This game should be discussed on an MMO site because obstensibly it is an MMO that was made into a single player game. Sorry if I'm repeating known info.
38 was making this game an MMO and somewhere along the line they decided they couldn't or didn't want to compete, or the big huge engine couldn't hack the requirements of a AAA mmo, or for what ever reason it became a single player game. The guy who started the project and brought everyone on board is a massive Everquest fan. He dreamt of making his own for years, and being a rich guy was able to get other people to come on board one at a time as big names are attracted to the idea of working with other big names. This company has had some major publicized ups and downs. Hirings and firings, starts and stops etc etc.
If this game came out 5 years ago I might have been more impressed with what I was playing. Today however it is a colection of borrowed mechanics all wound together by dated looking graphics and features that are watered down versions of ones from larger better titles. I can't find anything original in this title.
This game IS Fable. It IS everquest. It IS god of war. It IS Dragon Age and it IS every hit game released in the last 5 years. And that's the key problem. It's kinds like how you can like all the ingrediants in a certain food seperately but when mixed all together it just tastes wrong. It plays like a console game, so yes it is responsive and snappy (too much so, turn that camera down!), and it comes with a console UI which we all know how much that pisses us all off. We didn't give Bethesda the pass when they failed in that regard and this game shouldn't get a pass either with it's Fable meets Dragon Age UI.
This game does NOT feel alive. The characters while well voiced are flat and depthless. Their conversation options are all the same like it's Morrowind all over, but eveyone has a different opinion of the same topics. A trend they put into everything. Redundancy redundancy redundancy. Or as I call it 'working to play the game'.
I haven't posted on these forums in a very very long time and I feel so strongly about this game that I feel I must, nay need to post a response.
Some people will like this game. Kids might like this game who've never played any other game before, or kids that watched their older siblings play fable I II or III and longed to play it too but weren't allowed.
OK, into the actual critism from a game design standpoint. The opening level is HORRIBLE! My gort. You get multiple copies of all the starter gear in the starter area...why? Because they dumbed it down for the idiots who run through levels ignoring content and have to force feed them the gear again just so they can handle the game. CAN YOU SAY LOADING SCREENS BATMAN!!!!? There is even poorly placed floating assets in the first level which make it look just rookie. Floor assets poorly placed that show the world below. Like an MMO beta where they said, "we know we have presentaion bugs, just ignore those for now, they are on our list and we will fix those soon." This game says "heck no! We ship with rookie bugs" because apparently they didn't have EA's massive QA department test this game.
The game is retardedly easy even on hard mode. Why is it easy? Because you've played this game before. You could play this game in your sleep and you probably have. It certainly put me to sleep once my eyes stopped rolling at the savage copy cats I saw everywhere I looked.
The areas are all corridors. I'm sorry but whoever at their studio that thinks a bunch of linked corridors is an OPEN world needs to be slapped with something heavy. Did no one at their studio play GTA? They stole features from Bethesda, yet managed not to see how an open wolrd is built. Being able to complete quests in the order you want is also not enough to call a game open world. Not saying you can, but it gives some flexibility in each area.
The buldings in the towns are jammed together just like in your favourite second tier Free to Play MMO except even more so. There are multiple vendors even in the same buildings that sell the same types of gear. In fact most all sell a bit of everything forcing you to go to them all and check each section against each other. Sorry I do enough pricing when I buy groceries. I don't want to do work in a game as well. Maybe that's for people who like shopping? Why do I want to go to loading screen, walk 10 feet to adjacent door and go to loading screen again?
Oh and did I mention that it was easy? In fact it is so easy that it makes character choices seem pointless. You get some fancy new animation if you invest points. But don't be prepared for any surprises, because just like fable we give you a nifty preview animation. Though at least in Fable those awesome abilites scaled, had tiers and you could pull them off at will practically. This game gives you broken over-powered gear that you can just spam and kill everything, without having to spec in one single skill.
All the details just feel like work. The bottom up skill trees all spread out and lacking any visual acuity or ergonomic design structure. The inventory system ripped from fable that if you double click you mistakenly drink or eat stuff from your bag when you're just opening up tabs.
EVERYTING IS FLAT!!! WTF! not a single normal map in the damn game? At the very least I will give them credit for having decent head rigging for lip synching even if I think the models look like POS. Unless you think WOW models are good looking and not just quirky and funny.
Tab menus at top of windows don't show all available options, but just 3. So if you are not the type ( I am, but the general audience wouldn't think to check) to habitually try to scroll past the options to see if something is hiding you'd never know the options existed. Who thought that was a good idea in a game so obviously watered down for the masses? And I really do hope that some producer at one of the studios to blame reads these posts, because I know they do, they have little else to do besides scheduling, and they want to know who to blame when the actual consumer reviews come in. By the way. Producers often post as normal users on web sites like these. Just saying.
