Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

I really like this Game, but it does come with THREE major Challenges:
1- You will most likely just have to turn your Firewall Off to get the Game to connect properly. I worked for two weeks to get the Firewall to run along side of the Game.
2- Go out and Buy the Highest powered PC you can find, and make sure you have a minimum of 3GB of RAM and at least a 1/2GB Video Card.
3- A Programmable Keyboard or other Game controller is the only way to go if you don't want to look like a Mad Gorilla hammering every Combat key on the board a 1000 times every time you have to battle!

I decided to pick up this game after about 8 months of watching to see how it was received, although not a huge success, I wanted to play it. I wasn't disappointed, which isn't to say that the game doesn't have faults...many of them.

Now I've played for about 30 levels, have enjoyed it, being one of the original everquest players I haven't really played an MMO for about 6 years.I stopped playing everquest, and never really saw another MMO to capture my attention, until word of a dark and gritty M rated MMO was on it's way. I was excited, being tired of the toonish and silly material of most, an M rating would be a breath of fresh air, from both younger gamers and "High Fantasy."

The game itself is good, I've read quite a bit of the Conan universe, and always liked the savage world which it was placed. In the game I've yet to be really irked by poor game design or bad quality, however all the rumors of content dropping off at a certain level is true. Some characters after a certain point do not have vocal content, which was just kind of abrupt after Tortage where everyone EVERYONE talks.

I haven't really partied with anyone else in the game yet, groups seem seldom, however thats not to say there isn't people to group with, I just tend to lone it, as servers seem less populated than other MMO's I've tried. Which will be a shame if this game ends up not working, as the world is wonderful, and the content is interesting. Eventually the game will have expansions, and I see this game as one that will slowly grow, not the overnight success of the ever present WoW.

However something that this game has that others don't is truly graphic content, and a truly intense world were brutal fights and savage slaughter are as much a part of it as anything else. I really do look forward to more content to be added, and hopefully new races as well as worlds. It's a good game, with a lot of potential to be great, all it needs now is some more time to become polished.

Dont read reviews previous to Dec 08! I watched a few of my buddies play this when it 1st came out and I thought some things were cool, mostly not so much... But my wife got this game for me for christmas this year and I decided to give it a go and see what has changed since the much needed updates. And let me tell you! NEW ANIMAL! I played WoW for a year (multiple lvl 70s), and I'm still currently active on Final Fantasy 11 online (Since JP release, I have many fully merited lvl 75s and this game still hold up today, better graphics due to windower and PC and so on). I played a little of the other MMORPGs and my opinions are favorable for only 3 so far... WoW, FFXI, and now for AoC. Most of you have played WoW, and there sure are a lot of 13 yearolds on that game that never stop p!$$ing me off (I like the pvp scene, but d@mn the ganksters! Almost every Horde is a Rogue and every Alli is a Ranger). I like FFXI and the game is FOREVER long, as such, I still have not done everything this game has to offer in the MANY years I have been playing it. FFXIs lack of a real pvp system has sent me looking in other directions only to return anyways.

Ok, rant over... back to AoC...

GRAPHICS:
OMFG the graphics are Mind blowing awesome! I have an Alienware PC and I can select High on the graphics setting, but just for S&Gs (and for the sake of this review) I dropped them down to low and took a look... and its still really nice! The clipping plane does not seem to exist! You can see so far you forget its not real! Blood spewing combat is just sooo over the top awesome! The 1st time I hit an enemy so hard in the head with a hammer that the head came clean off and threw blood on my screen I giggled like a school girl! If you have the computer to run this game (mind you its VERY VERY heavy on the system useage) then youll get blown away by eye candy as well! I assure you!!!

