Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an upcoming single-player action role-playing game for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.[4] Ken Rolston, the lead designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, acts as the game's executive designer. Additionally, noted fantasy author R.A. Salvatore created the game universe and lore, with Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn, working on the artwork, and Grant Kirkhope, long-time composer for Rare Ltd., creating the musical score.
If anyone out here has played Lord of the Rings: War in the North, this game plays exactly like it. The inventory, item pick ups and the whole UI, in general, is very similar to it. I just completed the intro quest, which was essentially the same level provided in the demo. The combat is pretty fluid. The camera, however, is screwed up during fights. Lip-sync seems to be all over the place, it never seems to match the voice overs. But it's fun.
Camera is really bad. Screws up the situation while in tight battles. Another major trouble is the dodging and blocking mechanics. I don't know how well they are going to get, but right now.. they pretty much suck. The game is fun nonetheless. Reached Level 4. Now doing couple of side quests.
Dated graphics, Generic plot & Annoying camera -That's all I have to say about this game after playing the demo. Yeah, the combat feels pretty good but the camera spoils the fun. Pretty disappointing given the reputation of the people behind the creation of this game. Another overhyped and overrated game. I'm skipping it.
Well you see the games you mentioned above didn't got a single negative review. But this game has got mixed reviews so I can't really say whether you would like it or not. My suggestion would be to play the demo first after all demo is free right.
*reviving*
*i.imgur.com/lnHFz.jpg My Review so far in the game: Story:Story is good enough to keep you glued.And most of the side quests are equally good (though half of them are "go and fetch" type, still getting high quality merchandise on the way doest seems boring.I dont wanna spoil anything, so....
Graphics:The graphics are good.Don't expect too much, but the visual candy matches the game scenario.So no problems here.Also playing on high settings on low-mid end system isn't a problem.The game will remind you about WoW world.
Sound:Appropriate sound effects.Voice acting is done well.Actually its one of the games that manages to match the voice according to the speaker( read face). There may be occasions when discovering a stone set, the dialogue runs ahead of subtitles.No other issues so far.
Gameplay :Well I've clocked over 150hrs with main quests (halfway through)and completed few side quests.Not to forgot, I haven't touched the "tasks" as they are repeatable.So you can imagine the length of the game.If side quests are combined with main plot, it will easily surpass any of the Bethesda's creation.Oh yeah, 2 DLCs haven't been included in my review.So add more gameplay
Combat:Like every fantasy RPGs, this game also provide 3 main classes, namely Mage, Warrior and Assassin.The unique feature is that you can play as the combination of those classes which will eventually unlock even more ways of playing the game (read fighting combos and spells).I'm playing the Universalist path, i.e., the one who focus on all 3 classes and tbh, he has become almost invincible (only one NPC is stronger than me now, but I think its just a part of main plot).Also, you can change the way you play at any point of the game by resetting the skill points by NPCs known as Fate weavers .Of course, it will cost you coins, and the amount increases in succession.I've used it like 8 times and the next time it will cost me around 100k coins .
Merchandise:Hell lot of items to be found.I mean you'll be in stuck in many situation just thinking, "what to use?" There are items in color from White->Green->Blue->Purple according to rarity. Yellow is only for armors apart from other 4 color codes, that come into sets and will give you set bonus, and tbh they aren't so easy to find and will generate randomly when the game initializes for the first time (leaving some exceptions).
Also you can create your own weapons, armors and Gems(like enchanting in Dragon Age Origins and TESV:Skyrim).Potions can be created by Alchemy skill.
Treasures:Whats in a game which offers no treasures and secret places?KOAR is heavily blessed with this stuff.You can find hidden treasures in tree logs, pile of rocks, pile of loot, stashes, boxes, etc...They are all hidden from you.You can "see" them in your mini map if you have decent "Detect Hidden" skill.Lockipicking is common but new type of locks are added in KOAR and are unlocked with "De-spelling" skill (they put curse on you if you fail to De-spell ) .I always use F5 before De-spelling
Abilities:Tons of 'em!!!You'll not get bored .Each class offers powerful abilities, making you feel secure even if you are focusing on 1 play style.I try to use each and every ability and spell to make game looks fresh as ever. Some of the abilities are so cool, for example, Harpoon will catch an enemy and will drag it towards you.It can do reverse effects if the enemy is large and heavy Lunge is also cool thing to perform, it'll make the player dash into an enemy , making us to go behind him and SMASH Tons of like these more.I haven't unlocked even half of them.
