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[Baconsammy]

I just started the game this morning, so far I like it.

What are the main complaints GAF has? I noticed the difficulty and camera being the main gripes on here.

Big Huge Games' testers are either blind, or they simply chose to ignore the huge problems that the crafting system causes in regards to difficulty. Even on hard, the placement of two health gems can destroy the game, making you nearly an unkillable god. There's also numerous game-altering/game-breaking bugs that not only affect your current save, but also infect that character's past saves. There was a lot of love for this game when it first released (much from me), but that quickly dissipated once the issues reared up.

 

[Effect]

Since EA is the one they have to go through in order to patch the game (and pay for the patch) what about the PC version (or at least the Steam version)? Didn't BHG self-publish that. Is there anything keeping them from patching that version or perhaps they want all versions the same?

 

[Troll]

Big Huge Games' testers are either blind, or they simply chose to ignore the huge problems that the crafting system causes in regards to difficulty. Even on hard, the placement of two health gems can destroy the game, making you nearly an unkillable god. There's also numerous game-altering/game-breaking bugs that not only affect your current save, but also infect that character's past saves. There was a lot of love for this game when it first released (much from me), but that quickly dissipated once the issues reared up.

... can you explain this plz.

 

[ReaperXL7]

Since EA is the one they have to go through in order to patch the game (and pay for the patch) what about the PC version (or at least the Steam version)? Didn't BHG self-publish that. Is there anything keeping them from patching that version or perhaps they want all versions the same?

They did self-publish, and they have not really answered this question, however I don't think the patch is actually finished yet to release it to anyone yet. Per their contract they had to finish the DLC by EA's timeframe, so that probably came first. They are still working on the patch though, I think there was mention on their forums about June is when they hope to get it out the door.

... can you explain this plz.

Not downplaying Bacon's issues with the bugs, but the most of them are the exception and not the rule. There is an issue with Fate Shift kills where when it use it will "break" and you won't be able to use it again throughout the game. There are some other ones aswell, but for the most part especially for a game of this size it's pretty solid from a bug situation.

The main issue that most have falls to the games balance issues, which are justifiable to an extent because it can be pretty easy to break the games difficulty by equiping yourself in the right way, and you can out level much of the game pretty easily. I've sunk a ton of time into the game with no bugs, as have alot of people, but as with any game of this size there are bugs, some worse than others. Bacon had some nasty ones so I don't blame him for being upset.

The devs have been working on a Patch for the game, but unforunetly due to the patch not being convered under 38'spartner contract with EA, and it seems like EA is being bullish on covering the costs of it. It probably does not help that 38 wants to pretty much give out content (new difficulty modes) for free, which I would think would be a big no no for EA. They did confirm though that both the MMO, and Reckoning 2 already have another publisher(s) though.

 

[foladar]

As an achievement junkie, is there anything missable or that I should pay attention to while playing? I was going to do main story on hard then go back for side quests, normally I check the list but didn't want to spoil myself by reading it for this game.

 

[darkjedi187]

As an achievement junkie, is there anything missable or that I should pay attention to while playing? I was going to do main story on hard then go back for side quests, normally I check the list but didn't want to spoil myself by reading it for this game.

I know the one you get from defeating someone four lvls above you becomes more complicated later in the game. I just went to the jail in the first town and beat up a prisoner.

 

[Baconsammy]

... can you explain this plz.

Reckoning mode will for no reason simply stop working. When this happened I tried all of my prior saves and they magically were afflicted with the problem. I also built my character and play-style around have the Faer Gorta pet. Much like Reckoning mode, he all of a sudden stopped working properly and it affected every single save for that character. Other people have reported similar types of bugs.

 

[Rhyvven]

They did self-publish, and they have not really answered this question, however I don't think the patch is actually finished yet to release it to anyone yet. Per their contract they had to finish the DLC by EA's timeframe, so that probably came first. They are still working on the patch though, I think there was mention on their forums about June is when they hope to get it out the door.





