KoA: Reckoning - Preview @ Ten Ton Hammer

Dhruin

SasqWatch
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Ten Ton Hamer is another site with some impressions of Reckoning:
The world feels huge, yet familiar. There is a potential play time of 200 hours in this game, so you can imagine the sheer size and detail of the world. The intent behind the design was familiarity and to feel that Amalur is worth defending. The level of realism in the game is set to a level where the world is believable yet mystical. Everything was hand-placed in the world; there was no auto-generation of terrain or debris. This is particularly evident as the game switches between day and night cycles which are set at a 1:30 ratio. At night, lights will come on and town residents will head to pubs or go to bed to sleep.
More information.
 
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Looks like this article contradicts an earlier one that claimed there was no level scaling.

Ken Rolston's influence is seen in the scaling of monster encounters. Like he did in Oblivion, encounters will scale to the player's level. However, the scale is limited to a maximum range. So, for example, a monster may level up to level 20 or so based on your level, but if you fight it when you're level 30, it will still only be level 20. There are also three levels of combat difficulty for the game, which can be set at any time by the player.

Still, I have to admit that I'm in serious danger of becoming an Amalur fanboy. I'm clicking through on every news item about this game, and I haven't done that in…well, ever, I don't think.

I think I have this fantastical notion that this may actually be the best of both worlds: a big-budget indie title. They're trying to do everything I would ever want in an action RPG, and they're independenly funded by an avid RPG fan with deep pockets who's been playing CRPG's for as long as I have. Hard not to get excited about that.

My biggest fear is that with a publisher like EA, they may not be given the time to make this truly great. The release date has already been pushed back from this fall to sometime next year, and I wouldn't be surprised to see one more needed delay as the design team tackles a project this large and amibitious for the first time. Hard to say whether they'll be given that time from the suits at EA…
 
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I was thinking the same thing . When are publishers going to get that a project on this scale takes time, especially RPGs . DA2 should be a lesson .
 
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Depends on what kind of publishing deal they have. DA2 is made by a studio owned by EA (first party). Is 38 Studios the same or is it more like how Crytek and Respawn have EA as co-publishing partner (making the studios third party developers). If it is the latter, it doesn't mean EA won't pressure them at all, but it will depend on a case-by-case basis on how much EA has invested in the development.

Joining up with the EA Partners program isn't always a case of seeking funding, but in some cases it is simply a means to use the network and expertise of EA to sell the game. If the dev had to set it up himself it would be quite difficult.

It might be similar to how back in the day Bethesda had their TES games marketed in the US and Worldwide by Ubisoft or 2K Games. There is no way those publishers had any influence on development. But in exchange for a cut they simply used their worldwide networks to publish and distribute the game. Interesting to note is that Bethesda at the time already had a publishing arm, but that only marketed and distributed horse racing games and similar fare to North America. It had too little expertice and no network to publish a big title like Morrowind or Oblivion to the whole world so the marketing and distribution on those were outsourced.
 
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