Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning

Looks pretty solid.

Heres a trailer.

If by solid you mean gay, then yes

^

Looks like a cross between fable and DAII. I shall be extremely reserved when it comes out.

it has a free demo for anyone interested....

I'll prolly rent it... looks decent as an ARPG.

The demo has got less than 3 stars on XBL marketplace. I don't think I'm going to try this one.

It's better than 3 stars........

Still only a rental to me... but it went up to a rental from a total pass thx to the demo.

There are FAAAR worse rpgs & arpgs out there....

It's a far cry from Skyrim or Mass Effect, but it's combat isn't too bad really.

I had the most fun as the mage... but then I usually do.

Well accordng to the Devs you might need around 200hrs to finish it so a rent might be a bit expensive...

BacKdRafT wrote:

Well accordng to the Devs you might need around 200hrs to finish it so a rent might be a bit expensive...

pfft

I doubt it's 200hours to burn through the MQ... prolly more like 40-50

And 'sides... I have gamefly. The cost is that I have it instead of another game

RoninHo'in wrote:

BacKdRafT wrote:

Well accordng to the Devs you might need around 200hrs to finish it so a rent might be a bit expensive...

pfft

I doubt it's 200hours to burn through the MQ... prolly more like 40-50

And 'sides... I have gamefly. The cost is that I have it instead of another game

I see...well id have to pay 2 bucks a day when I rent a game.

Heres an interesting link.

http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/16427/reckoning-has-over-200-hours--worth-of-content-dev-wonders-if-they-overdid-it

Ah, welkl from that link

Quote :

For a regular player not trying to blitz the game, Frazier mused that it could take significantly longer. However, he also mentioned that the main campaign quest was "around 30 to 40 hours" long.

200 hours is to speedrun through ALL content.

30-40 to just do MQ....

RoninHo'in wrote:

Ah, welkl from that link

Quote :

For a regular player not trying to blitz the game, Frazier mused that it could take significantly longer. However, he also mentioned that the main campaign quest was "around 30 to 40 hours" long.

200 hours is to speedrun through ALL content.

30-40 to just do MQ....

Yup. I think i might give it a shot until Fifa Street drops in march.

I tried the demo. For 5 mins. Ran like shit, looked like shit. I've heard the code for the demo was 3 months old, I'm not going near a game that pulls that kind of retarded faggotry.

Combat actually ain't bad... Plays more like an action adventure but with leveling and abilities

I wouldn't know. The fps was so bad it was virtually unplayable. I run the Witcher 2, Skyrim, and BF3 on high, and they all look and play better than this. Other than the actual graphics, I heard it was like Fable as regards the free-roaming (as in, it's not really open world, it's just got lots of little paths everywhere), so fuck that. From what I've seen in videos, the combat looks the same too.

Plus, this shit was written by the same guy that gave us Drizzt, one of the worst fantasy characters every created. I hope it sells very badly.

Drizzt one of the worst fantasy characters??

notsureiftrolling.jpg

He may not be the most original idea ever but far from the worst. R.A. Salvatore is certainly NOT the best fantasy writer (That is a toss up between George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordon, and Tolkien... and 2 of 3 of them are dead. I also like a few other authors more, like Patrick Rothfuss and maybe Mathew Stover) but as far as "trash fantasy novels" (all DnD series novels are "trash fantasy" as I call them... churn and burn novels) go he's one of the best.... and he's certainly better than most video game writers

As I said, (maybe somewhere else O.o) It's like Fable or DA2 series in it's combat system... but actually done right.

Also, I have no GPU on my laptop, yet I can run Amalur (on lowest setting mind, highly undetailed BUT playable... more than I can say for Skyrim on my GPU-less comp) so that has really got me impressed. Bonus points for automatically converting controls to Gamepad and M/K instantly and automatically. All I have to do is interact with m/k or gamepad and it's instant and automatic. I can go back and forth seamlessly.

Combat is FAAAAR better than fable or DA2. Block & Parry, combos, air juggles, seamless transition between primary, secondary, and spells.

Game seems obviously designed to be played on a gamepad yet I'm pretty impressed with their m/k controls and mapping... might actually try it if I ever get a gaming mouse with more than 3 buttons. (middle wheel button click to change between primary/secondary just doesn't cut it)

It's not super indepth and immersive like Skyrim is... but it's not supposed to be. It's action orientated and it achieves that wonderfully. It's a great blend of action adventure and RPG.

I couldn't stand Fable OR DA2... yet I'm thoroughly enjoying KoA

Drizzt has zero character development over the vast majority of the books in which he features as a major or main character, aside from that backstory trilogy in which he just becomes a griommdark faggot. And we're just talking about straight literature here, where you have the space and lack of player interaction to actually let you tell a story well. The fact that the writer couldn't do that is a pretty goddamn indicative of his talent.

