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From:Eidos
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See Product Page
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#205 |
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6 of 27 customers found the following review helpful:
 Wait, or expect frustration, 2008-05-07
I just cancelled my pre-order of this game. Have been (trying) to play this product in beta and it is the most buggy software I've ever seen. In addition, Funcom is providing 0 technical support at this time. I'll wait until the product has more polish if I purchase it at all.
23 of 30 customers found the following review helpful:
 Welcome to the 4th Generation of MMORPGs, 2008-05-01
Pre-ordering a game is something I don't take lightly. If I have an existing game account, there's no question. I'll pre-order an expansion or an upgrade because I'm going to play the game anyway, so why not have uninterrupted access to every new feature? Plus, most companies offer in-game bling or a grind-enhancer of some sort.
The best one I ever got was for pre-ordering one of the eleventy-million Everquest expansions (I forget which). The bonus was a box of potions - 10 shots of instant full health, and 10 shots of instant full mana. That doesn't sound like much, but for an existing top-end character with 15k hp or mana, that's like a gift from the gods for your character. 10 "get-out-of-stuff-free" cards and 10 "caster-second-winds" could turn a raid wipe into a big win. Along with EQ's free mounts and +XP% potions, they were some of the best pre-order bonuses I've seen in 9 years of MMO.
Of course, there's plenty of useless vault filler for bonuses, too - the "Satchel of Abu Kabar" (8 slot bag with a lil weight reduction, no-drop and only one character per account could claim) from EQ, or the crystal and shadow furniture sets - all around ugly in your choice of gray or bright blue - from UO come to mind.
Funcom as a company did okay with their pre-order bonuses for Anarchy Online - a fantastic game, btw. For their Shadowlands release, they gave away apartments with a view of the central city off the expansion. That being said, I'm excited that they've decided to make the pre-order bonus for Age of Conan a *real* incentive to purchase. There are some fantastic rewards for the collector's edition and the standard release. The Amazon.com pre-order bonus is an amazing Amazon Curved Bow - looks great and is supposed to pack a whallop for mid-level characters.
Personally, I ordered the collector's edition from GameStop to get the mammoth and the bag along with my pre-launch access. Now, almost 80 bucks for the CE is more than I usually like to spend on a game - I'm no warlord rolling in furs and drinking out of gold-plated skulls. Considering I'm jazzed enough launch a community site (clanoptera.org), I figured getting I'd get the CE since it would give me more to write about
This is a really big deal for me. I've played more MMORPGs since 1999 than I can acurately recall off the top of my head, and I beta-tested about half of those. I usually wait until about 6 months post-launch before buying a game from a new franchise because I like to give the Devs the opportunity to work the kinks out of the code before handing over my hard earned cred. "The Matrix Online" is a perfect case in point. It took them almost a year to get their crap together, and to this day, almost 4 years after launch, it's barely more than a time-suck with great graphics.
Age of Conan is a different story. I've read articles and interviews that have impressed me. I appreciate the depth of committment to story and quality of the game experience. I absolutely appreciate that they're going to open servers that cater to a variety of gaming styles - PvE, PvP, and RP-PvP. This means a lot to a RP-PVPer who experienced sheer heck in "Teh W0r1d of W4rcr4f7!!11one."
I particpated in the PvP Beta (and will be joining the open beta today) and found the game world stunning in its complexity and scope. It's big and it's beautiful. The game play is easy to learn and difficult to master, with a learning curve that is both encouraging and engaging. The system requirements are a little on the steep side, but this looks to be a line drawn in the sands of the MMORPG world, and it's positioned to set the standard for Generation IV of the MMO genre games.
The early access is a real coup in the world of MMO launches, as folks who order online tend to not receive their product by launch date. This pre-access allows for 10 days of unrestricted access while the happy customer waits for the arrival of their box with the game key.
All in all, I look forward to a smooth launch, an immersive gaming experience, and a more mature community than the average MMOG.
Thanks for reading!
UPDATE: Open beta is going swimmingly. At 1440 X 900 in the DirectX 9 version (I'm running Windows XP), the game runs at between 46 and 65 FPS outside of town, and from 40-50 FPS in a crowded area of the starting city. There have been server load crashes, but in a stress test, that's to be expected.
I've leveled 3 characters to the max allowed this beta (13) - A Tempest of Set, a Bear Shaman (both priests) and a Guardian (Soldier type). All three progressed with relative ease - the powers are really balanced well. The Tempest of Set, more casting oriented, does AoE damage, AoE Root, and a couple of Heals Over Time, while the Bear Shaman is more combat-oriented, with combo attacks for each attack direction. The guardian is all about being able to take lots of damage over long periods of time.
So far, the Tempest of Set is my favorite, but I'll try more classes this week and update again.
Though much of what AoC has to offer is either an upgrade or an offshoot of other MMO conventions (questing, for instance, providing the better gear rewards than standard drops), the combat system is truly unique. Every character has default hotkeys set up for three directional attacks:
Upper left, upper center, and upper right. In addition, while fighting, the player can see which of the three directions is being defended or shielded against, and by how much. For example, while I'm fighting a pirate, I may see him start with a shield symbol over his head and one to both the left and right of the character. That means he's prepared for an attack from any quarter. Once I start hitting him on one side, however, the shield symbols adjust - maybe 2 on the right and one on top with the left side being left open. It's at that point that the player wants to do a combo that attacks the left side, as the damage will not be so highly mitigated by the shielding.
It sounds complicated, but it's very visual and is quite easy to get into a second-nature rhythm after a few battles.
The world is separated into two complete versions - one for everyone that takes place during the day, and one that is strictly your own that takes place at night. During the day, quests and activities are available for group. At night (accessed from the Inn with a simple conversation with a quest giver), the world switches over to a series of stroyline quests where all the creatures, all the danger and all the rewards are yours and yours alone. It's during those night quests that the backstory of your character is filled in, and you can make a series of choices that put you into the center of the world's mythology.
It's really impressive.
I'll post more about the contents of the box set when it arrives (thanks for the feedback below).
 normal edition & collector edition, 2007-10-27
whats different between normal edition and collector edition ? I wish you can put some information about it.
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