Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Blog Post: A game filled with love.

Bind0fGod — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:17:00 GMT

Amalur is a good game. How good is it though? There have been many many role playing games released in the last 30 years, and they have a wide variety of ideas and gameplay elements. Amalur doesn't do much to expand on that but it does do very good at staying the same. While playing Amalur games like Fable, Oblivion, and God of war kept coming to mind, and really any game that can make you compare it to them are unique and hard to come by. Amalur is no exception, with a small budget and no starting point, Big Huge games has managed to throw together a game that is not only beautiful but lengthy. It is always hard to start a new IP for any developer especially when the industry is as flooded as it is. But Amalur, though not the most original has forged its own path and created a memorable new world to live in.

Blog Post: Reckoning The classical masterpiece.

Maki — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 23:57:00 GMT

This game has magnificent Graphics,Sound Art,Best of all the fighting.

In the start your dead being held on a cart about to be dumped then suddenly as your dumped you wake up around bodys of dead people.

The Name of the place you have to find out of your own =p.

The best part about this game is after you fight enemies you increase your fake level when the fake builds up you unleash a attack that kills any enemies no matter high level or low level.

There are not many classes but that is ok the only problems are a few glitches but thats no Problem.

Look around every where there are epic items hiding everywhere.

The art is amazing.

I recommend this game to everyone.

Blog Post: Skyrim crossed with DMC

Rob27shred — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 21:21:00 GMT

It does recycle most of it's elements from other games but unlike most clone games it does what it clones just as good as the original. The fighting is breathtaking with the way you can switch between weapons, spells, & abilities on the go with out having to pause the gameplay & select what you want. I haven't experienced any graphics issues on the PS3. If your looking for a new world to explore I would recommend KOA, yeah it's all recycled gameplay & plot lines but it is well executed & a nice mix of ideas from different games. Well worth the time if your not involved in any other game to heavily right now.

Blog Post: A great fantasy RPG!

outlaw4728 — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:44:00 GMT

KoA is a great game, hands-down. The gameplay is fluid and looks great. The RPG upgrade system is very easy and fun to mess with. The graphics present bright, vibrant colors in a great, new fantasy world. The sounds are great as well. The variety of the quests is great and all of the loot, weapons, and armor you can find will make you want to play more.

Blog Post: An action-RPG to be Reckoned with

Nick — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:29:00 GMT

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a title has been in my sights ever since I stumbled onto its trailer.

Well, this game turned into a pre-order for me at that point and I have had a lot of time to sit down and get to know this new fantasy RPG title over the last 100+ hours. Before I get into the specific technical breakdown I usually do, I figure a game I have sunk this much time into deserves a bit more of an overview first. One word really comes to mind for me when I think about KoA and describe it to others:

Dense

Why do I pick that term? Well, it's neither good or bad inherently but it can be descriptive and it does apply to several aspects of this game. As I noted above, I spent over 100 hours playing through it. There are so many quests you can do, many of them repeatable, that there is no excuse not to have enough money or experience if you really want to stockpile either or both. There is a ton of history here too. As has become the norm in some many RPGs now, you will find tons of books and notes a page to several pages long that help add some color and context to the world you are apart of.

You can interact with anyone on a very base level, and the majority of the characters have a canned response or two, but there are hundreds more with a variety of dialog options that serve as parts of quests, quest givers or just unique personalities that, like the books, try to add depth to the world for you.

There are also various crafting systems, a branching leveling system, factions you can join and lots of secret items and areas to be discovered as well. If you like the game and its formula, you definitely get your money's worth out of it then. I probably put in about 75 hours before doing hardly any of the main quest. There were some side quests you could not complete until getting further through the main quest, because that would unlock areas of the world for you, but there was tons to do all the same.

Graphics - 8:

This is an interesting topic right off of the bat. I absolutely loved the user of vivid and varied colors. I have seen the artistic direction compared to both World of Warcraft and Fable, and I can see those comparisons because of the third person perspective and the colorful way the world is presented. Artist Todd McFarlane was in charge of the design, and overall I really liked it. My wife even commented on how pretty some of the caverns were I traversed where waterfalls cascaded down rocks, flowering plants gave off a pleasing sparkle or leaves would drift down form overhead. The world feels vibrant and alive visually. Characters animate well and I almost never noticed any sort of slowdown, even when I was battling eight or nine enemies while occupying a landscape that had a lot of animation in the background.

However, on a technical level, it is not nearly as detailed as the painting-like world of Skyrim. Character models have a slightly cartoonish look to them, and the audio did not sync well with lip movement much of the time. There are occasional issues where you see things tear/pop through where they should not - such as the sword on my back poking through my shoulder armor or swings that do not even come close to actually landing on an enemy's model causing them to flail back from the impact. These do not happen often and you really almost have to be looking for them, but they are there.

Perhaps the biggest technical issue I noticed was the way textures popped in and out. In the over world landscapes I did not seem to notice it as much, but the caverns in particular seemed like they struggled with things like lightning effects, or rock textures as they suddenly popped in and marred the otherwise very pretty scenery.

Another small glitch which could go under graphics, sound or just overall tech, is that a lot of times if a character was triggering to say something, and you passed through a door, there would be a loading screen with voice work cutting in earlier than it was meant to. And there are a fair number of loading screens, though not as many or as long as I recall say, Fallout: New Vegas being.

