Aion

Other products by NC Soft

Product Features

• The Thrill of Flight: Flying is a strategic and integral part of the game, adding a fresh dynamic to all aspects of the genre, including combat, quests, and exploration.
• Stunning World: Discover a meticulously crafted fantasy world brimming with otherworldly inhabitants, mysterious enemies, and ancient secrets.
• Innovative PvPvE: Aion introduces a new dynamic to MMOs by combining both PvP and PvE gameplay into an exciting new style.
• Intense Visceral Combat: Engage in a spectacular and evolving combat system utilizing combos, skill chains, counterattacks, and spectacular aerial combat.
• Unprecedented Customization: Take individuality to a new level through an incredibly in-depth character creation tool, advanced crafting systems, and extensive item customization.

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000VL4J9Q
• Item Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: September 22, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,319 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

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Product Description

Edition: Steelbook

Amazon.com

Aion is a visually stunning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), where players ascend to divinity and fight in a celestial war. Here they will wield divine powers and the capability of true flight, to bring deliverance to your people and restore balance to a world shattered by cataclysm. Choose your side, spread your wings, and claim your rightful place among the immortal legions of Atreia. This is the glory that is Aion. Develop your skill as a warrior. View larger. Admire the beauty of an ancient world. View larger. Delve into ultimate customization. View larger. Experience the thrill of flight. View larger. Quest through vivid environments. View larger. Explore the Stunning World of Aion Explore one of the most amazingly beautiful and detailed MMORPGs ever as you fight to save a vibrant world ripped asunder by a celestial war. Choose between two divine factions, the Asmodians or the Elyos, and save your people from an ancient evil that threatens to destroy everything in its path. Over 1500 story-driven quests lead you through a wondrous and expansive world like no other. Experience the Thrill of Flight Soar to great heights and battle in the open skies of Aion. Flying in Aion is not just a way to travel--it is a strategic and integral part of the game that adds a new dynamic to all aspects of the genre, including combat, quests, exploration, and harvesting. Engage in Visceral Combat Engage in a spectacular and evolving combat system utilizing combos, skill chains, counter-attacks and stunning aerial combat. Group with friends or fly solo in the Abyss, where attacks can come from any direction. Experience the thrill of combat like never before. Unprecedented Customization Totally customize your character through an incredibly in-depth character creation tool, advanced crafting systems and extensive item customization. Take individuality to a new level with the innovative Stigma system, allowing characters to utilize and combine skills and abilities not normally available to that particular character’s class. Key Features Fight for the radiant, luminous Elyos or the grim, foreboding Asmodians in a massive celestial war raging all around you. Soar above the world and fight while airborne--the chains that bind you to the earth are gone. Adventure through captivating quests fit for an immortal. Hurl enemies down into stony chasms or pullem them mid-air in the Abyss. Tactics and strategy rule the skies in Aion. Customize your avatars to be truly unique. Reign over a world whose beauty, vibrance, and spirit shines with the brilliance of divinity. Join the battle in massed legions, with thousands of avatars to count as friends or to fight against as enemies. Experience an exotic atmosphere for adventure with an amazing musical score by Yang Bang Ean (Ryo Kunihiko). Behold a new graphical standard among MMORPGs--CryTek powers the heart of Aion. Battle in a New Breed of Conflict Battle for control of valuable strongholds and artifacts within the Abyss, a hotly contested battlefield resting between the upper and lower halves of Atreia. Plan and execute raids against rival factions, earn special ranks and rewards through victory, and prepare for unexpected attacks by the Balaur, an ancient race freed from imprisonment within the Abyss. System Requirements: Minimum Specifications: Recommended Specifications: OS: Windows XP/Vista Processor: Pentium 4 2.8GHz, AMD Athlon 2800 Pentium Dual Core, AMD Athlon 64 X2 RAM: 1GB RAM 2GB RAM Video Card: GeForce 6600, Radeon X1550 GeForce 7600, Radeon X2600 Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive Hard Drive Space: 30GB of free space or more Other: Internet connection, keyboard and mouse; Fee for online play

Product Description

The Thrill of Flight: Flying is a strategic and integral part of the game, adding a fresh dynamic to all aspects of the genre, including combat, quests, and exploration. Stunning World: Discover a meticulously crafted fantasy world brimming with otherworldly inhabitants, mysterious enemies, and ancient secrets. Innovative PvPvE: Aion introduces a new dynamic to MMOs by combining both PvP and PvE gameplay into an exciting new style. Intense Visceral Combat: Engage in a spectacular and evolving combat system utilizing combos, skill chains, counterattacks, and spectacular aerial combat. Unprecedented Customization: Take individuality to a new level through an incredibly in-depth character creation tool, advanced crafting systems, and extensive item customization.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A solid game, not my cup of tea though., September 23, 2009

By	Trevor J. Edwards "CAIMANOUTLET is the worst ... (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

Aion is a good looking game, this is true. Looking past the pretty façade I however am left underwhelmed by the game. It doesn't seem to offer anything particularly new or exciting.

