KoA: Reckoning - Demo Available, Steam Preorders Open

[Dhruin]

The promised demo for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is available and you can grab it from EA's Origin or Steam (2.75Gb).
Reckoning is also open for preorders on Steam though, oddly, the preorder bonuses are TF2 hats versus the in-game items on offer elsewhere.
More information.

 

[Ball_Breaker]

Steam servers are busy, too bad I guess I'll have to wait tomorrow then.
Good gaming for the others that have already downloaded it.

 

[JDR13]

I had no problem connecting to Steam over here. I'm getting about 700 KB/s right now, so it's just a little slower than usual. Should have the demo installed in about 25-30 minutes.

*Edit* I guess I should have used the Origin link.

 

[Cm]

Someone just linked me IGN latest video....must say this looks good so far....waiting for the demo dl to test it out as well.

 

[jhwisner]

I had no problem connecting to Steam over here. I'm getting about 700 KB/s right now, so it's just a little slower than usual. Should have the demo installed in about 25-30 minutes.

*Edit* I guess I should have used the Origin link.

Eh getting between 1.5 mB/sec - 2.0 mB/sec so far; it will probably drop as it goes on longer though. I just didn't feel like installing Origin - last time I installed EA downloader I had let it upgrade to Origin and for some strange reason all my existing outbound firewall rules were erased.

 

[Sin]

It's awesome, very addictive, well worth a try.

Just finished a playthrough (PC) and I'm very impressed. There are a few minor bugs, but the demo was taken from a build a few months ago, it's not as polished as the final retail will be.

And to anyone that was worried about the graphical style and color palette, it didn't hurt my eyes or melt my brain either… shock, horror!

 

[CountChocula]

I'm really impressed that they decided to make the demo and the game available on Steam.

 

[SpoonFULL]

Just tried the demo on PC and reached the point where I escaped from the well of souls so I will not comment on the story. My first impression is: Divinity II on steriods (with breakable boxes and all)!

Nice graphical style with so many lights and flashes during fights and, it did give me slight pain in the eyes.

I also found some of the shortcomings of divinity 2 (in my opinion) including limited interaction with the world unless it is highlighted (with no swimming, invisible walls, and no jumping! - we had all swimming and jumping in divinity 2 though), and you can't kill NPCs. This immediatly limits the replay value of KoA to me.

The camera is a bit awkward for me where most of the time it is mainly focused on the hero (difficult to see the surroundings, maybe deliberate as there is not much to explore and interact with all the invisible wall and debries) and suddently switches to a distant view during some fights!

The fighting moves are nice as well as the weapons and reminds me of Darksiders (which had more solid combat though). I liked the melee magic combination - very powerful. I hated bows for two reasons: automatic targeting (why?) and feels like you are shooting popcorn at your enemies.

Sound is 'bombastic' but not memorable (unlike the beautiful divinity 2 score).

It is not an instant buy for me (I don't pre-order anyways), and I do prefer Skyrim with all of its short comings (which hopefully will be fixed by mods).

 

[sakichop]

There is swimming. I don't know how much but I swam in 2 small lakes. Also you can kill some friendlies by pressing h to turn on friendly killing mode. At least that's what the popup tool told me when I tried to kill someone. I was unable to get it to work though.

 

[SpoonFULL]

There is swimming. I don't know how much but I swam in 2 small lakes. Also you can kill some friendlies by pressing h to turn on friendly killing mode. At least that's what the popup tool told me when I tried to kill someone. I was unable to get it to work though.

Not tried swimming outside the well of souls as I just escaped it; will try later. I will also try this friendly killing mode - I must have missed the pop-up!

 

[sakichop]

Not tried swimming outside the well of souls as I just escaped it; will try later. I will also try this friendly killing mode - I must have missed the pop-up!

That was outside the well of souls also.when I noticed it anyway.

 

[rune_74]

Well, I liked it. It did have the Divine divinity 2 vibe....but on steriods. I loved the rock troll, easy fight(I am assuming because of the tutorial) but he looked impressive. Very responsive fighting system, deffinately a action rpg. The art was fine by me, which will vary for everyone I think. The overall control seemed a bit jittery which I think should be ironed out for the final release. The story, of what I have read at least, seemed interesting, but I intentionally ignored it since I hate ruining the main game when it comes out. I liked the kill animations, I don't feel they over did these at all, they don't happen all the time. All in all, it is not more free or limiting then Divinity 2. It is very colorful though, and you really do feel pretty powerful.