Sound & Music - 8:

I will start with the sounds, which are fairly varied. Weapons clank, creatures groan and roar nicely, and magic has an appropriate crackle or burst to it that keeps combat feeling fresh and authentic. In the demo, there were a lot of odd issues where sound would cut out, or the quality would suddenly take on a tinny quality, and thankfully that was largely remedied in this game. There were still a couple of times I would talk to a character, and their voice work was muffled to the point of being almost completely inaudible, but it only happened a handful of times. Considering the absolutely massive amount of voice over provided in this game, that is more than acceptable in my opinion. The voice acting is generally pretty good, and really helps to add some flavor to the characters you interact with, though some are certainly more enjoyable than others.

The music is excellent and memorable overall. I went out and listened to several of the tracks independently of the game and could easily envision some of Amalur's more interesting scenes in my mind when hearing them - a good show of staying power in my mind. I am one of those people who really likes music, or likes to have the option to keep music playing in the background on games like this. World of Warcraft gives you an option to listen to the msuic play once, or to loop it - and I always choose to loop, and would have here as well, because while the soundtrack is very good, it does not really play very often. You can go fairly long periods of time with no music at all, and just sound effects.

While those sound effects were good, as noted above, they do not provide nearly enough meat to the experience to make up for the lack of music. In a game like Call of Duty, the sound effects really add to the experience because they can actually assist you in a firefight. Here they might let you know that you've stumbled onto a grumpy critter in the woods, but truth be told I was usually aware of them anyway because of my mini map.

Gameplay - 9:

The first thing everyone noticed was the combat in this game's trailers early on. It looked fast and fluid, but no one was quite sure how it would handle. Would the combat be a dressed up turn-based system like Dragon Age or DC Universe used? Or would it be high-action like God of War? Or something in the middle, like Fable? In my mind, it is closer to Fable's. The speed and sheer brutal impact of your weapons does somewhat remind me of God of War, but it is not quite that fluid - largely because in this game you are rooted to the ground. You do not jump around and have air born attacks, and that does slow the pace and cut back on the variety a bit. Still, the combat is a very important part of this game, and incredibly satisfying as well.

There is a large variety of weapons you can choose, and you have two equipped at any given time, which allows you to bounce back and forth between styles at the press of a button. Some people were concerned that combat would be too simplified, but I do not believe that was the case. Certainly there are limits to what you can do with it at a glance, but you can unlock combos to go with your varied weapons. There is also magic which is easily mapped to your face buttons on the controller, and they help add some nice ranged combat to the primarily (but not exclusively) melee feel of the weapons.

I usually play a warrior in games like this, but I actually took a rogue this time because I enjoyed the feel of the daggers complimented by the range of a bow. It gives you a nice balance in styles and also adds the perk of assassination attacks (stealth behind your target, and you have a chance with daggers or faeblades to unload massive amounts of damage that often prove immediately fatal). I was able to take on just about anything head-on by the end, but I still found myself stalthing around looking for these stylish, brutal assinattion strikes.

The one complaint I could make is that combat is not terribly hard, or when it is, it is at the wrong times. In playing on hard, you can find yourself outmatches pretty easily early on, but not so much at the end (even though the game does employ the type of leveling world around you that games like Elder Scrolls and Fallout have made popular). On easier difficulties, it's possible to go the whole game without dying. In large part, that is due to Reckoning mode, which is a timed burst of energy that slows down everyone around you while granting your character boosts to damage. Save it for boss fights and what was probably meant to be a challenging battle is over without breaking a sweat most of the time.

There are other aspects to the gameplay that I enjoyed as well. The menus were easy to get around, quests were easy to keep track of and the leveling system is simple but fairly deep (broken up into might/fighter, finesse/rogue or sorcery/magic). There are even Fateweavers throughout the game that, for a price, can let you rebuild the character the way you would like. Ken Rolston is well known for the elder Scrolls III and IV and his fingerprints are all over this game in the leveling and crafting systems.

The crafting systems are pretty fundamental, but man I picked up a lot of garbage. This is a loot drop heavy game - and I have no problem with those. I loved Diablo and similar games over the years. By the time I was done, I had over 2,535,932 gold, and was just salvaging all of my gear for parts.

Intangibles - 9:

You could almost argue there is too much to do here, that the game is - to use my prior adjective - dense. I thought the tutorial did a good job of showing you how things worked, and the world does sprawl out logically from the game's starting point. That being said, I think there would have been some merrit to starting your character off in a very small town with a limited number of quests and places to interact with. I absolutely ate up the information I was given, read every book I saw, talked with anyone I could encounter, but my son had a tough time with the amount of content coming his way and at one point lamented that he did not even know where to begin he had so many quests.

For people who like achievements/trophies there's plenty here that are easy to get. I got 46 of 50 before beating the final boss, and prompting picked up 2 more shortly afterward. Like Oblivion Skyrim Fallout and other fairly open RPGs, once you beat KoA, you can continue exploring the world, playing to gather up more items and finish quests. I do hope the upcoming DLC raises the level cap though, as I did max it out at 40.

One source of criticism I have seen since KoA released was that the world and storyline were generic. I suppose I can see that to a degree - the world has a sort of feel and style that does feel like we have been here before through games like Fable or World of Warcraft. You have a lot of fetch quests and kill the creature quests and those exclamation marks and question marks over the heads of quest-related subjects feels both comfortingly familiar and at the same time 'been there and done that' to me, though in the end I appreciated the feeling of accessibility it afforded me.

