KoA: Reckoning - The Most Disappointing Game Ever

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Giving a game 4 out of 5 stars with the title 'Most Disappointing Game Ever' is odd to say the least.

At school (many, many years ago) we had a teacher who did about the same. So it's not that surprising for me.
Until today he is remembered by his pupils for that.

 

[blackcanopus]

The state of being disappointing is quite a subjective one and mostly depends on one's expectations, so it has nothing to do with a score which is supposed to be as objective as possible. But, I'm quite sure that the author was not talking about his own expectations. He actually meant that the game did not stand up to the hype and could not meet the expectations of its audience as a whole.
I too think that Reckoning is a disappointing game (a good game, but a game that did not meet my expectations), but calling it 'the most disappointing game ever' is quite the exaggeration. Calling this game 'the most disappointing game ever' would've been an exaggeration even if he had given it 1 out of 5.

 

[KapitanUnterhosen]

Never understood what there was to be excited about, looks like a fable game, complete with american football aesthetics, with god of war combat.

Can't recall a single screenshot of a dialog screen with multiple choices from its hype media.

Will there be a watch review?

 

[rune_74]

Never understood what there was to be excited about, looks like a fable game, complete with american football aesthetics, with god of war combat.

Can't recall a single screenshot of a dialog screen with multiple choices from its hype media.

Will there be a watch review?

Just because you cannot recall a single screenshot doesn't mean there weren't multiple choices in the dialogue(there are). By what you posted it seems you have not played the game and just made general assumptions.

 

[MasterKromm]

Just because you cannot recall a single screenshot doesn't mean there weren't multiple choices in the dialogue(there are). By what you posted it seems you have not played the game and just made general assumptions.

I'm on the fence with KoA(never been into MMOs or their chosen art direction)... Can you provide a SS or two with multiple choice dialogue options?

 

[rune_74]

Hmm I don't really want to give out spoilers, but I will try and do it without too much. There is a city in the first part of the game facing a crisis with two characters that are there to protect it, it comes down to some selections on who you support. I thought it was interesting the lengths one would go too ensure keeping control.

I hope that made sense without giving out too much. In the main quest, if you have the persausion skill you could get further info on the main quest.

I think one area they should work on with a sequel is going a bit further with results of your choices. A couple quests could have been a lot more interesting if they had. Although, I'm pretty sure I ran across a body where someone was going to meet someone after I let them know they were alive, needless to say the bear did not agree with free passage.

 

[Cm]

Personally I like the game. I played the demo and that was what I expected the game to be as well. Every game that comes out could fall under the "most disappointing" but high score list if you want to be totally honest.

We can all see parts that we wish were better, or different, or expanded on, or dropped in every game. I think some of these "reviewers" are most interested in posting up something that will grab readers rather then just posting a good review of the product.

 

[MasterKromm]

Hmm I don't really want to give out spoilers, but I will try and do it without too much. There is a city in the first part of the game facing a crisis with two characters that are there to protect it, it comes down to some selections on who you support. I thought it was interesting the lengths one would go too ensure keeping control.

I hope that made sense without giving out too much. In the main quest, if you have the persausion skill you could get further info on the main quest.

I think one area they should work on with a sequel is going a bit further with results of your choices. A couple quests could have been a lot more interesting if they had. Although, I'm pretty sure I ran across a body where someone was going to meet someone after I let them know they were alive, needless to say the bear did not agree with free passage.

Appreciate the insight... I'll probably pick it up after I clear the backlog of games I'm working on.

Will they be releasing any mod tools, SDK, editors ect? That is always a big plus for me.

 

[rune_74]

Well, on the main forums, Kurt was posting that they want to release mod tools to give the game a longer life span. He also talked about upping the difficulty. I haven't read the forums in a bit to see what they have planned. What I did like hearing is that they were ready to work on a sequel if the sales were good enough, I think it is going to do well and a sequel should come...over half a million in it's first week is a good sign. I would bet they get somewhere in the million or more sales at the end. I think the stats I got for sales was for north america alone, and as much as people bemoan companies for supporting consoles a lot of sales come from them.

 

[Couchpotato]

Tell you what improve the quest structure actually add a story that's interesting then I might buy the sequel. I can forgive the mmo like zones but it was mostly fetch and kill quest with little impact on the overall game.

 

[vurt]

If they release mod tools i'd buy it in an instant, just to support them (not really my type of RPG). Modded it could be a really good game eventually.

 

[DArtagnan]

Silly title.

Anyone who has played MoO3 knows this can't possibly true

In any case, the game is ok - but a significant disappointment to me.

They hyped it to be very deep in terms of story and with rich lore to support every single location. That was my primary interest in the game, and it turns out the world is not all that interesting - and the lore doesn't reflect well in the actual world. So, exploration is really quite dull. Hype is hype, but this was something Ken Rolston constantly brought up as a really strong feature - so I had no way of knowing it was all bullshit.

For the rest of the game, I find it's pretty much what they promised - and that's why I think it still deserves a score of 7/10.

But it's most definitely NOT what I would consider a "hardcore" RPG - though they constantly harped on it being that. That's either a blatant marketing lie - or a very serious case of being out-of-touch with the hardcore audience.

Unfortunately, this means I have no further interest in the franchise, MMO or not. I really don't find these average me-too games worth following, no matter how entertaining some aspects may be.

 

[fadedc]

4/5 seems like a fair review to me, that means that the game was good but not completely amazing. As people say, disapointment is subjective. If you were expecting it to be the best game of all time, then you'd be disapointed that it was only good.

