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A Review of the game Pro's and Con's...
xSagemanx
Member Posts: 9
I've only recently started playing the game and I have to say that I am impressed, though I have yet to reach the level cap and experience the end game content I thought I would write a quick review for those interested in trying the game out.
First off the game is probably the best written game in terms of dialogue and content that I've ever played, hands down. For reference I've played WoW, Warhammer, EQ, EQ2, Vanguard, AO, DAOC and a host of others. This game however reads like a pulp fiction novel, its fast violent and loaded with intrigue. These combine to make a wonderful atomosphere where you let the game engulf you and see yourself eager as to how the story develops.
As to graphics its hard to compare because you have three avenues of graphics out their these days, Cartoonish, Realistic or Anime and it's all pretty much based on indvidual taste. I personaly like all three but find Realistic to be more appealing over all. This game is in my opinion the best in terms of that genre of graphics out there.
The next big thing in the game is the combat system, it is truly the most inovative system in the game and I both love and hate it. The system of combos, where one hits a series of keys to impliment devestating combo attacks, is both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. One missed key can spell doom sometimes. The combat basic system of defense coupled with 3 directional attacking is also inovative for MMORPG's and is another aspect of the game that I truly find enjoyable. I have lost the spamming feeling I got from hours of raiding or grinding in other games. I no longer sit and spam two or three keys over and over because attacks will vary depending on the targets defenses. This makes the game's combat exciting and interesting.
The thing I hate most about the game and which is almost a deal breaker is that twice my game has been corrupted and I've had to spend 3 hours downloading it all over again. In terms of bugs the game is on par with most of the other games that have been released recently, but I would add this game has not been released recently, its almost a year old. I have gathered from other players and the forums that the game has made leaps and bounds in terms of the reduction of bugs in the games so this will most likely continue to improve.
On a final note I would conclude that I hear alot of naysayers prophisizing doom for the game. To those few I would respond that Anarchy Online was a game that truly did lose over 80% of its game base in the first 90 days of its release and that game is still going strong and well supported by Funcom. If any company should have picked up the labeling and development of the Conan Franchise it should have been Funcom, they unlike developers NCSoft and a host of others do not turn their backs on their community when the times get rough. I look forward to playing the game in the future.
Over all I give the game and 8.5/10
For comparison I gave WoW:WotLK a 8.5/10
To me its on par with WoW at the moment.
P.S. I would add that I thought when I first saw that there was frontal nudity on woman characters in the game I would be barraged by half naked barbarian women. I was not and for that I subtracted .25 points on the overall rating. JK....
I apologize for the spelling no spellchecker in google chrome....
Comments
Anyways, nice wall of text! This game MUST be so amazing now as it sends players en mass to the forums to vouch for it, daily.
Though, IMO the writing and combat system were not better than WoW's or EQ2's...the only diffrence is prior to an expansion WoW and EQ2 still had 10 times as many quests at least, none of the games has a coherent story but WoW and EQ2 had more epic quest lines with awesome endings, which I won't spoil AoC's...all three games use global cooldowns and each class has an optimal cast sequence so the combat system is really the same.
Actually, the only video game writing to stick out in a long time was KOTOR 1...though it's game play was pretty bad....mabye the MMO version will fix the gameplay.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
Though, IMO the writing and combat system were not better than WoW's or EQ2's...
I would disagree. I have played these games as well. The big difference is I read what is being said in AoC thanks to the well written text. EQ2 and WoW I would end up clicking ok to bypass, as I knew it would either be hokey or comedy based. The story had no cohesive structure basically, while AoC, I feel I have a need to do these things.
the only diffrence is prior to an expansion WoW and EQ2 still had 10 times as many quests at least,
I do not believe anyone argued this point, so I do not understand what "quantity" has to do with well written. It really is not difficult to copy over "Please kill 10 of this" multiple times to get content for areas that are empty of quests. Funcom just decided not to fluff it out so much, with more quests of a variety.
none of the games has a coherent story but WoW and EQ2 had more epic quest lines with awesome endings,
I would beg to differ. I have had many a "Epic" quest line in AoC that is seperate from the main story line. And that is the kicker is that there IS a main story here, and not just a bunch of random bits thrown together. A lot of coherent stories interconnecting is what makes those stories in AoC feel more complete.
all three games use global cooldowns and each class has an optimal cast sequence so the combat system is really the same.
