I felt like covering a bit what it meant visually for Jenya to be an Asmodean.

Asmodeans are kind of like the ‘dark angels’ of Aion - though they’re not really evil. Not anymore than the Elyos, though I’m sure the latter like to give themselves airs. It’s more that since being separated from the other Daevas on the upper inner hemisphere of their planet, they’ve had to contend with the rougher environments than their Elyos cousins - and that changed them overtime in order to have them adapt and survive.

The first picture on the upper left is Jenya standing unarmored next to a pond in the Asmodeans’ starter zone, Ishalgen. She’s still wearing her undergarment equivalent, though there’s much scantier swimwear that’s been offered in the past. Jenya’s skin does show a tracery of tattoos over her body (I usually notice her left shoulder/arm the most, but they’re around).

If you pay attention to the limbs, you may notice that the hands and knees are actually clawed. The second picture (upper right) actually shows that her feet not only have the three frontal claws, but also an extended heel-claw that mimicks the standing posture of high heel shoes. It’s kind of amusing to think that high heel shoes in Aion for Asmodeans aren’t as much high heels for the effect so much as simply matching the way the asmodean female’s feet are made. Of course, that makes it all conveniently feminine-looking too. >_>

You may also see a glimpse of her mane. Asmodeans have this mane of fur that grows over their spinal column - on the top more the color of their hair and at the bottom closer to their skin color (I think). It’s supposedly another adaptation to the harsh conditions of Asmodea.

The third picture - to the lower left - displays Jenya in combat stance with her spellbook at the ready. Of note there are her clawed hands, whom you should be able to see much better than the previous pictures. Also, the way her eyes glow red (that’s actually the reason why I also chose red as her default eye color - I was trying to have the coloring I chose match ‘being an asmodean’ as much as possible).

Finally, the fourth picture to the lower right shows a view of her back, where you’ll see her mane much better than in the second picture. Sometimes, the mane does tend to clip with clothing - but it’s my assumption that Asmodean clothes are made to left the manes flare out freely, rather than bunch inside clothing.

Not everyone likes the manes, but I do and try to stick to outfit which will reveal it. Codexx - whom isn’t as fond of it as I am - sometimes jokes that her characters Codexx and Supersonik wax it off.

Ow! >_>

Still dressed in Corrupt Judge, but now at the Besfer Refugee Camp in Beluslan. I’m trying to raise more Kinah (Aion’s currency) to help raise the funds to craft a rare quest item I need for my current Fenris quest and that involves harvesting for aether nodes at the moment.

What I wanted to show here is the summer headwrap Jenya wears. Codexx was the one whom gave it to me as a gift, and I really like having it - though I’ve never really wanted to skin in on any other piece of headgear. I just don’t get the feel it’s suitable for combat.

It’s pleasantly white and gauzy, and if dyed might have matched the Corrupt Judge set very well. I think the white still works out pretty well (dying it closer to the dress might have it blend too much with her hair). Another advantage of having it is how I get a second, more sober and lady-like hairstyle for Jenya (since her usual side-tail is more girlish/maidenly).

One unfortunate little flaw is how there’s this little bit of discoloration that creeps up on the very top of the forehead. When you look from far enough away it’s not all that noticeable, though.

Jenya standing over one of the stone structures at the snowy Camp Kristenian, in Beluslan.

Here, I’m showing her off in that outfit I obtained and wore from level 44 to 50: the Corrupt Judge cloth set.

It’s funny how people can be sometimes when they get finally obtain what they want only to realize they liked what they had better. I had been pining for that outfit ever since I saw some of the Librarian NPCs during the Kromede’s Trial solo instance dungeon and thought it looked pretty good - with the way it smoothly flowed down, that frills from the shoulders swept behind them when they ran. I even thought that the color might match Jenya’s skin really well.

I quested for it, doing Kromede’s Trial over and over while I was still under the level limit for that instance. I gathered one piece, then another. Made other runs in which I came up empty. I finally had gathered most of the set except for the elusive tunic… which I eventually caved in and bought it as a skin on the Exchange Broker.

Once I had it, I was fairly happy… but the feeling didn’t last, despite my friend Codexx’s assurances that it looked really good on Jenya. I agree, but I felt the top of the shoulders seemed too… ah, ‘smooth’? I couldn’t quite place it, but whenever I looked at Jenya on the character select screen, she felt… un-Jenya-like. I had worn the Midnight set so long that anything else on her felt wrong.

It’s like, even since I switched from the midnight set, I’ve missed it. Which is probably not fair for judging the aesthetics of the Corrupt Judge set, but… meh. ^_^;

Heck, I’m working on the Fenris set right now, and I’m not even sure I’ll like it.

One thing I do still like about the corrupt judge set is the neckpiece. Aion treats its necklace as disembodied glowy bits at the base of the neck. On the midnight set, there’s this sparkly bit over where Jenya’s collarbones come together and nothing else to hint at jewelry since its rather bare around the neck. The Corrupt Judge set, by contrast, is superior because it supports suspension of disbelief by giving a neckpiece to accompagny the shining necklace effect.

Honestly, if there’s one feature I’d like to see Aion have, it’s the ability to deactivate the necklace’s visual effect. Alas, not the case as far as I know.

Jenya posing in front of the Abyss Gate that she needed to cross to finish the Altgard campaign.

