Gone Gonzo Posts: 1001 Joined: 2 Jan 2008 | Age of Conan, to me, is like a bag of chips. The moment you rip open the package, you're immediately seduced by the aroma of salty, greasy goodness. You dig in-- and the first bite is great. Not just great-- it's the best chip you've ever eaten in your entire life. One by one, the chips are consumed, and you don't ever want them to end.
But, before long, your fingers are scraping the bottom of the bag-- grasping for crumbs. You frown. The bag was really only half full! "Where are the rest of my chips!" you cry, hungry for more!
If you bought Age of Conan on its release date, Funcom succeeded in selling you a bag of chips that was half-full. Except you paid like 50 bucks for that bag of chips-- and they expect your fat ass to pay 15 additional dollars a month.
It's almost as if they didn't think we'd notice.
The game makes a good first impression. Creating your first character is fun-- the options for customization are vast. I, myself, made a sexy female Dark Templar. The second you click "create", you are flung into the game-- the ship your character was on sinks, and you wash up on a mysterious tropical beach (at this point, let me say that the visual quality of AoC is absolutely stunning-- if your computer can handle the strain, that is). You spend the first 20 levels of your character's life here on Newbie Island, and these first 20 levels are a blast. The NPCs you encounter have distinct personalities, and the voice acting is above-average. The game does a good job of introducing you to the game's mechanics during this time, and by the time you're ready to leave, you can't wait to tackle the rest of Hyboria.
Eh? What's this?
As soon as you leave the starting island, the voice acting stops. Yes, NPCs no longer talk-- it's just clickable white text. I understand that giving actual spoken dialog to every NPC in an MMO is a daunting task... but if you were just going to stop after the first 20 levels, why bother in the first place? It makes the game feel so uneven.
But we'll try to ignore that-- my sexy Dark Templar is itching for blood... and this game has lots and lots of blood. The next 25 or so levels go by pretty quickly. Sure, there are some bugs here and there, but hey, surely they'll just patch those out soon. The quests start to get a bit repetitive, but hey, the combat is unlike anything you've ever experienced in an MMORPG. The combo system is fresh and innovative, making even something as generic as "Retrieve 5 Wolf Pelts" exciting. Occasionally, you'll execute a "fatality" move and utterly massacre your foe-- these are so awesomely gorey you'll squeal with glee every time.
HOLD UP.
You've reached your mid-40s. Suddenly, there aren't nearly as many quests as there were before... in fact, there isn't much of anything at this point. That's right-- your bag of chips is now empty. It's literally as if Funcom stopped developing the game past this point. Many of the higher level dungeons are closed. The ones you have access to are glitchy beyond imagination. Bosses often forget to spawn when they're supposed to, enemies frequently fall prey to the infamous "evade" glitch, and sometimes polygon clipping issues will force you to jump around like a madman in an attempt to scale a simple staircase.
Sigh. "This isn't good," you think-- but hey, while Funcom works on rushing out new content, why not do some good ol' fashioned PvP?
The problem here is that the game suffers from SERIOUS balance issues. And I mean serious. If your class lacks a reliable knockdown or CC move, you'd better strap on your running shoes-- those rangers and guardians and priests are going to fuck you up. Player skill barely factors into the equation.
"Damnit!" you shout at your monitor! It's only day five of playing this game, and already it's become unplayable! You hastily uninstall the program, cancel your subscription, and go back to World of Warcraft.
I'll sum up my thoughts on this game without an extended metaphor: it's clear that a lot of work was put into making Age of Conan. The environments are beautifully crafted, and the soundtrack is absolutely epic. The combat system, while broken and unbalanced for certain classes, is something new for the genre. The game's biggest problem seems to be that it simply wasn't finished when Funcom released it. Bugs and glitches abound, making GM assistance queues several days long-- which results in an ornery and frustrated community. I have no doubt that Funcom will continue to develop Age of Conan and fix the bugs, and at some point I may even return to the game to see what's changed. But, until then--
Don't touch it. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 2095 Joined: 18 Dec 2007 | A nice review, I liked the chip metaphor. However I think you could have gone into more depth with some of your points such as the PvP and glitchy dungeons. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1001 Joined: 2 Jan 2008 | Fire Daemon:
A nice review, I liked the chip metaphor. However I think you could have gone into more depth with some of your points such as the PvP and glitchy dungeons.