This is truly not correct at all. I would say that the "casting" classes feel familiar. But, the speed of combat in AoC combined with the placement of your avatar (the fact that in EQ2 and WoW besides hitting the jump button to move, placement means nothing...in AoC it means everything) especially of melee, where shield placement and mob control all very importan, makes for a more visceral experiencet. I can walk through the whole of WoW and EQ2 not moving one iota, and pressing 1,2,3 in order to accomplish my goal. Not fun. All I know is since I have entered AoC's combat style, I have not been able to go back to the old school stand and press combat.
Actually, the only video game writing to stick out in a long time was KOTOR 1...though it's game play was pretty bad....mabye the MMO version will fix the gameplay.
Why compare a single player games writing to an MMO. There is no comparison. Most single player games will cater to story first. Most MMO's do not care, and I think this is where games like AoC and Guild Wars shine. Story was key to their enjoyment for me. If more MMO's did this, like SW:TOR will do, then I think we could see a sea change in MMO genre playstyles.
Until then, I am quite happy with AoC. I am glad you enjoy the game as well OP.
Cheers
Anyways, nice wall of text! This game MUST be so amazing now as it sends players en mass to the forums to vouch for it, daily.
Though, IMO the writing and combat system were not better than WoW's or EQ2's...the only diffrence is prior to an expansion WoW and EQ2 still had 10 times as many quests at least, none of the games has a coherent story but WoW and EQ2 had more epic quest lines with awesome endings, which I won't spoil AoC's...all three games use global cooldowns and each class has an optimal cast sequence so the combat system is really the same.
Actually, the only video game writing to stick out in a long time was KOTOR 1...though it's game play was pretty bad....mabye the MMO version will fix the gameplay.
Well you seem to be grading on quantity and not quality. As to the quantity, who cares really, the amount of quests should be enough to get you leveled and currently the game does that overall. If the quests are well written and engaging then thats the key. The appeal of WoW is that it is easy mode, you can do a handful of quests and level. I'm not saying that AoC is hard to level in but it is more difficult than WoW and alot less difficult than EQ2. WoW succeeds in putting in a whole bunch of quests that are essentaily the same dialogue over and over. Nothing changes for the most part.
Combat in both the other games is oh my god so bland. I play the most difficult class in WoW in my opinion, an Affliction Warlock, its so mind numbing because I have it down, with macros, to 4 buttons. Thats it, my end game content consists of 4 buttons, the same thing over and over and over..... <Insert scream here.> To say that the combat system of AoC is not even slightly more engaging puts you into the boat of the flamers that roam this board flaming the game with out any substance to back it up.
As for your Knights of the Old Republic reference, that game was not an MMORPG so to include it as a comparison is moot. I agree that the content and dialogue in that game and even Mass Effect were good. Yet AoC is the only MMORPG to come even remotely close to either of the forementioned games in terms of dialogue for any MMORGP I've played.
Finaly, the wall of text flame is juvenile, in my opinion it was made because you genuinely dont like the game and insist on staying in this forum to bash those who find it entertaining. My post was as long as it needed to be to describe the game.
This is my first post in regards to this game.
I have no problem vouching for a game I enjoy...especially when I foolishly avoided this game for months because of the stupid B.S. I would read from negative replies...the same replies from bitter and dream-shattered souls that would inevitably show up whenever someone posts their appreciation for AoC. Regardless of the frequency of positive posts.