GAME PLAY - COMBAT:
The combat system is ok, I havnt tried to map this with a controller yet or write any macros, both of which can be done, but so far the click-click style that WoW uses combined with striking direction isnt so bad. Its still kinda strange to me as I havnt had this game very long yet (as you can see by the review date) but it works quite well. Doing a nice finishing combo move in the direction that isnt being guarded is just pure carnage. Speaking of Guarding Direction... yes, you can choose the direction to be shielded from in a 3 layer system. Front, Left side, and Right side. Not too bad of an Idea, but I really cant see myself changing this from having 1 of each of the 3 shield directions on each of the 3 sides. Sure my defences are lower, but if someone attacks me with all their defence on the front and left, guess where I'll attack to? Seems fairly useless to have this, but I do suppose its needed as if you didnt have it, then the fun attack directions wouldnt be needed either. As far as the type of combat there is, you really have 4 choices and 3 sub choices in that. Solder; your heavly armored tank style jobs, Priest; semi-squishy healers/vampires and such, Rogue; your sneaky melee death dealers, and Mage; your not-so-sneaky magic wielding damage dealers (some REALLY neat stuff here, like necromacers can use your last kill against you!). Neat stuff. Great choices compared to WoW, pretty limiting compared to someone over lvl 30 on FFXI.

GAME PLAY - QUESTS:
Ok, heres where I cant give it a 5 star rating. Theres a lot of quests, no doubt. But, I dont really see any benifit in doing most of them. More often than not the rewards for them are a piece of equipment that your class cant use or its just some Gold/Silver/Copper/Tin that you really dont seem to even need. Heres a low level quest for example: This clothe maker wants 50 (yes 50) Aligator hides... Or how about another one: He wants revenge on the "Picts" so you have to go kill 50 of them. Well, when you run to the place that he wants them killed, you kill 50 and run back... just to get some 3 tin junk and a bit of exp for a reward. Why not just stay there and kill 100, and only run back to NPC the junk that drops off the slaughtered? The exp is just as fast and now you can practice your fatalitys for when you lowbie attacks you later.

OVERALL:
Fun. No doubt this is a lot of fun. From the Hooker that has me take revenge on some non-paying Jons to the bar fights (which some fools old review said wasnt in the game anymore! IT IS!) which resultsin my stabbing of a drunk pirate in the neck with a broken bottle. Good times. The mounts are neat too! You can swing an Axe off the side of your steed as you pass by an un suspecting target, or knock someone into oblivion with the tusks of a Mammoth (which I just got for free by typing /claim in the chat window. Not too fair to the seasoned player, but neither is me getting my spine ripped out by someone 20 levels over me.)

I'd say this game is a lot like a cross between 3 things: WoW's interface, Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion's graphics (actually AoC's are better, but theres nothing else out there to compare it to) and Mortal Combats sheer carnage and spectaular finishing moves.

5 stars Fun
5 stars Combat
4 stars Content
3 stars Quests
5 stars Graphics (iftherewas a higher rating for graphics this game would get it! NOTHING is better than this on a high end computer. NOTHING)

I think I'll be sticking with this game for a while, atleast see what end game level is like, bc WoWs is about as exciting as a turd in a punchbowl with the repetitive Instance farming, and FFXI becomes a time for your max lvl chacter to get new clothes or find another job to level (Sky, Sea, Ground HNM, and Dynamis)... I just can't imagine me not getting bored with it in a year. Atleast with FFXI (and this is the reason I keep going back to it) when you want to start a new job/class its still on the same character and you dont lose anything (yeah it becomes a gear storage issue) you keep your fame, your city rank, and everything.

So flame me if you wish, but all the review before the late Novemeber/Early December updates need to be trashed. This game is indeed a new animal. Get it. Its cheap to buy now for sure!

always loved graphic novels,Savage sword,Red Sonja.the new Age of Conan MMO has rejuvenated me,I bought the game but haven't played it yet,first going back & learning about Conan & ofcorse R.E.Howard,when I was young it was more about just the superficial content?. just received my copy of Born on the Battlefield & WOW!,so happy to have re-discovered such amazing work.

The game was decent, but the parent company - Funcom - is reprehensible! I decided to cancel my subscription and go outside and play more. Their account management site shares pages with their other game - Anarchy Online - and though both areas of the site say my subscription is canceled...

they continue to charge me every month.

I email them every month, and have never received a response. They have no customer support phone numbers. Their support is even buggier than the game.

Nice business model, guys! Anger the players on their way out, because why not, they're already leaving right?