The story, that the world is fated and you are a sort of tear in this fabric that can change everything that has been foreseen? I felt like that was a perfectly good backdrop for the game's storyline. Of course, you are starting as the blank slate/amnesiac hero that RPGs have been using and often been lampooned for over the years, but it makes sense in a game that wants to give you freedom to create your character (or rebuild your character without restarting the game anew) as you see fit. I wonder if in this case, the problem is people expected a bit more from a famous and beloved author such as R. A. Salvatore? While I found the world and its story decent, it certainly lacked the emotional, invested impact of R. A. Salvatore's Drizzt Do'urden books, or one of my personal favorites, the DemonWars Saga.

One area that feels just a bit lacking are the decisions you make. Along the way, many of your quests give you a chance to take one of two forms of action. These do tend to affect how the immediately following cut scenes play out, and may even affect what kinds of follow-up quests are presented to you. Yet, they do not resonate with the sort of impactful decisions that titles like Mass Effect and Dragon Age tend to nail, and that really hurts the replay value in my opinion.

Part of it could be the core design. There are quite a few people who have said this title reminds them of an MMO in design, which makes some sense since it is more action-oriented than strategically positioned, and you travel as a solo character more often than not. Even when you have a companion with you, they are mostly just fodder to keep enemies busy and used to further the storyline of a specific quest. They offer very little in the way of actual muscle to your combat, and since they are only there for the short haul, you never have a chance to become invested in them either. This is of course a personal preference, but I feel much more ownership over a storyline that has a party of characters that you become regularly involved in, such as Dragon Age, Mass Effect or Neverwinter Nights, than a game where much of the time is a solo effort like Fallout, Elder Scrolls or Kingdoms of Amalur.

And yes, I know you can have companions in Skyrim, but really they just tag along and hit things. They really do not carry storyline threads with them that weave into the game's primary narrative

Overall 8.5:

Whether you are trying out new weapons in combat, upgrading one of your homes, creating magical gems, crafting armor to set the gems into, picking locks, dispelling magic wards, carrying out hundreds of quests or just following the storyline to its conclusion - there is a lot to do in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I did not grow tired of the formula, though I did finally streamline my efforts in the last dozen or two hours of the game as I decided to reach the conclusion so I could move onto another title (Mass Effect 3 did just come out, after all).
Some people compare the style of play and some of the game's mechanics (like the fact you don't need to stock arrows, though they do need to reload after so many shots) to MMORPGs, which is actually a fair observation in my opinion. No doubt the visual similarities to games like World of Warcraft help perpetuate those comparisons as well. There was talk when this title was released that 38 Studios was going to create an MMO based on this game, and their developers have said they would love to make a sequel as well if this title sells well enough.

No doubt this title will be compared to Skyrim for awhile as the two RPG's do have quite a bit in common with one another (given their related roots to Ken Rolston, that really should not come as any kind of a surprise). I think that they are similar, but also very different games when you look at them. They are both western RPGs with an action/combat mechanic in place. Depending on what you are looking for, I feel Skyrim (which will be getting reviewed soon as well) has a much more open feel to the world you are exploring. It is true that KoA is somewhat more limited in terms of exploratory scope. It is like a series of corridors linked together, which drew some comparisons to Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2. Those are fair, but there is a feeling of openness that KoA does better than those two titles, while failing to be as truly expansive as Skyrim.

That said? I think the combat here is much, much better than Skyrim's. That is not to say I don't enjoy what I can do with my character in Skyrim, but there is a more satisfying, fluid feel to what KoA does than the sort of slash/step back/slack/block mechanics most commonly employed by Skyrim players. In the end I found Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to be a deep, enjoyable game. It won't go down as my favorite RPG title ever, but it certainly felt like time well-spent for me personally.

End game stats for those who are interested:

I beat the main storyline on Day 88, 2:07 PM with 2,535,932 gold to my name.

Time Played: 107:4:30 (though obviously not all of that was active playing - I did things like cook meals and such with the game paused, though there were more than two dozen side quests left once I beat the game that I could complete to lengthen my journey).

Combat:

Enemies Killed: 3,745
Attacks Blocked: 380
Critical Hits: 4,216
Damage Dealt: 6,774,265
Highest Damage: 98,518
Fateshifts Performed: 61
Enemies Fateshifted at Once: 8
Chickens Slain: 20

Advancement:

Lifetime Gold Earned: 4,510,524
Lifetime XP Earned: 1,948,445
Quests Completed: 144
Quests Failed: 0
Lifetime Fate Earned: 48,640

Exploration:

Locations Discovered: 110
Wards Dispelled: 109
Locks Picked: 313
Hidden Treasures Found: 201
Traps Disarmed: 155
Secret Doors Found: 5
diseases Acquired: 52
Curses Acquired: 0

Crafting:

Reagents Harvested: 1,153
Potions Crafted: 10
Gems Crafted: 19
Weapons Salvaged: 315
Weapons Crafted: 3
Armor Salvaged: 413
Armor Crafted: 6

Social:

Current Bounty: 0
Largest Bounty: 24084
Lifetime Bounty: 218,873
Lifetime Theft: 1,610,172 (note: in this game, crime totally pays, just like in Skyrim)
Characters Pickpocketed: 49
Warsworn Rank: Truesworn
Travels Rank: Chariot
Scholia Arcana Rank: Archsage

Blog Post: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

AndyDwyer — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 05:39:00 GMT

I didn't know what to expect from Kingdoms of Amalur, because I didn't read any reviews before I began playing it. Little did I know, I didn't need to; I'd played it many times before in the previous years. I used the dialogue tree from Mass Effect. I fought like I did in God of War. I tracked down thousands of shiny treasures like in Diablo. I slotted gems like in World of Warcraft-- a game from which Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning borrows very heavily. This doesn't come as a surprise, seeing as how the game is produced by former Boston Red Sox opener Curt Schilling, an avid online gamer who as far as I can tell has no formal education in producing video games.