Not downplaying Bacon's issues with the bugs, but the most of them are the exception and not the rule. There is an issue with Fate Shift kills where when it use it will "break" and you won't be able to use it again throughout the game. There are some other ones aswell, but for the most part especially for a game of this size it's pretty solid from a bug situation.

The main issue that most have falls to the games balance issues, which are justifiable to an extent because it can be pretty easy to break the games difficulty by equiping yourself in the right way, and you can out level much of the game pretty easily. I've sunk a ton of time into the game with no bugs, as have alot of people, but as with any game of this size there are bugs, some worse than others. Bacon had some nasty ones so I don't blame him for being upset.

The devs have been working on a Patch for the game, but unforunetly due to the patch not being convered under 38'spartner contract with EA, and it seems like EA is being bullish on covering the costs of it. It probably does not help that 38 wants to pretty much give out content (new difficulty modes) for free, which I would think would be a big no no for EA. They did confirm though that both the MMO, and Reckoning 2 already have another publisher(s) though.

I'll agree that "most" are the exception and not the rule. However, as I posted and others, The Silence Falls bug WILL end your progress in the main quest with absolutely no way out, other than to load a previous save. IF, you are lucky enough to have one back far enough - and if you don't mind replaying a few hours (possibly) of game time.

 

[Brandon F]

As an achievement junkie, is there anything missable or that I should pay attention to while playing? I was going to do main story on hard then go back for side quests, normally I check the list but didn't want to spoil myself by reading it for this game.

Nothing really missable I think. I'm about halfway done with the achievements and they have been pretty simple so far.

You can earn many of the crafting achievements in one fell swoop just respecing your skills in a major town(like Ysa). Just fill up your smithing, alchemy, and sagecraft bars, then forge the epic armor, epic gems, fate potion(requires you to have reached the Ysa main story quest for the diagram I think), and then you can respec back to your old talents.

Only achievement worth watching out for is the kill a 'red' labeled enemy. Even on hard, I have yet to encounter one in regular play. I ended up loading a real early save(the autosave the game makes after leaving the tutorial dungeon), committing a crime in Gorhart, and then escaping prison. The prison guards were red for me at level 2. They can feel impossible to kill at that level as well without using fateshift, especially considering your equipment is garbage at that point. But this has been the ONLY red enemy I have seen in 40 hours of play so far.

I also recommend leveling your alchemy skill regardless. The achievement to harvest 10 of each plant is best to work on throughout the game, and can be a pain in the ass if you reach the endgame and have to suddenly run around collecting plants. I've cleared my inventory of all plants and have stopped picking up any of them unless I harvest them just so I can keep tabs on how many are left as I continue explore to find(taking them from corpses or chests won't count, they must be plucked).

Good luck, this is one of the easier 1000 points to earn, just time consuming given the size of the game.

 

[Bl4ckSunsh1n3]

taking them from corpses or chests won't count, they must be plucked

Well, that's why the achievement never popped for me then. I assumed it was just 10 of each total. Time to empty out the stash and pluck away.

 

[friz898]

Would anybody here agree this is the closest so far that any single-player RPG has come to giving that MMO game type feel? More so than an Elder Scrolls game.



If not, what do you think is a better example? I'm a former MMO'er who has returned to his console roots, and with the lack of MMOs for consoles or portables, would love to find that single player experience that basically makes me feel as though I am playing by myself on an MMO server with the world all to myself.



Obvious Replies:

Phantasy Star (really enjoy, but wish it was not sci-fi, I prefer fantasy/medieval)
Monster Hunter (I tried so so so so hard to like this for PSP. I am one of those people who it did not click for in the first 5-8 hours and could not stomach it any longer.)

 

[Ripclawe]

Did I do something wrong or are things to do with quests spread out really far? I am doing the wind chimes and its ridiculous to me how spread out it is and thinking I missed getting a horse or something to travel...

 

[Baconsammy]

Did I do something wrong or are things to do with quests spread out really far? I am doing the wind chimes and its ridiculous to me how spread out it is and thinking I missed getting a horse or something to travel...

