This week, after feeling dreadfully bored after playing Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2, I decided to try a new MMORPG to keep things fresh. Whoever gave me the idea to play the two games at the same time was obviously intent on showing me how to lose interest in the two. So I picked out a game regarded by most as promising. I registered and downloaded Aion: Ascension.
I don’t mean to complain right away but, the download time was ridiculously long. I’ve already spent the entire day playing PartyPoker; enjoying every hand I played in. Even after reading through the guides, playing a couple of hands (and getting really good at it), the download is still not finished. 14 GB may be a lot, but I’ve downloaded bigger games much faster before. I wasn’t sure if there were system issues at the time, but it certainly didn’t say so at the Aion Online website. To give you an idea of how long it took, I had played more poker than I’d ever done in my life. The poker game was entertaining me so much that I didn’t have time to get frustrated with the download speed. So, poker saved the day, and I opted to save whatever I’d downloaded and just carry on with the download some other time.
The next day after the download was done, I created my first character: a petite priestess with red, pixie-cut hair. The character customization was simply one of the best I’ve seen. Apart from varying faces, hairstyles, and colours you have the option of choosing your character’s body frame and overall body type. This was something I haven’t seen since Secret World came out. It was a bummer that you don’t get to choose another race once you’ve created one; but that’s understandable because it is done to accommodate the interesting story line that follows.
During the actual game, I found myself hacking and slashing away like any newbie. I was relieved to find that leveling was quest-based, as I didn’t want to relive my Ragnarok days when grinding was required to level-up. As a priest, my damage was considerably low but the actual battle sequence requires very little to no participation at all. I found myself playing online poker in between skirmishes and the healing processes. This may be due to the limited skills I can call upon when their level isn’t so high; I would expect that you would at least need to monitor your health. While this may be borderline boring to some, I find this perk advantageous to players like me who have a short attention span. Toggling between poker and the game didn’t trigger any system issues as you would see on other online games, so that was definitely a plus point.
I see a great potential for this game and will continue to play it after I get to experience all of its features. For now, I think it’s worth the wait and the time. Good job NCSoft!
Are there games you like to play while waiting to play games? Be it Poker or Puzzlers, let us know in the comments below.
Head on over to our What We’ve Been Playing section and tell us what you’re playing these days. Looking for another MMO from NCSoft? Check out our Guild Wars 2 Review.
