Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Earlier this week, Ten Ton Hammer had the chance to spend a little time with Aion: The Tower of Eternity Producer, Brian Knox and glean some information on the upcoming release of NCsoft's latest title. There are some great nuggets to be had in that piece but there's one question I didn't see asked that, although completely uncouth, would have been interesting to get any kind of answer to. Since it wasn't asked then, I'll ask (and attempt to answer) it in this week's edition of Forever Fantasy.

This could hurt...

Can Aion take North America by storm?

My knee-jerk reaction is to say no because no Asian crossover has managed to do it yet. Of course, also call it a knee-jerk reaction because that reaction always has a tendency to make you look like little more than a jerk. Fortunately though, most of us are grown adults (or mature enough anyway) to take a minute to step back and really think about the question before giving such a biologically uncool answer.

Normally, I'm not one to jump to such a reaction so quickly, but let's face facts for a brief moment. Asian MMOG's have not had the greatest success on this side of the ocean. Some may argue that Final Fantasy XI is a success, but I don't think it is. It falls into the same trap of the grind. For the majority of the online Asian games that have released in North America (or *every* one that I've had to play), at some point in a character's life, you are reduced to grinding. I don't mean the grinding involved with taking a sharp blade and honing it to a razor's edge. I'm talking about the kind of grinding involved to turn the edge of a steel support beam into a blade suitable for a katana of master craftsmanship. In theory, it could be done, but the majority of us would rather die a slow and painful death first... which is exactly what you're heading towards if you attempt to keep up with the grind required in some of these games.

I'm hoping this fate does not befall Aion. In the previously mentioned interview, Brian basically stated that the powers that be are well aware that even though this is being touted as the spiritual successor to Lineage, this is being released in a far different age. There will be plenty of quests to keep players busy, even when they're not out grouping or enjoying laying the smack down on some poor unsuspecting soul like **insert whatever character Dalmarus is playing here**.