I sat down (via email) with David Noonan, content writer for Aion, and chatted about the game. Dave is no stranger to fantasy games, having worked for Wizards of the Coast designing two editions of Dungeons & Dragons. He talks about Aion’s story, how it stacks up against that other elephant-in-the-MMO-room, and the future of story-driven computer games.

GeekDad: First, can you tell us a little about the game world and its history?

Dave: Aion takes place in the world of Atreia—a world where the people live on the interior surface of the sphere (like a science-fiction Dyson sphere) and there’s a tower running from pole to pole where the god, Aion, lives.

Some of Aion’s earliest creations, the dragonlike Balaur, rebelled against their creator. That long war ended with the Tower of Eternity exploding and the world splitting in half at the equator. Now two factions, the Elyos and the Asmodians, inhabit their own hemispheres, and they blame each other for the tower’s destruction. And the wreckage floating in the middle of the world is the Abyss, a high-level mega-zone where the two factions fight each other and the Balaur that caused the trouble in the first place.

David Noonan, Writer for Aion. Photo: David Noonan
GeekDad: Aion is a big deal in Asia, but Eastern MMOs are traditionally very different from Western MMOs. When it came to the “culturalization” process, how did you go about reworking the game for its new audience? How were certain tropes converted, and were there any memorable quests that just couldn’t make the transition?

Dave: We actually took a light touch with specific Asian-themed plot elements; they’re fun, and I think a lot of players want a sort of mélange—I often told our writers to shoot for a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon feel.

We spent more time trying to satisfy the Western desire for game and narrative aspects that probably don’t rise to the level of full-on tropes. For example, I think Western audiences (speaking broadly here) want their quests to have explicit roots in what’s happening in the game world, and they expect the NPC questgiver to directly or indirectly explain why the PC must do the job rather than the NPC himself. It’s a matter of providing answers to the “If this is so important, how come you don’t do it?” question.

We were also cognizant of the desire for payoff—to have a plot thread resolved somehow. You can resolve it in a pleasing or troubling way, and you can even leave it as a cliffhanger (something that an MMO can get away with that other genres can’t). But you can’t just let it peter out with no consequence.

GeekDad: When World of Warcraft was released, there was a built-in playerbase already familiar with the heroes and villains of Azeroth. Without that advantage in your arsenal, how did you go about introducing the VIP NPCs from Atreia in a way that endeared them to players?

Dave: I think most games—Aion included—have a naturally instructive quality. In other words, if you want to teach anything, a game of some sort is pretty good sugar to help the medicine go down, and a game can show you how the discrete parts of whatever you’re learning fit together. So we deliver a lot of lore in the course of gameplay. As you run around fighting, questing, and exploring, you learn about the people and places as you go.

That said, I rebel against the premise of the question a bit. Aion intentionally avoids activist NPCs, and the metaplot is much further in the background. There’s no equivalent to Arthas, Thrall, and Jaina in Aion, and we like it that way. The NPCs are there to serve the player story, not the other way around. Our VIPs are the PCs. (And that’s handy, because NPCs rarely play MMORPGs.)

GeekDad: Could you explain the difference between the Campaign and Standard Quests?

Dave: It’s basically a question of degree. The campaign quests have bigger plot implications and bigger rewards, so the UI calls them out separately. It’s basically a big “don’t miss this one!” sign. Structurally, there isn’t much difference between the yellow-arrow quests and the blue-arrow quests.

GeekDad: Everyone’s excited about Aion’s flight system. Tell us a little about the flight system and how it affects game play and questing.

Image: NCsoft
Dave: You gain wings at level 10—four hours of gameplay, give or take. You can immediately fly in a few places in the world, and you can glide—sometimes for quite a distance—anywhere you’ve got altitude and open space. (I think base-jumping is one of Aion’s more fascinating games-within-a-game.)

When you reach level 25 and go to the Abyss for the first time, you see flight in its full, unfettered glory. This sounds kind of spacey, but battling in all three axes (x, y, and z) does cool things to your brain, especially in a PvP environment.

GeekDad: What are the crafting opportunities in Aion?

Dave: The game launches with six crafts, all fed by the same gathering skill, including staples you’d expect like weaponsmithing, alchemy, and cooking. You can level all of them simultaneously, and you get XP both for gathering and for actually making stuff.

More broadly, player-created items carry a lot of weight—they’re among the best-in-slot items.

GeekDad: What are Stigma stones?

Dave: In terms of gameplay, it’s useful to think of them as “equippable abilities”—attacks and powers that you have, but other members of your class don’t necessarily have. Coming up with the right mix of Stigma stones is a key character-building exercise for high-level PCs.