Some quests are meant to take place over the entirety of the game. Accumulating the lost books, for example. The problem with those quests is that the rewards for doing them are complete shit, making you feel like a fool for going out of your way to do them. I pray they learned from the numerous mistakes they made in this first game when they're creating the sequel. They got a lot right, but they also got so much wrong.

As for the "is this the best single player MMO experience" question. Do people want a single player MMO? Isn't the reason people play MMOs and deal with those idiotic fetch quests is because they're doing so alongside their friends and guildmates, and ultimately they're building a character capable of going on raids? Why would I want a single player game that replicates the absolute worst part of an MMO?

 

[DSN2K]

just got this activated on Origins...I'm planning to play with the 360 pad, is there any specific mods I need to install from the start ?

 

[coopolon]

Would anybody here agree this is the closest so far that any single-player RPG has come to giving that MMO game type feel? More so than an Elder Scrolls game.



If not, what do you think is a better example? I'm a former MMO'er who has returned to his console roots, and with the lack of MMOs for consoles or portables, would love to find that single player experience that basically makes me feel as though I am playing by myself on an MMO server with the world all to myself.



Obvious Replies:

Phantasy Star (really enjoy, but wish it was not sci-fi, I prefer fantasy/medieval)
Monster Hunter (I tried so so so so hard to like this for PSP. I am one of those people who it did not click for in the first 5-8 hours and could not stomach it any longer.)

Final Fantasy XII. If you want HD run it in pcsx2

 

[MMaRsu]

I traded Saints Row 3 for this, I've played this for over 5 hours and I think that was an amazing deal considering Saints Row 3 is much older and has no replay value whatsoever.

This game is cool ^^.

 

[Arpeggio23]

Would anybody here agree this is the closest so far that any single-player RPG has come to giving that MMO game type feel? More so than an Elder Scrolls game.

If not, what do you think is a better example?

Final Fantasy XII or Xenoblade Chronicles. And of course the .hack games on the PS2.

Personally, I don't see the MMO comparison with KoA: Reckoning. It is a fantastic single-player open-world RPG with action-game combat.

Also, I've been wanting to say this for a long time, so I'll just say it here instead of in a different post:

If anyone thinks the game is too easy even on Hard because "crafting breaks the game", I have a radical suggestion for you: don't craft! Crafting is an option; it is merely an additional feature included in the game that you can can choose to do or you can completely ignore. Believe it or not, you can still finish the game without crafting even once. Some people might want to become insanely powerful via crafting, and that option is included in the game for them. If that is not your thing, then you can simply avoid crafting entirely.

 

[MMaRsu]

So yeah this game is pretty damn cool, a generic ripoff of WoW in my eyes but still fun. Maybe it gets much better later on ? The music is cool but forgettable so far, I'm still in the first part of the map, gonna go with the thieves guild and I've been asked to reclaim some boots from this hunter guy. But I'm cursed and need to find a healer but the healer in this one town asked me to bring her some plaguebearer first, oh well I already had one and the other two were close near a fast travel point.

IS EA EVER GONNA FIX THE AUDIO BUG? I mean damn wtf apparently this has been existing since the game is out, 2 dlc packs later it's still not fixed? That's some ridiculous shit.

 

[Baconsammy]

So yeah this game is pretty damn cool, a generic ripoff of WoW in my eyes but still fun. Maybe it gets much better later on ? The music is cool but forgettable so far, I'm still in the first part of the map, gonna go with the thieves guild and I've been asked to reclaim some boots from this hunter guy. But I'm cursed and need to find a healer but the healer in this one town asked me to bring her some plaguebearer first, oh well I already had one and the other two were close near a fast travel point.

IS EA EVER GONNA FIX THE AUDIO BUG? I mean damn wtf apparently this has been existing since the game is out, 2 dlc packs later it's still not fixed? That's some ridiculous shit.

Not sure if you've been following the thread, but it most certainly does change later on. And not for the better.

 

[MMaRsu]

Not sure if you've been following the thread, but it most certainly does change later on. And not for the better.

Wtf

I saw people on gaf saying this was one of their fav rpg's of the year... ?

 

[Baconsammy]

Wtf

I saw people on gaf saying this was one of their fav rpg's of the year... ?

