Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

[Jarnis]

Funcom's mega-MMO Age of Conan has now been out for a couple of weeks, and it's time to say something definite about it - and give out that ever-important score. Age of Conan starts out fine - the early parts of the game received ton of last-minute polish for the launch, but once you get into the proper game... what lies beyond the newbie lands?

Full Story: http://www.yougamers.com/reviews/191...an_adventures/

OMG! Bewbs! :P

A singularly excellent review - and I say singularly because it really does seem like a lot of professional reviewers were deceived by the starter area.

If this review had somehow been possible BEFORE Age Of Conan released, I could have saved both a purchase and a fortnight of playing hoping vainly to get to whatever level the 'fun' starts.

Keep up the good work !

Did Blizzard send you some free tee shirts? Did Warhammer (Mythic) give you a beta key? Come on, let us know why this review is so bitter towards an MMO that is actually FUN.

You forgot about that word. The game, despite its many flaws, is actually fun at its core. When you fight a huge number of mobs and somehow make it out alive, you feel powerful. If in WoW, a game you so like to compare it to, if you fought two of the same level mob as you its a stretch to make it, depending on class.

The world is beautiful. Absolutely stunning at times. I have found myself actually taking screenshots like a friggin MMO photographer (and I'm usually one of those PVP+ guys you seem to despise so much). Character creation is second to none. The current 1 - 40 game has a great leveling pace, dare I say casual friendly. I have not found myself to grind barely at all (late thirties sucked).

PVP servers have been a riot so far, a lot of great fights. My and a friend roam around and basically smack people once with our weapons. If they turn and fight us, its on. Otherwise, they are free to run off.

You have some points correct, but you focused so strongly on the bad points of the game that it almost discredits you. Many old school MMO players find this game to be a breath of fresh air, even if its has its shares of unimplented features and some bugs.

So, in contrast to your review, I say kudos Funcom - you pulled off a fun game that will only get better.

[Jarnis]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Did Blizzard send you some free tee shirts? Did Warhammer (Mythic) give you a beta key? Come on, let us know why this review is so bitter towards an MMO that is actually FUN.

Nope no T-shirts. Would love to have WAR beta key - had long relationship with Dark Age of Camelot quite a while back, and would love to see what Mythic has managed to cook up. What I saw at Leipzig GC 2007 was... underwhelming... but at least EA Mythic figured it out themselves and have pushed it back - hopefully to improve the game, so when it's finally released we'd get a working product that doesn't have to dish out excuses why announced features were cut before launch.

You forgot about that word. The game, despite its many flaws, is actually fun at its core. When you fight a huge number of mobs and somehow make it out alive, you feel powerful. If in WoW, a game you so like to compare it to, if you fought two of the same level mob as you its a stretch to make it, depending on class.

I have also played City of Heroes/Villains, and once you have rampaged through the massive hordes of weenie thugs in that game, AoC's "huge number of mobs" doesn't really seem so huge any more. I did mention that AoC has tilted the whole combat towards AOE - and that implies multiple targets. My problem with that when target prioritizing and crowd control trickery is effectively ignored, and AE spamming is the way to go, it requires very little skill.

The world is beautiful. Absolutely stunning at times. I have found myself actually taking screenshots like a friggin MMO photographer (and I'm usually one of those PVP+ guys you seem to despise so much). Character creation is second to none. The current 1 - 40 game has a great leveling pace, dare I say casual friendly. I have not found myself to grind barely at all (late thirties sucked).

I did mention that the game is beautiful - but it's also inconsistent. I can dig up ten postcard-quality screenshots, and then pair them with ten shots that look like they might be from Vanguard.

PVP servers have been a riot so far, a lot of great fights. My and a friend roam around and basically smack people once with our weapons. If they turn and fight us, its on. Otherwise, they are free to run off.

Ever tried doing anything on a PvP server alone? Of course it's fun - most PvP encounters will be 2 vs 1, and you are guaranteed a win. I admit, I should have mentioned that escaping from PvP fight is easier than in most games.

You have some points correct, but you focused so strongly on the bad points of the game that it almost discredits you. Many old school MMO players find this game to be a breath of fresh air, even if its has its shares of unimplented features and some bugs.

I found the game to be grossly incomplete. If AoC, as it stands today, were presented to me and the developer said "It's going to launch in three months", I would be worried how on earth do they plan to fix all the missing and broken bits before the launch. AoC *already launched*. Games should not be sold in stores when they are nowhere near finished.

Missing content is one thing - even WoW was thin on content at launch, and same is true for many MMOs. Utterly broken content, missing and non-working features are whole another story.

So, in contrast to your review, I say kudos Funcom - you pulled off a fun game that will only get better.

I agree on the fun part - for the first week. Tortage area was not bad, and the combat was initially fun. And, I guess, in a way you probably get same amount of entertainment out of the game box as with your average single player game - 20-30 hours or so. Unfortunately most people buy MMOs expecting tons more, and in that regard Age of Conan is not fun. It's not fun to grind for two or three levels, every time hoping that next level would open a quest or two. It's not fun to spend ages on a quest wondering if you are missing something, or if the quest is just broken.

The leveling pace is initially very pleasing - perhaps even too fast - but it rapidly becomes a lot more painful once the quests dry up.