And in the lore of the world, Stigma stones are a fragment of a long-gone Daevas soul. Daevas are generally immortal; it takes something like the destruction of the Tower of Eternity or death at the extreme fringes of existence to render a Daeva irrevocably dead. The Stigma stone is a coalescence of that Daeva’s soul—a bit of consciousness that teaches you a long-lost technique you couldn’t learn on your own.

GeekDad: As a well-respected game designer, do you have any ideas on how you’d like the MMORPG genre to evolve? I used to play text-based MMOs back in the day and I have a long-held fantasy that one day a company will create a game that offers the in-depth, character-driven roleplaying experiences that I once had on MUDs and MUSHes. Should I stop holding my breath?

Dave: I wouldn’t hold my breath—instead I’d get to work finding the community within an MMO that can provide the in-depth, character-driven experience you crave. I think that with each passing year, MMOs are providing a player experience that stretches closer and closer to what a MUD or a tabletop RPG provides. Those character-driven communities are out there, and just as with a tabletop or MUD experience, they draw their strength from the consensual acceptance of the community, not from the gameplay mechanics. Put another way, you can take a trip far down the rabbit-hole of character immersion if you’ve got witnesses (friends, in other words) along to validate and support that experience. It’s no more or less inherently immersive than rolling dice in your basement or writing something great for a MUD.

When I look to the horizon for the next set of waves, I’m thinking more about how MMOs can provide the Dungeon Master experience—how they can satisfy the latent “content creator” within all of us. Put as simply as possible, how can an MMO help me make up a cool adventure for my friends? That strikes me as a tricky beast to tame, but given time and smart minds, I’m sure we’ll get there soon. That’s what I’m holding my breath for.

I’d like to thank Dave Noonan for taking time to chat with GeekDad.

Aion retails for around $50 and currently, anyone who buys Aion at one of the retailers listed below will get bonus in-game items. With the “Aion Holiday Ascension Pack”, you can pimp out your winged hero’s armor with special dyes. Check ‘em out:

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I have to say that from the amount of time playing this I’ve barely been able to tear myself away to play anything else and with me being a big WoW fan this certainly says a lot to me. This game has no less to offer than any other MMO. In fact I believe it has much more. There are plenty of quests to level your character and crafting skills that can earn your avatar money at the same time, and socialising tools are easily understandable making it easy for you to ask others if you’re stuck or just want to make new friends. Even the UI is completely friendly for even the newest mmo beginners and the helpful tool tips as you begin the early stages of your campaign include videos which actually show you where things are rather than being told and having to guess where and what the random symbols may be.

The game play itself is certainly fun with quests which lead on into a story type campaign which gives you an idea of what’s going on between the 2 different parts of the split world this engages you well within the game and gives you a good sense of understanding. To be honest, the storyline from what I have seen so far seems absolutely original and interesting where other MMO’s seem to be lacking or somewhat losing the plot within their storylines which can make the gameplay slightly pointless.

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The Arts below are drawed by Korean Aion fans. Let’s see how did they express their love for Aion. Hope you like them.

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Part of the reason that Blade and Soul’s buzz-factor is on the rise is its distinctive art style and high-octane gameplay. Dubbed with the “next-generation” tagline, Blade and Soul’s combat more resembles a console-based fighting game than a traditional MMORPG (check out NCSoft’s latest video trailer). In fact, rumor has it that NCSoft is developing the game with the intention of releasing a console version at some point after its PC launch. So it’s no surprise that, in a time when every MMO developer on the block is slapping the “innovative” label on their product, fans are yearning for something that truly stands out.

When NCSoft announced Blade and Soul, it described the game as an “Oriental Martial Arts MMORPG” that sheds the usual high-fantasy motif in favor of an original world based on “Oriental mysticism.” According to NCSoft’s initial announcement, the game world is inspired by a Korean myth called “Song of Genesis.” Player factions are designed from characters in the mythology, and the basic premise is similar to many creation myths; you fight against God-like forces to bring the world back to its original harmony.

At the time, NCSoft released a handful of concept art and screenshots to accompany the announcement, along with a single gameplay video that showcased Blade and Soul’s action-oriented, arcade-fighter-esque combat. The video was well-received among MMO and martial-arts gamers, especially after learning that Blade and Soul’s art direction was modeled after famous Korean artist Hyung-tae Kim.

Under the direction of the same team that developed NCSoft’s successful Lineage II, Blade and Soul was built with the Unreal Engine 3 (the latest generation of Epic Games’ ultra-solid and magnificently-optimized Unreal Engine). By using this engine to design an MMO, the developers will have an easier time delivering on the promise of a next-gen,  “AAA” title—but on the other hand, the more complex the engine, the more time and money it can take to build.

