So after lots and lots and lots of tweaking, I have managed to get my computer to run Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures at a pretty decent rate. At least, from what I hear in the communal OOC channels, its pretty much the norm. I average 20-35fps with spikes up higher if you don’t have many players around. So about Standard Definition TV quality.

Now, I hear some of you going “Thats a decent rate???” and you’re right. Its not fantastic compared with the 65fps+ I can get from Guild Wars, or the 50fps I used to get from WoW. But you have to remember, I’m playing on a machine that is well below the specs of the so called “Minimum Requirements.” A machine that is naturally an AthlonXP 2600+ but has been overclocked to the equiv (at least according to the BIOS) of an AthlonXP 2800+. The minimum specs for a single core machine state a P4 3GHz or equiv. Recommended is a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo. My only saving grace is my 2GB of RAM. So I’ll take what I can get. ;-)

The game is playable, and really only starts to stutter when theres a lot happening on the screen. For example, stopping to rest in the middle of a spawn spot someone had cleared out just before I got there is not wise. My first time in that area and having about 15 mobs of the same or 1-2 levels higher all spawn around me tends to leave me a little dead. Even if my machine had been able to cope with it.

Fortunately my graphics card (Nvidia 7600GT) is able to cope with a decent load on the graphics side, so I do actually get to play with a fair amount of eye candy. There is one thing that really stands out though.

You remember when Farcry first came out and everyone was going on about the water and the graphics in general? Well, Age of Conan is the next game like that for me. Now, admittedly I haven’t seen or played Crisis or Far Cry 2 (not even going to try) but the water in Age of Conan with the reflections and shadows and lighting is so damn realistic its frightening. I mean, truly scary. Swimming in the ocean around Tortage and the way the water ripples around you, even at DirectX 9c specs…. I can’t imagine what it’d be like in DirectX 10.1.

This is the second game I’ve bought where my 4 year old machine doesn’t meet the minimum requirements. I was tempted to build a new PC when I got Assassin’s Creed, I’m even more tempted to now. Fortunately, all that money is set aside and will only be used for when I return to the US later this year. Believe me, the temptation to spend it now is there, but I want to go to the US more. Which is good because if I wait before I upgrade, Intel’s new Extreme chips will be out at the end of the year, or beginning of next and I’ll be able to build a machine that will last me another 4 years of gaming.

PC gaming is not dead. Nor will it ever be. But I think the honest truth is that PC gaming is shifting to an online model. Games like Team Fortress 2 which require a Steam account. Or the traditional MMOGs where piracy is not a concern. And thats fine with me. Although, I’m not entirely keen to go back to playing $15/mo for a game again. I’d given that up with WoW but I’m enjoying Age of Conan enough that I might consider it again when the initial 30 free days are up at the end of June.

I know that one concern is that I might get addicted to this game. I don’t know if I ever really was addicted to WoW or Guild Wars. I do know that my life has changed a lot since those days when I played them both a lot. I have real life responsibilities now and my relationship and my work life definitely come before gaming. I’ve been playing GW a lot in recent months, but never so much that it affected anything else.

Will Age of Conan be a new addiction? I really don’t know. Part of what makes it so enticing right now is that its new. Its still buggy as hell and they’re releasing updates every few days at the moment. But every MMOG I have played in the past has been the same when it was first released. Even Guild Wars, although that was less disruptive and updated in the background so you rarely noticed it happening. I started playing WoW 3 months after that released and they were still releasing patches every week at that stage. Everquest and Anarchy Online were the same. It doesn’t matter how big your beta run, when the masses get the game, they’ll find bugs.

Which brings me to another point. There are SO many people playing Age of Conan right now. When you sell that many boxes that quickly something is bound to break. Last rumor I heard floating around the intarwebs is that FunCom has had to grow their platform in about a week by as much as they were expecting to grow over 6 months. Thats pretty damn impressive. And it will only get worse when the XBox360 folks start joining in too.

If anyone wants to join in, make sure you join the PvE server “Dagoth” (yes Nick!) ;-) as thats where I play, and I’m always willing to help out people. I can apprentice you for a bit to help you get up to speed. Why PvE? Because theres a massive amount of people coming over from WoW PvP servers and its a free for all. Anywhere, even the newbie islands, are open PvP and gankers are out in force at the moment. On the PvE servers, you either flag yourself PvP or you go to the arenas and other designated areas.

Oh, and Guild vs Guild in Age of Conan is seige warfare. :-) You build your stronghold/town/keep and then you can battle with other guilds if you want. :-) Building your guilds town is not cheap though. Each building requires a lot of gathered materials and then 2 gold to build.

  • 100 tin = 1 copper.
  • 100 copper = 1 silver.
  • 100 silver = 1 gold.

I’m level 18 and have only got just over 1.5 silver. :-) Having said that, I’m still playing on the newbie islands based out of Tortage. I have 7 quest chains to finish there and then I’ll concentrate on my Destiny quests for my Ranger before moving on to the mainland and starting on the true game proper. Am taking my time through it all because you only get a first time once. After that, you know the quests and the story is not as surprising.

There is so much more to say about Age of Conan. I really could go on and on about it. But I have to get up for work in the morning, so I’ll cut it short here. Needless to say, of all the games I have available to me at the moment, this is definitely top of my list. And thats even with a machine that cant play it at a decent rate. ;-)

Update: Oh, and here is a video of Tortage, the town I’m playing in. Its not taken on my PC and looks a whole lot better than my PC can make it, but it is the same town, right down to plants in the same places.