Age of Conan Week: The Verdict

By Oli Welsh Published 23 May, 2008

A pre-review, if you will.

No, there's no big number at the end of this article. (Although, if you look closely, you might find one or two small ones in the final paragraph.) Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, Funcom's heavyweight massively multiplayer RPG, is released today, but we feel - as is very often the case for MMOs at launch - that we can't offer a full review of it just yet. Our limited time with Age of Conan has left too much still to explore, and there's still the one entirely unknown quantity - how the game and a massive community of players will react to each other.

We expected one other factor to be holding us back. After the beta test proved to be an unstable, resource-hungry, slow and jerky mess that required constant patching and server downtime, we feared the worst for the bloodthirsty upstart. Age of Conan would simply not be ready to be thrust upon hundreds of thousands of demanding gamers this week, we thought. We were wrong.

In actual fact, the Norwegian developer and game operator has pulled off one of the smoothest MMO launches in history. We've been playing the retail version of the game since last weekend, and it has been largely bug-free and effortlessly playable, running reliably and at a fair lick of speed. The transition from limited early access to full-blown launch in the US earlier this week went well, and there's no reason not to expect the same in Europe today.

'Age of Conan Week: The Verdict' Screenshot 1

Rhino something you don't. Unless you pre-ordered too.

Only persistent problems with players getting stuck in one mid-level zone, Lacheish Plains, have blotted its copybook. It's still hardly accessible - you'll need an ocean of hard-drive space, the latest drivers and Windows updates, some patience with patch downloads, and preferably a ton of RAM and a beefy graphics card, if you want to play Age of Conan. Once you're in, though, you'll get what you paid for. In purely technical terms, we've no hesitation in recommending you play it from day one.

That, of course, is only one of many sides to this story.

Funcom has staked everything on a number of attitude-changes in Age of Conan: explicit sex and violence; lush, realistic, high-end graphics; dynamic, combo-based combat; a single-player introductory storyline; and a conversation system borrowed from adventure games and the likes of Bioware RPGs that's supposed to bring stories and relationships within the world of Hyboria to life. Most of these are significant departures for an MMO, most of them have been pretty well realised - and most of them run the risk of compromising the game in the long run.

'Age of Conan Week: The Verdict' Screenshot 2

You're not the boss of me. Oh wait.

Combat is probably the biggest sea-change, at least within the realm of fantasy MMOs. Very effectively showcased in the five-level, single-player opening, it's fast-paced, visceral and superficially very satisfying. Matching directional attacks to enemies' shield indicators, harming multiple enemies with carefully placed blows, and the greater importance of positioning (Age of Conan features proper collision detection, and manipulating enemy placement with knock-backs is a key strategy) add an extra layer of physical involvement to everyday battles.

It's less abstract, but it is also a bit messier. Physical abilities need to be triggered with combos of button-presses, and it'll be a while before you learn to slot into the slower rhythm of these while keeping up the more frantic pace of regular blows. There also seems to be little rhyme or reason, not to mention animation cues, to changes in enemy shielding, making the rhythm-action element seem arbitrary at times. Nonetheless, the brutal gratification is hard to resist, augmented by some gruesomely mulchy sonic and visual splatter effects, and the fatality moves (combo finishers) are a well-judged blend of chance, stat modification and skill, and a mighty pay-off.

It feels good. It feels like a Conan game should. It's resulted in what must be some of the most enjoyable melee classes in MMORPG history, especially the Conqueror and Barbarian, but including interesting magical hybrids like the Dark Templar, Herald of Xotli and Bear Shaman. But there are several rather sizeable buts.

The pure magical classes with weak melee attacks and no combos - and to a lesser extent, the Ranger - are mostly effective, but feel underdeveloped; strangers in a strange land, they don't fit into this relentlessly gory and confrontational game so well. Smothering their spells in overblown effects as compensation, and offering high-risk, high-reward spellweaving combos as a latter-level treat, are not adequate compensation for the fact their pacing is off and they're simply less involving to play.

Then again, that aspect of the casters might be a blessing. Combat is relentlessly intense. We didn't tire of it particularly in a week's heavy play, but after hundreds of hours' play, it's possible to imagine wanting to return to a slower, more studied and tactical and even predictable style of play. There's also a sense that many major group encounters are just going to degenerate into massive melee scrums, and that the clear distinctions and interplay between classes that make for the very best experiences MMOs have to offer will simply be missing. Player-versus-player fights feel similarly random and unstructured, but we wouldn't rule out improvements here as players learn their classes properly, and Funcom implements some balancing tweaks.

'Age of Conan Week: The Verdict' Screenshot 3

Funcom has beaten Blizzard to first MMO mammoth mounts by months.

Funcom originally intended for the first 20 levels of Age of Conan to be a single-player experience only. They since retreated from that, concentrating that storyline into half to two-thirds of those levels, allowing you to switch between night-time single-player and regular daytime multiplayer questing at will. The story concerns your amnesiac character, freed from slavery by a shipwreck, fighting against slavery and oppression in the pirate town of Tortage.

It was a smart decision. The joins show a little - it's a slightly more disjointed experience than the seamless introduction to Lord of the Rings Online, but only slightly - but the balance is right, the options many, and the storytelling is as sound and involving an introduction to Conan's world as you could wish for, with well-drawn major characters coming together in a genuinely neat and satisfying climax. Leaving Tortage for a more conventional MMO structure - and losing the voice acting of those 20 levels - is a little jarring, but compensated for with a greater sense of freedom.

'Age of Conan Week: The Verdict' Screenshot 4

Yay! We found out how to use the emote commands!

Nevertheless, you can't help feeling that Funcom's desire to elevate these aspects of the MMO to the same level as a single-player game have rather uncomfortably split Age of Conan down the middle. Take the dialogue system as an example. It's intended to be more immersive than simply clicking through windows of quest text, but unfortunately the majority of the dialogue is not interesting enough to hold the attention, and the conversational options are purely cosmetic.

The end result is just to slow the whole experience down, and ask you to click OK five times - in five different flavours - instead of once. Similarly, the game's user interface is very slick and attractive, but nothing like fast enough for a piece of software that will be used as intensively, for as long periods of time, as an MMO. Clarity and speed are everything, as only Blizzard and Turbine seem to understand at the moment.

It's at this point that we could start to argue that the game's cutting-edge, realistic and hardware-intensive visuals were a similar mistake. After all, few MMOs that have gone down this path have succeeded in doing more than alienating half their potential players. But we're not going to.

Yes, the system spec requirements are high, but for what it is, the game is well optimised. Yes, the art may be hit-and-miss in some places (monsters, mostly), but where it counts - craggy nature, impressive architecture, cool armour and weapons, and above all, varied avatars that drip with charisma and sex appeal - it's a resounding hit. Age of Conan is a gorgeous, atmospheric game, trading some environmental variety for total credibility. Funcom has been absolutely clear on what players would want from Conan's world, and it has delivered it.

