KoA: Reckoning - Demo Available, Steam Preorders Open

[Thrasher]

Also the autoaim was very annoying. i was trying to shoot things, and couldn't aim. wtf? Smashing crates is very passe, but it's there. Unfortunately aiming one's staff to hit a crate can kill innocent bystanding chickens in the totally opposite direction. Annoyances but deal killers for this kind of action game, I think.

 

[Dhruin]

Attacks are in the classic diablo mode with more mouse / keyboard combinations […]

Unfortunately, the controls are clunky and unresponsive at times.

This wasn't my experience. If anything, I thought the responsiveness was excellent and was one of the high points. It's definitely a loot-driven action/RPG and is like Diablo in that sense but I didn't find it controlled anything like Diablo.

The bow autoaim does suck.

 

[Thrasher]

Combat controls to switch primary/secondary weapons are unresponsive, and multiple keyboard presses to loot annoyed me. The left click to attack, alternative weapon switches, and speed of clicking being the measure of success has its basis in Diablo. As I said, it has more control combinations than just that, but it's basically an augmented Diablo control scheme, and has the same feel to me, just less responsive and more complicated.

 

[CountChocula]

Also, unlike The Witcher - it seems you're pretty free to move from area to area at your whim. That's very important to me - so that's something.

Haven't tried the demo yet, but this is really good news.

I was worried that it would be more like Witcher 2 in terms of exploration.

 

[JDR13]

I was worried that it would be more like Witcher 2 in terms of exploration.

How so? I would much rather have The Witcher 2 than what I experienced in the demo for KoA. Unless you're speaking purely about overall size.

 

[rune_74]

The witcher 2 restricted you to areas that was part of the storyline. This game does not. I think that is what he means, two different ways of presenting a game. Not saying either is wrong, just what it is.

 

[CountChocula]

How so? I would much rather have The Witcher 2 than what I experienced in the demo for KoA. Unless you're speaking purely about overall size.

I haven't played the demo yet, but I was concerned that it might be like Witcher 2 in the sense that there are various zones but you can't go back and forth.

 

[Nerevarine]

I think it's kind of silly to be comparing The Witcher 2 and KoA. They're just about as far apart as you could possibly get in terms of design, world building, atmosphere, open-world vs. story-driven, grounded "believable/realistic" fantasy vs. extremely high fantasy, etc. The Witcher 2 was not going for an open-world experience, and nor should they have; it was meant to be a story-driven experience with a "less is more" approach to world design. The game didn't have massive areas to explore, but each area was very well-made and full of great writing, strong atmosphere, and memorable characters. Free exploration between these areas would not have made any sense in relation to the story, so I'm not sure why some people criticize this. Would it have made sense to be able to return to the Le Valette castle after the prologue considering the events that transpired there? Would it have been logical to be able to outright leave Flotsam when there is a sense of urgency to the events transpiring in the story at that time?

No single game can accomplish everything, and expecting a game like TW2 to have a large amount of exploration-driven gameplay or KoA to have TW2's level of story quality in an open-world game is being unrealistic, in my opinion. That's why there are different types of RPGs that offer different experiences, as there will never be such a thing as a perfect RPG that contains every possible great element contained in the different approaches to RPG design.

 

[crpgnut]

Played through quite a bit of the demo, although a trap immediately killed me in a dungeon. It was kinda what I expected; really silly over-the-top combat with Titan-Quest type story telling. Not very deep, but kinda fun. Can't see spending full price for this though. It needs to be a little cheaper for me; at least until I get bored with Skyrim.

A definite buy, but will wait a little while or for a "madness" sale.

 

[CountChocula]

@Nevervarine - yes, you are absolutely right. No game is going to be perfect.

In the case of KoA, based on initial media and press reactions, I thought it was going to be a massive open world RPG, which is my favorite genre.

When I learned that it is not exactly "open world," I simply became a bit concerned that the exploration was going to be more linear, like Witcher 2.

Although I have enjoyed games that are even more linear, it is frustrating when there is a hint of open exploration combined with lots of invisible walls and barriers in strange places.

 

[azarhal]

When I learned that it is not exactly "open world," I simply became a bit concerned that the exploration was going to be more linear, like Witcher 2.

The only thing in common with the Witcher is that there is no jumping beside specific spot and invisible walls that stop you from falling over cliffs.

 

[turian]

reminds me of WoW

 

[crpgnut]

reminds me of WoW

That seems to be the most common comparison out on the "nets" too. It looks and has the depth of your basic MMO. I don't know if that's good or bad because the only "kinda" MMO I ever played was Minions of Mirth. I liked it enough to get it someday though, probably not till it drops just a bit. Sometimes Best Buy has a sale on the first weekend a game comes out. If so, I'll pick it up.

 

[Sir_Brennus]

After downloading the dump form the net I could play this without any STEAM or ORIGIN shit.

Okay, my impressions:

The good:
- the graphical style
- the steampunk vibe
- playing a mage using a staff and magic is actually quite cool - I usually don't like playing a mage
- easy ranged combat
- high performance on slow machine
- combat is fun
- "freedom" is somewhat limited, so there is some structure in the game

The bad
- active blocking, urgh. I wasn't forced to use in the demo though, so it's not worse than Witcher 2 (v1.20)
- music, boombastic for the sake of being so. Love to mute it
- magic is way overpowered
- stealth gameplay is enforced - not very good for an RPG
- Starter dungeon is a non skipable tutorial - hate that.
- quests are mostly run-of-the-mill

The ugly
- suffers from CoD syndrome: a lot of stuff happening around you
- haven't found a deep character as of yet
- overall narrative isn't that engaging
- the inspirations aren't masked that much

The verdict:
Won't buy a CE, but definitly a world and series to be supported. Very professional work, guys.

 

[curious]

while level design in the witcher 2 was good it was so horribly linear compare to the levels in the first game that it didn't even make my top 5 games of last year. while this demo leaves much to be desired i didn't have any expectations for it either unlike the witcher 2 which let me down in a number of ways despite it being a well made, albeit neutered game compared to its predecessor. many people hated the swamps from the first witcher but that was one of my favourite levels due to its design making it not feel like a "level" at all. But i guess its much to be expected that quality would fade when you half the dev cycle much like dragon age and its predecessor which may have had an even greater reduction in more ways than one.

 

[DeepO]

I'm not sure what is dull about the writing?

It has no soul .

 

[darkling]

I think it's kind of silly to be comparing The Witcher 2 and KoA.

It played a lot like The Witcher 2 to me. Maybe it was all the rolling about.

Anyhow, pre-ordered on the UK Green Man Gaming site (34.99 GBP) with their 25% off pre-orders coupon for what came to $40 USD !!! I don't get pre-order cheat DLC but who needs it, I got $20 off.

 

[zahratustra]

The verdict:
Won't buy a CE, but definitly a world and series to be supported. Very professional work, guys.

There is no "series" to be supported Brennus. It's just a teaser for MMO. I will get it after price comes down.

 

[azarhal]

There is no "series" to be supported Brennus. It's just a teaser for MMO. I will get it after price comes down.

Actually, they have 2 studios. 38s is doing the MMO, BHG make the single player games. They also said they wanted to make more single player games and they have enough material to do so.

Check www.amalur.com for how much stuff they have to play with and I'm pretty sure the MMO is set in the Age of Heroes while Reckoning is in the Age of Arcana.

 

[zahratustra]

We will have to wait and see Azarhal. I haven't come up with the idea that KoA: R is supposed to be a prelude to MMO. It was widely bandied about by studios involved.
But, if what you say will turn out be the case, it's not a bad business model. IF MMO flops they will have a fallback position.