Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Comments by Rob Fahey

@ZuluHero

Almost every counterpoint you just made is void. It sounds like someone didn't play past 20.

This does not deservew an 8/10. You want an idea how the game performs? Go to the technical forums. The game is a buggy heap of shit. There's nothing in the aritcle about the shocking customer support. Maybe because it doesn't exist. I stopped playing the game 2 weeks after I bought it because of crashing ALL the time. There's a humungous thread about this problem. Do not buy this game! Wait 3 months then make a decision. It's essentially beta. If you buy the game like I did you're essentially giving the industry the OK to release a paying beta. Reviewers like rob are just adding to this problem by downplaying the bugs. If game on the xbox 360 got released in this state it would get hammered in a review. Why is it ok to release an mmorpg in a shit state? I'm annoyed with myself for giving money to funcom because of these reasons.

my HoX is 35.

@Krelle

Indeed, they previewed the game, and then reviewed it a month later, which was a good move, however there's still the feeling that this is a preemptive score, rather than a realistic one for the current state.

I suppose we'd only know if Rob were to let us in on this maybe?

I think it's fairly disgraceful to call into question the reviewer / EG's integrity just because you don't agree with the opinions expressed.

Just smacks of playground childishness really, and we resolved the Spectrum / Commode debate ages ago......

"@ZuluHero

Almost every counterpoint you just made is void. It sounds like someone didn't play past 20."

rather, sounds like someone havnt played other MMOs!

I agree wholeheartedly with Clive - if you disagree, give reasons for doing so and don't resort to ad hominim attacks or accusing people of lying.

In my opinion, AoC would probably get a 5/10. But clearly some people here are really enjoying it - good luck to them!

@krelle

was that aimed at me? :S

This game has gone from a 7 to an 8 in one month. Soon it's score will be in the double figures, and eventually we'll see a triple figure score with the re-review a decade down the line. Think of the hits EG!!! :)

People are picking apart a list I did in a few minutes, I'll post a proper comment later that dissects this turgid blight on humanity for all it is worth.

Clive:
Well, in the case of Viking, MGS4, NG2 etc I have nothing to complain about really. Its their opinion. Fair enough.

But this? Its just reviewed on faulty grounds. If Rob Fahey would end the review with "I love this game. Its flawed but I adore it, so Ill give it an 8." then Id atleast know the reason for such an awkward score.

Now it just smells of inconsistency(sp?). As if Rob didnt attend the last "lets go for hard-ball"-meeting and still use the IGN-o-meter.

ZuluHero: Only if you felt like it was, love.

heh, no i was just confused. I was going to spout of my mmo background in defence, but i thought i'd check first ;)

"I think it's fairly disgraceful to call into question the reviewer / EG's integrity just because you don't agree with the opinions expressed."

Surely it depends on what the person questioning the reviewer is saying? If people are arguing with him for the sake of it, well there's no constructive point of view there, however if as some of us are asking, does the score reflect the actual game as it is now, or the game of a few months time, then it's perfectly valid to question the reviewer.

Also, in this day and age nobody's opinions are to be held up without question, why shouldn't there be debate?

lol funny score!!!

should get 5/10 max and thats someone who enjoys MMO's

People bash this game so much, comparing it to wow etc. whereas wow has been out for 3 years or watever and this has been out for 1 month... class balance is obviously going to be a problem, its still a problem in wow, constant tweaking of classes. it never will be perfect balance, but anyway im sure this game will kick ass round about the winter time.

@ mikeck

Also, in this day and age nobody's opinions are to be held up without question, why shouldn't there be debate?

its hardly debate though, it's more like a slanging match - the joy of forums I suppose :)

@paulf

Very true, very true.

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, give him the relevant tools and he'll provide for life, give the same man the internet and he'll be able to abuse people online for the rest of his life.

First thing that struck me was "NotsoFunCom's" support.
Took me 2 days to get me going with my 30 days of free play.
Needed to mail account support and I got 2 automated replies, no answers to my problem.
In the first automated reply they told me to mail account support again with the same mail header, so I did.
I got a second automated reply that was completely the same exept for the layout of it.

Lost my NPC voices in Tortage (all quests there have voice overs for NPC's) so I tried in-game support and made a ticket.
I got a message that I was second in line with my petition. I waited for another 5 hours, no reply

The day before yesterday I tried to log in on the forums, couldn't so I mailed support. Still waiting for a reply.

