Aion, The Tower of Eternity is set to hit the market on May 26, 2009. You can preorder this game at my favorite place AMAZON.com or from any of your favorite game retailers. There’s a lot of buzz on this one. The developers behind Aion have prepared a new video tour of the game’s Verteron Zone, and it looks good.
A major feature of the game is flying, both to reach new areas of the game and for aerial combat.

Have a look:

Massive Gamer Magazine recently interviewed Brian Knox, one of NCSoft’s game developers on aspects of Aion The Tower of Eternity. Here is a portion of that interview that talks about one of the most unique aspects of this game, the ability of the characters to fly:

Massive Gamer: Something a little bit unique is Aion’s PvPvE feature. Do you anticipate it entertaining both the hardcore PvPers and the ones who typically shy away from PvP, or is it focused more on one play style more than the other?

Knox: PvPvE is a reward-based system, not a punishment-based system. Players have the choice to enter into the Abyss and take part in PvPvE for the chance at huge rewards and great challenges. Since it is a reward-based system, I believe that Aion players will find PvPvE very engaging and not what they would normally expect when you hear the word PvP. Grizzled veterans will love it for its unique challenges, and those testing the waters will find it accessible to participate on many different levels. Part of the design goal of PvPvE is to make the PvP parts of the game more accessible and less intimidating.

Massive Gamer: Flight is something new and innovative with Aion. A handful of games have attempted it, but most seem to fall flat. What makes Aion different?

Knox: Our development team knew that incorporating flight would be a huge challenge in an MMOG, but if done right, could be something very special and unique for the genre. Our answer was to make flight into a strategic and integral element of game play, and take it beyond just another way to travel or another direction of movement. Here is how it works. At level 10, all players go through the ascension ritual, where they get their wings. But you can’t just fly all the time; each character has a flight bar that displays the amount of time you can fly and you can run out of flight time. Of course, you get more flight time as you level up, and you can buff it with potions or items, but you always need to be very strategic about how you use your flight. Flying in combat is obviously a big deal, and it’s lots of fun, but you need to think about it. Do you want to use it to fly in and attack from above? Or do you want to save it in case you need to flee quickly? Aerial combat is tons of fun, and you need to be cognizant of that flight bar because if it runs out, you will fall. Fall far enough and you will die. Also, flight opens up a whole new 3D element to the game. You need to be thinking about what’s above you—often there are quests or items that are only in places you must fly to. There is mid-air harvesting as well. So as you get more flight time, more of the game opens up to you. Overall, flight is a big part of Aion’s core game play.

Massive Gamer: Will there be any mounts on ground? Or will flight be the primary travel mode?

Knox: The team is evaluating the idea of ground mounts for future updates but we haven’t announced anything yet. Personal flight can be used for short-range travel but that’s not the primary purpose of flight—flight is used as a strategic element to all aspects of game play and is not just for transportation. There will be teleporters to different parts of the world for travel, along with flight paths to speed up travel within the zone.

Read the entire interview HERE

Technorati Tags: Aion, MMORPG, multiplayer games, NCSoft, The Tower of Eternity, Verteron Zone Tour