There's another aspect of its world-building, though, that is an awful lot less impressive. Age of Conan is a very, very heavily 'zoned' game. This is no kind of seamless virtual world on a par with World of Warcraft or, for that matter, GTA. Although some zones are large, you'll regularly see continuity-breaking loading screens, sometimes for minutes at a time, often for something as simple as entering a house or inn.

Even worse, many outdoor questing zones - the sort you would expect to be genuinely massively multiplayer - run in several instances on the same server, meaning you could be stood in the same spot as your friends and not see them without switching instances from a drop-down menu. And for what? At the end of the day, when you zoom out to the world map and look seriously at your adventuring options, Age of Conan's world, the amount of content available, is simply not that large.

'Age of Conan Week: The Verdict' Screenshot 6

Yetis - challenging WOW's treants in the comedy-death-animation stakes.

Time and again, Age of Conan simply doesn't meet your expectations of modern social gaming. The whole crafting and trading side to the game, the backbone of player interaction in the vast majority of MMOs, doesn't make its presence felt in any real sense until halfway through the levelling curve, and we don't have a handle on it yet. The chat interface has severe limitations. PVP matches aren't even remotely integrated with the game world, or offered any introduction; you register for matchmaking through a relatively well-hidden menu option. There doesn't even appear to be a mail system.

Single-minded, shallow, slick and highly entertaining in the short term, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is definitely a solid proposition - as an RPG. As an MMO, it's unproven - probably compromised, possibly somewhat limited. That doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. This is a game with broad appeal that does what it set out to do with verve and polish, and will please a great many of its players. Those looking for complex social systems behind their slaughter have Warhammer Online to look forward to. Those who just want to mash monsters into a bloody, particle-shaded pulp with friends need look no further.

We'll offer a full review in the coming weeks - before your 30 days' free play are up and you need to decide whether to subscribe, if you buy now. If we had to predict the score, we'd say it's a 7, but that could vary either way depending on how certain things shape up - notably, the endgame, crafting, and PVP. The next couple of months are still make-or-break for Age of Conan, but by pulling such a professional launch out of the bag, Funcom has given its baby the best chance of success.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (81) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • koji_m #1 4 years ago

    sounds promising for the 360 port (if it ever arrives)

    by the sound of it it seems to be geared a bit towards console play? or am I just going crazy

  • muscleblade #2 4 years ago

    There will probably never be a 360 port. Hopefully there will be though.

  • mikeck #3 4 years ago

    A 360 port...really?!

    That would be cool...if only :)

  • Schiraman #4 4 years ago

    Sounds interesting... maybe like a cross between Guild Wars and more traditional MMOs like WoW and LotRO.

  • mkreku #5 4 years ago

    I don't like the sound of loading screens everywhere. One of the best aspects of WoW is that it's so seamless, so fluid and so non-disruptive.

  • Gurgeh #6 4 years ago

    The stability of the release is a huge improvement over the beta tests. However, it was fixed and patched so frequently at the end of beta that they had no time for balancing - so don't expect all classes to be anything like as balanced as, say, WoW. Just remember that in MMOs overpowered and underpowered classes exchange places as the game develops.

    The depth of the game is a big question mark - at this point there doesn't seem to be any tactical intricacies to PvE, a mob of Barbarians deal with anything which may be true to the books but potentially makes for limited lon term interest.

    There are also exploits to be addressed - people hit the level cap a couple of days after pre-release started. This is more important if you are interested in PvP, especially as there appears to be graveyard camping in game.

  • hula hoops #7 4 years ago

    After all the hype I am getting for the game, when I played it in the past 2 days I feel underwhelmed.

    The article is spot on about the game. Beautiful and smooth graphics, voice acting, unique combat system .. they are all pluses.

    But I didn't get the same level of feeling I had when the first time I played WoW. The world feels disjointed. I remember the first time I got to Westfall in Azeroth and said "Holy Shit, this is as big as Elwyn Forest and oh look there are 30 other areas like this". In Hyboria, I merely just trudging the paths with no sense of "Oh, I wonder what I will find if I just go to this part of the map".

    Chat system is crap. Emote system is crap. There is no sound when you say /hi to some body and the is nothing on the chat panel that say I say hi. Really crap. There is very little socialisation going on even thoug it is supposed to be an MMO. I don't even know if I can whisper to someone /sigh.

    This game has a mountain to climb if it wants to dethrone WoW off the top MMORPG spot.

    Shame, because I like the women.





  • Darkedge #8 4 years ago

    EG any chance we could have some real in game shots YOU took not just pretty ones handed out by Funcom?

  • Velios #9 4 years ago

    Welllll, EVE-Online only got an 8 from EG and I am still playing that 5 years after launch! So a 7 may not be such a bad thing. MMO's grow and change with their audience, Conan should be no different.

    Might try it....

  • rhinoxious #10 4 years ago

    I thought the 360 port was announced and confirmed, though admittedly around a year down the line?

  • Oli Verified Reviews Editor, Eurogamer.net #11 4 years ago

    Darkedge, if I had a better PC I would, but I don't think it's fair to the game to show it on low quality with half the effects turned off. That's no more indicative of what players will see than those official shots.

  • butler` #12 4 years ago

    Well, as World of Warcraft got an 8, I suppose 7 isn't that bad eh Eurogamer?

    /poke Kieron

  • dan13l #13 4 years ago

    I've certainly been enjoying the Early Access, and it's been surprisingly stable for an MMO at launch.

    That said: the class balancing feels slightly bonkers at times, with some classes being an exercise in frustration during the enforced single player bits early on. And there's a bit of a question mark floating above its head (like all those in-game quest givers) regarding whether I'll still be playing it at the end of my 30 days.

    The time I've spent so far has been thoroughly enjoyable though. And you can't beat a class that uses two handed swords and turns into some sort of Guyver Cthulhu hybrid.

  • butler` #14 4 years ago

    Oli, aren't you guys "POWERED BY ALIENWARE!!!1"?

  • koji_m #15 4 years ago

    @rhinoxious

    yup, it's confirmed idd, but haven't heard much from it besides that...

  • M83J01P97 #16 4 years ago

    Yeah... there is no doubting the 360 port. Microsoft purchased the rights to it and it should be with us this time next year.

    But having played the game for about an hour, I kind of feel this is another game that's only going to work smoothly on the PC. A console port may just feel a bit clunky with lots of different things between controlled by only a few buttons.
    Edited by 1 at 23/05/08 @ 16:04

  • Venkman90 #17 4 years ago

    Worth noting that Mythic got Warhammer AOC running on a 360 aswell, more of a proof of concept though but I think they may have been angling for sweet sweet MS money for a port to 360 (not everyone has blizzards pockets). The only obstacle for a 360 MMO is the UI and a slightly smaller user base, however there is less competion on the format.

