Kingdoms of Amalur: Why Did This Not Already Exist?

[Dimonite]

Basically, a thread for talking about the (IMO) FANTASTICALLY AWESOME game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. My current glee in this game comes from how unbelievably sexy my Dokkalfar looks using the staff and faeblades.

[Ogremindes]

Basically, a thread for talking about the (IMO) FANTASTICALLY AWESOME game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. My current glee in this game comes from how unbelievably sexy my Dokkalfar looks using the staff and faeblades.

I played some a bit back. Like my first playthrough I ended up getting bored by the time I hit the first big city. I want to like it, but you really have to follow the "get quest, go do quest" loop, as exploration is kinda discouraged, which is bad for a game sold as 'open world'.

How is it discouraged? Two things. First, the level cap always feels too close. And second, you have to follow the set path for every quest. If you stumble upon a dungeon and go explore it, you're just gonna have to come back later anyway. And the dungeon level is then locked, so that pretty cool combat system is not relevant by the time you come back with the quest.

Also trying to play as a stealther is damned frustrating outside of the few missions specifically built for stealth. Bad form for an 'open world' game.

[factotum]

A thread *did* exist when the game came out, but that was some time ago and I think it's fallen off the front page.

[Cespenar]

I think the game had a potential to be a good RPG, but then squandered it to be a mindless hack and slash fest. As mindless hack and slash fests go, it was pretty enjoyable, but still, the wasted potential is there.

[Craft (Cheese)]

I think the game had a potential to be a good RPG, but then squandered it to be a mindless hack and slash fest. As mindless hack and slash fests go, it was pretty enjoyable, but still, the wasted potential is there.

- The combat would be pretty fun... if it weren't so damned exploitable. Anyone can stun-lock anything to death with ease if you know what you're doing (and you'll know enough of how the game works to do this with no effort within an hour of fighting), and Archmages get Meteor to completely trivialize everything. Even Nightmare becomes trivial once you learn how crafting works. All of those lovely combo possibilities? Totally wasted because you can just breeze through the game with the cheap stuff.

- Crafting + Randomized Loot = Doesn't Work. You can craft stuff vastly superior to anything you can find (and that's even if they fixed the stuff like the insane Improved Damaging Bindings).

- Even if you ignore crafting and just rely on random loot, the loot generation algorithm is crap. The way the level scaling works means you'll pretty much never find anything better than what you can cheaply buy in the shops (did I mention you'll be overflowing with gold in this game?), which defeats the entire purpose of random loot in the first place! You never actually look forward to looting a monster or opening a chest in KOAR, it's just something you keep doing because other games have trained you to do it.

And that's just the problems with the RPG mechanics; This isn't getting into the issues like how there's almost no monster variety (almost every last enemy type you'll meet in the entire game is encountered within the first hour or so, with new ones only being introduced very, very rarely), the major problems with the plot and characters.


That said, the game does a decent enough job at being an exploration-based open world game and in the right places you can get lost in the setting and the scenery (mostly the places where nobody is talking to you). Unfortunately the game doesn't really focus on that aspect of itself and instead puts the microscope on its (terrible) loot and quests. The company that made the game has gone up in flames, so we won't get to see them make a second try. Ah well. Maybe someone can take that combo system and do something interesting with it.

[Dimonite]

Hm. Perhaps a better explanation of why I love it is in order.
While crafting may lead to some overpowered items, I'm someone who plays the game to have fun, not to make the most powerful character evar. Heck, I barely even used my crafting skill until I got to the level where you can put gems into your items, and I will occasionally sell a weapon in favor of a slightly lesser one just because the lesser one looks cooler. Seriously, why would you even build a character that won so easily that the game was no longer fun? As for the loot drops, you're just plain wrong. I cannot even tell you how many times I've bought an item in the shop for vast amounts of money, only to find something better in the next dungeon I go to. As for the story: that's the second-best thing about the game, after the shininess. Perhaps it's just my innate love of Celtic mythology, but the way they use the fae is masterful. Oh, and I love how if you're careful, you can just kill someone who's being a jerk.

TL;DR: I respectfully disagree with you all, and love this game.

[Cespenar]

Perhaps it's just my innate love of Celtic mythology, but the way they use the fae is masterful.

I loved its take on Fae as well. Lots of good lore, there. And then you return to the game and continue killing stuff for loot.

[Craft (Cheese)]

While crafting may lead to some overpowered items, I'm someone who plays the game to have fun, not to make the most powerful character evar. Heck, I barely even used my crafting skill until I got to the level where you can put gems into your items, and I will occasionally sell a weapon in favor of a slightly lesser one just because the lesser one looks cooler. Seriously, why would you even build a character that won so easily that the game was no longer fun?

Personally, I can't stand playing a game with self-imposed handicaps. It doesn't feel like I've done anything meaningful because I've already figured out what the win button is (stack +damage enchants on all your armor until you have like +600% damage and then cast meteor to hit everything for millions of damage). It's like writing with my mouth. I can do it, but there's really no point to it because I have a perfectly functioning set of hands.

