Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning

The demo was fun, the visual style was fine, the systems seem neat and all that, but I have a few issues that I think can be safely called Pet Peeves, but, whatever, they exist.

I hate it when concepts get renamed for no reason. If it has pointy ears and is good at magic, call it an elf.

I'm not sure if the strange Bioware wheel/Bethesda blank slate fusion will work for me. I kept running into NPCs who were assholes, and had no way to cope with that. I wanted to punch the town alchemist in the face, or at least give a snide answer, not blankly ask "Town?"

There were a few other oddities in the writing as well, which stick out because it's very showy in a way that I'm not convinced it compatible with the silent protagonist. I guy I was supposed to talk to got murdered, and the guy who sent me exclaimed "I mean, he owed me (something paltry), but that's no reason to murder him!" The intent, I assume, was to establish the victim as harmless and without enemies, but I couldn't help but think "Well, I didn't accuse you of anything, but you structured that sentence so oddly that I can't help but feel you're hiding something."

I had a good time, so I'll grab the game...eventually. That's sort of a trouble I was talking about with some friends. We're all still playing Skyrim, and ME3 is in early March, so do we really want a 200+ hour RPG right now? The answer is almost universally No.

I was really excited for this, but after playing the demo, I'm a bit disappointed. Think I'm going to cancel my pre-order. It could turn out to be a great game, but there's not enough in the demo to really draw me in.

I was also somewhat disappointed with the demo, being especially positive beforehand that this would be an easy, and first, day one purchase of 2012. Now I've decided to wait. Mainly, I'm really sick of MMO conventions, especially dull/monotonous/grindy quests. I haven't fully explored the demo, but I didn't see anything outside of those quests. Even though the combat's solid, the only other thing that stood out to me (caught my attention) were some of the environments.

I've also nearly decided that I'm going to be picking up Twisted Metal and SSX in February. With that, any backlog games, and continuing Skyrim, it really doesn't make sense to put more on my plate than I can handle. I really wanted to support this game off the bat, but it just didn't click with me.

So, has anyone figured out yet how to unlock the second ME3 goodie? The "complete the demo" one?

Luggage wrote:

So, has anyone figured out yet how to unlock the second ME3 goodie? The "complete the demo" one?

Play to 45 minutes. You need to do it on the same platform you want the unlocks for, so playing the PC demo will get the unlocks in ME3 PC.

So apparently stealing is bad. And resisting arrest even worse. I just wiped out the first town in self-defense. Which means the quest givers of the first 3 quests are also dead.

Luggage wrote:

So apparently stealing is bad. And resisting arrest even worse. I just wiped out the first town in self-defense. Which means the quest givers of the first 3 quests are also dead.

Temper, temper!

Finished the demo. Seems like standard MMO fare in a single player costume. Standing out positively is the combat. On the other side, there are unnecessary inconveniences like only being able do jump down waist-high ledges if there is a pre-programmed "jump down here" spot.

It's a little to MMO-ey for my taste. Would be a backlog candidate, if I ever got gems like The Witcher or Dragon Age off the pile.

Luggage wrote:

So apparently stealing is bad. And resisting arrest even worse. I just wiped out the first town in self-defense. Which means the quest givers of the first 3 quests are also dead.

I actually find that really awesome.

SuperDave wrote:
Luggage wrote:

So apparently stealing is bad. And resisting arrest even worse. I just wiped out the first town in self-defense. Which means the quest givers of the first 3 quests are also dead.

I actually find that really awesome.

Yep, that was one of the high points for me too. Unlike a lot of RPGs where you can just wander in to anyone rooms at the inn and pilfer whatever you please with no consequences, my dastardly actions were immediately met with lethal violence. No 'you might want to put that back, maybe?', straight to 'guards!'. Unfortunately the demo timed out just as I'd killed everyone in the tavern and was about to take the fight outside...

I pulled a shiny happy lever I found and got arrested for "jailbreak." Then I picked the lock to my cell and tried to escape but even though I was a finesse-based character, sneaking works for crap so the guards got mad again. I ran away instead of killing anyone.

That actually kind of seems like an interesting way to start the game. I don't know if anyone'll REMEMBER that I was misbehaving after I've done my time, or if there's really any consequence to serving my sentence (you can skip to the end by sleeping, right?), but it adds a little flavor.

So I loaded up the game and everything runs fine until I actually get into the game. Black screen. All I hear are the voices. Anyone else getting this?

BlackSabre wrote:

So I loaded up the game and everything runs fine until I actually get into the game. Black screen. All I hear are the voices. Anyone else getting this?

ATI card user? Turn off post processing.

It's like people are skimming the thread.

Scratched wrote:

It's like people are skimming the thread.

Hey look it is an ability calculator! Yay!

http://www.38watch.com/calculator/

I really enjoyed the demo on PC except for the camera. Some sort of ini file edit to zoom out more and I'm sold.

