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

S

scy

Member
BrettWeir said:
More screenshots of great loot plz!

Damn Steam for no preload.
Click to expand...

Okay.

OyHrd.jpg
Click to expand...

Last two items are just me messing with basic Blacksmithing stuff. Gonna respec to max out Blacksmithing and see what I get out of it in a bit :x
 
S

Spruchy

Member
I'll be streaming again tonight at twitch around 9-10. But for now here's my impressions cross posted from my blog:

Thoughts on Kingdoms of Amalur After Streaming for 26 hours

(Note: All my impressions are based on the 360 version of the game, with little to no issues except the occasional frame rate hiccup when using magic with lots of enemies on the screen/entering a new zone. Loading times were drastically decreased after install.)

Over the last 3 days I’ve streamed Kingdoms of Amalur for over 26 hours. A staggering amount that might suggest that I was either getting paid or I was obsessed with the game. Neither is true. I did it because it was a fun experiment for my not so often used stream equipment, and there seemed was a big enough interest in the game to warrant streaming it. The purpose of this post is to get out my thoughts on the game after playing it for so long, and hopefully help you guys make a decision regarding if you should buy it or not.

Devil May Cry this is not, nor does it need to be. Kingdoms separates itself from all other open world games such as Skyrim and Fable with its combat system. If I had to best describe it, I would call it Devil May Cry lite, reminiscent of the combat found in Darksiders. You will charge attacks, you will delay attacks, you will use abilities, and yes, you will mash. There are plenty of combo options available such as doing 3 hits into a launcher, shooting the enemy with your bow twice, and finishing it off with a quake slam. But often more than not, there isn’t a need or incentive to do anything as elaborate as that.

The Difficulty of Kingdoms, or lack thereof. If an enemy doesn’t die before you get off one of your non-mashed combos, then chances are it will either get interrupted (and effectively stunned), or commit to a powerful attack. Unfortunately thanks to potions you don’t really need to worry about the latter. Healing potions in the game cost very little, heal a ton, and have no limit on how many you can carry. It’s clear that the developers at 38 Studios and Big Huge Games were inspired by the Diablo 2 potion chugging days, but with no delay of the healing effect it just becomes a broken game mechanic. The AI itself is okay, with the computer on hard mode often relying on surrounding me with melee enemies and placing powerful spell casters as far away as possible.

Some call it Fate, others call it Choice. Any good open world game presents the player with tons of choices or things to do. Kingdoms does a lot of things right, but this is where it hugely succeeds. The three class trees - Finesse, Wisdom, and Might, all play radically different from each other. Respeccing entails nothing more than visiting the fateweaver and paying an inexpensive fee. There’s also an overwhelming amount of quests split into main quests, faction questions (which are often as interesting as the main quests), side quests, and tasks. If you ever grow bored pursuing one of these lines, all you have to do is track a different one and fast travel to its location. The quests themselves are often varied enough to keep you engaged, but the same cannot be said for the locations they take place in.

Quest locations, or: Caves, caves, and more caves. The art style for the game is heavily inspired by World Of Warcraft and is very much what WoW would look like if upgraded for current gen. At its best moments you’ll be traversing fields filled with color, as the skyscrapers of the city loom over the horizon. But during the majority of the game, you’ll be exploring dark caves that are nothing more than straightforward corridors, sporting a dull color palette perfect for putting you to sleep. It is beyond me why the developers would choose to so frequently force the player in these boring caves when such interesting castles, fields, and others are available.

Wait, the whozamawhatsit did what now? Hiring R.A. Salvatore to write the story of Kingdoms, many are eagerly waiting to devour the universe of the game with open mouths. I’m not familiar with Mr. Salvatore’s work myself, but man, does the guy like his jargon. Featuring NPCs that spew line after line of unintelligible high-fantasy terms, the plot in Kingdoms would make Square-Enix and Final Fantasy XIII envious. It’s sort of clear who the bad guys are and why they want to kill you, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that I’m entirely missing out ona few subplots of the game. The story is serviceable, but it is not the reason to stay in the Kingdoms of Amalur.

