Face it, Aika is great on paper, but the game is FAR from being ready-even for closed beta testing. I played for FIVE minutes. I know that many of you will start criticizing me for only playing for that long, but hey, those that do so are blatantly showing their inability to read everything.
Now, I've only played for five minutes and I have already seen way too many fundamental flaws with this game. These are not things like slow leveling, slow killing speeds, typos, or whatnot. These are the things that make or break games.
1. Incredibly easy to bug up the WASD controls. In 5 minutes of playing, I've had my character perform a walking animation on the spot on several occasions. Besides that, the rendering of your character's orientation is off-you will start walking in one direction while facing another. Movement in general is very buggy. 2. Cannot jump off a wall. You may laugh at this, but hey, it's pretty basic. 3. Wallhacks. Well, not through the walls, but through other doodads. I'm quite used to running through small fences and such; being able to run through entire rocks is a whole other matter. Some rocks let you walk halfway through them then magically teleport you above them. 4. Textures. The camera seems to close in at a fixed rate, causing many texture render bugs. 5. EZ-mode. This is a two-way topic, but the quests pretty much hold your hand through everything. Where's the adventure?
I'll say this now: the only good part about this game is the graphics, and even at that, they're not exactly the best (even compared to only F2Ps). I suppose the lolis are another big plus, but only if you're into that sort of thing, and face it, 99% of the people playing Aika are playing for the lolis.
So, to sum up my 5-minute-review: Aika Online has some great concepts behind it, but it really is NOT ready for closed beta testing.
EDIT: Before you people post saying it's CBT and bugs are to be expected, watch After watching, reconsider your standpoint.
Five Second Reply to a Aika 5-Minute Review:
From the first few words of your attempt I can tell your review is both superficial and lacking of a real analysis of the subject at hand. Need I waste anymore than 5 seconds to come to this conclusion?
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
So then...maybe you should go outside...there is another world after all besides the internet, tell me how it goes.
I'll tell you how it goes.
It goes: I have 6 more hours of class today and it is below 0 outside. Mondays are my crap days when I have 7 hours of class (9 am to 8 pm with a few breaks in between). This is one of the few times where I get to sit on my computer on Mondays so I would rather be on here while doing my homework than go outside (where it is freezing) just because some troll says "there is another world after all besides the internet". I spend most of my time when I'm not doing homework away from my computer. As I said before, I've logged about 10 hours of AIKA which is all the gaming I've done this month. I spend more than enough time away from the computer.
You really are a sad person. You say I fail as a beta tester when you played for five minutes and quit. At least I played the game, and before you start making other assumptions and calling me a "fan boi" or some other crap kids on the internet like to say, I am not a fan boy of this game. I recognize its flaws, but the ones you have brought up are issues with you, not with the game. As I have said in the past, AIKA works by queuing up a bunch of info in the first few minutes of logging on, first time running, and first time a new object is introduced to the current play session. Since you played once and for such a short period of time, I doubt the client even had time to get up to speed. Now you say that it has been reported in the forum. Please tell me which threads, there were a few threads about it on the first day but most of the players that posted after the original poster claimed that they had no such issue. The only thread in the bugs section that is recent has seven posts. If there are a large number of people, and very few people having this issue, it is less likely a bug and more likely an issue with those people. "It's a nice change from the usual oversized dragon pet that just so happens to be named Fluffy."
Hmm, guess people are tired of fire breathing dragons. As I said before (which you most likely didn't read), just because they are little girls doesn't mean: A) they are promoting pedophilia and people are playing ONLY because of the Pran system. I joined the game because I heard there would be large scale PvP battles. I didn't hear about the Pran system till after I joined, I wasn't put off by it, but its not like I went, "OOH LOLIS MUST PLAY". And the people aren't supporting lolis, they are supporting the Pran system. Hell, I support the Pran system, in most games I've always wanted a pet that I could at least have minor social interaction with rather than it just be an AI slave that fights with me. This is a game that does it, you can talk to it, have it buff, you, feed it and everything. Yes, it didn't have to be a girl, but that is what the developers chose to use. But your argument about it being to bring in pedophiles is bull. It may be a game, but its also business. Pedophiles are a small percentage of people and most people are repulsed by pedophilia. Would you make a game that is directed at such a small group of people (who aren't well known for playing MMOs)? No, that would be stupid. They chose them so they could feel like a daughter or a sister, not some random slave you have. I do admit that the "sexy" character type for the Prans are pushing it quite far but that was the English voice acting by gPotato, not the developers. Conquer Online, first MMO I ever played. Started about eight years ago when I was 11 and played till I was 15. The game went to crap because they made it so only players who bought from the item mall could PvP or play the game decently. I never was the highest level, nor was I the best equipped, I only quit AFTER they made it so unfair that you would have a 50% reduction in damage against players that "bulked". And yeah, this was an MMO that actually required skill. Rather than just clicking on a guy, locking on and spamming your skill hotkeys you actually had to aim. There was no lock-on, just hit detection. Because of the fact that everyone was jumping, tracking them became much harder, you actually had to be able to predict where a person was going to land and time it so your hit would be where they were going to land. Direct hit melee'ing someone was near impossible unless they were stupid (or a weapon skill went off), so you had to use a melee ranged attack that hit in a straight line over a certain range. Try killing people while being stun locked and lagging and having to manually aim rather than just press F1-F8, that is skill. Another MMO I played was Air Rivals (Ace Online/Space Cowboy). My friends who saw it said it looked like a "Starfox Online". Another MMO that required skill. If someone was better skilled that you and you weren't insanely higher levelled and equipped, they could beat you. And by insanely I mean by a lot. I almost got killed by a level 40 when I was in my 70's. Any game that has that is a game that requires skill to play. Believe me, when I talk about skill in an MMO I know what I am saying. You're assuming I don't know what I'm talking about, that tells me a lot about you. I love how you make fun of someone for using an acronym that could have many meanings. First of all, Dungeon Fighters Online makes more sense for being DFO than Darkfall Online does. If anything, Darkfall should be DO. Shows how much you know about acronyms (hint: use the letters in the title that are capitalized). Rather than use an acronym that has more than one meaning spell out your stuff.
May not be 1000 vs 1000, but its a shitload of people and I don't see much lag going on.
I was able to play AIKA on a laptop without straining it, people with mid-ranged computers can PvP competitively without having to worry about lagging to pieces (unless they have a bad connection) . I was able to play the Korean server over wireless on a several year old router without lagging (no latency issues) or graphical lag issues. Other players participating in the GM held raid/battle event also spoke about how they didn't receive any lag when playing. I know AIKA doesn't have "sweeping" graphics, but tell me another game with a 300MB install file that has as good graphics as AIKA? Conquer Online is a 2.5D game released in 2004 with crappier graphics, models, maps and terrain, skill effects and a similar amount of customization. It also has a 300 MB client and is even larger than AIKA when installed 1.5 GB vs 1.0GB. AIKA boasts efficiency, notice they mentioned the client size in addition to the graphics, it was more boasting efficiency than boasting graphical prowess. Chronicles of Spellborn.
I am still wondering why I need credibility, I make sure to do a little research when I make a post. Hell, I didn't know what FE was so I spent a little time, went to google and typed "FE MMO" and came up with Fallen Earth. I don't really have the time or excess brain power to waste memorizing acronyms, have enough of those at college already. Spellborn isn't really doing anything that amazing. Yes, they are moving away from the lock-on spam skills mentality but they aren't thinking outside the box (I admit neither is AIKA) they could have implemented it much differently and much better. Please tell me where I need credibility. AIKA is focusing on gameplay more than graphics, rather than go the route of incredibly shiny armors AA at 16x (Anti-Alias) and incredible 500k poly armors they decided to go for a design that conveys the game and allows for their focus (large scale PvP) to happen. Don't confuse innovative gameplay with focusing on gameplay.
<sarcasm>Quick question, since I don't seem to be able to read your words or mine. Where did I say lolis are a luxury? I mean I scanned my post several times, but I haven't been able to find where it says that. Oh well, guess its just me since I'm dumb and can't read and all. </sarcasm> I never said the Pran system was a luxury, I said the pet system (of any game) is a luxury. Unless a game makes its point around the pet system, its just a luxury. And you made fun of me for assuming DFO meant Dungeon Fighters Online (played against my will) rather than Darkfall. At least my assumption had some basis. You assumption of me thinking AIKA PvP was one of the best around is just complete garbage, I'm actually smiling in real life its so funny. I never even said AIKA's PvP system was one of the best around, I never even said it was good. Frankly, I don't think too highly of the PvP system. Its your standard lock onto target and spam skills and pots till one is dead games that have been churned out for the past 10 years. I actually think AIKA's PvP system is pretty bad. Only reason I am interested in the game is the idea that there could be so many people PvPing at once.
About a previous post and large number of online players being impossible to coordinate. WRONG!