Writing in games is usually well below the standard for films/plays/radio/books because it has to be flexible enough to let the player make their mark on it; despite this, there are numerous examples of great video game writing - Planescape, Grim Fandango and the Witcher 2 all stand out. The Mass Effect series is also worth an honourable mention, considering how much of an impact the player gets to make on the story.

The demo for Kingdoms of Amalur didn't have good writing. It was dull and lifeless. At the very start of a story, more than anywhere else, things should be exciting and make an effort to draw the player in. And it was shit.

Graphics: if you think this shit looks good, you've been away from PC gaming for too long. The Witcher 2 looks good, Crysis looks good, this was a mess of low-res textures (with pop-in fucking everywhere), and particle effects from 2006. I'm not going to quibble with you over how well it ran - you obviously got the good version while I got the low-fps shit one. But the actual quality of the graphics on display is objective, and complete shit.

Combat was shit, run of the mill hack and slash with occasional dodging. For good combat, see Dark Souls or (again) The Witcher 2. It played exactly like Fable, and that series was about as revolutionary as a pogrom.

Mass Effect 2 is a great action RPG, Dark Souls is a great action RPG, The Witcher 2 is a great action RPG - Kingdoms of Amalur is a load of fucking shit.

tl; dr - Ronin is IGN, I can only assume they're cutting him in on the money they were paid to review this shitty game too.

Alyss wrote:

tl; dr - Ronin is IGN, I can only assume they're cutting him in on the money they were paid to review this shitty game too.

You might be on to something with that actually. Ronin, dont you work for a game review site? I remember the post you made about it ages ago.

Ronin may not be the paronoid vet we all know him to be but a corporate PR man who uses reverse psychology (crazy talk) as a marketing strategy...

I am now treating anything Ronin says as viral marketing.

Fable had a decent combat system. DA2 was just...horrible. Xyco showed me that it's just mashing the attack button.

I can't see Ronin being IGN though, I remember he isn't too much into the campaign (when I recommended Metro 2033,) but is quite avid on gameplay and function.

It's a cunning double bluff.

lmao

*looks for posts saying KoA story was good"

nope... never said that.

Also, I said Salvatore was a good TRASH novel writer... perhaps you don't know what that means... this refers to novels that are churned out en masse by teams of writers (ea. writer having their own book/mini-series of course, not all on the same novel) writing books for some greater lore universe that has mass market appeal (ala DnD series books, war40k books, Halo books, etc etc etc). These books pretty much NEVER have deep character development, but are entertaining fast reads related to a series of interest.

I also didn't say it had great graphics... I said it ran surprisingly well and looked surprisingly well on my LAPTOP WITH INTEGRATED GFX, which can't run shit. This tends to suggest it's max isn't as high actually if you know how to read between the fucking lines. I have a hell of a time finding any games of any quality that can run decently well on my integrated chipset and am somewhat excited when I find something decent.

Now, gameplay... this I will stand behind. It's NOT ground breaking... but it IS fun... at least to me. I think I also described it pretty well... as a button mashing action game... and it kicks Fables ass up and down in this department. It could and should have been fleshed out a bit more however as it's combo system isn't as extensive as pure action games (God of War/Castlevania). I would also liked to have seen special weapon mix combos etc... que sera sera.

Having had some more time with the game, I can add a couple criticisms... #1... complaints about it being easy are definitely reasonable. Dark souls this is not. #2 while I really like that I can fully respec my character for a paltry sum of gold, it kinda makes replaying pointless.... I think the game is probably only really worth 1 playthrough (which is fine IMO as I'm not really looking for another Skyrim... ME3 demo is this week and drops next month so I've got my hands full of RPG's at the moment anyways)

Do I think this game is worth a $60 purchase? fuck no. It's a great gamefly rental though, low used price purchase, or... if you're less scrupulous like myself, certainly worth downloading. I won't get the hours or depth from this game that I get from Skyrim, but I never expected to... just look at the fucking art style FFS.