Gack I'ma have to stop,I'd go on for hours with this game. Honestly try the demo. Maybe you'll pick it up. My guess is you'll pass for much better realized titles. This is just another example of EA putting their name on something and comming to "rescue" (hire fire and outsource) the developement financially then totally riuing it.
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!
i'd go one better and say watch the youtube videos of the gameplay, it will save downloading the demo, and probably be just as informative.. i really don't understand why this game is even remotely hyped.. its.. dated, its quite frankly.. rubbish. i didnt see anything in the videos that made the game look even slightly interesting.. honestly.. a few months time you'll be able to pick this game up on steam for £5 ... or less.. paying AAA prices for this kind of stuff just doesnt make sense.
May give this game a whirl. The cons make it sound like I'll enjoy it a lot more than Skyrim which is sadly gathering binary cobwebs. I didn't even last 20 hours in Tamriel!
Um.. it's not a review and it is a preview according to Bill Murphy who posted just that a few posts back in this thread, the full review will be posted in a week or two.
No I am not. Try following gamasutra for years or being in the industry. From a design standpoint this is an MMO. R.A. and Todd with Shilling all came together to make an MMO. One that Shilling could be good at I guess. Those drives translated into what we have here. There may be two teams that may all be fine and well. But why do you think they bought the team/game? Because they were further along then they were. It came down to being cheaper ergo 'safer' to buy something constructed, and then throw the creative anergies they had already developed into something with staff and ability. The dream of the MMO may still be there and in development but this was a stop-gap to stroke some egos apease investors that need to see a title every quarter and put something to market before the whole op folded on itself.
werd
This game has been in development at Big Huge Games for nearly seven years, way before 38 Studios bought them. They were working on an action-RPG called "Ascendant". Since they were a THQ studio, they had financial problems because THQ is a poorly run, mismanaged Publisher. However, BHG is a great studio with past, proven successes like Rise of Nations. So they decided to sell of the studio or shut it down entirely.
This is when Curt Schilling stepped in with 38 Studios and bought them. The Kingdoms of Amalur universe was planned from day one to be a Trans-media IP, and a single-player RPG was always envisioned. However, when the opportunity to purchase BHG from THQ came up, they did so. Before this opprotunity came up, the single-player RPG was a project planned for after the MMO.
At that point, the engine and core mechanics of the game were already developed, and they dropped the "Ascendent" stuff and used the Amalur IP instead. You can see an early video gameplay of "Ascendent" here which shows the game before it was retooled for the Kingdoms of Amalur Universe.
Meanwhile, 38 Stduios had moved their studio to Providence, Rhode Island, secured a loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. This loan is entirely to create jobs for the State of Rhode Island, and the MMO studio, which never ceased its work, and is still in development under close scrutiny by the State of Rhode Island itself. None of these funds were used to finish development of Reckoning. Whether Reckoning is a success or failure the MMO will still come out.
This is where EA came in. In order to finish up the single-player RPG, they secured a publishing deal with EA Partners which gave the MD studio the funds needed to finish the project. EA will receive the lions-share of the profits on Reckoning. However, had they not took a chance on the single-player RPG it would never have been made.
Edited to Add: Actually, technically speaking, the deal with the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation isn't even a loan. It's a good-faith guarantee that the State will back a privately-invested loan should 38 ever default and its incremental payout is based on performance mile
From what I am hearing on the official site, they may have to redo the difficulty because even hardmode isn't all that challenging either. I like the game alot but they need to fix things....
This game should be discussed on an MMO site because obstensibly it is an MMO that was made into a single player game. Sorry if I'm repeating known info.
38 was making this game an MMO and somewhere along the line they decided they couldn't or didn't want to compete, or the big huge engine couldn't hack the requirements of a AAA mmo, or for what ever reason it became a single player game. The guy who started the project and brought everyone on board is a massive Everquest fan. He dreamt of making his own for years, and being a rich guy was able to get other people to come on board one at a time as big names are attracted to the idea of working with other big names. This company has had some major publicized ups and downs. Hirings and firings, starts and stops etc etc.
If this game came out 5 years ago I might have been more impressed with what I was playing. Today however it is a colection of borrowed mechanics all wound together by dated looking graphics and features that are watered down versions of ones from larger better titles. I can't find anything original in this title.
This game IS Fable. It IS everquest. It IS god of war. It IS Dragon Age and it IS every hit game released in the last 5 years. And that's the key problem. It's kinds like how you can like all the ingrediants in a certain food seperately but when mixed all together it just tastes wrong. It plays like a console game, so yes it is responsive and snappy (too much so, turn that camera down!), and it comes with a console UI which we all know how much that pisses us all off. We didn't give Bethesda the pass when they failed in that regard and this game shouldn't get a pass either with it's Fable meets Dragon Age UI.
This game does NOT feel alive. The characters while well voiced are flat and depthless. Their conversation options are all the same like it's Morrowind all over, but eveyone has a different opinion of the same topics. A trend they put into everything. Redundancy redundancy redundancy. Or as I call it 'working to play the game'.