Air Rivals (posted above) had nation wars where there would be anywhere from 100-200 people on each side of the war (two sides) fighting over one of the nation's motherships. You would be surprised how well people listen during a war. Even the people who barely spoke any English and were usually jerks ingame would listen to orders given. Why? Because they have a benefit from it. They know they can't win alone, but if they work together they can win. Because they listened, this gave rise to tactics and it went from there. Just because there are a large number of mindless idiots being asked to PvP, doesn't mean they won't listen if losing gets in the way of them getting better gear.
About your acronyms: I have a life (I know, sounds funny when I am responding to posts on a forum, I'm procrastinating instead of doing homework) I also have a job as a student. I can't afford the brainpower spent on memorizing the acronyms for every single game that comes out. I mean, I barely care about most of em anyway, so why would I bother. Way too much stuff to memorize and so little time. Need to know five programming languages, three of which I am learning for the first time. No room for memorizing acronyms.
1. Ok, let me return to the following point: we are NOT bugtesting. We are playing on a client that is TWO YEARS old where most bugs have likely been tested and fixed already. All we're doing is seeing whether or not gPotato's servers can handle the strain.
2. I'm not the one that brought up the bug report; Knightcry was.
3. Could've been Pokemon and it would've served the same purpose.
4. Conquer Online is NOT skill. It requires a tad more skill than other games, true, but in the end it all comes down to gear. Besides that, turn on simple shadows and it's easy as hell because the characters have linear motion. Anyone that is good at an FPS will be able to aim in CO, but again, that's only one part of it. You could be the most skilled FB/SSer in the world, but that wouldn't matter if your gear was crap and a Fire with full SPG/SPG/+12 crap is bearing down on you. Therefore, your skill is irrelevant in the long run unless you also have godly gear.
tl;dr: An MMORPG may require skill; however, the skill is still offset by gear/levels/etc. Only FPS/RTS games truly depend on your skill.
5. So, if I used DO, that could mean (just off the list here at mmorpg.com, not even counting Darkfall because it doesn't say 'online' after it): Deco Online, Deicide Online, Destiny Online, Dragon Oath, Dragonica Online, and Dreamland Online. Yes, what a perfect acronym to get my point across.
6. Did you personally participate in the massive PvP? That's the real question here.
7. Actually, you misread it. The MMORPG overview states that it does include "sweeping graphics".
8. Technically, the game does make its point around the pet system. Aside from 1000v1000 PvP, the Pran system is pretty much the only other unique thing in the game (as covered by 'interacting' with your 'pet').
9. Let's take... naming chemical compounds for example. Pretty boring (unless you're obsessed with chemistry). Is getting 1000 people to compete against another 1000 in naming compounds really going to be exciting? No point in having an interesting PvP option if the PvP sucks in the first place, right?
10. Yes. They BENEFIT from it. Unless there's some sort of system like that in Aika, no one will listen.
11. You're not the only student playing MMORPGs, you know. Aside from that, acronyms are incredibly easy to remember. If more than one acronym fits, choose the most applicable one. Naturally, if Dungeon Fighter can't accommodate mass PvP, I wouldn't be talking about it unless I didn't even know what the game was like.
@farfan: WoW doesn't just use WASD, yet it's still called WASD movement.
@drbalt: First impressions are HUGE, you know. Let's say your daughter (derp derp) brings home a boyfriend and he has the jitters. After exchanging greetings, he vomits all over your new car and soils himself, going onto the ground and shaking violently. After that, he starts crying like a baby. Are you really going to let your daughter go out with him?
@Ramon: Read the quote beside your name and apply it.
Originally posted by Tanon , 1. Ok, let me return to the following point: we are NOT bugtesting. We are playing on a client that is TWO YEARS old where most bugs have likely been tested and fixed already. All we're doing is seeing whether or not gPotato's servers can handle the strain. 2. I'm not the one that brought up the bug report; Knightcry was. 3. Could've been Pokemon and it would've served the same purpose. 4. Conquer Online is NOT skill. It requires a tad more skill than other games, true, but in the end it all comes down to gear. Besides that, turn on simple shadows and it's easy as hell because the characters have linear motion. Anyone that is good at an FPS will be able to aim in CO, but again, that's only one part of it. You could be the most skilled FB/SSer in the world, but that wouldn't matter if your gear was crap and a Fire with full SPG/SPG/+12 crap is bearing down on you. Therefore, your skill is irrelevant in the long run unless you also have godly gear. tl;dr: An MMORPG may require skill; however, the skill is still offset by gear/levels/etc. Only FPS/RTS games truly depend on your skill. 5. So, if I used DO, that could mean (just off the list here at mmorpg.com, not even counting Darkfall because it doesn't say 'online' after it): Deco Online, Deicide Online, Destiny Online, Dragon Oath, Dragonica Online, and Dreamland Online. Yes, what a perfect acronym to get my point across. 6. Did you personally participate in the massive PvP? That's the real question here. 7. Actually, you misread it. The MMORPG overview states that it does include "sweeping graphics". 8. Technically, the game does make its point around the pet system. Aside from 1000v1000 PvP, the Pran system is pretty much the only other unique thing in the game (as covered by 'interacting' with your 'pet'). 9. Let's take... naming chemical compounds for example. Pretty boring (unless you're obsessed with chemistry). Is getting 1000 people to compete against another 1000 in naming compounds really going to be exciting? No point in having an interesting PvP option if the PvP sucks in the first place, right? 10. Yes. They BENEFIT from it. Unless there's some sort of system like that in Aika, no one will listen. 11. You're not the only student playing MMORPGs, you know. Aside from that, acronyms are incredibly easy to remember. If more than one acronym fits, choose the most applicable one. Naturally, if Dungeon Fighter can't accommodate mass PvP, I wouldn't be talking about it unless I didn't even know what the game was like.
Yes, the client is two years old, but it has yet to be patched. So we still have the original buggy client released to the other servers two years ago. I've played the other servers and quite a few of the issues you brought up did not exist. The issue with moving through the rock was most likely lag on your end. What are your computer specs, connection specs and location?
I admit, they did not have to use daughters for it, but guess what, they did. If you have a problem with it, keep yours in fairy mode or don't play. Not really hard to deal with. Besides you brought up the Pran way later after your first post so I don't see why I am still replying to it.
Conquer Online (back when I played) definitely required skill. Back when I played +12 didn't exist and I saw ONE person with full 2 soc (I made sure to get several screenshots of this). The highest people got were +6 which was amazing and since there was no potency/battle power it meant nothing. Being able to take on full super trojans with a full elite trojan and win definitely was skill. Godly gear only became an issue after TQ introduced lottery, 2nd reborn and BP. You didn't even address Ace Online...
5. Then just write out Darkfall and if it doesn't say online after it why is it DFO?
6. Yup. Taiwanese server is fun.
7. I'll give you this one, the graphics on the game aren't that great but when you are in a large battle with no lag and with the current graphical setting I think its more than a fine tradeoff.
8. Hmm the Pran system is pretty well advertised but you forgot to mention some of the other PvP systems. You act as if there is only one PvP system being advertised. There are quite a few instanced PvP modes that are mentioned under the general PvP heading but the way you have worded it seems like there is only the nation battles.
9. Gonna pull a card from your book "Did you experience it yourself?" No you didn't. Well I was bored one night and done with classes so I decided to get on in time for a war. It actually was rather exciting. The PvP system in AIKA isn't all that bad, yes it is the standard PvP system that is overdone to death but until people get non-targeting PvP done right its what we are stuck with.
10. There is such a system.
11. Said before, be more specific, write out Darkfall. You said yourself there are so many things that could fit into the Darkfall acronym.
Yes, the client is two years old, but it has yet to be patched. So we still have the original buggy client released to the other servers two years ago. I've played the other servers and quite a few of the issues you brought up did not exist. The issue with moving through the rock was most likely lag on your end. What are your computer specs, connection specs and location? I admit, they did not have to use daughters for it, but guess what, they did. If you have a problem with it, keep yours in fairy mode or don't play. Not really hard to deal with. Besides you brought up the Pran way later after your first post so I don't see why I am still replying to it. Conquer Online (back when I played) definitely required skill. Back when I played +12 didn't exist and I saw ONE person with full 2 soc (I made sure to get several screenshots of this). The highest people got were +6 which was amazing and since there was no potency/battle power it meant nothing. Being able to take on full super trojans with a full elite trojan and win definitely was skill. Godly gear only became an issue after TQ introduced lottery, 2nd reborn and BP. You didn't even address Ace Online...
5. Then just write out Darkfall and if it doesn't say online after it why is it DFO? 6. Yup. Taiwanese server is fun. 7. I'll give you this one, the graphics on the game aren't that great but when you are in a large battle with no lag and with the current graphical setting I think its more than a fine tradeoff. 8. Hmm the Pran system is pretty well advertised but you forgot to mention some of the other PvP systems. You act as if there is only one PvP system being advertised. There are quite a few instanced PvP modes that are mentioned under the general PvP heading but the way you have worded it seems like there is only the nation battles. 9. Gonna pull a card from your book "Did you experience it yourself?" No you didn't. Well I was bored one night and done with classes so I decided to get on in time for a war. It actually was rather exciting. The PvP system in AIKA isn't all that bad, yes it is the standard PvP system that is overdone to death but until people get non-targeting PvP done right its what we are stuck with. 10. There is such a system. 11. Said before, be more specific, write out Darkfall. You said yourself there are so many things that could fit into the Darkfall acronym.