Is there anyone who took the "harpoon" skill and did not say "get over here!" out loud the first time they used it?

garion333 wrote:
BlackSabre wrote:

So I loaded up the game and everything runs fine until I actually get into the game. Black screen. All I hear are the voices. Anyone else getting this?

ATI card user? Turn off post processing.

Yup. Turn off... from where? My ATI control panel or is there an option for that in game?

In game: Options -> Graphics

Thanks. Will check that out tonight.

I have word that the audio director on this game is the same man responsible for the Donkey Kong Rap. I'm not sure what else you people could want.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Is there anyone who took the "harpoon" skill and did not say "get over here!" out loud the first time they used it?

I thought that only worked with a Harpoon weapon, but didn't find any. Is that not the case?

Fedaykin98 wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Is there anyone who took the "harpoon" skill and did not say "get over here!" out loud the first time they used it?

I thought that only worked with a Harpoon weapon, but didn't find any. Is that not the case?

Harpoon is an active skill not a weapon. Just put points into it and map it to a button.

The only weapon types in the game are:
Might:
-Great Sword
-Long Sword
-Hammer
Finesse:
-Daggers
-Fae Blades
-Bow
Sorcery:
-Staff
-Chakram
-Sceptre

That was painful. I ended up leaving it for the 45 minutes, only to come back and be told you've got 20 minutes left! *sigh*

All for the Mass Effect 3 weapon which will more than likely be crap anyway. But still. Had to do it.

I completely missed that you can map attacks to buttons. Might play again tonight.

After playing the demo I think I might just be done with RPG's for now. The thought of running around, doing quests, gathering/comparing loot, picking alchemy ingrediants that I'll never use, mining rocks for armor I'll never make, leveling up/picking skills, just seems boring to me. What is wrong with me? Was it too much Skyrim? I thought I love these kind of games. I grew bored after 20 minutes, thinking, "I've been here before...."

For me it's more to do with respecting my time. I don't want to be doing random inconsequential jobs for people, if you've got a story to be telling then get on and tell it. I got bored a few days ago and I'm on a 7 days free time in WoW, which cemented the feeling for me as even the stuff linked in with 'exciting' new content like the firelands is boring due to it's delivery. I don't care if it's dozens or hundreds of hours of 'great value for money' playtime if it's boring content designed to drag out the playtime.

All that said, the demo does seem a bit limited, so opinions on it might be better after release, but my pre-release opinion is "meh".

Warning: some mild spoilers about the first 15-30 minutes after leaving the starting dungeon below. Too long for a spoiler tag imo, so skip my post if you want to go into the demo or first hour of the game unspoiled.

I think it comes down to how jaded individual people are by MMOs towards that kind of "diet RPG". I kind of am myself and wasn't impressed by the demo, but in retrospect, there were some strong points that make me at least consider this as a 50% off purchase in a future with a slimmer backlog. The punishment for breaking the law and option to just outright wipe out the beginner town was one thing. I also liked the quest chain of finding the lost brother, then helping him on his path fueled by delusion of grandeur by escorting him through a cave and finally showing him the error of his ways. The escort worked flawlessly and even included two loading screens. Maybe I am just easy to impress, but I kinda liked that.

On the other hand I didn't care for the fate mode finishing move QTEs and encountered a camp of wolves early on, which attacked me, just to reset after their first hit followed by aggroing again in an endless loop. Then again there was a bear just two trees over, who could be kited without resetting or bugging out.

On the note of the law enforcement system, it would be interesting if there actually are mechanics in place that would allow to successfully steal the Greater Healing Potion (needed for one of the first quests in Startshire) from the potion store. After all, the shopkeeper even says she has one of those and it should be around the house somewhere. That would then open up an alternate solution of resolving that quest other than buying it (expensive), crafting it (not sure if that will be feasible that early on) or finding it in some mob (camp).

The most off-putting from a narrative perspective was the Fateweaver you meet directly after leaving the starter dungeon. I get that I will grow to be some sort of hero or savior, but could they emphasize how special my character will be in a more hamfisted way?

Luggage wrote:

On the note of the law enforcement system, it would be interesting if there actually are mechanics in place that would allow to successfully steal the Greater Healing Potion (needed for one of the first quests in Startshire) from the potion store. After all, the shopkeeper even says she has one of those and it should be around the house somewhere. That would then open up an alternate solution of resolving that quest other than buying it (expensive), crafting it (not sure if that will be feasible that early on) or finding it in some mob (camp).

I was able to steal the potion; it's in one of the drawers or desks or chests somewhere in the building. When I went to do it, it listed a 100% success rate (when other items in the building had a lower success rate than that), so I'm not sure if that's the game's way of flagging something as "ok to take" since the shopkeeper had said there's one around the house. I did wait until the guard was in some other part of the building and entered stealth mode before doing it, but I'm not sure if either of those precautions was necessary.