Less than 20,000 players and patched two to three times a year, Not exactly the best example of a bright future.
Less than 20,000 players and patched two to three times a year, Not exactly the best example of a bright future.
Nevertheless, one that has been going 7 years plus right? Earning add up nicely over that time, even if it took a while to be profitable, it still attained that status and is a testament to endurance in this market.
Thanks for the thoughts OP.
Tortage had some decent voice acting but nothing really stuck out, afterwards reading what was written usually became boring (though remember back in the day, preying on people reading texts was an easy way to pad a K/D ratio ;p)
No I'm all about quality. However, after playing EQ, AoC, and, WoW...I realize that if the races and names were removed from the quest texts..it would be imposible to distinguish the quest diolog apart from these games.
I had much better questing experiences in EQ 2 though as some of them were quite interesting: IE I spent 10 hours in a haunted mansion running through a huge quest line, with diffrent types of quests and a hard boss at the end, and at the end I was rewarded with an amazing item that transformed my apearance into another race. There were many great quests like that before the expansion was released.
In WoW there were the attunment quests and some other ones that built heavily on lore so they were just bigger and well written.
In War I enjoyed the PQs quite a bit as many were well scripted...that game followed a theme for it's solo quest everything was about War.
*****************
Even the main story line was pretty confusing as to why we were doing any of this after tortage and it was never rewarding and wont be unless the FC changes stats and items to mean something, IMO the game mechanics are still broken. One thing I really disliked about AoC is the size of the game and lack of mobility, so most quests are very localized....it kind of kills epic quest lines because of geographic restrictions.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
Less than 20,000 players and patched two to three times a year, Not exactly the best example of a bright future.
Nevertheless, one that has been going 7 years plus right? Earning add up nicely over that time, even if it took a while to be profitable, it still attained that status and is a testament to endurance in this market.
Thanks for the thoughts OP.
.....It is a good sign, however, that Funcom will support and update even the smallest player base and not leave them hanging in the wind . Including a major graphical overhaul for it's Anarchy Online game..despite having only 20,000 players. So it is likely...those of us who enjoy AoC..will be able to continue our enjoyment for a while.
Less than 20,000 players and patched two to three times a year, Not exactly the best example of a bright future.
Nevertheless, one that has been going 7 years plus right? Earning add up nicely over that time, even if it took a while to be profitable, it still attained that status and is a testament to endurance in this market.
Thanks for the thoughts OP.
.....It is a good sign, however, that Funcom will support and update even the smallest player base and not leave them hanging in the wind . Including a major graphical overhaul for it's Anarchy Online game..despite having only 20,000 players. So it is likely...those of us who enjoy AoC..will be able to continue our enjoyment for a while.
If creating obscure, unknown niche game with only hardcore fans who are willing to wait for content to dribble in over many years is what FunCom does well, than I guess AoC can look foward to that kind of 'success'.
Promised for over 3 years, still does not have a firm date, fans are not holding their breath in anticipation.
Super generous estimate, active players is probably half that across 3 servers , the game keep its head above water with micro-transactions and in game advertising. Enjoy the Mountain Dew ads on billboards in Tortage (yes they coded AoC to support in game advertisement, Google it)
By all means keep looking on the bright side, I don't want FunCom to fold, no one would keep Anarchy Online alive if they did, and even if I am not currently playing, it was my first MMO, and for nostalgia's sake I wouldn't want it to go the way of the dinosaur.
Less than 20,000 players and patched two to three times a year, Not exactly the best example of a bright future.
Nevertheless, one that has been going 7 years plus right? Earning add up nicely over that time, even if it took a while to be profitable, it still attained that status and is a testament to endurance in this market.
Thanks for the thoughts OP.
.....It is a good sign, however, that Funcom will support and update even the smallest player base and not leave them hanging in the wind . Including a major graphical overhaul for it's Anarchy Online game..despite having only 20,000 players. So it is likely...those of us who enjoy AoC..will be able to continue our enjoyment for a while.