To call Reckoning derivative is being a bit polite. Just about everything in the game has been cannibalized from something else, and slightly tweaked. Surprisingly enough though, what it does take from its predecessors, it does so with some dignity; and an impressive amount of polish that games like Skyrim could have used; particularly the load times. I played this on PS3, and had frequent but brief load times to deal with.

As I pushed through an opening segment filled with annoying gnomes, I got into the open world, and the game started to come into its own. Character advancement takes the best elements from Mass Effect's leveling system and and the World of Warcraft skill-tree, with a good degree of freedom. Your typical three RPG classes are available; fighter, rogue, and caster. Thankfully you aren't tied down to any one of them, and you are free to experiment and spend points between all three without much worry, because the 'Fateweaver' NPCs can reset them for a price; and money comes easily enough here to not worry about it. Certain combinations of points open up 'cards' that supplement your style and give you a class.

The graphics aren't awe-inspiring, but they're a welcome contrast the brown-hued realism that's so prevalent in games these days with vibrant colors and effects. If you like World of Warcraft's cartoonish style then you will be right at home here. Most of the endgame armor and weapons look ripped right from WoW without shame. I had to check the box just to make sure Blizzard didn't have their hand in this game somehow. The user interface is a bit stodgy and dated compared to what other action/adventure titles out there have accomplished, but it serves its purpose.

Of course, none of this is too serious an offense to detract from the solid gameplay. It may be an RPG mutt, but it isn't a bad one by any means. The blatant bastardizations from its genre are at least done well. Going from casting spells to melee combat is a breeze, and timing your blocking reaps a decent counter system if done right. The difficulty on the other hand, is where I had my first real complaint. I started on medium difficulty and practically fell asleep mashing buttons, it was so easy. I don't normally play on hard until I've played through a game at least once for replay value, but I had to turn it up just to keep myself interested. I'm not trying to brag about some sort of elite gaming skills, really. If you are at least an average gamer like me, turn up the difficulty from the beginning, because Amalur is a veritable cakewalk. It even seems like the game is patronizing you, because the tutorials seem to NEVER go away unless you turn them off. I can't recall how many times in the first five hours of play I was reminded how to use potions. I get trying to cater to the lowest common denominator, but it was just annoying. Once I heated things up a bit, things got a little more interesting. There are plenty of moments where I was in the thick of battle swinging my greatsword, and creating distance between me and the hordes of monsters with an AoE magic attack and keeping them at bay with my midrange chakrams while I frantically dodged and blocked. Questing in Amalur is much like what you would find in any MMO. I just wish the quests, of which there are many, were organized just a little better. If they were so set on aping WoW and other MMOs, they could have at least sectionalized the quests by area.

The music is pretty good, but again its just what you would expect, and doesn't raise any eyebrows or part with anything memorable. I can only recall one particular boss fight track that should make John Williams call his lawyer. I usually turn off the music after a few hours if its a repetitive fantasy symphonic score, but I did this only to find that there is virtually no ambient noise from the environments to listen to, especially in the cave segments.

You may have heard a buzz about comic book icon Todd McFarlane and fantasy author R.A. Salvatore working on the script. I've never played any of the games Salvatore wrote for previously, but the story of Amalur is not particularly enthralling or imaginative, and its inhabitants are stony and unfeeling cookiecutter stereotypes; elves, fae (an archaic word for faery), gnomes, and humans. I won't give much away in the story, but it follows most fantasy conventions pretty tightly without letting go; and to be honest, the story is so forgettable I can't recall much anyway.

Facial animations from the NPCs amount to rigid mouth movement and a repetive litany of generic gestures. I understand that 98 Sutdios probably doesn't have the budget of Bioware or Naughty Dog for such things, but a raised eyebrow here and there, or a simple smile would have been nice from someone-- anyone. Even your created character will don a persistent vapid, stoned glare in their eyes. I was more attached to my avatar from 3D Dot Game Heroes. In a game like Dark Souls, with no character backstory or cutscenes, this is fine. In a game where your character is the centerpiece of every conversation however, its hard to become attached to anyone. There is plenty of dialogue to sift through though from most of the NPCs though, if you like hours of exposition and backstory. I can remember hanging on every spoken word in Mass Effect, myself. Now if only Amalur had the intrigue and creativity of a Bioware game, it might actually matter. Strangely enough, after accepting each quest, you get an additional option to ask a really, really stupid follow-up question that restates the questgiver's previous statement in a slightly different way like your character is slow in the head. Seems a little excessive when you can just ask the same question again without feeling like an idiot.

I know this all sounds pretty bad, but Amalur is a solid RPG in its own right. It borrows heavily from other RPGs but like I said, it does it well. This era is hurting for decent action/RPG games, and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning might not be a shimmering gem that will pass through the ages in immortality, but its a nice addition to this generation's anemic library.