Her peach-colored outfit is the Midnight cloth set. I’ve been favoring it ever since I saw it donned on her in the future vision that was part of her Ascension quest.

The pauldron was in the vision, but not actually in the Midnight set proper, so I had to get it from another similar-looking set (Tundra) and dye it as close as I could with an omblic petal.

Personally, I think it looks nicer than many of the other outfits in the game - it’s almost become integral to my sense of Jenya’s visual identity (which became obvious to me when I swapped outfits for the Corrupt Judge cloth set from level 44 to 50, at which point I returned to the Midnight skin for my 30e PvP armor). I also think it suits her pretty well, matching her eye color somewhat; and the feathered pauldron on her right shoulder balances her left tail of hair pretty well.

Hello!

This is my first of perhaps several blog entries. I’ve never done blogging before, and am picking it up mostly because I tend to be very verbose when I have something to express and end up making tons of tweets over Twitters. I figured a blog could be more efficient in that regard.

This blog is going to be mainly oriented toward Aion, through the perspective of me playing my character, Jenya (whom is pictured above, on Aion’s character select screen).

A bit about me, perhaps? I’m Fred, I’m a young adult still living at his folks, and I’m pursuing a career in the videogame industry - presently, I’m a Quality Assurance Tester at THQ Montreal with something like 40 titles under my belt thus far.

Some gaming favorites of mine include old RPGs such as Star Control II, Valkyrie Profile and Planescape:Torment; visual novels such as Fate/Stay Night; mecha simulators like Mechwarrior 3; action/adventure games like Mass Effect and games from the Mega Man series. I’m presently playing on-and-off the Star Trek Online MMORPG, toying around with Borderlands and, obviously, playing Aion. Games I’m looking forward to include Fate/Extra, the upcoming Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect 3 next year and perhaps Neverwinter beyond that.

I’m also a fan of anime, though it’s a pretty casual hobby - I don’t consider myself an otaku, don’t go to conventions and such. I usually peer over anime blogs and listen to a few subbed episodes weekly.

My interest in Aion was initially pretty low. Years back, I was there on the launch of NCSoft’s Lineage 2 and ended up feeling rather burnt by the game’s punishing penchant for advancement via grinding, and its punishing approach to PvP. When I saw Aion announced, it’s aesthetics were so similar to L2’s that I expected the same-old and was pretty much ready to swear off NCSoft.

Years later came the 2.5 update, which included more attractive graphics, a mentoring system, a free trial and an incentive program to play Asmodeans. The timing was good, considering I was pining for a new game to play, and I tried it out.

I created a caster class: I had my fill of healing from my Startrek MMO, so I chose a mage. I tweaked through the impressively expansive appearance customization options and created myself a character. Choosing what I wanted was hard, since I suffer from a degree of colorblindness. I eventually settled on a red-eyed elfin-looking female asmodean with bluish-gray skin and blue-lavender hair (or so I thought). I initially wanted longer hair, but seeing it would often clip with collars, I instead switched to a kind of ponytail that dropped down on her left side.

Sidenote, while on that topic: I’m of the school of thought that I’d rather look at a girl’s behind if I’m going to play a character for an extended period of time. That motivation was no different for making Jenya. Years back when I was a teen, I even - for reasons I considered roleplay-related - passed myself as a girl… though that trend wore off when I noticed that admitting I lied about myself to people I grew close to was more embarrassing than it was worth for the deception.

When I started playing Aion, what initially really stirred my enthusiasm for the game was the first time my freshly new mage struck a combat stance, flipping her spellbook open with smoldering red eyes as a battle tune picked up. Just that impressed me, and made me eager to see more.

I enjoyed the cutscene element (though it could’ve used more polish) and my Ascension visions made something of an impression - especially regarding the outfit picture for my character in the future vision - an outfit that to this day I tried sticking to… at least until I face my archnemesis Hellion (since I’m “fated” to wear it until I’ve faced him, at least! :D ).

When I got to choose a class, I was torn between Sorcerer and Spiritmaster. Since I enjoyed significant success with one of my Lineage 2 character whom was an Elemental Master (a pet class as well), I picked Spiritmaster… though I admit I often second-guess that, as I wonder if Sorcerer wouldn’t have been more satisfying and better compatible with Aion’s flight mechanic.

I eventually ran through the end of my trial, hitting level 20 in Altgard just shy of reaching the ruins of Impetusium. I wanted to see more, so I subscribed. Aion was, in my mind, far superior to Lineage 2: less grindy, less jumping through fiery hoops to achieve anything, and the faction based PvP is done much better.

Today, Jenya is level 50 and sitting there for the time being to enjoy some content only available for level 50s - it’s still pretty close to the current level cap of 55 - which is much better than I ever usually manage in MMOs. Her focus is more summoning than crowd-control, since my PvP skills as a player as still lacking (I still hope to improve).I feel like I’m settling fairly well, my skill having grown beyond my initial ‘newb-ness’, with an assortment of adventuring friends and a Legion (Aion’s guild equivalent) that I feel comfortable with. I’m presently working on finishing a lower level elite PvP set, and chipping away at a very expansive quest series to obtain the Fenris cloth armor set (it’s one of the weaker endgame armors in the game).

So, that’s enough for this halfhazard wall of text. Perhaps more later. :)