Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures

Let’s face it, in many regards the fantasy MMO genre has gotten rather stagnant. It is the same ground retread time after time with a different coat of paint and some new names applied. Not that there is a lot wrong with that – after all, if the game is entertaining, then it is a journey worth taking.

Funcom is about to jump into the fray with its second massively multiplayer online game, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, and this is a game that does depart from the norm in many ways. AoC is a game that is very much about your story in the lands of Hyboria (which is Robert E. Howard’s fictional representation of Europe close to 10,000 years ago with like Aquilonia, Stygia – which is akin to Egypt, and Conan’s Cimmeria – the northern, almost Scandinavian realm). You are at the center of the brewing conflict that threatens to engulf the known world.

Of course, what would a world in conflict be without a variety of peoples, and Conan offers just that with a nice array of tribes, some merely savage while others are caught up in power that has led them into the dark arts and alliances with demonic entities.

The gameplay is a combination of keyboard and mouse (yes, the game will also release on the 360, but that version had not been tested and as the PC version is set to release in a few weeks, the 360 version is scheduled for a September release), with hotkeys assigned to the combat system. This is pretty much what veteran MMO players have come to know, but there are some departures in terms of combat that are new to the genre.

But let’s take this from the beginning …

Character creation

To begin with, you are a slave onboard a ship bearing a strange mark on your right breast. The mark is explained as you move into the game (no spoilers here), and the first choice given is male or female. Then you select from one of the game’s three races – Cimmerian, Aquilonian and Stygian – with some of the professions linked to the race picked. There are 12 character classes to choose from in four categories: Soldier (guardian, dark templar, conqueror), Priest (priest of Mitra, tempest of Set, bear shaman), Rogue (barbarian, assassin, ranger), and Mage (demonologist, herald of Xotli, necromancer).

If that wasn't all you wished to do, you can do some of the cursory customization (like hair, face, body template and markings) and jump into the game and go. But if you wish to fine tune your character, there are 21 sliders for facial features and seven sliders for body types in the advanced settings.

Once you have your character set, the boat sinks, you wash up on shore and the game begins in earnest.

Single player and multiplayer

The game breaks down into two main modes of play during the first 20 levels, culminating in a single-player battle that will enable you to leave the island. The first five levels are a guided tour through the game’s fundamental gameplay elements, allowing the player the chance to level, acquire some cursory skills and move into the bigger game. Once you pass through the gates into Tortage City and its surrounding territories, you can play in either the multiplayer setting (day time) or advance the storyline through single-player quests (night time).

In the night time setting, you are at the center of the story, and the world revolves around you. That is your character you see, and the dialogue is addressed to you. In the multiplayer setting, the cut scenes still involve your character, but you might see another player move on the edge of the scene – which is rather a remarkable achievement. This game truly has a sense of singling you out while also giving the impression that you are not alone in this world.

The story arcs are fantastic, and have layers of intrigue woven throughout them. There are several locations to explore while in the Tortage City setting, from the Archeronian Ruins to White Sands Isle, the Underhalls and the Tortage volcano – each with challenges, but for the player who adventures smartly, and does not try to take on too many of the opposing mobs single-handedly, these levels are built to drive you deeper into the game and give you success while doing it.

Leveling up

As you battle, you gain experience and that experience translates into levels. Leveling up also means acquire feat points and skill points. The latter can be dropped into abilities such as perception, climbing or hiding (among others), while feat points are what define you within your class. Each of the classes has a general set of stats you can build up, or you can specialize in one of two class trees. A Herald might wish to base his or her main mage attacks on fire or lightning, while an assassin might have to choose between Lotus (Poisons) and Corruptions (unholy attributes). Feats start coming into play at level 10.

You cannot leave the Tortage Island setting until after you have reached level 20 and undertaken the final single-player challenge. Think of it as an elaborate tutorial setting. Once you do leave, you are returned to your homeland, with an underlying quest that is compounded by numerous quests you will encounter, the guild option opens up and the game really starts to show its depth.

The quest system is rather rich at this point, with players seeing different elements of story arcs by playing different characters. This is a nice way to keep the game fresh.

Guilds

Guild play is perhaps one of the strongest elements of the game. Not only does it involve crafting (at level 40 the crafting elements open up – the game caps at level 80) but the battles and quests will require teamwork. Conan may have done it marginally alone (if you have read the books, he almost always had companions – some of which appear in Tortage City, if you know your fiction), but the evolving plot will require teamwork.

Guilds can also build cities, which can be at the heart of battles.

The game servers will be broken down into two main types – player versus environment (PvE) and player-versus-player (PvP). It is strongly recommended that if you wish to play on the PvP servers, you find a guild. Reports have filtered through, in beta tests, of ganking (enemy players waiting at entry points for players to zone through and then killing them before they are able to defend themselves) and spawn-point camping (players waiting for slain gamers to resurrect at spawn points and killing them again while they are weakened).

(Yes, there are penalties for death – unless you recover your tombstone, your stats take a hit – as in they are temporarily lowered.)

General gameplay

The game does have many elements that should be familiar to veteran MMOers. Weapons and armor can have stat bonuses and you will need food for buffs as well. The game is rated M and that means the language will take a few risks in places and there is a lot of blood if you hit your combinations right. You can even decapitate enemies. This is not a game for young or immature gamers.

Perhaps Funcom is taking a risk in that regard, but for those craving a game that is a bit grittier than the general wash of titles flooding the market, Conan is it. The combat system is a great deal of fun with combinations tying several key commands together. Hit the combination correction and you have the chance to do a lot of damage.

Graphically, there were some glitches in the beta, but the patches took care of them and AoC is a visually pleasing title game with great environmental elements and solid animations. The sound of the game is rife with solid voice acting on the main characters and the music is terrific.

While there are a few invisible walls, the dev team has done a great job in making passage to some areas unreachable because of environmental obstacles, rather than invisible walls – but you won’t find too much of that. The world has been designed in a nicely realistic manner with physics rendering out in a believable manner.

Conclusion

There is a lot to like about this title, from the deep story arcs to nice selection of character classes. Yes, there are a few areas that will need to be addressed prior to release or shortly after launch, but Age of Conan is an MMO that brings back the joy (personal perspective) and reasons that first brought about a deep-seated fondness for the genre.

What will make or break the title is, obviously, the community. If it is ‘mature’ enough to handle the content, the game will be an absolute delight. So far, in dealings with the community, there are a few that obviously can’t handle it, but there is a great foundation of players brewing here.