Aion 2 aims to usher in a new era for MMOs with its visuals and gameplay - SGF Preview

There are games that are pretty, and then there are games that are so pretty that your jaw just sort of hangs open. While at Summer Game Fest’s Play Days event this year, I had the chance to check out a hands-off demo of NC’s upcoming high-flying sequel, Aion 2, a follow-up to 2008’s Aion: The Tower of Eternity (2009 in the States), and speak to members of the dev team.  While my time with the team was brief, a few things were made clear - this game is gorgeous, and the team is doing all they can to fight back against what they view as the “decline of the MMO”.

Picking up about 200 years after the events of the Tower of Eternity, Aion 2 once again puts players in the boots - or maybe the “wings” is more appropriate in this case - of the Elyos and the Asmodians on the fantasy world of Atreia. A good portion of the gameplay shown during the demo highlighted the massive number of customization options players will have for creating their perfect character. From hairstyles to cosmetics, face shapes, and even the signature wings that have helped define Aion over the years, are just some of the features you can tweak.  It’s clear that Aion 2 will let you make really, really pretty-looking characters. I wouldn’t be surprised if even the fugliest creations would still look like they could win a beauty pageant.

“A major focus of what we try to do is for you to feel like you're actually in this fantasy world of Atreia,” began Daniel LaFuente, NC’s Director of Operations. “Anything that you want to manipulate, we want to give you that tool so that, again, you can make the exact fantasy that you want within the game.” One rather intriguing feature of Aion 2 is that you can share your designs with other players, allowing other players to import your appearance to use on their own characters. Dreams of winged William DaFoes soaring across the sky filled my mind.

Another big point the team wanted to really drive home during the demo, along with the wild customization options, was that anywhere you could see, you could get to. An approach that they have applied to both the land and the sky. Thanks to advancements in technology over the past 18 years, the team was finally able to realize their dream of flying, all those years ago. Aion 2’s execution publishing producer, Merv Lee Kwai, who was also present during the demo, explained it like this: “Back then, it [flying] was very limited, because they couldn't render a lot of areas at the same time. So right now, they extended the map 36 times bigger than the original version so that you could really feel the flying, free flying in the open world.” 

There was one moment near the end of the demonstration, when in the far distance, what appeared to be a large menacing airship hovered far above the ground. When asked if a player could simply fly up to the airship, the team smiled and responded, “Anything you see, you can get to.” Sign me up!

With the team working on Aion 2 being a mix of both new and original members who worked on the first game, I was curious to know what the OGs thought about how the MMOs have evolved over the course of Aion’s life and if they had any idea that the genre would be as popular as it is two decades later. I was surprised by the candid and unexpected response from Kwai, “I think the MMO genre is declining. Nevertheless, there will still be people who like this genre, and compared to the games from 20 years ago, there are a lot more people who are interested in games now. “ He continues, “I still feel there's a good portion of player base who will still play MMORPGs even 10 or 20 years from now. I want the player base to build their own community inside the game, and  just keep on enjoying MMOs, but it will naturally decline from competition with a bunch of other genres.” None of this is to say that the team is worried about how Aion 2 will fare; instead, it is using it as a challenge to devise ways to ensure the game stands out and appeals to other audiences. In fact, the crew at NC has high hopes for their latest fantasy epic, with Kwai telling me that they hope Aion 2 will lead the genre into a new era of MMOs.

Even with having very little knowledge or background on the Aion series, after checking out the character customization, the breathtaking dungeons, and the brief tease of soaring through the air on majestic wings, I can’t help but be excited about Aion 2. Thankfully, players won’t have to wait long to earn their wings as Aion 2 will launch around the globe this September. Until then, we will just have to sustain ourselves on beautiful gameplay trailers.