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Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning |OT| An Enemy-Pounding Funfest

Glip_Glop

Member
Funny how things work. I was first aware of KoA:R on Amazon of all places. I had a credit of $5 and I could apply it towards any game, and this was a suggestion. At the time I was so enamored with Skyrim, I looked it over. Then I came here and saw a thread about it, so I looked into it more and realized that this is a perfect game for me. After the demo, I was completely sold. Now with less than a week away I'm actually excited about a game a month or so ago, didn't even know existed. But being from MA and a die hard Sox fan i'm used to being let down ;) jk Curt, it looks and feels amazing, another Day One purchase here!
 

erragal

Member
So I decided to take a look at Might/Finesse:

Blademaster 56 Might / 67 Finesse

Since the Destiny bonus is Piercing AND Ranged damage, feels right to get Dagger/Faeblade + Longbow. Get to use the Poison synergy I like from Finesse/Sorcery and we get to add Might's stun synergy. That said, I'm worried about casting costs here since Quake + Aftershock is 96 Mana to get the stun off component off. -70% from sustained abilities really hurts it there and I'm only looking at 1/5 Quake (5/5 Aftershock feels necessary to max out Stun% ... plus it's hard to move up the tree without it).

Active Skills:
Shield Bash
Quake
Harpoon
Technically, Shadow Flare is in the build I guess.

Sustained:
Battle Frenzy (-30%)
Envenomed Edge (-25%)
Blade Honing (-15%)

On another note, why is Envenomed Edge more upkeep than Blade Honing? :/

If you're going might/finesse I don't know why you wouldn't leverage stun synergies between the two trees. Smoke bomb/Quake/Frost Trap with Concussive blow and max assassin's art. I was looking at it this morning and that's definitely the way I'd go with that.

To be fair I really don't care for archery in any ARPG so that's never really an option in my mind and you're using a huge amount of your points on that. I do like the concept of the crazy crits you could pull off on a smoke bomb stunned enemy with a dagger or faeblade....especially after you build to max battle frenzy! Not sure I enjoy it more than being invincible and having a blink though.
 

moop1167

Member
I've seen several people on other forums say that Reckoning "feels like Dragon Age 2." Do any of you think that it does? To me, these people either have no sense of nuance or they're just trying to pan Reckoning by comparing it to a bad game.

The game is nothing like Dragon Age 2. At least not on the PC. I guess there wasn't auto-attack on the console versions so that may be why and skills were mapped to certain buttons. DA2 on the pc didn't play much different than DA:O.
 

Macstorm

Member
I've seen several people on other forums say that Reckoning "feels like Dragon Age 2." Do any of you think that it does? To me, these people either have no sense of nuance or they're just trying to pan Reckoning by comparing it to a bad game.

Reckoning does not make me think of either Dragon Age at all. Both are...fantasy? That's about it.
 

verbatimo

Member
Pelaaja-magazine in Finland gave Kingdoms of Amalur 7/10.

Cons:

-Breaking the combo is difficult
-Dodge system has difficult to register well
-Not much of originality

Summary:

The game is a mixed experience. It is fundamentally interesting and entertaining experience, but the clumsy combat system, and many small faults hinder the game experience.
 

theDeeDubs

Member
I've seen several people on other forums say that Reckoning "feels like Dragon Age 2." Do any of you think that it does? To me, these people either have no sense of nuance or they're just trying to pan Reckoning by comparing it to a bad game.

While I thought DA2 was a great game, maybe they're referring to staff combat. The Mage in DA2 wielded a staff that fought similar to that in Reckoning--ie the staff felt a little more like a martial art than a Harry Potter wand.
 

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
Pelaaja-magazine in Finland gave Kingdoms of Amalur 7/10.

Cons:

-Breaking the combo is difficult
-Dodge system has difficult to register well
-Not much of originality

Summary:

The game is a mixed experience. It is fundamentally interesting and entertaining experience, but the clumsy combat system, and many small faults hinder the game experience.

Sounds like they should of played easy. :D Enemies stagger you in this so yeah if you mess up you can get owned pretty bad
 

Klyka

Banned
Pelaaja-magazine in Finland gave Kingdoms of Amalur 7/10.

