Age of Conan Review

[Laharl]

First, before I really start I want to state what a pain in the ass it was to get this game onto my computer.

Instead of doing the logical thing and having the user download a torrent file, or the like, they gave you an .exe installer. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, many companies do something like this.

But this executable? It drinks your resources.

And drinks your resources.

And continues to do this, easily for hours. During which time you better give up on doing something with your pc until it's done. What a selfish game.

When this thing is finally done, it dumps a set of install files on your desktop. Which, altogether, add up to 13.5GB. Which, in itself, is double the size of the full installation of a competitor game: World of Warcraft.

The fully installed Age of Conan (installer, deleted) is roughly 25GB. So for a few glorious moments, it ate up 38.5GB of my hard drive, just by being there. And, naturally, it took roughly 40GB just to install it. And a moderately new PC.

All to install it.

Also, the installer ate up all my bandwidth. And setting a bandwidth cap on it only made it take far longer than reasonable to obtain the game.

Now the game was installed, ready to go. But no. The **** stain doesn't end there. My PC is not nearly powerful enough to run it. My lappy, top-of-the-line three years ago is not nearly powerful enough to run this glutton of a game. Settings on low, I move onwards.

The graphics are not nearly as impressive on low setting as you'd hope. Especially given the immense game size. What do they expect? People with slightly older PC's and lappies to run out and play their game? Especially when many of us would be leaving games where we are already established, to start out at square 1, and build up from nothing again? Right after (presumably) paying to BUY the game? No. Not going to happen.

Anyways, on to the gameplay.

First thing I noticed: This game only has three races. Did I say three races? I mean one.

One race. Human. Just given different names. Maybe they meant "Nationality"? The name of the Stygians is misleading. It makes you think, "Oh, good. A non-human race". But no. They're just as human as the other two in design, and appearance.

Pay to play, with almost no content. They didn't even bother coming up with a half-decent set of races.

It's as if this set the tone for the entire experience.

The amount of bugs I had encountered was staggering. It was almost as if nothing was tested, or even looked over. I found it to be like Helgate: London, but with inferior gameplay. And an inferior UI.

The enviro is awful. The cities feel detached, almost unreal compared to the rest of the world.

The combat system? The only thing they did remotely well.

It's a shame it were not part of a better game.

Status: Uninstalled, account given away to some sucker who will, in most likelihood, quit playing in a few days.

 

[Renzokuken]

You expect a three year old laptop to run AoC? Hahaha. You're lucky you could get the settings on low. And as far as the races go, you do realise the game is called Age of Conan? So it's obvious where and when the game is set. Humans may be the only race, but your character is fully customisable. WoW has like five different parts/accessories you can customise and within those five are about seven different options, most (And when i say most, i ****ing mean it) look hideous. I haven't played this game, but i've seen screenies and read about it, the game looks glorious when you have a computer that can put the settings up high. It does take up a huge chunk of your hard drive, but what you get in return are zones that look like people died to make them. They aren't boring flatlands with a hill or two like other MMO's.

I still don't know whether i want to try this game. The demo is probably some obnoxiously huge file which i wont download, if a demo is available. But in conclusion, your review is rather biased. You're a D&D, fantasy kinda-guy so of course you're gonna hate the one-race choice and i think with that you already knew you hated the game, because you wanted to hate it.

 

[Laharl]

I hate it because it's based in a shallow, awful game world made by a company that has no business making games.

Note: I did (sort of) like Hellgate: London. Even though it was another game with one race available. Why? the game world was remotely interesting, the gameplay was more appealing. And it didn't rape your computer at any point.

AKA: Well made.

 

[Cobalt Wolf]

Haha! I honestly have no want to even try AoC. I mean come on!.. Conan... *rolls eyes*
Couldn't they have at least based the game around a better and somewhat interesting
character? And they couldn't have at least thought of a better name? Sounds like a
generic version of a million other games that have been out for years. Like AGE of War,
AGE of Empires 1, 2, 3, AGE of Heroes, Dark AGE of Camelot, etc etc.

