Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning(Released on February 7th)

[you2]

Does anyone know if hte camera issue has been changed in the final product ?

 

[Mem]

Does anyone know if hte camera issue has been changed in the final product ?

Doubt anybody knows at this time,btw for those players playing the demo for the free ME3 content,to get the grenade launcher for ME3 you must play until the 45 minutes is up,you get that unlocked content for ME3 at very end of demo.

 

[you2]

Well the devs have commented that several other bugs are fixed such as ati issue; was wondering if they made comments on the camera issue folks are seeing.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Requires Origin?

I am out.

No. I played the demo without touching Origin. It's fully playable from steam, just requires an EA account to log in once you're inside the game.

I played the demo for a bit yesterday. I finished the tutorial section, learned to use all the weapons/moves etc, and got outside and started the 45 min timer.

It's worth noting that the timer pauses during conversations/menus. So there's no need to skip dialogue. I played for about an hour, and still had like 40 mins left on the timer (plus all the dialogue), so I'd say the demo is roughly 2 hours long.

Problem is, I couldn't save when I wanted to stop. I tried F5/F6, searched all the menus, etc, but nothing worked. So I assumed the game just autosaves your progress. However, when I restarted the game, I had to start over, which I found to be extremely annoying.

The graphics are workable, but it looks like a 2008 game. I don't understand why they zoom in so close on characters during conversations if the textures are so bland. They use Witcher2-style close-ups, but with only like 20% of the visual fidelity. It looks horrid.

The animations are extremely smooth and satisfying, and the combat is very responsive and tons of fun. The story looked interesting enough from what I've seen. Problem is though, I'm kind of burnt out on this kind of games after playing Skyrim.

I might fire the demo and start over again to finish it, not sure yet.

PS: the NPC's lips move during dialogue and seem to be somewhat synched (unlike what someone above said)

 

[you2]

I might be wrong but I think it only requires an EA account if you want the bonus items. I was able to start it without logging into an EA account.
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Anyways I actually played the demo myself and it was ok but had issues. The inventory system sucks (too deep; like dungeon siege 3; clearly not designed for the pc).
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Didn't love the camera but didnt' find it as bad as everyone else - hopefully they will allow you to zoom further out.
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targeting system sucks.
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kind of stupid mechnics (like unable to grab loot while fighting)
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Hum. The dialogs were kind of long winded and boring (I eneded up skipping a lot of them); dragon age were also long but for some weird reason I found them entertaining.
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controls were klunky (ctrol-w to sprint forwrd is a pain)
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Anyways if they fix a few of the most painful issues (the inventory really sucks, targeting, camera and 'combat mode' vs non 'combat mode') I'll probably bite if it drops below $30. It just doesnt' strike me as a great pc game - but it could have been if they had made it for the pc.

No. I played the demo without touching Origin. It's fully playable from steam, just requires an EA account to log in once you're inside the game.

 

[Ferzerp]

This is an xbox purchase if I decide to buy it. There is no compelling reason to play it on a PC, sadly. You can tell it's yet another lazy console port.

 

[astrosfan315]

Well the devs have commented that several other bugs are fixed such as ati issue; was wondering if they made comments on the camera issue folks are seeing.

There is a huge thread by the developer of the combat system on their forums specifically asking for feedback on the camera. Basically like a QA forum
For us to be beta testers in...
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?2485-Your-feedback!-(particularly-camera)

 

[cytoSiN]

Tycho from Penny Arcade just posted some comments on the demo. These are they:

...This is what a demo does, publishers, if you were wondering: sell games to people. Offering a demo creates the first stage of rapport. In effect, it elicits response.

Electronic Arts has done things keyed off of purchase before: they got their “Dead Space” in my “Dragon Age,” to coin a phrase. But tying material benefits for Kingdoms and Mass Effect stuff directly to the demo, which has no cost other than the time you spend with it, and the net widens. There’s even a demo for the PC - the PC, friends! - for whistle-wetting purposes. It’s also a demo that sets you loose after its initial tutorial payload. You don’t have access to everything, but you have forty-five minutes to explore, which is interesting. I’m waiting for the retail game that absorbs my progression from the demo, but I am sometimes called an optimist.

Kingdoms of Amalur is fairly audacious, in that it tries to find a midpoint between Blizzard “lush” and Skyrim “breadth,” with combat that is immediate and kinetic and substantially less SCA. It’s a smart-ass, upstart maneuver that should have resulted in room temperature dogshit, and it didn’t. Check it out.