I haven't posted on these forums in a very very long time and I feel so strongly about this game that I feel I must, nay need to post a response.
Some people will like this game. Kids might like this game who've never played any other game before, or kids that watched their older siblings play fable I II or III and longed to play it too but weren't allowed.
OK, into the actual critism from a game design standpoint. The opening level is HORRIBLE! My gort. You get multiple copies of all the starter gear in the starter area...why? Because they dumbed it down for the idiots who run through levels ignoring content and have to force feed them the gear again just so they can handle the game. CAN YOU SAY LOADING SCREENS BATMAN!!!!? There is even poorly placed floating assets in the first level which make it look just rookie. Floor assets poorly placed that show the world below. Like an MMO beta where they said, "we know we have presentaion bugs, just ignore those for now, they are on our list and we will fix those soon." This game says "heck no! We ship with rookie bugs" because apparently they didn't have EA's massive QA department test this game.
The game is retardedly easy even on hard mode. Why is it easy? Because you've played this game before. You could play this game in your sleep and you probably have. It certainly put me to sleep once my eyes stopped rolling at the savage copy cats I saw everywhere I looked.
The areas are all corridors. I'm sorry but whoever at their studio that thinks a bunch of linked corridors is an OPEN world needs to be slapped with something heavy. Did no one at their studio play GTA? They stole features from Bethesda, yet managed not to see how an open wolrd is built. Being able to complete quests in the order you want is also not enough to call a game open world. Not saying you can, but it gives some flexibility in each area.
The buldings in the towns are jammed together just like in your favourite second tier Free to Play MMO except even more so. There are multiple vendors even in the same buildings that sell the same types of gear. In fact most all sell a bit of everything forcing you to go to them all and check each section against each other. Sorry I do enough pricing when I buy groceries. I don't want to do work in a game as well. Maybe that's for people who like shopping? Why do I want to go to loading screen, walk 10 feet to adjacent door and go to loading screen again?
Oh and did I mention that it was easy? In fact it is so easy that it makes character choices seem pointless. You get some fancy new animation if you invest points. But don't be prepared for any surprises, because just like fable we give you a nifty preview animation. Though at least in Fable those awesome abilites scaled, had tiers and you could pull them off at will practically. This game gives you broken over-powered gear that you can just spam and kill everything, without having to spec in one single skill.
All the details just feel like work. The bottom up skill trees all spread out and lacking any visual acuity or ergonomic design structure. The inventory system ripped from fable that if you double click you mistakenly drink or eat stuff from your bag when you're just opening up tabs.
EVERYTING IS FLAT!!! WTF! not a single normal map in the damn game? At the very least I will give them credit for having decent head rigging for lip synching even if I think the models look like POS. Unless you think WOW models are good looking and not just quirky and funny.
Tab menus at top of windows don't show all available options, but just 3. So if you are not the type ( I am, but the general audience wouldn't think to check) to habitually try to scroll past the options to see if something is hiding you'd never know the options existed. Who thought that was a good idea in a game so obviously watered down for the masses? And I really do hope that some producer at one of the studios to blame reads these posts, because I know they do, they have little else to do besides scheduling, and they want to know who to blame when the actual consumer reviews come in. By the way. Producers often post as normal users on web sites like these. Just saying.
Gack I'ma have to stop,I'd go on for hours with this game. Honestly try the demo. Maybe you'll pick it up. My guess is you'll pass for much better realized titles. This is just another example of EA putting their name on something and comming to "rescue" (hire fire and outsource) the developement financially then totally riuing it.
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!
Your ARE wrong sir,
This was the single player game to set the lore up for the MMO they have coming out. This was not the MMO turned into a single player RPG. Curt schilling has said as much a live radio show yesturday. There MMO is still in development.
From what I am hearing on the official site, they may have to redo the difficulty because even hardmode isn't all that challenging either. I like the game alot but they need to fix things....
They're listening. There's an official thread on the forums concerning the camera. And the difficultly issue has been ackowledged and is being discussed. They listen to and read all the feedback, so if you've got any good or bad be sure to voice them over in the official forums or the feedback email.
I haven't heard of the game before i run into the futz about it on this website.
Last night i've had a long gaming session and i'm really surprised and like it alot. I find the overall arts and design very appealing (matter of taste i guess) and the combat fun.
First game in a while which i can't wait to come home and play.
The classes thing is a bit irritating to me though. As far as i've played it, i got to choose my fate an picked sorcerer. Below the fates there are a couple more options looking like you can mix classes basic abilities up a bit, i.e. Sorcerer/Finesse. These have serveral level as well, but i can't pick any of them.
Don't let the demo put you off too much. The demo left a bad impression on me to be honest. Especially considering the graphics and how easy the game seemed. As I had video games in the budget, I decided to grab it anyways. The game is alright. I'm enjoying the story and such. So far the game has been relatively bug free for me, and the combat incredibly smooth. You can chain various attacks quite fluidly.