Blog Post: a big huge disappointment

Pnathan28 — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 12:30:00 GMT

When this game was about to release i was really excited for it , i mean just take into account the pedigree of talent behind the development team alone plus all the previews and pre-launch talk, mostly on G4 made me want to play KoA . That was then, now it's a completely different story. this game can only be chalked up to a MASSIVE disappointment. i really wish now i had waited for the reviews, this one in particular instead of getting caught up in the hype and pre-ordering KoA. Granted the combat is engaging and better than just about every rpg on the market but that is all this game has going for it. The graphics are OK, the camera is sub-par , the voice acting and dialogue are dull and boring. my biggest fault with Amalur is that, with any good rpg, you have an emotional investment in your character as they are an extension of ourselves , and in this respect KoA fails miserably. i tried (45 hours into it) till i just couldn't feign enthusiasm anymore. at no point did the game give me a reason to care about my character or the multitudes of fetch -quests that i was being sent on. the inventory is clunky, also how the hell is it that when i steal something from a room with no one else around and the door closed, there's suddenly a guard behind me ready to take me to jail??? also they have the equipment repair in the game for so called realism. how realistic is it that my 2 handed warhammer takes up the same inventory space as a ring or amulet???? the inventory system seems to have been plucked from Dragon Age 2and it was annoying then too. this game would have been great in 2007!! all you FANBOYS out there that are waving your pitch forks around need to realize that this game did fail on delivering what it set out to. thank you to the brave few who came out with an honest review of this game while the rest of the reviews pretty much rehashed EA talking points.

Blog Post: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning: Perfectly Uniting Action and the RPG

Applesteak — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:08:00 GMT

Gameplay is one of the most important features of a good game, especially when it comes to the action/RPG, so why is it that it is often the weakest part of an otherwise amazing RPG? Mass Effect's combat falls somewhere between great third person shooter and great RPG, but never quite reaching either one, and Skyrim's repetitive weapons swings and spell casts can make every battle feel the same. Luckily for us, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning refuses to let boring combat be its downfall, instead creating an awesome gameplay experience that stays fun throughout the entirety of the game's long story.

You are dead. So begins your story in the world of Amalur. Lucky for you someone has resurrected you using an experimental machine known as the Well of Souls. Unluckily for them, the well is destroyed shortly after, making you the project's only success. Your character soon discovers (with the help of a drunken fate weaver) that as a result of being brought back, you no longer have a fate. This is a big deal in the world of Amalur, where everything is predetermined, and as a result, you are tasked with saving the world by changing how things are supposed to happen. The story is driven by the threat of an impending apocalypse, but its premise is very unique. It managed to catch my interest and keep it, something that doesn't happen very often with stories as big as this.

Once the story gets started, you are prompted to make a character. Character creation begins with a choice between 4 races. Each have different skills they specialize in (resulting in a permanent bonus), as well as other passive bonuses. Customization isn't deep, but it is functional. You won't be widening your jaw and shrinking your nose, but you will still be able to create a unique character with a variety of faces, hairstyles, and tattoos to choose from, as well as a number of color options.

The real meat of character customization comes when you start leveling up, investing points in the ability trees and skills, and choose your destiny. There are 3 ability trees, each offering a different style of play. Might is for those that prefer brute force, high defense, and simple hack and slash combat. Finesse adds the option of stealth attacks, and relies on a mix of melee and ranged, with a focus on dodging. Sorcery is pure magic. Weapons like staves and chakrams at the option of melee combat, but you will mostly be flinging spells and trying your hardest not to get hit. Your destiny options will depend on how many points you have in each ability tree. Destinies offer a set of passive bonuses specifically geared towards your ability tree. The more points in a single tree, the better destiny you can get for that tree. However this is slightly disappointing because each destiny is just an improved version of the one before it, instead of an all new set of bonuses. For the adventurous, there is also the option of mixing trees to create a hybrid class, complete with hybrid destinies to choose from. You even have the option to reset your skills and abilities at any time, allowing you to try out many different character types in one play through.There is one pretty big issue though. There are only 4 ability shortcut buttons, and you will likely find yourself with 5 or 6 skills you would like to use. This means you will be forced to pick your favorite 4, and deal with it.

One of the three ability trees

Along with getting new ability points to spend, you also get a new skill point with each level. Skills take the place of professions (Such as Blacksmithing and Alchemy), as well as some other minor perks (Such as Stealth and Persuasion). What skills you pick will be very important, as each one can make your game much easier. For example, blacksmithing will help you get some of the game's best weapons and armor, detect hidden will show nearby enemies and treasures, and mercantile will make you richer faster. However, not all skills are created equal, and some are obviously much better than others. For example, lockpicking will make the lockpicking mini-game (which is exactly like Fallout 3's) easier. However, lockpicking is easy to get the hang of, and even very hard locks are easily solved with no lockpicking skill.

Now that all of that is out of the way, lets talk combat, the game's strongest feature. The game's combat is reminiscent of the Fable series, with a mix of Devil May Cry. You have two weapon buttons, and can equip any weapon to either slot. Simply mashing the button will result in a 3 or 4 hit combo, ending with a powerful finisher to knock your enemy down. You can mix these combos up by switching to your other weapon mid combo, or casting a spell at the end of a string of attacks. Longbows and Sceptres, the game's two ranged weapons, allow you to pepper in quick ranged attacks (much like Dante's pistols) mid combo. The targeting system is free and fast, allowing you to switch targets on the fly and keep many attackers at bay, preventing yourself from being overwhelmed. Throw in dodge rolls for quick escapes, and blocks and parries to augment your defense, and you have a pretty deep and skillful combat system that will keep you entertained for hours.

But that isn't all. Perhaps the most satisfying part of the game's combat is Reckoning mode. When you fill your Reckoning meter by killing enough enemies, you can activate Reckoning. In this mode, the world around you is slowed down, and you deal massive damage for a short time. Enemies killed in Reckoning mode will remain alive until your Reckoning runs out, or you perform a finishing attack. These cinematic executions end in a button mash that determines you bonus experience, up to 100%, applied to all the enemies you killed while in the mode. This allows you to tear apart a large group of enemies for extra experience, or defeat particularly difficult bosses with ease. The only complaint I can make about the game's combat is the staggering. Being hit by any enemy is likely to result in a stagger (even while in Reckoning mode!). These staggers will break up your combos and spell casts, and become especially annoying in battles against many quick enemies, such as a group of wolves.