-2 points for their crappy support (which can't even be reached by phone...)

Completely off score. From one who plays MMORPG's A LOT (and was in AoC closed beta quite some time), the product as it stands today is worth between 5 and 6/10.

I like Rob's reviews, and think he's spot on when it comes to the JRPG's, but maybe western offerings are not his forte?

Gomen-nasai, Shinji-san!

It's full of bugs. Support is hard to get. It's still fun.

got to 45, stopped playing, tried to log in the other day but the patch borked my install

and that is the end of that chapter

Pros
Great graphics, no serious bugs for me
Combat is fun, you really feel you are participating
Tortage is very very very well done, with varying quests for different class types
They have got the Conan world feel wonderfully

Cons
You fall of an immersion cliff at 20
Feels more like a single player game
I am finding it hard work past level 20.

30 levels in 30 days for me and I'm out.
It has been fun.Will return another month

I have cancelled my subscription and will come back to it in a couple of months. 8/10 is a very just score, good review.

Hmm, no way to quote posting from Ipod, oh well.

It's not about restrictions on debate, or questioning of, and having very different,opinions. It's much more about the constant stream of buying reviews / MS / Wii / Ps3 bias accusations that really have become a bit tiresome.

Anyway the comment wasn't aimed at the people forming coherent arguments disagreeing, it was about a lot of the earlier posters. Who by now will mostly be at home eating mummy's cooking and preparing to "rox0r at COD4" or something.

Or perhaps I'm finally a fully paid up grumpy old gamer....

Personally the game does not give me the impression of wielding a sword and smashing down enemies; games such as God of War do that. Action titles have that immediate visceral quality to butchering people with a sword that I had wished to see in a Conan lizense. In comparison to that the sound work is drab, both combatants just click away dps optimized buttons and do not interact other than on an abstract level of "shield directions" and numbers.

So please EG reviewers, try to remember all those other Conan games and how they were slammed for their unimmersive uninspired combat. Same can be said for AoC, because all those other features aside combat is the central thing people do in the game one way or the other.

@ Clive Dunn

I probably overreacted a bit (just a wee bit...)

Thing is it isn`t about bias (who cares about stupid system wars anyway), it might be about buying reviews... (let`s hope not)

What it is really about for me is the fact that the rating system is totally inconsistent, some great games get hammered hard for small issues while others like this one receive an equal score while doing nothing special (or just being broke and not even fun to play...)

Why is that?

ah well, I`ll get my news elsewhere and keep my info for myself in the future

This review wasn't reviewing the game itself per se, it was reviewing what the developers hope the game will become, hence it's forgiving nature and disproportionately high score. I'm kinda disappointed in Eurogamer for this review. I've played a whole heckuva lot of Conan since release and while I agree with alot of the points made in the article, it seems like the reviewer didn't actually get into much of the guilding, city building, raiding stuff that the higher levels are doing. This stuff is essentially flat out broken and/or non-existant and despite the review being for the entire game, only half the game was actually really released on day one.

Obviously the review is the reviewers opinion and the score was probably deliberated on for some time (I have great faith in the Eurogamer staff), I just feel there is a strange acceptance of the flaws due to its MMO stature. Right now we the customers are considering paying our flat out first purchase fee, and then a monthly one after that. 8/10 is a score for a good solid game which Conan arguably (and believe you me, it's arguable) isn't. It doesn't meet those standards as can be gleamed from comparative reviews. 8/10 may well be the score in 6 months when they've actually added in the rest of the content and quests for the over 30's but I think it's actually slightly unfair to give a score like that to a prospective buyer when the game has so many stated issues.

To put it bluntly (and no doubt, far too harshly), the review sounded like an Official PlayStation Magazine review. Slagging the game off mercilessly in the article, but slapping on a 9/10 to get the mag's name on the box art of the budget re-release. I know this wasn't what EG was aiming at, it just comes across that way.

I think this just highlights one of the biggest problems with modern video game reviews: scores. 1up changed to a grading system, from F to A+, but that's essentially the same thing, you just translate A+ to 100 and F to 0 etc. I think a more opinion based, group recommendation system of summation might work, feedback from in-house game players and snippets from forums, other reviews etc. As an avid gamer, a good overview of the game from a variety of angles would certainly be more helpful than a simple number.

rowsdower, what you're basically trying to say is: this game has been reviewed on PROMISES and POTENTIAL instead of the here and now.