I have a few minor gripes with the game of course, but they’re fairly negligible. The major gripes I have is the graphics and the easy combat. I have it set to hard, and I'm still wrecking even bosses with a fair amount of ease. Anyways, overall it's an alright game. There is plenty to do in the game. If you enjoyed Skyrim, you'll most likely enjoy this game.
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed: And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!" ~Lord George Gordon Byron
This game should be discussed on an MMO site because obstensibly it is an MMO that was made into a single player game. Sorry if I'm repeating known info.
38 was making this game an MMO and somewhere along the line they decided they couldn't or didn't want to compete, or the big huge engine couldn't hack the requirements of a AAA mmo, or for what ever reason it became a single player game. The guy who started the project and brought everyone on board is a massive Everquest fan. He dreamt of making his own for years, and being a rich guy was able to get other people to come on board one at a time as big names are attracted to the idea of working with other big names. This company has had some major publicized ups and downs. Hirings and firings, starts and stops etc etc.
If this game came out 5 years ago I might have been more impressed with what I was playing. Today however it is a colection of borrowed mechanics all wound together by dated looking graphics and features that are watered down versions of ones from larger better titles. I can't find anything original in this title.
This game IS Fable. It IS everquest. It IS god of war. It IS Dragon Age and it IS every hit game released in the last 5 years. And that's the key problem. It's kinds like how you can like all the ingrediants in a certain food seperately but when mixed all together it just tastes wrong. It plays like a console game, so yes it is responsive and snappy (too much so, turn that camera down!), and it comes with a console UI which we all know how much that pisses us all off. We didn't give Bethesda the pass when they failed in that regard and this game shouldn't get a pass either with it's Fable meets Dragon Age UI.
This game does NOT feel alive. The characters while well voiced are flat and depthless. Their conversation options are all the same like it's Morrowind all over, but eveyone has a different opinion of the same topics. A trend they put into everything. Redundancy redundancy redundancy. Or as I call it 'working to play the game'.
I haven't posted on these forums in a very very long time and I feel so strongly about this game that I feel I must, nay need to post a response.
Some people will like this game. Kids might like this game who've never played any other game before, or kids that watched their older siblings play fable I II or III and longed to play it too but weren't allowed.
OK, into the actual critism from a game design standpoint. The opening level is HORRIBLE! My gort. You get multiple copies of all the starter gear in the starter area...why? Because they dumbed it down for the idiots who run through levels ignoring content and have to force feed them the gear again just so they can handle the game. CAN YOU SAY LOADING SCREENS BATMAN!!!!? There is even poorly placed floating assets in the first level which make it look just rookie. Floor assets poorly placed that show the world below. Like an MMO beta where they said, "we know we have presentaion bugs, just ignore those for now, they are on our list and we will fix those soon." This game says "heck no! We ship with rookie bugs" because apparently they didn't have EA's massive QA department test this game.
The game is retardedly easy even on hard mode. Why is it easy? Because you've played this game before. You could play this game in your sleep and you probably have. It certainly put me to sleep once my eyes stopped rolling at the savage copy cats I saw everywhere I looked.
The areas are all corridors. I'm sorry but whoever at their studio that thinks a bunch of linked corridors is an OPEN world needs to be slapped with something heavy. Did no one at their studio play GTA? They stole features from Bethesda, yet managed not to see how an open wolrd is built. Being able to complete quests in the order you want is also not enough to call a game open world. Not saying you can, but it gives some flexibility in each area.
The buldings in the towns are jammed together just like in your favourite second tier Free to Play MMO except even more so. There are multiple vendors even in the same buildings that sell the same types of gear. In fact most all sell a bit of everything forcing you to go to them all and check each section against each other. Sorry I do enough pricing when I buy groceries. I don't want to do work in a game as well. Maybe that's for people who like shopping? Why do I want to go to loading screen, walk 10 feet to adjacent door and go to loading screen again?
Oh and did I mention that it was easy? In fact it is so easy that it makes character choices seem pointless. You get some fancy new animation if you invest points. But don't be prepared for any surprises, because just like fable we give you a nifty preview animation. Though at least in Fable those awesome abilites scaled, had tiers and you could pull them off at will practically. This game gives you broken over-powered gear that you can just spam and kill everything, without having to spec in one single skill.
All the details just feel like work. The bottom up skill trees all spread out and lacking any visual acuity or ergonomic design structure. The inventory system ripped from fable that if you double click you mistakenly drink or eat stuff from your bag when you're just opening up tabs.
EVERYTING IS FLAT!!! WTF! not a single normal map in the damn game? At the very least I will give them credit for having decent head rigging for lip synching even if I think the models look like POS. Unless you think WOW models are good looking and not just quirky and funny.
