What do I know of cultured ways, the guilt, the craft and the lie?
I who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile,
They fail when the broadswords sing;
Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king.

When I was a fighting-man, the kettle-drums they beat,
The people scattered gold dust before my horses feet;
But now I am a great kingm the people hound my track,
With poison in my wine-cup, and daggers at my back.

King Conan of Aquilonia - The Road of Kings
Robert E. Howard



Harsh, unforgiving, lethal... welcome to Hyboria.

The world of Conan as described in Robert E Howard's novellas is one of the most enduring in the world of Western literature with the character appearing in books after Howard's death in 1939, comics, movies and now MMOs.



Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is the latest MMO from european developer FunCom (Dreamfall, Anarchy Online, The Longest Journey) and is an attempt at recreating Hyborea in a massively multiplayer environment.

The game has been in development for a considerable amount of time and just a week ago was finally released at retail level.



I've spent the past two days playing this game fairly rigerously and while it is too early to say whether the balance that permeates World of Warcraft and ensures its longevity is present here but I will say that for sheer enjoyment this is one of the best MMOs out there.

The game's biggest defining feature is that levels 1 - 20 are largely a single player experience with levels 21+ taking on the more traditional MMO role we are used to.



That isn't to say 1 - 20 is a pure single player experience. There are a number of what the game calls destiny quests which are single player instances but as you progress through these you pick up the kind of quests you would normally be used to, including group instances, etc.



However this focus on single player to begin with is a great way to introduce players to Conan's world and provides a strong narrative to give your character a sense of direction and purpose missing from WoW.



Combat is different too with an almost more arcade feel. As you attack with melee and ranged weaponry you can aim to different sides of the enemy to get around their defense. Enemies can, in response, change their defenses to to mitigate damage coming from certain areas. This makes one on one combat so much more enjoyable than spamming the same attack over and over again.



Quest design does not differ much in terms of mechanics but it is worth noting that the quest dialogues are universally excellent. You don't just flick through the text to get back into the action but rather you pay attention to what is being asked, the story context it takes place in and more. In many ways the game feels more like a single player RPG that your friends can jump in on.




Visually the game is astounding but beware, this is almost akin to the Crysis of MMOs. You really need a dual/quad core CPU and a graphics card around the nVidia 8500 level if you want to playing this game with settings near the top. However if your PC can handle it this is the best looking MMO out there apart from the amazing art design of CCP's work on EVE Online.



I'm not going to say this will beat WoW's subscription levels but with the game being the fastest selling MMO in its first week of sale it is good to see that Blizzard's opus finally has some real competition... and it is good competition to boot.

I've made my home in Hyboria... how about you?

Cool thread, very detailed. I heard it was fun but it is a real grind once you get to level 40, and I really don't have the time to invest in another mmo. The good game preview on ABC2 was pretty cool too.

Looks like a borgster game, I'm sure the big breasted woman thrown into an MMO will appeal to him :P

Is it just me or do those women look really really strange.
Seriously, it's like theyre too big and somehow being pulled to the side by unnatural forces.

No that was just how I designed her. I went the amazonian look and for some of my personal likes such as long long legs. :P

You have a lot of control over body design. You can adjust nose tilt, width, legnth, eyebrow arch, chest size, bust size, bum size, thigh size, leg length, muscularity and fat balance, etc.

Anyway reviews have been pretty positive so far. Reviewed at this state with its bugs, etc it is scoring solid 8.5+ scores. Bloody good for an MMO which has yet to have much time to stretch its legs and fix up blemishes.

A friend of mine is getting right into this, he seems to think it's got some real potential.
I don't think i will though, I'd hate for an MMO to take away from completing the rest of my games.

Everyone who is playing appears to be seeing its potential. Even in the Gamespot review (which I felt was a little harsh on the bug comments considering this is perhaps the least buggy MMO at launch I've ever encountered) finished up by saying that once the high level PvE content is fleshed out a little more and some of the other niggles are cleaned up that Conan is going to be hands down the best MMORPG on the market.

It is a big call but damn this game just does so many things right that even the big names like WoW get wrong,

Actually no ..


I don't really like MMO's. :P

*Goes back to playing The Witcher* :whistling:

But you get real time 3D naked boobies versus collectable nudie cards! :P

Even so ..

I'd still have to play through a MMO :P

A couple of my friends have been playing this non-stop, they reckon it's great and a really fresh take on the MMO genre. However they think PVP is sort of pointless and unsatisfying which is a bit of a turn off imo.

I've heard alot of hype about this. Pretty keen for it! Apparentely the installation file is 14GB? :|

Sort of...

PvE awesome til about level 35 at which point is feels a bit empty (this is being fixed).

PvP awesome after level 40 but prior to that pointless (this also being fixed).

So early game is all about PvE and late game is all about PvP.

The developers have acknowledged this is the case and also acknowledge this is a problem and they are introducing new content and rules to make PvE a richer experience towards the end game and PvP something that the newbies can get in to as well.

What's the fee on this?

Standard fee: USD$15