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

Hawk269

Member
Level 4 now after doing a bunch of the quests I had been doing in the demo, but this time on Hard. At first it's definitely harder, but then I picked up the pre-order/demo daggers from the box and it got a little easier. Then I put 6 points into daggers and it got stupidly easy. I assume later bosses/mobs will be much harder than those in the starting area though.

Having a blast so far and am loving the look of the 360 version and the solid framerate. 2 things I couldnt say about the demo.

I really hope things pick up difficulty wise. I just hit level 5, 6 hours exactly on my save that I just did and have not died once. I am not spamming health potions, have not even bought any at all. Have not used more that a total of 6 or 7 health potions in the 6 hours, have not used any regan potions and only 1 mana potion. Game is pretty unbalanced difficulty wise even on hard.

If one thing they dropped the ball big time is difficulty. Usually in a RPG, it is in the early levels where you die alot since you are just starting out, but in this game, the loot is so abundant and some of it is pretty high level stuff that you become way overpowered way too early in the game.

At first I thought nerfing the potions with a cooldown would be the way to go or limiting the amount you can carry, but that is not the issue..it is just poor balancing and giving players too high level loot too early in the game where you are almost invisible.

Again, just level 5, so maybe it gets alot harder, but reading posts from others that are much higher than me it does not seem to be the case. I really hope Curt and the boys are reading this stuff and some of the reviews about how easy the game is. It should not be hard to patch in a higher difficulty or make some modifications here and there. They definately should still nerf/cooldown the healing though..if they make it harder and dont nerf it then that is what people will do...no one is going to go on a long quest and limit themselves on potions just to make the game harder for themselves.
 
I'm pretty disappointed to read about all the bugs...I thought one of the big things about this game was how solid it ran. I really hope this doesn't turn out to be one of those things where I got hoodwinked by devs who supposedly give a crap about their fans. Guess I'll find out tomorrow when I start this thing up. :\
 

Laughing Banana

Weeping Pickle
Not that I know of. In fact I'm pretty sure the design intent is quite the opposite in that they don't want you to be able to lock yourself out of quests for stuff like that.

That's.... disappointing.

Although maybe if the faction themselves are not directly conflicted in principles I guess it should be fine... I was hoping it won't be like Skyrim when you can become the leader of the Dark Brotherhood/Thieves Guild and the leader of the Companions Guild (a guild with "Honor" as their main principle!) at the same time.

It completely breaks the immersion...

Also, how high is the level cap?
 

Hawk269

Member
How long will it be before we see a sale with this at $40 or so? Not sure if I wanna pick this up yet considering I still have so many games (Demon's Souls and Skyrim in the same genre) still in my backlog and Mass Effect 3 on the horizon.

Well Toysrus.com has it for $44.99, I suggested to someone on here to have Best Buy price match and he did and his friend was able to get the game. So not sure if you want to try it, but it worked for others. Just go to the Best Buy, have them look it up in their computers and you should be golden.
 

scy

Member
Main Quest only and skipping all dialogue should hit that 14 hour mark I wager.

I'm pretty disappointed to read about all the bugs...I thought one of the big things about this game was how solid it ran. I really hope this doesn't turn out to be one of those things where I got hoodwinked by devs who supposedly give a crap about their fans. Guess I'll find out tomorrow when I start this thing up. :\

For what it's worth, 30 hours in and I've seen all of one bug with me Blinking through the terrain.
 

JambiBum

Member
I have the 360 version and I haven't experienced any bugs whatsoever. The only thing that has really happened is that a NPC that is following me might get stuck on a corner but really besides that I haven't had a single issue.

Bacon, if your issue is bothering you that much, then just restart. 6 hours isn't a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. Yeah it sucks, but I wouldn't let it get to me that much.
 

Hawk269

Member
I'm pretty disappointed to read about all the bugs...I thought one of the big things about this game was how solid it ran. I really hope this doesn't turn out to be one of those things where I got hoodwinked by devs who supposedly give a crap about their fans. Guess I'll find out tomorrow when I start this thing up. :\

Same here. While IGN said it was pretty solid, people do things differently when they play, especially is such a big game like this...so I am sure that there are bugs still that they probably did not know. The bad thing is that some of guys here are reporting loss of hours of gametime cause of bugs and that is pretty bad.

I think between the bugs and the lack of difficulty in the long run it might hurt the game, but Curt and the team seem to have the pulse of the community, so let's hope they are already reacting and getting a patch together for early deployement.
 