1. Again, first impressions are huge. What's the point of giving a buggy client to 'beta test'? So the American uninformed public think they're actually doing something to help the game?
2. 4.5 mbits/s DL, so internet lag shouldn't be an issue. 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI Radeon X1300PRO, so the game should be running smoothly.
3. The actual reason I tried the game was because of the Pran system. I only saw it as a selling point after I realized everything else was crap.
4. Bullshit. Back in the day, even if you were only decently geared as a Trojan, you would pretty much 1-2 hit EVERYONE, including other Trojans. That doesn't take skill at all. Besides, have you seen any professionals play FPS games? They NEVER jump in a fight. Why? Because it forces you to move in a linear motion, making it incredibly easy for the enemy to aim at you. CO PvP is centered on hitting something that is moving in a straight line. Not skill. Also, I've never played Ace Online, so I can't judge.
5. Because everyone calls it DFO; 'nuff said.
6. Okay, and?
7. These days, everyone is just looking for something shiny. That's why WoW has so many subs. Epic shoulderpads much?
8. Only PvP system advertised on the overview here is the 1000v1000.
9. DDO. 'Nuff said.
10. Just from watching the video, I can see that people are just running around, hitting everyone. There's no "target healers" or "target AoEs", just "do w/e the hell you want and hope we overpower them".
11. It's not incredibly difficult to see which option is the most applicable. That's a necessary skill for multiple choice exams these days.
I didn't even read this whole thread, only the OP's "review" and some other answers.
But whoever played the game for 5 minutes and decided it was crap must play for some more time. If you don't, well, your loss. I gotta admit that this game is pretty basic and just like any other korean grinder in most aspects, so no surprise there. You do quests, get exp, get equips, kill other people and all that.
BUT, the game has a fun part (which someone who played for 5 minutes couldn't enjoy) which is PvP. I will tell you that if you raid with your nation one time and you tell me it isn't fun then you can say this game is crap and that you don't like it, because I doubt you'll say you didn't have even a little bit of fun. It takes time and organization to attack other nations and steal their relics. There are leaders who can talk to the whole nation for the sole purpose of organizing raids and defenses, so you really feel like you belong to a nation and that you have to do something for its sake. I agree that other MMOs probably have a similar system, but I don't remember one that would have 200+ people at the same place on my screen + giant monsters spawned by GMs and didn't lag AT ALL, at least not F2P. The battles are fun because they are really epic, its a lot of people fighting and the fights take some time... You also said that there are no tactics (like attacking clerics or casters), but there are. It is up to the leader of the nation to tell everyone to do this or that while fighting.
In my honest opinion, if you get to a certain LVL and start PvPing against other nations you can come back here and say that the game sucks, because if you don't like this part of the game then there is nothing else to like. I have to agree with some of your points, though. The game is still buggy and needs some fixes, which I believe will come soon.
By the way, I don't think they can use the new japanese client because they cap areas and levels with each CB. So CB1 had level capped to 30 and corresponding areas. While here they will use the next client next week for CB2 (I suppose), in Japan they had to create new areas and fix bugs, so japanese testers had to wait more. What I'm saying is that if they used the fixed japanese client, they wouldn't be able to cap levels or close certain areas. So all the bugs you mentioned will probably be fixed by open beta, since it was already probably fixed in the japanese version. Basically the closed beta part we do here is not much for bug fixing, but just to see if the servers can handle it. I don't think they pay much attention to what players say about the bugs now because they were probably already addressed in the japanese version, but I may be wrong.
I didn't even read this whole thread, only the OP's "review" and some other answers. But whoever played the game for 5 minutes and decided it was crap must play for some more time. If you don't, well, your loss. I gotta admit that this game is pretty basic and just like any other korean grinder in most aspects, so no surprise there. You do quests, get exp, get equips, kill other people and all that. BUT, the game has a fun part (which someone who played for 5 minutes couldn't enjoy) which is PvP. I will tell you that if you raid with your nation one time and you tell me it isn't fun then you can say this game is crap and that you don't like it, because I doubt you'll say you didn't have even a little bit of fun. It takes time and organization to attack other nations and steal their relics. There are leaders who can talk to the whole nation for the sole purpose of organizing raids and defenses, so you really feel like you belong to a nation and that you have to do something for its sake. I agree that other MMOs probably have a similar system, but I don't remember one that would have 200+ people at the same place on my screen + giant monsters spawned by GMs and didn't lag AT ALL, at least not F2P. The battles are fun because they are really epic, its a lot of people fighting and the fights take some time... You also said that there are no tactics (like attacking clerics or casters), but there are. It is up to the leader of the nation to tell everyone to do this or that while fighting. In my honest opinion, if you get to a certain LVL and start PvPing against other nations you can come back here and say that the game sucks, because if you don't like this part of the game then there is nothing else to like. I have to agree with some of your points, though. The game is still buggy and needs some fixes, which I believe will come soon. By the way, I don't think they can use the new japanese client because they cap areas and levels with each CB. So CB1 had level capped to 30 and corresponding areas. While here they will use the next client next week for CB2 (I suppose), in Japan they had to create new areas and fix bugs, so japanese testers had to wait more. What I'm saying is that if they used the fixed japanese client, they wouldn't be able to cap levels or close certain areas. So all the bugs you mentioned will probably be fixed by open beta, since it was already probably fixed in the japanese version. Basically the closed beta part we do here is not much for bug fixing, but just to see if the servers can handle it. I don't think they pay much attention to what players say about the bugs now because they were probably already addressed in the japanese version, but I may be wrong.
Perfect World allows for fairly massive PvP as well as PvE with minimal lag, and it's pretty much the exact same combat system.
And, again, what's the point in a 'bug report' section on their forums if they already know that our client is buggy?
Perfect World allows for fairly massive PvP as well as PvE with minimal lag, and it's pretty much the exact same combat system.
And, again, what's the point in a 'bug report' section on their forums if they already know that our client is buggy?
The combat systems are quite different due to the 3D (flying) nature of Perfect World's (PW) combat vs. the 2D nature of AIKA's. AIKA also supports a lot more players and is more free in the PvP/PK sense.
AIKA is open PK as soon as you hit level 10 for all players on all servers for all nations.
PW does not have PK till 30, and the player needs to be flagged unless they are on the PvP server.
AIKA also supports more players in PvP, not due to system specs/lag limitations but technical limitations. PW at most will have 200v200 PvP at its best case scenario. Two Tier 3 Guilds with all players fighting during territory wars. This would be quite impressive and would more than fill my need for PvP (maybe better than AIKA), but the problem is that it is just two sides fighting and ends up being not as interesting. On the PvE server, there may end up being as many people PvPing as in AIKA, but it is much more difficult to control (no insta-messaging your entire nation) and the PvP system of PW was not designed with this in mind.
One interesting thing about AIKA is the idea of diplomacy with other nations. You ally with a nation since you hear that two others are ganging up to attack you. Your ally is helping protect your relics, when all of a sudden they remove themselves as allies, steal your relics and run away with them. This kind of stuff won't happen in PW and would make things quite a lot of fun.
About the bugs section:
There can still be bugs in translations or script errors. I noticed quite a few when I had a few untranslated characters in my chat scripts. Just because it is an old buggy client doesn't mean there will still be problems when its patched over. And even though it has been around for (five years?) a while there could still be bugs that still haven't been fixed (or caught but the chances are slim).
Note: I looked up Perfect World's PvP systems in addition to their guild systems and a few videos of the PvP. Similar target/skill/attack system but the overall combat ends up being more challenging due to managing flying abilities in Perfect World. So Perfect World wins out over AIKA in a 1v1 up to 200v200, but the idea of massive amounts of players from different nations all fighting together is what wins out AIKA PvP for me. Guess it will all boil down to the cash shop.
Here is a Q&A and a Review (by Jaime Skelton, some of her articles are on the front page here on MMORPG.com)
The Q&A addresses some of the issues you brought up in your previous arguments, and the Review shares a bit of the "the laggy/choppyness was only happening to a few people" idea I was trying to get across earlier. The customization is worse than she says but the rest is pretty spot on.
Oh, and make sure you remove the downloader (Pando Media Booster) that downloaded the game, it acts like a torrent client and can get quite annoying.
You really are a sad person. You say I fail as a beta tester when you played for five minutes and quit. At least I played the game, and before you start making other assumptions and calling me a "fan boi" or some other crap kids on the internet like to say, I am not a fan boy of this game. I recognize its flaws, but the ones you have brought up are issues with you, not with the game. As I have said in the past, AIKA works by queuing up a bunch of info in the first few minutes of logging on, first time running, and first time a new object is introduced to the current play session. Since you played once and for such a short period of time, I doubt the client even had time to get up to speed. Now you say that it has been reported in the forum. Please tell me which threads, there were a few threads about it on the first day but most of the players that posted after the original poster claimed that they had no such issue. The only thread in the bugs section that is recent has seven posts. If there are a large number of people, and very few people having this issue, it is less likely a bug and more likely an issue with those people. "It's a nice change from the usual oversized dragon pet that just so happens to be named Fluffy."
