KoA: Reckoning - Demo Available, Steam Preorders Open

[Lurking Grue]

Got some time with the demo yesterday. Definitely a game to be played with a controller and not with a mouse & keyboard. Controller made the UI somewhat more tolerable and the combat more responsive. Even then, there's too many layers to the UI, IMO. Changing weapons is pretty cumbersome, as is with armor (until you collapse and customize the long list). Could be better, but could be worse.

I'm going to spare you of my (extended) grumbling, being (one of) the resident grumpy old guy, and just say that I'm not impressed. It might be a fun game, but not quite what I'm looking for. The art style isn't my cup of tea (got tired of it years ago in WoW and this ain't any better), the combat is too "anime" (enemies caught midair while I execute my combo on 'em, QTE finishers, regenerating arrows, magical insta-shield, etc.), story seems on the outset to be the same old "You are The CHOSEN ONE with amnesia" tripe, animals drop armor and weapons as loot (my pet peeve, me not like this!), and so on and so forth. Maybe I'll get it when the price drops/it's on sale, but not before.

 

[JonNik]

I'm going to spare you of my (extended) grumbling, being (one of) the resident grumpy old guy, and just say that I'm not impressed. It might be a fun game, but not quite what I'm looking for. The art style isn't my cup of tea (got tired of it years ago in WoW and this ain't any better), the combat is too "anime" (enemies caught midair while I execute my combo on 'em, QTE finishers, regenerating arrows, magical insta-shield, etc.), story seems on the outset to be the same old "You are The CHOSEN ONE with amnesia" tripe, animals drop armor and weapons as loot (my pet peeve, me not like this!), and so on and so forth. Maybe I'll get it when the price drops/it's on sale, but not before.

Yep pretty much agree with Lurking Grue's points (boredom/curiosity won this morning and I torrented the Demo ). The game is certainly not horrible or anything but not up my alley either…

I don't have a particular problem with the colorful nature of the graphics, but I do find the art style mediocre and the exaggerated mangaish vibe (and the combat, straight out of a japanese fighting game), puts me off somewhat (guess there is a reason I only really fancy Miyazaki out of that lot). That said it is not an eyesore either, just average and a bit juvenile, just as its writing, quest design and general systems/gameplay seem to be…

Generally speaking it feels like a Fable I could actually manage to play and get some enjoyment from, if absolutely nothing else is on the horizon, so I might be looking at it again with some interest on the Next Steam Christmas sales…

Also for ATI users with black screens: You do not need to disable postprocessing if you enable AA and AF from the Catalyst control panel (It works and looks as pp is applied ?). Max those out and the game looks decent…

 

[wolfgrimdark]

After reading this thread and watching some video clips taking the plunge. I seldom do demo's as I feel they don't really capture the flavor of a game's depth ... althuogh certainly they can give some idea.

Anyhow I already have one on pre-order and plan on getting one for a friend for their birthday so not doing the demo to make a sales decision. Most of my questions with the game I doubt will be answered in a demo as they are the types of things that take a few hours, at least, to uncover adequately.

But its a snowy weekend and I really like the bright colors and animation in the game. While I often prefer more "realism" in games (aka Skyrim or DAO) I also like fun, bright game play (fable, WoW, RIFT) and the combat looks fun. Sometimes it can be cool to be a showy, flashy hero So figured the demo would be a nice way to get a taste of the rainbow before 2/7 arrives.

So far the only thing I have heard that was a major bummer on the game is no jumping. I always feel so restricted when I can't jump in a game. Anyhow will give the demo a shot and see how it goes.

Steam is already half done ...

 

[wolfgrimdark]

Just finished the first demo and I am sold .. but then we already knew that I really enjoyed the bright colorful graphics. Just a nice change of pace. I like many styles and while realistic are usually my favorite (ala Skyrim or DAO) this was also fun.

I focused on the Finesse (Rogue) with a little magic and plan on being a bit of a mix. I made a Dokkalfar named Darkfire. I tend to go with human types but for whatever reason this race appealed to me. Perhaps because it was elvish but not the usual twink whimpy/emancipated types that are often depicted in Fantasy. He had some bulk to him … but overall it seems like all the races share the same body type so probably a mute point.

Anyhow I fully enjoyed the demo with my only gripes being three:

1 - No jumping (except at special spots). BOO!
2 - No zoom ability (in or out) under the players control
3 - Was unable to map WASD to the arrow keys. WTF … I really hope that is a demo issue and not a limitation of the game. I really need to be able to map to the right side of the keyboard. Even Skyrim, with its really limited mapping, allowed that.

The rest were all pluses. Liked the over the top combat as it makes you feel heroic and powerful. Was fun and exciting. I enjoyed having lots of skills, talents, abilities, and destinies to play with - a lot of character customization.

Character creation was rather limited but overall good enough to be distinctive. I enjoyed being able to accessorize (tats, face jewelry), and a decent selection of hair, beards, and faces to play with. In general it was similar to most MMO character creations - with perhaps a few extra options.

Writing was standard but then again it is only a demo so hard to judge. But based on the stuff in game it was neither good or bad. I will be fine with it. There is some interactivity - swimming, plants to pick, things to smash and pick up, etc.

