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

[Krakn3Dfx]

9 hours in, like the game a lot, but my list of problems with the game that need to be fixed (but probably won't)

MMO-like mob spawn rubber banding. Fighting an enemy only to move far enough away from its spawn point that it just resets and heads back to where it spawned is annoying as hell.

Lack of a jumping. Devs have said it doesn't have jumping because it doesn't need jumping, and that's true (most of the time). They've been pretty generous with the "jump points" in the game to move between layers in the environment, but I've still found myself on more than one occasion having to round a ridge or valley to move up or down a level because there isn't one. Plus, having weird jump points as opposed to just being able to jump is just weird. Somebody should have played some Guild Wars and realized that just because you don't have to have it, doesn't mean you shouldn't have it.


Side quests, too many, too boring. There's a lot to do in Reckoning, and the main and faction quest lines are pretty interesting, but the side quest stuff is mostly horrible fetch and collect quests. I know you don't have to play them, and considering how they tend to over level your character when you do, they might be better left alone. Anyone coming in fresh, I would heavily advise to avoid most side quests and just stick to faction and main line stuff just so enemies later in the game aren't completely underpowered compared to your character.

Like I said that, I think it's a god game overall, which the chance to be a great game. I think a lot of the issues it has are due to the fact that they're using the same engine to create an Amalur MMO, so you get the weirdness that wouldn't be around if the engine was soley designed to be a singleplayer experience.

Having said that, if you love MMOs except for all the other people in them, this is like gold for you and you shouldn't hesitate to pick up Reckoning.

 

[Dankk]

RPS review is up

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/09/wot-i-think-kingdoms-of-amalur-reckoning/

 

[zinfamous]

finally was able to put some more time into the demo. got out of the cave, and the prompt to begin my 45 minute exploration. as soon as I ran off--CTD.

Not sure if I saved anything, or even if that is allowed in demo? I unlocked the demo helmet after talking to that dude, not sure if there is more to unlock after that?

It's fun, and I like the skill system, but will likely wait for some time before picking this up. the default mouse speed is definitely a problem, and adjusting it mostly fixes it. I also think the animations are a bit clunky, but this is an early beta, I guess.

I like being able to go mage/rogue or battle/mage. Those are the two things that make me want to play.

 

[thespyder]

finally was able to put some more time into the demo. got out of the cave, and the prompt to begin my 45 minute exploration. as soon as I ran off--CTD.

Not sure if I saved anything, or even if that is allowed in demo? I unlocked the demo helmet after talking to that dude, not sure if there is more to unlock after that?

It's fun, and I like the skill system, but will likely wait for some time before picking this up. the default mouse speed is definitely a problem, and adjusting it mostly fixes it. I also think the animations are a bit clunky, but this is an early beta, I guess.

I like being able to go mage/rogue or battle/mage. Those are the two things that make me want to play.

Once you exit the "Tower" for the first time, the DEMO recognizes this. Any subsequent tries on the DEMO allow you to skip the tutorial level and go right to exploring the world. you get to re-choose your Avatar but you get all of the stuff from the tower.

I have seen that the DEMO was from a build that was weeks ago, so hopefully issues have been resolved/tweaked.

 

[Anubis]

in case some of you didnt figure this out yet. Crafting your own weaps and armor is OP as hell once you max out BSing

im able to make weps and armor that had 100's of more damage or armor than anything ive seen from stores or drops from mobs/quests.

also repair kits save you a ton of gold if you have Gold or Purple items, because repairing them at the BS costs thousands

 

[cytoSiN]

in case some of you didnt figure this out yet. Crafting your own weaps and armor is OP as hell once you max out BSing

im able to make weps and armor that had 100's of more damage or armor than anything ive seen from stores or drops from mobs/quests.

also repair kits save you a ton of gold if you have Gold or Purple items, because repairing them at the BS costs thousands

This seems to be true of all professions ("OP as hell"). I've made some sick potions with max alchemy that turn hard fights into jokes. Still, I'm having an absolute blast with this game. The art has really grown on me, and the combat is really fun once you have lots of abilities to mix together. Playing on "hard" has made it a little more challenging too, which is a good thing. It's way too easy on normal.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Weird, I've got max BS and max Sagecraft, and while I'm able to craft things to include epic quality gems, I'm not seeing the difference between damage. I use chakrams and mage armor only, so perhaps that's part of it? With the epic gems though I can definitely get some crazy support gear (can double my hp and mana with two pieces ).