Hmm, guess people are tired of fire breathing dragons. As I said before (which you most likely didn't read), just because they are little girls doesn't mean: A) they are promoting pedophilia and people are playing ONLY because of the Pran system. I joined the game because I heard there would be large scale PvP battles. I didn't hear about the Pran system till after I joined, I wasn't put off by it, but its not like I went, "OOH LOLIS MUST PLAY". And the people aren't supporting lolis, they are supporting the Pran system. Hell, I support the Pran system, in most games I've always wanted a pet that I could at least have minor social interaction with rather than it just be an AI slave that fights with me. This is a game that does it, you can talk to it, have it buff, you, feed it and everything. Yes, it didn't have to be a girl, but that is what the developers chose to use. But your argument about it being to bring in pedophiles is bull. It may be a game, but its also business. Pedophiles are a small percentage of people and most people are repulsed by pedophilia. Would you make a game that is directed at such a small group of people (who aren't well known for playing MMOs)? No, that would be stupid. They chose them so they could feel like a daughter or a sister, not some random slave you have. I do admit that the "sexy" character type for the Prans are pushing it quite far but that was the English voice acting by gPotato, not the developers. Conquer Online, first MMO I ever played. Started about eight years ago when I was 11 and played till I was 15. The game went to crap because they made it so only players who bought from the item mall could PvP or play the game decently. I never was the highest level, nor was I the best equipped, I only quit AFTER they made it so unfair that you would have a 50% reduction in damage against players that "bulked". And yeah, this was an MMO that actually required skill. Rather than just clicking on a guy, locking on and spamming your skill hotkeys you actually had to aim. There was no lock-on, just hit detection. Because of the fact that everyone was jumping, tracking them became much harder, you actually had to be able to predict where a person was going to land and time it so your hit would be where they were going to land. Direct hit melee'ing someone was near impossible unless they were stupid (or a weapon skill went off), so you had to use a melee ranged attack that hit in a straight line over a certain range. Try killing people while being stun locked and lagging and having to manually aim rather than just press F1-F8, that is skill. Another MMO I played was Air Rivals (Ace Online/Space Cowboy). My friends who saw it said it looked like a "Starfox Online". Another MMO that required skill. If someone was better skilled that you and you weren't insanely higher levelled and equipped, they could beat you. And by insanely I mean by a lot. I almost got killed by a level 40 when I was in my 70's. Any game that has that is a game that requires skill to play. Believe me, when I talk about skill in an MMO I know what I am saying. You're assuming I don't know what I'm talking about, that tells me a lot about you. I love how you make fun of someone for using an acronym that could have many meanings. First of all, Dungeon Fighters Online makes more sense for being DFO than Darkfall Online does. If anything, Darkfall should be DO. Shows how much you know about acronyms (hint: use the letters in the title that are capitalized). Rather than use an acronym that has more than one meaning spell out your stuff.
May not be 1000 vs 1000, but its a shitload of people and I don't see much lag going on.
I was able to play AIKA on a laptop without straining it, people with mid-ranged computers can PvP competitively without having to worry about lagging to pieces (unless they have a bad connection) . I was able to play the Korean server over wireless on a several year old router without lagging (no latency issues) or graphical lag issues. Other players participating in the GM held raid/battle event also spoke about how they didn't receive any lag when playing. I know AIKA doesn't have "sweeping" graphics, but tell me another game with a 300MB install file that has as good graphics as AIKA? Conquer Online is a 2.5D game released in 2004 with crappier graphics, models, maps and terrain, skill effects and a similar amount of customization. It also has a 300 MB client and is even larger than AIKA when installed 1.5 GB vs 1.0GB. AIKA boasts efficiency, notice they mentioned the client size in addition to the graphics, it was more boasting efficiency than boasting graphical prowess. Chronicles of Spellborn.
I am still wondering why I need credibility, I make sure to do a little research when I make a post. Hell, I didn't know what FE was so I spent a little time, went to google and typed "FE MMO" and came up with Fallen Earth. I don't really have the time or excess brain power to waste memorizing acronyms, have enough of those at college already. Spellborn isn't really doing anything that amazing. Yes, they are moving away from the lock-on spam skills mentality but they aren't thinking outside the box (I admit neither is AIKA) they could have implemented it much differently and much better. Please tell me where I need credibility. AIKA is focusing on gameplay more than graphics, rather than go the route of incredibly shiny armors AA at 16x (Anti-Alias) and incredible 500k poly armors they decided to go for a design that conveys the game and allows for their focus (large scale PvP) to happen. Don't confuse innovative gameplay with focusing on gameplay.
<sarcasm>Quick question, since I don't seem to be able to read your words or mine. Where did I say lolis are a luxury? I mean I scanned my post several times, but I haven't been able to find where it says that. Oh well, guess its just me since I'm dumb and can't read and all. </sarcasm> I never said the Pran system was a luxury, I said the pet system (of any game) is a luxury. Unless a game makes its point around the pet system, its just a luxury. And you made fun of me for assuming DFO meant Dungeon Fighters Online (played against my will) rather than Darkfall. At least my assumption had some basis. You assumption of me thinking AIKA PvP was one of the best around is just complete garbage, I'm actually smiling in real life its so funny. I never even said AIKA's PvP system was one of the best around, I never even said it was good. Frankly, I don't think too highly of the PvP system. Its your standard lock onto target and spam skills and pots till one is dead games that have been churned out for the past 10 years. I actually think AIKA's PvP system is pretty bad. Only reason I am interested in the game is the idea that there could be so many people PvPing at once.
About a previous post and large number of online players being impossible to coordinate. WRONG!
Air Rivals (posted above) had nation wars where there would be anywhere from 100-200 people on each side of the war (two sides) fighting over one of the nation's motherships. You would be surprised how well people listen during a war. Even the people who barely spoke any English and were usually jerks ingame would listen to orders given. Why? Because they have a benefit from it. They know they can't win alone, but if they work together they can win. Because they listened, this gave rise to tactics and it went from there. Just because there are a large number of mindless idiots being asked to PvP, doesn't mean they won't listen if losing gets in the way of them getting better gear.
About your acronyms: I have a life (I know, sounds funny when I am responding to posts on a forum, I'm procrastinating instead of doing homework) I also have a job as a student. I can't afford the brainpower spent on memorizing the acronyms for every single game that comes out. I mean, I barely care about most of em anyway, so why would I bother. Way too much stuff to memorize and so little time. Need to know five programming languages, three of which I am learning for the first time. No room for memorizing acronyms.
1. Ok, let me return to the following point: we are NOT bugtesting. We are playing on a client that is TWO YEARS old where most bugs have likely been tested and fixed already. All we're doing is seeing whether or not gPotato's servers can handle the strain.
2. I'm not the one that brought up the bug report; Knightcry was.
3. Could've been Pokemon and it would've served the same purpose.
4. Conquer Online is NOT skill. It requires a tad more skill than other games, true, but in the end it all comes down to gear. Besides that, turn on simple shadows and it's easy as hell because the characters have linear motion. Anyone that is good at an FPS will be able to aim in CO, but again, that's only one part of it. You could be the most skilled FB/SSer in the world, but that wouldn't matter if your gear was crap and a Fire with full SPG/SPG/+12 crap is bearing down on you. Therefore, your skill is irrelevant in the long run unless you also have godly gear.
tl;dr: An MMORPG may require skill; however, the skill is still offset by gear/levels/etc. Only FPS/RTS games truly depend on your skill.
5. So, if I used DO, that could mean (just off the list here at mmorpg.com, not even counting Darkfall because it doesn't say 'online' after it): Deco Online, Deicide Online, Destiny Online, Dragon Oath, Dragonica Online, and Dreamland Online. Yes, what a perfect acronym to get my point across.
6. Did you personally participate in the massive PvP? That's the real question here.
7. Actually, you misread it. The MMORPG overview states that it does include "sweeping graphics".
8. Technically, the game does make its point around the pet system. Aside from 1000v1000 PvP, the Pran system is pretty much the only other unique thing in the game (as covered by 'interacting' with your 'pet').
9. Let's take... naming chemical compounds for example. Pretty boring (unless you're obsessed with chemistry). Is getting 1000 people to compete against another 1000 in naming compounds really going to be exciting? No point in having an interesting PvP option if the PvP sucks in the first place, right?
10. Yes. They BENEFIT from it. Unless there's some sort of system like that in Aika, no one will listen.
11. You're not the only student playing MMORPGs, you know. Aside from that, acronyms are incredibly easy to remember. If more than one acronym fits, choose the most applicable one. Naturally, if Dungeon Fighter can't accommodate mass PvP, I wouldn't be talking about it unless I didn't even know what the game was like.
