The upcoming and highly anticipated MMORPG from NCSoft is available for play at CC09, satisfying the curiosity of many addictive gamers attending the convention. I was able to fight my way through a crowd of antsy gamers and get my hands on a computer station to try the game out for myself. With just the half hour I was able to play around the graphically appeasing world of Aion, I was able to gather several details about its gameplay that many of us MMORPG fanatics have been dying to find out.

The reverberating question amongst the online gaming community in regard to this promising looking MMORPG is quite simple: Will Aion be like every other MMORPG we've played? Honestly, to an extent, the answer appears to be yes, but the game does have more to offer than your typical click-for-hours-and-grind RPG. While the game does feature its fair share of Fed-Ex style quests (please help me deliver this blueberry basket to Farmer Joe across the neon cherry fields while defending yourself against level 3 arachnids!) as well as tally-kill XP banking quests (we depend on you to defeat exactly fifteen blackwolf terrorizers and another five blackwolf snarlers, topped off by the mother wolf boss herself!), it seems that these typical grindfests are not a requirement to play the game. Quests are separated into two categories: Standard (the aforementioned Fed-Ex and tally-kills) and Campaign (the accomplishments that actually advance the game storyline for your character). Even though it may be tough to get by without leveling your character and pimping it out with the rewards from the redundant standard quests we see in every other MMORPG out there, it seems that the Campaign line will be the main focus. Phew, that was a close one!

Aside from the in-game gameplay, the character creation for Aion is nothing to be disappointed in. Many MMORPGs give you a very limited choice in how you create your avatar, leaving you to find a plethora of identical twins all across a realm you would like to be unique in. With Aion, you have the ability to mold your characters facial features in great detail. To test this feature, I ventured to create a beta character of my own with the mission to make her as horrendous as possible (really, you don't have to be a big-breasted beauty to conquer legions). I found it most entertaining to be able to tweak all of the little features such as nose width, eye size, cheeks, and mouth. The hairstyles and markings were also elaborate, adding to the number of possible combination outcomes.

After creating one of the more disgusting looking characters to ever grace an MMORPG's digital world, and naming her appropriately ("omgwhy" seemed befitting at the time), I took to the game itself. Of course, the first NPC I ran across offered me a Standard quest with basic start-up style rewards. Unamused with the task of "revenging the sprigs" or whatever it was the NPC wanted, Omgwhy went on her own adventure to slay arachnid-looking creatures in the surrounding fields. I must say that the handling and control of the gameplay is very fluid and easy to learn, which takes the chore out of learning a new game. You are given a familiar looking hotbar in the bottom center of your screen where you can click and drag your skills around, situating them to your liking and assigning them to comfortable hotkeys. This made it very easy for Omgwhy to slay the unintimidating–yet no less evil!–creatures of newbville.

While parading about at an astonishing level two, myself and Omgwhy could not help but to notice the breathtaking graphics of Aion. The trailers you have seen do not lie; the game truly is that gorgeous, and to make matters better and more convenient, it looks as if the graphic optimization will allow older machines to run the game at an enjoyable pace for the player. This is always important to a gamer, especially in the slump our current economy is in.

If you want to check out Aion for yourself like the rest of us lucky players at Comic-Con '09 and you have not already registered for the closed Beta, you will have to wait until September 22nd of this year for its release. Aion will be a pay-to-play game with a monthly subscription fee despite previous rumors that it would be more like NCSoft's Guild Wars, where a monthly subscription is not required. However, NCSoft does plan on releasing a steady flow of expansions for Aion that will be free to stream and download directly to your computer free of charge. Once you pay to play the game with your monthly subscription, you will not have to shell out more cash just to get your hands on the new additions to it. I bet that is relieving to the casual gamer as well, huh? Finally, no more feeling left behind the rest of the players that were able to pre-order upcoming expansion packs just to have the upperhand advantage with their new, uber items!

P.S.: Omgwhy never did avenge those sprigs, but she is looking forward to a much needed makeover come this Fall.