That said, I AM having a good ol time treating it like the action adventure rpg it is. It reminds me of diablo mostly actually... not gameplay wise, just the zone to zone quest hub and leveling style of it. KoA is NOT a hard-core game... BFD... why do WookieMode gamers feel like every release should cater to them? It's a casual game but unlike fable, it's actually done reasonably well

PS: Please show me some good Witcher 2 combat vids cause what I've seen is mostly spamming the same 1-2 moves over and over (and it was the same primary move being spammed in multiple vids by different people... with an occasional fire attack thrown in for good measure)

PPS: I'm not working for a review site.... They gave me my first assignment (Op Flashpoint: Red River & Rush'n'Attack:Ex-patriot) and both games were sooooo fucking god awful I couldn't finish them to write my review. It was then I realized I didn't really want to make video games become work for me, and instead to just continue enjoying them as I always have and just force my opinions down everyone's throats until they submit to my superior way of thinking.

tldr version; KoA is a decently fun casual ARPG, but will not satisfy people looking for the next best Waifu simulator

RoninHo'in wrote:

PS: Please show me some good Witcher 2 combat vids cause what I've seen is mostly spamming the same 1-2 moves over and over (and it was the same primary move being spammed in multiple vids by different people... with an occasional fire attack thrown in for good measure)

I'll direct you to a torrent for it, but the idea that you can get a good idea of an interactive experience by watching it is laughable.

RoninHo'in wrote:

lmao

*looks for posts saying KoA story was good"

nope... never said that.

Also, I said Salvatore was a good TRASH novel writer... perhaps you don't know what that means... this refers to novels that are churned out en masse by teams of writers (ea. writer having their own book/mini-series of course, not all on the same novel) writing books for some greater lore universe that has mass market appeal (ala DnD series books, war40k books, Halo books, etc etc etc). These books pretty much NEVER have deep character development, but are entertaining fast reads related to a series of interest.

I also didn't say it had great graphics... I said it ran surprisingly well and looked surprisingly well on my LAPTOP WITH INTEGRATED GFX, which can't run shit. This tends to suggest it's max isn't as high actually if you know how to read between the fucking lines. I have a hell of a time finding any games of any quality that can run decently well on my integrated chipset and am somewhat excited when I find something decent.

Now, gameplay... this I will stand behind. It's NOT ground breaking... but it IS fun... at least to me. I think I also described it pretty well... as a button mashing action game... and it kicks Fables ass up and down in this department. It could and should have been fleshed out a bit more however as it's combo system isn't as extensive as pure action games (God of War/Castlevania). I would also liked to have seen special weapon mix combos etc... que sera sera.

Having had some more time with the game, I can add a couple criticisms... #1... complaints about it being easy are definitely reasonable. Dark souls this is not. #2 while I really like that I can fully respec my character for a paltry sum of gold, it kinda makes replaying pointless.... I think the game is probably only really worth 1 playthrough (which is fine IMO as I'm not really looking for another Skyrim... ME3 demo is this week and drops next month so I've got my hands full of RPG's at the moment anyways)

Do I think this game is worth a $60 purchase? fuck no. It's a great gamefly rental though, low used price purchase, or... if you're less scrupulous like myself, certainly worth downloading. I won't get the hours or depth from this game that I get from Skyrim, but I never expected to... just look at the fucking art style FFS.

That said, I AM having a good ol time treating it like the action adventure rpg it is. It reminds me of diablo mostly actually... not gameplay wise, just the zone to zone quest hub and leveling style of it. KoA is NOT a hard-core game... BFD... why do WookieMode gamers feel like every release should cater to them? It's a casual game but unlike fable, it's actually done reasonably well

PS: Please show me some good Witcher 2 combat vids cause what I've seen is mostly spamming the same 1-2 moves over and over (and it was the same primary move being spammed in multiple vids by different people... with an occasional fire attack thrown in for good measure)

PPS: I'm not working for a review site.... They gave me my first assignment (Op Flashpoint: Red River & Rush'n'Attack:Ex-patriot) and both games were sooooo fucking god awful I couldn't finish them to write my review. It was then I realized I didn't really want to make video games become work for me, and instead to just continue enjoying them as I always have and just force my opinions down everyone's throats until they submit to my superior way of thinking.

tldr version; KoA is a decently fun casual ARPG, but will not satisfy people looking for the next best Waifu simulator

Didnt read this since its obv tldr, but this wall of text can only mean one thing, what Erad said must be true

Alyss wrote:

RoninHo'in wrote:

PS: Please show me some good Witcher 2 combat vids cause what I've seen is mostly spamming the same 1-2 moves over and over (and it was the same primary move being spammed in multiple vids by different people... with an occasional fire attack thrown in for good measure)

I'll direct you to a torrent for it, but the idea that you can get a good idea of an interactive experience by watching it is laughable.

When I see the same exact move repeated constantly in 3-4 combat montages (only ever broken up with the occasional what I assume to be a fire spell, and MAYBE a different sword attack once in a while) ... it doesn't speak well for the games variety in combat.

It prolly has more, but it seems like that 1 move appears to be the only one worth using (and from what I saw in how much damage the few other attacks did in comparison, I don't blame em)

@DTech lol obv that wall of text was directed at Fergus... the only person here who would bother to read it