Rainbow Dash
05-28-2008, 11:52 PM
Age of Conan is a new MMORPG that came out about a week ago. I wasn't looking forward to it. I had heard only bad things about it - like that it was basically the same thing as WoW, or that a beta tester a friend knew said it sucked, and things of that nature. The only thing good about it I heard was the graphics being run on the Oblivion engine and it being M rated.
And indeed, it is alot like WoW - skill trees, similar layout, and probably a couple other things I've missed. And of course, it is an undisputed fact that WoW is a boring game due to the fact that nearly every class can suceed by repeatedly pushing a single button. I wasn't too sure about this. It sounded boring.
That's not the case in this game. You have three different normal attacks - front and both sides. You also can dodge attacks by tapping a directional button twice.
Sounds meaningless, right?
Here's the catch - your opponents have sides they favor, which can leave openings in one or two of their sides. Basically the enemy has three shield-like icons that are distributed overhead or to either side. If an enemy strongly favors the left side, all three shields will be there, leaving the center and right completely open. And these are pretty major defensive bonuses or penalties.
On top of that, the enemy adapts to your fighting style. If you continuously hit him in the right, he'll shift his defenses to the right. If you attack all over, he'll distribute his defenses evenly (which you don't want).
Sounds nice, right?
To top that off, those three attacks are by no means your only attacks. You also get "combos" which are attacks with special effects or extra damage. Most of them are, unlike any MMO I've ever played, not just a point and click kind of activation. They mostly require you to attack in the correct direction for it to work, so the enemy's defenses do factor in there as well. And keep in mind - I'm only level 5 out of 80 at the moment. So far there's only been attacks that require one attack in a fixed direction, but I'm certain that it will change soon.
And that's just the battle system.
Out of combat abilities are amazing too. I'm an assassin, as always, and apparantly I need a certain level sneak skill (gained by allocating points) in order to sneak in certain places. I can pretty much only hide in the shadows right now.
The graphics, I'm not at all fond of. They're great and all, but WAY over the top. This computer is fairly well equipped and it still lags like all hell trying to run graphics on the lowest setting. This is something Blizzard did right that Funsoft and Sony did terribly wrong - MMOs SUCK when they have over-the-top graphics. There's enough pressure on you as it is to keep up with other people and deal with lag, so it makes no sense to isolate the game from people who can't afford or didnt have the knowledge to have an insane graphics system.
And the girls' shoulders are too broad so they look like men from behind, so that sucks too. Not exactly supposed to be a feminine game though.
Later in the game, you can apparantly build your own guild fortresses and towns, or destroy other guilds'. I'm not that far yet.
9.8/10
In any case, this game has by far the best combat and abilities system I've ever seen in a game.
And indeed, it is alot like WoW - skill trees, similar layout, and probably a couple other things I've missed. And of course, it is an undisputed fact that WoW is a boring game due to the fact that nearly every class can suceed by repeatedly pushing a single button. I wasn't too sure about this. It sounded boring.
That's not the case in this game. You have three different normal attacks - front and both sides. You also can dodge attacks by tapping a directional button twice.
Sounds meaningless, right?
Here's the catch - your opponents have sides they favor, which can leave openings in one or two of their sides. Basically the enemy has three shield-like icons that are distributed overhead or to either side. If an enemy strongly favors the left side, all three shields will be there, leaving the center and right completely open. And these are pretty major defensive bonuses or penalties.
On top of that, the enemy adapts to your fighting style. If you continuously hit him in the right, he'll shift his defenses to the right. If you attack all over, he'll distribute his defenses evenly (which you don't want).
Sounds nice, right?
To top that off, those three attacks are by no means your only attacks. You also get "combos" which are attacks with special effects or extra damage. Most of them are, unlike any MMO I've ever played, not just a point and click kind of activation. They mostly require you to attack in the correct direction for it to work, so the enemy's defenses do factor in there as well. And keep in mind - I'm only level 5 out of 80 at the moment. So far there's only been attacks that require one attack in a fixed direction, but I'm certain that it will change soon.
And that's just the battle system.
Out of combat abilities are amazing too. I'm an assassin, as always, and apparantly I need a certain level sneak skill (gained by allocating points) in order to sneak in certain places. I can pretty much only hide in the shadows right now.
The graphics, I'm not at all fond of. They're great and all, but WAY over the top. This computer is fairly well equipped and it still lags like all hell trying to run graphics on the lowest setting. This is something Blizzard did right that Funsoft and Sony did terribly wrong - MMOs SUCK when they have over-the-top graphics. There's enough pressure on you as it is to keep up with other people and deal with lag, so it makes no sense to isolate the game from people who can't afford or didnt have the knowledge to have an insane graphics system.
And the girls' shoulders are too broad so they look like men from behind, so that sucks too. Not exactly supposed to be a feminine game though.
Later in the game, you can apparantly build your own guild fortresses and towns, or destroy other guilds'. I'm not that far yet.
9.8/10
In any case, this game has by far the best combat and abilities system I've ever seen in a game.