On even the hardest difficulty, the game takes a huge nosedive around the 2nd/3rd areas. Acquiring loot, crafting, leveling up all conspire to destroy any sense of difficulty the game had early on. You go from needing to be strategic with your choice of attacks, picking the right enemy in a group of enemies to kill first etc to just blindly walking into packs of enemies and simply attacking, not worrying about taking any damage.

 

[Troll]

I am having a hard time getting into the game... any suggestions?

 

[MMaRsu]

On even the hardest difficulty, the game takes a huge nosedive around the 2nd/3rd areas. Acquiring loot, crafting, leveling up all conspire to destroy any sense of difficulty the game had early on. You go from needing to be strategic with your choice of attacks, picking the right enemy in a group of enemies to kill first etc to just blindly walking into packs of enemies and simply attacking, not worrying about taking any damage.

Well damn ok well i guess it can be just a loot easy hack and slash rpg. Ive been playing enough hard games like dark souls and god hand anyway haha.

 

[coopolon]

I am having a hard time getting into the game... any suggestions?

Wait to see if they fix the difficulty. There are a lot of fun mechanics in the game, but they're all rendered moot by the silly difficulty.

Then again, I have no idea why you're having a hard time getting into the game. I have a hard time getting into it because it's super boring because it's super easy.

 

[Brandon F]

If anyone thinks the game is too easy even on Hard because "crafting breaks the game", I have a radical suggestion for you: don't craft! Crafting is an option; it is merely an additional feature included in the game that you can can choose to do or you can completely ignore. Believe it or not, you can still finish the game without crafting even once. Some people might want to become insanely powerful via crafting, and that option is included in the game for them. If that is not your thing, then you can simply avoid crafting entirely.

Crafting is NOT the only thing that destroys any challenge the game may provide.

Avoiding crafting, you still contend with twist of fate perks from completing major story/factions quests that improve your xp gain, give major bonuses to your health/mana regeneration, and dramatically buff your offense/defense capabilities. I think I just acquired one that has a chance to absorb 15% total health on each offensive strike. Just using my daggers completely restores my health. NONE OF THESE CAN BE TOGGLED OFF.

So essentially, avoid crafting, avoid lorestones, avoid faction quests, avoid using your win-button fateshift screen clearing bomb. Unless you want the easiest RPG ever made. Fucking insane.

The game just keeps snowballing you to being god-like just for playing. Hell, I am still using equipment that is built for a level 6 character despite being upper 30's in the endgame zones, just because I like the look. None of it matters! I am impenetrable. And this is on Hard mode.
XP, money, and perks come so quickly that you outlevel the game before leaving the first zone.

It is absolutely apparent that this was either a purposeful creative decision(Why? Who is the audience? All this effort appealing to a hardcore market with "big industry vets" only to make a game for naive casuals?), or this is a travesty of an oversight.

Regardless, I am enjoying the game in other ways. It successfully fulfills the attempt to make an RPG where "hitting a button does something awesome" that Dragon Age 2 failed at. All the skills are fucking cool. I like the look of the world and exploring the various zones. It's just the 'game' part that is a trainwreck. It really is a fantastic "My first RPG" attempt, probably the most overproduced gateway RPG ever made.

 

[Baconsammy]

If anyone thinks the game is too easy even on Hard because "crafting breaks the game", I have a radical suggestion for you: don't craft!

Don't craft. Don't level up. Don't ever pick up loot. Don't do sidequests. Sound like a fun game to you?

 

[NullPointer]

Don't craft. Don't level up. Don't ever pick up loot. Don't do sidequests. Sound like a fun game to you?

No, just don't craft.

I don't mind because I'm not out to punish/challenge myself so being overpowered from crafting was kindof my plan all along ;P If I ever finish this thing and replay it I'll definitely skip the crafting side of things if only to give found loot that much more value.

My main issue with difficulty is the side quests really. I should never feel like I should purposefully avoid questing to stay within the designed limits for an area. When it comes to that I don't know what playstyle modifications can help to keep things balanced.

