Age of Conan went live last week, and I couldn’t help but see how it compared to Funcom’s last MMORPG offering: Anarchy Online. I just got it yesterday; follow the jump to read my impressions.

This is long and probably full of rambling. There’s a summary and screenshots at the end, if that’s all you’re after.

First, I was concerned about whether or not my computer would run this. It’s got hefty requirements, so unless you’ve a beast of a PC (I’m only just scraping by) I would look at something else. Or you could put together a system for ~$500 if you decide from this review that you just have to have this game. Anyway, I bought it, took it home, and started installing it around 9:30.

Usually, when program says “Close all other windows before starting the installation process,” I ignore it. With this game, I wouldn’t. I got about halfway through the first dvd when everything froze up and I had to start all over. Fast forward to 11:00, the game’s entirely installed. Of course, there’s the requisite patching process, so I couldn’t actually start playing until around 12:45.

Character creation is fine, you get some decent control over what your guy, or gal, looks like. It’s a little depressing that the “fat” character option looks to have about a 34″ waistline, but I can deal with that. Anyway, I chugged through and created Mmhrnmhm, a Cimmerian Ranger. He came out looking like the first screenshot below.

The game does a good job of introducing you to its elements as even for old MMORPG fans (as sorry as I am to admit it) it can be a little confusing. The combat sets the game apart with its mix of button mashing that gets organized into a series of quick-time event-esque combos. It takes some getting used to, but it’s actually fun. I’m definitely not looking forward to some of the later combo moves that seem like I’ll have to be able to type 200 words a minute just to pull the attacks off, but for now, hitting 2 or 3 attacks in a row to get a combo off is definitely a welcome change from the press/wait mechanic that overwhelms the rest of the market.

Anyway, you immediately get introduced to the theme of the newbie area, the pirate city of Tortage, with a quest to free a damsel persecuted by a tyrannical ruler (she’s in the second screenshot below.) After freeing her, you get to escort her to the city. Unlike other past games, at least, she doesn’t dash into combat; there’s no stressing out while trying to keep hordes of monsters, in this case poachers and picts, from attacking her. She’s basically a nonentity, just an introduction to the solo quest series.

That’s the other novel part of where I’m at in the game right now. So far, following the story, you go through a mix of night and day areas. While it’s night, you’re in a solo area, questing on your own to advance your character and the plot. Daytime is the traditional world of other people. There’s no competing for all of those newbie area rat ears or cactus apples which usually hampers beginning zones at launch. The only problem with this system is that, instead of taking the hint from Warcraft, which gives you instant quest text, showing you how often it gets read, someone decided to insert unskippable cutscenes. Unskippable cutscenes are a no-no in any game; they’re even worse in an MMORPG.

Back to the saga of Mmhrnmhm. From guiding the lovely damsel through the jungle and fighting gorillas, demons (screenshot), crocodiles, picts, and poachers, we ended up at the gate of Tortage, where our lovely assistant Casilda didn’t even give us a quest reward. We had yet another quest or two before we could get in the city, something about getting our slave chains off, something else about taking a loveletter to a barmaid. At least on my way in, I found something no barbarian should be without, carrot cake. (Also in a screenshot)

Finally in the city(screenshotted), there were other people around, more quests to do, things to see, places to sell things, everything one might expect. Instead of continuing along the solo route, I opted to explore around. I found an open PvP area and level 6 Mmhrnmhm met an unexpected end at the hands of a level 17 guy with a really big hammer. Undeterred, he ventured back to White Sands Island, a little smarter, a littler faster, and found a level 12 guy with a really big sword trying to cut him down.

On his third trip back to the island, the level 17 was busy with the level 12, who was busy running, so Mmhrnmhm managed to make it onto the island to look around. In the process, he stumbled on a level 5 who was obviously lost and trying to kill some picts, so in a bully’s version of paying it forward, killed him with an arrow. The level 5’s response was an astonished “wtf!!” so our intrepid ranger stealthed into the bushes, waited for the level 5 to come back, and promptly killed him again before continuing on his quests.

That was my only exposure to PvP, it was decently fun. I’m expecting it to get better as time goes on. That’s a lot of the theme right now with the game, hoping it gets better as time goes on. While it has been a relatively smooth launch, there are still broken quests/mobs, lag stuttering at times, and some lacking polish. None of it is glaring enough to really stop gameplay though, after 2 hours and some change, Mmhrnmhm graduated to level 9 and wearing pants instead of a loincloth (final screenshot.)

Summary

Overall, the game is fun. It’s not perfect: unskippable cutscenes are awful and the graphics, while pretty, don’t seem to warrant the demanding system requirements. However, the combat is fun, it does look good, and has a brutal feel with blood splattering onto your camera at times. The game does a fine job of integrating you into the world and teaching you the basics. If you like MMORPGs and are looking for a change, look me up on Stormrage! If you only grudgingly want to try one, I wouldn’t start with this.