Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning

You get a base of operations later on. I suppose you could call it a house, but it's a little too grand for that.

Well, I'm a couple of hours in, and I'm really not very impressed. The writing is pretty bad, the voice acting is only so-so, and the combat doesn't seem like much fun. I don't even bother talking with most of the people about most of their topics, because it's dreadfully boring to listen to them drone on.

Am I wasting my time here? Is it going to get better?

Malor wrote:

Well, I'm a couple of hours in, and I'm really not very impressed. The writing is pretty bad, the voice acting is only so-so, and the combat doesn't seem like much fun. I don't even bother talking with most of the people about most of their topics, because it's dreadfully boring to listen to them drone on.

Am I wasting my time here? Is it going to get better?

It does, but probably not in any way you'd like. Probably best to move on. Loot and combat is the game's main draw for me. It was the story for others. If you don't find them good now, you're probably not going to find them much better later on.

Malor wrote:

Well, I'm a couple of hours in, and I'm really not very impressed. The writing is pretty bad, the voice acting is only so-so, and the combat doesn't seem like much fun. I don't even bother talking with most of the people about most of their topics, because it's dreadfully boring to listen to them drone on.

Am I wasting my time here? Is it going to get better?

Play on hard. Only do the main quest line and the faction quests. Avoid all side quests. Do not talk to random NPCs. Do not go out of your way to fight stuff or collection things not on your direct path.

If you're not doing that, try playing the game in that manner. That's the accepted way to get the most quality out of the game with the least effort.

If you are already doing that and it is still not grabbing you, then uninstall KoA and never look back. No big deal.

Random KoA Question: What's the best way to regen hp after fights? The first time I played through on easy so I never needed any potions or anything. Now I'm on hard and I find myself needing to gulp pots quite often. Any easy way to get a bunch of hp pots or something?

Squee9 wrote:

Random KoA Question: What's the best way to regen hp after fights? The first time I played through on easy so I never needed any potions or anything. Now I'm on hard and I find myself needing to gulp pots quite often. Any easy way to get a bunch of hp pots or something?

What's your class? I played mage and there's a tier 2 or 3 health restoration spell. Not sure if there's health regen spells or effects for other classes, but that's how I did it without using up all my potions.

I'm going might with the biggest hammer I can possibly find. (But you can still use a shield to block with a 2-handed weapon :D) So far hp pots is the only thing I've found.

I'm also just sprinting from fight to fight, so I'm not noticing any natural regen if I even have any.

Regen would be on equipment you find/make.

Malor wrote:

Well, I'm a couple of hours in, and I'm really not very impressed. The writing is pretty bad, the voice acting is only so-so, and the combat doesn't seem like much fun. I don't even bother talking with most of the people about most of their topics, because it's dreadfully boring to listen to them drone on.

Am I wasting my time here? Is it going to get better?

I played the demo when it first came out and it didn't have any appeal to me. It wasn't until I heard all the praise that I went back and picked up a retail copy. Once I got outside the initial area that's when it hooked me.

Finished this for the first time today. When it first came out I played as a mage and probably got half way through the main quest and burnt out on the game at about 30 hrs. This time, I only did the main quest and two faction quest lines as a warrior. Took about 20 hrs, but I didn't get so worn out by all the questing. Overall, I think it's a decent game and I had a lot of fun smashing everything to death with a huge hammer.

Even just playing through so few quests, I was still fairly overpowered by the end of the game -- but I much prefer that to dying over and over (I played on normal, which was just right for me).

I think what hurt this game the most (for me) was that it came out not long after Skyrim and drew a lot of (superficial) comparisons in the media with that game. It's really nothing like Skyrim. If, instead, you see it more as an action RPG with semi-random loot drops, brawler combat, and a mostly forgettable story, you can sit back and enjoy it for what it is. Plus, they have included an absolute ton of content. I could easily play again as a different character and get another 20-30 hours beyond the quest lines I've already played. That's pretty good value for the money.

tl;dr: 7-7.5/10

Was at Target today on other business when I saw the 360 version of this selling for $20. For consoles that is usually the start of impulse-buy territory but I had a horrible flashback of crowdfunding projects backed and indie games purchased in the last couple weeks and reluctantly put my wallet away.