Tab menus at top of windows don't show all available options, but just 3. So if you are not the type ( I am, but the general audience wouldn't think to check) to habitually try to scroll past the options to see if something is hiding you'd never know the options existed. Who thought that was a good idea in a game so obviously watered down for the masses? And I really do hope that some producer at one of the studios to blame reads these posts, because I know they do, they have little else to do besides scheduling, and they want to know who to blame when the actual consumer reviews come in. By the way. Producers often post as normal users on web sites like these. Just saying.
Gack I'ma have to stop,I'd go on for hours with this game. Honestly try the demo. Maybe you'll pick it up. My guess is you'll pass for much better realized titles. This is just another example of EA putting their name on something and comming to "rescue" (hire fire and outsource) the developement financially then totally riuing it.
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!
i'd go one better and say watch the youtube videos of the gameplay, it will save downloading the demo, and probably be just as informative.. i really don't understand why this game is even remotely hyped.. its.. dated, its quite frankly.. rubbish. i didnt see anything in the videos that made the game look even slightly interesting.. honestly.. a few months time you'll be able to pick this game up on steam for £5 ... or less.. paying AAA prices for this kind of stuff just doesnt make sense.
TotalBiscuit is going to be posting a KOA gameplay series shortly. The first vid might even be up today, so that would be a useful resource for some when making a decision on this game.
For my part, I've already seen and heard enough. E-Z mode game targetting a console audience, poorly optimized interface and control for PC and dull, uninspired world and story. TB's series might help others to decide, but there's plenty enough out there right now for me.
I'm only saddened that Ken Rolston is spending the twilight years of his career (I beleive he was actually coaxed out of retirement) working on this derivative pablum. I can't detect any sign of his former greatness in KOA.
From what I am hearing on the official site, they may have to redo the difficulty because even hardmode isn't all that challenging either. I like the game alot but they need to fix things....
They're listening. There's an official thread on the forums concerning the camera. And the difficultly issue has been ackowledged and is being discussed. They listen to and read all the feedback, so if you've got any good or bad be sure to voice them over in the official forums or the feedback email.
what I find strange about the camera scroll out everyone is asking for is that its there in the config
[DEFAULT]
CamInvertX=0
CamInvertY=0
CamInvertMouseWheel=1
CamTransitionTime=20
CamMouseSensitivity=.05
CamMovementSensitivity=50.
CamWheelSensitivity=1000.
Display Adapter=-1
Display Width=0
Display Height=0
Display Fullscreen=1
Display Vsync=1
RuntimeInternalShaderVersion=111
RuntimeDataShaderVersion=99
profile_always_signed_in=1
profile_index=0
It just doesnt work because they put weapon swap onto the mousewheel as well.
The one game that looks the same- if not BETTER than the images shown on reviews!!!- So far LvL 10 and loving the game!
If your looking to kill some fun time while your fav mmo is on its delayed release date- this game will give you some goodtimes!- without a monthly fee!
Rather than starting a whole new KOA thread, I figured enough people are paying enough attention to this one, I have a controller question. I see a few of you have played with a game controller on the pc. Being a pure mouse/keyboard type, I have never attempted a controller. I plugged in an xbox type controller last night, just to give it a shot(its a knockoff xbox controller,not official), and I could not get the game to recognize it. Probably sounds like a stupid question, but how do I get it to recognize the controller?
Face30, there should be for drivers that help it get recognized. I am having a blast with mouse keyboard though, you can change what keys you use for dodge block etc.
"Its better to look ugly and win than pretty and lose"
Face30, there should be for drivers that help it get recognized. I am having a blast with mouse keyboard though, you can change what keys you use for dodge block etc.
I always remap my keys to my liking. I will look up the drivers, thanks for your input though.
Charging console game prices for a PC game, very greedy.
It's the exact same game regardless of platform, there is nothing greedy about them charging the same price.
You people expect everything for free these days, it's sickening.
No shit? That is what I'm saying. PC games should not be as high as console games. Console games are/were higher for a reason. Plus again this is not anywhere near worth the same amount of money as say Skyrim is. Now THAT was worth $60, but barely. I hate the fact that $60 seems to be the new price point for AAA PC games coming out. You should hate it too.
Free, no. A price worth the product, fucking A right I do!
You need to stop shopping at the crap stores then, it can be pre-ordered here in the UK for £29.99 which is the price PC games have released at for as long as i can remember. Blame the stores, not the developer.
As for the graphics, looks just like in the screenshot to me, not that even it looks that great. You do have to bear in mind that this was first being made as an MMO until the company was bought then development was converted to single player with a mind for an MMO in the future.
The company was never bought out. It changed names, sure. And yes initially there was talk about an MMO, Copernicus. But then it was decided to make a RPG first and then the MMO to follow.
This game has some problems, the camera ranking high among them. The terrible port to PC also ranks high. I still hate that so many games are being ported to PC in a lazy and sloppy way.