Character creation is decent, there are quite a few options to customize both your facial and body features. I can't really fault it in any way considering that you'll eventually be decked out in armor and character creation in such a game usually stands as a generic look. There unfortunately isn't much avoiding looking like everybody else in a broader sense because there are only two races. Upon close inspection you should find that most characters manage to create a pretty unique look. As you progress through the game you can choose to maintain various armor looks despite equipping other pieces though which is a nice way of looking unique in the long run.

There have so far been pretty annoying race lockouts on certain servers in an effort to balance them. For example I haven't been able to play with many of my guild mates because no more Asmodians are being allowed on their server. I imagine this will be fixed to some extent but I can't really lie and say that I'm not a bit bitter about being blocked from playing with my friends. Hopefully those who choose to jump in to the game after my writing this don't have this minor annoyance to deal with.

After some initial hiccups at launch the game actually runs quite well. Again the game looks gorgeous with interesting environments and flashy attack animations. The default UI is alright, pretty standard action bar with health bars, but if you're coming from another game it may take some getting used to. I for one am hoping for add-on support or UI customization though since I would personally prefer a slightly more minimalized UI.

The introductory zones come paired with help messages which offer limited video and audio help which I found to be a pretty nice newbie feature. Quests also have a keyword location feature which is like a built in quest helper. I find this feature to be pretty neat, I feel that it adds a sense of authentic adventuring to it for some reason and it doesn't clutter you map with all sorts of quest waypoints. So with these two features getting in to the game and advancing up to level 10 is rather painless.

At level 10ish you become a Daeva which grants you wings and allows you to choose from 2 specialties with your class. There isn't really anything of particular note here but it does add a bit more depth to game play.

Following level 10 it seems that the game becomes increasingly grindy which I don't much care for. Following level 15+ leveling is still quite doable but the rate at which I'm being rewarded for my time is a very important factor for an MMORPG for me and I don't feel that I'm gaining skills or equipment quite fast enough to hold my interest in the game. This has nothing to do with slogging through content too difficult for my character or being oblivious to other questing hubs, I'm simply noting that experience gain tapers off quite quickly. Gaining levels doesn't appear to get you anything aside from skills another factor contributing to the slow feel of the game. It has thus far been quite common for my character to go 2-3 levels getting very little aside from statistical boosts. This is hardly an issue unique to Aion but again it's another one of those things that takes away my desire to get from one skill to the next.

Eventually you get access to Stigma Stones which are sort of like a generic talent tree that allows you access to more skills. I was a rather let down to find out this was the feature which NCSoft was heralding as the way to play your character totally different from another player. While it is true that it allows you to diverge away from other players within your class specialty it isn't so broad in its choices that you'll find a slew of viable builds. I'm looking at it right now as something that will easily be theorycrafted to a point where everybody competitive will play a given class in maybe one or two ways.

Skills are pretty standard for the most part but one pretty cool thing so far is that you get chain skill where one initial attack triggers the use of further more powerful attacks. Unfortunately you can't use chain skills out of sequence but I do like the feel of an attack coming off cool down allowing you to unload on an enemy all at once. Having more than one chain attack generally allows you to be in constant active control of combat. The various chains and what you need to complete them are listed in your skills window and there appears to be quite a variety for the various classes.

Another feature I like is having your own personal shop which others will be familiar with from games such as Ragnarok Online or Fiesta Online. Basically you can open a little shop anywhere and sell your stuff. I far prefer this to auction houses typically because it allows you to be more competitive as a salesman than an auction house typically does because location becomes a valid choice and undercutting doesn't kill all chance at profits. It's also good for going afk for extended periods of time.

Flying is a big part of the game considering you have wings and all. I haven't liked flying much at all so far and I'm really kind of dreading parts of the game where it becomes more necessary. The controls seem very clunky and the limitations of cool down between use and the overall flight time lead to a high preponderance of ineffectiveness of death. You can modify your wings and combat abilities while flying so perhaps by the time I really need to worry about flying it's more tolerable but up to where I'm at now it seems little more than a poorly implemented gimmick. After quite a bit more practice with my wings I'm still only finding the flight mechanics to be marginally more tolerable, perhaps I suck but be fairly warned.

PvP has so far been respectable, especially for a rather new game. I haven't personally encountered any particular class which I feel is broken beyond belief despite some community complaints of balance issues. There does seem to be an attitude of this game and its PvP being "hardcore" and I have to comment that I feel this is a rather glorified designation. The flying adds a bit of depth and skill to PvP but I feel that's where the unique aspects of PvP in this game end. I don't think anybody playing WAR or WoW, particularly PvP servers, are going to switch over to this game and be refreshed by the PvP. It's fun and well implemented but at its core this has been done before.

