KoA: Reckoning - Review Roundup # 3

aries100

SasqWatch
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More reviews has been coming for this game. I'll quote from two of them and list the others.

Digital Spy 5/5
Outside of this feature, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning still offers more creative freedom than most games of its kind, allowing players to mix and match attributes and align themselves with a range of different factions. Of course, there is no shortage of traditional RPG mechanics either. There's the levelling up grind, talent trees to scale, and new abilities to unlock. You might even feel like you've wandering into Skyrim when gathering ingredients for alchemy or jacking open a chest with a lockpic
Metro 7/10
It’s accessible and enjoyably violent, but extremely easy to control. Although the balance seems perfect at first, a few hours in you realise it has evolved as far as it's going to and no matter how many hundreds of hours of gameplay might be ahead of you the combat is staying where it is. Ranged fighting in particular is so automated it might as well be a quick time event, and the stealth attacks are hardly any more complicated.
Daily Echo 8/10
Softpedia 9/10
PSX Extreme 7.7/10
Evil Source Gaming 8.8/10
More information.
 
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More I play it, the more I love it.

Its nothing like Skyrim, and its nothing like other open world RPGs

Its probably best described as classic (biowareish) RPG , with freedom of movement , action combat and Diablo loot system , and shitload of cool quests.

BTW, quests

Even side quests, even ones that say bring 10 rat tales , are fully voiced and have totally interesting stories.

I think the game is not getting praise it is worth
 
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I guess from that quote that the Metro Guy didn't think much of the combat then :)

Fourteen hours in on my save, (at level 8, on Hard, Chakrams/Longsword) and I'm enjoying it a lot. Am I in a imminent danger of dying to every J. Random wandering monster group? No, not with all the tools at my dispoal. But the difference between 'I played that group well and skunked them' and 'I played that group badly, and had to burn some potions, and do a bunch of readjustment mid-fight to survive' is really strong at least at the moment, with the latter happening plenty often enough to have me giggling like the proverbial school girl when I really get my moves, tactics and target priority right and I get the former.

I like the enemy AI, there's been a nice range of different monster types with different attack patterns, and seemingly a different willingnesses to run over my frost mines or hang back and say 'nuhuh, not stepping there' when they see them.

I'm mostly using the Chakrams which have fewer moves than the majority of weapons, and I've only got 3 points in the tree that opens up the moves anyway, the next Chakram move being so far away in the tree it might as well not exist for the build I'm using. That means that technically I only have a standard attack and a charge up attack. However that standard attack is single target the first two times I use it in a chain, but the third comes out as an AoE and gets any burning/freezing/whatever effects I have on my weapon whilst the other two don't. Furthermore the first two attacks I can cancel with block or dodge at any time, but the final one I can't and if I get hit during it, it fails with me staggered.

The charge up is a big AoE centred around my character, but just how big it goes and how long it lasts depends on how long I charge it up for, and it too will be interrupted if they hit me while either during charge-up or execution.

Given that the range these weapons work at is just completely wrong for some enemies, and the ideal range for ones that it isn't feels a bit different between the different enemy types, that's plenty deep enough for not-particularly-action gamer me to be going on with. That's leaving aside block/dodge and the other non-passive powers I've got in my build (the frost traps, a stagger and bleeding damage doer).

TL;DR I don't really agree with that snippet from Metro :)

Compulsary 'Kingdoms of Amalur is exactly like…' (KoAiEL)

…Torchlight crossed with Neverwinter Nights 2 crossed with Sacred 1 using Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy lightsaber combat for non lightsabers, and the Elder Scrolls 'Screw the main quest I'm here for the Factions' thing, but with MORE O'IRISH ACCENT than you can shake a stick at.
 
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Well its a generic rpg made to setup the MMO coming out in a few years. I expected more from the talent invested in the game.:(

Also no its not the fantasy setting that bothers me it's the writing and lack of any immersion. The only good thing is the combat and colorful graphics and its gets boring fast. Bethesda has nothing to worry about.

Never thought I would say Bethesda games have a better story or quests.:thinking:
 
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Loving the game, the world, the story. Not agreeing with the generic description at all.
It"s not as open world as Skyrim but plenty to see and do in those areas that are off the paths. Been totally bug free for me so far. I started with the longswords but switched to greatswords and damage is tremendous. It was very easy to start but after rolling through everything, I went to do the first Bards quest and got hammered by the bosses at level 4. Went to do another quest and got creamed there also. So, I also adjusted my tactics and went and leveled a bit before I went back to those. Been doing blacksmithing
and alchemy and some persuasion with my might build. Might try magic for the second playthru.
 
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It has a strangely addictive quality to it. I was a little put off by the restrictive feel of the game (no jumping unless hard coded to a spot), artificial walls, etc. But after Skyrim it probably stands out a lot more than it normally would as Skyrim gives you so much freedom when it comes to movement and items that you can manipulate in the world. I also keep expecting to see a message that my X skill just went up in KoA as I got so use to it in Skyrim. I have to admit I really enjoy that approach to leveling - seems much more realistic.