But everyone complaining about the price does not understand economics. Period. Taking into account inflation, games actually cost less now than they did ten years ago. Deal with it. And try to actually study a topic and know even the barest minimum about it before you go spouting off at the mouth.
And the people complaining about the lack of an open world feel in the demo. It's a demo! How can you get an open world feeling in 45 minutes of gameplay in the starter zone? What is your problem, people?! No, it isn't going to be as open or limitless as Skyrim. But not everyone wants that. I do, but who is to say everyone does, or even should?
Which brings me to the complaints about the banner. So someone popular likes this game more than Skyrim. Of course they are going to use that in their ads. Of course they will. And the guys at Penny Arcade are not the type to say things about games they don't mean. And this game was designed with MMO in mind, and an MMO is in the works, so it only makes sense to advertise on a website called MMORPG.com.
I feel like people just want to complain about everything anymore. Think about what you saying and what it means and try to actually know something about something before you start whining.
Sheesh!
Edit: Redcap and Bill Murphy. You can't have a preview when the game is already out. That's just simple binary logic. You can have a short and largely useless review, but not a preview.
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
I picked the game up on launch day and just beat the main quest a few hours ago ( I wanted to focus on the main quest for my first playthrough). Overall I was a bit let down by how half-assed and generic the story felt but the overall arc had nice pacing and a few cool set-pieces along the way made me look forward to playing through it again in the future as a different kind of character.
Two things that this game did really well are combat and character progression. Not even Skyrim can match the kinds of freedom that Reckoning allows when it comes to all the different ways you can build your character and the whole destinies system, something that actually embraces cross-class experimentation instead of penalizing it, is something I hope they carry over to the MMO follow-up.
And while the combat at first felt a little too much like Fable's combat, the ability to switch out different weapons on the fly and have two different weapons at once combined with spectacularly brutal fate-shift attacks quickly alleviated my doubts.
been playing it 20+hrs so far on 'casual mode ' for story and graphics, and loving it!
theres been some comments on hard mode which i cant expand on- but if your into laid back story telling and beautiful combo combat graphics this is a nice play.
If your looking to 'pew pew' and 'hack n slash' your way everywhere you may feel a bit frustrated.
overall iam enjoying this game!- which ive found better than Skyrim.
I played a couple more hours and absolutely like it. Pros to me are graphic-style/arts (never bevore played such a lovely elf cuty) and combat. I'm a sorcerer and the visuals rock, also love these disc weapons (chakrams?). Gleaves are also badass, as is the overall rogue fate.
Downside is the very restricted world, i can't even hop into a pond or walk up a small slope. The camera is so-so, i wish my character wouldn't block half of my screen.
Worst thing about the camera is that it doesn't play well with the auto-aiming. Being attacked by groups, the auto-aim often jumps on targets 5m besides me and not actually on my screen.
Can someone btw explain to me how the multi-classes (=fates) play out later in the game? Do i get enough talent points or such to level up say Sorc and Rogue and switch between them or do i have to stick with 1 class only?
Just to clarify something, Reckoning was never meant to be a MMO. The MMO is still in development and has been for over 5 years. This RPG was meant to be the introduction of the IP and Lore of Amalur.
I think the biggest mistake they made when they hyped the game was to compare it to skyrim and call it open world. Thats also when I stopped reading this review. It is NOT open world in any way, shape, or form. Nor is it like skyrim.
As to everyone calling it a console port. You are the same people who think everything is a "port" just because its on all 3 major platforms. Some of it feels ported yes. Some of it feels like it isnt. The inventory system for example IS NOT A PORT PROBLEM. Its just a poor system overall. In no way does it work well on console or PC. Overall I would argue the controlls and UI layout is more presented in a PC way than console.
Overall I'm having fun. Its creeping up quickly on my list on steam of time played. At 22 hours now. I'm not sure how its 200+ hours though. The 22 hours is a level 16 character, 2 level 14 characters and a level 10 character. Believe me when I say that if its seriously 200 hours in one character and the pace doesnt pick up soon I will never finish the story. To me it has nothing to do with the quests ect. I find the combat verry fun and it offers enough even when specializing as a rogue on my main. I can completely change how I kill stuff. But I am getting bored with the first zone. I have about 5 hours in my level 16 and I'm still seeing the same exact artwork everywhere in the first zone. That gets boring fast.
One last "major" complaint. I'm not a great player in action style games. I like them but I excell in strategy not action. So when I play it on hard mode and I havent even come close to dieing once? WAY TO EASY. I'm actually thinking of switching from my rogue as a full playthrough to a warrior type useing a 2-h weapon. They are slow enough it actually offers a small challenge knowing when to swing and when to stop combo's so I dont get hit.
Comments
i'd go one better and say watch the youtube videos of the gameplay, it will save downloading the demo, and probably be just as informative.. i really don't understand why this game is even remotely hyped.. its.. dated, its quite frankly.. rubbish. i didnt see anything in the videos that made the game look even slightly interesting.. honestly.. a few months time you'll be able to pick this game up on steam for £5 ... or less.. paying AAA prices for this kind of stuff just doesnt make sense.
