Ragiko AoC Open Beta blog

Over the past week, I was able to play the Open Beta test of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The game play had the typical do these quests to gain experience, and get these items, etc. However, the fighting system was one that is unmatched, in my opinion, throughout the whole MMORPG genre. You are given three directions in which you can swing your weapon. With these three directions, you can pull off combos that can sometimes lead to a finisher (decapitation, heart-stab, etc.) if you use the specific combo as your last hit on your target.

To go along with the new combat style that Funcom has brought into the MMORPG genre, they also raised the bar for graphics. So far, Age of Conan possesses the best graphics I have ever seen in a finished MMO game. The lush environments, and heavily detailed avatars might make you gawk at your screen in amazement. The game does support Direct x 9 and 10, and shades 2.0, 2x, and 3.0, though in the Open Beta, only Direct x 9 and 2.0 were working nearly flawlessly. 

The game has instances which minimizes the amount of lag you get while playing the game. Since the graphics are so much more advanced than previous MMOs, it helps you get a smoother performance. And, even though it is instanced, you can change instances at any moment to group up with friends. Also, there are loading screens in the game, even though the maps are big enough that you probably won't encounter them often, unless you die or enter a PvP minigame. However, the minigames aren't exactly needed.

On a FFA server, you can make friends, or enemies with anyone you want. It has almost no safe zones, though the penaltys of death weren't announced yet. Initially, it was just an all out gank fest. However, once people started to get organized, some would raid each other's 'area' which they had claimed for their own, and try to overpower them, thus showing their supremecy over them. One example I had was on top of a cliff, where you had to climb up, (I forgot to mention, you are given a climb ability) and my group tried to keep enemies from getting past. It led to an all out battle, with rangers raining arrows from the top of the cliff, and barbarians attempting to climb up the cliffside to get to us.

I give this game an 8.5/10, since I have only played to level 21, though in that time period, I had a blast!