Dead

well not really...yet
Man, just as I wondering when there will be more variety to some of the caves that you get sent to, one of them all of a sudden
leads to a huge magic barrier door that leads to some huge ancient underground city
I love this game.
 

scy

Member
That's.... disappointing.

Although maybe if the faction themselves are not directly conflicted in principles I guess it should be fine... I was hoping it won't be like Skyrim when you can become the leader of the Dark Brotherhood/Thieves Guild and the leader of the Companions Guild (a guild with "Honor" as their main principle!) at the same time.

It completely breaks the immersion...

There doesn't really seem to be any conflict; many of the NPCs within the factions don't necessarily match what you'd expect (e.g., one of the Traveler NPCs is a full-blown Mage).

@Difficulty: Trash mobs in general aren't too bad. Bigger mobs and more varied types are much more difficult to deal with. There's the issue of Potions and Reckoning making those easy as well but oh well; you can always opt out of either and, really, "It was pretty easy since I potion spammed/hit the I win button" doesn't really make the game less difficult if it required you to do that. At least, that's how I view it.
 

Sheikh

Banned
how is this game GAF? How does this compare to rpgs like lets say DA1/2 or SKYRIM for the matter. I am someone who loved DA 2 . so should i buy this game ? i will trust GAF on this more than the reviews
 

gehrig38

Member
this game is definitely having bug issues. i got stuck behind the table with the first healer and had to reload an earlier quick save because the game autosaved after i healed. i was behind the table with the healer and could not get out. if there was a jump button i could have jumped over the table. instead i lost an hour of playtime. sucked. also see above for my dlc woes. game needs some work.

My oldest son got stuck at the blackmtih forge early on, almost reset and restarted but after trying everything we used his dagger charged ability and he got free. If you do get stuck in geometry please try that.
If it does not work PLEASE if you can, report the bug via email or service provided in game if possible, we'll do whatever we can to address bugs IF/AS we can guys.
 
This question is a little dated but...do you get anything for finishing the demo?

It just froze on me after
meeting the fatemaker (?) after you escape from the Well of Souls and you fight those two sets of bad guys
(sorry, I was tired and wasn't paying attention to names)
 

gehrig38

Member
Saw another review from GameCritics.com that stated:



That can't be true, right?

No

And not that it makes any difference to anyone that has come across bugs, I have not in about 6 hours of Xbox play, have yet to get my PC download done since I have been on the road since Thursday and really unable to play.

But again, if you are so inclined, please report ANY bugs you can with as much detail as you can. You ARE NOT our QA department and I KNOW our QA department beat themselves to death trying to squelch them all. We clearly missed some, and again I am NOT speaking for our QA leads but when and WHERE WE CAN we will try and fix what we can!
 

scy

Member
My oldest son got stuck at the blackmtih forge early on, almost reset and restarted but after trying everything we used his dagger charged ability and he got free. If you do get stuck in geometry please try that.
If it does not work PLEASE if you can, report the bug via email or service provided in game if possible, we'll do whatever we can to address bugs IF/AS we can guys.

Blink is hilarious in that regard. It'll let you go through Forges, Sagecraft tables, etc. as well as doors that are in the process of opening (which is really, really weird but I love it for shaving a second or two off door opening animations >>). The only bad one I got recently was Blinking beyond a door that closes as part of a dialogue cutscene ... and cannot be opened. Forced a restart on that.

But, basically, Blink and other "teleport" effects tend to break the geometry of the game.
 

Rokam

Member
Bleh limited access to an HDTV currently, impossible to downgrade to a crappy one, looks like such crap and can't even see anything on the minimap :(. Oh well break till tomorrow.
 
Really love the game in about 3 hours in and I think I might start over and not use the DLC armor.. It seems like cheating.

How long does the pre order stuff last before you start finding better stuff ?
 

vaelic

Banned
FXAAsettings.jpg

thanks, man!
 

scy

Member
Really love the game in about 3 hours in and I think I might start over and not use the DLC armor.. It seems like cheating.

How long does the pre order stuff last before you start finding better stuff ?

Depends on RNG luck but I had better weapons within a dungeon clear or two, if I recall.
 

