(Hmm... I seemed to of typed a lot. Well, some people rant, I like to rave. I suppose it's cause I'm optimist. If you prefer, you can just post on your impressions of the demo if you've played it.)
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As the title states, I just finished my first play-through of the demo and am eager to go back and play it again.
In case you haven't heard of it, Kingdoms of Amalur is a fantasy based RPG. It is similar to other Fantasy RPGs such as the Elder Scrolls Series; filled with elves, sword swinging and magic. It has an amazing cast of people working on the game which include: R.A. Salvatore (Best-Selling Author of the Drizzit series) penning the story, Todd McFarlane handling the art (creator of Spawn), and Ken Rolston is working on the gameplay (lead designer for Morrowind and Oblivion).
Knowing about the people who were developing the game, made me even more excited for the demo to come out. You start out with the full character creation system that will be in the retail release. The options are not the most impressive I've seen, but I liked the idea of making a badass punk chick with a mohawk and a bull ring. In any event, (and to save on spoilers) after another cut scene you go through the game’s version of a tutorial and try out the traditional fighting options; Magic, Melee and Archery. The combat is unique from most RPGs, in that it is a combo based system. In other words, you string together combos for bigger, badder (and cooler) attacks.
Similar to Dante's Inferno and other such games, you unlock the abilities through a leveling system, that reminiscent of World of Warcraft. This shouldn't be surprising though, as 38 Studios plans on making a MMO based on the success of this game.
Not only are their combos within a particular play-style, but the part that I enjoyed most was switching back and forth between the play styles. One of my favorite things to do with my warrior; was to engage enemies in melee combat and then just before the archer fires his arrow, I'll dodge to the right and send a lightning bolt crashing into him.
This fighting mechanic made the combate feel more akin to Ninja Gaiden or God of War than to Mass Effect or KOTOR. In fact, the closest comparison I could think of as I darted from one enemy to the next, was of Jade Empire. In that game, I enjoyed switching from stances to get the maximum effectivess out of my character. Hitting the enemy with strike from my paralyzing palm to setup a killing blow from my legendary strike, always filled me with glee.
It wasn't all roses and ass-kicking. In fact, there are a lot of bugs that I hope they can resolve before the game releases in February. To be fair, it's not uncommon to have graphic hiccups in a demo as large as this one (1.9 gb). But the frequency of these texture hiccups does caution me to some degree. The most frightening (and hilarious) of these was when I began playing my rogue and noticed her head was missing! I ran around in circles for a few moments like a chicken with his head cutoff. Fortunately, the head "loaded" after a short time, and I was off to do some merry killing.
Overall, I enjoyed my playthrough of the demo. The best part of it was a 45-minute roaming period through the opening area. This may not be new for the PC crowd who get timed trials all the time. But as a console fan, this is a refreshing change, and offers plenty of incentive to go back and play through it again to try out a new question of play-style. Also, once you've played through the demo, the game will give you the option in the beginning to skip the tutorial and jump straight to the timed part of the game!
The demo is out now for the PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC; I'm eager to hear what you all think of it. And if you've never heard anything about this game until now and would like to know more, below is a link to the KoA:Reckoning homepage as well as a youtube link with one of the gameplay trailers:
http://reckoning.amalur.com/en/ag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lhzDkaKi1w
Nice write-up! I hadn't heard of this game. Your skillfully crafted rave told me all the things I wanted to know. Thank you.
I liked the look
I liked the story.
I liked the conversations.
I absolutly hated the combat mechanics.
I am crying a little inside.
Danke
Really? What about it did you hate?
I tried out the demo and played for almost 2 hours and while I didn't think I was going to like it I thought it kicked arss. I even liked the combat and I normally don't like that kind of combat. No way will I pay $60 for it, but once it's down to $30 or so (perhaps on a Steam summer sale) it's a must buy for me. Try the demo at least.
I can't download the demo right now for some weird reason... hope i can try tomorrow.
The demo is on Steam (not sure if it's available direct download).
Ya I know but steams not loving me right now.