Cons:

-Breaking the combo is difficult
-Dodge system has difficult to register well
-Not much of originality

Summary:

The game is a mixed experience. It is fundamentally interesting and entertaining experience, but the clumsy combat system, and many small faults hinder the game experience.

I understand the third point but what exactly are the first two supposed to mean?

"Breaking the combo is difficult"? Huh? Like, stopping in the middle of a combo? There are only certain moves you can't block/dodge cancel. Everything else you can just cancel out of.

"Dodge system has difficulty" As in, you roll and still get hit? Never, ever happened to me, so no idea how they got to that conclusion.
 

sloppyjoe_gamer

Gold Member
Pelaaja-magazine in Finland gave Kingdoms of Amalur 7/10.

Cons:

-Breaking the combo is difficult
-Dodge system has difficult to register well
-Not much of originality

Summary:

The game is a mixed experience. It is fundamentally interesting and entertaining experience, but the clumsy combat system, and many small faults hinder the game experience.


I don't get these Cons at all....first one makes zero sense. I never had any issues at all getting combos in the demo, maybe the reviewer should play better? As for the last point...wow..no originality compared to what?

7 /10 is still a good score but ill stick with reviews from places ive actually heard of, and GAF users.
 

Torraz

Member
I understand the third point but what exactly are the first two supposed to mean?

"Breaking the combo is difficult"? Huh? Like, stopping in the middle of a combo? There are only certain moves you can't block/dodge cancel. Everything else you can just cancel out of.

"Dodge system has difficulty" As in, you roll and still get hit? Never, ever happened to me, so no idea how they got to that conclusion.

Well if there is no chance of getting hit during a dodge then the rogue destiny with +30% defense during dodge doesn't make much sense. Perhaps some later enemies/bosses/skills are large AoEs or something like that.
 
I understand the third point but what exactly are the first two supposed to mean?

"Breaking the combo is difficult"? Huh? Like, stopping in the middle of a combo? There are only certain moves you can't block/dodge cancel. Everything else you can just cancel out of.

"Dodge system has difficulty" As in, you roll and still get hit? Never, ever happened to me, so no idea how they got to that conclusion.

Yeah, I mean, I haven't played the full retail version or anything, but in my one play through of the demo, I... dont know. I never had any issues with the combo system being difficult. If anything, if I wanted to do something, I was able. And the "dodge system has difficulty"? I mean, its their opinion, and opinions can never be wrong, but LOLWUT? I had zero issues with dodging.
 

scy

Member
If you're going might/finesse I don't know why you wouldn't leverage stun synergies between the two trees. Smoke bomb/Quake/Frost Trap with Concussive blow and max assassin's art. I was looking at it this morning and that's definitely the way I'd go with that.

To be fair I really don't care for archery in any ARPG so that's never really an option in my mind and you're using a huge amount of your points on that. I do like the concept of the crazy crits you could pull off on a smoke bomb stunned enemy with a dagger or faeblade....especially after you build to max battle frenzy! Not sure I enjoy it more than being invincible and having a blink though.

Easy, I straight up went stupid and forgot that Smoke Bomb and Frost Trap caused stuns. I got heavily focused in utilizing the Ranged damage bonus from the Destiny and beelined that and tossed in stun synergy on the side. If we scrap the Ranged in it's entirety (i.e., a Dagger/Faeblade build):

Dagger/Faeblade 56 Might / 67 Finesse Blademaster

Now, due to the Mana contraints I was worried about before, I decided against Quake entirely. It's just too mana intensive for a triple sustained buff build. This doesn't free up as many points as I would like since the gap from 16 -> 20 is basically partial points in a weapon mastery or Harpoon :/ All that really changes is that Vengeance gets a bit more love alongside maxed Power Strike.

Active Skills:
Shield Bash
Harpoon
Relentless Assault
Smoke Bomb
Frost Trap

Sustained:
Battle Frenzy (-30%)
Envenomed Edge (-25%)
Blade Honing (-15%)

Trying to fix the Ranged build while keeping maxed Enduring Agony is hard :( This is what I have currently but it has a few half-finished skills that bug me. Might be better off ditching the poison synergy entirely (!) for this route. May even make Quake -> Aftershock viable casting cost wise which looks a bit like this with four points leftover.
 