The game world is absolutely stunning. Straying away from realism, the game instead has a more cartoon-like fantasy world that will likely remind you of Fable or World of Warcraft. The environments are extremely detailed, and varied, ranging from lush forests to desolate deserts. They are also full of quests, so many in fact, that you will likely feel overwhelmed at times. If hitting the max level too early is a concern of yours, then you may want to stray away from many of these side quests, and instead focus on the main story and faction quests, which provide the most interesting stories and best rewards.

Take a moment to admire the beautiful environments

Most of the stories quest givers have to tell are pretty interesting. Whether you are helping a wolf turned human return to his previous state, or assassinating a prophetic god for the thieves guild, you will likely find these short tales charming, and care about listening to the dialogue. Sadly, the dialogue is plagued by the same problems seen in many similar games. NPC models looks stiff while talking, never really showing any real emotion, and the lip syncing isn't always perfect. You will likely find yourself just reading the subtitles, and skipping through the voiced dialogue most times.

The only major complaint I can levy against this game is the bugs. As with any game of this size, you are sure to run into a few of them. Luckily, any bugs I saw were few and far between, and usually of little consequence. Sometimes a quest event would fail to activate, forcing me to return to the quest giver or a specific area, and on occasion Reckoning mode wouldn't give me my experience bonus. Worst of all were the two game crashes I experienced. Good news though, the game auto-saves frequently, and each crash only resulted in about 5 minutes of lost gameplay. These bugs aside, the game runs almost flawlessly, with very quick load times (after install), and no slowdown during play.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is one of the best open world RPGs I have ever played. The unique story and vast world were enough to pull me in, and the spectacular gameplay had me enjoying every second of my 50 hour play through. Despite a few minor complaints, Amalur's overall package is a sweet one. If you have any love for RPGs, Kingdoms of Amalur is the game you have been looking for.

Wiki: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Guides

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:55:00 GMT

Guides for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Blog Post: Kingdoms of Amuarl Reckoing: The next big open world RPG series might be here.

Rol2445 — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:18:00 GMT

When you here about Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoing you might thank its a Elder Scrolls rip off and well it might compare more to World of Warcraft than Skyrim. When you first start playing KOAR your dead. When you come back to life due to the Well of Souls and make your way through the first level and exit the level you enter the world of Amular. You can follow the story or you can start exploring the world.

There are so many quests in this game prouble more than Skyim but the world might be smaller. The combat in this game is great and when the enimes start to get repative the combat will keep you going. The story in KOAR is better thank you reguarl open world RPG and it will keep you going.

This is a game that you will be playing for more than 100 hours this is one of the first big games of the year and might be come the next big Open world RPG series.

Blog Post: Wombat is Back: Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning Review

Wombat-NightKrawler — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

I realise I haven't posted in a long time, so...... TIME FOR REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Story: It's not really very good... but it is decent and lasts around 20-25 hours. ( I always get main quest out of the way first ) If you don't it could go up to 60-100. Depending on how much you do.

Graphics: A cartoonish but real graphical style. Environments look great, pity the characters aren't as good. Though your main character looks pretty good NPCS are pretty bad...

Gameplay: This is the best gameplay in most RPGs. Similar to God Of War, just not quite as gory. While blood is still plentiful though, it is very fun. Also, you choose from 4 races. I went with Dokkalfar for a stealthy/mage approach.Also, the world is big, but is very linear compared to Skyrim.. ( YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ) NOTE: THERE ARE NO CLASSES. SIMILAR TO SKYRIM YOU MAKE YOUR OWN..

Controls: the controls are very easy. Both on PS3 and XBOX360.

Age: I would recommend about 11-12 or up for this game. This could easily be a T game and since most play COD they should be able to handle this.

Verdict: The story and character models do ditract from the experience, but a great leveling system, combat system, and just walking around doing whatever you want more than makes up for it. The game isn't perfect, but it is very good.8.75 is an amazing rating guys.

Blog Post: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Fails To Reckon

Alex Martinet — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:21:00 GMT

Before I started up Kingdom of Amalur Reckoning, I was completely skeptical about what 38 studios was promising to bring to the table. Even though 38 studios was founded by Curt Schilling, a former Boston Red Sox’s pitcher. It has some impressive talent behind the game, which drew my interest towards the game. Ken Rolston, who is mostly known for being the lead designer for Elder Scrolls “Morrowind” and “Oblivion”. Todd Mcfalane, who was the creator of spawn and lastly R.A Salvatore, who is a well known scifi writer. This trio of talent dose many rights then wrongs, but it lacks a strong identity and the game suffers because of it.

One of the biggest reasons to get excited about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is the combat. From the get go, KOA: Reckoning is easy to grasp. If you are a fan of various RPG’s like Dragon Age and Ninja Gaiden, then you are going to find familiar ground here. if you aren’t familiar with those games, it’s a fast paced button masher mixed with rpg elements.The controls are very lose and it only takes one button to inflict mass damage upon your opponent, but that’s not what is most impressive about the combat system.

