Kingdoms of Amalur: Tedium?

Unlike Skyrim, Reckoning allows you to max out all relevant tiers and skills long before the game is anywhere near over. For the last several levels (I'm at 32), there really hasn't been anything new to purchase that would further advance my character. There are only a few themes that almost every quest ends up falling into and I'm kinda getting tired of the repetition. House of Ballads begets House of Valor begets House of Sorrows, etc.

Still, I got my money's worth out of the title and would heartily recommend it to anyone who likes loot acquisition and exploration. Though the game funnels you through lots of small tunnels, there is a lot of overland and dungeon area to cover. I really believe the game needs less "non-main" quests because the challenge of combat is basically over past level 20. If I could start over, knowing in advance to avoid most side quests, I might actually get through the main one.

As it is, I think I'm about done with it and Skyrim is calling me. I will one day return to Amalur and try to remember that avoiding most of the side quests is okay.

As a sidenote, German gaming magazine "Gamestar" calls the game

Fable Age: Darksiders

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with the subtitles of :

Fast, but tactical. Brutal, but cute.

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i did give the demo a try and wasn't impressed. the whole combat seems fluid enough. more fluid than dungeon siege 3. The problem is i already played dungeon siege 3 and wasn't looking forward to more of the same repetitive gameplay.

Yes, enemy types do have different attack patterns, but playing on normal you won't die if you hold SHIFT to block and roll accordingly. Playing on hard makes things slightly challenging but overall game outside combat feels clunky. A bunch of lore stone giving audio book while i'm out in the wilderness, really? And shrines giving HP regens that made most combat exercise in fast travel / hit a shrine/ return to questing. Dialogue system is very silly too. Unless I miss something I gotta click the skip button instead of hitting space bar / any key to skip spoken one liners when shopping.

Interface is pretty bad. It wasn't made for PC in mind.
To pick up something you have to :
Hit F.
A loot window will open. - Mousing over the item gives no stats info. Wtf.
Click on loot all.

To check the item stats and compare:
Hit ESC
Go Armor/Weapon/Accessory
Right click the item and click compare.

To equip the item
ESC
Go to Weapon
Primary / Secondary
Select Weapon to equip.

Most item names are pretty generic. I've encountered duplicate green junk.
It's obvious they're going for the MMO angle by having resources nodes, herbs etc pop out in the wilderness for alchemy crafting but the interface gets in the way of enjoying the game to the fullest.

KoA demo wasn't enjoyable enough to justify a full price purchase at 59.99
Just wait for a big discount. Even at $20.00 I still think twice.

Oh I almost forgot. There's tons of barrel and crate smashing. Despite the guards looking down on thievery, they have no issue with some dude running around smashing crates. They give TINY gold amounts, but it still boggles the mind why the box REGENS when the level is reloaded?! Why is this action even allowed in cities and guild strongholds?!

rk47 said:

Oh I almost forgot. There's tons of barrel and crate smashing. Despite the guards looking down on thievery, they have no issue with some dude running around smashing crates. They give TINY gold amounts, but it still boggles the mind why the box REGENS when the level is reloaded?! Why is this action even allowed in cities and guild strongholds?!

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That was a huge turnoff for me as well when I played the demo. I want some degree of realism when I play an open-world RPG, and constantly smashing barrels to collect loot just made it feel like a silly arcade game to me.

Then add the fact that you can't place items in chests or even drop items in the world.

These are imho truly Action-RPG mechanisms for me.

JDR13 said:

That was a huge turnoff for me as well when I played the demo. I want some degree of realism when I play an open-world RPG, and constantly smashing barrels to collect loot just made it feel like a silly arcade game to me.

Then add the fact that you can't place items in chests or even drop items in the world.

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There's a chest were you can drop your stuff in your houses and you get only gold by smashing barrels (and not that much of it).

Yeah, the barrel smashing aspect and no storage, plus the click-lick-click combat just made me think Diablo… Which is fine, but not what I was looking for.

I bought it, installed it, and played for about three hours. That was weeks ago. Haven't touched it since. I don't hate it, but I just don't have the desire to play. It is competent. But that's it. It's like Fable without any of the character, charm or humor.

The little icon taunts me from my desktop.

I have loved it so far. I only took one house so all my extra potions and whatever are all in one place. Not going to claim it is the best game but worth the money IMHO. Crate smashing is easy with electric bolt rather then damaging my weapon on them. Once you get a few coins racked up don't even bother with them, the coin amts are small as was mentioned.
I have been jumping from side quests to main and back again...the main keeps me wanting to go on for the most part. The battle mechanics are easy but it is fun to try different attack moves and weapons on the various critters and finding out what combos work best. Game enjoyment is subjective so as always no one is wrong.

