Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

[Don Coyote]

Has anyone heard of this game yet?

From the site http://reckoning.amalur.com/

What is Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning™?

Reckoning is an epic, open world role-playing game that gives fans their first experience with Kingdoms of Amalur™, a new universe imagined by R. A. Salvatore, brought to life by Todd McFarlane, and designed by Ken Rolston and his team at Big Huge Games.

I watched their demo video of combat. It's pretty, and cartoony, sort of like WoW. There is a demo coming out tomorrow.

[Telarus]

Neat. R.A Salvatore was pretty let down at what they did to the Forgotten Realms in 4th Ed (from some rumors I've heard).

[Don Coyote]

Stuff looks slightly less standard fantasy, with a dash of comically huge weapons and PAULDRONS.

[Telarus]

I haven't seen anything else from 38studios or Big Huge Games (tho they did to an x-box port of Settlers of Catan).

17+ graphic content warning (interesting......  you're cutting off a portion of your market there). Customizable collectables in the Limited Edition box (an interesting concept... what with the 3d print discussions).

Ok, now I've watched the Combat and Animation video.

Very interesting concept. An open arena Mortal-Kombat/Soul Caliber style chain-combo system (without specific button combos to memorize). For an Action-PRG, it's a good fit, but the solid, readable animations (plus effects) sell the combo system. Very interesting from a game design perspective, I'd recommend anyone interested to watch the videos.

[Don Coyote]

Bear in mind that Skyrim has an M rating as well. Having re-watched the combat video, it does look promising if combat with boss type enemies involves more than standing still, one my issues with Skyrim.

ETA: The only drawbacks from my perspective are the comically large hammers and the shiny effects of your weapon swings. It looks too much like an MMO to me.

[Don Coyote]

Demo is up on Steam and Origin for the PC. Downloading it right now. More to follow.

[kingyak]

Salvatore AND McFarlane? Shame the name "Hackmaster" is already taken.

[Don Coyote]

Salvatore AND McFarlane? Shame the name "Hackmaster" is already taken.

ETA: I get why it should be funny, but this might another time I am glad I know less about a type of geekdom than I do.

[kingyak]

For anyone who wants the 'splaining, McFarlane drug out what should have been at most a 12-issue comic for something like 9000 issues and I'm not sure if he ever actually resolved the initial storyline (and, from all indications, is also a giant douchebag) and Salvatore's been recycling stories about the same character since I was in high school (I graduated in '91).

[Eater of Clowns]

[Don Coyote]

I am not terribly impressed by the game demo. Very cartoony, but yet a mature rating. I think I saw some blood. The sneak attack animations are pretty badass. You can change your face but that is it. Seem like all men will have super buff chests that look comically so. I didn't care for the controls, but I was playing the demo on the PC and didn't bother setting up my controller for the demo. The demo being timed once you get to a certain point was also bullshit. I get that they don't want the player to see too much, but there there already areas I couldn't go to because I was playing the demo. I didn't care for lockpicking or the magical equivalent. I didn't notice any kind of feed back with lockpicking other than breaking picks. The wardbreaking was weird. I wouldn't say it's terrible, but I won't be buying when it comes out, maybe if I see it on sale on steam for $15.


ETA: Just remembered something else I didn't like. Your shield is only used when you block, and is other wise hidden or stashed away. It sort of broke immersion a bit for me.

[Telarus]

Good critique. Thanks.

[Cain]

If you want to see someone playing this game over the long-term, I suggest checking out http://www.youtube.com/playlist?src_vid=_hUOrc9CUfQ&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_513375&list=PL16777C234CFDBB69

My impression is that the violence is cartoonish, the voice-acting is pretty bad and that most of your missions are fetch and return or else killing lots of things.

On the plus side, the combat does look fun, and if you're not looking for any in-depth story or anything, spending an hour killing things might be a not entirely terrible use of your time.

[Luna]

Apparently, the company that produced this went belly up and fired everybody.

[Cain]

38 Studios, yes.  To be fair, it was the only game they had ever worked on, so even a moderate success wasn't going to do them much good.  The reviews were mostly of a "meh" variety as well, barring a few odd rave reviews from the likes of IGN.