Yet I keep finding myself starting the game up and losing myself for a couple of hours before I know how much time has come by.

The writing is nothing stellar but for the most part it seems no better or worse then any other game. Maybe people consider it generic because its general fantasy. But meh I don't rant against fantasy games just because they are fantasy. I happen to love fantasy games - its what I enjoy - so pretty comfortable with it.

I love all the builds you can create and after some rather limited character customization in other games I really enjoy some of the depth. Plus nice that the whole destiny/fate thing provides a nice in-game rationale for resetting your choices (via a fateweaver) although I doubt I will take advantage of that since I prefer to live with my choices in most games.

So far my initial review of 8/10 seems pretty accurate (for myself of course - everyone's mileage obviously varies).

If only they could add more camera control (both in and out of combat) and jumping anywhere - then I would upgrade it a notch :)
 
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It really seems more like a mmo than a single player game, but maybe that's a good thing. The more I play it, the more I like it, and I'd say the game's AI is way smarter than, say, Skyrim's. Often I've seen mobs adjust to my style, and I think that's just wonderful!! The challenge is ramping up as I level, and it's well done and invigortating.


-Carn
 
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Played about 5-6 hours on Normal and haven't died once. Maybe I'll restart on Hard. Thing is, I can pause any time and even a small health potion completely refills my health instantly.

Does it get harder on Normal level?
 
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If you're already playing on normal, I don't think it will get any harder on "more normal". I started on hard, so I don't really have a basis for the normal version, but I can tell you hard has some....well, hard moments! You really have to think about the end mob in a dungeon fights, as often terrain becomes restricted, or you get 20 mobs all charging at you. Even some of the roadside encounters can be tough.


-Carn
 
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When you level up your hp will increase and minor potions won't fill your bar totally anymore (lvl 17 might & magic build).

I love the game and so far the faction quests are better than the main story (as they are often). Combat is very nicely done and can take on any game out there as far as I'm concerned.
 
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I started the game on hard and combat is pretty easy so far. I'm level 9 but have covered a lot of map area just exploring.

So far in combat it's all about weaknesses, even though enemies may have different attacks it's pretty much they same fights. Dodge their attacks and then figure out what kind of damage hurts them. I play with daggers so I keep several different daggers that do different kinds of damage. Switch between them and you will find it's weakness then you can make quick work of them.

You have a bunch of different moves you can use. I use them because it adds some fun but most enemies can be killed without them and just pressing the attack button. If it's a bigger monster that's harder to get close to I just use the same system with chakrams that I do daggers and they fall pretty quick.

If your fighting mobs, just keep your spacing and your fine. If you let them bunch up on you your dead. Chakrams are great for this because they knock them down more often than not. You can just keep pressing the button and they can't get near you.

Overall combat is average, people think it's amazing because it's fast and you get combo's. That doesn't make up for shields being garbage, bows being laughable and every encounter can be easily beaten with a little dodging and having the right weapon damage.

The written is poor ( that may be too strong of a word) in my opinion. Often I will run into people with dire problems, yet one 3 word sentence by me and all is well with the world. For example:

I was tasked with finding a lady's husband, upon finding him he says he can't go back home he's a broken man now , war has changed him. I say something like (don't remember the exact reply) She deserves to know your alive. The broken man does a total 180 and happily joins his wife again. Of course he sits back down where I found him and when I visit his wife, she thanks me for bringing him back but he's nowhere to be found.

Or on a little larger scale:

I'm tasked to find a leader of a town the person who asked me to find him however wants me to kill him so he can lead the town. I decline and go find the original leader and tell him of the betrayal. He asks me to meet him back at town and he will deal with the traitor. I'm think small battle at worse or a town civil war at best. I get neither I return to town and he has already banished the traitor and he rewards me. WTF

Overall on a true 1-10 scale I would give it a 5 out of 10 without even considering the graphics style that kills any immersion for me. It's average. It's no more fun than war of the north, the first templar or arcania and it doesn't measure up to the gothics or elder scrolls imo.

On the inflated press review scale I guess a 7.5. There's fun to be had but there's nothing amazing or revolutionary as the dev's claim.
 
Loving the game, the world, the story. Not agreeing with the generic description at all.
It"s not as open world as Skyrim but plenty to see and do in those areas that are off the paths. Been totally bug free for me so far.

Ditto. The only "bug" I've seen is that sometimes when I switch weapons at the beginning of combat, I hear the sound of the new weapon being unsheathed, but I still see the old weapon. This is a really minor bug though. It's been pretty much bug free so far.