  • Gurgeh #18 4 years ago

    "A console port may just feel a bit clunky with lots of different things between controlled by only a few buttons. "

    Hmm I thought the combat system was more suited to a console than a PC.

  • M83J01P97 #19 4 years ago

    "Hmm I thought the combat system was more suited to a console than a PC. "

    I could see the basic combat working with a 360 controller yeah, but once you factor in the numerous different skills and abilities that you learn as you level... I could see it getting a little over-complicated. #

    But if they can pull it off, it would be great to a see a decent MMO working well on consoles... I don't think SquareEnix pulled off FF11 too well on the 360 myself.

  • miiiguel #20 4 years ago

    I'm pretty sure a 360 "port" will happen:
    "Age of Conan 360 won't "just be a port" says Funcom:
    "...this is not going to be just a port from the PC, but we're actually going to great lengths to make a tailored version for the Xbox 360"
    http://ww w.computerandvideogames.com/art...
    Edited by 1 at 23/05/08 @ 16:31

  • Nasty #21 4 years ago

    Seems to be a big downer on the the whole instanced zones thing. Every mmo is instanced to a degree. Every WoW server is effectively 3 main instances with lots of smaller raid and pvp instances off of that. Trouble is with WoW if you all congregate eveyone to one place the whole continent crashes. It's not as if its even like guild wars either where it was you and your party lovin it up in your own instance. Its a somewhere in between which should prove to be a nice balance i.e get to play with loads of folk online but not have an entire server go titsup cos 200 people want to have a mass cyb0ring in one zone.

  • AOFanboi #22 4 years ago

    Their registering app sucks. Hurrah, I logged in with my existing Funcom account - used for AO back in the day - and clicked the "add new subscription" link. Got taken to a form - where I had to create a NEW username instead of having the game attached to my existing user...

    Ah well, install should be finished soon so I can get that 27 GB patch...

  • hahayou #23 4 years ago

    Oli: I think a lot of people would like to know what PC games look like at lower settings. We don't all have 8800s.

  • Feanor #24 4 years ago

    Tbh, you probably shouldn't bother with this unless you have an 8800 of some sort, or an even better card.

  • El_MUERkO #25 4 years ago

    so far so ... ok, better than wow's launch but then they get the advantage of watching wow's launch and adapting their approach. supposedly the pvp servers have queue's now but the wait is around the three minute mark, i think next Monday evening will be the big test of the servers load handling capabilities

  • Chalee #26 4 years ago

    I have an 8800, I'm so awesome

  • jimr9999us #27 4 years ago

    A primary reason I jumped on the mmorpg bandwagon was to avoid updating my computer every 18 months; another reason was to enjoy an open, seamless gameworld. Instanced zones were a deal-breaker for me in Tabula Rasa, and the Conan ip is not one I'm willing to go quad core, etc. over.

    Still, kudos to Funcom for pulling off what seemed to be an improbable smooth launch.

    Next, please...

  • 1simen1 #28 4 years ago

    One question comes to mind after reading your preview and seeing your comment in this section.
    The comment was :
    "Darkedge, if I had a better PC I would, but I don't think it's fair to the game to show it on low quality with half the effects turned off. That's no more indicative of what players will see than those official shots. "

    Oli, you have actually done the preview on an older computer forcing you to play on low settings?
    You use a computer like that on the most system heavy MMORPG releaced to date?

    Without a good graphics card Cpu and enough RAM for starters, this game give you a few long brakes i take it (loading)...
    In your preview you complain about loading and the game feeling instance heave. I have read other previews where the previewer have used an up to date gameing pc. They haven't complained about this.

    You guys are the biggest european gameing site. Atleast use an updated rig when previewing/reviewing system heavy games. If not state the specs on the rig used so we can draw better conclusions based upon your feedback.

    Or even better, give us a preview based upon playtime with a powerfull pc. The kind of pc this game was made for.....

    Thats my to cents anyway;-)
    Edited by 2 at 24/05/08 @ 14:09

  • BaggyAnt #29 4 years ago

    Re: the system specs I am running this on an 8600m GT on a laptop - and it's playable on High and smooth as silk on Medium.

  • byron_hinson #30 4 years ago

    Problems with the game start to show up once you get past level 20 in my view - lots of broken quests and bugs after that.

  • TexMurphy01 #31 4 years ago

    I agree with 1simen1.

  • Scribble #32 4 years ago

    Been playing since Saturday.

    Servers are marred by downtime, the combat is OK but a little dull and lag cripples you totally. The graphics are lovely though.

    I have been stuck in an empty instance for 23 and a half hours now due to a bugged monster, unable to leave as I can't get credit for killing someone for a quest. As it's the end of the single player level 20 quest I am "locked in". I petitioned a GM when I went to work, they replied with "You're offline, please put in another petition if you still need help" and that reply took 45 minutes. I am now in a 75 person queue for help again. I have emailed, no response. Other people have been similarly stuck for 3 days now...

    Nice graphics, average game, appalling customer support.

    I will not be paying after my free 30 days at this rate.

  • M83J01P97 #33 4 years ago

    @Scribble

    As bad as that is... do remember their GM's are probably being inundated with people asking for help seeing as this is a brand new game that's only just launched.

  • AOFanboi #34 4 years ago

    Well, my P4 2,8 GHz 1GB RAM old-ish machine went to 99% CPU and... no game.

    Gotta consider a new machine at some point. But is the MMO genre really worth it? It seems from the forums there is just as much - or more - grinding in ACHA as in LotRO or WoW... and both of those run on my old rig.

    Also lots of reports of bugs. Par for the course when it comes to Funcom though. :p
    Edited by 1 at 23/05/08 @ 21:19

  • SomethingWicked #35 4 years ago

    Well, then.

    I realize a lot of people are clamoring for reactions from established reviewers, so this is how I'll explain away the premature and half-assed assessment that a typically excellent review team is offering us here.

    It's important to emphasize that no one has had that much time with the retail game and I'm guessing the almost miraculous improvement over the beta version has also caused a delay in general gaming media coverage, but at the very least, today's readers should be careful they don't conclude too much from the opinions of people who don't know there is a mail system or don't know you can send tells in-game.

    I'm going to write a bit here, but if you have any interest in this game at all (I'm assuming you do if you've made it this far), I'd ask you to bear with me.