According to this post on a Blade and Soul fansite, the game could be delayed until 2011; apparently the developers need more time to reach the full potential of what they can do (scouting Taiwan’s landscapes to create a more realistic game environment, for example). Blade and Soul will also feature a dynamic environment that engages the player in different ways; that is, players can manipulate certain conditions in the environment, just as the environment can manipulate the player’s experience.

NCSoft is making some lofty claims regarding Blade and Soul’s next-gen aspects, as many bloggers have commented after running down the features list. An MMO with combat that’s played out like Tekken? Is it even possible, from the practical/accessible standpoint? NCSoft has remained tight-lipped about Blade and Soul’s specific gameplay mechanics, but after all, the company is billing it as a “next-gen” MMO. Maybe this time, a publisher isn’t just using the term as a marketing buzzword.

Unofficial fansites like BnSFacts claim to have confirmed various features or gameplay elements, like this fact sheet from the aforementioned blog. According to these facts, there is no skill bar displayed on-screen, your position in relation to your opponent is very important in combat and you have the ability to counter enemy attacks. A “swift jump” ability is also named, which is the only way players can access certain areas of the world. Leveling is said to be dependent on proficiency with weapons, which might imply a skill-based progression system.

The latest round of Blade and Soul news came out of Gstar 2009 in Korea earlier this month, when NCSoft released the 11-minute gameplay trailer mentioned above. There is still no word as to when the North American version of the Blade and Soul will be developed (as confirmed by IGN’s recent interview with art director Hyung Tae Kim). However, NCSoft did unveil four new races (the Gon, Jin, Kun and Lyn) and four new classes (Kung-Fu Master, Blade Master, Force Master and Destroyer) in the video.

For now, fans are stuck with the familiar waiting game, as NCSoft puts the finishing touches on Blade and Soul in Asia. North American and European gamers will have to wait a bit longer, until the developers officially announce the distribution of NA/EU versions (which will presumably be passed off to NCSoft West for localization). In the mean time, you can visit our new Blade and Soul portal site for more news and information as it’s released.

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DALLAS, TX (Nov 12, 2009) – Beckett Media LLC has released the 22nd issue (Jan/Feb 2010) of its Massive Online Gamer magazine. In addition to the magazine’s usual coverage of the top MMO games in the industry, like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, Wizard101, and EverQuest II, this issue contains several exciting bonus items and information, sure to please new and veteran gaming fans alike!

The first thing readers will notice is an exclusive Gates of Andaron DVD that comes packaged with the magazine, which lets players explore Iberia, a massive world of brave heroes and epic PvP battles. The issue also includes a $5 coupon code, so players can deck themselves out in cool gear right from the start! For Runes of Magic players, there’s a 12-page resource guide that goes into great detail about the people, places, and things in the free-to-play MMO, including details regarding The Elven Prophecy expansion. Two other exclusive codes in the issue grant items for Wizard101 and Freaky Creatures.

Other features in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue include: a run-down of 12 of the most hotly anticipated MMO games coming in 2010, such as The Agency and Star Trek Online; a sneak peek at four recently announced classes for Hi-Rez Studios’ upcoming Global Agenda; a profile of World of Warcraft artist Alex Horley; a new “Career Quest Guide” for gamers seeking advice for getting into the industry; and continuing coverage of top MMO games, such as leveling guides for Aion and Warhammer Online, an EverQuest II dungeon guide, and a preview of the next Lord of the Rings Online expansion, Siege of Mirkwood.

About Beckett Media LLC
Based in Dallas, Beckett Media LP is the leading publisher of gaming and sports collectible products in the U.S. Beckett also operates Beckett.com and www.MassiveOnlineGamer.com and is the premier publisher of gaming, entertainment, and sports collectibles magazines and books. Beckett, considered the world’s most trusted source in collecting, currently publishes more than 30 magazines.

About Beckett Massive Online Gamer
Beckett Massive Online Gamer is the premier print magazine covering massively multiplayer online games. Published six times a year, each issue includes news, strategies, tips, and exclusive codes that can be redeemed for in-game items. Massive Online Gamer can be found in over 50,000 retail locations, including Target, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Blockbuster, Toys ‘R’ Us, specialty comics and gaming shops, major grocery chains, and other mass-market, specialty, and hobby retailers.

