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Coming Soon: Keeping my eye on Aion

by Joel on December 16th, 2007

If my interest in Perfect World wanes any time soon, and if the online gaming gods in my country decide to bring in another Asian-made MMORPG, I’d probably go for Aion, the latest baby of NCsoft, developer of Lineage I and Lineage II, and City of Heroes.

I kid you not when I say that I’m keeping my eye on Aion. It’s one Korean-developed game that you will continue to whet the appetite of Asia’s hundreds of thousands of MMORPG players.

Enter Atreia, the name of the game’s world, populated by humans and human-born demigods called Daevas, who are, as the fate’s dictate, destined to rid the face of the planet off the Krall, one of the savage races (read: enemy, monsters).

The rest of this MMORPG’s story is really run-of-the-mill: Good versus evil, with goodly races controlled by players vanquishing nasty monsters on a rampage.

What makes Aion interesting, however, is the fact that in-game weather effects—rain, winds, heat, etc.—will have drastic effects on gameplay. How so? Imagine a magic-user casting fire spells in the midst of a torrential downpour.

In most current MMORPGs, weather is simply eye-candy. In Aion, though, casters—even melee types—suffer penalties. Here’s an example: If a character casts a fireball in the midst of rain, his spell might as well be as inconsequential as an ant bite. Cast a lightning-based attack in the same situation, however, and the results may be devastating as electricity and water don’t mix.

With the legendary Crytek Sandbox 1.0 as its textures engine, Aion is shaping up as an MMORPG worth waiting for. Now, if only one of the local firms find it in their capitalist hearts to import the game.

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POSTED IN: Aion, Asian MMO, Asian MMO Players, Coming Soon, NCsoft, Random Rants