Personally though I don't know why people would have had such expectations for the game that they would be disapointed that it was only in the good/very good range. True classics are rare things, and I would never go in expecting that a new game would be one just because it had a high budget or a good development team.

 

[rune_74]

It's funny with expectations how depending on the game it's ok not to meet them. Ahh well, I'm having fun with it, and at the end of the day that's what a game is supposed to do...if it's not fun why play it?

To me, in my opinion, it is a better game then the dragon knight saga, it does a lot of the same things but I think better. What I am hoping is that they look at what they have done, look at areas to improve and sort of do what cdprojekt red did between the 1st witcher and 2nd. The writing is there, I find the lore interesting, I do wish for more world interaction with it. I think a higher difficulty level would make the game even better. Still, woudl give it an 8 out 10...a good game that could use a little work in some areas to be a great game.

 

[Dr. A]

It's a great game. Personally, it lives up the the hype. It does have balancing issues - it can get pretty easy even on Hard if you build your character right. And technically, it could look better on the PC.

But my God, this game is such a joy to play!

After work (I finish around 8PM), I would think "hey, time to play some reckoning - at least for a bit"...And suddenly, I'm leaving the office at 1 in the morning! This happened more than once, by the way.

It's a fun game with lots of interesting bits of lore strewn about every zone. The main storyline is fairly average - i wouldn't call it mind blowing nor lame.

The combat is a blast. Loot is plentiful and some of the weapon/armor models are fantastic. Sometime the loot just makes you want to respec to another class!

Visuals are beautiful and the world is lovingly crafted. The first zone (Dalentarth) is quite constrictive in terms of landscape where are you hemmed in by heavy plant growth. But when you get to the plains or the canyons, the sudden change in the landscape is amazing. Suddenly, you have an open sky above your head and you can see distant mountains on the horizon.

Quests are essentially fetch or kill. If you think about it, every quest in every RPG ultimately follows that schema. But what KoA does well is how it bothers to flesh out most quests with a good backstory. And some quests have multiple endings. For example, do you follow the bidding of the mayor and kill the prominent but maligned citizen of the town? Or team up with him to bring the corrupt mayor to justice?

I have a buddy who played and enjoyed Skyrim right before he started KoA. He is now hooked on it. We've talked about it and he prefers KoA way more than Skyrim. I argued that it's a different style of RPG but he find KoA more enjoyable. He found Skyrim to be more of a chore even though it was fun at times.

And that's the thing. I dislike having to grind through boring, repetitious gameplay. I hate it when play seems like work. And I've NEVER felt that in KoA. I have spent probably around 50-60 hours in the game and am only just over halfway through. I have yet to feel as if I'm slogging through anything.

I often hear critics claim that the game is generic. And I find that bizarre. The whole experience for me is extremely immersive, exciting and visually impressive.

If you don't like the game, I'm sorry it doesn't do anything for you.

But it's definitely pushing all the right buttons for me! And for the record - No, I'm not that easy!

 

[Sir Markus]

I think Kingdoms of Amalur is a pretty good game. It's like Diablo with an 'over the shoulder' viewpoint. There have been worse games made, but there have been better games made, too. KoA is a pretty solid title IMO, and I'd give it an 8/10 score, but that's just me.

 

[xSamhainx]

all these positive comments have me thinking that i should give this one another chance.

I downloaded and played the demo for about a half hour this morning(xbox360), and was initially put off by a few things and felt like i wasnt going to pursue it much further. Firstly, I dont like the auto-aim when it comes to ranged weapons. I couldnt believe there was no reticle, even when going into the look-around viewpoint. Then, the camera angles seemed to be shit at the worst time - I was fighting some troll thing and just about got my ass handed to me as the camera kept switching wildly to views that were unhelpful to my survival.

I did get out of the tutorial caves, and wound up swimming around to a nearby cave and checking out some pretty nice scenery overall before I had to shut it down and go to lunch. Maybe I'll give it another shot, tho the bow thing really does suck…

 

[Couchpotato]

Hm most of you must have been drunk while playing this. Sadly like most new rpgs it wasn't worth getting you hopes up.

 

[redman5427]

Hm most of you must have been drunk while playing this. Sadly like most new rpgs it wasn't worth getting you hopes up.

Yes, we get that you don't think it's as good as Skyrim. What we don't get is why you need to bash people for something you don't like but they, having their own tastes, do like. Telling people they must have been drunk to enjoy KOA is is a bit insulting and goes beyond negative feedback. Why don't you stick to generic,cliche, and throw in a couple of Planescape innuendos so those of us who don't understand what the perfect RPG is can finally get it?

 

[Couchpotato]

Yes, we get that you don't think it's as good as Skyrim. What we don't get is why you need to bash people for something you don't like but they, having their own tastes, do like. Telling people they must have been drunk to enjoy KOA is is a bit insulting and goes beyond negative feedback. Why don't you stick to generic,cliche, and throw in a couple of Planescape innuendos so those of us who don't understand what the perfect RPG is can finally get it?

Rule number 1 of the internet sir people are assholes. Im tired of being friendly and serious all the time.

"You know how there is one person who annoys you and never goes away well guess what that's me. I will never agree with you."

That's my motto in case you fail to have read it.


There lies your problem. You actually took me seriously again. You should know better by now. I always disagree and barely say anything positive. Excuse while I go back to the codex and have fun.