KoA: Reckoning - Interview @ Gamefont

Dhruin · January 25, 2012

Ken Rolston has been interviewed at Gamefront about Reckoning, though he comes across as having had too much coffee before the conversation:

KR: Video RPGs are so good now, and there are so many to choose from, that I make the frequent mistake of thinking we live in the Perfect Golden Age of RPG Utopia.
And then someone goes and makes something new and cool, and we’re off to the races again.
But despite the fact that video RPGs have made such deep and passionate inroads into the mainstream market, I still feel they are slow-paced, abstract, and awkward. Reckoning reflects my hunger for a faster pace of action and combat drama, and a desire for simpler, easier-to-use interfaces. Video RPGs are naturally the deepest,longest, and most complicated kinds of video game entertainment… that’s whatmakes them great. But making them just a tiny bit less clumsy in the interface, and just a big, fat, huge amount more physical and exciting in combat, gives them more fun-per-unit-time. Me? I want All-Fun, All-the-Time, Right-Now, thank-you-very-much.
Pen-and-paper narratives and settings continue to influence me in video game design, but systems? Not so much. Combat in tabletop RPGs is already, and always has been, slow-paced and awkward, mired in its wargame traditions. Dialog, improvisation, open-ended story-telling… that’s what tabletop RPGs are still best at… WAY better than video RPGs.
You might want to work on those interface goals a little more, Ken.

More information.

sakichop · January 25, 2012

Quote from ken rolston:

"Here’s one example of an awesome platform design detail. When playing on the PC, the game senses immediately when you move from a controller to the keyboard, and vice-versa. That is, you seamlessly and effortlessly slide back and forth between the two interfaces. The PC keyboard is better at handling text, of course, and the utility bar is easy to use in that interface, but I like the tactile feel of the controller for combat. So far, I’m really liking the hybrid experience, and wondering why it never occurred to us before."

Is he actually suggesting that the game is meant to be played with both controller and k&m simultaneously. Using the controller for combat and switching to the keyboard and mouse for text (when do you enter text) and utility bar. And he likes this hybrid experience.

Someone please tell me i'm misinterpreting what he said.

Also every interview they gush about how super awesome and super duper perfect everything they've done is. It's getting monotonous. I don't expect them to downplay their own game but do they have to always be so over the top.

I played the demo. The games seems ok. I'm probably going to purchase it but it's getting to the point where I don't want to read or listen to anything they have to say anymore.

azarhal · January 25, 2012

sakichop said:
I played the demo. The games seems ok. I'm probably going to purchase it but it's getting to the point where I don't want to read or listen to anything they have to say anymore.

I rarely read dev interviews anymore. Most of the time they don't say anything anyway.

crpgnut · January 25, 2012

I think Amalur will sell pretty well, mostly because the 10 million who bought Skyrim will be looking for something similar. However, I think they're going to be bashed into Oblivion

once people see how shallow everything is in comparison. The combat isn't really better, it's a button masher very similar to gauntlet. I'm not sure that it's mature enough for today's audience either. There is something about Amalur that yells teenager, but it could be my advanced dotage that is kicking in. I felt like I was in an arcade all during combat.

Still, I'm a buyer though I'll wait for it to come down $10-15. A Steam sale or Best Buy deal should come along soon.

KoA: Reckoning - Interview @ Gamefont

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