 

[Baconsammy]

No, just don't craft.

I don't mind because I'm not out to punish/challenge myself so being overpowered from crafting was kindof my plan all along ;P If I ever finish this thing and replay it I'll definitely skip the crafting side of things if only to give found loot that much more value.

My main issue with difficulty is the side quests really. I should never feel like I should purposefully avoid questing to stay within the designed limits for an area. When it comes to that I don't know what playstyle modifications can help to keep things balanced.

Avoiding crafting is only part of it though. You can pick up loot and equip it that gives you the same stats that crafting would have, thus making you unkillable. Being able to level up incredibly fast via sidequests also aids this. The game needed a lot of difficulty balancing, which I'm quite honestly surprised they missed. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they missed it rather than accuse them of releasing a broken game.

 

[ReaperXL7]

Avoiding crafting is only part of it though. You can pick up loot and equip it that gives you the same stats that crafting would have, thus making you unkillable. Being able to level up incredibly fast via sidequests also aids this. The game needed a lot of difficulty balancing, which I'm quite honestly surprised they missed. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they missed it rather than accuse them of releasing a broken game.

Curt pretty much already made it clear that EA pushed them on their deadline to get the game out, which sucks because the balancing is what ended up suffering due to it. I'm just glad they have gotten another publisher, or publishers to pick up the sequel, and their MMO.

I love the game, but I completely understand why people have issues with it. I just honestly don't think that the issues are something that happened purposely on the part of 38, or BHG. I wonder how many will give it another chance once they are able to get the patches out and hopefully fix atleast some of the issues.

 

[coopolon]

Curt pretty much already made it clear that EA pushed them on their deadline to get the game out, which sucks because the balancing is what ended up suffering due to it. I'm just glad they have gotten another publisher, or publishers to pick up the sequel, and their MMO.

I love the game, but I completely understand why people have issues with it. I just honestly don't think that the issues are something that happened purposely on the part of 38, or BHG. I wonder how many will give it another chance once they are able to get the patches out and hopefully fix atleast some of the issues.

I definitely will. I loved what I played of the game (through to the second area), I just stopped playing because it was so boring after a certain point. Once/if they release a good difficulty patch I'll be all aboard, I'll probably even buy the DLC.

I installed the heartcore mod but never gave it much of a try, if they never release a decent patch I might have to go with that.

 

[PushingButtons]

I haven't played this game in over a week. I unfortunately just lost interest in it with the broken difficulty.

 

[Baconsammy]

Not sure if anyone is following the 38 Studios issue, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never got either patch they promised. Looks like the MMO sunk them.

 

[Troll]

Not sure if anyone is following the 38 Studios issue, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never got either patch they promised. Looks like the MMO sunk them.

I wonder how much they put into it, money wise.

 

[shaowebb]

I really really want this studio to pull through and turn this around. This is a studio whose vision I really believe in and I believe I could have a decent shot at working for after graduation with some effort on my part. The whole 75 million dollar loan thing is really something I worry about.

God I want 38 to turn this around. This is the kind of studio that tries to listen to fans and respect them with their product. The industry could really benefit from them someday soon should they survive this mess.

 

[MvmntInGrn]

Just got around to the demo for this. Enjoyable hack-and-slash fun, environments (outdoors at least) are very nice looking. Don't like not being able to strafe with my shield out but its not so bad, at least the game gives you access to many types of weapons upfront. World seems like it will be big. I'll probably pick this up at some point later on PC.

Didn't know this was BigHugeGames, I remember seeing an article on Unseen64 about BigHugeGames and a large RPG, though I thought it was canceled. Here is is: http://www.unseen64.net/2009/04/20/ascendant-x360ps3pc-beta/

Been in development quite awhile it seems.

 

[josh_tarrant]

I really, really enjoyed this game.

It was one of the first fantasy RPG's I have played. Apart from Fable (again I enjoyed 2 and parts of 3).

I put in 50 hours, the pick and play side of it really appealed as did the difficulty (lack of).

I have since gone on to try and play Skyrim and The Witcher 2. Both games are far to detailed for me. I just didnt get in to them as quickly as I did with Kingdoms.