@farfan: WoW doesn't just use WASD, yet it's still called WASD movement.
@drbalt: First impressions are HUGE, you know. Let's say your daughter (derp derp) brings home a boyfriend and he has the jitters. After exchanging greetings, he vomits all over your new car and soils himself, going onto the ground and shaking violently. After that, he starts crying like a baby. Are you really going to let your daughter go out with him?
@Ramon: Read the quote beside your name and apply it.
yes they are bug testing ,french and english are two very different langage and keyboardlayout etc
untill they can design a game on a universal code they have to correct it for each langage they support
i would go just english if i was them but then there lot of chinese way more 350 million gamer
What I'm saying is that if they have to use an older client because of the reasons I mentioned, then they would want to check if the bugs found are the same as those found in other versions or if there is something new. Also, if you open a buggy game with no bug report section people would be quite pissed. =P And remember, closed beta... Supposed to be full of bugs!
And I can't understand how you think the game is so buggy because I didn't think so. Apart from constant DCing (which can be solved, but you have to turn auto attack off) and sometimes a buggy movement, it seemed ok to me.
The combat systems are quite different due to the 3D (flying) nature of Perfect World's (PW) combat vs. the 2D nature of AIKA's. AIKA also supports a lot more players and is more free in the PvP/PK sense.
No one flies while PvPing except to run away; you only deal half damage.
AIKA is open PK as soon as you hit level 10 for all players on all servers for all nations. PW does not have PK till 30, and the player needs to be flagged unless they are on the PvP server. PW has a 150 level cap, and you really don't start learning the basics of how to play your class until the 20s. AIKA also supports more players in PvP, not due to system specs/lag limitations but technical limitations. PW at most will have 200v200 PvP at its best case scenario. Two Tier 3 Guilds with all players fighting during territory wars. This would be quite impressive and would more than fill my need for PvP (maybe better than AIKA), but the problem is that it is just two sides fighting and ends up being not as interesting. On the PvE server, there may end up being as many people PvPing as in AIKA, but it is much more difficult to control (no insta-messaging your entire nation) and the PvP system of PW was not designed with this in mind. One interesting thing about AIKA is the idea of diplomacy with other nations. You ally with a nation since you hear that two others are ganging up to attack you. Your ally is helping protect your relics, when all of a sudden they remove themselves as allies, steal your relics and run away with them. This kind of stuff won't happen in PW and would make things quite a lot of fun. There are multiple territories that can be controlled which require co-ordination. You can have allies bid on one of your territories so that enemies can't take it. On the other hand, you could have a bunch of allied guilds bid on multiple enemy territories so that the enemy is forced to defend. People can't play 24/7, so you're bound to face the enemy guild at times where some of their strongest players are offline. About the bugs section:
There can still be bugs in translations or script errors. I noticed quite a few when I had a few untranslated characters in my chat scripts. Just because it is an old buggy client doesn't mean there will still be problems when its patched over. And even though it has been around for (five years?) a while there could still be bugs that still haven't been fixed (or caught but the chances are slim). If you say 'report any translation errors' the public will be more inclined to believe that the client is not very buggy. As you said, it doesn't mean there will be problems when patched over, so why are we reporting bugs in a known buggy client? Note: I looked up Perfect World's PvP systems in addition to their guild systems and a few videos of the PvP. Similar target/skill/attack system but the overall combat ends up being more challenging due to managing flying abilities in Perfect World. So Perfect World wins out over AIKA in a 1v1 up to 200v200, but the idea of massive amounts of players from different nations all fighting together is what wins out AIKA PvP for me. Guess it will all boil down to the cash shop. Korean developer. gPotato. Cash shop. 'Nuff said. Even PWI has a huge cash shop advantage. Here is a Q&A and a Review (by Jaime Skelton, some of her articles are on the front page here on MMORPG.com) Review: http://mmohut.com/editorials/aika-closed-beta-review Q&A: http://www.massiveonlinegamer.com/news/special-features/453-aika-online-qaa The Q&A addresses some of the issues you brought up in your previous arguments, and the Review shares a bit of the "the laggy/choppyness was only happening to a few people" idea I was trying to get across earlier. The customization is worse than she says but the rest is pretty spot on. 'Official' reviews and Q/A aren't objective enough. You can really talk about systems all you like, but in the end, it comes down to actually playing the game. Lots of people are saying you can't review a game in 5 minutes, but that editorial certainly isn't coming from someone that has played through to the endgame. Oh, and make sure you remove the downloader (Pando Media Booster) that downloaded the game, it acts like a torrent client and can get quite annoying. That might have been an issue. Thanks.
@adonaac: Yes, I understand the point of 'closed beta being buggy', but I feel like I haven't stressed this point enough: we're really not testing anything. They could simply say outright "this client is old and is known to contain bugs but they have been addressed in patches that we are going to translate and add to the game".
yes they are bug testing ,french and english are two very different langage and keyboardlayout etc untill they can design a game on a universal code they have to correct it for each langage they support i would go just english if i was them but then there lot of chinese way more 350 million gamer
French and English? The game is available in Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese. They don't have it in French (that I know of). Also, you don't need to change the code for each language, as long as the computer can support a certain programming language (not speaking language) its not a problem. They just need to change the quest scripts and the interface language.
And there really does need to be a bug testing section. There were quite a few bugs that were server related. Such as the disconnect for speed hacking bug that happened when you had auto-attack on.
No one flies while PvPing except to run away; you only deal half damage. Watched a few PvP videos with people flying, but that seems kind of silly. Why would you limit the power of a character who is flying when one of the things that makes Perfect World shine is the flying system?
PW has a 150 level cap, and you really don't start learning the basics of how to play your class until the 20s. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to PvP/PK. On the PvE server it wouldn't be a problem since you have to flag yourself for PK to PK (something I view as silly) but on the PvP server it gets a bit problematic with griefers going to level 30 grind areas and waiting for a few level 30's to pop by so they can test their new equipments. I don't know if this happens in Perfect World, but it happened quite a bit in World of Kungfu. Yes, you lose a lot of players with early PK but it helps quite a bit with gold farmers, KSers and annoying spammers.
There are multiple territories that can be controlled which require co-ordination. You can have allies bid on one of your territories so that enemies can't take it. On the other hand, you could have a bunch of allied guilds bid on multiple enemy territories so that the enemy is forced to defend. People can't play 24/7, so you're bound to face the enemy guild at times where some of their strongest players are offline. I looked at Perfect World a while ago and I believe I liked the Territory system at the time but I don't think I like it as much anymore. Seems kind of silly that it is a 1 Guild v 1 Guild type of thing competing over one territory, I guess with the way the system is set up it makes it difficult to have multiple guilds at once. The actual battles require coordination, but the overall system doesn't really require much. Just know the times your allies are weak and outbid them, not much unique strategy or coordination there. There isn't also a large political dynamic where breaking an alliance with someone is as devastating. Break an alliance with a guild and (if you are a strong guild) there will be three others waiting to take its place. In AIKA if you break an alliance with someone (too often) you won't be trusted and a few nations will end up allying and ganging up on you.
Quick question, what are the benefits for winning a territory war? If you say 'report any translation errors' the public will be more inclined to believe that the client is not very buggy. As you said, it doesn't mean there will be problems when patched over, so why are we reporting bugs in a known buggy client? There are still bugs, but most of the stuff is for translation errors. Don't know what gPotato did to the client but who knows, they could have tweaked it a bit for reasons such as making it easier to run on the client, and making it easier for them to understand. This does bring a few problems, and as I stated in my last post, the speedhack problem was pretty big, but isn't found on the other servers. Korean developer. gPotato. Cash shop. 'Nuff said. Even PWI has a huge cash shop advantage. Not always, so far the other servers aren't too bad, and one thing I like about a Nation vs Nation PvP system (Air Rivals had this) is that even if a few players become incredibly cash shop powerful, they are still allies and still in your nation. Yes, they may end up winning the Castle Siege a lot and become Grand Marshal all the time, but at least the cash shoppers are on your side. In most games I've played, the cash shoppers end up joining together and becoming part of one unstoppable guild. I believe the Korean server sells grinding weapons (weapons good till level 40/50) but I think that is the worst of it, my brother quit Perfect World because you could practically buy (overpowered) endgame weapons that took forever to hunt for normally.
'Official' reviews and Q/A aren't objective enough. You can really talk about systems all you like, but in the end, it comes down to actually playing the game. Lots of people are saying you can't review a game in 5 minutes, but that editorial certainly isn't coming from someone that has played through to the endgame. The Q&A does answer a few questions you had and the review was just to back up my point about not a lot of people having the lag issues that some were. When I try a game I usually try to give it a week before I make a statement about it. That might have been an issue. Thanks. Yeah, Pando Media booster was great at downloading the client, but its set to start every time you turn on the computer and starts seeding to other people. Hopefully the client will be uploaded to a hosting site soon.