Interface was … console influenced clearly … but *sigh* getting use to that these days so I have adapted well enough. I liked the "add to junk" feature a lot and at least you have a few shortcuts to get in and out of menus.

Here are 4 shots I took using FRAPS. The bodies are nice although I noticed the models all stand with their arms a bit back from the chest which looks a little akward/weird at times.

Looking forward to the game.

 

[azarhal]

Anyhow I fully enjoyed the demo with my only gripes being three:

1 - No jumping (except at special spots). BOO!
2 - No zoom ability (in or out) under the players control
3 - Was unable to map WASD to the arrow keys. WTF … I really hope that is a demo issue and not a limitation of the game. I really need to be able to map to the right side of the keyboard. Even Skyrim, with its really limited mapping, allowed that.

From the official forums:
1 - Isn't going to change.
2 - They asked for feedback in the official forums and this is the #1 complain.
3 - WASD will be available for remapping on released for the PC version.

 

[wolfgrimdark]

From the official forums:
1 - Isn't going to change.
2 - They asked for feedback in the official forums and this is the #1 complain.
3 - WASD will be available for remapping on released for the PC version.

Okay 2 out of 3 aint bad Thanks very much for the update.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Finished the demo - quite enjoyed it. I did find myself thinking about Divinity 2 but this seemed better.

Did anyone else have significant graphics glitches? I had landscape gluing to enemies in 4-5 places and creating these large triangular anomolies. I also got stuck in run mode twice, as if the 'w' key was stuck.

 

[Dr. A]

Finished the demo - quite enjoyed it. I did find myself thinking about Divinity 2 but this seemed better.

Did anyone else have significant graphics glitches? I had landscape gluing to enemies in 4-5 places and creating these large triangular anomolies. I also got stuck in run mode twice, as if the 'w' key was stuck.

Yup, I had those texture glitches too - seemed only to apply to the Boggart enemy. And I also encountered the auto-run bug numerous times as well.

Both of which have apparently have been addressed in the final game according to the official forum.

 

[Moriendor]

Pretty horrible game/demo in my opinion. Not impressed at all.

- Input lag... which got a little bit better when I turned VSync off but there was still a noticeable delay between pressing a key and the corresponding action
- Consolitis: Aside from the input lag one can tell that this game is meant to be played with a controller. The interface is kind of unresponsive at times and you need to hit the middle of a button to trigger the action. You click a little to the side and nothing will happen. Also no visual feedback when you hit 'F5' to quick save.
- Crazy loot: OK, a matter of taste. Some people might enjoy changing gear every half minute or so. I don't. This is crazy and way too much in my opinion. I have a strong preference for somewhat rare and meaningful loot in RPGs.
- On rails: I'm not really into this WoW-like world design. Seems like an extremely linear game to me with a series of quest hubs.
- Helpers: I can live with a quest marker on the mini map but I don't think I'm ever going to get over NPCs with exclamation marks above their heads. At least not in a single player game. Actually everything that can be interacted with seems to have some kind of marker or flashy arrows or glowy crap around it. Turns the game almost into a psychedelic experience (not that I've ever had one for real but if I would be into LSD then I guess it'd be kinda like this ).

In summary I'd say that this game is in desperate need of a patch with optimizations for the PC (keyboards & mouse). Once that is done, people who are into Diablo/WoW/Trine/Torchlight/Fable/Sacred might be able to get a good deal of enjoyment out of the game.
For me as someone who is more into Gothic/Risen/The Witcher/Elder Scrolls, well, if I should ever be able to work through my backlog of games (not likely) then I would maybe consider picking this up for $4.99 during a Steam sale if and when I needed a filler game between something else. Other than that: Pass.

 

[Dr. A]

Well, the input lag is probably due to the buggy nature of the demo which is from an old build.

True, the game does seem to be consolized to a certain extent. Hopefully they will improve upon this further. At least, it's not as bad as Dungeon Siege 3 *shudder*

Yes, loot is rather abundant but I don't mind

While the world is not truly open, it is still quite large and you can explore quite a bit. You could argue that WOW wasn't as restrictive - hell, it even have the ability to jump! But then again, Witcher's world was somewhat similar to KoA and I enjoyed the hell out of that game! But the demo starts off in a rather closed off region where you're hemmed in by dense foliage - the screenshots below indicate areas which are a lot more open:

The first screenshot especially reminds me of the canyon like world in G2:NOTR

Yes, it is rather annoying to see visually jarring indicators to quests. In the options, you actually have the ability to turn off quest indicators hovering over NPCs' heads. This was added by the developers after a request was made. However, the map markers always be present.

I absolutely love the Gothics and enjoyed Risen and Witcher very much. Though, I'm not much of a fan of the ES series. And I find the KoA demo very fun and engaging.

But I can totally understand your opinions, Moriendor and I hope you have as enjoyable experience as me when you play the game eventually (I love Steam sales!)

 

[DArtagnan]

Input lag must have been on of the few issues I didn't have with any of the 3 demos.