I agree with his conclusion regarding the Blizzard/Bethesda mashup, as well as the fact that it sounds like it wouldn't work, but seems like it might. Time will tell...

 

[cytoSiN]

More PA love for Amalur:

Once again I was able to beg an early copy of a game. This time I scored Kingdoms of Amalur. I’ve been playing it now for a few days and I am in love. I’m probably not supposed to talk about the game yet but I figured it would be much easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission as the old saying goes.

I’m not incredibly far in the game and I don’t want to spoil anything but I do want to give my impressions. Yesterday on Twitter I said I thought it was better than Skyrim and I want to tell you why that is.

I’ve mentioned before that I have a problem with open world games. When given all these options I tend to get paralyzed rather than excited. for some reason Amalur is different and I think I know the reasons why:

The combat in Skyrim is miserable. If games like Bayonetta and God of War are on one end of a spectrum, games like Skyrim are so far on the other end that they have fallen off the spectrum and actually can not even see the spectrum from where they are. It seems like if you want to play a massive open world RPG you have to give up a fun,energetic combat system. The thrill of discovering a cave full of vampires in Skyrim is diminished by the knowledge that once I get in there, fighting them is just going to be a chore.

Amalur is the polar opposite. The combat system in Amalur is fast paced and incredibly deep. I’d say the way this game handles class choice is one of my favorite things about the title. There are three skill trees, might, finesse, and sorcery. As you level up you earn talent points and can invest them into any branch you like. So far pretty standard stuff. The twist is that throwing points into these trees will slowly unlock hybrid classes. For example, I started off in sorcery and chose a pretty standard wizard type class. I got a bonus to my mana pool and that sort of thing. Then I started putting points into finesse and I unlocked a couple of hybrid classes. Now I’m a spell casting rogue with magic blades! I get a bonus to blade weapons and a boost to magic damage. There are tons of these hybrid classes encompassing all the various combinations of talent points and trees. So as you play the game and shuffle your points around you can also be cycling through different class choices each with their own bonuses and special powers.

Having cool powers and a great class wouldn’t matter if the combat itself sucked though. thankfully Amalur delivers a visceral, smooth, flashy combat experience that I’d put up alongside games like Darksiders and Devil May Cry. I think that in Skyrim, story, exploration and discovery are the things that are supposed to keep you playing. Amalur has all that stuff too but it doesn’t sacrifice the game play to deliver it. This combat would feel right at home in an action game but they have combined it with solid writing and a massive open world.

The other big thing that keeps me in Amalur is the art. Skyrim is nice looking in its own way but I found the gray and brown to be incredibly boring after a while. The world felt procedurally generated to me rather than built by a designer. Obviously Amalur’s style isn’t for everyone. It has been compared to WoW and Fable which, honestly I think is fair. If that sort of style doesn’t turn your crank then Amalur isn’t for you. personally I lost interest in exploring Skyrim and Dragon Age 2 because I never saw anything that looked very interesting. A big part of the reason I play games is for “new art”. That is the thing more often than not that keeps me progressing. What will the next level or zone look like? Amalur in my opinion is absolutely beautiful. This world has been thoughtfully and artfully constructed. It is vibrant and unique in a way that makes me hungry to explore over the next hill.

In the end I just want to make sure this game doesn’t slip past your radar. I think it would be easy to look at it and think it’s a pretty standard RPG. In reality Amalur is a unique experience full of great ideas. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

 

[Aikouka]

It's kind of refreshing to see those sorts of comments about the combat system. I actually prefer a more fast-paced, action-style, third-person combat system to a slow, first-person system. It's probably related to how I played more 3D action style games than the old first-person RPGs that came out on the PC quite a few years ago.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I played the demo and it just seemed..meh to me. A little too been there done that. Maybe it just doesn't show enough of it?

 

[Dwarf]

38 Studios Curt Schilling responds to bugginess and feedback for the demo.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34614450&postcount=2648

Supposedly the demo is from 3 month old code and in no way reflective of the quality of the final gold product.

 

[SMOGZINN]

Also looks like it is to have day one DLC.

 

[astrosfan315]

38 Studios Curt Schilling responds to bugginess and feedback for the demo.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34614450&postcount=2648

Supposedly the demo is from 3 month old code and in no way reflective of the quality of the final gold product.

nice find, thanks.

