Aion - Tower of Eternity

The new MMO from the makers of Lineage

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Billed as the "most visually beautiful MMORPG ever made", it is fair to say I'm pretty impressed with the aesthetics on offer as NCsoft's community manager guides me around the world of Aion: Tower of Eternity. Still, perhaps that's what over three years of development time from an experience team that cut their teeth crafting the gargantuan Lineage and its sequel gets you.

The success of World of Warcraft has clearly been something of a wake up call for the once dominant NCsoft, the South Korean MMO specialist deliberately creating Aion with both Western and Asian audiences in mind. The style is still wonderfully Korean, as you can tell from the images adorning this feature no doubt, but the gameplay is heavily influenced by Western conforms, the firm clearly hoping to create a hybrid experience that will appeal to everyone.

Story is at the very heart of Aion, and its clear that some time has been spent ensuring that while a fantasy premise holds all manner of opportunity for outlandish fun, magic and a world of opportunities, there's also been a concerted effort to avoid lore which might clash with Blizzard's genre-leading World of Warcraft. My NCsoft guides describe the game as 'fantastical', but with a leaning towards the 'ethereal', and this can be seen in the story too. There's not a goblin in sight as I'm told the sorry tale of a world crafted by Aion, ruled by five Dragon Lords, and then ripped apart by 12 Empyrean Lords, and now literally split in two, the surviving Elyos and Asmodian cultures existing on the upper and lower levels of the sliced planet. Imagine a Terry's Chocolate Orange split in half, then imagine having warring cultures living on the inner surface of each half.

If this premise sounds a little hokey, consider for a moment the gameplay possibilities. One side, the Elyos, live in the light and have evolved thusly. The Asmodians, meanwhile, survive in the dark half of the split world, and have had to adapt to near-nocturnal conditions (they really are quite scary looking). In the middle, meanwhile, is the 'Abyss', an area of vast floating rock streams and debris; the left-over chunks of the spliced planet. Here the Imperial Lords are still attempting to regain control over both the inhabitants, and the land, while as the game kicks-off both factions will also be eying this territory.

The splitting of the planet also had another interesting effect - it unleashed the magical force Aether into the world. Aether concentration will vary depending on where you are on the planet; but will be a near ever-present in the Abyss, where it will be used during epic boats of PvPvE combat. This force lets you fly, you see, and even in other parts of the world you'll be able to use it for short spells of flight. A third faction, the Balaur, representing the original Imperial Lords, will also swoop in during key battles - maintaining a degree of balance in the never-ending struggle for outposts in the Abyss.

As you can imagine, this has many applications, and Aether will also be used in other cunning gameplay-related ways. Aion will also let you specialise, by taking on a profession. Cleverly, you won't have to pick one and stick with it, but rather you can master in one but take on-board elements of others. Beware spreading yourself too thin, though, just like in the real world if you don't dedicate yourself then you won't obtain the maximum skill level possible.

Beyond professions, you'll of course want to get involved in crafting, NCsoft once again promising to deliver an experience that doesn't pigeonhole the player, while at the same time rewarding those that put in the hours. Missions and quests will of course play a pivotal role (we witness our rather saucy character taking on a giant turtle), especially in the development of your character, who you'll be able to take into 'Legions' (Aion's guilds) as you see fit. We're promised that all of these features will have a firmer than usual grounding in the story, which the Korean development team have poured hours into. Our guide likened the story to a "novel, or a poem", which sounds more than a little promising, especially if you like your fantasy lore rich and far-ranging.

Moving onto character models and I'm pleased to report that the inhabitants of Aion are more than a little detailed. The developers have clearly let their imaginations run riot with the costumes and embellishments, and avatars look vivid, unique and ultimately beautiful. Customisation abound, naturally, the character creation tool allowing you to create pretty much any likeness you want - including some female avatars that really are... surprising. In a teenage boy-bating, community manager giggle-inducing kind of way. Then there are the environments.

If the people behind Aion describe the underlying plot as 'poetic', then the visual flair which brings the world to life is practically haiku. Beyond the luscious characters, this is a world brimming with detail, where even open spaces are imbued with thousands upon thousands of delightful incidental details. Take a look at the screenshots for a taster of the epic vistas possible when the game is in full-flow. You won't be surprised to learn that the game was built upon a copy of Crytek's CryEngine - the technology behind the arresting Far Cry.

NCsoft hope the game's new combat system will help lead Asian MMOers towards a more western approach to action. You'll be able to chain commands, and while success or failure will still be based on skill, you'll also be able to borrow abilities from other character classes using the adaptive 'Stigma' system. This has apparently been inspired by Guild Wars.

During another mission we were taken on, our female lead 'polymorphed' (another feature of the game) into a parrot in order to infiltrate a pirate ship, and this is typical of the kind of unusual tasks the designers hope can set Aion apart from other 'grind-based' MMOs. There will also be cut-scenes, we're told, as our parrot-lady is spotted and has to flee after being outed by a real pirate parrot. Speaking of new features, there's also an in-game 'dictionary', which we're told players can use to help locate their friends and other contacts in the world. This should enhance the social side of things.

As my demonstration concludes I'm struck by the lengths NCsoft are going to with Aion to create something which offers a genuine break to their own MMORPG cannon, and a strong rival to genre leaders such as Conan and of course WoW. Aion looks set to offer a diverse experience, which engages the player on multiple levels using a variety of techniques. Of course, much will depend on how well the multiple elements of this game function together, and whether the world hangs in a balanced manner, but the signs are good. Very good, in fact.

By Luke Guttridge