Their graphics may be more realistic as far as being in more human-like territory
(cause humans wouldn't build a place as nice as Quel'Danas or Darnassus) and having
no other races like Night Elves to draw your attention away from.. well the humanly-ness
of the game but, I very seriously doubt it has any where near the storyline of WoW.

What is the storyline btw? And I don't mean what you do in the game - run around and
chop people's limbs off and if you are female have men gawk at you and make cat calls.
(saw that in the Age of Conan - Femme Fatale video)

I am biased for getting my money's worth.​

 

[Laharl]

I noticed as much of a storyline as there was content: little to none.

Cobalt, if you want to see an ideal world for an MMO just (figuratively) begging to have one made, look at the Disgaea series.

 

[Reference]

Oh man, I can't believe what a totally true and 100% unbiased opinion this review was. I expecially liked the part where he reinforces that the installer itself warrents half of the review for being so '****ty'.

Heres a thought; go buy the hardcopy and have the game installed in an hour. Is it going to take a lot of your resources in that time? Yeah. But that's what installers do. Protip; Installers run faster if it's the only active program. Took me a record 43 minutes to have everything installed with the game up and running (pre-patching). Straight from the box.

And what makes it truely a valuable review is the part where he goes over the entire combat system in one simple line stating that "The combat system? The only thing they did remotely well." That sums up the entire combat system, and the --basically-- entire game. Let's face it, if a game doesn't have a fun system to play on, then it's going to fail (please see EVE online for example). One simple line surly is enough to give an accurate and unbiased review on the gameplay experience, right?

Haha! I honestly have no want to even try AoC. I mean come on!.. Conan... *rolls eyes*
Couldn't they have at least based the game around a better and somewhat interesting
character? And they couldn't have at least thought of a better name? Sounds like a
generic version of a million other games that have been out for years. Like AGE of War,
AGE of Empires 1, 2, 3, AGE of Heroes, Dark AGE of Camelot, etc etc.

Their graphics may be more realistic as far as being in more human-like territory
(cause humans wouldn't build a place as nice Quel'Danas or Darnassus) and having
no other races like Night Elves to draw your attention away from.. well the humanly-ness
of the game but, I very seriously doubt it has any where near the storyline of WoW.

What is the storyline btw? And I don't mean what you do in the game - run around and
chop people's limbs off and if you are female have men gawk at you and make cat calls.
(saw that in the Age of Conan - Femme Fatale video)

I am biased for getting my money's worth.​

What's the storyline in WoW for that matter? AoC has a very rich storyline, but it's not easily told in a paragraph or two, and even when I did read a very detailed and accurate description of the first 20 levels, it was nothing compared to the actual experience of the game.

 

[Laharl]

As I said, the combat system is quite nice. It's just a shame it were not a part of a nicer game, in a more suitable game world.

 

[Reference]

You can't sum up the games biggest achievement in two sentences. The combat system makes the game.

 

[Laharl]

I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's an "achievement". But rather, it's like the wiimote. Amusing for a minimal amount of time, but then it gets boring.

And you return to games like wow.

Maybe they should've worked on the entire game, instead of just the combat system?

 

[Reference]

I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's an "achievement". But rather, it's like the wiimote. Amusing for a minimal amount of time, but then it gets boring.

And you return to games like wow.

Maybe they should've worked on the entire game, instead of just the combat system?

From what I gather, you hardly even got to Tortage, so how can you even begin to think that your review should matter? Get to at least 40 before you start reviewing ****.

 

[Laharl]

The game was distinctly unfun to play.

Besides, three races? GTFO with that weak ****.

 

[Cobalt Wolf]

Reference, why should the download not be part of the review? It is part of the game,
afterall. And why should he go buy a copy when all he's wanting to do is try it?
How's about you go buy it for him?

Ok now on to storylines.. Which one would you like to hear about?
Go ahead and ask me a question about anything having to do with World of Warcraft.