    If anything, the game lacks a certain level of polish on a few mechanical things that have been ironed out in games which have been running for 2-5 years vs. 2-5 days. But these are ALL EASY TO FIX. (caps AND italics - no he didn't!) While I agree that Funcom needs a tad more polish to make it friendlier to new MMO players, they have said all along that they are targeting a generally more "hard-core" user base. Thus higher technological requirements, no walkthrough of how to send tells and more emphasis on unique and fun skills, real siege pvp, the ability to fight from mounts, etc. They do have the best quest system that I've seen, clearly identifying where to go and what to do - everything but lay a trail of breadcrumbs at your feet ;). Most important to me is that - just like its largest peer - AoC is powered by a pulsing heart that binds the whole thing together and delivers a fiercely compelling gaming experience.

    That doesn't mean that what it offers will appeal to everyone, the cartoonishness of WoW grew on me over time, but based on the feedback I've heard in-game, it's certainly resonating with a lot of players. Some further observations:

    Almost every class in this game has hybrid elements to it, not even counting the Feat system (think WoW talents) that adds real customization. A barbarian deep in the dual-wield tree will play very differently from a barb specializing in 2-handers. That's been one of the repeated criticisms of certain classes in Blizz's game for years (Palladins?) - and something I think the Funcom folks did very well out of the gate. Classes will all evolve over time, as they do all good MMOs (again, wow Paladins), so let's not worry too much about the balance issues of avatars only a quarter of the way through their development (lvl 20s vs eventual 80 cap).

    I should interject and say that I like both WoW and LoTRO a great deal, so I'm not a crazy fanboy. I thought Turbine did a great job with the LoTR IP, but Funcom has really made a living, vibrant world that everyone who has any interest in the genre owes it to themselves to at least explore for a time directly. And it is a blast to explore - I went cliff-jumping yesterday at the spur of the moment and the graphics were so impressive (better than oblivion) that my girlfriend was inspired to start looking into a tropical vacation.

    "Not your father's Conan": For those that want a real introduction to the delicious world of Conan, check out the comics by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord. It's THIS world that Age of Conan re-creates, not the lumbering abomination of Arnold's movie.

    To the guys at Eurogamer, whom I respect a great deal, even if your site is under-appreciated here in the US, I'd say be cautious in your early judgments, if only to save you the effort of having to write a lengthy "re-visiting AoC" article in 3months. It has put up some incredible early sales numbers and from my time in the game there are a ton of people who are settling in on this as their #1 online game and have no plans of leaving. My own view is that WoW has been a wonderful introduction to MMO gameplay for millions of people, but for those looking for the next step, or just something new and worthwhile, AoC presents a greater realization of its potential.

    Now if they would only fix the auction house.

    [longer than i expected - now no one will read it - a shame]
    Edited by 1 at 23/05/08 @ 21:29

  • EggyDeth #36 4 years ago

    Nice graphics, except... why are the skies so ugly?

  • frankgom #37 4 years ago

    What's happening with Age of Conan really reminds me what happened when WOW was released
    Today I went to several videgoames stores just to find that the game was sold out

    I really don't think they can achive the succes of WOW but I feel that this game is gonna really cause a big impact in the MMORPG world, and tha't is gonna sell several miillions units.

    Just when a lot of people is saying that the pc game market is dead.

    P.D. I consider myself a big Conan fan and I think that the first Arnie-Conan movie wasn't that bad.
    Edited by 1 at 23/05/08 @ 22:25

  • Cider-X #38 4 years ago

    "the game's user interface is very slick and attractive"

    Are we playing the same game here? The UI is absolutely horrible, reminiscent of something straight out of 1998. It's an embarrasment in this otherwise potentially great game.

  • TitusCrow #39 4 years ago

    pc gamer ( remember that anyone ; ) ) used to do system check on the games with high scores once upon a time. it would tell you what the game was like on a pc of the gods and then on a min spec system etc or the average system.

    maybe a good idea would be to take a mean of the valve pc spec questionare and base a rig on it so we get the 2 version of the game - ideal and real world. then everyone can decide how different the version of the game they play will be from that which is "recommeded"
    sure its a recognised pc attitude that if you cant afford to upgrade they gtfo of the pc market and into the console one but i think this is a tad harsh myself and would like to see perhaps a side box of a few screenies taken at min spec and frame rates achieved.

    PC's will soon have to fight for the right to exsist as more than an elite form of entertainment for those who can put 2 grand into a pc. let it start here and now with euro gamer - who "gets this stuff" from reading the articles and editorials.

  • TitusCrow #40 4 years ago

    oh and to go back on topic - Aoc is real fun at the moment ( a bit gutted to hear that the voice acting only goes to tortage :( )
    they have got to sort the chat stuff as well as various other interface things - oh and get the bank mail and Ah working asap. but playing it as a basically single player rpg at the moment im totaly into it- im in a hardcore raid guild in wow so for Aoc to work the game needs all the chat stuff and UI stuff sorted fast to as it could be a pain soon in a mass raid.

    very true what the rei/preview said as a rpg its the bomb but unproven at the endgame or as an mmo as yet - but im hopefull

  • Ryuken #41 4 years ago

    "not the lumbering abomination of Arnold's movie. "

    Euh, the first Conan movie had all the traits a Conan-product should have imo (even more, I'd say it's still the best adventure/fantasy movie out there), it's only the second flick where things went awfully wrong (and family-friendly :( ).

    Don't think I'll be upgrading for this but there are enough other games to start a new PC hardware cycle for nowadays, and it certainly doesn't need to cost 2 grand to be "safe" for the next few years. Has never been like that anyway, at least if you check price/quality of your components.

  • asphaltcowboy #42 4 years ago

    How much is it every month?

  • UncleLou #43 4 years ago

    Are we playing the same game here? The UI is absolutely horrible, reminiscent of something straight out of 1998. It's an embarrasment in this otherwise potentially great game.

    Try Pirates of the Burning Sea, Vanguard or pretty much any other MMOPRG excpet maybe WoW if you want to see what a truly horrible interface is. Conan's is pretty damn good, albeit lacking a few functions which I am sure they'll add.

  • Katsumoto #44 4 years ago

    Argh, nein! The 2 grand myth again! Can we leave that out please? 2 grand would buy you a pc that could power Droitwich.

    Anyway, only been able to play this for a few hours but lurrrvin' it. I'm starting to feel something I haven't felt since the summer of 2005, when WoW was at its peak. This is bad, as I have exams coming up in a week!

  • Turambar #45 4 years ago

    Chat, guild management, UI etc are supposedly all being worked on by funcom at the moment.

  • davisorle #46 4 years ago

    @mikeck
    Yeah it is supossed to come out on 360 though I personally don't care since I wouldn't play it on my xbox since im loving it on my pc.

    @1simen1
    it's sad that YOU had to tell them and they couldn't think of it before or something. Yeah, not only for the review to be acurate even through his eyes for us but also cause this is really not a review. Like you can't review a game when its in its prealpha state and call it a review. Same thing.