If you prefer to play multiple play styles, then the combat system is flexible in just about every conceivable way. “Reckoning” doesn’t hide the fact on what it’s centered around as the box art clearly symbolizing what the game is all about. If you wanted to wield an bow and bring destructions to your opponent using an electric sword, then the game gives you that option. The game gives you every chance to be an ultimate *** with finishing moves, yes I said finish moves, that rival the classic arcade fighter. Impaling a giant beast with my lighting bolt, beating him to a pulp, then throwing him into a pit of fire was an in creditable feeling that I feel many will enjoy.

: "Impaling a giant beast with a lighting bolt, beating him to a pulp, then throwing him into a pit of fire was an in creditable feeling that I feel many will enjoy."

I played mostly as a mage in my 50-hour play through. Normally I would be tied down to my magic, but now I have many options deal out damage. Your primary attack button with all of your special combos is always going to be ‘x’, but what makes the combat system so intuitive is how equal secondary attacks are. You always have a devastating side arm with you, which speeds up the gameplay and always keep you in the grove of the game. As a mage I was able to be a powerful wizard and be powerful melee fighter at the same time thanks in part to how smartly the respec system is designed.

In most rpg’s , once you choose a play - style, you are stuck with your decision and their is no turning back. However in “Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning”, I was never tied down by moves I made early in the game. I was given the chance to fix and change however your character plays like. It this freedom of reckoning that makes the combat system stand out from the rest. Now with saying, their is a few things that combat system struggles with.

While your traversing the world and slaughtering enemies, your combat equipment will eventually wear down over time. This wouldn’t have been a bad thing, if it didn’t happen all the time. Far too often my equipment would be rendered useless in mid battle, making normal opponents far more troublesome then they should be. A minor problem I came across was adequately defending myself. The only way you can defend yourself is by dodging or by blocking, but it just doesn't respond well. Depending on how you respec your character, blocking is rendered useless due to how much damage it dose to you. Dodging is the best means of defending yourself, but it tends to react late. These problems are still very minor and didn’t get in the way of the awesome gameplay.

: "I was never tied down by moves I made early in the game. I was given the chance to fix and change however your character plays like."

So you might be wondering? What is the setting surrounding “Kingdoms of Amalur”, well it’s big and expansive. If you are a consumer who is worried about getting their money’s worth, then this is right up your alley. They are dozens of races in the game that you will come across. For the most part the races are a mixed bag, some are creative and some are just straight up generic.

From the get go after you finish the tutorial, the game becomes like a normal mmorpg. Side quests will open to you periodically as you continue to further explore the world. Some side quests will demand your attention, but will be well worth it due to items you receive. For the most part, I prefer the side quests in the game, just because how linear and un thought out they are.

The main storyline is frankly the most disappointing thing about the game. Reckoning is the first attempt to create the “Kingdoms of Amalur” universe, but it fails to grab your attention. While most rpg’s have a morality system, “Reckoning” decides to go in a completely different route. You have the power to choose your own destiny. The more times you level up, you will unlock more tier’s in the game, making your character more and more powerful. This is a great idea, but it needs more work. If you chose a certain play style, then your actions will pre – determine your fate and locking you into a pre determine ending. Simply put, unlike Curt Schilling 2007 Boston Red Sox’s, “Kingdoms of Amalur” won’t hold your attention for long after you lose interest in the combat.

: "If you are a consumer who is worried about getting their money’s worth, then this is right up your alley"

On the presentation front, the game boosts some great presentation values. The highlight of the package is the outstanding music score in the game. Composed by Grant Kirkhope, who was you might heard his work in “Viva Pinata” and “Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts”. This is his first music score for rpg game and he knocks it out of the park. Traveling the world was a sheer joy because of how rich and heroic the music sounds. Everywhere I went, I was greeted with a new theme that instantly set the mood and made me explore the world more. Graphically, it’s a hit and miss however.

“Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning ” draws a familiar art style that was previously used in the fable games and while it might be a old look, it still holds up. There are very little load times in the game, which is something to be said due how big in scale the world is. I never had to wait for something to load or texture to re – render so I could continue. Not once did I experience one crash, a dip in frame rate or lost of saves. It's a very smooth game from start to finish at launch.

: "Overall, “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” is good, but not a great game."

Overall, “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” is good, but not a great game. If the story was better than 38 studios might have had a hit on its hands. The biggest mistake they made was simply putting to many big names on one project. Traveling the kingdom is one thing, but they never figured out how to tell a story. The game is going in so many direction that it never figures out it’s own identity.

Yes it wants to be a single player mmorpg, but like most it never tells a story (with the exception of swtor). R.A Salvatore work goes completely un noticed and the game suffers. In the industry when rpg’s are at the pinnacle of game design. “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning” doesn’t do enough to separate it’s self from the competition and will quickly be forgettable as time moves along.

Score: 8 out of 10

Blog Post: Love it.

Sam_Lincoln — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:30:00 GMT

I've been waiting for a game like this to come to console. Despite what the actual reviewer wrote, adding a bit of hyperbolic, harsh words like "plague," I did not have these issues with my copy. I had a few sound hiccups, but come on. Let's be real here. Skyrim wins the award for anything buggy. Textures--for my copy--were smooth and load times were very, very quick.

Where I do agree some of the loot and armor systems are repetitive, the narrative could not be more unique and rememberable if they tried. With the addition of lore stones, and the uniqueness of the environment renders, I truly felt like I belonged in the world of Amalur. Around every corner, there was something beautiful and amazing to look at. So what the style is borrowed from World of Warcraft? Not every person on the planet has played the MMO, contrary to popular belief. I found myself curious about the rest of the world, when with Skyrim, after I explored what felt like my hundredth mountain, I became exhausted of the terrain. It's not like that in Amalur and apart from the combat which we all know is revolutionary for console RPG's, it was one of the best things about the game.

