Aion – Glorify Life in the Shadows

I started playing Aion casually and soon found that the game was something I would stick with for a long time. I was completely hooked on it because of its simple and easy to use gameplay, stunning visuals and other special effects that have been tuned and oiled to perfection. The striking settings - with their rich and humorous ecology, colorful and cosmopolitan races and fantastic, sometimes haunting atmosphere - are nicely varied and a pleasure to explore.

Aion is predominantly about grind - hypnotic, repetitive, epic grind - where you ascend to divinity and fight in an epic celestial war. A traditional massively multiplayer RPG, with a very Asian feel to it, this game is unlike many MMO games that players are used to.

The first thing you do as you enter the game is choose your allegiance to either the Elyos, who inhabit the sun-blessed half and are light, nimble, cultured and refined, or to the Asmodian, who live in permanent twilight and have claws and manes and are gloomy, brooding and fierce. As you customize you character you have a substantial number of options to visually change your character’s face and body. You can totally redo your character while in the game, too. This can be accomplished at the Daeva of Life Transformation NPC, located in each faction’s main city. Most characters end up looking like models and are fighting with deformed, gawky giants and ridiculous midgets skittering around. It looks quite odd against the languid lushness and Gothic majesty of the rest of the game.

Be careful when choosing a side because you cannot switch once you have committed to the realm in that server unless you delete all your characters. You can select from one of the four base classes in Aion: warrior, mage, priest or scout. There is no difference between classes in either faction. Each basic class becomes a specialized class at Level 10:

a) Warriors can become a gladiator or Templar.

b) Scouts can become assassins or ranger.

c) Mages can be a sorcerer or spirit master.

d) Priests can turn into an enchanter or a cleric.

Honestly, as when clicking through the various classes, you get a similar feel that you have seen in most every MMO before. The holy trinity reigns (Tank/Healer/DPS). Wielding divine powers and the capability for true flight, you must bring salvation to your people and restore balance to a vast, beautiful world shattered by cataclysm.

The technicalities of Aion are much like that of other MMOs - you fight monsters, craft and make money - with one difference that sets it apart from most mainstream MMOs. In Aion there are PvP and PvE, meaning that after reaching Level 25 the character has the chance to go to designated zones called the “Abyss." Here you come face to face with players of the opposite faction, and, at the same time, fight the monsters that reside in the Abyss. You are often vying for control of an area, as the monsters there offer twice the experience points as their counterparts outside the Abyss. In Aion, players experience the thrill of flight as a strategic and integral part of gameplay that touches combat, quests, and exploration.

Flying adds a new dynamic to all aspects of the genre, including combat, quests, exploration, and harvesting.

In Aion, players can purchase the Aion game, Aion kinah and exclusive in-game items, including Black Cloud Wings, which greatly enhance flight time, the Black Cloud Earring, which boosts health and mana while playing, and an exclusive title that enhances an avatar’s abilities and much more through multiple retail channels and payment gateways including PayPal, PlaySpan, and others.

Although Aion has solid PvE at low levels, PvP is the core of the end game levels. If you don’t like fighting other players, this game is not for you. Be prepared for the unexpected in Aion!