Whoever is putting together those making-of, and behind-the-scene trailers is doing great work. Whoever is feeding dialogue to Ken unfortunately is doing a shitty job. Rather than come off as an expert, he's coming off as a mascot.
 

jkoch

Member
I'm going to preorder on Steam when I get home from work. I just realized that I tipped the bartender $9 last night for two beers just because I made even change, but I was agonizing over the $9 difference between Steam and Amazon. It's worth $9 to keep my games organized in one place.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
Anyone have any Idea as to why when I try to edit the OT it's cutting off a big chunk of the post in the middle? The piece shows in the editing window, but does not show in the actual post, it's very strange.
 

Nista

Member
I think the OP needs to modify the front page after that announcement. Man this is insanely hype stuff. When and where did you even get that Great Hammer Replica made for this? 3D print job custom? Sculpted and vacuum form molded? Gave McFarlane free reign to sculpt prop models for use as video references during animation cycles?

It's the same hammer they had at PAX East and E3 last year. It's much lighter than it looks, thank goodness. Though I think the faux daggers that almost got confiscated at the airport are much more awesome.

That's a great contest promotion, especially since I know many people are big fans of Day9 and this will get more exposure for the game in the hardcore circles.

Whoever is feeding dialogue to Ken unfortunately is doing a shitty job. Rather than come off as an expert, he's coming off as a mascot.

Ian and Joe are the experts, Ken is the funfest.
 
Man people are really getting into what their charachter is going to be. I have this game paid off and I'm very excited for next Tues but I've put no time into looking into classes.
Am I missing out on some good stuff without doing the reaearch or can I go in and choose my style/class as I go along?
I like the sword, bow combo and not much of a fan of magic in most games. Hopefully I can make that work through out the game.
 

Rekubot

Member
Sweet launch trailer. I suppose the music was some generic trailer mix and not something we can expect to hear in the game?
 
It's the same hammer they had at PAX East and E3 last year. It's much lighter than it looks, thank goodness. Though I think the faux daggers that almost got confiscated at the airport are much more awesome.

That's a great contest promotion, especially since I know many people are big fans of Day9 and this will get more exposure for the game in the hardcore circles.



Ian and Joe are the experts, Ken is the funfest.

He should be fun, but have you seen the video at Amazon posted yesterday? He's doing more harm than good with stuff like that.
 

erragal

Member
Easy, I straight up went stupid and forgot that Smoke Bomb and Frost Trap caused stuns. I got heavily focused in utilizing the Ranged damage bonus from the Destiny and beelined that and tossed in stun synergy on the side. If we scrap the Ranged in it's entirety (i.e., a Dagger/Faeblade build):

Dagger/Faeblade 56 Might / 67 Finesse Blademaster

Now, due to the Mana contraints I was worried about before, I decided against Quake entirely. It's just too mana intensive for a triple sustained buff build. This doesn't free up as many points as I would like since the gap from 16 -> 20 is basically partial points in a weapon mastery or Harpoon :/ All that really changes is that Vengeance gets a bit more love alongside maxed Power Strike.

Active Skills:
Shield Bash
Harpoon
Relentless Assault
Smoke Bomb
Frost Trap

Sustained:
Battle Frenzy (-30%)
Envenomed Edge (-25%)
Blade Honing (-15%)

Trying to fix the Ranged build while keeping maxed Enduring Agony is hard :( This is what I have currently but it has a few half-finished skills that bug me. Might be better off ditching the poison synergy entirely (!) for this route. May even make Quake -> Aftershock viable casting cost wise which looks a bit like this with four points leftover.

I would second ditching the poison synergy for the most part. The build just seems a lot better when you drop envenomed edge (Other than 1 point to move up that tree) and stick with Blade Honing/Battle Frenzy as your sustained. then you have Quake, Smoke bomb, Frost Trap all of which can stun.

Rough Stun/Finesse Might Build

This is what I was potentially looking at. Quake, Smoke Bomb, Frost Trap, Shadow Flare, Shield Charge, Relentless Assault. A lot of actives but other than Quake fairly mana efficient... and shadow flare + quake while having mysterious toxins seems pretty effective aoe. I just don't see the need for envenomed edge to apply the poison effect.

That build is of course very dagger centric so it's a little different than what you might want (Don't care for the faeblades at all myself) but it seems like fun.

