Ashes of Eternity Online/Main

## Ashes of Eternity Online

£50 (UK)

€57 (EU)

¥7,100 (JP)

Fel

Lunari

Angels

Demons

Dragons

Undead

Oni

Golems

**Ashes of Eternity Online** is a post-apocalyptic fantasy VRMMORPG released in 2089 by Primal Overkill Interactive.

## Races

Ashes of Eternity had one of the largest selections of races ever seen in an MMO, at launch it had 40 races but that number has now increased to 50 separate races (most of which have their own selectable subraces) but despite this massive amount Primal Overkill has decided against adding the usual fantasy races such as elves, dwarves etc.

## Skills

Instead of a traditional class-based system, AEO allowed players to utilise perk points gained through levelling up (and a couple of other methods) to unlock different combat skills, magic and weapon options for their character. Some skills could not be purchased until the player reached a certain level, unlocked a different skill, or were locked to specific races.

Additionally, there were hidden skills that would only appear once the player had completed an unspecified objective, these skills usually had a limit for how many players could take them and in some rare cases, this limit might have been only one person.

* Skills were also customizable such as changing the damage type to a different element (more elements could be unlocked through perks as well.
* There was a unique skill that was only offered to the first person to defeat the (original) final boss of the game. The skill was called *Demon Kings Blade* and was awarded to the player **Ten Thousand Cuts**.
* Lycanthropia and Vampirism are high-level skills requiring a large number of other skills to obtain.

## Party

Ashes of Eternity Online operates on a fairly standard party system but instead of capping out at the usual 6 members maximum party size, AoEO allows up to 10 players per party. As with most MMOs, one member of the party is designated the 'party leader' and configures the options menus such as loot distribution and PVP. The player who initially starts the party is the party leader by default but this too can be changed in the menu.

## Guild

Once reaching a certain level, players have the option of creating or joining a guild. Creating a guild has a substantial upfront cost so the majority of players who wish to create a guild, do not do so straight away. Joining a guild has no specified cost and any requirements will be set by the guild master, not by the system. Guilds have no defined player cap but it is rare to find a guild with more than a couple hundred members. High-level guilds also have the option of creating a guild base but I will describe that sometime later.

## Destruction

Ashes of Eternity Online features a full destruction engine, attacks can cause massive damage to buildings, terrain and objects. All damage will be regenerated slowly and depending on how much damage was done, this process may take a couple of hours. Destruction in main cities will be regenerated a lot quicker than rural areas. Items such as weapons or armour can also be damaged by attacks and must be taken to a blacksmith to repair them.

NPC's that are considered "non-essential" by the system, can be killed and will not respawn. Killing a civilian NPC can cause the high-level unkillable city guards to attack the player (Normally a type of Golem) or may give other players a quest to kill the 'murderer'.

## Artificial Intelligence

The Artificial Intelligence used in the NPC's and monsters in AoEO is incredibly advanced to the point of almost seeming lifelike. Instead of operating on preset rules and commands, the AI is capable of learning and adapting as the game goes on. Meaning the AI can make decisions that the developers never even intended (The AI won't make any decisions that are outside the scope of the specific monster or NPC. Unless specific actions are performed to bring said action under the scope of the NPC or monster). It would technically be possible to befriend a monster or convince an NPC guard to try and assassinate the king, the possibilities are basically endless. Even allegiances and hostilities between certain races can change over the course of the game.

Due to these factors, it is entirely possible for a single player character to cause a war between nations.

Certain NPC's are considered 'essential' by the system but this too can change depending on the actions of other players and NPCs. Should you be given a quest to kill someone, you can be sure that the person will actually be 'killable'.

Random Idea: It might be possible for the system to decide to give a specific NPC or Monster the ability to level up, which then has the potential to turn into its own boss monster.

## Quests

Ashes of Eternity Online operates under a dynamic questing system. Quests can be generated in real-time based on the actions of the players and NPCs. Additionally, NPCs aren't the only ones that can become the subject of a quest, it is entirely possible for a quest to require interaction with another player.

It is even possible for the system to designate a player as a 'boss monster'. When this happens, killing the player will drop unique boss loot, automatically generated by the system.

Example: NPC Ogre's AI decides to attack a village, nearby players are then given a quest to kill the Ogre.

Example 2: Player Dragon murders the king, other players of the kingdom are given a quest to kill this player.

Note: This is primarily for side quests, the game does still feature a main questline designed by the developers with preset bosses etc.