The upcoming and highly anticipated MMORPG from NCSoft is available for play at CC09, satisfying the curiosity of many addictive gamers attending the convention. I was able to fight my way through a crowd of antsy gamers and get my hands on a computer station to try the game out for myself. With just the half hour I was able to play around the graphically appeasing world of Aion, I was able to gather several details about its gameplay that many of us MMORPG fanatics have been dying to find out.

The reverberating question amongst the online gaming community in regard to this promising looking MMORPG is quite simple: Will Aion be like every other MMORPG we've played? Honestly, to an extent, the answer appears to be yes, but the game does have more to offer than your typical click-for-hours-and-grind RPG. While the game does feature its fair share of Fed-Ex style quests (please help me deliver this blueberry basket to Farmer Joe across the neon cherry fields while defending yourself against level 3 arachnids!) as well as tally-kill XP banking quests (we depend on you to defeat exactly fifteen blackwolf terrorizers and another five blackwolf snarlers, topped off by the mother wolf boss herself!), it seems that these typical grindfests are not a requirement to play the game. Quests are separated into two categories: Standard (the aforementioned Fed-Ex and tally-kills) and Campaign (the accomplishments that actually advance the game storyline for your character). Even though it may be tough to get by without leveling your character and pimping it out with the rewards from the redundant standard quests we see in every other MMORPG out there, it seems that the Campaign line will be the main focus. Phew, that was a close one!

Aside from the in-game gameplay, the character creation for Aion is nothing to be disappointed in. Many MMORPGs give you a very limited choice in how you create your avatar, leaving you to find a plethora of identical twins all across a realm you would like to be unique in. With Aion, you have the ability to mold your characters facial features in great detail. To test this feature, I ventured to create a beta character of my own with the mission to make her as horrendous as possible (really, you don't have to be a big-breasted beauty to conquer legions). I found it most entertaining to be able to tweak all of the little features such as nose width, eye size, cheeks, and mouth. The hairstyles and markings were also elaborate, adding to the number of possible combination outcomes.

After creating one of the more disgusting looking characters to ever grace an MMORPG's digital world, and naming her appropriately ("omgwhy" seemed befitting at the time), I took to the game itself. Of course, the first NPC I ran across offered me a Standard quest with basic start-up style rewards. Unamused with the task of "revenging the sprigs" or whatever it was the NPC wanted, Omgwhy went on her own adventure to slay arachnid-looking creatures in the surrounding fields. I must say that the handling and control of the gameplay is very fluid and easy to learn, which takes the chore out of learning a new game. You are given a familiar looking hotbar in the bottom center of your screen where you can click and drag your skills around, situating them to your liking and assigning them to comfortable hotkeys. This made it very easy for Omgwhy to slay the unintimidating–yet no less evil!–creatures of newbville.

While parading about at an astonishing level two, myself and Omgwhy could not help but to notice the breathtaking graphics of Aion. The trailers you have seen do not lie; the game truly is that gorgeous, and to make matters better and more convenient, it looks as if the graphic optimization will allow older machines to run the game at an enjoyable pace for the player. This is always important to a gamer, especially in the slump our current economy is in.

If you want to check out Aion for yourself like the rest of us lucky players at Comic-Con '09 and you have not already registered for the closed Beta, you will have to wait until September 22nd of this year for its release. Aion will be a pay-to-play game with a monthly subscription fee despite previous rumors that it would be more like NCSoft's Guild Wars, where a monthly subscription is not required. However, NCSoft does plan on releasing a steady flow of expansions for Aion that will be free to stream and download directly to your computer free of charge. Once you pay to play the game with your monthly subscription, you will not have to shell out more cash just to get your hands on the new additions to it. I bet that is relieving to the casual gamer as well, huh? Finally, no more feeling left behind the rest of the players that were able to pre-order upcoming expansion packs just to have the upperhand advantage with their new, uber items!

P.S.: Omgwhy never did avenge those sprigs, but she is looking forward to a much needed makeover come this Fall.