I'm still likely to just be rolling my staff/chakram Champion though, the lure of huge crits may not be enough for me.
 
Which Finesse talent results in the move seen in numerous videos of the player flipping numerous times, striking with each spin?
 

AndyD

aka andydumi
Man, loved the PS3 demo, looked and played better than I anticipated for this type of open game.

Should I go PC or PS3 on this? What's the GAF consensus?
 

daedalius

Member
I want to preorder this to get the bonuses, but I also would like to try and go out at midnight and pick it up.

Hmmm...

Oh, Amalur-itis confirmed next Tuesday now ;)
 

SamuraiX-

Member
I remember back when the first gameplay vid came out for this. The combat looked pretty entertaining, but the whole visual style of the game seemed uninspired and didn't grab me at all.

Seems to be growing ever popular now on GAF. I'll look into some reviews when it's released. Could be a surprise 2012 title for me.
 
This one goes out to Gehrig38. Day one sold. My brother introduced me to this title and I had no idea about it since I had nearly given up on Western RPG's since the combat had never been able to keep me going. Due to this I just stopped following that corner of the industry. Then out of nowhere he shows up and tells me about your studio, which as an animator about to graduate more than perked my interest given the pedigree and philosophy of the company.

Then he mentioned that it was a Western RPG dedicated to changing some staples and starting new traditions. Combat with combos, dumping XP into multiple areas to try other skills not being punished, ability to change classes, and the insane length. I tried the demo and was hooked. I then proceeded to play through that demo 4 more times, and I'm looking at finishing it a 6th time between classes.

You not only sold me on a game, but on a studio that has the integrity to do all they can to fulfill their promises to the fans and openly discuss any shortcomings they feel their product suffered in the delivery of such promises given your own speech on the demo. Expect me to try to find a way to claw my way into that studio of yours someday. Even if I don't make the cut I just wanted to say thanks for putting this much into your product, and for working hard to deliver to us the kind of RPG we've always hoped for in terms of gameplay and content.

The industry is lucky to have gained your studio.

Your welcome bro. I had a good gut feeling about 38 and Big Huge. Once Curt bought Big Huge Games, I was hooked - too bad there was so little news coming about the studio for a period.

And you still need to play Dues Ex. :p
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Man, loved the PS3 demo, looked and played better than I anticipated for this type of open game.

Should I go PC or PS3 on this? What's the GAF consensus?

Why wouldn't you get it on PC?
 

ReaperXL7

Member
Does anyone have any ideas as to why something thats in the editing window for the OT would not sure up in the actual post?
 

Nista

Member
Why wouldn't you get it on PC?

Cause he has an awesome 50" OLED tv hooked up to his PS3, and a really comfy couch with a beer fridge sitting next to it?

That's the only reason I can imagine. :)


Does anyone have any ideas as to why something thats in the editing window for the OT would not sure up in the actual post?

Sorry no, I don't make very complex posts around here. Stray tag somewhere screwing up the syntax? Is there somewhere else you can paste the content to double-check?
Otherwise I'd ask a Mod.
 

Einbroch

Banned
Cause he has an awesome 50" OLED tv hooked up to his PS3, and a really comfy couch with a beer fridge sitting next to it?

That's the only reason I can imagine. :)

Achievements for me. It's stupid, I know, but I love them. I can handle worse graphics, seeing as my PC isn't too hot.
 

Dirtdog07

Neo Member
Can't wait for this game to come out. I really respect Curt for coming on the forums and really taking an active role. So I decided what better way to support the company then to pre-order the Collectors Edition from their store.
 

fallingdove

Member
Nothing gets me more excited than a trailer that GOES WITH THE FUCKING MUSIC.
Weapon strikes on the beats, ramps up in action, etc. Seriously, why don't more companies do that? That new Sherlock Holmes movie (trailer) looked awesome because the screen jumps and cuts went with the music.

Off-topic a bit, but I think it's important.

I completely agree. Loved the trailer. I am so hyped for this game.
 

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Cause he has an awesome 50" OLED tv hooked up to his PS3, and a really comfy couch with a beer fridge sitting next to it?

Connect the PC to a TV like I do. problem solved. ;)

I just wanted to ask sometimes PC Ports are very weak.

Fair enough. Download the PC demo. See for yourself.
 
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