Watched a few PvP videos with people flying, but that seems kind of silly. Why would you limit the power of a character who is flying when one of the things that makes Perfect World shine is the flying system?
Well, flying gives a speed boost; otherwise, people wouldn't use it. The only way to prevent mages/archers from just flying, swooping in and mass-pwning everyone is to nerf their damage while in flight. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to PvP/PK. On the PvE server it wouldn't be a problem since you have to flag yourself for PK to PK (something I view as silly) but on the PvP server it gets a bit problematic with griefers going to level 30 grind areas and waiting for a few level 30's to pop by so they can test their new equipments. I don't know if this happens in Perfect World, but it happened quite a bit in World of Kungfu. Yes, you lose a lot of players with early PK but it helps quite a bit with gold farmers, KSers and annoying spammers.
It's solved by the PK penalty. Haven't played in awhile, but IIRC, if you flag yourself for PvP, you're unable to turn it off for 10 hours. If you kill someone, you get 2 hours of redname, which stacks, and if your name is red, you can lose items when you die. I looked at Perfect World a while ago and I believe I liked the Territory system at the time but I don't think I like it as much anymore. Seems kind of silly that it is a 1 Guild v 1 Guild type of thing competing over one territory, I guess with the way the system is set up it makes it difficult to have multiple guilds at once. The actual battles require coordination, but the overall system doesn't really require much. Just know the times your allies are weak and outbid them, not much unique strategy or coordination there. There isn't also a large political dynamic where breaking an alliance with someone is as devastating. Break an alliance with a guild and (if you are a strong guild) there will be three others waiting to take its place. In AIKA if you break an alliance with someone (too often) you won't be trusted and a few nations will end up allying and ganging up on you.
Quick question, what are the benefits for winning a territory war? Not exactly; most of the time, it's all one or two mega-guilds (and their subsidiaries, which somewhat counts as an alliance) that control the map. The main benefit to winning is taxes and there are special merchants which sell useful items at a discount only to those of the guild that owns the territory. There are still bugs, but most of the stuff is for translation errors. Don't know what gPotato did to the client but who knows, they could have tweaked it a bit for reasons such as making it easier to run on the client, and making it easier for them to understand. This does bring a few problems, and as I stated in my last post, the speedhack problem was pretty big, but isn't found on the other servers. Well, again, gPotato. 'Nuff said. FlyFF used to be a good game, but it got ruined as well. Not always, so far the other servers aren't too bad, and one thing I like about a Nation vs Nation PvP system (Air Rivals had this) is that even if a few players become incredibly cash shop powerful, they are still allies and still in your nation. Yes, they may end up winning the Castle Siege a lot and become Grand Marshal all the time, but at least the cash shoppers are on your side. In most games I've played, the cash shoppers end up joining together and becoming part of one unstoppable guild. I believe the Korean server sells grinding weapons (weapons good till level 40/50) but I think that is the worst of it, my brother quit Perfect World because you could practically buy (overpowered) endgame weapons that took forever to hunt for normally.
You can't really buy endgame weapons, but the CS does allow you to mass-upgrade everything to the point of imba. A max level mage with max equips would be able to deal ~20k damage on a non-crit with his final skill, which normally takes 5 seconds to channel but with another skill it becomes instant. Considering that having 8k HP is considered a LOT for anyone that isn't a tank class, and that's pretty overpowered. The Q&A does answer a few questions you had and the review was just to back up my point about not a lot of people having the lag issues that some were. When I try a game I usually try to give it a week before I make a statement about it. I do as well; however, some games I really do just find to be unbearable even after the first few minutes. This was one; Grand Fantasia was another recent one.
I do believe that this is getting off-topic. I suppose after discussion, I'll have to change some points for my argument about this game; although all the problems I've brought up have been addressed, there is still the issue of gPotato knowingly giving us a buggy client. Maybe they had a reason, maybe not, but I suppose that's still the bottom line here.
You don't know if they gave you a buggy client because they wanted to or not. My guess is that they did, but not because they like to mess with players, but because they had no choice or because that's just how it always goes.
I think they have to sort of catch up with other versions by testing all (or most) clients before they can use the latest one, and since this is the first client they used, it is really buggy, just like the first time that the game was released in Korea(?).
To be honest I couldn't care less about GPotato using a buggy client or not, they are providing the game and it is closed beta, they have the right to do that.
Like I said before, come back to the game in open beta and if it's still as buggy, then you can say it sucks.
Originally posted by Mellow44 I have never seen any F2P game that has as good graphics as Aika. To my eyes the graphics are very close to Aion's graphics.
Hey, I admit Aika has good graphics, but can't still be compared to a Crytek engine
I am playing Aika and Aion on an high-end machine, and I can assure you that Aion, played at full graphics goodies, can't be beaten so easy.
But I don't wanna say Aika has bad graphics, instead with the small footage of the engine, the developers were able to achieve an impressive result.
But, as reported in the OP, this is still far to be a perfect engine. All movement issues I think are consequences of that.
On movement glitches, I think the OP has sometime forced them (nothing bad, he was just testing basics of a graphic engine), but on the other end it is true that passing througth some kind of obstacles made me "w00t". But beta is beta, I'll report any issue, then developers will do the rest.
Maybe it was too early to make a review about the overall game, I think better do these when game officially starts.
yep i sure would like to see aion fit 1000 vs 1000 player fight on their shinny crytek engine(grin)
joke aside it look very good for its job is to do .some love to forget that this game do 1000 vs 1000 until i see that in aion(lol ,aion is a small mmo in comarision of amount of player per map!
Face it, Aika is great on paper, but the game is FAR from being ready-even for closed beta testing. I played for FIVE minutes. I know that many of you will start criticizing me for only playing for that long, but hey, those that do so are blatantly showing their inability to read everything.
Now, I've only played for five minutes and I have already seen way too many fundamental flaws with this game. These are not things like slow leveling, slow killing speeds, typos, or whatnot. These are the things that make or break games.
1. Incredibly easy to bug up the WASD controls. In 5 minutes of playing, I've had my character perform a walking animation on the spot on several occasions. Besides that, the rendering of your character's orientation is off-you will start walking in one direction while facing another. Movement in general is very buggy. 2. Cannot jump off a wall. You may laugh at this, but hey, it's pretty basic. 3. Wallhacks. Well, not through the walls, but through other doodads. I'm quite used to running through small fences and such; being able to run through entire rocks is a whole other matter. Some rocks let you walk halfway through them then magically teleport you above them. 4. Textures. The camera seems to close in at a fixed rate, causing many texture render bugs. 5. EZ-mode. This is a two-way topic, but the quests pretty much hold your hand through everything. Where's the adventure?
I'll say this now: the only good part about this game is the graphics, and even at that, they're not exactly the best (even compared to only F2Ps). I suppose the lolis are another big plus, but only if you're into that sort of thing, and face it, 99% of the people playing Aika are playing for the lolis.
So, to sum up my 5-minute-review: Aika Online has some great concepts behind it, but it really is NOT ready for closed beta testing.
EDIT: Before you people post saying it's CBT and bugs are to be expected, watch After watching, reconsider your standpoint.
these... are things they want you to look for find and tell them about that is why they have people sign up for the closed BETA to help them find bugs flaws and give tips ad ideas...
these... are things they want you to look for find and tell them about that is why they have people sign up for the closed BETA to help them find bugs flaws and give tips ad ideas...
...The build we are playing was released in Korea over a year ago. The only testing being done are the servers and spelling...
I took out this posters extra comments, but he has the just of it right. This is a localization test. The main things that get tested are server capability and language translation. That's normally all the localization team have control over. If you find a movement bug, sure you can report it. However, that kind of change will have to be sent back to the mothership in Korea, test and approved, deployed to Korea, then one day make it's fix over here.
I'm guessing most people here haven't played in a true beta. Those were you are hand selected based on computer specs, previous testing history. Where you have day to day chat with devs. I've only been in one early beta where that has taken place. That is when the majority of bugs are found and fixed. Last betas are primarily content checking.
Any hoo, I haven't downloaded this yet, but I would like to give it a try.
well honestly the major issue of CBT2 ended up being grid overlay a bit or 2 of code was lost in the transfer and there were more than a few areas that we were well falling threw the map i myself found 47 issues of this type
and yes those that knew how to beta test a were sending in daily reports did have alot of deva interaction but honestly a handful of real " testers " was all that was needed .
Comments
Five Second Reply to a Aika 5-Minute Review:
From the first few words of your attempt I can tell your review is both superficial and lacking of a real analysis of the subject at hand. Need I waste anymore than 5 seconds to come to this conclusion?
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
I'll tell you how it goes.
It goes: I have 6 more hours of class today and it is below 0 outside. Mondays are my crap days when I have 7 hours of class (9 am to 8 pm with a few breaks in between). This is one of the few times where I get to sit on my computer on Mondays so I would rather be on here while doing my homework than go outside (where it is freezing) just because some troll says "there is another world after all besides the internet". I spend most of my time when I'm not doing homework away from my computer. As I said before, I've logged about 10 hours of AIKA which is all the gaming I've done this month. I spend more than enough time away from the computer.