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It’s not a preorder bonus, as the game is already out, so should we simply call it an order bonus? Either way, folks who purchase Aion at participating retailers during the holiday season will find themselves in possession of the Aion Holiday Ascension Pack. What’s inside? The pack contains a code that gives players 20 Lesser Life Potions, 15 Lesser Running Scrolls, 15 uses of the experience point-enhancing Lodas’s Amulet, and armor dyes that vary in color depending on where you purchase it.

Amazon – Hot Orange Dye
Best Buy – Mustard Dye
Game Stop – True Black Dye
Target – True Red Dye
Walmart – True White Dye

Perhaps not the most enticing purchase bonus we’ve seen, but certainly one of the more colorful ones? Bonus points for anyone who gets the song reference in my choice of colors used in the image above.

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Based on my experience in Aion, there were enough interesting twists and turns from the standard play associated with your usual MMO fare. The world was challenging to progress through, and an immersive storyline and gorgeous graphics have enhanced the experience.

The world of Atreia has been split in two. The Elyseans of Elyos have lived rich full lives basking in the sunlight, while the Asmodians reside in the harsh and dark environment of Asmodae. Between the two lies the Abyss, a region filled with monsters and ghosts. It is also full of valuable resources that pit the two groups against each other as well as a third group of dragonlike creatures called the Balaur.

Overall, Aion’s launch was smooth. Servers have been fairly stable since last month’s launch.
 
For the first time in my MMO experience, I felt as if my character was meant for something other than “leveling up” and getting better gear. There is a vast storyline being played out with your character as you move through the game. The campaign quest lines bring this about with rich cinematics and narratives through non-playable characters (NPCs).
 
Gameplay itself follows the same process of most role-playing games (RPG). You perform your series of quests to collect items, kill creatures and talk to key characters. Questing here is made easier by using the channel system on your server, depending on what area you are playing in.
 
Each zone has a number of channels that allow players to leave an area that’s overpopulated or if a quest suffers from bugs. Players change the channel by simply using the support interface in-game and switching over. The game will start new players in less crowded channels, so if you are joining friends in the game, be sure everyone is on the same channel.
 
Aion is a rich world full of sights and sounds that stand out over most MMOs. From the vast options offered at the character creation screen, Aion sets a new standard for visuals. It was amazing to watch my Chanter character interact with elements of her world. Standing in a light snow, she would hold up her arms up toward the sky. If she was near a body of water, she would lean over and swirl her hands around in the water.
 
The gameplay is focused on reaching the Abyss, where players will encounter enemies and the third non-playable faction, the Balaur. To get there, your character progresses from the starter area as you learn about your destiny. Your first major goal is to get your wings, a key feature separating Aion from other MMOs.

Sure, you can fly in World of Warcraft’s Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King expansions, but you can’t fight or quest when flying. Aion lets you do just that in the Abyss where your faction will fight to gain control of resources, fortresses and artifacts.
 
You earn your wings  – and choose your character sub-class – after reaching Level 10 in experience, which does not require players to grind out long quests to reach that magic milestone.  However, it will be almost 15 levels later when you finally take flight in the Abyss. Once you enter, a series of tutorial quests will help explain the nature of play in this area.
 
Aion is an amazing game with few negatives that I found for my own playing style. I wasn’t fond of having to fight other players for respawning items, especially boss spawns on crowded channels. I still like the World of Warcraft system of whoever strikes first gets the kill. Nothing is more frustrating than waiting on a boss and not receiving credit for the kill because your group failed to tally the most damage.
 
The level grind in Aion does sometimes feel very long. With a level cap of 50, reaching it will be an accomplishment. Seeing the more than 2 million experience points needed to reach level 25 seemed daunting, but by the time you level you can feel some satisfaction, at least until the experience bar clears itself for the next level grind. 
 
Aion’s popularity and success in the Asian market is no fluke. This is a rich, immense new world of MMO gaming that should continue its success in North American and European markets. It will be very friendly to those players looking to crossover from console RPGs to a PC MMO.

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If you’re experiencing chat spam, there is a way for you to address this immediately on your own and help us create a better gameplay experience for everyone. You can use the Block User feature. All you need to do is to right-click on a user’s name and choose to block that user. While this doesn’t eliminate the problem, it is one small step you can actively make to improve your game experience. Using Block User also helps us identify spammers much more quickly.

We are considering a number of methods to address this chat spam that have been implemented in previous games, as well exploring new technologies and what they may have to offer to improve your game experience. One upcoming feature for Aion will be an improved chat filter to help reduce the overall chat spam. This filter, along with new tracking and monitoring methods, is the first of many steps that we’ll be taking to help resolve the issue of gold spamming.