I tried installing it yesterday but Origin is giving me hell. The page where I have to register is blank. I believe this is caused by their servers having too much traffic. Not really impressive so I've no clue when I'll be able to play it. Good thing that I such a nice customer that just plays something else instead and have patience. (I really should stay away from getting games on release)

An off-topic comment: why do I get this strange association to denture from these titles?

denture? dentures? dental dams?

Dental fillings! Dentists!

Also, I don't understand the lack of item statistics from a simple mouse-over.

Most quests tend to be a collection of random kill stuff, followed by a rather obvious trap with diplomacy checks that might enable you to ask for more reward or walk away from combat.

Since most combat are unchallenging, and fateshift bar is full as a the result of killing lots of crap - boss fights tends to devolve around holding X and smashing them while bullet time is in effect. Complete the QTE where you either click the Left or Right Mouse button or Space bar to gain 25-100% EXP bonus. Yipppeeee!

I mean, yeah, I can choose not to use it, but fights tend to go like this:
1. I hold SHIFT to block - making you NEARLY invulnerable if you have HP regen gear on. Facing doesn't even matter, an enemy could jump on your back, but as long as SHIFT is held, you'd shrug it off. Terrible!
2. Watch, learn enemy patterns and moves.
3. Attack with no.2's knowledge.
4. If HP is low, drink potions / use HP regen while holding SHIFT.
5. If all else fails, hold X.

I never fate shift anymore. It just makes you level up even faster. What's the point? I'm already godlike and there are no other gods before me. As a mage, I stun with fire, then use ice to slow and group them, then electricity to finish the job. Even that isn't necessary. In 90% of all fights I can use the fire tree to win while taking no damage at all. Once you get meteor shower that number moves to 100%, including bosses. It isn't unusual for me to do 4,000 hp of damage to every enemy on screen. If anything survives that, very rare, then a followup normal fire attack finishes them off.

BTW, this is fine by me. The mage combat is very dull after battle 200, so a WIN button is appreciated. It allows me to loot more quickly and spacebar through the inane banter that the game considers quests

I just started playing Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga and it's remarkable how similar it is in some ways to the Amalur demo I tried last month.

CountChocula said:

I just started playing Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga and it's remarkable how similar it is in some ways to the Amalur demo I tried last month.

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Those two games are very similar gameplay-wise (which is unfortunate for me because I don't like that particular style ). Similar as they may be in terms of gameplay and, perhaps a bit more loosely, art design, there is one huge difference that sets these games apart: Divinity 2 is a lovingly, hand-crafted world with a ton of personality, giving it that ever so crucial "living" element.

When I play an open-world RPG (or any RPG for that matter), I want to get lost in the world that has been created. In KoA, I am constantly being reminded that I'm playing an overly structured, generically produced, uninspired "game" rather than becoming immersed in a "world." Creative quests, clever dungeon design, a fairly unique atmosphere and a very clear feeling that Divinity 2 was made with a lot of diligent heart-felt effort makes it the superior experience out of the two (in my opinion). While I would rate these games pretty much identically in the gameplay department (for me, mediocre to average), I have much fonder memories playing DKS.

Nerevarine said:

Those two games are very similar gameplay-wise (which is unfortunate for me because I don't like that particular style ). Similar as they may be in terms of gameplay and, perhaps a bit more loosely, art design, there is one huge difference that sets these games apart: Divinity 2 is a lovingly, hand-crafted world with a ton of personality, giving it that ever so crucial "living" element.

When I play an open-world RPG (or any RPG for that matter), I want to get lost in the world that has been created. In KoA, I am constantly being reminded that I'm playing an overly structured, generically produced, uninspired "game" rather than becoming immersed in a "world." Creative quests, clever dungeon design, a fairly unique atmosphere and a very clear feeling that Divinity 2 was made with a lot of diligent heart-felt effort makes it the superior experience out of the two (in my opinion). While I would rate these games pretty much identically in the gameplay department (for me, mediocre to average), I have much fonder memories playing DKS.

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I, on the other hand, think Reckoning is every bit as "living" as DKS and just as lovingly hand-crafted. Divinity 2 is a great game, a hidden gem, but Reckoning is just as awesome to me. Both games are very good action RPGs.

I agree. Some things of the social interaction of the KOAR demo reminded me of Divinity 2 as well.

I thought KoA was about as similar to DKS as vanilla is to chocolate.