I thought it was very decent. I just played through it today. The only thing that bugs me a bit about it is How Much everything looks like WoW. Honestly, I expected more from Todd Mcfarlane. Seriously, graphically the game could be a WoW clone. Weapons, armor, textures, you name it and you've seen it in WoW. The few graphical errors that show up aren't that bothersome, but, it's disturbing because on a game that looks almost exactly like another game it should run as smooth as the other game does, but it doesn't. The game also feels like it has a lot in common with the first Fable game, you know, the good one, so that's a good thing.
I did like seeing "The Violator" laying dead in a cave though lol. Definite easter egg.
i've been keen on this game since it was first announced.
my biggest concern is the combat. how well does it translate to mouse/keyboard?
I think the default keyboard layout leaves a little to be desired. Luckily you can bind the keys whichever way you want or even plug in a compatible controller.
I thought it was OK until you fight the first troll.
Hit F, now Space ... no hammer your space key like you want to break it. Gah.
Later: Use you Fatekiller (or whatever it is called) ability for bonus! Yeah, well. Bonus depends on the number of times you can hit your key per second. F**k it.
I am an older gamer (37). I dont need or want that twitchy game play. I already hated it in God of War.
I play games to relax from the day.
I loathe button mashing too, so thankfully it appears to only be for a little bonus xp.
I played the PC Demo and enjoyed the graphics, conversation system, and thought the character creation was decent. However, the inventory, controls, and combat were abysmal. I don't think I'll be going back to it.
The worst part of it was that I could see and feel elements of WoW, Dragon Age, and even Fable in the design. Unfortunately, at least to me, they missed the mark.
I like it more than Skyrim myself. Skyrim is expansive and has good RPG mechanics, but the theme and most of the characters can go die for all I care. And the combat is boring.
So yeah, I'm most likely going to have a lot of fun with Amalur. We'll see how much I end up liking it, but I did like the demo.
http://penny-arcade.com/2012/01/27/amalur
I won't give you the whole article of course, but here's a few choice quotes
The combat in Skyrim is miserable. If games like Bayonetta and God of War are on one end of a spectrum, games like Skyrim are so far on the other end that they have fallen off the spectrum and actually can not even see the spectrum from where they are. It seems like if you want to play a massive open world RPG you have to give up a fun,energetic combat system. The thrill of discovering a cave full of vampires in Skyrim is diminished by the knowledge that once I get in there, fighting them is just going to be a chore.
I think that in Skyrim, story, exploration and discovery are the things that are supposed to keep you playing. Amalur has all that stuff too but it doesn’t sacrifice the game play to deliver it. This combat would feel right at home in an action game but they have combined it with solid writing and a massive open world.
Saw the screenshots, it's all swimming in foggy bloom.
This game seemed okay. The melee combat system works okay, its a little too easy (maybe thats just the demo?). The ranged combat is designed for console and the aiming system is terrible. I didn't have too much experience with the magic system but it seems to work okay, though I would assume there would be aiming problems for some spells.
I like that you can play as a female and the overall experience of the game is fine. The main issue I have is with the linear level design. Even though the game is fairly open its not really a big world you can explore like Oblivion (I haven't played Skyrim). It feels more like WoW, Kotor, or other RPGs where yes you can explore side areas but really theres only a few paths and once you are on a path there are plenty of walls to force you in one direction. Thats just a personal preference on my part for more open worlds.
The crafting and level up systems seem to be pretty well done. The stealth system works pretty well. Overall its a really solid game. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't teach you enough about the game as you play. For example, I got caught stealing and I decided to fight the guard. That turned the whole town hostile against me, even though I killed everyone who saw me commit the crime (it was inside a store). Then I couldn't figure out how to surrender to the guards, I didn't think to try block + talk like in oblivion, so I just killed everyone. When you die, at least for the demo, you just resurrect with no penalties, its kind of lame. The whole town couldn't kill me, but in the jail those 2 guards were super tough. I would prefer if things were more balanced. There are also tutorial messages that pop up explaining how something works, but they disappear before I could read 1/2 of it. I am a fast reader too...
So yeah, worth checking out i guess. Its cool they released a demo like that.
nice to have a demo.
nice game overall, didnt appeal to me, like wow
looks too kiddie or console oriented.
the skills and abilities system looks great though, and finishing moves and fate dissolution is nice addition, i wish it were added to Vampire masquarade or similar, grown up setting.
well, we shall see what future brings, shan't we?
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