KoA: Reckoning - Preview Roundup

We're finally getting some updates on Reckoning: Kingdoms of Amalur with a small handful of previews hitting the 'net. Let's start with VG247 - it's still general overview territory but we learn a few useful things, such as an expected release in 2012 and no scaling. A snip on the world size and scaling:

“It’s really big,” said Dunn. “It’s really hard to put a square footage or anything like that on the world. It is an open world kind of in the frame of, like, an Oblivion. You can go just about anywhere. Also, there’s the power of the player [to consider]. We don’t auto-level the power of the world depending on the level of the player. You can get yourself into trouble by roaming into an area or a dungeon where stuff is just too powerful for you.”

“And the beauty of that is that you may get your ass kicked in a place, but you get to go build up your character and then return to exact retribution on the stuff that caused you problems. To feel powerful in a world, you have to also feel in danger, you know? So it’s really important that we don’t want to pigeonhole the player into playing this area and then this area and then this area. It is an open world, but there are places where the player can get themselves into trouble.”

IGN has an article titled The Basics:

Amalur is divided into five distinct regions. What we've seen so far is a pretty colorful world, a bit like Fable, but just a touch grittier. It's not dim and ugly like Oblivion or most fantasy worlds. It's filled with unique-looking versions of well-known monsters (Kobolds, Trolls and the like). Big Huge Games is promising that everything in the world -- all the ancient ruins and any architecture -- exists for a reason. There's a story behind everything, some of which is told to you by non-playable characters, and some you can read in books found in the game world.

Suddenly Oblivion is "ugly". Anyway, on to Joystiq:

Combat is certainly a focus -- it starts out simple, with just a few one-button combos using your first weapon. But soon a shield gets added into the mix and you can learn to not only block attacks but also parry them when timed correctly, causing a stun or extra damage. Soon, you can assign multiple weapons to the various buttons (the warrior I saw wielded a broadsword and a hammer, and could switch them up instantly), and doing things like holding them down or pressing them in a certain timing sequence creates all sorts of flashy and rewarding action combos, even including things like aerial launches and juggles.

There are even -- yes, God of War-style -- quicktime events, usually the last enemy in a sequence, that use extra button presses for extra damage and action. The combat is more like Bayonetta than Kratos, actually -- even the warrior adds a little magic to his attacks to bring spikes up out of the ground or slash with a flaming sword.

Finally, some new screens from GDC at Worthplaying.