 

[Mem]

I have just reached level 8 and got my first house,no crashes or freezes yet so stability is excellent for me.

I'm playing a few hours every day then moving on to my other games and PvP fights in Rift,overall KOA still holds my interest and still finding lots of things to do and explore.

Btw if you don't know,use the tab key for shortcut for placing potions etc...

 

[Anubis]

Weird, I've got max BS and max Sagecraft, and while I'm able to craft things to include epic quality gems, I'm not seeing the difference between damage. I use chakrams and mage armor only, so perhaps that's part of it? With the epic gems though I can definitely get some crazy support gear (can double my hp and mana with two pieces ).

you have to be similar level to what i am then, i can make chakrams that are in the 140 damage range with a ton of + fire or whatever, greatswords are over 200, hammers close to 250

 

[SLU Aequitas]

I'm level 26?

 

[Anubis]

have you made it to rathir yet?

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Nopes...next destination though

 

[Anubis]

thats prob why, you start getting the master lvl stuff from salvage and you can buy really good parts for weps and armor there.

i think i have the stuff to make a new hammer, should be in the 270 ish range if i have the right stuff for it

 

[terry107]

Talk about frustrating. I preordered the game and played a little bit last Tuesday, but had to go out of town from Wednesday to Saturday. I was finally able to get a little more time in on Sunday and I must say it has been a fun time. It definitely feels like an MMO world, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The quests have been interesting thus far and the action is top notch.

One minor complaint is that

Spoiler

reckoning mode

is completely overpowered and makes just about any fight into a joke. I've also run into a few camera quirks, but nothing major.

 

[Anubis]

i got stuck in the floor the other day, only real bug ive seen, it was after killing a mob that triggered a talk with someone, had to reload a save to fix that one

Ive seen the camera look under the ground a few times when it does a rock troll entering mini cut scene, but thats pretty minor

 

[Anubis]

If anyone is curious about the length of the game, I do not think they were lieing when they said it was 50+ hours if you did all the side quests and such.

Im at 38 hours and i have only done 1 quest in the big red area on the map (south) and have not corssed the sea yet to the east where there are at least 2 big zones from what i can tell. Ive done every single quest ive come across, i actually did most of them in a very strange order. I went to Rathir (east) and pretty much did every quest on my way there but left the main story line back at the Kings Court (Ysa?) Finished the Arcana story line and almost finished the Travlers and Warsworn. They have both now sent me south as well.

 

[silvan4now]

well although is not bug free this is probably the best fantasy RPG in some time now.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

How can you tell the hours played? I've actually only done the House of Ballads questline, leaving the other two (travelers and Warsworn) alone, but doing a good chunk of sidequests. I'm quite impressed in the difference in reaction upon arriving at Ysa if you finished the House of Ballads. Also it seems the factions' quest lines push you organically towards the main quest points, and the main quest seems to have natural pauses so you don't feel completely out of character to pursue these side quests (as opposed to Oblivion, for example..."The world's about to come to an end and only I can help the one who is to save it? No problem, but just chill for bit, I gotta go kill some bears first").

There's a ridiculous amount of side quests, and while I've done a good chunk, I missed quite a few, and I completely skipped the job boards altogether. Additionally, the side quests, while containing the stock variety of "go fetch" and "kill x" usually have a good amount of story behind them (if you bother to read/ask about it), and there's a good selection of "interesting" side quests that actually can change things in the world.

