews is subject to change as we see what works and what doesn’t. We would also love to know your reaction to our reviews in the comments below.

Official Trailer

Take a look at the official trailer before reading my review.

Aion Reviewed

Upon first installing Aion all the way back in 2009, I couldn’t wait for the latest patch to be downloaded and applied. I remember I was in a Ulduar 25-man raid at the time, alt+tabbing to check the progress between trash runs!

When I first logged in a started progressing on making my first character, I couldn’t believe how in-depth the character creation process was. Forty-five minutes later, my elysian thief was created and I zoned into the starting area. The first thing that hit me was the music, beautifully crafted it made everything so peaceful. I normally never play games with in-game sound, but on this occasion I kept it on mainly for when you went into combat, the musical atmosphere changed dramatically.

The visuals are exceptional, by far some of the best graphics I have come across and that’s after playing Age of Conan. Even three years on from its release in Korea, no game compares; especially after the graphics engine update that was applied in Aion’s 2.5 patch a few weeks ago. The level of detail in the environment, creatures and npcs is second to none and also gives a sense of realism within the game.

The only issue I have come across whilst playing Aion over the years has to be the server balance between factions. Like in 90% of all games, one faction always ends up dominating and in Aion it can completely ruin the gameplay experience as it relies heavily on faction balance for fortress sieges and PVP. With the launch being very successful, numerous servers were opened to meet with player demands, but in due course, the servers lost players and a lot had to be merged together.

Regardless of all the server merges, the community is still strong; especially on the server I am on (Perento-EU) everyone I have come across in raids, groups and in PVP have all been friendly and it leads to a better and more enjoyable in-game experience.

As in a lot of games I have played in the past few years, Aion has a great set of classes to choose from such as a Templar (tank), Cleric (healer), Chanter (buffer/dps), Assassin (melee dps), Sorcerer (ranged magic), Spiritmaster (pet class), Ranger (ranged melee) and Gladiator (melee dps). But whilst I have been playing, the Spiritmaster seems to be the most neglected which was caused by the fact that their pets were rendered useless in air combat, as they wouldn’t fly (not the case now though!).

Even with all the ups and downs Aion has had over the past few years, I would highly recommend this game if you are after a change to World of Warcraft. With the impending release of Aion 3.0 in the coming months, Aion looks to have a bright future ahead of it!

Our Rating

Gameplay

The overall gaming experience. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Character Development

How well does each class play. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Music

How is the music in-game? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Visuals

How impressive are the graphics. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Balance

Faction balance effecting gameplay? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Community

How does the community perform. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Recommend

Would you recommend to friends. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Aion Art Work

All art work © NCsoft – All rights reserved.

Tags