Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by NickAragua »

Are they going to make another game that really badly wants to be an MMO but forgot the multiplayer part?

Not that I didn't enjoy my one and only playthrough, but damn if that game didn't need some serious filler reduction.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by GreenGoo »

I enjoyed the game quite a lot, and I'm not really into these kinds of games (or even rpgs, really, any more) but didn't the original game have all sorts of financial issues? I feel like it just sat idle on Steam for years without a loving parent (company) to actively manage it.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by NickAragua »

Yeah, there's a whole story about how the company that made it got lured from Massachusetts to Rhode Island with loan incentives or whatever, and then the state screwed them over and they had to shut down literally overnight. They were working on some kind of MMO, and this was like a halfway point, I guess? As I recall, they were owned by a big baseball guy (Curt Shilling) and had R.A. Salvatore on board for writing supervision. Too bad they didn't hire an accountant.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Isgrimnur »

Schilling is a nut bucket.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by NickAragua »

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:47 pm Schilling is a nut bucket.
Not gonna argue that one. He did like his World of Warcraft back in the day, though, according to a story Salvatore told when I went to one of his book signings.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by El Guapo »

I have an admittedly vague recollection that there was a fair amount of incompetence and lying on the part of the company as well.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Blackhawk »

NickAragua wrote: Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:44 pm Yeah, there's a whole story about how the company that made it got lured from Massachusetts to Rhode Island with loan incentives or whatever, and then the state screwed them over and they had to shut down literally overnight. They were working on some kind of MMO, and this was like a halfway point, I guess? As I recall, they were owned by a big baseball guy (Curt Shilling) and had R.A. Salvatore on board for writing supervision. Too bad they didn't hire an accountant.
And Todd MacFarlane handled art design. It was a great set of talents.


El Guapo wrote: Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:53 pm I have an admittedly vague recollection that there was a fair amount of incompetence and lying on the part of the company as well.
38 Studios was idiotic with their money. They were working on two games, their loan wasn't enough to cover it (which they knew in advance), and Amalur's profits didn't make up the difference. 38 Studios was making a product with money they didn't have, hoping that KoA would make up the difference, not taking into account operating costs in the meantime, and every other fuck-up in the book. When it came time to make the first loan payment to Rhode Island, the check bounced. Then the payroll didn't happen. Then the studio declared bankruptcy, just months after KoA released. Schilling was ruined, his personal saving sunk, and even the bank that made the loan got stomped by the SEC because they also knew the risks, but didn't communicate them to investors.

Schilling screwed up so bad that criminal charges were even being discussed.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Lorini »

It didn't help that they came out very close to the release of Skyrim. Which would you rather play??
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by GreenGoo »

Lorini wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:04 pm It didn't help that they came out very close to the release of Skyrim. Which would you rather play??
I'm not being facetious when I say Amalur, although I didn't highly anticipate either of them. I'm not even sure I own Skyrim, I think my son owns it. I didn't pick up Amalur until it was cheap. I think I borrowed (borrow, lol) it from a co-worker when it first came out. I've made two 1/2 assed attempts to start Skyrim and failed both times. I made 1 decent attempt at Amalur, and a second attempt where I finished it.

If you asked me which is the better game, I would intellectually tell you Skyrim, obviously. But you asked me which one I'd rather play, and that's Amalur, because...reasons.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by NickAragua »

GreenGoo wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:38 pm
Lorini wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:04 pm It didn't help that they came out very close to the release of Skyrim. Which would you rather play??
I'm not being facetious when I say Amalur, although I didn't highly anticipate either of them. I'm not even sure I own Skyrim, I think my son owns it. I didn't pick up Amalur until it was cheap. I think I borrowed (borrow, lol) it from a co-worker when it first came out. I've made two 1/2 assed attempts to start Skyrim and failed both times. I made 1 decent attempt at Amalur, and a second attempt where I finished it.

If you asked me which is the better game, I would intellectually tell you Skyrim, obviously. But you asked me which one I'd rather play, and that's Amalur, because...reasons.
For some reason, I'm in the same boat, in that I'd rather play KoA than Skyrim. I can't think of a single reason why. Must be the brain damage from having played through KoA. :lol:
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Jolor »

Lorini wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 4:04 pm It didn't help that they came out very close to the release of Skyrim. Which would you rather play??
Skyrim. But that didn't stop me from purchasing, playing & completing both.

Looking back, I finished Skyrim with two different builds but ranked KoA higher.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Lorini »

Skyrim had a lot more hours in it than KOA though. Better value if you liked it at all I think.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by GreenGoo »

Lorini wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:26 pm Skyrim had a lot more hours in it than KOA though. Better value if you liked it at all I think.
Probably, although I don't know about better value. That's a tougher one to call and pretty subjective, although I follow you.

Steam says I have 128 hours in KoA, but I have no way of knowing (unless there is a timer on the save files, I'm not loading it up) how much of that was me and how much was my son. That was before he had his own account so he would have used my account. I have no idea how many hours (or even if it could be measured in hours) he played it.

That's a lot of hours anyway you slice it for an RPG I only finished once.

I vaguely remember playing around with a lot of alts at the beginning, so that could have taken up a lot of time. As much as 30 hours of the same content over and over with different character builds?