    Personally I love the game.. As expected it's got BUGS! Tones of em you could say. If not a lot there are some basic bugs. Though from a new game of the kind and so developed and with so many new features and graphically improved than anything else of the kind you really can't expect anything more than that for such an early stage. Wow was full of them at first. Lotro was. Everything has to (not has to but its only normal for the first couple of months ) be since it's MMO.

    The game in my and my friends' opinion is just amazing. It's really REALLY fun since it's something important to the gamer. It's refressing and not hard to get used to since so different from other MMOs. They were also smart enough to keep the good things from games like wow. Things that made your game experience convinient and easy to handle as the player. Examples? Tab = switch targets / F = assist / Num = autorun etc etc... So it's user friendly really. The game even with really low details looks and feels nice though once you apply the higher details on a good speced rig you will NEVER ever go back since its just beautifull. wowed everyone since I put it on in a place with around 60 ppl around me at that moment.

    All i have to say is that it's worth. Don't really mind it's bugs since those will be smoothed out by the time ofc. The gaming is great like i said and in a group you'll see that the 12 races are all great and unique and personally I dont find a race for the first time in a game that I wouldnt like to play with which is also really a good thing. And the finishing moves are even if silly just great :) The blood splatter on the monitor also something to love. Well just buy it or get a buddy key and try it out. Its a great game and I never really talk like that about specific games. Was what i expected from a new MMO since i was tired of the same old looking wow... I will miss my chars but AOC got my full attention. Even my 360 will get dusty for a long while. Just one last thing to worry me. -=ENOUGH TO DO WHEN CAP LVL=- that was what noone left WoW and why i kept on playng as well. Hope they knew why Lotro failed to keep any of us.

    Enough said. thnx for ur time. hope i was usefull. going to make me something to eat now lol.

  • Bitkari #47 4 years ago

    I'm generally enjoying the game. They've made a few interesting choices which do make it a bit different from many other MMOs, which is nice.

    That said, the UI is a bit fiddly, and the chat system is AWFUL. Luckily, I'm playing through the largely single-player parts at the moment, so hopefully the chat and the trade and PvP bugs that I hear about will be ironed out by the time I get out of Dodge. I mean Tortage.

  • Kenny_b #48 4 years ago

    you guys might wanna mention the problem with keys and that as some pppl have had keys that are corrupt? so they need new ones but despite emailing customer support theyve not got them yet!!!

  • KillerMonkey #49 4 years ago

    ^ Customer service have always been masively overloaded at MMO launches.

  • 1simen1 #50 4 years ago

    "Davisorle", thank you for your feedback:-)
    I'll get this game later in the year when the golf season is over and i have bought a new gameing rig.

    Still abit annoyed about the previewers choice of system when previewing this game.
    Age of Conan have instances and is texture heavy. On a lesser older system you will get long load times ,choppy framerates and probably lag aswell.

    Still can't believe a respected site like Eurogamer did a preview of arguably the biggest MMORPG releace of the year on an old pc, forcing the reviewer to use minimum settings.

    I would really like to hear what eurogamer has to say about this game based upon an up to date high end pc. This is an 18+ game. We the grown ups who will buy this game have the funds to buy a killer rig if we want to.

    I want to know how the game looks and plays with this in mind. Not how it looks and plays on my current pc which would struggle hard, and not keep up forcing me to play on minimum just like Oli the previewer..........

    Come on Eurogamer provide your staff with hardware that can do justice to the pc games you preview/review.

  • Emth #51 4 years ago

    Compared to WoW now (years and years after release) it might not hold up yet, but compared to WoW at release, i'm pretty damn happy with it and expecting good things. The combat is certainly a step up imo. Knockbacks, splash damage, shields and combos add a lot of spice.

  • M83J01P97 #52 4 years ago

    "I would really like to hear what eurogamer has to say about this game based upon an up to date high end pc. This is an 18+ game. We the grown ups who will buy this game have the funds to buy a killer rig if we want to. "

    Is that so?

    Well your a very lucky grown up then aren't you...

    Not everyone over 18 has the funds to go out and buy a top notch PC for the latest games you know. While I understand there is a need to review the game to it's highest standards, they also need to speak to gamers who don't have the best machines possible.

  • Krelle #53 4 years ago

    1simen1:

    while what you say is true, (and I agree, it should have been "reviewed" on an up to date rig) the tech is not the most important thing in an mmo. Sure, the lag becomes an issue, but there is far more important issues, especially during the lvl-phase.

    What I want to say is that i doubt Oli would enjoy Conan more, or "score" it higher, even if he had played it on NASAs combined computers linked together to form some powerhouse-rig. The game is what it is at this state. It may become better or worse as the game develops, but the technical POW (as in good vs bad rig) aint what makes/breaks Conan.

  • 1simen1 #54 4 years ago

    "Krelle", i don't know about you but after playing games since the comodore 64 days, there is one thing i'm getting more and more allergic to. That is long load times.

    For me that is almost gamebraking and annoying as hell.

    Now if Oli had used a high end pc his load times would have been alot shorter. Irritating long brakes when entering an instance or building for that matter would be gone, and he could enjoy the hard work put into the graphics to "pull" him further into the gaming world.

    I have no problem with what he writes about gameplay mechanics and what not. However when he complains about loading and instances and states that he played on minimium, that tell me that he can not enjoy the game fully the way it was meant to be played.

    With a high end pc the load times are minimal, framerate smooth and lag almost nonexisting. I remember playing SWG before and after upgrading my pc. Huuuuge difference to the better. Went from kind a cool to awsome. That is until CU hit though ;-)

  • davisorle #55 4 years ago

    @1simen1
    np man. I di try the game also in 2 more rigs. The one had the minimum requirements actually. My opinion? Don't even try it. At first you are happy it works and even from what you see with the realy low details at minimum ofc. Yet once you enter the first town you will freak out. It's even painfull and since ur mostly my kind of a gamer you really shouldnt get it for your current rig imo. It's so lagging with the minimum requirements that you will just get frustrated and pissed off like hell. I even did even if I wasnt the one to stick with it. I installed played a bit, was sutisfied at first but then a huge "CRAP" flashed in my mind and i would even see as low as 3,2 fps in the town. Just dont forget to keep in mind the bugs. Those are a lot like i said but nothing to worry about or unexpected. Like Emth said, nothing new since also in a game which is almost perfect atm after ofc 5 whole years was nothing better at first than this. On an Average rig which was with a Dual Core CPU ( not sure which model though so i rather not say ) 2GB ram and a 7800GTS ( Still not putting my life on it :p ) was running smoothly with the medium details running on it. If I knew the info would have been usefull here id have made sure I knew more about the rig. Though even me personally i only had to go and try it out for the reason I wanted to know how and if it could run smoothly on it. Maybe a reader who has an average rig could be more helpfull telling us. On my rig with 8800GTX 768MB and vista on it and 2GB DDR3 its running as smooth as possible. Though the extra 2 ram i want were needed but i guess the VGA helps it out a lot.
    BTW if you're going to buy a new rig don't go do it now. Wait cause the next chipsets are about to come out. Just a tip in case you didnt know already.