Gimme the loot. Kingdoms is full of loot and is it glorious. You will find huge upgrades for all of your equipment sometimes within the same hour, guaranteeing that you’ll be fiending for more. Just like Diablo 2, there are sets of armor that if you complete you will receive additional bonuses. A nice touch. Gold is actually worth something here, as repairing armor can be expensive and vendors often sell great items. One minor qualm I had with the game is that armor takes way too long to start looking decent. 15 hours in the game and my rogue character was worse dressed than I am in real life.

Haters gonna hate. Going over my review it might seem like I’m “down” on the game or I didn’t enjoy it, but that’s not true. Kingdoms of Amalur does a lot of things right, and it’s easy to see that from the already released videos and limited reviews. I just wanted to address some of the issues that bigger review sites might not mention or care to think of. I’m not done with the game yet, but if I had to score it based on what I played so far, I would give something like an 8 out of 10. Or on the IGN scale, a 25.23 out of 10.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask. If you want to see more of my content, including already archived footage of this game, I suggest checking out:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Spruchy
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/Spruchy
TwitchTV: http://www.twitch.tv/Spruchy
Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
W

Washed_Out

Member
After being on the fence on whether to get this game now or during a bomba sale, I went ahead and pre-ordered. Feeling good about it. This should keep me busy until Mass Effect 3.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Thanks to a gaffer for helping me out on this game. I was able to get it for a little cheaper than I thought. No pre-load though on Steam?

CURT, please say that there will be sometime soon!?

Are any folks going to use a proxy to unlock?
 
T

Torraz

Member
Any thoughts on the non-combat skills (for a rogue)?

Detect hidden is the (obvious) priority.

However after this I am torn between blacksmithing (for repairing), persuasion (keeping quest items without having to be a jerk) and stealth (i AM a rogue, however I usually start with a ranged bow volley).
 
shaowebb

shaowebb

Member
syllogism said:
Has anyone seen items with Epic gem slots yet? I wonder how common they are and if one item can have more than one. They are quite powerful, some examples:

-20% mana costs
+20% to fire/ice/lightning damage
+10 % experience
+1 to certain ability category
Click to expand...

I want those for my static bow so badly. Lightning stun and fire knockback equals people thrown on their ass at a rapid pace. Bows are awesome with pushback added like that in this game. Reaaaaally good for spacing off the fodder to let you pick off the big guys safely.

So buying this as soon as it goes up tonight on Steam.

REMEMBER EAST COAST THE TEAM LIQUID STREAM STARTS TOMORROW @ 2PM pst (5pm EST). TUNE IN, VOTE, GET ENTERED FOR INSANE PRIZES FROM 38 STUDIOS!
link
 
Hawk269

Hawk269

Member
vaelic said:
Potions absolutely break this game. Insta, no limit to carry, no drinking animation to stall character, super cheap.

Overlooked by big huge games
Click to expand...

Well since the game has several hooks in it like a MMO, I wonder if they can nerf the health potions. Perhaps a patch that limits them to 10 total you can carry or hell even a cool down (well that might cut too close to an MMO).

Due to this, I agree with someone on the official forums that there should be a nightmare/insane mode due to the potion never ending well.
 
S

scy

Member
Unstable Potions have a cooldown so I can't see why they don't just slap that onto regular potions.

I just try to limit my own potion use. Not too hard to do so, really.
 
R

ReaperXL7

Member
Hawk269 said:
Well since the game has several hooks in it like a MMO, I wonder if they can nerf the health potions. Perhaps a patch that limits them to 10 total you can carry or hell even a cool down (well that might cut too close to an MMO).

Due to this, I agree with someone on the official forums that there should be a nightmare/insane mode due to the potion never ending well.
Click to expand...

The easiest way to make the game harder, especially on hard mode is to add a cool down for potions. That should take care of most of the difficulty complaints by itself without the need for adding a whole new mode.
 
Q

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
There are plenty of combo options available such as doing 3 hits into a launcher, shooting the enemy with your bow twice, and finishing it off with a quake slam.
Click to expand...