Pros:
Good looking
Overall solid game
Seemingly popular

Cons:
High grind possibility
Awkward flying
Race lockouts

In summary, I don't think I'll be sticking with this one for long, I'm simply not being moved in any particular way by it currently. It's different enough from other games to warrant some consideration but it also hold so many cliché similarities that prevent me from getting too excited about it. The game has great potential for many players but I recommend taking a long look at it before biting the hype bullet. If I had to recommend it I feel that fans of Guild Wars, Lineage 2, FFXI, or even first time MMOers would like the game quite a bit.

31 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Into Eternity, September 24, 2009

By	Halo Faire (Canada) - See all my reviews

Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Just putting a post, to give out some information for those folks "sitting on the fence" wondering if Aion is worth ordering or not . I'm trying not to be negative about the game per se, rather saying it maybe not for everyone. It tends to lean heavy on the "PvP-aholic"; "Grouping is where its at" ,"I luv to grind XP " style of game play. Which don't get me wrong is a perfectly valid style of play, but tastes do differ. I much prefer the exploration aspects of a Morpg verses bragging rights.

Graphically it's very nice. Similar to Guild wars in appearance,but perhaps a little more advanced and shimmering. The zones are similarly laid out; with the usual "single road" and long corridors to fight over/through. If your expecting the freedom of flying and therefore tons of massively open 3D areas; be prepared at least for levels 1-30 to be largely ground based (there's lots of no fly zones) and be hemmed in by mountains. Leveling is and can be a bit of a Lineage 2 grind fest, with the usual kill 10 of these, deliver this experience. When you start reach lvl 18 + quests , then your kinda forced to group. It's hard to solo, not impossible, just be prepared for lots of repetitive "farming". Most folks find it a drag until you reach lvl 25 then you begin the main part of the storyline.

Overall the aim of the Aion is to get you to this massive open ended Zone "the Abyss". As this is where the game is suppose to shine, with the focus tending to lean heavily on PvP and again grouping to survive. Bear that in mind if you buy the game, yes there are other things to do, crafting,big boss instances etc. But it's in the open 3D "battleground" of the Abyss, where the NCSoft are putting the heart of the Aion Experience.

Overall it's a fine MORPG, nice visuals, follows the standard pattern of leveling by gaining XP thing. And that's where it's strengths and weaknesses are. Is it a good game? Yes. But the next "big" new thing? In my experience sadly no. Hopefully one day a developer will have the courage to break free from the Everquest style of design and produce a different gaming online experience.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Grindfest, November 5, 2009

By	I am The Reviewer (California) - See all my reviews

Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This is an easy one. Front end loaded to get you past your free 30 days. Afterward... grind, grind, grind. I guess it's really made for those Korean kids who live at home, listen to Rain in their headphones and take pride in power leveling. It ain't flyin' here in the West. Oh, and you really don't fly much either. Hype, hype, hype.

Small world too. A noob island and 4 maps (same on both the light side and dark). The first part is nicely done... looks like a slightly prettier Guild Wars (of course it should be since GW has been out for 4 years now). I was very surprised how small the world was particularly when it's not a 3D map. Then it's off to "The Abyss" that looks like someone in their first year of art school designed it. Immense empty spaces with barren floating rocks. The old Yes album covers were WAY cooler. No one really plays it like it's intended. Just a place for high level guys who have grinded up to kill lower level folks who wander in. With so much emphasis on group ganking, you'd expect better developed guild...er, "legion" halls and meeting places. Nope. Most all of the players I "friended" in the first month are gone.

Levels 1 to 18... kinda fun starting out. Levels 19 to 25... suspiciously hard, but still there's plenty of quests. Levels 26 to 30... GRINDFEST devoid of quests or any substantive story. 31+... kill noobs, buy gold for real world money and kill more noobs.

And don't get me started about the crafting system. Oh joy, rapture. Let's stand in the same room and pound on virtual steel over and over and over and over. Ugh.

No story line or epic journey. A world was split in two, one side has white wings (hence they live in the light) and the other black wings (you guessed it... they live in the dark). They fight because... well... that's what people with white and black wings do. There's some other bad guys that fight both of them. They come in space ships, so I'm guessing they're aliens so some sort. Well... that's it. You know the story now. Sorry to spoil it for you.

Finally, the gold seller and bots. This game is a gold sink. EVERYTHING costs lots and lots of gold (kinah it's called). I mean lots. Death penalties, map travel, everything. The game is over-run with gold-for-cash sellers and their automated bots roaming the landscape. Though unprovable, I'm convinced these people are part of NCSoft or in league with them.

Boring to the nth degree.

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