KoA: Reckoning - Review Roundup #1

Dhruin

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Right, here we go with the first collection of Reckoning reviews and it's a bit of a mixed bunch. Most of these are console reviews. In no particular order...
Games.co.uk - 8/10: They compare Reckoning to an improved Fable 3 but criticise weak dialogue and quests:
It is, however, weaker in characterisation and dialogue, which can often be flicked through and ignored to pick up another mission, and questing is largely of an MMO ‘go here, kill that, collect this’ nature – mostly uninspiring with a few exceptions. But somehow, despite being made of patchwork parts, it is never less than good fun to play and, at its best, a surprisingly intense experience – all credit due there to the twitchy and intelligently designed combat system. Reckoning is a big, meaty game that will thoroughly satisfy both RPG and action fans, and if you are a Skyrim player, then you should definitely make room for this too. You’ll love it.
Eurogamer - 8/10: The combat and itemisation is praised but Eurogamer notes the generic nature of the content:
It's professional, tidy, satisfying - and deeply generic. The biggest problem with Amalur is that, for all its fine craftsmanship, it's obviously a world made to order. It's not the creation of a fertile young mind but of a successful baseball player's bank account. 38 Studios' owner, EverQuest and WOW fan Curt Schilling, decided to make an MMO and needed a world to build it on, so he had artist Todd McFarlane and novelist R A Salvatore drum one up. But you can't buy inspiration, no matter how big the names.
Joystiq - 5/5: Broad praise all around:
That love is evident from the moment your character emerges from the first dungeon into the light of day, escaping from the murk into a world of fantastic, vibrant beauty. Landscapes are bright and colorful, spanning golden and green forests to arid deserts and mountains that saw at the sky. Cities are gigantic, sprawling places with a sense of scale so vast as to make your character insignificant. Upon seeing a city or castle in the distance, you may find yourself uttering a few involuntary "oohs" and "ahs." I did.
GamingNexus - 'A': Excellent "gameplay" (read: combat), though they had issues with some of the graphics:
KOA is so good fundamentally and gameplay wise that it completely makes up for its technical shortcomings. The game isn’t bad visually, but it definitely has its issues. The world and its characters are all varied and interesting, but they have a lot of problems technically with things like pop up and a horrible draw distance. Seriously, there are times when the game looks like a first-generation Xbox 360 game, and perhaps even worse. The rest of the game is so well done though that none of that will matter; the gameplay truly compensates for all of the visual shortcomings and then some. On the other hand, audibly the game is a joy to experience. The voice acting in the game is absolutely impeccable; you will experience a variety of dialects and personalities, all of which are wonderfully portrayed by a stellar voice acting cast.
OXM UK - 7/10: Damned with faint praise like "acceptable" and "tepid style":
An assured, substantial fantasy brawler, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning began life as an MMO, and it's tempting to ascribe the game's failings to this mingled inception. The massive, 60-hour-plus world is composed of sloping, easily navigable but actually not very invigorating basins that squirrel off into fractionally more labyrinthine dungeons, seemingly built to accommodate parties, not lone rangers.
Penned by novelist R.A. Salvatore, the fiction speaks to multiplayer tropes in spicy ways: it's founded on endlessly cycling heroic tales (read: quests) lived and relived by the immortal Fae - tales that spin awry in response to the tyrannical antics of renegade Fae sect the Tuatha. An MMO world whose static narrative structures are shifting and decaying? It's a sharp conceit, one the script has fun with, though it's suffocated by charmless dialogue direction.
Edge Online - 6/10: Saying Reckoning is "roleplaying for a thunderously dull imagination", the streamlining is heavily critic...More information.
 
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Eurogamer is spot on.
I did manage to find a bad character, finesse and Might without the range elements works really bad. Then again I am on difficult.
 
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Based on my time with the demo and a few hours with the "preview" version (I pre-ordered from Gamersgate, calm down) - Eurogamer is closest to my own feelings.

