Baconsammy
Banned
Amen. I've put more time into the demo than I have most retail games from last year. Review scores mean absolutely nothing now. One review deducted points for story. The next lists the story as a plus. Meaningless.
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Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning |OT| An Enemy-Pounding Funfest
- Thread starter ReaperXL7
- Start date
Amen. I've put more time into the demo than I have most retail games from last year. Review scores mean absolutely nothing now. One review deducted points for story. The next lists the story as a plus. Meaningless.
Go ahead, man. I'm picky about stuff like that, and it shouldn't be an issue for us with a modern PC. It's just lazy design to not make it at least scalable or toggeled by the user. Screams console port.
Nah, I just don't see it as a big deal. A scalable LOD for PCs would be nice.
Game is a console port, I imagine the primary system was probably the 360. Its not something that would keep me from buying it if I were to get it for my PC, though.
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
The story was written by R.A. Salvatore. Deducting Salvatore points for story is like deducting points for Peter Jackson's use of cinematography in the Lord of the Rings.
I'm pumped for this game. Bought it on 360 and PC, I'll be using a controller for the PC version for sure. I do hope they can work on the LOD issue and at least smooth it out on PC or just change the PC version to have an option to always use the High detail models or something.
I don't know personally from what i've gotten a taste of in the demo, the world feels great to me so far. Skyrim is big, and there are somethings that the TES games have always done well, but there are many areas in which the way that the TES games are designed that makes them feel dull, and lifeless to me. The advantages that something like Reckoning has over Skyrim in my eyes are a better art style, better combat, a far superior loot system, better enemy/creature design, and better crafting.
The things thats always put me off about the TES games is that pretty much everything just feels like it's there as a bullet point. The world is massive, and endlessly explorable, but what reason do I have to explore when there is nothing to really find? I can spend an hour trekking through a dungeon, only to come away with nothing because of the way the loot system is designed. There is no reward for exploration in Skyrim, and in most cases it just felt like I was walking around a big, but empty world.
Every cave has bandits/animales, every dwemer ruin has machines, and falmer, every ruin has drauger, it just all starts to feel the same after you've put your time into the game. It does not help that all of the actual dungeons themselves look pretty identical in the respective type. It also does not help that most of the systems they design for leveling break the game after only gaining a few levels. Stealth is broken, crafting is broken, bows are broken because of stealth being broken, the combat is also broken. The sheer number of bugs and problems in Skyrim only serve to take me out of the experience, not to mention the fact that most of the entire game is the same three, or four colors which does not do anything for me either.
In the demo for Reckoning though I noticed so many little things about the world that gives it so much more vibrance and detail. The way that the wildlife, creatures, or people in the world react, and interact with the world. The amount of detail in the dungeons, and overall world seems very impressive to me, it might not beat Skyrim in terms of "graphics" but the world in Reckoning seems far more interesting, varied and enjoyable overall. I'll also add that if the way the Reckoning was designed allows the developers to reign in the bugs, and other various issues that normally plague most other open world rpgs, than i'm all for it. I'm ok with sacraficing alittle more freedom for a more enjoyable experience when it comes to games that I plan on spending alot time with.
The things thats always put me off about the TES games is that pretty much everything just feels like it's there as a bullet point. The world is massive, and endlessly explorable, but what reason do I have to explore when there is nothing to really find? I can spend an hour trekking through a dungeon, only to come away with nothing because of the way the loot system is designed. There is no reward for exploration in Skyrim, and in most cases it just felt like I was walking around a big, but empty world.
Every cave has bandits/animales, every dwemer ruin has machines, and falmer, every ruin has drauger, it just all starts to feel the same after you've put your time into the game. It does not help that all of the actual dungeons themselves look pretty identical in the respective type. It also does not help that most of the systems they design for leveling break the game after only gaining a few levels. Stealth is broken, crafting is broken, bows are broken because of stealth being broken, the combat is also broken. The sheer number of bugs and problems in Skyrim only serve to take me out of the experience, not to mention the fact that most of the entire game is the same three, or four colors which does not do anything for me either.