*cough cough*

LOL maybe I should of told you some other combos :p But where is the fun in that XD just wanted to help you towards getting to know how the system works and yeah pure warrior is pretty brain dead XD
 
S

Spruchy

Member
QisTopTier said:
*cough cough*

LOL maybe I should of told you some other combos :p But where is the fun in that XD just wanted to help you towards getting to know how the system works and yeah pure warrior is pretty brain dead XD
Click to expand...

Aka the QisTopTier combo. But yeah, when it comes down to it combos are just options that are rarely more effective than basic attack strings.
 
D

daedalius

Member
Well I never used the potion-esque item in Darksiders, maybe I just won't pick any up.

Hopefully they will implement some sort of cooldown or heal-over-time effect rather than instant healing.
 
Q

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
Spruchy said:
Aka the QisTopTier combo. But yeah, when it comes down to it combos are just options that are rarely more effective than basic attack strings.
Click to expand...

haha I'll see what's up when the time comes. It could just be the weapon style you were using, idk. You can launcher as your second hit in a chain. I figured it would be really good on a mage type as well for getting distance again. On bigger guys yeah you wont do much outside hit and run type maneuvers.

-Mikey- said:
Hey Qis, still planning to go Universalist? I'm still messing with builds and hoping I can make things work.
Click to expand...

Yup, I want to break the game first before I mess around with other things :p

+20% of Melee Attack Damage
+20% of Ranged Attack Damage
+20% Magic Attack Damage
Equip requirements reduced by half
+3 to all skills
+12% total damage resistance
+10% to Chance to Critical Hit
Mastery of Arms: Unlocks all weapon mastery abilities.

Is way to good to pass up mostly for this reason.
LTgDj.jpg


At most I think you get 39 points to put into this. Universalist by default gives you a free 27 points into it. Plus books and trainers.... yeah :p I believe ken said you can max out 6 of them. There is a reason the crafts are on the universalist fate cards :p You get plus 1 to all skills as early as level 1 even, then plus 2 at 26, and finally plus 3 at 37.

http://www.38watch.com/calculator/#...056332550020500000000006006356153050000000000
 
A

Amir0x

Banned
shaowebb said:
I want those for my static bow so badly. Lightning stun and fire knockback equals people thrown on their ass at a rapid pace. Bows are awesome with pushback added like that in this game. Reaaaaally good for spacing off the fodder to let you pick off the big guys safely.

So buying this as soon as it goes up tonight on Steam.

REMEMBER EAST COAST THE TEAM LIQUID STREAM STARTS TOMORROW @ 2PM pst (5pm EST). TUNE IN, VOTE, GET ENTERED FOR INSANE PRIZES FROM 38 STUDIOS!
link
Click to expand...

I plan to be there, want to get a troll thing since I already ordered the regular edition and then realize there was a collector's edition on the website until too late
 
R

Rokam

Member
When you salvage items it only yields materials for that weapon/armor type correct? Don't have access to the demo at the moment and couldn't remember. Just want to make sure I can vendor all non greatsword weaponry.
 
W

Wallach

Member
popokarimu said:
Steam pre-load is finally up!

I had to restart Steam for it to work.
Click to expand...

Yeah, was mentioned it was going up "within the hour" by their community manager. Not really impressed with Valve's responsiveness on the issue, but at least it got fixed with some hours left to pre-load before release.
 
S

scy

Member
QisTopTier said:
Orly? Guess they realized how dumb it was xD. Oh well you can still craft broken things :p You got a list of the updated stuff?
Click to expand...

Edit: These are all buffs, actually; Universalist's -50% Equip Requirement -> -25% Equip Requirement is the only nerf.

Finesse:
Nightblade's Assassination is now +300% Critical Hit (?) after triggering Evasion.
(Note: To clarify, "Evasion" is the name of the Finesse Destiny line's built-in avoidance chance, not the actual in-game roll/blink/etc.)

Sorcery:
+25%, +30%, +35%, +40%, +45%, +50% Elemental Damage for the scaling up the tiers.

Might:
+20%, +22%, +24%, +26%, +28%, +30% Block Efficacy for the scaling up the tiers.

Might/Sorcery:
+25%, +30%, +40%, +50%, +75% Damage Received as Mana for the scaling up the tiers.

Finesse/Sorcery:
Arcanist:
+22% Elemental Damage
+10% Piercing Damage
+5% Critical Chance

Warlock:
+26% Elemental Damage
+13% Piercing Damage
+7% Critical Chance

Spellcloak:
+30% Elemental Damage
+15% Piercing Damage
+10% Critical Chance

Shadowcaster:
+34% Elemental Damage
+20% Piercing Damage
+12% Critical Chance

BrettWeir said:
Thanks a ton!

What is your consensus on loot drops? Mostly RNG?
Click to expand...

Seems to just be RNG. Also, the RNG hates me as I'm swimming in pure caster and Might build loot. I'm almost Level 20 and I'm using Level 7-9 Finesse equipment still :|
 
Z

Zaraki_Kenpachi

Member
Is this game supposed to be good then? I didn't know this existed until I read the newspaper and saw Curt Schilling was helping to make it. I sort of want to buy it because he was my favorite pitcher growing up.

Edit: Disappointed it's a $60 game on PC though. :/
 
Hawk269

Hawk269

Member
LiquidMetal14 said:
OH yes, was just gonna come back from the forums to deliver the word.

STEAM PRE LOAD IS A GO!!!

9878.5mb
Click to expand...

Yup..preload is a go on Steam...currently downloading at 6.8mb/s, 12%!!!

Officiial word from the official forums:


Hi everyone,

I'm going to be posting this in a few areas, so please pardon the spam. We've gotten word from the team over at Steam that the Reckoning pre-load should be up within the hour. We sincerely apologize for how long this took.



Reckoning Community Manager
[ Facebook | Twitter | YouTube ]
[ 38 Studios | Big Huge Games ]
 
K

Khezu

Member
Its a shame about potions, but I can easily just limit myself to 10 at a time.

Wish more games were like MH and had long ass potion drinking animations.
 
Hawk269

Hawk269

Member
Any Steam owners of the game want to share usernames/add to friendslist just to compare achievements and whatnot?

My profile name on Steam is: Stateless
 
shaowebb

shaowebb

Member
Reckoning is now paid for and downloading on Steam. I will trade the Team Fortress hats for stuff. Hopefully I can get someone to trade me for Magic the Gathering decks I want.
 
Q

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
scy said:
Edit: These are all buffs, actually; Universalist's -50% Equip Requirement -> -25% Equip Requirement is the only nerf.

Finesse:
Nightblade's Assassination is now +300% Critical Hit (?) after triggering Evasion.
(Note: To clarify, "Evasion" is the name of the Finesse Destiny line's built-in avoidance chance, not the actual in-game roll/blink/etc.)

Sorcery:
+25%, +30%, +35%, +40%, +45%, +50% Elemental Damage for the scaling up the tiers.

Might:
+20%, +22%, +24%, +26%, +28%, +30% Block Efficacy for the scaling up the tiers.

Might/Sorcery:
+25%, +30%, +40%, +50%, +75% Damage Received as Mana for the scaling up the tiers.

Finesse/Sorcery:
Arcanist:
+22% Elemental Damage
+10% Piercing Damage
+5% Critical Chance

Warlock:
+26% Elemental Damage
+13% Piercing Damage
+7% Critical Chance

Spellcloak:
+30% Elemental Damage
+15% Piercing Damage
+10% Critical Chance

Shadowcaster:
+34% Elemental Damage
+20% Piercing Damage
+12% Critical Chance
Click to expand...
No wonder some many of the developers like might/sorc, they made it fucking super broken hahaha. The nerf isnt that bad to universalist, just cuts them off from being able to use the best of the best stuff now. Nothing a little crafting cant tweak up.

My steam profile: deox45 if anyone on gaf wants to add me, I'm behind a few days cause of well we didnt get it early. But I do plan on DESTROYING THE EVER LOVING CRAP out of this game and offering advice on every area :3
 
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