The cycle of life is as fitting for the MMOG universe as it is for we
mere mortals. Even as games like href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/51828" target="_blank">Tabula
Rasa
prepare for their imminent demise, other games are continually born
into existence. The next big title coming from the warm, snuggly,
Garriott-empty womb of NCsoft is href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/254"
target="_blank">Aion:
The Tower of Eternity. With the company allowing one of its
most hyped games to shut down after only a short chance at life, I
think players are naturally nervous about putting their href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/61122" target="_blank">trust
in the
company yet again.



After spending some time digging for information, I'm going to go out
on a limb here and say their latest endeavor will be well worth taking
another chance on. Ever since the days of Icarus, man has wanted to
soar through the air with the agility of sparrows and the speed of the
falcon. Welcome to the world of Aion.



Whether you choose to join the side of light as one of the angelic
Elyos, or the side of darkness as one of the imposing Asmodians, you'll
take to the skies and all of its violent beauty as you fight in the
Abyss. The world has been shattered into innumerable shards and
it’s up to you to protect your factions floating chunks of
rock, the rocks you call home.

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style="font-style: italic;">Impose your will in the air.

The concept of flying in a game certainly isn't unique, but using it at
as a staple in MMO combat certainly is. The current strategies we're
all used to employing simply won't cut it and will have to be modified
if you want to truly rule the skies. Rather than being on a flat, two
dimensional plane, you'll be forced to be cognizant of threats from all
around you at all times.



href="http://www.aiononline.com/us/game_guide/what_is_aion/aerial_combat.html"
target="_blank">According
to the website, the customization of your wings will
supposedly be "as unique as your imagination will allow". While I hope
they pull this part off, I think they seriously need to reword this
particular statement. The Ten Ton Hammer community alone has shown on
multiple occasions just how creative they can be. Toss in the other one
million players they're hoping to attract to Aion and I think they have
a better chance of developing cold fusion than they do of fulfilling
that particular promise. The concept of my Asmodian's demon wings may
be completely different from everyone else’s. Attempting to
truly satisfy everyone is ludicrous. The various images I've seen show
a remarkable amount of diversity, so even if I argue with their
wording, there should be enough variety to keep everyone from feeling
as if they look like clones.



For years, many of us have played various flight simulation games, with
those of the space flavor being my favorite. From the early days of
Wing Commander (will someone *please* make another one?) to the more
recent addition of space combat in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/42"
target="_blank">Star
Wars Galaxies (its only saving grace in my opinion), the idea
of 360 degree combat is a familiar one. I'm intrigued to see just how
different Aion's combat will be though since we're not going to flying
at 500kps (kilometers/second) and firing lasers. Having a general sense
of enemies shouldn't be much different, but keeping track of your
teammates may be an entirely different ball of wax.

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Diversity
for the win!

Upon character creation, you'll be able to choose from a standard host
of classes: Warrior, Scout, Priest, and Mage. From there, you'll be
able to split off into specialty classes further down the road in your
career. The idea sounds great on paper, but as a person that tends to
have more characters on my account than the infamous Sybil had
personalities, I worry about having to play the same basic character
multiple times.



Everquest
II
started out with a similar system, but eventually allowed players to
start as whatever class they wanted to avoid the inevitable sense of
burnout invoked just from wanting to try out a Shadow Knight and
Guardian. Both started out as warriors, but you had to play through an
immense amount of content before you could tell whether you would
actually like the class. Lessening the amount of content players have
to go through before choosing further classes in a tree may be one way
to go, but at that point, I have to wonder why they don't have all the
classes available from the start.



Aion is coming along in its development, but there's still plenty of
time for things to change. When it comes to MMOG's, the standard rule
is that everything is written in Jell-O and can be altered at any time.
Despite the current cloud of disappointment hanging over NCsoft, I'm
still anxiously awaiting the day I can get my hands on the game. It has
the potential to finally satisfy my urge to rain death and destruction
from the sky in most glorious fashion. Keep your eyes peeled as I bring
you more on the game in the future!