Duely noted-- added a bit about the dungeons. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 3428 Joined: 4 Jul 2008 | You are right That is exactly how I felt what I did was sell my account on Ebay I made around two hundred dollars for five level forty characters |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1001 Joined: 2 Jan 2008 | Man, it'd be nice to find someone on eBay to buy my characters. |
Age of Conan, to me, is like a bag of chips. The moment you rip open the package, you're immediately seduced by the aroma of salty, greasy goodness. You dig in-- and the first bite is great. Not just great-- it's the best chip you've ever eaten in your entire life. One by one, the chips are consumed, and you don't ever want them to end.
But, before long, your fingers are scraping the bottom of the bag-- grasping for crumbs. You frown. The bag was really only half full! "Where are the rest of my chips!" you cry, hungry for more!
If you bought Age of Conan on its release date, Funcom succeeded in selling you a bag of chips that was half-full. Except you paid like 50 bucks for that bag of chips-- and they expect your fat ass to pay 15 additional dollars a month.
It's almost as if they didn't think we'd notice.
The game makes a good first impression. Creating your first character is fun-- the options for customization are vast. I, myself, made a sexy female Dark Templar. The second you click "create", you are flung into the game-- the ship your character was on sinks, and you wash up on a mysterious tropical beach (at this point, let me say that the visual quality of AoC is absolutely stunning-- if your computer can handle the strain, that is). You spend the first 20 levels of your character's life here on Newbie Island, and these first 20 levels are a blast. The NPCs you encounter have distinct personalities, and the voice acting is above-average. The game does a good job of introducing you to the game's mechanics during this time, and by the time you're ready to leave, you can't wait to tackle the rest of Hyboria.
Eh? What's this?
As soon as you leave the starting island, the voice acting stops. Yes, NPCs no longer talk-- it's just clickable white text. I understand that giving actual spoken dialog to every NPC in an MMO is a daunting task... but if you were just going to stop after the first 20 levels, why bother in the first place? It makes the game feel so uneven.
But we'll try to ignore that-- my sexy Dark Templar is itching for blood... and this game has lots and lots of blood. The next 25 or so levels go by pretty quickly. Sure, there are some bugs here and there, but hey, surely they'll just patch those out soon. The quests start to get a bit repetitive, but hey, the combat is unlike anything you've ever experienced in an MMORPG. The combo system is fresh and innovative, making even something as generic as "Retrieve 5 Wolf Pelts" exciting. Occasionally, you'll execute a "fatality" move and utterly massacre your foe-- these are so awesomely gorey you'll squeal with glee every time.
HOLD UP.
You've reached your mid-40s. Suddenly, there aren't nearly as many quests as there were before... in fact, there isn't much of anything at this point. That's right-- your bag of chips is now empty. It's literally as if Funcom stopped developing the game past this point. Many of the higher level dungeons are closed. The ones you have access to are glitchy beyond imagination. Bosses often forget to spawn when they're supposed to, enemies frequently fall prey to the infamous "evade" glitch, and sometimes polygon clipping issues will force you to jump around like a madman in an attempt to scale a simple staircase.
Sigh. "This isn't good," you think-- but hey, while Funcom works on rushing out new content, why not do some good ol' fashioned PvP?
The problem here is that the game suffers from SERIOUS balance issues. And I mean serious. If your class lacks a reliable knockdown or CC move, you'd better strap on your running shoes-- those rangers and guardians and priests are going to fuck you up. Player skill barely factors into the equation.
"Damnit!" you shout at your monitor! It's only day five of playing this game, and already it's become unplayable! You hastily uninstall the program, cancel your subscription, and go back to World of Warcraft.
I'll sum up my thoughts on this game without an extended metaphor: it's clear that a lot of work was put into making Age of Conan. The environments are beautifully crafted, and the soundtrack is absolutely epic. The combat system, while broken and unbalanced for certain classes, is something new for the genre. The game's biggest problem seems to be that it simply wasn't finished when Funcom released it. Bugs and glitches abound, making GM assistance queues several days long-- which results in an ornery and frustrated community. I have no doubt that Funcom will continue to develop Age of Conan and fix the bugs, and at some point I may even return to the game to see what's changed. But, until then--
Don't touch it.