Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Review

[Jumwa]

]Apparently we didn't play the same Fables. DS3 was a Fable clone. KoA is not by any means that. The best way to describe it would be lifting the good parts of the DA2 battle system(as in no wave after wave of enemies) and vastly improving the control scheme and tossing it into an old school FF map system with a well written background but individual characterizations that could have been done much better if they had taken cues from Bioware and Obsidian. As it is NPC interactions are pretty rough, although the underlying potential is there.

Everything from the graphical style, to the world layout, to the one-button combat, was lifted almost identically from the Fable games. I never really noticed any similarities to Dragon Age 2 as you say.

As for story and that, it was definitely the weakest part of Amalur. The drone of character dialogue and uninteresting backstory they toss at you was the low point of my experience with it. Everything else about the game was good, at the very least, all the story elements were weak at best in my opinion.

It wasn't even that they threw too dense of a wall of information at you, the stories background just wasn't interesting. It was the kind of generic slop that they shovel to you for brawlers or other titles where story is totally inconsequential and you wonder why they even bother.

Anyhow, I'd hate to leave off on a bad note. As I've said, I enjoyed the game thus far, I just don't see any of the hype or comparisons as being on target with the kind of game it is.

 

[ms_sunlight]

Yes, Valve isn't the best and it may not be fair to force Steam onto people who would rather just buy the disc, but they don't charge you for it. Steam is free.

You ever hear the saying, if they're not charging you for it, you're not the customer, you're the product?

Steam isn't free. Everything you buy on Steam, they take a cut. It also provides DRM, and a massive amount of data about your purchasing and playing habits, which is commercially valuable data.

I use Steam, I find it convenient, but don't kid yourself you're not paying for it.

 

[Frozengale]

I tried out the Demo on a whim, and the opening sequence made me burst out laughing due to the silliness of the overacting villian and the meaningless fantasy terms being thrown around. I wouldn't say that's that is a bad thing but I don't know how serious I would be able to take this game, if nothing else everything about it did look interesting. The combat seemed fairly generic hack and slash, but with the ability to switch between spells and weapons so easily you can have some real fun with what I saw in the demo. I can't tell you how much fun it was to juggle an enemy or switch between bashing an enemy with my staff then my daggers all while shooting lightning bolts at another enemy across the room. The only probably I had was there was many many bugs in the demo. Sound effects suddenly not working, cutscenes jumping around for no apparent reason, and my character model deciding to randomly shift over to the right about 10 feet. All of these things happened multiple times.

If the full game is as buggy as the demo then I will probably not be picking it up, if the full game is relatively bug free then I would be picking it up as soon as I get the money.

 

[Ernil Menegil]

Point the first: It was written by Salvatore, the most overrated writer in the fantasy genre, comparable only by Paolini.

Point the second: It does a very poor job of telling a story, instead battering players with inane details that, instead of drawing the player in, will push the player out of immersion.

Point the third: The philosophical questions regarding fate and free will are covered with much greater quality and depth in the Legacy of Kain series, with this game failing utterly in this regard save their most superficial aspects.

Despite being an avid fan of the fantasy genre and roleplaying games, I refuse to lower my standards. I demand better quality of my RPGs. This screams of potential tossed to the bin. Which is why I shall not be supporting the developers by paying or playing this game any further than the demo.

 

[Matvejs]

Like said in the review, "if you can get past the overwhelming elf-ishness, you will like it" - I couldn't (although I haven't had problems with this in the past). Combat was great and, for me, made up for the lack of immersion in the story. (Any suggestions of a similar game, but with a more darker/"mature" feel to it? thanks in advance )

 

[Diegolomac]

I didn't mind the praising of the combat in the reviews, but when I finally played it, and after trying out all the different weapons and upgrading a couple of them to unlock new moves, I suddenly realised I was grinning like an idiot. Seriously, the combat in this game is AWESOME.

This game is basically the good version of Fable. It's Fable with good combat, a really big world, a crapload of sidequests, and oh so much variety.

 

[svenjl]

I didn't mind the praising of the combat in the reviews, but when I finally played it, and after trying out all the different weapons and upgrading a couple of them to unlock new moves, I suddenly realised I was grinning like an idiot. Seriously, the combat in this game is AWESOME.

This game is basically the good version of Fable. It's Fable with good combat, a really big world, a crapload of sidequests, and oh so much variety.

Spot on. This is a FUN game that puts a smile on my face. Skyrim was super, but a bit grim. This is vibrant - a true fantasy game!