    @M83J01P97
    You are right on both what you said. The only thing is that since its also a new step graphically speaking in the MMO genre its only normal for most of us to be intrested on the max outcome of this game.

    ( Dont mind me and no paragraphs etc but rushing here )
    Edited by 1 at 24/05/08 @ 16:07

  • Krelle #56 4 years ago

    1simen1:
    fair enough dude, I understand what you mean, really.
    i probably just dont care about tech as much as you. The game aint good enough "in itself" for me to be overly interested anyway, so the lag and similar issues aint dealbreaking for me.

  • Erinan #57 4 years ago

    Very nice "pre-review", Oli, and very accurate.

    To be honest, I don't think that the graphics won't make the game any better. It lacks polishing, it lacks a good UI, it lacks quests, zones and interest once you're out of Tortage and the combat gameplay, although interesting at first, becomes quite boring and repetitive over time.

    Playing on an Athlon 4200+, 2 Gb RAM and Geforce 9600. Everything apart from the characters looks nice (nothing amazing, though, and some very poor textures/effects -omg, the lava) but the heavy instancing is killing me. Even WoW has very few instances, DAoC didn't have any when it came out and don't get me started on SWG. It purely kills the immersion for me. To enter any house, you have to click on the door and go through a loading. New zone, loading, new indoor quest, loading, etc.

    In the end, the game feels like an unpolished and bugged Guild Wars with a 10£ monthly subscription. Not to mention all the ganking issues in PvP. Makes me wonder if Funcom have a QA department, or if the beta was of any use to them.

  • 1simen1 #58 4 years ago

    "Davisorle", Thanks again for good constructive feedback! :-)

    I know of the new chip sets and it will probably be oktober before i end my golfing season, and will get ready for Conan.
    Hopefully they will be out by then.

    From what i read if you only have 2 gigs of ram get 2 more. Especially if you are running vista. I believe 4 gigs is mandatory when using vista.

    And to some of the people complaining about bugs, interface issues and what not. You are aware of the genre of game Age of Conan is?

    So far this is the smoothest release ever of an MMORPG. Atleast that seems to be the consensus all over the net. Give it a week or 3 and i suspect many of these issues will be ironed out.

    Right now i almost wish that i could quit work , say no to my golf buds, and go hunting in Hyboria lol.

    But then again summer time goes by fast and i'll probably meet some of you in game in oktober.
    Please don't kill me then , i'll be a noob he he:-)

  • wired009 #59 4 years ago

    I remember really hating wow when it was first released because of play balance, questing issues, underdeveloped group options, boring fighting/grind. I revisited the game a year later and it was hugely improved. When it comes to MMOs, there is really no rush to get involved. Wait a few months, let the bugs get resolved, let the launch month traffic get resolved, save up for a new rig if you don't already have one and you will probably have a very satisfying experience unless the game really blows.

  • davisorle #60 4 years ago

    @1simen1

    Since all my pcs since the 1st Pentium CPU was released I have been making my rigs piece by piece with specific models of everything i have inside of it... So Either I'd have to be stupid either know what I'm doing. So i can assure you that it's been moded enough to be able to run Crysis without any chopping in frames still with Vistax64 and the only 2GB ram on it :) and I'm talking about running it on max details. ;)

    So yeah The game is great. Not boring from first lvls which is TOO IMPORTANT! in wow its just fast to make a new char, ok i agree, YET BORING. Conan you have to agree with me it isnt simply cause the combat system and the great graphics are amazing. Also for those who don't know yet the curently version is DX10 dissabled. They said they wanted some time to perfect the DX10 system of their engine or something which wasnt heard till a couple of days before release.. :S Yet Its amazing to look :p so the game wil both get improved visually and functionally speaking :p

  • 1simen1 #61 4 years ago

    "davisorle", had a feeling you knew what you were doing :-)

    Just read in forums that quite a few struggled with 2 gigs of RAM when using vista, and recommended 4 or higher. When increasing their RAM their improvments was big.
    No offence just giving a heads up incase you needed it....and you obviously didn't lol :-)

    And yes, will be interesting to see what it will look like come August when dx10 will be implemented.
    Can't wait. Gameplay is always the most important, but eye candy, fast loading and smooth framerates sure help the experience...





  • gmmonkey #62 4 years ago

    My views so far. Been playing since friday morning.

    +The combats new and fun.
    +Game arts nice

    -Need a decent rig to play this. Dont even think of buying this unless you have a better computer than me (7800gs, 3500 athlon 64, 1 gig of ram) I run it on low with everything pretty much turned off. It still stutters. There's no way I'll be able to play the siege battles against other characters. My reccomended min specs to enjoy the game, without cursing at the stuttering, would be an 8000 series card and 2 gigs of ram. Remember this is semi real time. If your stuttering all over the joint you'll die fast against another player.
    -1 out of 2 times the game crashes for me when loading from character selection. My monitor starts to flicker on and off and I have to restart windows, because it screws up everything. It's keyboard punching annoying. I'm currently having a break from trying to get back in the game just now.
    -can't access the forums for some odd reason
    -range charcters are almost useless
    -Instances here, instances there, instances everywhere. It's one step removed from guildwars in that respect. The taverns are instanced. I went into a dungeon walked 10 steps then had to go into another instance. I was in that instance for a minute then had to go into the next room which was in another instance. It ruins the immersion. WOW has the right balance on instances. The've went instanced mad! It makes me wonder why I should pay a sub for it.

    The only reason this was a smooth launch is because the shitload of instances. Underneath the skin it feels a bit of a one trick pony game. I'll see how it goes if I ever manage to log back on without crashing or smashing up my computer.


  • davisorle #63 4 years ago

    @gmmonkey
    Man, my tip, just get another Gb ram the least and still you will se a huge impovement. You might even be able to play really smooth on better than low. That extra GB ram for the king of PC you got atm will make a huge difference in this game since the weakest point for you atm is the Ram. Its cheap atm so it will be worth really and you'll be able to enjoy the game that way.

