Beneath the beautiful veneer of Aion lies...alot of repetition.
And those first 10 levels is a chore. Expecting a game with stunning visuals, I imagined the world would pull me right in. Let's just say...it didn't.
What it did give me, however, was a plethora of kill quests/fetch quests/go to the next town and do it all over again but WAIT, you gotta go back and talk to that guy from 2 towns over about your destiny yadda yadda yadda...
I should probably note, that for fans of this game, you can stop here. This ain't gonna get better.
Although, for a moment, it did. Right at level 10, right when I suspected. Got my wings, got my taste of a big city, got some new skills, got ready to finally START the game.
And, lo and behold...more kill quests/fetch quests/go to the next town and do it all over again but WAIT, you gotta go back and...sounding repetitive yet?
Well, repetition is what Aion is all about.
Now, one could argue that repetition is what ALL mmo's are about. To an extent, the statement holds some truth. But, even compared to some recent mmo's I've played, the repetition didn't really settle in until 1/2 way through my level cap grind.
Warcraft, Age of Conan, Warhammer...they were all fun to play, to a point. At least they started out that way. Aion, sadly, didn't start that way.
I'd like to say it began to redeem itself as the levels went on, and in small ways, there were signs of hope. New skills meant combo attacks, but after killing my 1000th mob, i realized that i didn't need to hit 2 3 4...i could just hit 2 three times, and it would complete the combo for me.
Yep...even the combos are repetitive!
Ok, I've blasted the game long enough. Well, not quite...there's a couple things left to blast before I get to the good parts...
...there's a severe lack of content. Got 1/2 way to the level cap, and not an instance to be seen. That's right. Not one! Plenty of people advertizing for elite group quests for...wait for it...FARM RUNS!!! That's right...the first of them hit around level 18, not even in your 20's yet, and you're major highlight is killing elite mobs over and over for loot.
Ok, now I'm done blasting it.
The 20's show some redemption, in the form of your first combos that don't complete themselves. (I'd like to point out here, that combo moves were implemented better in Warhammer, and earlier on), but the repetition remains, yet I caught myself thinking "once I hit 25, the REAL game's gonna begin!"
(I guess I'm not done.)
Well, it changes, and you get to go to a new area, but it's more of the same. Except the opposing faction is around. Got in on a couple pvp battles, and had a blast, but eventually they ended, and I was left to leveling...killing mobs over and...well, you get the idea.
So, after all this trashing, why did I give this game a 6.5/10 (instead of, say, a 2?) Cause, it's not bad. Boring at times, maybe (well, certainly for me, but your mileage may vary), but not bad. It's extremely polished, looks good enough, and doesn't pretend to be anything than what it is, which for me, was a very pretty game with fun enough pvp battles, alot of grinding, and little to no content outside of that.
That, and unlike many mmo's out of the gate, Aion actually WORKS! This game won't need patching, outside of catering to further class balancing, to fix any problems. Install, and hit play game. It's that simple.
Sadly, for me, the experience was pretty much over at 27, when I caught myself thinking "once I hit..." for the last time.
The short of it is this.
Aion works out of the gate. The world, while severely linear, looks fairly well designed. The PvP, while not the best I've played, certainly exceeds most mmo's in fun and class balance (rock/paper/scissors rules still apply)
But, for a game to be great, especially and most crucially a mmo, it has to really sell the world to you. Aion, for me, doesn't do this. It doesn't make me want to play for fun. It makes me want to play to finally get to that hypothetical future when it will FINALLY become fun to play.
I've certainly spent enough money and time on bad games, to not feel like it was one of those. But, I've spent enough money and time on great games as well, to know it's not one of those, either. It's just what it is.