"most of the stats on your items don't actually do anything at the moment"

That is without doubt one of the worst bugs i've ever heard of, this is a role playing game, people live more of their lives in the game than outside of it just to get a piece of armour with slightly higher magic resistance. That it hasn't been sorted after a full month is idiotic and amateurish.

OK so lets lance this boil.

Since EQ, these 'traditional' MMORPGs need a certain number of features to work to a basic entertaining level. It's a genre that has been riddled with unfinished bug ridden crap, but there are enough decent examples now that we should call a spade a spade when it appears and not 'hope Funcom fix it'. AoC is a failure of design at a basic level, technically its fine, but theres so many gaping holes in its gameplay it really needs called out.

1. Combat

Replacing auto attack for moves with a sequence of key presses does not make combat more interesting or challenging. The moves still perform the same function, and the key presses are just a case of following on screen arrows. It's just a diablo clickathon with the clicks replaced by the number keys. The monsters respond entirely predictably to moves with their 'shields' so it just becomes a case of hammering the same moves agin and again. There are no animations for the defenses, just on screen brackets. It's basically paper/scissors/stone except less fun because you win every time.

Speaking of moves, I played a Ranger to the 30s and what a heaving pile of crap I had in the way of moves. A full description will take too much time, but basically I had 'big whack' left, centre and right at close range; and a snare, root and 'big whack' ranged moves. There is zero strategy in combat, mobs die too quickly for DoTs, debuffs etc to be necessary. Its just whack-a-mole. And why do I have 6 ranks of cunning strikes but only one 'slam' which doesn't even knock back targets after the newb zone. The way it gives out abilities is atrocious, never mind that they all perform the same function.

Even solo play should require some strategizing, even if its just to minimize downtime between mobs. AoC has none. Whack. Whack. Whack. Simon says up left right. Big Whack. You Win.

2. Classes

The problem with making classes solo friendly is that it dilutes the group dynamic that is crucial to later content in these games. In EQ some classes couldn't solo effectively because it was designed with the group in mind. WoW cleverly enables classes to solo while keeping the roles and key abilities spread enough to ensure that for end game content a good mix of DD, Tank and Healer is needed. All of the classes in Conan seem to be pretty much as good at each other at anything. So say goodnight to epic raid battles, interesting PVP teams and so on, this is why group stuff is just devolved to a few folk playing 'whack a mole' with the healers are spamming their same moves over and over. Well at least we won't need raid leaders o,O

3. World

The heavy instancing of this game ruins any belief in a cohesive world. You are constantly reminded its a game. Not only that but the zones have a large number of instances because of their tiny size. And there isn't even an obvious place on screen which tells you which instance you are in, or explains the instancing system. In term s of ambience, atmosphere and style, I am aware it is quite subjective, but even on High settings it does little for me. No particularly memorable landmarks, by the numbers interior designs, probably made a lot worse by the instantly forgettable soundtrack in each area. Contrast with the starting WoW player, who begins in a newb hamlet slowly works their way to a city, say Stormwind, for the first time. Immediatelly the world map is brimming with possibilities. The only thing the AoC world is brimming with is loading screens and utterly bland scenery.

4. Itemisation

A crucial reward for rpgs is kitting your character out in better gear - its been the carrot on the stick since EQ. As this review says, no items in AoC have any impact whatsoever on combat. Yes, you read that right, stat adjustments mean sweet fuck all. You may as well go into a whack-a-mole session naked. How else whould you describe a RPG without the ability to upgrade your gear other than irrovecably broken? And it doesn't stop there, the loot tables are FUBAR. Why, every 5 minutes, do I need to empty my inventory of a heap of utter shite that doesn't stack?

5. Quests

It defies belief that this site criticized the story in MGS4 while some actually thought to praise the Tortage sequence within this game. It is the most uninteresting tripe I have been forced to endure in an mmorpg. Basically some slapper in the Inn describes some hokey politics that is supposed to give you motive to do your usual run of the mill missions for the resistance. You wish the game would 'show' and not 'tell' But tell it does, and you can't even click past it without pressing the key an interminable number of times. This holds true for the uninspired tripe you do after you have left. I am aware that most other mmos have shitty quest lines too, but usually the character of the world/zone lends some differential to the experience, and usually there are a few standout chains. That doesn't happen here, its generic delivery quest #666 from generic fantasy npc #654 standing in zone 644 instance 601. Its fucking awful.