If creating obscure, unknown niche game with only hardcore fans who are willing to wait for content to dribble in over many years is what FunCom does well, than I guess AoC can look foward to that kind of 'success'.
Promised for over 3 years, still does not have a firm date, fans are not holding their breath in anticipation.
Super generous estimate, active players is probably half that across 3 servers , the game keep its head above water with micro-transactions and in game advertising. Enjoy the Mountain Dew ads on billboards in Tortage (yes they coded AoC to support in game advertisement, Google it)
By all means keep looking on the bright side, I don't want FunCom to fold, no one would keep Anarchy Online alive if they did, and even if I am not currently playing, it was my first MMO, and for nostalgia's sake I wouldn't want it to go the way of the dinosaur.
Despite whether your estimate of 20,000 AO players is generous or not...my point is this...those of us that enjoy AOC....have a good idea , based on another property run by Funcom, that we will be able to continue playing. This is a good thing in my opinion....with the market as competitive and mmo's being canceled or doom-spoken at every turn. I don't think many developers intend to produce a "niche" game...Imo game's become niche by circumstance. A "Mike Hammer" crime-noir mmo might be considered niche....but sci-fi or fantasy titles of any kind are probably the norm..and only attain niche status by sub numbers. I hope that all mmo's survive....more variety for everyone. It's just that most are considered failures because they have "x" people playing or make less than a bajillion dollars a month...which is crap. If it makes up the investment and can be sustained with a profit...it is not a failure....it may take time to get to that point..but so do most business ventures. I do admit that ..with the economy in it's current state....it's not a good time to play catch -up...but I hope AoC does...cause I like the game.
"At the same time we also want to show our commitment to taking the overall gameplay experience forward. I am therefore glad to announce that we are developing a new graphics engine for the game, replacing our entire server farm, as well as developing exciting booster packs which include new playfields and more."
From Craig in the interview on jun 29 2007, announcing this plans less than 2 years ago; the server farm was completely replaced, a booster pack was launched and the works on the graphic engine are still being done, but having in mind that the rest of the long term plans presented then (it was several times stated by the devs it wasn't gonna be a short term set of goals) players do are expecting it.
The microtransactions do help the game, but giving theyr give access to merely luxury items that have no real impact in gameplay they are not needed, only the most hardcore supporters buy more than a bike or board, as they have no practical use that is not covered, in even better fashion, by regular items easily obtainable ingame.
Modern day ads in AoC wouldn't help sustain the game, it would kill it even if it had huge amount of subs, as not even the biggest fans want them, and despite all what has been said about it the official word of FC is that there are no plans for it in AoC. A new arrangement to expand the ingame advertisements from AO to AoC would be present in their financial reports once the deals are made, wich would be before than they would be applied, so at least for now (and considering that the company has enough reserves as to go on without further investment for at least a year) that won't happen.
To risk something like that FC would have to be totally desperate, losing actual money in their cash flow (not losing value out of devaluated assets) beyond what they can absorb with their reserves and again it would be shotting their own feet, fantasy + ingame ads+ the visual style and detail of AoC=complete suicide.
Agreed ...
Never the less they coded for it and it was (is?) listed in the EULA.
Yes it is in the Eula, but i haven't actually found any official notice of it being coded in.
It is not relevent tho, cause the backlash caused by that very EULA tell us all, FC included, tht it wouldn't help save the game if the need for that kind of saving would present itself, if they do it, that's it, no chance of a comeback or a continued support.
We would see it comming to, and could take the proper measures. If FC is to maintain the game is via other means, as further developments and a big campaign, free trials, the changes so far implemented and in development, release in new markets (including the ones that they launched in Feb, and the further plans for Asia) the works on the 360 version and works on an expansion, as planned from start tell us that FC actually are keeping the focus in AoC as a game, and the push to try and make it a contunued success.