In the demo for Reckoning though I noticed so many little things about the world that gives it so much more vibrance and detail. The way that the wildlife, creatures, or people in the world react, and interact with the world. The amount of detail in the dungeons, and overall world seems very impressive to me, it might not beat Skyrim in terms of "graphics" but the world in Reckoning seems far more interesting, varied and enjoyable overall. I'll also add that if the way the Reckoning was designed allows the developers to reign in the bugs, and other various issues that normally plague most other open world rpgs, than i'm all for it. I'm ok with sacraficing alittle more freedom for a more enjoyable experience when it comes to games that I plan on spending alot time with.
Mattdaddy
Gold Member
I thought the camera was a little wonky at first, maybe a bit too close and it kinda had a weird inertia to it or something... but I did like how it zoomed out for fights. Anyway I certainly didn't think it was unplayable or caused "massive issues". I've played through the demo a couple times now and I hardly even notice it anymore.
I would appreciate a little tweak to it but it's not stopping me from liking the shit outta this game.
I would appreciate a little tweak to it but it's not stopping me from liking the shit outta this game.
Lonesome_Raod
Member
It's like he writes my thoughts.
This is mostly the case for me with Skyrim; I don't really mind exploring just because but Skyrim's relatively bland combat and unexciting loot made completing areas just because I wanted to. That got old for me. If nothing else, Reckoning's combat looks like something that'll keep random exploration exciting. Here's hoping that it actually ends up working that way rather than just looking like it will.
Is that a compliment to Salvatore´s writing or a critique? Not sure.
Salvatore is like the Tarantino of fantasy writers, all flash and style... little actual content.
Neuromancer
Member
One of the great things about the Bethesda games is you can start a game and just go off in any direction and do whatever you want. It seems probable that in Amalur you're going to have to follow the main quest along just to progress through the world, which isn't really a problem but it is different.
Is that a compliment to Salvatore´s writing or a critique? Not sure.
Salvatore is like the Tarantino of fantasy writers, all flash and style... little actual content.
Yes, but damn if that man can't write a good sword fight or two. But still, I think he's leagues better than most video game writers.
You can if you want, but you don't have to.
You are never locked out of a zone by not progressing the main quest, the devs already said that.
I think the biggest difference is not the freedom to travel from zone to zone, but the fact that there are actually zones. With all these artificial walls surrounding the player, you can´t just simply go to any location your eyes my set upon.
In Skyrim you could look to the horizon and go anywhere... In KoA there is no horizon, you spend half the time looking at the ground due to the camera and anytime you manage to look up your constricted by the scenario... not liberated by it.
To call KoA "open world" i think is misleading, especially if you use Skyrim or Fallout in the same paragraph.
TheApatheticOne
Member
Agreed. Home run post.
Baconsammy
Banned
Is that a compliment to Salvatore´s writing or a critique? Not sure.
Salvatore is like the Tarantino of fantasy writers, all flash and style... little actual content.
It's a video game.
walbertsmith
Member
Okay, one thing that I will not be a fan of in KoA if it continues past the demo... the extraneous dialogue.
I would prefer it if the minor characters (various village folk, merchants, etc.) *didn't* have commentary on every single topic you've broached in the game. It's then exacerbated when new topics come up that create even more flavor dialogue options. I'm all for flavor dialogue because it really fleshes in the lore of a story, but having it condensed to, say, just those topics that are crucially important for that specific NPC would be WAY better (a la Mass Effect).
I would prefer it if the minor characters (various village folk, merchants, etc.) *didn't* have commentary on every single topic you've broached in the game. It's then exacerbated when new topics come up that create even more flavor dialogue options. I'm all for flavor dialogue because it really fleshes in the lore of a story, but having it condensed to, say, just those topics that are crucially important for that specific NPC would be WAY better (a la Mass Effect).
