Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning

mateofalcone wrote:

If anything, I hope another company learns from some of the game's (not the company's) strengths. I thought the world was interesting, and thought their whole fate weaver conceit was a great way to deal with specs. After hearing how easy it is to turn your character into whatever you like on the fly, playing a class-based game like WoW or ToR feel archaic.

Too right. Kind of does the thing where they respect the player's time and just hand you the fun, as people (correctly) say about Saints Row 3.

No more patches "barring some sort of miracle"

Not surprising but that's still too bad.

So, the standard question - who do you see picking up the IP? Firaxis, maybe? Nah, they are too small for this kind of project... Hmmm...

I can't really think of a company that's lacking an RPG for their portfolio. 2K maybe?

I don't really think Amalur is that strong as a universe or world. It doesn't have any great story 'hooks' for me that are unique to the IP, and I don't feel there's any gameplay systems that another studio couldn't just blatantly copy. What's the value in the IP that a company would be buying?

I foresee this one languishing in the filing cabinets of a company that doesn't have anything to do with gaming.

The business value of an IP lies mainly in name recognition, rather than lore or gameplay hooks. This is why you see games called Medal of Honor coming out from studios that have nothing to do with the franchise, thirteen years later.

If Reckoning indeed sold 1.2 million copies, it is an established brand that can be applied to unrelated games in hopes of boosting interest.

And there was quite a bit unique to Amalur if you dig a little.

I could see someone taking the license and making a sequel, especially since with the MMO probably dead in the water so you could just drop the subtitle and call it KOA 2 or something. The only problem with that being that I can imagine the politicians of Rhode Island who are still stinging from the massive loan they just took overestimating it's value resulting in nobody buying it off them.

Really kind of sucks for Big Huge Games. Such a cool company that was riding high with Rise of Nations that ended up besieged by bad luck from then on in.

I think that KoA was good because it didn't reinvent the wheel. It was just a big easy open world, and that is why I liked it. Combat was simple, story was basic - but when you added all the pieces together - the sum was greater as a whole. Don't go into the game thinking that it is cutting edge - it isn't. But if you want a fun game to zone out on, this is a great one.

I thought the elvish culture of re-enactment was amazing and original, while also a commentary on art and history. I love that aspect of Amalur, and afaik it's unique in gaming.

I think you're referring to the Fae. They're elf-like but they're closer to minor gods, closer to Tolkien Maia than to Noldor.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I thought the elvish culture of re-enactment was amazing and original, while also a commentary on art and history. I love that aspect of Amalur, and afaik it's unique in gaming.

The thing is with that when considering sequels

Spoiler:

The main plotline of Reckoning is about the end of fate and those cycles. It was a nice way to set themselves up for a series of games by essentially saying "there's no pre-ordained plan for you" which is what you need in a game

It was kind of a nice touch, but it's a little weak to base a whole game franchise on.

LarryC wrote:

I think you're referring to the Fae. They're elf-like but they're closer to minor gods, closer to Tolkien Maia than to Noldor.

Ah, right, they called them Fae, and they had summer and winter courts. In all other aspects, they seemed more like traditional elves than traditional fae to me. Not that I'm an expert, but fae are used extensively in the Dresden Files, and I think a key character in Wise Man's Fear was fae, as well. KoA's were just long-lived people who looked elvish and were close to nature.

Oh, and Scratched : I was afraid to read your spoiler since I'm nowhere near finished with the game. I may get back to it soon, though.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

KoA's were just long-lived people who looked elvish and were close to nature.

There was a theory on the Reckoning forums that Fae were actually super advanced plants. They are made of magic. They come from an alternate magic universe. When they feel the call of winter, they retire to the magic universe, and then return to Amalur in a Fae hollow, where they grow, mature, and eventually go back to living their predestined life. Thus, they don't really die, and they remember everything that has happened to all their incarnations.

They are also sort of a communal species, in that theirs is a shared existence. The "tales" they live out give their lives meaning, but they don't necessarily live the same tales every "season".

There's a lot of depth to the Fae in Reckoning.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
LarryC wrote:

I think you're referring to the Fae. They're elf-like but they're closer to minor gods, closer to Tolkien Maia than to Noldor.