If money was a problem, or other concerns regarding this developments loomed over. they would have done what they did back when AO launched, their planned MMO was canned and a lot of actual FC Norway people was released, so far only released personel (in numbers) have been CS from their US office, personnel that was hired to meet the initial unexpectedly high demand and that with the subscription decline was no longer needed nor justifiable from a financial point of view.
FC has hired new personnel in order to not take from the AoC current team for their other projects, they are aiming at keeping up with Conan for the long run, and make it a successful, profitable asset.
This all can fail, of course, but so can any single business enterprise.
It was admitted at launch that they had coded to include the ability to run in game advertisement.
Even E Ellingsen admitted to it one month prior to launch " "No, Age of Conan does not feature in-game advertisement". However, he did mention that he can't predict the future of what's to come for the title and added that "there are no plans for it now".
Well i have played Age of conan for 3 weeks now, i am lvl 57 with my Herald of Xotli.
And so far the game seems to be very good, i really like the music, grafics and the gameplay, also pretty cool story line.
I also have 2 irl friens who have played AOC for 3 months and they both have 1 lvl 80 and some alts. They say that the endgame is pretty good.
I will give the game a 8+
Well i have played Age of conan for 3 weeks now, i am lvl 57 with my Herald of Xotli.
And so far the game seems to be very good, i really like the music, grafics and the gameplay, also pretty cool story line.
I also have 2 irl friens who have played AOC for 3 months and they both have 1 lvl 80 and some alts. They say that the endgame is pretty good.
I will give the game a 8+
I have never before heard anyone say Age of Conan has a "pretty good" endgame. Everyone complains about lack of endgame. Everyone. When mass quiting (90% quit) started back in August 2007, number one complaint was lack of endgame. Go ask anyone ingame what level content they want and everyone will say level 80.
I'm glad you are enjoying AoC but keep in mind that most people get bored around level 65-70. Just something you should take into consideration when making the decision whether to pay for 2nd month or not.
Well i have played Age of conan for 3 weeks now, i am lvl 57 with my Herald of Xotli.
And so far the game seems to be very good, i really like the music, grafics and the gameplay, also pretty cool story line.
I also have 2 irl friens who have played AOC for 3 months and they both have 1 lvl 80 and some alts. They say that the endgame is pretty good.
I will give the game a 8+
I have never before heard anyone say Age of Conan has a "pretty good" endgame. Everyone complains about lack of endgame. Everyone. When mass quiting (90% quit) started back in August 2007, number one complaint was lack of endgame. Go ask anyone ingame what level content they want and everyone will say level 80.
I'm glad you are enjoying AoC but keep in mind that most people get bored around level 65-70. Just something you should take into consideration when making the decision whether to pay for 2nd month or not.
Age of Conan launched on May 17th 2008,so did the 90% who quit in August 2007 have the abiltiy to time travel or are you just another troll pushing the usual misinformed bullcrap as always?
Just a word,it's normally a dead giveaway when you join and immediately start pushing the AoC troll mode.
You obviously havent played the game so either buy it,play it and report back to us or shut the hell up.
Gaming since 1985 and still going strong.
Age of Conan launched on May 17th 2008,so did the 90% who quit in August 2007 have the abiltiy to time travel or are you just another troll pushing the usual misinformed bullcrap as always?
Just a word,it's normally a dead giveaway when you join and immediately start pushing the AoC troll mode.
You obviously havent played the game so either buy it,play it and report back to us or shut the hell up.
My bad. I meant to say August 2008.
It was crazy. I still remember our 400+ guild totally dying in 3 weeks. Every day less and less people logged in.
Bleeding has now stopped because all the "regular gamers" are gone. It's the hardcore fanbois that are left and who keep he game alive.
From my own experience over many months of playing Age of conan i give it a 8
I am pretty sure that after patch 1.05 i will give it atlest 8.5
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