The world is definitely "generic" in its presentation, and though the lore is meaty - it seems somewhat removed from the actual game. Maybe that changes, but I definitely think the lore should have been "shown" more than told. So far, it's hard to get a sense of history just from exploring - and the lore seems like something from the distant past.

Beyond that, though, I find the game marvellous.

The final version is MUCH more polished and I'm very happy I pre-ordered the PC version. I was almost certain I would have gone with the Xbox version - and the "preview" is what changed my mind.

I even bought a wireless gaming receiver for my 360 controller - so I can enjoy this game with a proper interface. The interface is still fiddly when you have a lot of stuff in the inventory - but the controller makes most interactions seamless and natural.

As I suspected, the post-processing effects make a huge difference in terms of the aesthetic. It's similar to the "Full Glow" stuff that WoW used to do in places like Ashenvale. In the demo, without this - the world looked bland and dreary. But in the full version, it looks much better.

The awkward LOD effects are still there, but they're not quite as bad. Thankfully, the monsters don't bug out in this way either.

Best part of the PC port is the performance. It's VERY smooth and rock solid - with fast load times. This was my main concern, based on the demo, and it turns out this is one case where the demo is significantly inferior to the full game. As we've already been through, they really screwed themselves with the PC demo.

It's also unfortunate that the full version is out on the scene several days before the official release, because I think they deserve better. That said, it did help me make the correct decision in terms of what version was best.

I'd say it's a mixture of Diablo and Fable - with a lot more content and lore. I know they're trying to market it as a "core" CRPG, but I don't think it would qualify for most people around here. The emphasis is clearly on combat, levelling, and loot. The story is there, definitely, but it's not the star of the show.

Then again, that may just be my playstyle. I've always been a gameplay before story guy - but when the story is sufficiently engaging - I'm generally absorbed. That's not the case with KoA, so far.

Preliminary score: 8/10.
 
@DArtagnan

I mostly agree with your assessment. The gameplay is excellent - it does take some getting used to on the mouse of keyboard to the point where combat is flat-out easier on a controller.

The lore contains some interesting ideas and the early Winter Court Fae (the non Tuatha ones) are actually rather tragic characters. The dialogue and the primary narrative though seem far less interesting. Almost all the dialogue is just exposition for the lore which, while good, makes character interaction rather boring.

It's a very good action adventure rpg and the potential for an interesting story is there, but so far I haven't really be intrigued by what they've done with it. It's a very enjoyable game but don't expect to care about any of the characters or even remember more than 3 of their names. I'm hoping the story, character, and player-agency aspects improve over the rest of the game but even if they don't I will have enjoyed the slaughter-fest.
 
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Played for about 2 hours last night and I pretty much agree with you jhwisner.

I think I might try hooking up an Xbox controller, as the keyboard gets really difficult in the heat of battle. I'll say this though, I'm playing on Normal level and haven't died once, so maybe I'll stay with the keyboard as I'll just keep getting more used to it. Ranged combat (from what I've tried) is pretty lame. And I encountered a group of four pretty tough kobolds in a side dungeon who I was having trouble with so I ran away... their tactic is to run back to their original location, so you can simply pull one, run and kill it, rinse and repeat. Pretty lame.

We'll see. I liked playing it, but am not very intrigued by the setting or story. Got to give it some more time.
 
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I will be asking this, like, here instead of creating a new thread thingie.

So I was checking this game and the intro and stuffies, and it seems like it was made to conquer my fickle heart with most of the lore being very loosely based on actual fairy lore. Like, when they went and referred to the unseelie court as the winter court I was so happy I could have cried. Etc, etc, etc. You get the idea.

Then the game starts and I am supposed to be fighting against the fairies? :(

Can we later side with our fluttering pointy eared overlords to show the lesser races their place?
 
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Can we later side with our fluttering pointy eared overlords to show the lesser races their place?

You can join both the House of Ballad (a Summer Court House) and the House of Sorrow (a Winter Court House) in the game (that's how much I know about it though).
 
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