Issues:Only 1 bug encountered so far and it was fixed on quick load. Camera looks creepy in the beginning but you'll get used to it after a couple of hours.No glitches so far.Performance issues for some cards are solved in 1.0.2 version IIRC.
Enough of reviewing. OK my stats so far:
Level- 35
Fate Card- Polymath (universalist path)
Fav Longsword- Dragon Fang
Fav Greatsword- Life drinker (funny art) and Kellerac's Sword (against Tuatha)
Fav Hammer- Ward of the North
Fav Faeblades- The Dove Wings (beautiful yet deadly)
Fav Daggers- Heart pins
Fav Staff- The Aasha's song
Fav Chakrams- Solice
Fav Longbow- The Sin
Fav Spectre- none so far
Fav Amulet- The Thresh Seal
Fav Rings- Gladiator ring and Hero's Signet
Fav Destructive spell- Meteors
Fav non-destructive spell- Harpoon
Completed a few days back. Finished all side-quests, faction quests and some of the repetitive tasks as well, (No DLCs included). Clocked 92 hours. (Mentioned on save files. )
Two major boss fights are there. I was level 40 and maxed out before I finished the main quest.
It started out development as a middle-grade mmorpg and they switched gears to a single player RPG.
Although the game does bring interesting combat mechanics :
1) It lacks the polish of most AAA games
2) It lacks the difficulty balancing and tuning; challenge and gameplay of solid action RPGs like Diablo 3, dark souls or deus ex human revolution.
Although the combat design in this game is vastly superior to Skyrim (which is completely carried by the fact that it's a hiking sim in a beautiful world), the gameplay is so incredibly easy that it really gets stale fast.
The quest design is very mmo-ey, so expect vanilla WoW or even EQ level quest design.
Similarly it lacks the bells and whistles and production values we've come to expect from a single player experience.
They really went wrong somewhere and the company that made this game is dying because of it.
By difficulty balancing I mean tuning of abilities, player health, enemy health and their defenses and the overall difficulty of the game. In turn this makes a game less casual, more hardcore, and most importantly comfortably challenging but not frustrating.
Games like SC2, D3, Rayman Origins, Binding of Isaac, Deus Ex HR have "good" difficulty balancing and related quotients.
Something like Skyrim, Amalur and most casual games have terrible difficulty balancing. Typically that means the games are too easy and when there is any difficulty it's just enemy health bloat (fake difficulty).
@TPG
since you are Warlock, you are already using 2 classes combo: here Finesse and Sorcery
just do a fate-weaving if you want to rebuild your character and try new builds
I guess you already know that the destiny cards are unlocked on the basis of the points you spend on 3 classes
try 3 class build one time at least
or at least read the destiny card abilities present under 3 classes combinations
@TPG
since you are Warlock, you are already using 2 classes combo: here Finesse and Sorcery
just do a fate-weaving if you want to rebuild your character and try new builds
I guess you already know that the destiny cards are unlocked on the basis of the points you spend on 3 classes
try 3 class build one time at least
or at least read the destiny card abilities present under 3 classes combinations
Currently on the verge of finishing The House of Sorrows final quest
I guess this is the last faction to be joined
and I'm still unable to kill Dren (must be a main story character)
Btw found some unique weapons:
The Demons Horns (fae blades)
The Lion Claws (fae blades)
Ember (Hammer)
Mirror knives (Dagger)
and completed Bolgan Bane's armor set (warrior armor)
Fav Longsword- The cessblade
Fav Greatsword- Scourgebane
Fav Hammer- Ward of the North
Fav Faeblades- The Lion Claws
Fav Daggers- Mirror knives
Fav Staff- The Esharra's song
Fav Chakrams- Prismere Chakrams of perfectionist
Fav Longbow- The Nature's Kiss
Fav Spectre- none so far
Fav Amulet- The Thresh Seal
Fav Rings- Loop of meditation and Hero's Signet
Fav Destructive spell- Earthquake
Fav non-destructive spell- Harpoon
Finished the game yesterday. Have to agree with the comments above - combat is fun but the quests get repetitive and stale beyond a point and the camera is buggy as hell.
