Aion Preview

PAX 2007 Preview

NCsoft snagged a booth the 2007 edition of the Penny-Arcade Expo is Seattle this weekend, showing off titles that have been at the core of its massively multiplayer stable as well as teasing with new titles that will either be releasing soon or are still in development.

Tabula Rasa is in the stretch run to release and a host of machines allowed gamers to get their hands on the upcoming expansion for Guild Wars, Eye of the North. Those who thought to stop by the GW area could score a high-quality print of the game art signed by the artists.

City of Heroes/Villains was there, as was Dungeon Runners.

If you looked fast, though, you could get a glimpse of the new NCsoft title Aion: The Tower of Eternity. Though it was only a trailer, it was a trailer composed of gameplay element. NCsoft’s senior marketing manager Greg Bauman and game producer Tim Tan chatted a little bit about the title.

Aion is being touted as the “most visually stunning MMORPG ever made.” While that might sound like biting off more than it can chew, the game does truly shine in terms of environments, characters and animation, lighting and textures. The world is shattered. Bauman said that if you “take the planet and gut the middle to make it look more like an apple core,” you begin to get close to what has happened to this planet. There are three principle races in the game, but only two are playable. Gamers will get to choose between angels and demons, with the third race (dragons) being NPCs with no particular liking for either side.

The game itself is a battle between the factions, but because the world is shattered, this is not strictly a ground-based fight. Players will have the ability to fly and flight promises to play an integral part of the combat system. The game will have PvPvE, a mixture of PvP (player versus player) and PvE (player versus environment) elements.

“Magnitude wise, it is the next Lineage,” said Bauman of the huge scope of the NCsoft cornerstone MMO.

And if the amazing graphics are not enough, Rho Kunihiko – a world-renowned film and television composer – is the talent behind the game’s soundtrack. The game will not only have single-player experiences, but will also allow for guild interaction in the world.

While nothing was stated about the North American beta, it is anticipated that the game will go to beta in Korea in October.

Aion is a prime example of how NCsoft is continuing to explore new territory within the genre of MMOs, though that is something one expects of the publisher.

As Tan stated, “our goal has always been to create diverse content.”