6. Community

I was lucky enough to play AoC with guildmates from previous games but it hardly promotes user interaction, which is crucial for any mmorpg. There are no artificially created meeting places, no reasons to group while levelling, no reasons to interact with other players at all. Everything is easily soloable, and given that the players in any one zone are spread over innumerable instances its unlikely you will ever have a busy central location like an Ironforge. The chat interface has half its options hidden within the game options, and the friends list can't accurately keep track of who is online and who is offline. Crafting is completely broke, so scratch a working economy as any reason to speak to somebody. AoC doesn't just fail as an RPG, its utterly devoid of the stuff that brings players together and requires them to play as a community.

There is other stuff, you could go on and on.

In summary, AoC is a crock of shit. And this review, for whatever reason, is WAAAYY off base.

The game has quiet some bugs, some more annoying than the others but for me it's still a great game. The starts are pretty difficult for a mmo and not only for AoC. When do you release a mmo. Wait another year so everything is perfect.

If you don't like these bugs wait half a year and try it than. If you can look passed these things go for it. I really like the game and the potential it has in store. Combat is different compared to other games. Visual it's a beauty but for the cost that you need a good computer. Also how the quest are being told is just great. I have gotten more from the story so far than with all the other mmo's together. It's not anymore just reading a book. Your having a "conversation" with your quest givers.

So for me the 8 is just correct. But it's all a point of view.

""most of the stats on your items don't actually do anything at the moment"

That is without doubt one of the worst bugs i've ever heard of, this is a role playing game, people live more of their lives in the game than outside of it just to get a piece of armour with slightly higher magic resistance. That it hasn't been sorted after a full month is idiotic and amateurish."

It has been sorted. Last week (or this week I have no concept of time atm).

Instancing not only addresses but even SOLVES one of the main problems with MMOs: the "quest/boss camping". Do you really think it is more immersive to sit and look at the floor until some mob you need to kill (or in the last case I had, some stone columns I had to knock down) pops out of thin air. Do you REALLY like the EQ curse of your group sitting in queue and chatting while you respond to shouts of "camp check Foo'fie"? Instancing lets you or your party take part in a story, a sub-game, with no pestering from other players doing the same thing.

Believability? The graphics engine lets characters get "stuck" on small objects until you face straight away; conversation audio can keep playing past when you have killed the person talking. Climbing means "insta-shifting" to and from the "ladder". All quests are signposted to the point of ridiculousness. The lack of item wear and tear is also a bitt too much of a simplification (even though other MMOs largely use it as a money sink). And if it should be believable, then surely each task would only need to be done once: If player A kills the Ceremonial Master in Tortage then there would not be a need for player B to do so? But because it is a game they have to let player B do it as well...

It is not a virtual world. Deal with it.

At least ACHA prevents you from running through other characters unlike most other MMOs. Well, except for when climbing though I guess that just uses the crawling system.

I do think the situation-triggered powers in WoW and LotRO are better than the "queue up attacks and combos unless you need to block or dodge" in ACHA though.

8/10?

I really wanted to like it but could only just about muster up enough praise to give it a 5.

Instancing is a great solution when used properly in moderation. Problem with using it with blanket coverage is that it takes away interaction chances with other players, artificial meeting points and hampers the illusion of a co-occupied game 'world'.

Compare 'I'll meet you at Ironforge by the bank' with 'I'll meet you in Ironforge instance 17'.

Its a matter of debate though. Fot a heavily instanced game that is more or less successful see Guild Wars. Its more 'game' than 'virtual world' however some people like it for that reason, and it allows the creators to tell a story through the campaign missions.. having the world change around the players. And Guild Wars is second to none in giving players a reason to group - progression through the plot and to new zones!

AoC just uses instancing as a solution to the fact its zones are microscopically small, not as part of a fundamental design plan like the massively superior Guild Wars.

8 out of 10, playing this and mgs 4 now, lets just say, I`ll be playing conan for a long time... mgs4 is completed in a few more days and put away or sold. Yes, mgs in my opinion feels like a 10... but whne I think about the little game there is, I knock it down to 8... and yes the last chapter fmv totalled over 90minutes, but with many saving and loading points to break it up... never boring though..

