What is Aion?

What is Aion: The Tower of Eternity?

Aion: The Tower of Eternity is a fantasy MMORPG, chronicling an epic conflict between the Elyos, the Asmodians and a server-controlled NPC faction, the warlike Balaur.

Basic Storyline

In Aion: The Tower of Eternity, players must choose a side between two warring factions: the Elyos or the Asmodians. Once their world was whole; a perfect union joined at the center by The Tower of Eternity. When a great catastrophe shattered The Tower of Eternity, it split the world into two halves - and awoke the Balaur, a warring race exiled within the extra-dimensional Abyss. The Balaur now seek revenge on both of these new worlds, sparking an epic conflict. The part you play, the side you choose and the decisions you make will help determine the ultimate fate of Aion.

Key Features
Interactive gameplay systems
The actions of each faction on each individual server will eventually trigger consequences, which will then change each server's live environment. No two servers should ever be the same.
PvPvE (Player vs Player vs Environment)
Aion: The Tower of Eternity features an evolving conflict system, which manages the complex relationships and alliances between realms, races and guilds. The system also controls a third NPC faction, the Balaur, who may act as the enemy - or the ally - of players.
Free flying and flying combat
Take to the skies and soar over the landscape, with wings that allow your character to access remote areas, travel to different parts of the world - and to engage enemies in aerial combat!
Beautiful and detailed graphics
Created using a modified version of the Crytek engine (as used in Far Cry), Aion: The Tower of Eternity is the most graphically beautiful MMORPG yet released. Astounding levels of detail on characters and in environments immerse you in the world of Aion.

Interview with Ju-hyun Jang, Producer, Aion: The Tower of Eternity

At E3 2006, a key member of Studio 5 (Aion's development team) walked unnoticed through the crowds around NCsoft's booth. He watched people's reactions as they experienced Aion: The Tower of Eternity for the first time. Asking a few people what they thought of the game, everyone raved about the incredible graphics and ethereal quality of the characters; there were plenty of comments that the game looked ready to release. He replied, "I can only see the flaws."

His reaction was understandable, given how much work had already been done on Aion, and how much more he knew had to be done to make it absolutely perfect. So straight after E3 the development team returned to Korea, and launched into the next phase of Aion's development.

They already had much more to add to the game, but feedback from show attendees and fans on the internet demanded more. Characters that flew occasionally weren't enough; people wanted free flight, the ability to go almost anywhere in the worlds of Aion. And if you can fly, they argued, why can't we have aerial combat? Clashes between factions in the sky, battling for the fate of Aion... so Studio 5 got to work.

Five months later, both free flight and aerial combat are in the game, and Studio 5 is working to ensure that they are a large part of players' adventures in Aion. But why is free flight so important? Where do you need to go in Aion that would be inaccessible by foot?

To understand the answer you have to understand more about the unique world of Aion, and where the game's two playable factions - the Elyos and the Asmodians fit into it. To find out more, we spoke to Ju-hyun Jang, Producer for Aion.

A vertical plane

Aion's universe exists beyond the normal rationales of science. In the beginning, Aion was a single world, a hollow globe intersected vertically at its core by the Tower of Eternity. After a cataclysmic event that occurs in the game's pre-history, the top and bottom halves of the world are split in two, with the Tower of Eternity reduced to a shattered ruin.

Jang explains further: “The world of Aion resembles a globe, divided horizontally into two halves. The lower half is the world of the Elyos, the upper half is the world of the Asmodians. So basically the world-map of Aion is not on a horizontal plane, like a traditional fantasy world; instead it's vertical. With this in mind, some parts of both worlds can only be accessed from the air - such as floating castles, and islands in the sky. Because of this, all of the player characters can gain wings."

Between the two worlds of Aion is another important location; the 'Abyss', an area of dimensional rifts where gigantic pieces of rocky debris are suspended. Left behind after the destruction of Aion's original single world, some of these rocks are used as military outposts by the Elyos and the Asmodians.

This sets the stage for a unique Player vs Player experience within the Abyss, where free flight will be vital, and where strategic battles will be fought over massive fortresses. PvP isn't all Aion players can look forward to in the Abyss though; instanced missions will also be found here, as well as the server-controlled third faction, the battle-hungry Balaur....


Q. Tell us about the free-flying function in Aion. How is it being designed?

Though I cannot discuss any specifics at this time, I can tell you we are trying to design this feature so that it has a unique feel to it.

Free-flying will be one of the most important skills players will learn in Aion. However, you won̢۪t have to spend an extensive amount of time in the game to be able to learn this skill.


