Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

[TheNesta]

Hey all,

Is it cool that I make a thread about this? Don't worry, I won't make one for every game I play, I'm just in the writing mood lately

Reckoning is kind of like the love child of Fable and The Elder Scrolls games, I guess is an apt enough comparison. It has a big open world to explore, with a bunch of quest, and lore. As well as a more action oriented combat system that is actually quite satisfying.

So far, I have a few beefs with the story, ie: It's not really clicking with me yet. And I also just wrote up a piece about how it struggles a bit with satisfying that loot lust each (see: below) but much like Final Fantasy XIII-2, it's a pretty mechanically solid game.

As I mentioned the combat is quite good, it's akin to action adventure games like God of War, complete with combo attacks, dodging, all that. And that's backed by a rich RPG progression system. Basically you have your standard RPG skill trees, Warrior, Rogue, Mage. But the cool thing here is you can mix and match them to make interesting hybrid classes. Another cool thing is that you can easily respec your character if you ever want to try something different.

I'm about 11 hours in so far, and I'm diggin' it. There's a demo available on all three platforms, so if it sounds even remotely interesting you might want to check it out and see if it's your thing.

[TheNesta]

Originally from my tumblr:

I’ve been playing a bit of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning for the past few days, and I’m enjoying it for the most part. Story niggles aside, I’m starting to piece together a bigger disappointment with the game. As well as, why Diablo 3 really needs to come out.

See, I don’t think Reckoning is necessarily position as one of these “loot lust” games like a Diablo. But it certainly has enough elements to it that it bares comparison. There’s loot in the game, it’s color coded by the item’s rarity level, and you get a lot of it.

The problem is, I don’t think people realize that creating a good loot lust game is a fine art. Plenty of games have tried, and some get really close to it, but for the most part it seems like they miss the mark.

Let’s take Reckoning’s loot for example. You get a lot of items as you progress through the game. But most of them aren’t upgrades, let alone really enticing upgrades. In Diablo, you get a lot of cool stuff. It’s not uncommon to get some sweet piece of armor that requires another few levels before you can wear it, but it’s such a huge upgrade that you feel compelled to keep playing to the point where you can wear it.

So far, 11 hours into Amalur, I haven’t gotten a lot of items that were out of reach. Sure, there’s more than a few items that my character’s spec can’t use, but that’s not really the same thing. So instead of getting a bunch of upgrades to look forward to, I’m a few minimal upgrades I can slap on right away. But usually I’m just getting crap that isn’t even worth keeping around long enough to vendor.

This isn’t just the run of the mill white loot either, it’s greens and blues. Items that should still be exciting, but aren’t. For instance, I’ve had the same pair of Common, Steel Faeblades for most of the game. I’ve gotten plenty of rarer Faeblades, with certain bonuses on them, but you take such a massive hit in DPS that it hardly seems worth it.

Another thing that I find a bit lacking about Amalur is that along with actual statistical upgrades, there’s a serious lack of cosmetic ”upgrades” as well. Now, this is a big thing for me, one of the appeals of these sorts of games are making my characters look cool. Should be obvious considering I’ve been playing Ragnarok Online, which is essentially a game where you collect hats, for about a decade. Same problem with the Faeblades, was wearing the same looking set of beginner’s leather armor for 10 hours. Then I finally got something new.

Here, I think pointing to most modern day MMOs will give you an example of how to do it right. The artist make a bunch of cool looking gear, that motivate the players to earn, almost as much, if not more than the stat value they give you.

All in all, this is pretty minor when you consider the game is still a lot of fun, and has strengths in other areas. But I thought it was worth pointing out, especially with Diablo 3 looming on the horizon.

[RollCasket]

Well while I can't really comment on this game it's totally cool to create your own threads for games that don't have one. I mean Ive made many that only has me talking to myself, so don't worry about it, lol.

[ThePaul]

I'm kinda having fun with it, but I choose to play on Hard, and I'm not the kind of person that really should be doing that, so I haven't gotten that far.

[Bear]

Yeah, post as much as you care too; hearing about new games is always a good thing and might create some launch points for people to join in on the discussion or discover things that they may not have tried otherwise. =)

[Pie]

I've actually seen the title around for a bit and was a kinda curious. I've been HEAVILY craving an action RPG in which I can make my own character and thought it might be possible in KoA:Reckoning. I started downloading the demo, but stopped because I didn't feel like waiting for a probable disappointment. A lot of western RPGs don't tend to grab me due to them often being overly serious, having characters designed to look too realistic, and having a washed-out color palette. I'm happy to see some nice colors in the launch trailer, but I'm not fond of how the story looks like it somewhat revolves around war. I'm so tired of war stories. -_- It's a shame that there's a lack of cosmetic and statistical upgrades for your character; I was actually getting a little excited to check out the demo after reading your first post. >.<

[TheNesta]

It could get better, in regards to the variety of cosmetic equipment. I'll make sure to note that if it does. As for the color pallet, it's a nice change of pace, that I can confirm has remained true for the 11 or so hours that I've played of it. A lot of people like to compare it to WoW, and I'd say that's accurate. I've always been a bigger fan of a more stylized, colorful aesthetic myself, so this is definitely nice.

It's because of that same interest that I still really love the way RO and WoW look, because it's so colorful, and unique looking. Rather than the boring, shades of brown, uncanny valley a lot of modern games add. Don't get me wrong, it can be done well, but you'll have an easier time grabbing my attention if you mix it up a bit.

Sorry, I digress.

As for the war stories, yeah, it's a bit played out at this point. But I think there always has to be some sort of conflict that serves as the driving force for what's happening in the world. Though, as I mentioned previously, I couldn't say if what Amalur presents is terribly interesting, because I kind of tune it out.

I'd still recommend checking it out though, if you're really craving an action RPG, cause it's still pretty solid. I just made up a few deadly combos last night that involve me igniting a group of enemies, and then pulling the trigger so they suffer a massive explosion, than follow that up with a series of Chakram attacks at range, before finally moving in close and going in for cleanup. It's fun!

[Pie]

Thanks Nesta for telling us what you think of the game so far. XD Do you know if you can create a character in the demo and how long it is?

[Bear]

Yeah, I do like the art direction of this game. Like you Nesta, and Pie of course, I enjoy a game that has a strong color palette. Like I know Skyrim is really popular, but I would rather be playing Witcher 2, for instance (which I still need to play). Though seeing the DID pique my interest lol

[TheNesta]

Ah, yes. In the demo you can create a character, and as far as I know you have all the customization options open to you as you do in the retail game. So, you can pick male or female, one of the four playable races, and start the game. Then, as you play through the demo, you can choose to spend your level up points however you want. You get past the first little tutorial/opening mission of the game, and then you have 40 minutes of free time where you can explore the world and do quite a few quests.

Man, I really liked Skyrim, as I am a fan of The Elder Scrolls games, and while it is very cool to punch dragons in the face! I still really, really want to play The Witcher 2. That game just looks so amazing. I bought it on Steam when it came out, but my PC can't really run it, so waiting for the 360 version now. I cannot wait!