I play an assassin and my wife a guardian right now... playing the game slow, enjoying every aspect.. combat is addicting as hell, and as an assassin, I die pretty damn quick unless I put in the smartest combos quick...

I think the godd thing here is the combat is a type that work with a mouse an keyboard.. any traditional streetfighter like combo method would fail horrible.. thanks for inventing a new "wheel" so to speak... I have friends who went back to wow for a few days, and it felt empty to play after aoc..

Wow Goal, your insane.

I am a little pissed off that AoCs players are paying to beta test the game. Its clearly unfinished and was released early to avoid competition from WAR and WotLK.

haha 8/10... this game is 3/10 max. Read what Gaol wrote a few comments up from this, it's spot on.

To be fair, as much as I hate Gaol's baiting, reading through his post its full of valid points, he almost makes me hate the game.

Well I like it.

Scoring it 8/10 feels a bit generous, but frankly if you can't get even a little bit of fun out of this you probably need to chill out and just play it for what it is. It's not a shit game. It's not a broken game. It's just a game - and a fun one at that.

Combat a gimmick? Maybe so - but it's a fun gimmick. Auto attack is something I couldn't go back to now.

Can't be arsed to read all the posts here, but I assume Gaol and co. are going off on one since the makers of this game clearly bummed their mothers or something. Suffice it to say theirs isn't the most measured of opinions, but they're certainly welcome to them.

/continues having fun levelling his Guardian

Just in case the nutters in this thread aren't aware, there are nine other reviews on Gamerankings that score this game higher than 8/10. Please go over there to excrete your bile.

Well yeah, it's Rock-Paper-Scissors, but so what? The fact is I have to pay attention to fight, which I find more gratifying than just starting a fight and then being entirely passive (as I was in WoW at the end there, just churning through mobs). Certainly didn't tire of it myself yet, but fair enough if it's not your thing.

Positioning also seems to be _very_ important in my experience. With my Guardian I routinely take on five or six mobs at a time - so the ability to wear them all down with judicious swings is of critical importance to me, and something unique to Conan.

I've taken a couple of alts through Tortage, too, and haven't minded the repetition any more than rolling alts in other games.

As I said, 8 feels a bit generous so by no means am I saying this is the best game in the universe - I'm only commenting because there are people saying they'd give it 4 or 5 and it just doesn't tally with my experience. I'll happily keep playing for a few months in the very least, I think.

Well the game is amazing really. Finally found a reason not to log on the same old WoW and left my guild to some1 else to take care of for the time being. I created a new guild in AoC and within the 3red week of the guild's excistance we have already a full built T1 city and its just amazing tbh. we gather at nights like 20 ppl the least from my guild watching the city grow while i build it. The gaame can be really fun in every way, The Classes are amazing ( even tho not balanced of and my poor Conq needs to be patched up asap ) The game is ofc also full of nubs, the general channels have pricks and kiddos talking shit but thank god the "ignor" button works like a charm.

Im just glad i decided to make a guild again in this game. Big guilds are needed ofc cause its no WoW since the battles with 300 ppl at once happening BUT our guild is huge already in number and they acre even crying to me not to gang them and take them of our KoS list. So PvP server ftw and for those crying about it pls go straight to PvE! ty ;)

Bottom line. dont whine about the bugs or qs. its only normal for now... Funcom ppl are working on everything and i can say fast. I was there with both WoW and Lotro. Tho Funcom isnt excused when it comes to contacting GMs... they suck hard at that. But the game by th end of the main patching will be fucking amazing. Thats all i can say since its already great. take care.

"Gaol went hardcore"

I blame Manic Miner.

Funny review, Gaol absolutely on the money, Fahey in my opinion either missed the point or was staring at the $$$ banner above the review a bit much. Anyone know a decent site where reviews can be trusted, cuase I seem to have misplaced my old one?

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And for trusted reviews, ask the eurogamer community. The website is all about the cash apparantly.

Well I'm in the community, and I agree with the review!

MARVEL AT THE LOGIC AT WORK. MARVEL, I SAY!

Playing it again this morning (with a pounding hangover) and it's spot on: minute to minute, the gameplay here is better than any other MMO out there. Where it falls down (and WoW will always reign supreme here) is the dungeons, I think; the instanced group content doesn't seem all that compelling.

But now I must go and complete my rush to Level 40 so I can finally use the Mammoth mount I got with my pre-order. :)