May give this game a whirl. The cons make it sound like I'll enjoy it a lot more than Skyrim which is sadly gathering binary cobwebs. I didn't even last 20 hours in Tamriel!
Um.. it's not a review and it is a preview according to Bill Murphy who posted just that a few posts back in this thread, the full review will be posted in a week or two.
*edited for corrections.
From what I am hearing on the official site, they may have to redo the difficulty because even hardmode isn't all that challenging either. I like the game alot but they need to fix things....
Grim Dawn, the next great action rpg!
http://www.grimdawn.com/
Your ARE wrong sir,
This was the single player game to set the lore up for the MMO they have coming out. This was not the MMO turned into a single player RPG. Curt schilling has said as much a live radio show yesturday. There MMO is still in development.
They're listening. There's an official thread on the forums concerning the camera. And the difficultly issue has been ackowledged and is being discussed. They listen to and read all the feedback, so if you've got any good or bad be sure to voice them over in the official forums or the feedback email.
I haven't heard of the game before i run into the futz about it on this website.
Last night i've had a long gaming session and i'm really surprised and like it alot. I find the overall arts and design very appealing (matter of taste i guess) and the combat fun.
First game in a while which i can't wait to come home and play.
The classes thing is a bit irritating to me though. As far as i've played it, i got to choose my fate an picked sorcerer. Below the fates there are a couple more options looking like you can mix classes basic abilities up a bit, i.e. Sorcerer/Finesse. These have serveral level as well, but i can't pick any of them.
Played the demo, that crap saying it is better than Skyrim = me not purchasing the game. Yeah right better...
Don't let the demo put you off too much. The demo left a bad impression on me to be honest. Especially considering the graphics and how easy the game seemed. As I had video games in the budget, I decided to grab it anyways. The game is alright. I'm enjoying the story and such. So far the game has been relatively bug free for me, and the combat incredibly smooth. You can chain various attacks quite fluidly.
I have a few minor gripes with the game of course, but they’re fairly negligible. The major gripes I have is the graphics and the easy combat. I have it set to hard, and I'm still wrecking even bosses with a fair amount of ease. Anyways, overall it's an alright game. There is plenty to do in the game. If you enjoyed Skyrim, you'll most likely enjoy this game.
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"
~Lord George Gordon Byron
Ya how dare someone have a differing opinion from yours!
People need to learn that their opinions =/= fact, and other people have there own
Apparently stating the truth in my sig is "trolling"
Sig typo fixed thanks to an observant stragen001.
TotalBiscuit is going to be posting a KOA gameplay series shortly. The first vid might even be up today, so that would be a useful resource for some when making a decision on this game.
For my part, I've already seen and heard enough. E-Z mode game targetting a console audience, poorly optimized interface and control for PC and dull, uninspired world and story. TB's series might help others to decide, but there's plenty enough out there right now for me.
I'm only saddened that Ken Rolston is spending the twilight years of his career (I beleive he was actually coaxed out of retirement) working on this derivative pablum. I can't detect any sign of his former greatness in KOA.
what I find strange about the camera scroll out everyone is asking for is that its there in the config
[DEFAULT]
CamInvertX=0
CamInvertY=0
CamInvertMouseWheel=1
CamTransitionTime=20
CamMouseSensitivity=.05
CamMovementSensitivity=50.
CamWheelSensitivity=1000.
Display Adapter=-1
Display Width=0
Display Height=0
Display Fullscreen=1
Display Vsync=1
RuntimeInternalShaderVersion=111
RuntimeDataShaderVersion=99
profile_always_signed_in=1
profile_index=0
It just doesnt work because they put weapon swap onto the mousewheel as well.
I dont know that big EA sign on the box really makes me not want to play it.
The one game that looks the same- if not BETTER than the images shown on reviews!!!- So far LvL 10 and loving the game!
If your looking to kill some fun time while your fav mmo is on its delayed release date- this game will give you some goodtimes!- without a monthly fee!
Rather than starting a whole new KOA thread, I figured enough people are paying enough attention to this one, I have a controller question. I see a few of you have played with a game controller on the pc. Being a pure mouse/keyboard type, I have never attempted a controller. I plugged in an xbox type controller last night, just to give it a shot(its a knockoff xbox controller,not official), and I could not get the game to recognize it. Probably sounds like a stupid question, but how do I get it to recognize the controller?
Face30, there should be for drivers that help it get recognized. I am having a blast with mouse keyboard though, you can change what keys you use for dodge block etc.
"Its better to look ugly and win than pretty and lose"
I always remap my keys to my liking. I will look up the drivers, thanks for your input though.
The company was never bought out. It changed names, sure. And yes initially there was talk about an MMO, Copernicus. But then it was decided to make a RPG first and then the MMO to follow.