Neuromancer
Member
So was Planescape, your point being?
Wolfgunblood Garopa
Member
Skyrim is a role playing game, not a loot game. If you can't find a way to get the most out of that kind of experience, keep moving. Reckoning is a different beast entirely.
Baconsammy
Banned
One of the absolute silliest statements I've read in awhile.
Baconsammy
Banned
It's an action-based RPG. I want flash and style first and foremost, and if I get that it's already leaps-and-bounds ahead of 99 percent of games. If I want to read a deep novel, I'll read one.
And why is it silly? It´s an opinion, like everything else in here. *shrug*
If you think KoA´s world is as open to player traversal as Skyrim´s, your entitled to think so, that doesn´t make you silly for as much as i disagree with it.
Edit:
The comment was about salvatore´s writing, not the gameplay of the game. I didnt even mention Saltore´s story quality or lack of in regard to KoA because we only had access to a small part of it, i think ill reserve that judgment for when i play through it.
Baconsammy
Banned
One open-world game being more open-world than another doesn't negate the fact that the other game is open-world. Just like one sitcom being funnier than another doesn't make the other one less a sitcom. Silly.
Hawk269
Member
Why would you want to mock him though? Yes, I am sure that if it was a easy fix they would fix it, I think the point is that who makes a game for console and PC's and does not have the foresight to include ways for the game to be optomized for the PC? It's 2012, should stuff like the level of LOD issues in Reckoning be happing on PC?
I have played other games on console that had LOD issues and then played the PC version and most of the time there are option (in-game) to improve it or elimante it..other times the developer takes care of it and there is no need for an option. It's just odd that a game coming out this year has issues like the LOD on the PC.
As mentioned by the guy from the dev. it is the way the engine is and for some reason the way it streams data it cant be fixed at the time. I am fine with that answer because at least Curt and the Boys gave us an answer. Of course that answer moved my decision to buy the game to a NO, but it is what it is. I just hope that in the future or well actually now, that when this team plans out a game that they take into account that PC gamers have rigs that are not 6+ years old like the consoles.
I disagree that a zone system with pre-defined player paths, pre-defined jumping points, small fences that you have to go around of to get through should be considered an open world rpg...
Instead of continuing this discussion and derailing the thread, let´s just agree that we disagree on this point.
I found it very obnoxious, especially in a couple of dungeons where it would clip through the floor and I had to be constantly adjusting it during combat. Everywhere else it was alright.
So is Reckoning, only character progression seems deeper in this than it does in Skyrim, as does the reason to "explore" the world. So i'm not sure what your point is in stating the obvious.
Also nice job focusing on one point in my post. The loot system is garbage but that was not the only point made in my post. My issues with Skyrim are personal preference, I don't have hate Skyrim entirely, like I said in the post you quoted it does some things really well. If you think Skyrim is the absolute perfect example of an open world rpg than thats your preference, but there are many things Beth can, and should do if that want to make worlds worth being in.
HiddenWings
Member
While I do have to say I'm not the biggest fan of the PC controls (was there really a reason not to put the secondary weapon on the other mouse button?), I'm still thankful that it's releasing on PC so I can play it. Controller support makes this a bit better, but there's quite a bit of room for improvement.
All the white text in the game is completely optional.
The blue text with a question mark at the very top of the list is always quest related.
You never have to talk to any non-quest giver, you never have to select any of the flavor text to progress. You can beat the entire game by just choosing the replies you want in the dialogue wheel and then skip out of the conversation when the flavor list shows up.
That was one of their biggest design decisions: Players have the OPTION of tons of dialogue but they don't NEED it.
Hawk269
Member
Well this is another litlte tick mark about the game being ported to PC. The majority of PC games have ways to configure controls to whatever you as the player want them to be. However, Reckoning is not one of these games. I personally played the demo on my PC with a 360 controller and it works great. There are something that I would love to change, but I can live with it since I prefer a pad for a game like this.