Q. There seems to have been a lot of interest in the character designs since E3. Can you also tell us something about character customization?

A lot of people have remarked that our E3 demo characters were somewhat Western-style. This was deliberate; we built the E3 demo intentionally for overseas markets.

However, we're still committed to an art style that's globally acceptable. We've been refining the character designs, and we'll be unveiling characters soon in Korea that will be different from the E3 versions, but will still reflect that global art style.

In terms of character customization, we will provide a very powerful character customization tool – perhaps more powerful than anything else you’ve seen.

Characters in Aion can be very individual, right from the game's beginning. Each of the in-game professions will look quite different, but also there will be many options to change your appearance based on the equipment, armor and clothing a character wears.


Q. There seems to be a preconception about the worlds of the Elyos and Asmodians. The world of the Elyos feels good, and the world of the Asmodians feels evil. Is it this simplistic?

No, it's not that simple; it's not black and white, more shades of grey. A lot of users are thinking the world of Elyos = good, the world of Asmodians = evil. But it̢۪s not a simple concept of good and evil, or heaven and hell. The world of Elyos is more alive, vibrant; the world of Asmodians is more somber... darker.

This is partially because of our current thinking about Aion's global environment. Right now, light streams down from outside the hollow globe to illuminate the Elyos' world, but as the world of Asmodians is higher, it's mostly in shadow, as less light reaches it. This may change before release, but it's our current thinking.


Q. Tell us about the Balaur.

The Balaur are a server-controlled NPC faction, so players cannot choose to play them.

However, just because they are controlled by the server doesn't mean they are stupid; they can make choices, and players will never quite know what they are going to do.

For example, imagine a castle siege-style scenario, where one of the player factions, the Asmodians, is attacking the Elyos faction's castle. In the middle of this siege, the Balaur may appear.

When they arrive, no-one will know what they are going to do. They may have previously helped the Asmodians, but that doesn't matter; in the siege, they might betray them and help the Elyos. Or they might help the Ma to siege the Elyos's castle. Or... they might try and take the castle for themselves, fighting against both the Elyos and the Asmodians.

The important thing to realize is that the Balaur are not typical NPCs. They are the third faction in the game, and they have free will, which makes them very unpredictable.


Q. The Balaur are just part of Aion's interactive gameplay systems; could you tell us more about them?

As mentioned at E3 2006, what we mean by 'interactive systems' is that the players and game world influence each other.

For instance, perhaps the Asmodians on one server are generally more active in collecting minerals than the Elyos. As more Elyos players dig for minerals, then they might discover a new variety of mineral. This mineral could be stronger than any mineral seen before, and could be used for the creation of various, unique items. This would be something happening on just that server.

On the other hand, what if the Elyos players are more interested in hunting? They might be hunting in a location where baby dragons are appearing a lot, then suddenly find that no more baby dragons will appear - but stronger mother dragons will come out! And of course when new monster classes appear, they bring new item drops with them. There are many, many examples of how player's behavior can trigger interesting events - all on individual servers.

These are small examples of our interactive systems of gameplay, which together will make up the unique experience of playing Aion. Every server can be different, and every player's experience can be different too.


Q. A frequent criticism of certain MMORPGs is that there can be too much 'grinding' in the game - the repeating of certain tasks for experience. Is that the case for Aion?

During development we've focused on not adding ‘grinding based on numbers’ to arbitrarily extend the lifecycle of the game.

In Aion, you won't have to repeat one quest 100 times or kill 1,000 monsters just to gain experience.


Q. Are you considering expansion packs?

Of course. For instance there might be an expansion pack making the third faction, the Balaur, playable. That's just an example, though.


Q. Kinihiko Ryo is doing the music for Aion. Is the music finished?

We have received all our music from Kinihiko Ryo, and we're very happy with it. The 'Elyos-theme' was in the E3 version of the game, and since we've received the 'Asmodians-theme'. Both themes are really perfect for the game, they strike just the right mood for both factions.

Ryo is a very passionate person. While making the music, he asked for lot of documents and information about Aion, because he believed that he has to know the game if he's going to make the music. I sometimes thought “Does he really need that kind of information?â€Â He was that detailed!

All credit goes to AionSource.com

 

Thank you for this unnecessary copy & paste.

 

seriously u could have just pasted the link

 

Oh, its to help others, and stop spamming to get your post count up.

 

or not. don't spam.

 

This coming from the kid who copy & pastes, then double posts on his thread.

Hypocritical much?

If people want to read word for word what Aion is there is a definition on Wiki and the site.

 

An In-game prespective of the game, Aion: