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

LuchaShaq

Banned
how do you feel about skyrims one button combat?

just curious?

Poor but not as poor as this.

In skyrim my routine was sneak and get a few (not auto aimed) bow shots. Equip 2 hander and then block/smash with the triggers. Shallow as hell, certainly not that good but it wasn't bad. After seeing a few trailers I was hoping the melee would be closer to the way it controls/feels in Condemned but was left a bit bummed. The reason's Skyrim worked for me had little/no benefit from the combat.


Not sure why you would ask me about Skyrim since even if there was zero combat in it I'd enjoy it just for how fun it was to initially explore the cool looking places in the giant sprawling world. For better or for worse just by looking at the map and the quicklook the world is a bunch of small open spaces connected by hallways, just not the same.



So far in Koa nothing has made me do anything beyond run up and mash X and occasionally roll.

What bothers me is how so many gamers think scores like 7.5 means it must suck outright.


A 7.5 average won't make me not try a game, but in a industry where even the biggest steaming piles of shit get 65-75+ averages, it certainly makes me move it further down the list in things I want to try.

The only reviews I read are Giantbombs (odds are if Jeff likes a game I'll love it, if he is middle of the road I'll hate it, if Brad likes it I will almost always hate it), and then whatever links are posted in threads where people are whining about a score. A quicklook tells me more than almost all the reviews combined could.

That said since they added an online pass I canceled my pre order and won't be buying the game new even if it was the greatest game of all time so the reviews just move it up or down my gamefly que really.
 

ElyrionX

Member
When do I get a chest to store all my loot?

Also, what are you guys doing with all the shards and alchemy reagents and crafting materials you find? Should I sell them or is it more profitable to craft something to sell?
 

scy

Member
But how do you use it?

Lunge? It's a mid-combat dash behind the target that ends in a hit that can be combo'd off of.

1. Friendly internet person... i´m only posting my own personal experience... and if i have a button asigned to map that opens the window but then doesnt close it like it should when i press it again (inventory screen works as it should btw), then... it´s true.. to me. Is it a bug? dunno, but its the truth.

I just tried both KB/M and 360 controller controls for opening and closing the map and they both work by just hitting the associated button again.

So far in Koa nothing has made me do anything beyond run up and mash X and occasionally roll.

Define "so far." I'm in the second region and it's been quite some time that my combat on Hard was just mash X. Not counting the trips to grey con areas or some trash mobs (e.g., Boggarts).

When do I get a chest to store all my loot?

Also, what are you guys doing with all the shards and alchemy reagents and crafting materials you find? Should I sell them or is it more profitable to craft something to sell?

If you follow the natural progression of things, not long into the game. As for the reagents, I just keep them. They don't take up inventory space so not worth the hassle.

Also, I've been meaning to tell you that your Tempest idea may in fact work even at -70% Mana Pool. You should have nearly 400 Mana by the time you can get Tempest in a hybrid build and if you just get some Casting Cost reduction geared in and you'll be fine.
 

dokish

Banned
When do I get a chest to store all my loot?

Also, what are you guys doing with all the shards and alchemy reagents and crafting materials you find? Should I sell them or is it more profitable to craft something to sell?

I'm making potions from the plants I harvested, and crafting gems from the shards I found! Full sorcery build (so, 2 main skills go basically to alchemy and sagecraft).

I don't regret it... Although other classes (I think) can play just with the "ordinary potions", mages have a lot to look forward making their own potions, cause you make stuff that reduces % damage received, increase magical damage, increase fire/ice/lightning damage, etc.
 
so..

any word now that its out on 360 vs PS3

I hate to be that guy and I am not trying to start anything I just want to know what version I should get.
 
Been playing the demo, I am going to have to decide what class to play when I get the game.

Probably either mage or rogue, rogue is so much fun in this game.
 

LuchaShaq

Banned
Define "so far." I'm in the second region and it's been quite some time that my combat on Hard was just mash X. Not counting the trips to grey con areas or some trash mobs (e.g., Boggarts).

In the post before I had just under 3 hours with it this morning (giving back to friend at work since he played half the night and wants to play more after work). So I could be completely wrong and the combat could completely become deep, fun, and challenging after hour 4 but if my experience and the quicklook are any indication, probably not.

Once my friend is done with the game or gamefly sends me a copy I'll consider hard, but I've never enjoyed combat of this type even in games where the focus is 100% combat like god of war.
 

scy

Member
Do you recommend playing the game on hard?

Yeah, but I like a good challenge. It's really not that hard just some small things here and there to punish you. No default HP regen and better AI (along with more damage/HP) means you do need to try to do better in fights.

And, of course, potions exist as the great difficulty equalizer.

In the post before I had just under 3 hours with it this morning (giving back to friend at work since he played half the night and wants to play more after work). So I could be completely wrong and the combat could completely become deep, fun, and challenging after hour 4 but if my experience and the quicklook are any indication, probably not.

Hard to really tell by hour count, to be honest. If you're still just dealing with Boggarts, Sprites, Red Legion, and wildlife then, yeah, the combat isn't really too much to it. Threshes, Ettins, Jottuns, Trolls, etc. are a bit more of a hassle to deal with than those and it's not long after the starting area that you see them in the wild.

But if you don't like the combat system itself, I'm not entirely sure if "better" fights would change anything for you.
 

ElyrionX

Member
If you follow the natural progression of things, not long into the game. As for the reagents, I just keep them. They don't take up inventory space so not worth the hassle.

Also, I've been meaning to tell you that your Tempest idea may in fact work even at -70% Mana Pool. You should have nearly 400 Mana by the time you can get Tempest in a hybrid build and if you just get some Casting Cost reduction geared in and you'll be fine.

Hmm, so if I want to get the chest, I should make a beeline for the main quest?

ALso, thanks for the update! How's your build coming along?

This is what I am currently going for.

Decided to ditch the bow because it just doesn't feel fun. Also, I am liking the feel of the faebaldes vs. the daggers thus far. What about you?
 
Yeah, but I like a good challenge. It's really not that hard just some small things here and there to punish you. No default HP regen and better AI (along with more damage/HP) means you do need to try to do better in fights.

And, of course, potions exist as the great difficulty equalizer.
I think it might be the best decision for me given that I enjoy character action games quite a bit. I just finished up Darksiders on the hardest setting so I should be nice and warmed up. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything ridiculously unfair about it or something.
 

Calvinpewpewpew

Neo Member
Unfortunately I can't play until very late tonight, but I am seriously considering going against my grain and focusing on mage (with might thrown in much later). Could anyone comment on the DPS viability and survivability of a 75% full Mage build in Reckoning? I know some criticisms have been leveled at the ability to target and small AOE of the upper Tier spells, something that probably won't apply to the passive and sustained Might skills.

I think what I am trying to say is that while I want to use magic to do something different, I would be amenable to a Might heavy, magic second build as well. Just hoping for some impressions from those of you that have a day under your belts already.
 

kitzkozan

Member
Poor but not as poor as this.

In skyrim my routine was sneak and get a few (not auto aimed) bow shots. Equip 2 hander and then block/smash with the triggers. Shallow as hell, certainly not that good but it wasn't bad. After seeing a few trailers I was hoping the melee would be closer to the way it controls/feels in Condemned but was left a bit bummed. The reason's Skyrim worked for me had little/no benefit from the combat.

Not sure why you would ask me about Skyrim since even if there was zero combat in it I'd enjoy it just for how fun it was to initially explore the cool looking places in the giant sprawling world. For better or for worse just by looking at the map and the quicklook the world is a bunch of small open spaces connected by hallways, just not the same.

So far in Koa nothing has made me do anything beyond run up and mash X and occasionally roll.


The combat easily outdo Skyrim or any Elder scrolls, but that shouldn't be hard in any shape or form. It is combo based, but it's not a button masher since different timing mean the difference between launching them in juggling state or having to reset for another combo pattern. Once you juggle enemies, you can link into spells/special abilities or use a secondary weapon for extra damage. You can charge weapon strike and try all sort of possible combination so it completely blow Skyrim combat out of the water. The loot is also more fun/interesting than most rpg out there.

The problem is that as a whole, the game simply ain't on par with the big budget rpg out there. Skyrim world completely blow Amalur away and it make sense. Vastly more money poured on Skyrim, more experience from the staff and getting good at what you do (world building) . Now if you are more focused on mechanics than anything, you won't care that much and will still enjoy Reckoning. Same as how many enjoyed Vanquish despite getting lower reviews than Gears or Uncharted. As a complete package, Vanquish is mediocre and rough around the edges but the raw shooting mechanics and boss battles oh my...
 

scy

Member
Hmm, so if I want to get the chest, I should make a beeline for the main quest?

It's part of the questline in
Webwood
; the Main Quest takes you right next to that area very early on (like, right after the first quest) so it's something to consider. I did that area at the very end since I did all the "zones" in a clockwise fashion :| No storage for like 10 hours was a pain in the ass.

ALso, thanks for the update! How's your build coming along?

This is what I am currently going for.

Decided to ditch the bow because it just doesn't feel fun. Also, I am liking the feel of the faebaldes vs. the daggers thus far. What about you?

Just got Poison Cloud maxed and it's a bit underwhelming, to be honest. It explodes on a short delay (~2s) and the radius isn't that big. With the way the AI likes to do surrounds and the amount of pushing around my combos do, I haven't actually landed a Cloud hit in awhile. We'll see if it's better now that I have it maxed vs 2 points in it.

As for Faeblade vs Dagger, Dagger is better single-target damage and Faeblade flows better target to target (along with the wider swing arc). However, Cyclone (Faeblade Precise Weaponry III) is pretty bad. Basically forces me to dodge -> Chakram to avoid using it unless I happen to Blink in exactly the right spot.
 
Thread is inching ever so slightly to spoilerish territory for me. Scy talking about later items and some areas and posting that pic of the mastersmith items was the bat signal to leave the thread. But I wanna talk about it! I wish everyone would have just got it on day one instead of several days early.
 

Mattdaddy

Gold Member
I said it the other day but I'll reiterate here... this game is just fun to play. I'm playing on PC with a pad it just feels good. Im going Might/Sorc and using a 2 hander as primary with chakrams as secondary. Controls are responsive, my greatsword feels nice and heavy, impact feels good, rolling and blocking feels good. Magic is beautifully explosive and devastating, and its super easy to mix and match attacks so I can smash an enemy with my greatsword, unload an AOE, roll back and unleash the chakrams, all with fluid transitions.

I don't really get the complaints about simple combat. I'm playing on hard and probably about 6 hours in, and I get regular use out of my primary and secondary weapons depending on the situation, and each of those weapons have a few combos. I use roll and block a lot especially if fighting large groups. I have a spell mapped to every single face button (2 aoe's, gap closer, single target high damage). So I'm using pretty much every button on the controller except RB, which is stealth and I'm not a stealth build. Only thing I could pick on it for in combat is the ability to spam health potions, which has been mentioned. BUT, I will say this... playing on hard and fighting large groups I still get killed occasionally. The bigger enemies hit very hard and can do 50-75% damage to your health if you get hit by a strong attack. So you still gotta be careful. I found myself in a scrap with a Thresh and a Troll and a few trash mobs all at once, and it was a nightmare (in an awesome way). I burned through about 6 health potions over the course of the fight and still almost died.

Music has been noticeably good too. Voice acting has been fine, hasn't jumped out at me as exceptionally good or bad.

Loot is absolutely great. Lots of loot, lots of it. Nice balance between vendor/salvage trash, useful stuff, and rares/uniques. The game also isn't afraid to toss you some unique/rares early and somewhat often, which is kinda cool.

Game is solid. The artstyle is indeed very WoWish, which doesn't bother me cause WoW owned my life for a few years, but I understand some may not like it. Still, game is solid and runs ultra smooth. No crashes or bugs found yet, performance is great on my decent (not great) system.

Just my quick $0.02.
 

scy

Member
I think it might be the best decision for me given that I enjoy character action games quite a bit. I just finished up Darksiders on the hardest setting so I should be nice and warmed up. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything ridiculously unfair about it or something.

There's been a few boss fights that were ridiculous on Hard, though it's mostly be design of the fight rather than the difficulty level itself. Reckoning mode also trumps difficulty 99% of the time too :/

Could anyone comment on the DPS viability and survivability of a 75% full Mage build in Reckoning? I know some criticisms have been leveled at the ability to target and small AOE of the upper Tier spells, something that probably won't apply to the passive and sustained Might skills.

With the itemization I've seen for it, I can't imagine it being too bad. I can still do good 500-600 damage spell crits on my Finesse/Sorcery build and I'm not even really built for it. You'll still want a weapon (Chakram are amazing). The only iffy part would be in the setup time needed to cast a spell but you should have options.

Thread is inching ever so slightly to spoilerish territory for me. Scy talking about later items and some areas and posting that pic of the mastersmith items was the bat signal to leave the thread. But I wanna talk about it! I wish everyone would have just got it on day one instead of several days early.

Sorry :( I was asked about it! I'm trying to be vague about my area descriptions too.
 
I just tried the demo and after the first cutscene everything is just black. The character creation screen loads fine but the cutscenes between and when it eventually gets to the game just shows the UI over a black screen.

Not a promising start for a promotional product.
 

scy

Member
I just tried the demo and after the first cutscene everything is just black. The character creation screen loads fine but the cutscenes between and when it eventually gets to the game just shows the UI over a black screen.

Not a promising start for a promotional product.

Disable post-processing.
 

ElyrionX

Member
Just got Poison Cloud maxed and it's a bit underwhelming, to be honest. It explodes on a short delay (~2s) and the radius isn't that big. With the way the AI likes to do surrounds and the amount of pushing around my combos do, I haven't actually landed a Cloud hit in awhile. We'll see if it's better now that I have it maxed vs 2 points in it.

As for Faeblade vs Dagger, Dagger is better single-target damage and Faeblade flows better target to target (along with the wider swing arc). However, Cyclone (Faeblade Precise Weaponry III) is pretty bad. Basically forces me to dodge -> Chakram to avoid using it unless I happen to Blink in exactly the right spot.

By poison cloud, you mean Mysterious Toxins right? Hmmm, if that skill is underwhelming, then it could undermine the argument for a Shadowcaster build.

I'm still early but the daggers feel exceptionally weak and the charge attack doesn't seem to do much damage at all. I'm using the pre-order Fate weapons, BTW.
 

Midou

Member
On hard it is very easy to take damage really quickly, if you focus on one enemy, getting hit from behind and combo'd by several other enemies is pretty common. Really makes me plan out how I'm going to go about fights with 5+ enemies.
 

scy

Member
By poison cloud, you mean Mysterious Toxins right? Hmmm, if that skill is underwhelming, then it could undermine the argument for a Shadowcaster build.

I'm still early but the daggers feel exceptionally weak and the charge attack doesn't seem to do much damage at all. I'm using the pre-order Fate weapons, BTW.

Hah, yeah, Mysterious Toxins. The ability seems nice on paper since it would deal a good amount of damage but ... I figured the area of effect size would be larger (and it would be instant on death). I don't single target a lot either so that small delay is usually enough for me to kill anything that would have been hit by it.

That was when I had two points (20% chance) so we'll see if it's better with more. If I could get another Set drop I could potentially see it with 100% success rate! Might be really good then...
 

rockx4

Member
This game needs some sort of character save game manager :(. I've already lost a save by quitting after using quicksave, creating a new character, and quicksaving on the new character.
 
My copy from Gamefly will be here tommorow. What is the 10 dollar online pass for? There is no description up on the marketplace. And this is a single player game..........
 

erragal

Member
Yeah, but I like a good challenge. It's really not that hard just some small things here and there to punish you. No default HP regen and better AI (along with more damage/HP) means you do need to try to do better in fights.

And, of course, potions exist as the great difficulty equalizer.



Hard to really tell by hour count, to be honest. If you're still just dealing with Boggarts, Sprites, Red Legion, and wildlife then, yeah, the combat isn't really too much to it. Threshes, Ettins, Jottuns, Trolls, etc. are a bit more of a hassle to deal with than those and it's not long after the starting area that you see them in the wild.

But if you don't like the combat system itself, I'm not entirely sure if "better" fights would change anything for you.

Very good points. Enemy types matter a lot in terms of difficulty level and in particular how enemies are grouped together. A random spawn of a thresh with some sprites can be very tricky (And really I died multiple times last night to a single orange thresh alone because I was playing sloppy). In particular hard difficulty punishes you for making a single mistake as there's no special juggle immunity the player gets outside of reckoning mode.

But as mentioned many times before: if you're willing to drink potions nonstop you can make the game extremely easy for yourself. Whether that is a game breaker depends on personal preference.
 

moop1167

Member
My copy from Gamefly will be here tommorow. What is the 10 dollar online pass for? There is no description up on the marketplace. And this is a single player game..........

You can't have multiple profiles? I loaded the game up for 5 minutes before work today and it prompted me to make a profile. Then I clicked on it and saw that you could make another. Maybe the saves aren't separated? Hopefully someone can tell us.
 

Calvinpewpewpew

Neo Member
With the itemization I've seen for it, I can't imagine it being too bad. I can still do good 500-600 damage spell crits on my Finesse/Sorcery build and I'm not even really built for it. You'll still want a weapon (Chakram are amazing). The only iffy part would be in the setup time needed to cast a spell but you should have options.

I appreciate the heads up! At this point I pretty much plan on only going into might enough to unlock the first two move sets and the damage increase for Greatswords and for the buff to health/elemental defense. Something like this:
http://amalurfoundry.com/calculator?30002360065000000000000000&000000000000000000000000000&30061665531553355533555550
 

rockx4

Member
You can't have multiple profiles? I loaded the game up for 5 minutes before work today and it prompted me to make a profile. Then I clicked on it and saw that you could make another. Maybe the saves aren't separated? Hopefully someone can tell us.

Oh you're right lol, now I feel like an idiot. Yep you can make multiple profiles, for some reason I thought it was the EA Origin profile. Didn't think it was just a player profile.
 

moop1167

Member
Oh you're right lol, now I feel like an idiot. Yep you can make multiple profiles, for some reason I thought it was the EA Origin profile. Didn't think it was just a player profile.

Okay, cool. I was just guessing, as I assumed that meant we'd be able to have separate saves, like how they do in Mass Effect and such.
 

Loxley

Member
I just tried the demo and after the first cutscene everything is just black. The character creation screen loads fine but the cutscenes between and when it eventually gets to the game just shows the UI over a black screen.

Not a promising start for a promotional product.

Turn off post-processing (*edit - beaten). From what I understand the problem is fixed in the retail build, along with the majority of the other glaring bugs from the demo.
 

JambiBum

Member
1. Friendly internet person... i´m only posting my own personal experience... and if i have a button asigned to map that opens the window but then doesnt close it like it should when i press it again (inventory screen works as it should btw), then... it´s true.. to me. Is it a bug? dunno, but its the truth.

2. Thanks for that, ill make sure to check it out.

3. Having Elves and Fae being different species is what confused me i guess. I´m used to them being one and the same in a lot of the fantasy novels i´ve read.



Maybe i´m having a hardware problem after all. :(

For sprint, you actually have an option to toggle or hold. It's in the gameplay settings.
 
To be fair, the article basically reads as, "Skyrim is great and this review is taking me away from playing Skyrim."

This is actually a good review I think, simply because it actually has info about the game and categorizes what it likes and dislikes, and states that in a large variety of ways that the game is too easy and too simple.

This is a big difference from the Kill Screen review which seemed to spend it's entire time in a state of hipster disgust, the game's mere existence offending his sensibilities. It could have saved time by just sticking an image of Jay Sherman "IT STINKS" and been as informative.
 

Torraz

Member
Is there any way to transfer save games from a regular retail version into the steam version? I've tried making profiles with the same names (results in same named save-games) and tried placing them in the steam folder, but they aren't showing up in game.

The regular version seems to save in my documents\my games\reckoning while steam is in 102500\remote.
 

Hawk269

Member
Maybe taking a stab in the dark here...but SLI...is it working on the PC ver? Plan to play this in 3d so it would probably help.

Also regarding the PC version...if I'm gonna play with the 360 controller and vsync off then its fine? Nothing gamebreaking?

SLI is fine Smokey, actually the latest Nvidia Beta drivers have a profile for this game. Not sure how it plays without Vsync and a controller. It plays fine with Vsync on with the controller. Why would you play without V-Sync though? I am at a rock steady 60fps with 32xcsaa, 8xsupersample, 16xAF, Triple Buffering and V-Sync. I think I saw fraps hit 59 once, but other than that solid 60fps.

Also, the load times that had a bug with V-Sync seem to be gone. Load times are almost instant when going into/out of buildings.

Unfortunately, no improvements with the LOD/POP-In with the game. I kind of already knew it would not be improved, but if there is one thing taking away from the game it is the LOD/Pop-in issues. Mainly because it is so close to the characters view..but outside of that, it has been fucking fantastic. Like any game, there are things that are issues, but after 4 hours or so, I am really digging it.
 
Like the ideas they have in regards to combat. Just want to know how the game is in the open world. Is it like the Skyrim?

Nope. It's more like World of Warcraft where each zone has enemy levels and as you progress through the world you're greeted by higher level enemies. You can go wherever you want, but be prepared to face enemies you can't beat.
 

Hawk269

Member
I like how the game has that option to hide head "on/off". Very MMO'sh. For those that dont know what this does, alot of people in MMO's dont like the characters face covered up with armor or whatever especially in cut scenes, so some MMO's have a toggle to still allow the stats of the item to apply, but physically it does not hide your characters face. It is a nice touch they added to single player game.

Anyone else think it is kind of weird that alot of chests you dont have to move your lockpick at all and it opens up?

Also some demo/retail comparisons. Game is definately more polished. Also, it seems like some areas are easier now in retail, even on hard. For example, when you first leave the caves/dungeon and you are in the first open area, there were a pack of wolves, around 5 of them near a cave entrance. For starters, the cave was locked out until you did something else, but in the retail it is open from the get go. Instead of 5 wolves, there are only 2 now. I had to go back to my settings thinking that I accidently put it on "kids mode" but it was on hard.

I am also finding hard, not that hard. Granted I am only 4 hours in and the troll boss in the beginning did take me a bit longer to kill, but so far I am finding it a little on the easy side. I normally always play games on normal, but hearing reports of hard not being that bad I decided to go for it and early on it just feels like normal in other games.

I still think it would be easy for them to add in an "insane" mode, just +20% health all current enemies, limit health potions or put a cool down on them, add an achievement for it and perhaps some other little things.
 
Damn it!!! Why does UPS always deliver late, I'm at home now with my classes cancelled and I can't play the game and have to wait :(

I guess I'll do HW >_>
 

vaelic

Banned
Anyone else have the issue with 360 controller on pc where holding the button to sprint does not always make your char sprint? Seems hit and miss
 
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