I can see having fun with this, will buy.

 

[Zloth]

automatic targeting (why?)

Have you ever tried playing a shooter on a console? They NEED auto-aim just to hit the broad side of a barn with one of those tiny little joysticks.

 

[Cthulhufan]

Hadn't really been interested in this title until now; reading all of these comments comparing it to Divinity II has me very interested. Going to have to download the demo which, by the way, I also think is fantastic that they released it prior to the retail version. Very cool.

 

[jhwisner]

I'm looking forward to this - though maybe a little less excited about it after playing the demo.

The side dungeon I managed to go through was a bit stretched out though - excessively long corridors separating few points of interest. That might be related to enemy AI/detection ranges and so it could just be that in early locations they're extra spread out to prevent new players trying for stealth from getting a whole dungeon on them. Also hope some of the areas and stylings run similar to McFarlane's Twisted Land of Oz work and the style seen in the demo area are just one of many.

Combat looks like it will offer a decent amount of variation and challenge as the game progresses; quick-time events in combat also appear to be more for optional bonuses than "hit 'a' to not die." Writing and dialog seemed pretty good but the time limit in the demo meant I found myself skipping most of it so I can't really say I got to experience much of it at all.

The special delivery boxes to pick up DLC purchased items seemed a bit out of place - hope they don't go for a sims 3 model of a constant stream of micro-transactions. Also kind of wish they made it so you could save your game and import that progress to the release version; but oh well. I guess that decision makes sense though considering I skipped over so much after getting the 45 minute time-limit pop-up; having to start over but without the time-limit will mean I will do so less hurriedly.

 

[Deleted User]

I'm looking forward to this - though maybe a little less excited about it after playing the demo.

The side dungeon I managed to go through was a bit stretched out though - excessively long corridors separating few points of interest. That might be related to enemy AI/detection ranges and so it could just be that in early locations they're extra spread out to prevent new players trying for stealth from getting a whole dungeon on them. Also hope some of the areas and stylings run similar to McFarlane's Twisted Land of Oz work and the style seen in the demo area are just one of many.

Combat looks like it will offer a decent amount of variation and challenge as the game progresses; quick-time events in combat also appear to be more for optional bonuses than "hit 'a' to not die." Writing and dialog seemed pretty good but the time limit in the demo meant I found myself skipping most of it so I can't really say I got to experience much of it at all.

Kind of wish they made it so you could save your game and import that progress to the release version, but oh well.

The time limit doesn't count when you are in dialog. So you could listen to everything an NPC has to say without worrying about running out of time. Just thought I'd let you know.

Also, I agree with the dungeons being a bit drawn out. Overall, the environments are just very large. Too big, really, but that's just my preference. It's just something I'll have to get used to. Everything about the game is just big.

 

[curious]

not sure who of you use new eggbut their current 48 specials are for a preorder for any version of the game for $48 plus free shipping. i'll try out the demo today or tomorrow to see if its worth a pre-order

 

[rossrjensen]

I decided to try it out. It was pretty interesting, though 45 minutes doesn't give you time to check a whole lot out. It's definitely going to be a loot heavy game. Combat was pretty good. It didn't feel a whole lot different than Fable to me, but there's nothing wrong with that. I think people are right on with the comparison to Divinity 2 for how the world feels, though I think Amalur will be more open (and larger). Definitely has a much more fantasy vibe to it in setting and art than Skyrim (again, the comparisons here to WOW and Fable aren't far off).

I think I will end up buying it. It won't be a Skyrim killer, but it will also be catering to a different sort of niche. If this had some sort of co-op, I bet it would be competing with Diablo 3's audience more than Skyrim. Anyway, demo seems to indicate that it should be a solid game.

 

[Drithius]

Very nice. So it's not an Origin exclusive thingamajig afterall. This is going to be the first game I pay full price for since Starcraft II. Hopefully it won't be as disappointing.

 

[JDR13]

I don't understand the comparisons to Divinity II.

I didn't find it to look or feel anything like DKS, and the world is definitely not more open. In fact, it's significantly less open compared to a game like DKS.