Blog Post: Review for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

meoftheonly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:37:00 GMT

I have long waited for an RPG with an MMO feel to it. Kingdoms of Amalur is exactly what I've been waiting for. Reminding me a lot of WoW, I really enjoy this game. It's like a mixture between Fable, The Elder Scrolls and God of War. The games execution battle wise is extraordinary, stealth is superb and beats any other RPG to date stealth wise and the fate system is an excellent addition to RPG games.

First hearing about this game i was quite skeptical, but after playing it for a good 8 hours straight it has quickly grasped my attention and it has supremely surpassed my expectations. Graphics are superb, texture is beautiful and although dialogue is a little laggy, the NPCs are beautifully rendered. I would not expect anymore from this game. I plan on spending many months exploring the whole world, finishing all side quests and ultimately finishing the game.

Forum Post: Re: Story: Love it?

orenz118 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:38:00 GMT

yes given it has more dialouge options, they dont seem to really twist "fate" as much as they pushed it to seem.

Blog Post: Pretty Good game, Breath of fresh air

Straticaster50 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:10:00 GMT

While it may be lacking in some small aspects , such as the somewhat linear gameplay, what makes up for it is a great and fluid combat system, very good stealth (Which is rare in rpgs), and satisfying reckoning mode executions. Overall, I am satisfied with this game.

Blog Post: Engaging but not quite there

Zzanzabar — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:10:00 GMT

While the combat was fun the other elements of the game seemed under utilized. At no time did I ever feel that my character was threatened and even at the higher setting it seemed to take longer not more deadly. This was the only time that I felt that I was actually 'grinding' in a non-MMORPG to simply increase my level. After playing the game I cannot really tell you anything about the game itself or one particular fun battle, but I had some fun playing it for the first 2 or 3 hours.

Blog Post: Watch The Woman In Black Online

asherstone — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:03:00 GMT

If anybody want to watch the woman in black online without any hassles then you have to simply hit on the web-source.This movie is horror based and i know many viewers love to watch this movie.

Blog Post: Reckoning Review

Adam Robert Paris — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:32:00 GMT

As much as I love the exploration and discovery in massive open-world RPGs, their unintuitive combat systems have always tempered my enthusiasm. Intense, fluid combat and large scale RPGs always seemed mutually exclusive, but "Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning" successfully bridges this gap. While sticking closely to typical RPG conventions, Reckoning's dynamic action sets it apart from other role-playing games.

The journey begins as you emerge from the Well of Souls, a machine created to restore life to the fallen citizens of Amalur. As the first being to survive the experience, your fate is completely unwritten. Fate is yours to control, meaning you can alter the destiny of the world and every inhabitant living there. Although the main story comes to a satisfying conclusion and offers some impressive boss battles, the overall narrative wasn't overly compelling and results in a fairly standard fantasy tale.

While the main campaign only clocks in at about 30-35 hours, the sheer amount of extra content will keep gamers satiated for countless more. It was nearly impossible to enter a shop or unexplored area without seeing new quests pop up on the mini-map creating a continual logjam of side quests in my menu. Even though I still had 30 built up by the end of the main story, there are still a wealth of areas I want to explore much more thoroughly.

The side quests themselves aren't very inspired, most involve rescuing someone from a cave or collecting various items so a villager won't complain anymore. However, the several factions throughout the game offer engrossing missions that range from acting out the ballads of elves to taking down a local deity.

Combat takes center stage in "Reckoning" and is easily the most rewarding aspect of the entire game. The action is more akin to "Fable" than "God of War", but it makes combat something I continually look forward to instead of dreading as I have in other RPG's. Complete with combos for different weapon classes, stealth mechanics and brutal finishing moves, this is the most satisfying combat system I've played in an RPG.

A massive skill tree accompanies the player and allows them to divide their points into might, finesse or sorcery with each category offering unique abilities or better proficiency with the myriad of weapons. Each player also has the ability to choose a destiny that unlocks based on the amount of points you've dumped into the specific branches of the skill tree. Each destiny boosts stats and can easily be swapped for a different one if the player wishes to alter the effects.

Amalur itself is massive; filled with several varied zones that utilize a vibrant color palette, the world has a very distinct look. The cartoonish graphics, while somewhat primitive, blend in naturally with the colorful terrain. Amalur looks magnificent, but ultimately the world isn't as awe-inspiring as a title like "The Elder Scrolls". Many of the paths you can explore are fairly linear; it doesn't create the sense of wonder and freedom "Elder Scrolls" games provide where a boundless world sprawls before you ready for endless exploration. For players interested in the lore and back story of the world around them, the amount they've included is staggering. Seemingly every dialogue box had plentiful options that expanded on nearly every part of the story, characters and environment around you.

Despite my minor gripes with the title, "Reckoning" is an impressive take on the open-world RPG that makes going back to previous combat systems seem bland and mediocre by comparison. With a strong framework already in place, future titles in the series with more polish and better variety of missions could easily place this among the elite RPGs in gaming. For now though, "Reckoning" is a superb title that successfully fuses stylized action with an open world setting and demonstrates the next step in the evolution of action RPGs.

As published by The Daily Cardinal

Blog Post: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Robin Loynd — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:49:00 GMT

Yeah it does have a couple problems, but nothing I would seriously consider for TOO long. This game is seriously fun without being dragged down by its few flaws. Although it is not open-world like Skyrim but the scenery is beautiful and and the story well written, this may become a well-known series, and as the first game it has plenty of room to improve some of its gripes.