1. Ok, let me return to the following point: we are NOT bugtesting. We are playing on a client that is TWO YEARS old where most bugs have likely been tested and fixed already. All we're doing is seeing whether or not gPotato's servers can handle the strain.
2. I'm not the one that brought up the bug report; Knightcry was.
3. Could've been Pokemon and it would've served the same purpose.
4. Conquer Online is NOT skill. It requires a tad more skill than other games, true, but in the end it all comes down to gear. Besides that, turn on simple shadows and it's easy as hell because the characters have linear motion. Anyone that is good at an FPS will be able to aim in CO, but again, that's only one part of it. You could be the most skilled FB/SSer in the world, but that wouldn't matter if your gear was crap and a Fire with full SPG/SPG/+12 crap is bearing down on you. Therefore, your skill is irrelevant in the long run unless you also have godly gear.
tl;dr: An MMORPG may require skill; however, the skill is still offset by gear/levels/etc. Only FPS/RTS games truly depend on your skill.
5. So, if I used DO, that could mean (just off the list here at mmorpg.com, not even counting Darkfall because it doesn't say 'online' after it): Deco Online, Deicide Online, Destiny Online, Dragon Oath, Dragonica Online, and Dreamland Online. Yes, what a perfect acronym to get my point across.
6. Did you personally participate in the massive PvP? That's the real question here.
7. Actually, you misread it. The MMORPG overview states that it does include "sweeping graphics".
8. Technically, the game does make its point around the pet system. Aside from 1000v1000 PvP, the Pran system is pretty much the only other unique thing in the game (as covered by 'interacting' with your 'pet').
9. Let's take... naming chemical compounds for example. Pretty boring (unless you're obsessed with chemistry). Is getting 1000 people to compete against another 1000 in naming compounds really going to be exciting? No point in having an interesting PvP option if the PvP sucks in the first place, right?
10. Yes. They BENEFIT from it. Unless there's some sort of system like that in Aika, no one will listen.
11. You're not the only student playing MMORPGs, you know. Aside from that, acronyms are incredibly easy to remember. If more than one acronym fits, choose the most applicable one. Naturally, if Dungeon Fighter can't accommodate mass PvP, I wouldn't be talking about it unless I didn't even know what the game was like.
@farfan: WoW doesn't just use WASD, yet it's still called WASD movement.
@vlad: Read the edit to the first post.
@drbalt: First impressions are HUGE, you know. Let's say your daughter (derp derp) brings home a boyfriend and he has the jitters. After exchanging greetings, he vomits all over your new car and soils himself, going onto the ground and shaking violently. After that, he starts crying like a baby. Are you really going to let your daughter go out with him?
@Ramon: Read the quote beside your name and apply it.
Yes, the client is two years old, but it has yet to be patched. So we still have the original buggy client released to the other servers two years ago. I've played the other servers and quite a few of the issues you brought up did not exist. The issue with moving through the rock was most likely lag on your end. What are your computer specs, connection specs and location?
I admit, they did not have to use daughters for it, but guess what, they did. If you have a problem with it, keep yours in fairy mode or don't play. Not really hard to deal with. Besides you brought up the Pran way later after your first post so I don't see why I am still replying to it.
Conquer Online (back when I played) definitely required skill. Back when I played +12 didn't exist and I saw ONE person with full 2 soc (I made sure to get several screenshots of this). The highest people got were +6 which was amazing and since there was no potency/battle power it meant nothing. Being able to take on full super trojans with a full elite trojan and win definitely was skill. Godly gear only became an issue after TQ introduced lottery, 2nd reborn and BP. You didn't even address Ace Online...
5. Then just write out Darkfall and if it doesn't say online after it why is it DFO?
6. Yup. Taiwanese server is fun.
7. I'll give you this one, the graphics on the game aren't that great but when you are in a large battle with no lag and with the current graphical setting I think its more than a fine tradeoff.
8. Hmm the Pran system is pretty well advertised but you forgot to mention some of the other PvP systems. You act as if there is only one PvP system being advertised. There are quite a few instanced PvP modes that are mentioned under the general PvP heading but the way you have worded it seems like there is only the nation battles.
9. Gonna pull a card from your book
"Did you experience it yourself?" No you didn't. Well I was bored one night and done with classes so I decided to get on in time for a war. It actually was rather exciting. The PvP system in AIKA isn't all that bad, yes it is the standard PvP system that is overdone to death but until people get non-targeting PvP done right its what we are stuck with.
10. There is such a system.
11. Said before, be more specific, write out Darkfall. You said yourself there are so many things that could fit into the Darkfall acronym.
1. Again, first impressions are huge. What's the point of giving a buggy client to 'beta test'? So the American uninformed public think they're actually doing something to help the game?
2. 4.5 mbits/s DL, so internet lag shouldn't be an issue. 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo, ATI Radeon X1300PRO, so the game should be running smoothly.
3. The actual reason I tried the game was because of the Pran system. I only saw it as a selling point after I realized everything else was crap.
4. Bullshit. Back in the day, even if you were only decently geared as a Trojan, you would pretty much 1-2 hit EVERYONE, including other Trojans. That doesn't take skill at all. Besides, have you seen any professionals play FPS games? They NEVER jump in a fight. Why? Because it forces you to move in a linear motion, making it incredibly easy for the enemy to aim at you. CO PvP is centered on hitting something that is moving in a straight line. Not skill. Also, I've never played Ace Online, so I can't judge.
5. Because everyone calls it DFO; 'nuff said.
6. Okay, and?
7. These days, everyone is just looking for something shiny. That's why WoW has so many subs. Epic shoulderpads much?
8. Only PvP system advertised on the overview here is the 1000v1000.
9. DDO. 'Nuff said.
10. Just from watching the video, I can see that people are just running around, hitting everyone. There's no "target healers" or "target AoEs", just "do w/e the hell you want and hope we overpower them".
11. It's not incredibly difficult to see which option is the most applicable. That's a necessary skill for multiple choice exams these days.
I didn't even read this whole thread, only the OP's "review" and some other answers.
But whoever played the game for 5 minutes and decided it was crap must play for some more time. If you don't, well, your loss. I gotta admit that this game is pretty basic and just like any other korean grinder in most aspects, so no surprise there. You do quests, get exp, get equips, kill other people and all that.
BUT, the game has a fun part (which someone who played for 5 minutes couldn't enjoy) which is PvP. I will tell you that if you raid with your nation one time and you tell me it isn't fun then you can say this game is crap and that you don't like it, because I doubt you'll say you didn't have even a little bit of fun. It takes time and organization to attack other nations and steal their relics. There are leaders who can talk to the whole nation for the sole purpose of organizing raids and defenses, so you really feel like you belong to a nation and that you have to do something for its sake. I agree that other MMOs probably have a similar system, but I don't remember one that would have 200+ people at the same place on my screen + giant monsters spawned by GMs and didn't lag AT ALL, at least not F2P. The battles are fun because they are really epic, its a lot of people fighting and the fights take some time... You also said that there are no tactics (like attacking clerics or casters), but there are. It is up to the leader of the nation to tell everyone to do this or that while fighting.
In my honest opinion, if you get to a certain LVL and start PvPing against other nations you can come back here and say that the game sucks, because if you don't like this part of the game then there is nothing else to like. I have to agree with some of your points, though. The game is still buggy and needs some fixes, which I believe will come soon.
By the way, I don't think they can use the new japanese client because they cap areas and levels with each CB. So CB1 had level capped to 30 and corresponding areas. While here they will use the next client next week for CB2 (I suppose), in Japan they had to create new areas and fix bugs, so japanese testers had to wait more. What I'm saying is that if they used the fixed japanese client, they wouldn't be able to cap levels or close certain areas. So all the bugs you mentioned will probably be fixed by open beta, since it was already probably fixed in the japanese version. Basically the closed beta part we do here is not much for bug fixing, but just to see if the servers can handle it. I don't think they pay much attention to what players say about the bugs now because they were probably already addressed in the japanese version, but I may be wrong.
Perfect World allows for fairly massive PvP as well as PvE with minimal lag, and it's pretty much the exact same combat system.
And, again, what's the point in a 'bug report' section on their forums if they already know that our client is buggy?
The combat systems are quite different due to the 3D (flying) nature of Perfect World's (PW) combat vs. the 2D nature of AIKA's. AIKA also supports a lot more players and is more free in the PvP/PK sense.
AIKA is open PK as soon as you hit level 10 for all players on all servers for all nations.
PW does not have PK till 30, and the player needs to be flagged unless they are on the PvP server.
AIKA also supports more players in PvP, not due to system specs/lag limitations but technical limitations. PW at most will have 200v200 PvP at its best case scenario. Two Tier 3 Guilds with all players fighting during territory wars. This would be quite impressive and would more than fill my need for PvP (maybe better than AIKA), but the problem is that it is just two sides fighting and ends up being not as interesting. On the PvE server, there may end up being as many people PvPing as in AIKA, but it is much more difficult to control (no insta-messaging your entire nation) and the PvP system of PW was not designed with this in mind.