And even if you don't mind them, it's still a serious flaw that the only way to make combat fun is to put these handicaps on yourself.


As for the loot drops, you're just plain wrong. I cannot even tell you how many times I've bought an item in the shop for vast amounts of money, only to find something better in the next dungeon I go to.

I played a pure Sorcery character and early in the game I bought a set of Archmage's Chakrams from Cassaroc (or whatever it was called, that town under attack by spiders). I assume the store contents are the same every game? It was 10 hours later when I finally discovered something better, but only because it was crafting.


As for the story: that's the second-best thing about the game, after the shininess. Perhaps it's just my innate love of Celtic mythology, but the way they use the fae is masterful.

I'd put the fae into "Lore" rather than story. The lore is decent, I'm talking about stuff like the House of Sorrows "plot twist" that will make you facepalm so hard you'll get permanent brain damage. KOAR's writing makes Uwe Boll look like a genius.


TL;DR: I respectfully disagree with you all, and love this game.

Did I ever say I didn't? I played it to 100% completion. A game can be flawed but still be good.

[Chromascope3D]

I never actually played it (no money, y'see), but I heard it was actually a side project for 38 Studios as they made their KoA MMO. Unfortunately, they went bankrup, so that isn't going to see the light of day, and I think the state of Rhode Island now owns the IP.

It's always a shame when a studio collapses, but even more so when they have a plan and a project more than halfway to fruition. :smallfrown:

[Ogremindes]

I never actually played it (no money, y'see), but I heard it was actually a side project for 38 Studios as they made their KoA MMO.

Not exactly. It was a game being made by Big Huge Games which was adapted into the Amalur IP.

[Knight13]

I have to agree with Dimonite, I love KoA. I played a dual-classed warrior/mage wielding a greatsword and chakrams on my first playthrough and had a ton of fun with it. It's true that some of the areas don't have much of anything going on, but I generally enjoyed the characters, story and lore and was seriously annoyed that there wasn't more space in my stash for storing books (particularly that one about chickens that states that their comb is a vestigial fin from when they used to be aquatic predators and the fact that they lay so many eggs is part of a plot to gain their freedom).

The quests are fairly standard open world stuff (fetch quests, kill X monsters, kill named monster, etc.), but some areas manage to make them pretty engaging. The faction quest lines are particularly well done (except the House of Sorrows) and manage to tell fairly interesting stories. I also love the game's old school portrayal of the Fae, how they basically live stories. I particularly like how they react when their stories get messed with. Anyone who's played the House of Valor quest chain will remember an amusing moment when a certain Fae realizes that the end of his story isn't guaranteed anymore.

Yes, it's true that the crafting system can be used to break the game's balance in half, but as long as you're careful with it it's perfectly possible to get cool stuff while still retaining the challenge. I did make a set of uber gear near the end of the game, but only because I wanted to power through the last couple zones like the fate-crushing badass that I was.

And, of course, the game is just damn pretty. Every single zone is incredibly well designed and cover a wide variety of environments. This is the kind of art direction that I normally expect from Blizzard.

Also, Reckoning mode. Nothing like ripping someone's fate out of them and then literally beating them to death with it.


Personally, I can't stand playing a game with self-imposed handicaps. It doesn't feel like I've done anything meaningful because I've already figured out what the win button is (stack +damage enchants on all your armor until you have like +600% damage and then cast meteor to hit everything for millions of damage). It's like writing with my mouth. I can do it, but there's really no point to it because I have a perfectly functioning set of hands.
Does that mean you can't enjoy D&D 3.5 because the Punpun build let's you become an invincible god at level 1?

[Psyren]

I enjoyed the demo, but it does feels a bit too much like an MMO. Like they started to make an MMO and switched it to single-player at the last minute.

I wanted to get more into it, but ME3 came out around the same time and so...

The impression I got was that it was Fable, but darker and with much better combat/more nuanced builds.

[Yora]

Yeah, Fable... I only looked at it and thought "This looks just as pointless and repetitive as Fable."
I just didn't see anything that would make it interesting enough for a second look.

[The_Jackal]

Basically, a thread for talking about the (IMO) FANTASTICALLY AWESOME game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. My current glee in this game comes from how unbelievably sexy my Dokkalfar looks using the staff and faeblades.

I created the original thread here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231859

I LOVE the combat system, but there were problems with the level design, quest design and story that left me really, really cold. Really, this game suffered badly in a side-by side comparison with Skyrim in every facet save one.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Does that mean you can't enjoy D&D 3.5 because the Punpun build let's you become an invincible god at level 1?

Actually, yes. D&D 3.5 would be a much better game if it didn't have exploits like that. It's still an enjoyable game regardless, but the argument "The exploits don't matter because you can ignore them and have just as much fun" doesn't hold for me.


Yeah, Fable... I only looked at it and thought "This looks just as pointless and repetitive as Fable."
I just didn't see anything that would make it interesting enough for a second look.

I loved KOAR but contemplated suicide after forcing myself to sit through two hours of Fable 1 (never bothered to try the sequels). They don't even compare. Anyone who brushed the game off for this reason I strongly recommend you give KOAR a second look.