“What do I know of cultured ways, the guilt, the craft and the lie?
I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky.
The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when broadswords sing;
Rush in and die, dogs – I was a man before I was a king.”
So what is with the poem, I hear you asking. Well, my friends, the answer is simple. This week I have been slashing guts, casting spells and unleashing deadly and devastating spells. However, it would not be right for me to start my Conan review, without giving a nod to the man himself. That’s right; Mr. Robert E. Howard was the one who first penned the epic saga of Conan the barbarian. Sadly, Howard left us at the age of 31 after having committed suicide. Thus, it is too this mans great works, I would like to dedicate this review and thank him for all the glorious literature which he left for all as fantasy obsessed fans. Truly, if I were to have one, he would be my hero.
Essentially, Age of Conan is a massive game and rightly so. Taking place throughout the lands of Hyboria, the game’s map and geographical layout holds true to how Howard had described and envisioned the savage lands of Barbarian rule, Ancient Races, dusty ruins and dense jungles filled with cruel tries, mysterious powers, arcane magic and unknowable fiends brought back from the depths of the darkest abyss.
The game, to begin with, is actually separated into two distinct parts. Firstly with the first player campaign, this is of course, still played online. However, it is after this that the real fun begins. After the initial campaign, players become free to explore as they see fit, to train, fight and engage with other players. Though Age of Conan gold does offer players a lot of freedom to explore the ancient lands, there are still some similarities between this game and many other MMORPGs that we have seen in the past. Essentially, one of the most common themes present in aoc gold, as well as all other MMORPG titles, is of course grinding. For those of you who might be new to this terminology, grinding is simply the act of killing countless monsters or other AI type creatures in order to gain experience, levels, skill or game currency which is then used to purchase better weapons, armour and equipment.