KoA: Reckoning - Retrospective @ The Sixth Axis

Couchpotato

Part-Time News-bot
Joined
October 1, 2010
Messages
36,179
Location
Spudlandia
The Sixth Axis takes a look back at Kingdoms Of Amalur and the house of ballads quest.

The Fae in Amalur are immortal but with immortality comes quite the price of freedom. The Fae have no real free will in how their lives play out, and are instead trapped in a cycle, which is even worse for those who become heroes or villains within the Fae ballads, and the House Of Ballads quest line showed a society at breaking point.
More information.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,179
Location
Spudlandia
I can't understand something here.

Did this game generate so many fans and will have followers decades after it's release? Was it so good that it's unbelievable it's developer was shut down? Was it so awsome that another company bought rights on the name, setting, whatever and is making sequels, prequels or spin offs?

I'd say no. This is not Fallout, this is not Black Isle.
Yet, every now and then, there is a retrospective or something similar like KoA was a masterpiece. It was not (still haven't played it although I've bought it on Origin sale for 5 bucks) - a masterpiece can't have too much of something, and this game definetly has too much of something. And honestly, I'm glad for it's fate because if it succeeded we'd see clones and clones of the same grinding crap.
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
I can't understand something here.

Did this game generate so many fans and will have followers decades after it's release? Was it so good that it's unbelievable it's developer was shut down? Was it so awsome that another company bought rights on the name, setting, whatever and is making sequels, prequels or spin offs?

I'd say no. This is not Fallout, this is not Black Isle.
Yet, every now and then, there is a retrospective or something similar like KoA was a masterpiece. It was not (still haven't played it although I've bought it on Origin sale for 5 bucks) - a masterpiece can't have too much of something, and this game definetly has too much of something. And honestly, I'm glad for it's fate because if it succeeded we'd see clones and clones of the same grinding crap.

There's no mention of it being a masterpiece.

This is an article about a quest line in the game, which he thinks is rather good.

I found the game to be mediocre but I would say its strong point was some of its individual quests. Also this is not a game that requires grinding and actually doing so will ruin your experience because you will hit the level cap way to early. That's not to say there rant respawns because there are lots of them but your best off avoiding them.

But I'm sure you already knew this because you played none of the game and this wasn't just another opportunity to continue your rant about grinding and mobs, which have become the endless mob respawns of this forum.
 
You've probably misunderstood something. Or I did.

Imagine an article from someone fascinated with Solitaire so much that he felt a need to write a "retrospective" on it. You'd understand as millions of people played it and for sure they've had fun with it.
Now compare that with writing a retrospective on, by your own experience, a mediocre game. You tell me, what's the point of it? Did that game had any kind of impact on masses or perhaps was something never seen before or maybe it started a trend?
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
Again, it's about a quest line in the game not about the entire game, game mechanics or how the game affected the RPG genre as a whole.

It's about a single quest line that many who played the game would agree was very good.

Not sure why something needs to be amazing or earth shattering to have a retrospective written about it?

I assume its just a quest line he found very interesting and he wanted to revisit it. He definitely doesn't portray it as special or genre changing.
 
You're probably on the right track there. If you were not, stuff from Danielle Steel wouldn't be bestsellers.

Is the general taste completely corrupted by the selling junk economy era we're living in? And for how long the planet will tolerate overproduction, then trashing and piling up the junk everywhere?
 
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
I must admit that how often a 'KoA retrospective' of some kind pops up in the news is surprising. The wasn't even bad enough to a be a shining example of what not to do. Just a mediocre, boring grind.
 
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Messages
149
Was it so awsome that another company bought rights on the name, setting, whatever and is making sequels, prequels or spin offs?

The game rights are tied up in the legal case with RI. I thought I remember reading something somewhat recently where they're getting ready to auction it off. We'll see who, if anyone, buys it with the next month or so I expect.
 
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
831
Location
North Carolina, US
I didn't read the article, but I thought that the House of Ballads quest-line was fantastic. The ending location and quest was amazingly beautiful.
 
Now compare that with writing a retrospective on, by your own experience, a mediocre game. You tell me, what's the point of it?

I bought KoA and played probably 40% of it before I lost interest. It wasn't a terrible game but to me, it was too big compared with its gameplay 'density.'

Still, retrospectives like these catch my attention because there are many glimmers of greatness in the game. And had the company not crashed and burned there was hope that the franchise could mature into something better - consider Ultima 1 compared with Ultima VII for example.

If somebody buys the KOA assets and creates a sequel, there are plenty of things going for the IP that would cause me to be cautiously optimistic for a better gameplay experience.

So I'm glad to see people writing about this game as it keeps it alive and will perhaps peek the interests of those who might entertain purchasing the assets and taking a second shot at the IP in the form of a sequel.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,897
Location
Oregon
KoA could be a great SP game had they done away with the MMO-grind respawns. As it was, there was too much combat between quest hubs. The Ballads quest was the best quest in the game and the rest of the game felt very rushed in comparison.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
8,821
The IP is being auctioned off electronically in November.
The 38 Studios and Big Huge Games liquidation auction will begin November 14, according to the Heritage Global Partners auction services page. Among the assets included in the auction from the state of Rhode Island are the Kingdoms of Amalur intellectual property, namely the Project Copernicus MMO that was in development at 38 Studios prior to its closure in May 2012. Additionally, buyers will be able to obtain sequel and merchandise rights and revenue for the developer's lone release, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Other assets in the auction include intellectual property rights for Big Huge Games' properties, particularly Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends and Catan in addition to the studio's Big Huge Games Engine and 38 Studios' Helios platform. The liquidation auction begins at 9:00am ET on November 14 and ends November 15 at 12:00pm ET.
It's sad to see the strategy games up for sale also as I loved playing both in the past. I hope all three end up in a decent publisher, or developer. :please:
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,179
Location
Spudlandia
I agree, the game had a lot of features that I loved, and a ton of potential, but in the end it was just a mediocre game. That alone makes it worthy of a retrospective. A sequel could have a tremendous amount of potential if they learned from their mistakes.

I bought KoA and played probably 40% of it before I lost interest. It wasn't a terrible game but to me, it was too big compared with its gameplay 'density.'

Still, retrospectives like these catch my attention because there are many glimmers of greatness in the game. And had the company not crashed and burned there was hope that the franchise could mature into something better - consider Ultima 1 compared with Ultima VII for example.

.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
2,163
KoA was a ridiculous copy of Planescape: Torment (setting/lore/story) + God of War series (combat mechanics).
Not a bad game but it had nothing surprising to me. Still it depends on your approach: If you have that much free time to play a game in which you're not gonna see anything new, so that's yours, it's a tolerable game. But if you're looking for something new, something special, so let it be skipped.
 
Joined
Mar 30, 2012
Messages
37
Location
Iran
Back
Top Bottom