 

[booboo]

It would be nice to have an updated demo based on release code - assuming that the demo was based on 3 month old code (As stated somewhere else). I had two crashes, and it seems that the old code contains feaures elements that I didn't like, that have been fixed/addresed (?) If so, I may still be tempted to buy this sooner rather than later. I must say though, that even though there may be superficial similarities to the Witcher, I loved that game instantly - KoA…well, I didn't. Mostly the combat and 'cutsey' (via graphics) feel which is a total ambience killer for me. The second screenshot above had me weeping tears of blood - sweet lord, those colours!

 

[DArtagnan]

Yeah, they could really help themselves (theoretically) if they released an up-to-date demo.

I have no idea why they thought it was a good idea to release old code like this.

Which tells me they're either complete idiots - or the final version isn't all that different.

Still, one would expect most sales to come from consoles - and the 360 demo is definitely a much better experience overall.

 

[SpoonFULL]

Just a view regarding the size and 'openness' of the worlds. Yes the maps are large, but the invisible walls and limited interaction in the world (i.e. no jumping) means that only certain routes all allowed which immediately limits and makes exploration furstrating (at least to me). The world is very nice and rich and begs for exploration, but the limited access (e.g. through streams, ledges, waterfalls .. etc.) is a problem for me. If the world was not as big as in the game, then these limitations will have a less impact.

Just a side note, the movements and world interaction reminds me of the Soul Reaver games.

 

[Dr. A]

booboo, your rant on cutesy colors is rather ironic considering your avatar Anyway, I love the colors - I find them vibrant and pleasing. I prefer gritty themes in my RPGs actually but I find the art-style of KoA too charming to resist

Regarding the old-build demo, I read somewhere that EA forced the devs to provide some code which was compiled and handled by EA. *shrugs* Yeah, i would love an updated demo!

 

[booboo]

booboo, your rant on cutesy colors is rather ironic considering your avatar Anyway, I love the colors - I find them vibrant and pleasing. I prefer gritty themes in my RPGs actually but I find the art-style of KoA too charming to resist

Regarding the old-build demo, I read somewhere that EA forced the devs to provide some code which was compiled and handled by EA. *shrugs* Yeah, i would love an updated demo!

Unfortunately for me the incandescent, bright colours are horrid - I keep on expecting My Little Pony to come flying across the rainbow-hued grass ;-) (and no, I never watched that. Honest.)

The propblem with the demo is that I don't know how the final game will match up, now that I've learned it's supposedly dated code. So, rather than helping me, it's actually made the decision harder - I didn't like the demo, but maybe the real game plays/looks/feels better? But I thought the same with DA2, and that did not end well…

 

[Dr. A]

LMAO at My Little Pony!

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with DA2. Well then for KoA, I suggest you wait for the reviews to see if it's ultimately worth buying. I've already pre-purchased mine on Steam

 

[azarhal]

I have no idea why they thought it was a good idea to release old code like this.

Which tells me they're either complete idiots - or the final version isn't all that different.

It's not 38 Studio or BHG that did the demo, EA subcontracted a 3rd party to do it. They just carved a part of the code 3 months ago to make it, the demo code didn't receive any bug fixes, beside anything that made the game unplayable.

I personally don't find it that buggy, it does lack polishing but overall it's actually on par to release day Skyrim for me.

I saw the "auto-running" one, freezing in combat (but never more than once in a fight), sound issues, a few textures stretching and swapping weapons don't swap the model right away (but if you attack the right weapon is used). I also had the ATI post-processing one, but I had ATI support problem in all the games I bought last year, some requiring a new driver.

Also, turning V-sync off reduced the loading time from 20 seconds to 1-3 seconds. I think DA2 and the Witcher had the same problem last year until it was patched.

 

[DArtagnan]

It's not 38 Studio or BHG that did the demo, EA subcontracted a 3rd party to do it. They just carved a part of the code 3 months ago to make it, the demo code didn't receive any bug fixes, beside anything that made the game unplayable.

I assume EA want this game to sell as much as anyone, so it still doesn't make any sense to me.

If you want your demo to impress people, you don't want it to be like the PC demo is for this game.

But, as I said, I expect it to be a case of not really giving a shit about the PC version. Exactly like Bethesda didn't give a shit about PC version of Skyrim.

The 360 demo was a lot more stable for me, and didn't cut out sound - and obviously the postprocessing effects were active. Also, the interface worked much better with a controller.

So, for the console audience - I think the demo is better.

 

[wolfgrimdark]

I spent more time playing the demo yesterday. I have to admit some of the limitations on freedom are something I dislike in the game. Jumping, swimming (at will - not at special spots) helps give the illusion of being totally free to explore. I really like how Skyrim did it. I could pretty much go anywhere in that game.

I read that they are looking at some camera issues as well as targetting. I miss my ability to zoom into first person or go way back or enabling my cross hairs if needed (again like Skyrim ... what can I say I am still heavy into that game).

It would be a much higher rated game if they had some of those "freedom" features.

The UI was tricky at first but once I got a handle on it I was able to navigate it pretty fast. There are some shortcuts and ways to move around that were not to bad.

So happy to buy and play the game but I agree with the others that it is clearly consoled based and I dislike the restriction on movement.