[Hexus_Tech]

Have to say, having reached level 35 (I accept that's still low level) I'm just not feeling the urge to keep playing. I was half and half about paying £10+ for a monthly subscription but after the last 5-6 crashes to desktop in under an hour I know I'm not playing after the first month.

Good review, spot on I think.

[durad]

Originally Posted by Jarnis

Nope no T-shirts. Would love to have WAR beta key - had long relationship with Dark Age of Camelot quite a while back, and would love to see what Mythic has managed to cook up. What I saw at Leipzig GC 2007 was... underwhelming... but at least EA Mythic figured it out themselves and have pushed it back - hopefully to improve the game, so when it's finally released we'd get a working product that doesn't have to dish out excuses why announced features were cut before launch.



I have also played City of Heroes/Villains, and once you have rampaged through the massive hordes of weenie thugs in that game, AoC's "huge number of mobs" doesn't really seem so huge any more. I did mention that AoC has tilted the whole combat towards AOE - and that implies multiple targets. My problem with that when target prioritizing and crowd control trickery is effectively ignored, and AE spamming is the way to go, it requires very little skill.



I did mention that the game is beautiful - but it's also inconsistent. I can dig up ten postcard-quality screenshots, and then pair them with ten shots that look like they might be from Vanguard.



Ever tried doing anything on a PvP server alone? Of course it's fun - most PvP encounters will be 2 vs 1, and you are guaranteed a win. I admit, I should have mentioned that escaping from PvP fight is easier than in most games.



I found the game to be grossly incomplete. If AoC, as it stands today, were presented to me and the developer said "It's going to launch in three months", I would be worried how on earth do they plan to fix all the missing and broken bits before the launch. AoC *already launched*. Games should not be sold in stores when they are nowhere near finished.

Missing content is one thing - even WoW was thin on content at launch, and same is true for many MMOs. Utterly broken content, missing and non-working features are whole another story.



I agree on the fun part - for the first week. Tortage area was not bad, and the combat was initially fun. And, I guess, in a way you probably get same amount of entertainment out of the game box as with your average single player game - 20-30 hours or so. Unfortunately most people buy MMOs expecting tons more, and in that regard Age of Conan is not fun. It's not fun to grind for two or three levels, every time hoping that next level would open a quest or two. It's not fun to spend ages on a quest wondering if you are missing something, or if the quest is just broken.

The leveling pace is initially very pleasing - perhaps even too fast - but it rapidly becomes a lot more painful once the quests dry up.

hum...all i have to say is that you are a WoW generation guy,the oldest(and the better) MMO's i have played all use the grind method to level up your char and occasionally a quest for some item or so,funcom did listen to the whining and said that they are going to patch the game so you have quests all the time, i think that was not necessary,but hey..it cant hurt.
the game did came out before its time,but what do you prefer,start playing the game right now with bugs or wait another ## of months to play it with less bugs(because there will always be bugs in the beginning),well i want to play it now and help in the evolution of the game..the only thing that i don't like so much is the unbalanced classes,and even that is not so unbalanced as people say and every game at the beginning its like this(and i play one of the worst,black templar)

oh,i forgot,the single fact that the game is 18+ convinced me..

[samuell]

I am a old DAoc player and I got a lvl 40 Guardian in Aoc.. just loving the game so far no problems no crashing.

Only complaint I got is I wish there was more areas to Grind and not stupid elite instances.. but not really a problem.. the game is more fun to me then DAOC but i hope the PVP will be just as good.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

A singularly excellent review - and I say singularly because it really does seem like a lot of professional reviewers were deceived by the starter area.

If this review had somehow been possible BEFORE Age Of Conan released, I could have saved both a purchase and a fortnight of playing hoping vainly to get to whatever level the 'fun' starts.

Keep up the good work !

Exactly how i feel, other reviews where incomplete due to not leveling past lvl 20... this review isnt biased or fanboy like in anyway and gives you a fair overlook of the game in it's current state, if i'd of read this before i bought the game on launch date i'd of waited myself a couple of months until the game got some patchs to add more depth to it, i agree it was released too early because it's incomplete for my standards (yeah no mmo is ever complete) but has more depth and a better polish to it at the start from my experiences.

I really would like to hear more from community managers on the EU forums getting in contact with the playerbase and developers like they do on the US forums to put our minds at ease, incomplete patch notes, nerfing things that we're working before fixing stuff that was broken is a wrong way to fix the game imo, i'd like them to fix things that don't break another thing, and this is we're i lose my faith in Funcom and haven't decided to log back in since the 9th of june after the latest patch, i'll wait for WAR see what this is all about.. and maybe have a look in a few months on AoC's progress. Great Review very honest and direct about the game, best way to be and really appreciate honesty and a review based on your own experience without been overwhelmed by these lovely visuals that might impare your judgement.

[valtterieranen]

Originally Posted by durad

hum...all i have to say is that you are a WoW generation guy,the oldest(and the better) MMO's i have played...

Are you even aware of his MMO history? Hardly a "WoW generation guy". Also, you call the oldest MMO's "better". The only way to objectively measure the worth of an MMO is through it's subscriber numbers. I think the result is pretty clear.