As an MMO fan who doesn't have the time to grind them anymore I was genuinely interested in Aion 2. Even though it looked like a fairly average KMMO during marketing, I still wasn't turned away since it was free to play.
Here's my assessment of Aion 2 after a little time in the game.
Look and Sound: B+
This is another UE5 game so overall it does look and sound pretty good. The sound choices are very interesting, almost reminds me of phantasy star in a way. The only way I'd rate this an A is if things were just more immersive. Overall it just looks, sounds, and feels like a generic RPG without too much interesting or amazing to it.
Player Design: A-
As a modern KMMO this game is exactly what you'd expect. The character creator is not quite at the BDO level but it's still very good and you can make some interesting and good looking characters. Actually it reminds me of Elyon quite a bit if you played that before it died. The wardrobe system is also pretty good but overall there's just not enough good cosmetics in the game to give this a higher rating.Weapons/Attacks: B
There's not a lot of variety when it comes to weapons. Each class is set in what it gets and they aren't too interesting looking yet. However, there's plenty of attacks and spells that make the weapons a little more interesting. Each class definitely has its own identity when it comes to weapons and attacks and there's plenty of variety in the animations despite the weapon choice itself being locked to the class.
Gameplay: B
The gameplay certainly feels like an MMO. It reminds me a lot of BDO and Elyon once again (2 prior KMMOs I've already referenced). You run around, grab quests, completely side quests along with story quests, do open world events, do dungeons, etc... This game isn't really innovative when it comes to gameplay but it certainly automates a lot of its gameplay because it was originally designed for mobile. The biggest downside is you can't play through the main story in a party, which is a horrible design decision, but the dungeons and open world events are really fun, and the glider flight system is amazing.
1) Health and Death related: This game gives you many ways to recover health, mana, stamina, and flight energy. Overall I really like that as I never feel too starved, even as a free to play player. Death doesn't feel too punishing either as it basically just lets you respawn from your last checkpoint BUT only if you have a resurrection stone. For the people who run out of those, you could wait upwards of 20 minutes to respawn which would be an instant uninstall for me if they didn't give me enough free resurrection stones and/or if I died often.
2) Movement: The movement in this game is one of its best features. You can sprint, climb, dodge, glide, fly, swim, and use a mount. Overall I love the movement system and the variety that comes with it. It reminds me of guild wars in this way and I love it.
3) Map Design: The map design doesn't feel as great as it should. For a UE5 game and a big new MMO I was expecting to be wowed and I feel very underwhelmed. Everything is so bland and generic looking. Every zone looks and feels the same and even though there's some variety, it's not enough. I don't find myself enjoying going around the map and often just let myself autopath and look away from my screen while I do it.
4) Objectives: The objectives are all typical and fine. You talk to people, you explore new areas, you kill some guys, interact with some crates, fetch some items, and run some dungeons. Overall it's your typical MMO questing experience.
User Interface & HUD: A
Ok this is where I was expecting to really hate the game. I have bad experiences with KMMOs having completely cluttered HUDs and UI. I have to hand it to the NC team because they did a fantastic job removing all the bs and showing you what you want to see, where you want to see it. This is one of the cleanest designs I've ever seen in an MMO, especially a Korean one.
Monetization: C
I'm greatly disappointed in the monetization of this game. Even though they scrapped a lot of the crappy stuff that Korea got, it's still heavily p2w and pay to play. Yeah you can play for free, and basically play a solo run through the story in about 30-50 hours, but beyond that it's basically pay to play. So much content and progression is locked behind a paywall and people can purchase gold for money to get an advantage. Overall it could've been worse (like retail wow) but I still don't necessarily like everything being locked behind a subscription. The C seems like a fair grade given you can play it for free, but it's super restrictive.
Overall Grade: B
I had no expectations of wanting to like this game but I found myself coming back everyday until I was done with the main story. Overall the game itself definitely looks and feels like just another Korean MMO on the surface, but they did make a lot of good design choices in this game that hopefully other games take note of. That being said, it's not something I plan on spending anymore time and money on, unless there's a substantial content update in the future.