Hands on with the Aion beta: Your first steps in Asmodae

Welcome back to Aion. Yes it's Closed Beta Test 2 weekend and this time round I'm rolling Asmodian to explore a very different side of the shattered planet of Atreia. During CBT1 we showed you the lower half of the planet, a land known as Elysea and home of the angelic Elyos. I walked you through the character creation process, the first ten levels as a frail mortal, the Elyos ascension quest and those first steps into Sanctum and Verteron. Now it's time to visit the upper half and home of the Asmodians, the continent of Asmodae.

The character creation process is identical to the one for the Elyos except for a colder set of skin tones (check our gallery below). The lack of sunlight and colder environment has caused the Asmodians to evolve really cool glowing eyes in combat and horse tail-like manes, however given the positioning what the mane keeps warm is anyone's guess. As before, the voice samples aren't available to preview so my warrior maiden ended up sounding like a sissy little ten year old fluent in Korean.

This week, just to be different I'm playing on the US side and this is relevant only because of the lack of lag. Despite still being in beta and by no means finished, the game is more stable than any I've played so far. Given the fact that I'm in the UK and was trying the US servers I expected there to be some kind of lag but not a whisper. In CBT2 there is even a choice of servers in both the EU and US: Siel and Israphel (two Empyrean Lords who sacrificed their lives to save Atreia during the Cataclysm). Even better, you can even choose to play as Elyos (although there is no new content) with your previously created avatar or roll a brand new Asmodian. But CBT2 is all about the Asmodians so let's assume you've spent twenty minutes designing the perfect avatar and move on, shall we?

For this leg of the beta I decided to try a Warrior (later a Templar, a kind of hybrid tank and healer). Well built and packing a nice sized sword, my warrior maiden Eshte started out in Ishalgen, the starter island, which is south of the main landmass. The moment she materialized, I realised I'd already completed a quest called 'Prologue'. I'm assuming this will be added in later and explain how and why you begin in the Aldelle Basin but it's nice to know an explanation will be forthcoming eventually.

As before, this starter zone is all about learning the game mechanics and lore until you ascend and get your wings. However what struck me is how different Asmodae is from Elyos and how beautiful it is. Given their 'demonic' appearance and the lore associated with the Asmodians I was convinced Ishalgen was going to be a dark and miserable place, a bit like Lordaeron in WoW. I was very wrong. It's a harsh place but has a beauty of its very own. I 'arrived' at night and at first I was sure Asmodae was a land of eternal twilight, at least until the sun came up. That said, I prefer it at night. The colours really accentuate the shattered Tower of Eternity which never leaves the horizon, as well as the feeling that this is the forgotten race, the one left to fend for itself against impossible odds.

Whereas the Elyos have a civilisation and proper settlements, the Asmodians feel like they've never left the ruins and are incapable of looking to the future and finding closure. Aldelle Village is literally a ramshackle settlement of tents built on top of a much older village, the chapel doesn't even have walls or a roof, only the presence of the village priest betrays its identity. The only other structures are the Obelisk, a mail box and a teleporter, obviously new structures, but it gives a feeling that, as a race, the Asmodians cannot move on, they dwell on the past and the injustice of their lot, especially after having seen the Elyos unchanged.

Oddly it seems you can fly all the way to the Anturoon Sentry Post from the word go and admittedly it does offer an amazing fly-by of most of the zone, as well as saving your poor lowbie from running the gauntlet of death. The deal is the same as for the Elyos, hand over some Kinah and a giant bird will fly you all the way to your destination. But enough about flying. For the sake of questing and familiarity, it's easier just to run through, leveling as you go. The first major stop is Tunapre Lake.

By this time youre avatar is a couple of levels in so it's time to stop and smell the roses. After all the main reason the level cap was lowered was so that players didn't madly rush to get to level 10. It's not that hard, I did it in about five hours at a nice relaxed pace, the fact I was playing a warrior probably helped. If you want to stop, Tunapre Lake is definitely it, and it also happens to be a good-sized quest location with plenty of birds and bison to kill. Dominated by a large tree, the 'lake' is ankle deep (Asmodians, like the Elyos, can't swim) and surrounded by low-level critters.

While the quests follow an identical format -- and the odd one a carbon copy -- of the ones I mentioned during CTB1, there's an under-running thread of lore throughout. Your avatar becomes a Raider under a guy called Ulgorn, not the best stock for one who is about to transcend mortal frailties and become a semi-divine Daeva. As you explore Ishalgen you get the chance to do jobs for fellow Raiders who are littered across the continent. As with the Elyos, you cannot get lost, the path is linear and by the time you've revealed all the map, it's a good twenty minute trek from end to end.

One of the biggest perks about this faction though is that you also get to do really cool stuff like fight ghosts. As you get closer to level 9, you also get to meet the cute but deadly Dundun and the vicious Mau, two hostile species with whom the Asmodians share Asmodae. There's a trip to visit a floundered pirate ship, a prison and a lush plantation which seems a little out of keeping with the very ethos of this broken land. However just as there are fertile sections of land, so there are depressing places filled with death, danger and misery. It's these that you have to contend with if you ever hope to Ascend to greatness, which is exactly what we'll be talking about in the next feature.

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