So GAF, recommend me a game. I would like another fantasy RPG, that isnt to difficult or detailed. I am 360 only.

Cheers

 

[Dead]

Divinity 2 Dragon knight saga

 

[Baconsammy]

I really, really enjoyed this game.

It was one of the first fantasy RPG's I have played. Apart from Fable (again I enjoyed 2 and parts of 3).

I put in 50 hours, the pick and play side of it really appealed as did the difficulty (lack of).

I have since gone on to try and play Skyrim and The Witcher 2. Both games are far to detailed for me. I just didnt get in to them as quickly as I did with Kingdoms.

So GAF, recommend me a game. I would like another fantasy RPG, that isnt to difficult or detailed. I am 360 only.

Cheers

If you like good combat, Dragon's Dogma. Just be warned that the rest of the game outside of the combat is pretty much shit.

 

[Solidino]

my little appreciation to this game... (sorry for bad english)

 

[Baconsammy]

I'm guessing the chances of us getting those patches to make the game worth playing now are zilch.

 

[Snuggles]

I wonder how many people actually finished this game. It must be a very small percentage. It was pretty fun but I hit that wall and lost interest about 30 hours in, which is probably not even half of the game. Between the massive size of the game and the sameyness of it all, pushing through to the end is an overwhelming task.

 

[Saint Gregory]

Amazon has the PC download version on sale now for $35.99

I was thinking about picking it up but I'm getting the impression from the thread (and the recent 38 Studios closure) that the game may never get patched. Does anyone think I should jump in?

 

[Baconsammy]

Amazon has the PC download version on sale now for $35.99

I was thinking about picking it up but I'm getting the impression from the thread (and the recent 38 Studios closure) that the game may never get patched. Does anyone think I should jump in?

There's no one left to patch it. It's over. It's not a bad game, but with no chance of a patch, I don't recommend spending more that 10 bucks for it.

 

[Saint Gregory]

There's no one left to patch it. It's over. It's not a bad game, but with no chance of a patch, I don't recommend spending more that 10 bucks for it.

I've been reading through some of the thread on the main forum and now I feel bad for asking the question at all given how badly some of the studios employees were impacted by all of this.

I hope that things work out for them

 

[coopolon]

Well now that a patch is clearly never coming I went ahead and bought the DLC for it and reinstalled.

I'm trying out the YSA mod (formerly known as HeartCore) and so far it's been pretty fantastic. Enemies do a lot more damage, I do a lot less, and there's a lot less gold floating around but I'm still just a few hours in so we'll have to see how it goes. After damage modifications, the most exciting thing it is stretching out the xp so that you won't hit level cap until near the end if you are completionist and not until the dlc if you're not.

I am not using the speedup though because in my experience cheat engine always messes up cutscenes with its speedhack.

If you are going to try it definitely read the mod instructions because it has a lot of quirks.

Edit: Actually reading up on the mod I found this map showing someone's progression with a 50% Exp reduction rate. In yellow are ranges, in red are the levels he completed the area at, black arrows to indicate order of areas he completed. Note he never used fateshifting or exp potions and I'm not sure how he did the faction quests, he changes his mind halfway through the playthrough. This makes me really sad, I think they could have fixed A LOT of the balance problems with a really simple patch. Just add a hardcore mode with 50 or 60% EXP reduction and also tone down the #s on the crafting. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be sooo much better than vanilla.

 

[Azzurri]

I played the demo today and really liked it, it's a shame that 38 studios went bye bye.

 

[Solidino]

there's un upadate of 15megabyte on Origin (option "search update" right click on mouse)

????

 

[coopolon]

there's un upadate of 15megabyte on Origin (option "search update" right click on mouse)

????

Hmm, I hit check for update on Origin and I got it too. Wonder what it was.

 

[Solidino]

http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?10041-Thanks-Apologies-and-Farewell

nooooooooooo

 

[AndyD]

http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?10041-Thanks-Apologies-and-Farewell

nooooooooooo

I wish they would release the unfinished patch to the community to finish it unofficially.