Maybe I"ll go back in a few days...

It's free on PS3 with PS+ and has been $6 at Amazon and now on Steam for PC.

I'm not saying it's not worth $20, as it definitely is a fun game. But spending more than $10 (or $12 for the complete version with DLC) is spending a bit too much for it at this point.

Thanks for the tip. There seem to be a lot of good (free) things happening on PS+ these days.

You can definitely see that this was supposed to be an MMO. All these vast open areas with nothing in it but a couple of yellow questionsmarks. At times I can almost see the ghosts of the players that should be running around me. Very eerie. Especially when you just came out of playing three ACs with their cramped streets. I am enjoying the story and combat though (I'm half mage/half rogue with chakram and dagger which is fun).

Nope, Reckoning was a separate thing from the MMO. It was designed just the way it is, adapted from a fantasy game acquired by 38 Studios from Big Huge Games. The only thing it has in common with the MMO is the lore, which was injected into the unfinished BHG RPG.

The MMO never really got very far in development. The open areas in Reckoning are meant to give more of a wilderness feel. It's going to feel different than a city-based AC game for sure.

It seems I got those mixed up. It does feel that way to me though. Like running through an empty server. Well, big ol' empty and vast wilderness are a big difference though. I can't really see that they pulled that off. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. All the running around gives your mind time to wander though. I don't want to be too harsh on the game though because as I said the bulk of it I do enjoy.

Chakrams are the best thing in the game. The. Best.

Yup. That's about it.

The weirdest thing I remember about the game is the ridiculous amount of voiceover work. I'm usually the type of person who goes through every dialogue option, but this game destroyed that response in me, because every pointless side character you ran across had something meandering to say about every single aspect of the lore.

Man, watching that video makes me wanna play it again.

Also, that video missed the REALLY fun skill of launching motherf*ckers in the air with the chakrams. So great.

Yeah, when I made that video I had just started the game with a character I created just to try out the chakrams. I didn't have the Arcane Weaponry rank IV Orbital Blades attack. This guy uses it (skip to 2:30 where he's fighting the sprites):

Dammit, I think I'm going to have to take a break from Guild of Dungeoneering and Age of Wonders III and start up a game of Reckoning just for old times' sake!

Man, that is the stuff.

I recall playing for 15 hours or so and just getting overwhelmed with the amount to stuff to do. I would like to go back, but the pile is huge.

Yeah I've always meant to go back and finish. I did play chakrams, and it was awesome, and I probably spent 60 hours in, and was probably near the end. I did do the recommended stuff of finishing an area before moving on, to keep the difficulty levels capped, but it was still getting pretty easy where I was at last time I played.

I had 2 characters in parallel: Chakrams and Big Huge Sword. Chakrams were hugely fun but I loved the float combos you could pull with the Big Huge Sword.

Necro-ing this poor thread because I got this game a couple Steam sales ago for a paltry $5. Installed it, played the tutorial then promptly got distracted. A few months later I'm on the road towards trying to winnow down my PC playlist I got the urge out of left field to not only resume Dark Souls but take another stab at Reckoning.

Wow, I think it's got me. It is crushingly generic in many respects but I haven't yet found a game that combines character action combat with a loot game as well as this one does.

For an almost five year old game it also looks lovely. Again, very stock fantasy and all that but lovely all the same. The excessive use of bloom and the subtle cartoon style definitely go a long way towards hiding the wrinkles and liver spots.

As a gaming pair, I think this is the perfect palate cleanser once I've hit a natural stopping/frustration point with Dark Souls. The only thing I'll change next is to try upping the difficulty to Hard as everyone likes to suggest. The combat so far is pretty no-stakes and unless I'm under-leveled I don't ever feel that threatened by anything, even in the early game (~3 hours in).

Yup, still a fun game to play for me. The menus look super dated, but the game itself holds up pretty well. Dat combat system.

Yeah, the combat (Chakrams for the motherf*cking win) and loot is what kept me coming back too. One of the few games I've actually finished.

I would love to have a remastered version on PS4, but it will never happen. Enjoy your time with the game!

I remember playing this game when it launched. I had a lot of fun with this, and for a game that was meant to be an ad for an MMO that never got made, it was better than it had any right to be.