We appreciate all the feedback and ideas you have been giving us so far. We will continue to scour the communities out there for other ideas as we go. We absolutely recognize how important this is to you and a good game experience in Aion, and we reiterate that we are currently addressing it. Thank you for your patience and for all of your input.

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Like World of Warcraft, Aion gives players the chance to immerse themselves in a fantasy world alongside thousands of other people. Its unique hook is that each character in the world of Atreia is a winged, angelic warrior who can engage in combat with monsters or other players.

Even more dramatic than those battles, however, is the battle between NCSoft itself and its arch rival — Blizzard Entertainment, the creator of World of Warcraft.

With 11.5 million subscribers around the world, World of Warcraft has secured Blizzard as the most profitable and influential company in the rapidly growing online games market.

NCSoft, however, is far from being an upstart challenger to the throne. The Seoul-based company was one of the pioneers of online videogames, launching titles such as Lineage and Lineage II, which, at their peak, boasted more than four million subscribers and helped to create the thriving market for online games across the Far East.

With Aion, NCSoft hopes to regain at least some of its former prestige as the industry’s top dog. The early signs are positive — not only had 400,000 players signed up before Aion had even been launched but they were so keen to get online that they flooded the service, causing queues of more than an hour to access the game.

“World of Warcraft’s success has inspired lots of similar games in recent years,” said Tom Bramwell, editor of the UK videogames site Eurogamer.net. “But most of them fail to scrape 500,000 subscribers, let alone the millions Blizzard gets. Aion’s success could be significant.”

In South Korea, where Aion came out last November, it became the country’s most-played online game within two days of being opened up to the public. Today, after launches in China and Taiwan this year, the game is thought to have 3.5 million paying subscribers across Asia. This makes it easily the most successful launch of an online game since World of Warcraft, or WoW, appeared five years ago.

“I’m really looking forward to trying out Aion, as are a lot of my friends,” said Melvin Tan, an avid online gamer who has been a WoW player for four years. “The artwork is amazing — I love the hyper-real visuals and characters. I don’t know if I’ll switch for good, but I think a lot of people who play WoW will probably try it out.”

Creating game services demands enormous investment and effort, but the financial reward involved in a hit product on the scale of World of Warcraft makes the risk worthwhile. Subscribers to games such as WoW and Aion pay a monthly fee as well as buying a copy of the game for about £35 and expansion packs every year or two for about £20 each. Vast secondary markets exist for merchandise, events and virtual items in the game. Blizzard has even licensed the rights to turn WoW into a film.

One might expect that even the launch of Aion would not cause the Californian company to lose much sleep. The problem is that Aion arrives against a backdrop of huge upheaval in World of Warcraft. “Blizzard is effectively ripping up and rebuilding the game for the next expansion,” Mr Bramwell said. “It will be interesting to see how they do this, because it is well behind contemporary PC and console games in visual terms.”

No online game has ever managed to sustain its growth past this point. But players such as Mr Tan are looking forward to the changes. “I think it’s great that they’re taking risks,” he said. “You need constant revolution to keep a game like this fresh. I’ve got confidence that they’ll get it right.”

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NCsoft plans to offer the game both as a retail disc and through a variety of digital distribution channels, including the publisher’s own Web site and Steam.

NCsoft is offering an advanced look at Aion before its official September release as part of its preorder incentive program.

Those who buy the MMOG in advance at participating retailers–including GameStop, Amazon, and Best Buy–will automatically gain entry to Aion’s closed beta test. The beta will be open to preorderers during the weekends beginning July 3, July 17, July 31, and August 14.

A story-driven MMORPG, Aion presents a conflict between two ancient races who have only recently reestablished contact with one another. One of the game’s distinguishing characteristics is the importance of flight, which NCsoft promises will impact combat and quests as much as exploration.

The Aion Community’s Server Choices

Finding friends to play with is not always easy. Sometimes it is more fun to playing when you know that you are playing with others in your vicinity or with a similar play-style. In order to help those of you left in a quandary over what server to play on we devised a list of servers and player preferences based on polls and community research.

English should always be the used language in general or regional chat channels on any North American or English-tagged European server. We do however offer language-specific chat channels in Aion for those of you who want to speak other languages. These chat channels can be accessed by clicking the chat bubble on the left hand side of the chat window’s input field. Please try to remain within the easily accessible chat channels when speaking other languages as that will ensure that the main chat channel is comprehensive and inviting to everyone.

Keep in mind that we do not provide official support based on the following list. We want to offer it up as guidance for new players who are still trying to decide on where to go. It represents the choices of the many communities in our fansite program and we have worked hard with these fansites for it to be as accurate as possible.

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