How does that effect the graphics?
This game has some problems, the camera ranking high among them. The terrible port to PC also ranks high. I still hate that so many games are being ported to PC in a lazy and sloppy way.
But everyone complaining about the price does not understand economics. Period. Taking into account inflation, games actually cost less now than they did ten years ago. Deal with it. And try to actually study a topic and know even the barest minimum about it before you go spouting off at the mouth.
And the people complaining about the lack of an open world feel in the demo. It's a demo! How can you get an open world feeling in 45 minutes of gameplay in the starter zone? What is your problem, people?! No, it isn't going to be as open or limitless as Skyrim. But not everyone wants that. I do, but who is to say everyone does, or even should?
Which brings me to the complaints about the banner. So someone popular likes this game more than Skyrim. Of course they are going to use that in their ads. Of course they will. And the guys at Penny Arcade are not the type to say things about games they don't mean. And this game was designed with MMO in mind, and an MMO is in the works, so it only makes sense to advertise on a website called MMORPG.com.
I feel like people just want to complain about everything anymore. Think about what you saying and what it means and try to actually know something about something before you start whining.
Sheesh!
Edit: Redcap and Bill Murphy. You can't have a preview when the game is already out. That's just simple binary logic. You can have a short and largely useless review, but not a preview.
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
I picked the game up on launch day and just beat the main quest a few hours ago ( I wanted to focus on the main quest for my first playthrough). Overall I was a bit let down by how half-assed and generic the story felt but the overall arc had nice pacing and a few cool set-pieces along the way made me look forward to playing through it again in the future as a different kind of character.
Two things that this game did really well are combat and character progression. Not even Skyrim can match the kinds of freedom that Reckoning allows when it comes to all the different ways you can build your character and the whole destinies system, something that actually embraces cross-class experimentation instead of penalizing it, is something I hope they carry over to the MMO follow-up.
And while the combat at first felt a little too much like Fable's combat, the ability to switch out different weapons on the fly and have two different weapons at once combined with spectacularly brutal fate-shift attacks quickly alleviated my doubts.
been playing it 20+hrs so far on 'casual mode ' for story and graphics, and loving it!
theres been some comments on hard mode which i cant expand on- but if your into laid back story telling and beautiful combo combat graphics this is a nice play.
If your looking to 'pew pew' and 'hack n slash' your way everywhere you may feel a bit frustrated.
overall iam enjoying this game!- which ive found better than Skyrim.
I played a couple more hours and absolutely like it. Pros to me are graphic-style/arts (never bevore played such a lovely elf cuty) and combat. I'm a sorcerer and the visuals rock, also love these disc weapons (chakrams?). Gleaves are also badass, as is the overall rogue fate.
Downside is the very restricted world, i can't even hop into a pond or walk up a small slope. The camera is so-so, i wish my character wouldn't block half of my screen.
Worst thing about the camera is that it doesn't play well with the auto-aiming. Being attacked by groups, the auto-aim often jumps on targets 5m besides me and not actually on my screen.
Can someone btw explain to me how the multi-classes (=fates) play out later in the game? Do i get enough talent points or such to level up say Sorc and Rogue and switch between them or do i have to stick with 1 class only?
Just to clarify something, Reckoning was never meant to be a MMO. The MMO is still in development and has been for over 5 years. This RPG was meant to be the introduction of the IP and Lore of Amalur.
I think the biggest mistake they made when they hyped the game was to compare it to skyrim and call it open world. Thats also when I stopped reading this review. It is NOT open world in any way, shape, or form. Nor is it like skyrim.
As to everyone calling it a console port. You are the same people who think everything is a "port" just because its on all 3 major platforms. Some of it feels ported yes. Some of it feels like it isnt. The inventory system for example IS NOT A PORT PROBLEM. Its just a poor system overall. In no way does it work well on console or PC. Overall I would argue the controlls and UI layout is more presented in a PC way than console.
Overall I'm having fun. Its creeping up quickly on my list on steam of time played. At 22 hours now. I'm not sure how its 200+ hours though. The 22 hours is a level 16 character, 2 level 14 characters and a level 10 character. Believe me when I say that if its seriously 200 hours in one character and the pace doesnt pick up soon I will never finish the story. To me it has nothing to do with the quests ect. I find the combat verry fun and it offers enough even when specializing as a rogue on my main. I can completely change how I kill stuff. But I am getting bored with the first zone. I have about 5 hours in my level 16 and I'm still seeing the same exact artwork everywhere in the first zone. That gets boring fast.
One last "major" complaint. I'm not a great player in action style games. I like them but I excell in strategy not action. So when I play it on hard mode and I havent even come close to dieing once? WAY TO EASY. I'm actually thinking of switching from my rogue as a full playthrough to a warrior type useing a 2-h weapon. They are slow enough it actually offers a small challenge knowing when to swing and when to stop combo's so I dont get hit.