LOL at the fact that someone should have to play to 40 before the game becomes fun.​

 

[Laharl]

World of Warcraft is notably fun from the time you start your character and complete your first quest.

Age of Conan avg: 4/10.
World of Warcraft: 7/10

I've seen many people go on about Age of Conan on WoW, about how "great" it is. But none-the-less, they all return in the end.

 

[Sogeking]

give it 6 months and try it again if you arn't satisfied right now.

on the storyline...i havn't gotten far enough into it to give a good review on it but the delivery is awesome. Every quest has voice dialog(so far) and offers a tree of choices as opposed to just listening to everything the npc says, but generally end in the same results.

@renzo: i'll give you my friend code if you install the game

 

[Jenny]

I still have fun with my wii-mote since it rocks.


BFH is picking on pointless stuff. Anyone who did minimal research (like me) knew there were 3 human races. I never had trouble with bandwidth or whatever or the installer. >5 minutes to install and then about an hour to patch.

Sure the environments probably didn't look good on low settings. Then again I'm highly doubting you got off Tortage which means to got to see a total of *1* minor city and 2.5 minor zones. I liked the zones and cities just fine and I've actually got off the starter island. The equivalent to quitting pre-20 is the same as quitting WoW at lvl 10. You learned nothing and did nothing.

The enironments and cities have been really good so far and some look pretty or cool (even when I played with everything on low and stuff. I have an 8500 video card so I can't really run this game any higher.)

Lore wise I like WoW's better too. I don't think WoW really has a story nor do the quests really immerse you directly into the actual story other than x is a bad guy you should go kill him. But the story from the previous games helps undertone the happenings so it's better. AoC doesn't have much of a story either really. Some darkness is rising and you've got to prepare to combat it or whatever. At 10-20, 30, 50 so far you do story related missions which have to do with remembering who you are and awakening your past. It's kind of lame but it is something WoW doesn't have, but there's not much of a story this is all I've gotten out of playing the game up to 58 now. The other quests that aren't 'destiny' quests are unrelated to the story and pointless. They get pretty shoddy and redundant after you get off Tortage. All voice acting stops (except for destiny quests) and they're the generic kill x, collect x.

There's still a boatload of crippling glitches, bugs, and balance issues and crafting/gathering are pretty crappy too. This isn't close to WoW by a long shot. It's a very, very easy game and grouping is insanely easy and boring too. Tanking may be hard (because last I heard the Taunt skill isn't even working correctly) but other than that healing and damaging are REAL easy.

 

[Reference]

Reference, why should the download not be part of the review? It is part of the game,
afterall. And why should he go buy a copy when all he's wanting to do is try it?
How's about you go buy it for him?

Ok now on to storylines.. Which one would you like to hear about?
Go ahead and ask me a question about anything having to do with World of Warcraft.

LOL at the fact that someone should have to play to 40 before the game becomes fun.​

I never said that you have to get to 40 to have fun. I said you should get to at least 40 before you reveiw the game. I doubt he even completed the first few quests and was ready to shove off the game.

And what makes it all so much better, is that he's turned into somewhat of a wowfanboy after years of saying that it's the worst game ever and everyone that plays it are complete tools.

 

[Laharl]

I would give it a 7/10, at best. when Warhammer online comes out I'm probably going to leave to play it. If a Disgaea MMO came out (as I've been saying many times) I would need new pants before switching to it.

 

[Cobalt Wolf]

Jenny, I'm not trying insult your intellegence or anything but I really don't understand how you can
say that World of Warcraft doesn't have much of a storyline unless you just aren't reading. I will say
this though, unless you are familiar with the Warcrafts before WoW then you aren't as clued in as
those who do know the stories.

And you know what. The only Warcraft I played before WoW is Warcraft 1 but I know about everything
from beginning to end just because I sit and I read and I learn. Call me boring but I like being informed.​

 

[Sogeking]

even if you have played prior warcrafts, ur still screwed. the storyline got bucked up by blizzard so it barely matters.

 

[Cobalt Wolf]

Explain.​