    @1simen1
    Well I also have it installed on a Raptor HD so that helps as well in the loading times as well with the DDR3 ( not gong to promote the brand etc ). And yes Im a sucker for eye candy as well. Ive been into that shit for quiet a few years now. ( Comodore -atari age etc ) I mean whenever a better VGA card than mine comes out for example I feel bumped. lol. 3Dmark etc :p Funny thing is if we were talking not just about a 360 game but the 360 version of conan if it was out I would have to deal with PS3 morons who would start saying shit like I just say things to support MS and shit which I find too stupid. Some ppl know what they are talking about and the rest should stick with their personal feel of the games instead of judging what they are not capable. Same way like someone told me that Warhammer wil be much better than Conan. How the hell can you be so stupid to say that when you have no clue since you havent played neither? Conan looks and feels amazing. I hope there is enough juice for the end gamer like in WoW. What about golfing and conan? lol :p You really gotta see that :p And no i wont gang you if you get in my guild :D lol!

  • gmmonkey #64 4 years ago

    @ davisorle

    I'd get another stick of ram if my comp could take. I've got a shuttle comp which has 2 slots. I broke one of the slots a while ago, so it only takes one stick. :/ Anyway, I had another setback. The clients decided to redownload that 632mb patch. I'm calling it a day. My comp appears to be not good enough and I've spent more time trying to get the game to work than play it. >_

  • davisorle #65 4 years ago

    @gmmonkey

    Well you'r only option if not buy a whole new pc since you apparently need it :p is to get rid of the 1dimm of 1Gb and get a single 2GB ram stick itself. Just a thought. Well it;s really up to you. Goign to sleep now since im buzzing it :S Good luck with it!

  • craziii #66 4 years ago

    I actually tried out the game for like 4 hours today at a friend's. it wasn't what I expected. I experience like 2 crash during the 4 hour session, no biggy. there are no pure magic classes. alot of hybrids. character customization is just like oblivion, really indepth + detailed. I like the first 2 hours of the game, but I lost interest in it very fast. there is nothing revolutionary about the combat :( don't get what all the hoopla was about, you have to play it to get what I mean. the collision mentioned in the article is nice. player forts + siege won't happen till high lvls though, wish I could experience that. in the end, this game feel like it is just another mmo, which I got tired of since wow. I played wow for like 1.5 years when it launched, have tried lotr, ddo, now AOC. I am hoping warhammer won't disappoint with it's RvR.

  • M83J01P97 #67 4 years ago

    People keep saying this is having a 'smooth' launch. But a quick read through the official forums this morning suggests otherwise.

    Servers going down with no warning or explanation given... quests simply not working for some people just because they have done things in a certain order... people who are running the game on systems that are more than capable or running the game having big problems with what should be minor things.

    I really don't see myself paying to play this after the 30 days. While it is a nice change to the other MMO's out there, especially with the combat and classes available, the instancing is just a big downer for me. It really does feel like they built a single player RPG then stuck a couple of MMO elements on top of that, at least for PvE.

    Personally, I'd like to come back to this in a couple of months time and see how things have changed, it has potential, but like a lot of MMO's at launch... it's hard to tell if the game will reach that potential...
    Edited by 1 at 25/05/08 @ 11:49

  • Oracle #68 4 years ago

    Having played 15 or so hours of it since Friday I'd give it a 7/10.

    I played WoW up to 60 and also masses of Guild Wars. To me, AoC is a hybrid of both of those games (OK so that's stating the bl**dy obvious).

    What I like:
    + graphically very nice;
    + innovative combat system that feels genuinely different;
    + seems lag-free (so far)
    + interesting character classes
    + fairly decent avatar customization

    What I dislike:
    - no real immersion - too much instancing;
    - no proper emotes (reminiscent of what I disliked in GW)
    - graphically very intensive (I have 7900GT oc'd) though runs mostly OK
    - cut scenes reminiscent of GW
    - lacks the social and 'addictive secret ingredient' that WoW had
    - I dislike the GUI overall, not up to WoW
    - tutorial at beginning not clear enough about combat, combos, etc.

    If it sounds like I'm a WoW fanboi, I'm not. I played up to 60 and then quit (several years ago). However, at that time I thought it was the most addictive, incredibly well conceived and deeply enjoyable game I'd ever played. Some slagged it off as not being 'skill based' (good point) but that didn't stop me enjoying it.

    I played GW from earliest beta right through to the second (or third) add-on. I quit that about 2 years ago now. I quite liked the PvP but didn't like the instancing / lack of a persistent world. I lost interest.

    I guess it's horses for courses. If you're expecting something that will step-change the MMO industry and throw things like WoW to the dogs, you'll likely be disappointed.

    I'm currently doing the single-player Tortage Night campaign (and at lvl 10) but don't find myself particularly 'addicted' or wanting to play it rather than do other things. As it currently stands, I don't plan to play beyond the 30 days that come with the game.

  • davisorle #69 4 years ago

    @Oracle
    First of the emotion issues will be over with very soon. I thought it was something you could understand for yourself but trust me they mught be all the emotions ( since a lot are even moved out for the time being ) will be properly fixxed over time and hopefully within the month.
    The heavy load on the VGA, well I've played also all MMOs most likely and for example Lotro wouldnt even start on a crapy ass laptop I had before and after a few months that was fixxed through patches too and runs more smooth than WoW ( and Im serious on this which is sad when you come to think that Lotro has amazing graphs when compared to any previews MMO and specially WoW ) so those are things that will be fixxed with all the feedback and lets better call them complains. We did our best in the beta to let them know what was wrong but if they waited to fix everything that buggs you up before release then you would have to wait the least another year.
    The tutorials personally at first I didnt even need them. I only checked them afterwards cause they were bugging since they became a huge list on the side. BTW I have never seen a better tutorial system in a game since it almost like a huge search engine on the side and also leads you to similar troubleshooting while checking something else with trigered buttons on the tut popups.
    And in case you think im nerfing WoW, no i even turned my last char ( Shadow Priest ) 70 fully pvp geared a few days before i start Conan.

    @M83J01P97
    Well according to what you say then yes I'll suggest to stop laying for now and come back in a few months and play when the rest of us enjoy the game and give feedback to have it completely fixxed for ppl like you when you come back. The thing is that most have to realise that for a game of the kind it's our effort as well to make it get to perfection and by dropping it it wont really. Still noone can change ur mind so you can go ahead and quit AoC. I rather know later on that since Beta I was with the ppl that helped make this game better like others did with wow etc and remember the laggy crapy AoC it was at first. I really don't rather start bitching though. Nothing personal. im just telling you how I see it. Specially since it's a work that we should apriciate if we want something to move on from WoW. Like i hate the fact there are still ppl playing L2! :p

  • muscleblade #70 4 years ago

    @miiiguel

    Still not covinced. I know some of the people that work there. If they are making a 360 port like they state in the article it wont be out for a long long time and by the time its done its too late. So why even bother making it. Dont get me wrong i would love a Norvegian 360 game so i hope they are making it and that its out soon. I just dont believe it.