One interesting thing about AIKA is the idea of diplomacy with other nations. You ally with a nation since you hear that two others are ganging up to attack you. Your ally is helping protect your relics, when all of a sudden they remove themselves as allies, steal your relics and run away with them. This kind of stuff won't happen in PW and would make things quite a lot of fun.
About the bugs section:
There can still be bugs in translations or script errors. I noticed quite a few when I had a few untranslated characters in my chat scripts. Just because it is an old buggy client doesn't mean there will still be problems when its patched over. And even though it has been around for (five years?) a while there could still be bugs that still haven't been fixed (or caught but the chances are slim).
Note: I looked up Perfect World's PvP systems in addition to their guild systems and a few videos of the PvP. Similar target/skill/attack system but the overall combat ends up being more challenging due to managing flying abilities in Perfect World. So Perfect World wins out over AIKA in a 1v1 up to 200v200, but the idea of massive amounts of players from different nations all fighting together is what wins out AIKA PvP for me. Guess it will all boil down to the cash shop.
Here is a Q&A and a Review (by Jaime Skelton, some of her articles are on the front page here on MMORPG.com)
Review: http://mmohut.com/editorials/aika-closed-beta-review
Q&A: http://www.massiveonlinegamer.com/news/special-features/453-aika-online-qaa
The Q&A addresses some of the issues you brought up in your previous arguments, and the Review shares a bit of the "the laggy/choppyness was only happening to a few people" idea I was trying to get across earlier. The customization is worse than she says but the rest is pretty spot on.
Oh, and make sure you remove the downloader (Pando Media Booster) that downloaded the game, it acts like a torrent client and can get quite annoying.
1. Ok, let me return to the following point: we are NOT bugtesting. We are playing on a client that is TWO YEARS old where most bugs have likely been tested and fixed already. All we're doing is seeing whether or not gPotato's servers can handle the strain.
2. I'm not the one that brought up the bug report; Knightcry was.
3. Could've been Pokemon and it would've served the same purpose.
4. Conquer Online is NOT skill. It requires a tad more skill than other games, true, but in the end it all comes down to gear. Besides that, turn on simple shadows and it's easy as hell because the characters have linear motion. Anyone that is good at an FPS will be able to aim in CO, but again, that's only one part of it. You could be the most skilled FB/SSer in the world, but that wouldn't matter if your gear was crap and a Fire with full SPG/SPG/+12 crap is bearing down on you. Therefore, your skill is irrelevant in the long run unless you also have godly gear.
tl;dr: An MMORPG may require skill; however, the skill is still offset by gear/levels/etc. Only FPS/RTS games truly depend on your skill.
5. So, if I used DO, that could mean (just off the list here at mmorpg.com, not even counting Darkfall because it doesn't say 'online' after it): Deco Online, Deicide Online, Destiny Online, Dragon Oath, Dragonica Online, and Dreamland Online. Yes, what a perfect acronym to get my point across.
6. Did you personally participate in the massive PvP? That's the real question here.
7. Actually, you misread it. The MMORPG overview states that it does include "sweeping graphics".
8. Technically, the game does make its point around the pet system. Aside from 1000v1000 PvP, the Pran system is pretty much the only other unique thing in the game (as covered by 'interacting' with your 'pet').
9. Let's take... naming chemical compounds for example. Pretty boring (unless you're obsessed with chemistry). Is getting 1000 people to compete against another 1000 in naming compounds really going to be exciting? No point in having an interesting PvP option if the PvP sucks in the first place, right?
10. Yes. They BENEFIT from it. Unless there's some sort of system like that in Aika, no one will listen.
11. You're not the only student playing MMORPGs, you know. Aside from that, acronyms are incredibly easy to remember. If more than one acronym fits, choose the most applicable one. Naturally, if Dungeon Fighter can't accommodate mass PvP, I wouldn't be talking about it unless I didn't even know what the game was like.
@farfan: WoW doesn't just use WASD, yet it's still called WASD movement.
@vlad: Read the edit to the first post.
@drbalt: First impressions are HUGE, you know. Let's say your daughter (derp derp) brings home a boyfriend and he has the jitters. After exchanging greetings, he vomits all over your new car and soils himself, going onto the ground and shaking violently. After that, he starts crying like a baby. Are you really going to let your daughter go out with him?
@Ramon: Read the quote beside your name and apply it.
yes they are bug testing ,french and english are two very different langage and keyboardlayout etc
untill they can design a game on a universal code they have to correct it for each langage they support
i would go just english if i was them but then there lot of chinese way more 350 million gamer
same here...i will stick with allods for now
Tormented echoes of a fallen Eden
I longed for her beauty
Yet from dust, she returned
The dream, an enigma.... silent
@Tanon
What I'm saying is that if they have to use an older client because of the reasons I mentioned, then they would want to check if the bugs found are the same as those found in other versions or if there is something new. Also, if you open a buggy game with no bug report section people would be quite pissed. =P And remember, closed beta... Supposed to be full of bugs!
And I can't understand how you think the game is so buggy because I didn't think so. Apart from constant DCing (which can be solved, but you have to turn auto attack off) and sometimes a buggy movement, it seemed ok to me.
@adonaac: Yes, I understand the point of 'closed beta being buggy', but I feel like I haven't stressed this point enough: we're really not testing anything. They could simply say outright "this client is old and is known to contain bugs but they have been addressed in patches that we are going to translate and add to the game".
French and English? The game is available in Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese. They don't have it in French (that I know of). Also, you don't need to change the code for each language, as long as the computer can support a certain programming language (not speaking language) its not a problem. They just need to change the quest scripts and the interface language.
And there really does need to be a bug testing section. There were quite a few bugs that were server related. Such as the disconnect for speed hacking bug that happened when you had auto-attack on.
I do believe that this is getting off-topic. I suppose after discussion, I'll have to change some points for my argument about this game; although all the problems I've brought up have been addressed, there is still the issue of gPotato knowingly giving us a buggy client. Maybe they had a reason, maybe not, but I suppose that's still the bottom line here.
You don't know if they gave you a buggy client because they wanted to or not. My guess is that they did, but not because they like to mess with players, but because they had no choice or because that's just how it always goes.
I think they have to sort of catch up with other versions by testing all (or most) clients before they can use the latest one, and since this is the first client they used, it is really buggy, just like the first time that the game was released in Korea(?).
To be honest I couldn't care less about GPotato using a buggy client or not, they are providing the game and it is closed beta, they have the right to do that.
Like I said before, come back to the game in open beta and if it's still as buggy, then you can say it sucks.
Hey, I admit Aika has good graphics, but can't still be compared to a Crytek engine
I am playing Aika and Aion on an high-end machine, and I can assure you that Aion, played at full graphics goodies, can't be beaten so easy.
But I don't wanna say Aika has bad graphics, instead with the small footage of the engine, the developers were able to achieve an impressive result.
But, as reported in the OP, this is still far to be a perfect engine. All movement issues I think are consequences of that.
On movement glitches, I think the OP has sometime forced them (nothing bad, he was just testing basics of a graphic engine), but on the other end it is true that passing througth some kind of obstacles made me "w00t". But beta is beta, I'll report any issue, then developers will do the rest.
Maybe it was too early to make a review about the overall game, I think better do these when game officially starts.
Edit: im soo bad at english...
Cheers^^
yep i sure would like to see aion fit 1000 vs 1000 player fight on their shinny crytek engine(grin)
joke aside it look very good for its job is to do .some love to forget that this game do 1000 vs 1000 until i see that in aion(lol ,aion is a small mmo in comarision of amount of player per map!
these... are things they want you to look for find and tell them about that is why they have people sign up for the closed BETA to help them find bugs flaws and give tips ad ideas...
L2Read.
Well everybody gets another chance to try it out. February 24th is 2nd closed beta test.
It will run until March 2nd.
Just one week, so if you wanna check, better do it early.
Login servers will be up at about 1100PST
Cheers^^
I took out this posters extra comments, but he has the just of it right. This is a localization test. The main things that get tested are server capability and language translation. That's normally all the localization team have control over. If you find a movement bug, sure you can report it. However, that kind of change will have to be sent back to the mothership in Korea, test and approved, deployed to Korea, then one day make it's fix over here.
I'm guessing most people here haven't played in a true beta. Those were you are hand selected based on computer specs, previous testing history. Where you have day to day chat with devs. I've only been in one early beta where that has taken place. That is when the majority of bugs are found and fixed. Last betas are primarily content checking.
Any hoo, I haven't downloaded this yet, but I would like to give it a try.
well honestly the major issue of CBT2 ended up being grid overlay a bit or 2 of code was lost in the transfer and there were more than a few areas that we were well falling threw the map i myself found 47 issues of this type
and yes those that knew how to beta test a were sending in daily reports did have alot of deva interaction but honestly a handful of real " testers " was all that was needed .