Recently, I've been able to test out Aion : Tower of Eternity mmorpg and here's my share of view. I've only been playing for a day, and from what I've seen so far Aion although won't be replacing WoW anytime soon have their own strength and weaknesses. I'm playing in a private server called (http://infiniteaion.com/) obviously because I don't pay to play my mmo's d(^_^d) , so its free to whomever who feel like playing after reading this.

First of all, some basic things you should know about Aion : scrapped from wiki :-
Aion: The Tower of Eternity in Japan is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released by NCsoft, a major Korean game developer. Aion was (up until May 20, 2009) known as "Aion: The Tower of Eternity" but it was released in North America under the one-word title of Aion. The game combines PvP and PvE (a concept the developers call PvPvE) in a fantasy game environment.


Okay, I'm just going to keep it short and simple as this is about the first impressions. The story starts of great with the cinematics telling what is happening in Aion as Elysea and Asmodians are constantly at war with each other ( you get to choose who you want to side with) . So lets skip the boring text reading and start with the game,

First off, I am really impressed with the customization option available to you in this game. You get to choose over 40 types of hairstyles, dozens of faces, features and even to the point of custom shaping your own body. You will never find similarities of the characters in Aion as they are all very diverse and this is a GOOD thing. You don't feel like someone's clone and easily identify yourself. I've seen some very petite and tiny players and some are like giants.

Next comes the shining star of Aion. With CryEngine, Aion is the first mmorpg with real next-gen graphics altered towards graphic hunger players who are fed up with WoW dated graphics. The quality of the graphics is amazing, from the water reflection, terrain textures, physics are good as well. I am most probably amazed by the beautiful scenery and the world of Aion itself. 


The character designs , armors and weapons are leaned towards more Asian feel where you will get to see some really flashy equipments and it really looks cool too. The Dev team has done a great job in designing aspect of the game, it doesn't look old and boring like many other mmorpgs. The main plot of the story is usually told by cinematics. My favorite is probably the beginning of the game where you relive your flashback as a Daeva who is in a middle of a war and lost her memory.



Alright, lets talk about the gameplay. You play this game like any other mmorpg, which would be the generic mouse clicking and keyboard skill spamming. One unique thing about this game is that you are able to chain skill combos with each other. This adds more strategy to your fighting style and its refreshing how you should pay attention to your skill chaining. Next is the flight mode which is the trademark of Aion.

Many people would wonder if we would really be able to fly freely in the vast open skies of Aion. The answer is unfortunately no, you are only able to fly in a place which are designated for it. In non-flyable areas, you are able to glide along with your wings for a short moment. Flying is fun, however the restriction on the spaces and "invincible wall" doesn't make you feel the freedom of flying. Its a good feature, especially with aerial combats later on however Aion should revise into giving more flexibility and freedom to the players to roam the world with their own wings instead of paying gold for a bird transport.

Overall Aion is capable of giving you a great impression with its first few hours of gameplay. While you embrace the beauty of Aion and exploring new possibilities you will never get bored. It is also easy to get your first wings (took me 3hours) by grinding to level 9 and doing the ascension quests. However, everything fall downwards after that for me, as it is reduced back into a grinding game. I haven't tried the pvp features yet, but I will post it soon after I've tried Aion for a more longer period ;-)