Picked this one up yesterday and I'm really enjoying it. I was going to start a new Skyrim character, but KoA has totally grabbed me. Skyrim can wait. The writing is great, the quests are interesting, and I love the colourful world. I hope the game does well, because I'd like to see more in this world and from the Big Huge Games team. I know I'm really enjoying a game when I'm already thinking ahead to what type of build I'll play in my next game.
 
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To me this is no where near a 5 out of 10 game....when have you ever played a 5 out of 10 game and had this much fun? I'm in the 8 to 9 out of 10 for the game, it's not perfect but it does a lot of things right. As for that quest with the broken man, don't you have to pass a skill test to get him to change his mind? I'm pretty sure that is the case.
 
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To me this is no where near a 5 out of 10 game….when have you ever played a 5 out of 10 game and had this much fun? I'm in the 8 to 9 out of 10 for the game, it's not perfect but it does a lot of things right. As for that quest with the broken man, don't you have to pass a skill test to get him to change his mind? I'm pretty sure that is the case.

Well, fun is in the eye of the beholder I guess, but if I had to throw it on the fun-o-meter against other games i've played in the past year or so….

Deus ex hr, batman aa and ac, skyrim, the witcher 2 and lotr war in the north were all more fun and the first templar, da 2 and crysis 2 would be below it. There may be a couple more games i'm forgetting.

Based on that it doesn't stack up too well against the others, so I think a 5 on a TRUE scale is about right.

I didn't even go in to the camera issues, enemies that don't fight back , the reckoning mode sometime not letting me do the finishing move so I just have to let it run out, the annoying 1/4 to 1/2 second pause after every roll or the stun lock when you get hit so every enemy can hit you at least 3 times every time you get hit and vice versa.

I think it might have been a persuade check for the broken man at 95% success rate. As a matter of fact I've had 5 persuade checks 3 at 95% success and 2 at 5% success. That's a big gap. I had only had 0 or 1 point in persuade for these checks don't remember when I put a point in to it.

As I said for me it's average. Your obviously enjoying it much more. Maybe my opinion will change as I get further in the game.
 
Well, fun is in the eye of the beholder I guess, but if I had to throw it on the fun-o-meter against other games i've played in the past year or so….

I am sure that all agree that Witcher 2, Skyrim, FONV are much better games all together. And that KOA has fair share of quirks.

What we saying that despite all - the game is very much fun.

If they patch camera (that they intend to do) , and up the difficulty. I can see myself playing this game a lot :)
 
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Overall on a true 1-10 scale I would give it a 5 out of 10 without even considering the graphics style that kills any immersion for me. It's average. It's no more fun than war of the north, the first templar or arcania and it doesn't measure up to the gothics or elder scrolls imo.

On the inflated press review scale I guess a 7.5. There's fun to be had but there's nothing amazing or revolutionary as the dev's claim.

This is so very true, I completely agree with you. The game is average, I have no idea why people keep praising it. Especially the combat, which i find pretty weak - melee combat is ok, but not ranged combat. And I really don't see how anyone can have problem with bosses... just go with a full faith meter and nothing can stand against you, not even bosses with orange name and hordes of minions around them
 
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This is so very true, I completely agree with you. The game is average, I have no idea why people keep praising it. Especially the combat, which i find pretty weak - melee combat is ok, but not ranged combat. And I really don't see how anyone can have problem with bosses… just go with a full faith meter and nothing can stand against you, not even bosses with orange name and hordes of minions around them

quoted for agreement. It's one of those games that I had to re-sell to the store after a disgruntled attempt to like it, over a week of playing (and that only happens to me once or twice a freaking year!). Boring, overpraised. IMHO and all that of course.
 
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The more I play, the more I tend to agree with the above. I'm not quite done playing - but I don't think I will end up giving it more than 7 out of 10.
 
I'm enjoying it quite a bit too. I actually like that each area has one primary thing that they're worried about. One town is dealing with organized bandits, the next is losing the battle against spiders, and the third is dealing with a sickness, etc. All the quests in a particular area are focused on their problems.

However, combat is not very interesting most of the time; at least on normal. The only time I even have to stop and think is if I'm facing a boss with several mobs. The rest of the time it's maim with magic and mopup with Chakrams.

Still, I really enjoy collecting the alchemy ingredients and combining gems. I took someone here on the forum's suggestion and I do not craft my own armor. I've heard from several that smithing is super overpowered, so I only upgrade what I find with the gems and whatnot. I've been upgrading detect secret every other level and it's to the point where I can find secret doors. My plan is to go back through all the early dungeons and see if I can find more secrets.

Reckoning isn't Skyrim, but it's fun enough on its own merits. I'd give it about a 7.5 to Skyrim's 10. As most know, I'm a TES junkie. I'm actually going through Skyrim withdrawal but Reckoning is keeping me so far. I think I'm about level 11 or 12, not sure. I'd say I've done about half of the first region, roughly.
 
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