  • anomagnus #71 4 years ago

    the review only mentioned WoW, what 3 or four times, almost a record for this site

    i hate WoW, i hate the way any reviewer can't look at an MMO without mentioning it. I hate the fact that anything different to it, is now a problem.

    Let me be blunt, WoW will never be toppled from its throne. Its marketing team are level 80 marketing gods, with full talent trees.

    But mmos like Conan and WAR arent trying to topple WoW, they're hunting their won demographic and doing it their way.

    Quite frankly, having a game filled with over 18's is lure enough.

    Cant wait to get it. If it doesn't work out, they have years to fix it.

  • M83J01P97 #72 4 years ago

    @muscleblade

    Well Microsoft have bought the rights for AoC to come out on the 360... so it is coming out at some point in time, whether or not it is a year from now is another question though.

  • MightyMouse #73 4 years ago

    @anomagnus

    How much of a difference will 18+ really make? Sure there are a lot of kids that are immensely immature in WoW, but in my experience the only games that really have polite, considerate communities are ones that don't appeal so much to the mainstream (EVE and so on). Certainly blaming the 15-18 year olds for halo 3's notorious community seems rather harsh.

  • Krelle #74 4 years ago

    @anomagnus:
    oh shi--your allowed to play Conan? I thought you were one of those teenagers making life a hell in Wow.

    Oh well, seems like the "only grown ups and so-called mature people will play Conan"-concept failed miserably.
    Edited by 1 at 26/05/08 @ 16:18

  • M83J01P97 #75 4 years ago

    Yeah, I've not played Conan an awful lot, but from what I have seen, there are plenty of the annoying teenage MMO stereotypes present in the game. Fourtunatly, the slightly rubbish chat system means you can easily ignore all of that.

    I would think Conan would actually attract a lot more 'immature' gamers actually considering the fact it is filled with blood and tits.

  • Krelle #76 4 years ago

    People need to realize that the difference in behavior between 14 and 18/19 aint that big. People turn 18, thinks "woo! im mature! Look at me being mature!" and instead ends up back at the teenage-state.
    This seems to drop off gradually when people reach the lvl..i mean age of 23-ish.

    Hmm, I think ill just make it a rule of thumb from today on that ill never talk to anyone below the age of 22. Should spare me both time and..well, mostly a whole lot of time!

    Also, dickshits will always be dickshits, especially in an mmo. It doesnt make em any less annoying if they happen to be 35 rather than 15.

    (I may very well be a dickshit myself when it comes to MMOs. Its just a sweet thing to piss people of now and then.)

  • Orange #77 4 years ago

    I think referencing WoW is entirely appropriate, as after playing Conan it is clearly heaving inspired by WoW, everything from the quests and quest givers, the talent trees, the zones, and the pvp mini games. The only different bits are guild cities and battlekeeps, which appear to be in a very rough state at the moment.

    Seems that they've set themselves up to be WoW-like but with a higher age rating and content and hoping to attract players by that and by an improved combat system. Problem is this is ruined by the bugs, the ropey UI, the lack of post-40 content, the system requirements and the lack of working economy.

    Over time it should become a decent game, but it needed to be something either revolutionary or a lot more polished to be genuinely successful and noteworthy. Instead it's just WoW after a few pints and a fight.

  • mikeck #78 4 years ago

    @davisorle

    Cheers, and I agree, if my laptop had the necessary specs to support the game I would take the PC version anyday, but as I'm not able to afford upgrading I'd have to play on the xbox instead.

  • SomethingWicked #79 4 years ago

    Just went and re-read the Vanguard review and re-review and will be very interesting to see if Eurogamer only gives this a seven after a thorough play-through.

  • actionfitz #80 4 years ago

    just want to add my 2p here.
    like may have said already, Im having a blast.
    I upgraded my rig in anticipation of AoC's launch, I use it for CAD / 3D art work too though so it wasn't just another games splurge :)

    I have an intel quad core 2.4ghz chip, nvidia 9800 GTX card and 4 BG ram.
    Im running at high settings, with a few boxes unchecked just to improve frame rate.
    the game is gorgeous in the start areas... but when I left Tortage and got to 'Conall's Valley' in Cimmeria...
    I nearly shat myself O.o
    this zone is a huge valley with steep sloping sides and lush with vegetation and wild life - and i could see almost all of it standing at the starting hub.
    'Attention to detail' in this game is phenomenal and will give leave you with a pleasant tingley feeling on the back of your scrotum. ;)
    One 'holy-shit' moment came when i was passing a small series of waterfalls... and realised there were salmon jumping upstream trying to scale it. awesome.

    Pre-launch i promised myself I wouldnt start a Barbarian in AoC. figuring it would turn into something like the Nightelf Hunter of WoW. that was a mistake tbh, after trying the assassin, herald of Xotli and conqueror I have finally and unashamedly settled down as a Barbie hehe. Just such a fun class to play.

    Im level 46 now, while group play at the start was a frantic mess of spamming abilities randomly with no appreciation of tactics... even random groups i join these days show that as time passes we are slowly but surely finding our rhythm and getting a hang of the class dynamics.

    My guild is starting to gather the resources needed for our guild city - various structures you build here directly benefit all your members by buffing their stats etc just for existing. others grant access to higher profession teirs - the alchemists tower etc.

    there are quite a few issues atm in the game.
    lag spikes and some glitches are to be expected this early in a launch, but haven't been that frequent.
    The bank / mail / auction house / guild bank system is all rolled into one - and was broken until recently.
    now that its fixed, its proving to be quite handy - you can flag stuff as 'for sale' from your bank.

    zoning was rather annoying at the start, but i've kind of accepted it now. i can see its benefits as well as its faults.
    it allows the game to look this good consistently and not be a lagfest the likes of the city of 'Ironforge' in WoW back in the early days. I missed the opening of the gates of An Quiraj when i played WoW due to the server crashing constantly with the whole population gathered in one place lol.
    Im playing on a PVP server, as expected there a more than a few wankers who level up, then return to low areas to gank people respawning at a graveyard...
    with the multiple instancing of zones - you can just switch instance and avoid the arseholes. quite handy.

    one major flaw is the grouping interface, and how this works with the instancing.
    when grouping up you have to make sure everyone is in the same instance of the zone or you'll miss each other.
    this could be far better designed and more user friendly than it is now, but its early days.
    They have already patched in some ui / chat improvements - colors and the ability to right click names in chat etc.
    I expect more to follow, and for things to smooth out more as time goes by.

  • Pur3nRg #81 3 years ago

    orange do world a favour and unplug your internet connection NAO!
    AoC is = to wow as much as Pamela Anderson is = to your fatty mom