Aion and GW, NCSoft and Anet?

I recently saw some screenshots of Aion and immediately thought how similar the hud setup and environment looked to GW, albeit slightly improved graphically.

It also striked me how similar the character artwork has been to guild wars.

Got me thinking on the relationship between ANet and NCSoft. I really have no idea how it all works. Can NCSoft use ANet staff, programmers and artists and vice versa, as the need dictates...or is Aion and GW totally different projects, with different staff and one overseeing developer? If so how come there is such similarity between the projects?

Also, does Aion development hinder the development of GW2?

Curious

Fantasy games looking similar. Impossible.

Aion is 100% irrelevant to GW. (Unless Aion somehow managed to bankrupt NCSoft. Then ArenaNet goes bankrupt and GW goes bye-bye)

Aion is all NCSoft.

Guild Wars is all ArenaNet. (In terms of development.)

You'll see similar styles just like anything Blizzard has a slightly more cartoonish look. Anything Turbine... well I can spot a Turbine screenshot from a mile away. I imagine this is all it is.

Totally different development teams working on the two. If you've ever played Lineage2, Aion resembles that more than GW, the target icons, huds, the way the characters look and motion animations, Aion is L2 with wings...

nah they look different, Aion has manga style looking character with overly elaborated decorated rococo style armor, which is, I think of poor taste.

GW beautiful

to me it seems more of a mix between D2 and Gw. idk why tho. just talking about the display

Aion has awesome graphics (played beta) and its style is more anime like that GW. Too bad Aion is the reason GW2 info is delayed...oh well patience till September.

I think there's more to it, in particular as Anet executives (Jeff, Patt) became NCsoft/west executives. I already had a suspicion a while ago:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10333932

I recently read a lot of comments of Aion players impressed by how the game would run on modest computers...reminds you of GW doesn't it? Similarly for the quest system, a class system which is not so far from GW (but that can be wrong as classes in MMOs don't get so original).

So Aion is more of an Archlord look then? Not bad.

the reason why GW and AION look similar is probably because they are using the same game engine, or a variation of it. I read somewhere that ANET allows NCSOFT to use the engine for there own games. Shame I can't remember where I read it or else I would link it.

I might be wrong here, but I thought I read that ArenaNet developed the game engine that almost all of NCSoft is using, and Aion uses (I would guess) a 2.0 version of that game engine. I think that was in an interview shortly before GW2 was announced.

Aion uses the CryEngine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryEngine

The logo for the CryEngine is even on Aion's startup screen.

Aion is using Crytec 1.0 engine, you might remember it from the original Farcry. The engine has bee modified here and there to exceed the original specs. Aion engine has nothing to do with GW engine.

The GUI is very different from GW. Sure, they got a radar, but who hasn't. In GW the radar is more of an aggro management tool than anything else, for navigation you need to open another map really, or know the way. Health and energy bars are also no surprise there. It's the classic MMO setup. The peripheral vision on the screen is clustered with bars and numbers, while the little room remaining in the center in is mostly obstructed by the back of your own character.

NCwest does have its fingers in Aion development to some degree. In the U.S. and Europe there will be a "westernized" version of the game, i.e. less grind, different quest texts. Infos about the differences are sketchy at best currently.

As for the visuals of Anime girls in Rococo attire.....
...it might be awesome to some, but it will scare away at least as many people. But that is to be expected of any art style.

No, Guild Wars uses an engine created by Arenanet themselves.
Aion uses a modded Crytek engine. (FarCry)

edit: 5 minutes late

Aion is using CryEngine 1.0

Ahhh ok thanks for the clarification

Would have been nice if people that played other Ncwest games could get into the beta, or at least a trial beta

looks soo good

To be honest, after playing Aion for some Beta, it's not looking anything like Guild Wars.

Like Ec]-[oMaN already mentioned, to me it's more like Lineage2. With all it's shortcomings too. But with Wings

There have been maaany fansite contests to get a betakey.

I also remember that I was offering a betakey for 3rd Closed Beta and only one person after a week PMed me.

Oh, and if you were one of the subscribers of Tabula Rasa (till the end, doesn't count if you have ended the subscription even a week before the news), you get the beta key to both CB and OB.

they did trulba rusa accoutn allget 1 month of aion plus all beta events

other then that just preorder the game cost 5 bucks at ebgames bestbuy or gamestop

if youwant to pay for the game in full upfront youcan do this on ncsoft website steam(which has it for a very low price) and there a couple of websites
not steam and ncsoft do digital downloads oyouw illnot getthe box, which dont matter anyways the boxed versionof c/e is sold out world wide... i have two copy's lol

there is a plus to the digital copys you get 37 days free time instead of 30

otherways to get beta keys are easy there is some websites that give them away for each beta .. but if you like the game from the videos just preorder it from steam 60 bucks for c/e 40 for reg.. and you get all betas closed and open and 42 hour head start