Whooter

Member
My oldest son got stuck at the blackmtih forge early on, almost reset and restarted but after trying everything we used his dagger charged ability and he got free. If you do get stuck in geometry please try that.
If it does not work PLEASE if you can, report the bug via email or service provided in game if possible, we'll do whatever we can to address bugs IF/AS we can guys.

I don't have the game yet (probably tomorrow or Thursday) but it gives me warm fuzzies to see you in the thread attempting to address issues that are coming up. Thanks, Curt!
 

Nista

Member
I'm pretty disappointed to read about all the bugs...I thought one of the big things about this game was how solid it ran. I really hope this doesn't turn out to be one of those things where I got hoodwinked by devs who supposedly give a crap about their fans. Guess I'll find out tomorrow when I start this thing up. :\

As with most games these days, seems one's mileage may vary. I played a decent chunk of time today on 360 and had no major bugs whatsoever. Worst thing I saw was a bunch of npcs all standing on top of each other in one spot, and some dodgy shots in dialog cutscenes.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
I was hoping to get into this tonight or even tomorrow morning, but Steam refused to pre-load faster than 100-200KBps, so I decided to instead download overnight the Steam rip of the game that's floating around the internet. The data should verify just fine within Steam when unpacked to KoA's steamapps folder.

Verified just fine and I used a VPN to load up the game (it doesn't unlock here for another ~17 hours). :)
 
Really not sure how to feel about this game so far. Kind of disappointed after playing for a solid six hours, but maybe the game just starts off rocky.

1. The art direction is all over the place. It's not bad, and I love what they were going for in some areas, but other areas just have saturated colors gobbed everywhere and it all becomes a bit messy. The bloom doesn't really help. Weapon design is distinctive, but the enemies are all so asymmetrical and detailed it's hard to actually make out a solid, I dunno, feel for what they look like. "Too much detail" seems like a strange complaint but given that the game is built for consoles it does look like stuff is too detailed for its own good. Bloom obscures so much.

On the flip side, human/fae models look great from a distance but awkward up close, particularly during dialogue. I wish the game didn't zoom in for conversations.

2. This game has hands down some of the most amateurish looking UI design I've seen in a while. Why does the game use a letterbox (a gradient letterbox, no less) during dialogue that covers a good third of the screen in black? Why on earth is everything written in a serif'd font? Why do the tooltips/tutorials cover up important real estate on the screen during combat situations? Why can't I display more than one quest on the minimap without going into the log and selecting a different quest? The whole thing looks incredibly unpolished.

3. I really must echo what some people have been saying about quest design. Some of these are dull as anything.

I do really like the writing so far, even if fantasy naming conventions are out in full force. I'll press on, but I'm definitely feeling wary. I have the day off tomorrow, so I do look forward to exploring the game some more.
 

vaelic

Banned
I am currently playing normal mode. I want to switch to hard mode but it says I may miss out on some achievements. Any idea on what those may be?
 

Wallach

Member
I am currently playing normal mode. I want to switch to hard mode but it says I may miss out on some achievements. Any idea on what those may be?

It's a general warning about being ineligible for the hard difficulty achievement. You won't get it if you started on normal.
 

JaseC

gave away the keys to the kingdom.
Really not sure how to feel about this game so far. Kind of disappointed after playing for a solid six hours, but maybe the game just starts off rocky.

1. The art direction is all over the place. It's not bad, and I love what they were going for in some areas, but other areas just have saturated colors gobbed everywhere and it all becomes a bit messy. The bloom doesn't really help. Weapon design is distinctive, but the enemies are all so asymmetrical and detailed it's hard to actually make out a solid, I dunno, feel for what they look like. "Too much detail" seems like a strange complaint but given that the game is built for consoles it does look like stuff is too detailed for its own good. Bloom obscures so much.

On the flip side, human/fae models look great from a distance but awkward up close, particularly during dialogue. I wish the game didn't zoom in for conversations.

2. This game has hands down some of the most amateurish looking UI design I've seen in a while. Why does the game use a letterbox (a gradient letterbox, no less) during dialogue that covers a good third of the screen in black? Why on earth is everything written in a serif'd font? Why do the tooltips/tutorials cover up important real estate on the screen during combat situations? Why can't I display more than one quest on the minimap without going into the log and selecting a different quest? The whole thing looks incredibly unpolished.

3. I really must echo what some people have been saying about quest design. Some of these are dull as anything.

I do really like the writing so far, even if fantasy naming conventions are out in full force. I'll press on, but I'm definitely feeling wary. I have the day off tomorrow, so I do look forward to exploring the game some more.