Only bugs I've encountered is a repeatable CTD on the Century Blooms quest (desert area, one plant will always trigger it, so I cant complete that quest) and a quest tied to Sandstone Manor that didn't finish completely until I did the MQ associated with the quest giver first. It's really a remarkably polished/stable game.

 

[PowerYoga]

How does this compare to skyrim? I've been eyeing this for a while but can't decide between this and skyrim. Both seem nice, and skyrim has a lot of mods that will be coming out soon. How's the modding scene on KOA? Any texture replacements, etc?

 

[Mem]

i got stuck in the floor the other day, only real bug ive seen, it was after killing a mob that triggered a talk with someone, had to reload a save to fix that one

Ive seen the camera look under the ground a few times when it does a rock troll entering mini cut scene, but thats pretty minor

I got stuck outside today while fighting mobs and needed to roll,as expected I died due to being stuck so just reloaded an earlier save,reached level 13 now and putting my points towards smithing.

The world is quite big and does feel like a single player version of MMORPG,however I think its quite a polished game for a small company.

 

[Anubis]

How can you tell the hours played?
.

Steam will tell you, if you got it on steam that is

Only bugs I've encountered is a repeatable CTD on the Century Blooms quest (desert area, one plant will always trigger it, so I cant complete that quest) and a quest tied to Sandstone Manor that didn't finish completely until I did the MQ associated with the quest giver first. It's really a remarkably polished/stable game.

yea i was reading on the reckoning forums that a few of the repeatable quests are bugged, i havent see that one yet, and all the ones i seem to have are fine, except maybe the prison keys one as i have a bunch of them but the dude never lets me turn them in or gives a reward

The Freeman armband repeatable is great also, its easy as you collect a ton of them simply doing the quests in that area and the turnin for them gives you a crap ton of gold.


and I agree for the first game out of a new studio the game is amazing

 

[you2]

Has there been any timeline given for patch?

 

[Aikouka]

and I agree for the first game out of a new studio the game is amazing

Since you've had a bit of time playing the game, what sort of things do you wish they had changed prior to release?

 

[Anubis]

Since you've had a bit of time playing the game, what sort of things do you wish they had changed prior to release?

moved the camera further back, and created a PC specific UI. TBH there really isnt much to fault with the game. moving the camera further away wouldnt be that hard and would work on the consoles as well. the UI however would require some work as you would basicially have 2 different versions of the game

the lock picking could be better, its too trial and error IMO,

 

[Glitchny]

Steam will tell you, if you got it on steam that is



yea i was reading on the reckoning forums that a few of the repeatable quests are bugged, i havent see that one yet, and all the ones i seem to have are fine, except maybe the prison keys one as i have a bunch of them but the dude never lets me turn them in or gives a reward

The Freeman armband repeatable is great also, its easy as you collect a ton of them simply doing the quests in that area and the turnin for them gives you a crap ton of gold.


and I agree for the first game out of a new studio the game is amazing

I'm very impressed as well. I have mostly been ignoring the repeatable "task" style quests as they don't really give anything worthwhile. I just wish there was a way to drop the quest out of my quest log. I just Hit lvl30 recently and finished up the Warsworn quest line to go along with the House of Ballads one. I do like that they recognized me as the

Spoiler

King of the house of Ballads

after completing that.

I'm playing on normal now, is there a way to change it to hard or would I have to start over? Because where I'm at now with abilities, Might/Finesse, I can destroy most things, still die from time to time, but Reckoning mode might be a tad too good, esp with potions that restore my fate meter.

Loving the game so far though, skipping the arcane and prob the rest of the traveler faction quests from here on out though.

For lockpicking I just spam "force lock" as my skill is decently high and I don't care to play the minigame. Same with dispelling, I just fail the check and drink a potion. Then deal with the curse when I get back to a healer.