 

[CPA]

It's kind of refreshing to see those sorts of comments about the combat system. I actually prefer a more fast-paced, action-style, third-person combat system to a slow, first-person system. It's probably related to how I played more 3D action style games than the old first-person RPGs that came out on the PC quite a few years ago.

Me too. I loved Darksiders and DMC4. Finished both games.

Playing Skyrim and have to agree with some of things he doesn't quite like.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Help with log-in please, having problems getting into demo

So, I see that you can play on steam without logging in to EA. However, I wanted to log in to get the bonus item for ME3.

When I try to log in it says to log in with an existing EA account and password. OK, I entered my account and password for ME2, right? But then it wont go any further and says that the password is incorrect or that the account already exists. WTF,of course the account already exists, that is what it said to do, enter an existing account.

So I went to the option that said create new account. But then it said the item would not go to my existing account for ME. WTF again. So now I am in a loop and cant get anywhere. I cant log in to my existing account and if I create a new account, the bonus item wont go to the right account.

Am I totally missing something?? I dont really want to play the demo unless I get the bonus item for ME2. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[CPA]

okay, played the demo, well, some of it and just not sold. Other than the lipsynch bug, I didn't find much else that was buggy, but there's something about the game that just isn't pulling me in. Maybe it's the clumsy menus or the binding of only two weapons or the pacing. Not really sure, but I'm hesitant to buy right now.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Apparently, the demo is a 3-month old build. I just don't see why developers do that and risk giving a bad first impression to gamers.

 

[you2]

They didn't; it was EA's decision.

Apparently, the demo is a 3-month old build. I just don't see why developers do that and risk giving a bad first impression to gamers.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Finished the demo. Still can't figure what happened to the EA account I used for ME2 and DA2. Finally had create a new account. Hope I can still import my saves from ME2 into ME3. As for this game, I thought it was OK. Personally I liked the skill tree in skyrim more. This game is too oriented to making special combo moves for my taste. I'm not good at it and it makes it seem too much like a console fighting game. Seemed better than DS3 by far though. Definitely would not pay full price, but would pick it up definitely at 10.00 and maybe up to 20.00.

 

[CPA]

I think I figured out what's bugging me the most about the game - Invisible Walls. Too many of them. If you don't want me running off a ledge, then don't put one there. Also don't put lots of nooks if you don't want me going in them. Hate visible walls.

Also, not a fan of the scripted jumping and diving. Either allow us to do both or don't.

 

[ioni]

okay, played the demo, well, some of it and just not sold. Other than the lipsynch bug, I didn't find much else that was buggy, but there's something about the game that just isn't pulling me in. Maybe it's the clumsy menus or the binding of only two weapons or the pacing. Not really sure, but I'm hesitant to buy right now.

You do realize there are 3 skill trees that give you new abilities that you can hot key to 1-0, right? Plus, those 2 weapons you can equip at once to quickly cycle between (you can hold a lot more that 2 weapons at once) have a bunch of different combos. It's not like this is Resistance 2 or something.

 

[CPA]

You do realize there are 3 skill trees that give you new abilities that you can hot key to 1-0, right? Plus, those 2 weapons you can equip at once to quickly cycle between (you can hold a lot more that 2 weapons at once) have a bunch of different combos. It's not like this is Resistance 2 or something.

I did not and that's good to know. I could only attach a primary and secondary weapon.

 

[Kloreep]

I was impressed by the art. Hi-res? Not at all. But beautiful, vibrant? Yes.

My reservation is the dialogue, most of which put me to sleep. I too began skipping through them pretty quickly, the majority of dialogues I saw in the demo were just awful. The game throws lore at the screen without seeming to make any effort to make me care. There were a few good bits here and there, but ultimately I'm not really sure why I should care about this fateweaving stuff, aside from "you can make things explode with it." Hopefully that's just another limitation of the demo and things get better after the first hour, but I'm not counting on it.

The combat system was good, though. It looks like a fun loot quest to go on. The major doubt the demo gave me was: is this really anything more than a complex hack n' slasher/looter? Because if it is, that wasn't apparent to me.

 

[cytoSiN]

38 Studios Curt Schilling responds to bugginess and feedback for the demo.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=34614450&postcount=2648

Supposedly the demo is from 3 month old code and in no way reflective of the quality of the final gold product.

I liked this...as a Yankee fan I can't stand him for obvious reasons, but as a game developer, he's definitely got the right idea. I was on the fence about this game, but between this post and some of the interviews he and his company have been giving lately, I'm going to preorder to support the studio.