**Edit** According to few users, the retail version has a way to configure controls!! +1 now for the dev team!!!
Apparently you DO get to configure keys in the retail version, just not in the demo.
As stated above you can remap the controls in the retail version.
Hawk269
Member
Yes and Yes. I do love that they did this, so if you want to really dig into lore stuff and read everything you can. If you want to progress story related stuff, hit the blue colored response. You dont lose anything, but you get to where you want to go next. The white text stuff is filler stuff that many enjoy.
Same thing with the junk option in the UI. While I agree that the UI is a bit amateur and they should of sourced out a team to work on it for them, they do have some really cool stuff like the junk option. For as much as the "borrowed" from other games, they also have alot of innovation in alot of areas. While exectution does not equal the innovation for the most part, the ideas are there and if they focus these great ideas, get some more people in on the teams that have UI and other experience and apply this to the MMO and Reckoning 2, we all will be in for some amazing games.
We also need to remember this is their "FIRST GAME" and for that I give them mad props. Yes, alot of mistakes, some questionable design decisions with how the engine works (LOD Issues), questionable UI design etc...but all in all a pretty damn good first try. I just hope that the game is a success because this developer needs to be around for the future because I see alot of potential in what they are doing, they just need to have a few more talented people to be added to the team and we can have the next Epic, Bungie or Betheseda and hopefully the next CDProjekt!
Hawk269
Member
That is good then. Like I said, I play with a pad moreso that keyboard, so that is good to know. Appreciate the quick response. I am sure the user that posted the original topic of keyboard controls will appreciate this.
Wolfgunblood Garopa
Member
What's going on here reminds me of the weeks leading up to Too Human's release. The fan enthusiasm was similar- X is better than Diablo 2's, Y is better than PSO's, etc. Camera issues with the demo, the full game is going to be 100x better, posting specced out chars, etc. Obviously this is a better game, but not in the same league as Skyrim.
I have Reckoning reserved, I'll be playing it day 1, and hopefully love it.
I bolded the text that I thought was over the top/hyperbolic, and by mock, I was just going to say something silly like 'PC elitist problems', which in itself, also hyperbolic.
Like I said before, the LOD issue wouldn't stop me from buying a game I enjoy if I was getting it for my pc.
I've been loosely following this game, tried the demo and was fairly impressed. One thing I haven't read anything about yet is if there is level scaling, and if there is, how well it works? I don't mind a bit of scaling, but I'd rather there be areas where I can't step foot until I'm a certain level and have crazy good gear.
Hawk269
Member
Am I correct in that Reckoning actually was something completely different when it started, then Curt swopped in, bought them and then converted the game into Reckoning? I thought I had read that is what happened, which would explain the dated engine and some of the issues they are having with it.
TheApatheticOne
Member
Good question, I'd like to know this as well. Oblivion drove me nuts with their level scaling. I dont want the game to stop being a challenge, but I would like to feel that my character is turning into a badass after I gain a few levels.
You clearly don't like it when someones opinion differs from your own. So we will just have to agree to disagree.
There is level scaling but it seems like it's a better system.
Every zone has a range for the enemy levels. The starting zone is, I believe something like 2-4 or 2-5, so the enemies there can never be higher than level 5. Every zone has this so enemy levels will adjust to a point. If you come back to older zones you can still feel like a badass as you destroy the enemies
I had a huge problem with Oblivion regarding this, so I'm glad that it's taken care of.
The best RTS. EDIT: Specifically the most fun to play. So many beautiful elements at work in tandem. Co-op multiplayer with multiple people commanding the same team was crazy fun as well.
Ya, they bought them like a year or so ago? Then they changed some things around to make it fit with amalur. Used to be a THQ game, but THQ couldn't support them, or anyone really.
CitizenCope
Member
Curt is on 98.5 right now in Boston. Wonder if he'll talk about the game.
There's the quote that I was thinking of