Ah, right, they called them Fae, and they had summer and winter courts. In all other aspects, they seemed more like traditional elves than traditional fae to me. Not that I'm an expert, but fae are used extensively in the Dresden Files, and I think a key character in Wise Man's Fear was fae, as well. KoA's were just long-lived people who looked elvish and were close to nature.

No, they're not. The Fae are immortal, not long-lived. Even when you kill them, they reincarnate and have memories of their past lives. They are fundamentally inhuman, more magic than material. Not even Tolkien's elves are of that nature.

Moreover, Amalurian Fae are not simply close to nature, but closely tied to its cycles and mechanics. You could almost say that they ARE nature. As seen in the Detyre story arcs, interference with the activities of the Fae alters the seasons, the flora and the fauna, and the climate itself. They are made of magic and that magic is what makes each region in Amalur the way it is (not "natural" forces").

In that they are closer to spirits and fairies in what they are, Amalurian Fae are closer to traditional stories of fairies, fae, and fair folk than they are to the traditional Germanic elves or to Tolkien elves. I'd even call them closer to kami of Japanese folklore than to elves.

There are characters in Amalur that closely resemble elves - those are the Alfar, split into the Ljosalfar and the Dokkalfar brances. That's why I named one of my powerful crafted swords, "Sword of the Alfar Champion."

I will probably need to finish the game in order to learn more about these Amalurian fae.

Not really, the sidequests chains for the houses are where the fae stuff is, the main quest is more about you.

Huh, the seems to have unlocked for Japanese IPs with Steam. I can now play. Didn't expect that to happen.

Finally picked this up.

Are the DLC's worth it?

I couldn't even get to the point of buying the DLCs before I was done with the game. As in, I just could not play it anymore for the repetitiveness of it. I love Skyrim and have and will continue to drop large numbers of hours in it... but this game, just could not get that far. Got to like the second Warsworn keep, was working on finding some general for the main quest line,and I was just over it and went back to Skyrim.

I haven't hit the DLC's yet (though I did pick them up), but I still fire this up periodically and just enjoy romping around in it. I'm apparently one of the few who loves that there's so much content to it in spite of the relative shallowness of that content. I just enjoy the fun actiony gameplay and exploration enough that it's one of my favorite games this year.

Fuzzballx wrote:

Finally picked this up.

Are the DLC's worth it?

I 100%'d the game on live and thought the DLCs were pretty fun, Island of Dead Kell especially.

SallyNasty wrote:
Fuzzballx wrote:

Finally picked this up.

Are the DLC's worth it?

I 100%'d the game on live and thought the DLCs were pretty fun, Island of Dead Kell especially.

I'll second this, loved the game and had just as much fun in the DLCs.

Fuzzballx wrote:

Finally picked this up.

Are the DLC's worth it?

I think you should play the game before even thinking about DLC. There's so much game. I finished it after about 65 hours and while I really enjoyed it, I didn't feel the need for any more.

I believe the DLC scales to your level, so it's better to play towards the and of the game, as it is possible to outlevel areas in the original game before completing all their quests.

Demosthenes wrote:

I couldn't even get to the point of buying the DLCs before I was done with the game. As in, I just could not play it anymore for the repetitiveness of it. I love Skyrim and have and will continue to drop large numbers of hours in it... but this game, just could not get that far. Got to like the second Warsworn keep, was working on finding some general for the main quest line,and I was just over it and went back to Skyrim.

I sort of second this with respect to the DLC but I'm exactly opposite regarding skyrim; couldn't get into it but played hundreds of hours of amalur.

I picked up this game and its 2 DLC's from amazon last Friday when it was on sale for 12 bucks. I am really enjoying it so far, even picked up the guide for it for twice as much as I payed for the game.

That guide is great. It's one of the only game guides I've bought in the last few years.

I've dusted it off with the plan of finishing it. I actually rerolled a Chakrams/Bows toon and parked my Greatsword/Bows dude. Mostly because I could never find a bloody greatsword to use so ended up respeccing him to hammer instead - as I'd found a good one of those - then got bored with hammer combat. Oh well.

I mostly just enjoy romping about and chopping things up. It's fun and pretty and actiony and not too taxing so it scratches the same itch I got from playing WoW solo.

I'll be looking for sick deals on this game this holiday season, any reason (mods, etc.) to prioritize PC over console, other than the inevitable Steam blowout? My video card is about to die, and I'm not keen to upgrade it at the moment.