It was a definitely a respectable start - would have loved to see the improvements in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning 2
^^ yep, I'm aware of that and so far acquired all the questionable items either by mistake or if I had to do this for a quest first I make sure there's no one is seeing / no one is nearby or when the NPC is sleeping
//Areeee....why lock my thred? Could have merged with this
Well, progress update
I'm addicted to this game. Everytime I sit to play only half an hour it reached to three hours minimum. This weekend had lunch at 4PM and had diner at 12AM both days.
Lots of quests and I'm not finding enough time to finish all.
But, like I told earlier, I'm amazed by the vast types of combats this game offers.
Witcher, for me, redifined RPG. Say it grafics or sound or combat or story. Whereas Kingdom of Amalur is very similar to Witcher concepts. but it does offer more for everything Witcher offered.
Weapons: Longsword, Greatsword, Hammer, Staff, Chakram (fav. primary weapon), Faeblades, Sceptre(fav secondary weapon), daggers
Weapon mods: If Witcher provided various oils to rub on swords, diamond dust to sharpen or runes to upgrade, Kingdom of Amalur provides more option for customization.
Salvage weapons, make totally new weapons from salvagfed parts and while doing so use the opportunity to use various combinations to make a more powerful weapon. The upgrading does not stop here, few weapons come with weapon sockets and/or utility sockets. You can attache additional upgrade stones in these sockets.
Half of my time goes to decide what to sell and what to salvage and what to craft from the salvaged parts
Armor mods: Exactly similar modification ooption available for armor mods too. Includes: Head (Cowl, Cap, Helmet), Chest( Robes, Chestplate), Leggings, Gloves, Shoes.
Blacksmithing and Sagecraft are related to this.
Accessories: Chains and rings with aditional powers
Consumables: Gain additional powers (health and mana specially) by consuming potions. Alchemy is related to this. You can buy potions or can prepare yourself.
If you thought this was enough...then comes various powers. If you have played "Prototype" then imagine all the good powers and more. The powers seems to be inspired by maximum famous games. Prototype, Age of mythology,Witcher etc.
To sum it up the game can be said as a amalgum of Witcher+Prototype. And I love it! Many more sleepless nights and empty stomachs are in my future.
..good...its an Excellent Game....start playing from DS1 (coz story is awesome & interconnected)
it is 2008 game but u will be surprised by godfather engine
Its been three months I'm, playing this game. Seems never ending.
Already completed 95 side quests and I feel I've progressed only 30% of the main quest
Is there anyone who played all side quests, completed all tasks, collected all weapons etc and completed the game? How long is it?
When I refer the map I see 50% is still unexplored
The game is good
Worth playing for the ending
And there are 2 types side quests: one is completable and other is infinitely chained quests known as tasks.
Tasks are there just to make money, thats what I felt.
Just continue on main plot and few side quests that are to be found on the way coz some unique items are only available that way.
Ah I see, my previous post was in 09/07/13 and today is March/14
So it took 8 months and then add 3 more months which equals to 11 months.
That is what took me to complete it.
Played all side quests (not all tasks are completed, and one Mission of that Arena) and main quest. Final battle is meh! expected a bit tough. The Niskarus gave me more trouble than the dragon. And, I remember the fight with "Balor" was even tougher. I had plan to kill that thing but that Dragon.....pretty easy.
I unlocked "Universalist" at first. Then realized I'm using Finesse (Arrow powers) and Sorcery (Chakram and Igni) more. Used Fateweaver and did final battle as in "Spellcloack" (level 5 in Finesse/Sorcery combination)
Lunge is also cool thing to perform, it'll make the player dash into an enemy , making us to go behind him and SMASH 