The UI is the one reason why I'd like 38S to reconsider mod support releasing an SDK, even if the extent of modification is limited to solely the UI.
 

gehrig38

Member
Because I have the most amazing team on the planet I wanted to let you guys know some folks that have input and impact on bugs, breaks and fixes are checking this forum and thread out. THey'd prefer it was in our forums but the sheer volume of players here and the stuff being posted, they emailed me back to get a heads up.

First off we completely get your frustration at ANY bugs you run across, and for that we're sorry. Having said that, if at all possible, anyone coming across a game breaking bug that wants to post it here if you COULD PLEASE post as much info as possible for our QA folks.

Console of choice you're playing on, specs on your pc if possible.

Please don't expect private emails any, all, much, ever, I don't know, but know the folks that matter are checking in and if there is a path to making fixes and it's doable, we will do what we can.
 

burgerdog

Member
Because I have the most amazing team on the planet I wanted to let you guys know some folks that have input and impact on bugs, breaks and fixes are checking this forum and thread out. THey'd prefer it was in our forums but the sheer volume of players here and the stuff being posted, they emailed me back to get a heads up.

First off we completely get your frustration at ANY bugs you run across, and for that we're sorry. Having said that, if at all possible, anyone coming across a game breaking bug that wants to post it here if you COULD PLEASE post as much info as possible for our QA folks.

Console of choice you're playing on, specs on your pc if possible.

Please don't expect private emails any, all, much, ever, I don't know, but know the folks that matter are checking in and if there is a path to making fixes and it's doable, we will do what we can.

Good stuff. I haven't ran into any bugs yet, but I'm glad that you guys are on it to help those that have.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
The UI is the one reason why I'd like 38S to reconsider mod support.

They do support modding, but due t resource contraints they were not able to make and release a tool set.I know its a popular request on their forums though so maybe they can make them happen later on.
 
Console of choice you're playing on, specs on your pc if possible.

Console - 360 Slim, 320 Gig HD, game installed to HD

Problem - Reckoning Mode no longer registers button presses, which results in no bonus XP ever being awarded

When - about 6 hours into the game, level 5. I used Reckoning at level 4, but between then and now it stopped working properly. And now when I go back and reload a save at level 4 it doesn't work then either. The only way I've found to get it to work again is to start over at the auto-save that occurred when the tutorial ended.

Thing I've tried - restart console, change difficulty, respected, reloaded all my saves and tried Reckoning in all of those saves. Never works.
 
They do support modding, but due t resource contraints they were not able to make and release a tool set.I know its a popular request on their forums though so maybe they can make them happen later on.

Even if they could just release a utility to "unzip" the .big files, I'm sure the community could handle the rest..
 

rockx4

Member
Enjoying the game so far. It definitely looks better than the demo, at least it does to me. I'm forcing 16x AF and using the in game post processing, AA with post processing really kills framerates for me, and I sorta like the blur and bloom.

The only real negatives for me are the camera and the quest tracking. The camera can really get all over the place (playing finesse) when fighting multiple mobs. It's a pain trying to keep track of mobs off screen that are shooting arrows or spells at you.

Quest tracking should track over the whole map. Or at least have a "show on map" option in the quest screen. At the moment only the selected quest (yellow ring) shows up on the whole map, all other quests (white rings) only track in the immediate area. This makes it hard to plan out paths to complete quests. Also the scrolling seems to be really slow on the map.
 

scy

Member
@Fixes - Not sure if it's a PC only issue or not but it's annoying that a full inventory stops you from being able to loot items you have stacks of (e.g., Lockpick on corpse and you're at 100/100 with a stack of Lockpicks ... you can't loot them).

Console - 360 Slim, 320 Gig HD, game installed to HD

Problem - Reckoning Mode no longer registers button presses, which results in no bonus XP ever being awarded

When - about 6 hours into the game, level 5. I used Reckoning at level 4, but between then and now it stopped working properly. And now when I go back and reload a save at level 4 it doesn't work then either. The only way I've found to get it to work again is to start over at the auto-save that occurred when the tutorial ended.

Thing I've tried - restart console, change difficulty, respected, reloaded all my saves and tried Reckoning in all of those saves. Never works.

Idle curiosity, did you try Reckoning, letting it go through, and then seeing what happens when you get a new Reckoning to pop up?
 
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