In any case, there's no question Skyrim is more popular, and sold far more copies.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Blackhawk »

The discussion is too subjective, and largely irrelevant. First, most people don't judge value in a game by dividing price by hours. Second, whether someone prefers game A or game B is like saying that one food is better than another, or Star Trek is better than Star Wars. It's personal, and what appeals to one person is going to be different from what appeals to another.

And it's irrelevant because the original point, though stated badly, was that Amalur launched next to a similar title that was an established franchise and had more hype.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by GreenGoo »

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:48 pm And it's irrelevant because the original point, though stated badly, was that Amalur launched next to a similar title that was an established franchise and had more hype.
Which is why the original question as to which game you'd rather play was more interesting.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Lorini »

It's relevant to me for sure. I want to know how much time I can expect given the price for the game. If I recall correctly, KOA wasn't a $60 game at the beginning right?

I'm far more likely to give a game a shot at $10 than I am at $60, that's for sure.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Blackhawk »

Unless we're talking something like buying Call of Duty just for the 4-hour single player campaign, I don't really distinguish between 60 hours with Amalur, 400 hours with Skyrim, or DBT's 7,000 hours with Civilization 5. As long as I'm getting enough hours to make it worth the money, I'm happy. While I may skip a game I want to play solo if I find out you can finish it in a single afternoon, I'm never, ever going to get a game that's less fun just because it takes twice as long.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Smoove_B »

Now with more remastering:
A listing on the Microsoft Store confirms that Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning will release on August 11. According to the product description it is "remastered with stunning visuals and refined gameplay," and all DLC will be included.

The remaster is being handled by Kaiko, which worked on the Darksiders remasters as well as Legend of Kay: Anniversary Edition, to name a few.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Daehawk »

I think this is 50% off right now on Origin so $9.99. But I cant see it in the store. Something about Origin if you own the game it takes you to your library and not the store. Kinda silly. And it needs a remaster. The graphics bugged me. Some companies give you the remaster free if you own the game. Would be nice.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

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are they going to add gameplay?
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

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naednek wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 1:07 pm are they going to add gameplay?
I think it needs a few more sidequests.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by NickAragua »

If they can pay me for the time I'll spend replaying the game, I might play it. It was good, but not good enough that I'm going to sink my time into it just for some slightly updated graphics.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

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naednek wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 1:07 pm are they going to add gameplay?
I laughed.

On a serious note, I didn't hate it. But it wasn't very exciting. The landscapes were mostly empty and uninspiring. The combat was alright, but I went with magic and it quickly became way too OP. I'd drop several AOEs on groups as they approached. It was extremely rare for anything to get close enough to even take a shot at me. I suppose, maybe, I could be talked into another run as melee or ranged. But that's a tough sell considering the unplayed games in my backlog.

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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

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TheMix wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 2:32 pm

On a serious note, I didn't hate it. But it wasn't very exciting.


That was my feeling. It played like any MMO, except that there was no endgame to work toward, just random quests all over the place. I just lacked... direction? Motivation? Something. The individual parts (aesthetics, lore, combat, magic, items, etc) were actually good, but they just didn't come together well. Perhaps its a bit like Fallout 3 in that regard - fun pieces, but lacking something in the big picture.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Buatha »

I'd really like to know what "refined gameplay" means. I do remember a LOT of side quests that could probably be removed, but I don't know if that is what they are doing.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Jolor »

Based on the comments (not just here) I'm guessing I was in the top 10% of people who liked the game the most. Still, absolutely no interest in a remake.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Smoove_B »

I played it start of finish and I think I did every quest available. I was so over-leveled (and overpowered) at some point it became a real breeze. I enjoyed it tremendously but it was very clearly an MMO that was morphed into a SP game.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

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I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t enjoy it enough to jump into a remake unless it comes with some significant improvements to the incredibly dull questing structure.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Lordnine »

I really enjoyed it, but then I skipped all the extraneous quests and stuck to the main story arcs. If you did that, the game was really quite good.

I remember one of the developers saying they never intended people to stick in one area long enough to do all the quests. On the one hand I get it, those quests were just there to make the game more flexible from a leveling perspective and feel bigger but probably not the best idea to design content you don’t intend people to play.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Smoove_B »

Delayed a few weeks, but a trailer was released:



New game content coming in 2021. Not at all what I expected.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Skinypupy »

I'd be a bit more interested knowing there's additional content. Still very much on the fence, but will keep an eye on it.

Side note: If you're doing a remaster of a game from 2012, why would you not show any gameplay at all in your trailer. Don't you think that's what people will actually be interested in seeing, rather than a CGI cutscene?
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

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Skinypupy wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:57 am Side note: If you're doing a remaster of a game from 2012, why would you not show any gameplay at all in your trailer. Don't you think that's what people will actually be interested in seeing, rather than a CGI cutscene?
+1

That's what I was interested in. I came away from the trailer having learned nada... :(

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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Alefroth »

Skinypupy wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:57 am I'd be a bit more interested knowing there's additional content.
Additional content? Man, the reason I haven't finished it yet is because of all the content.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Skinypupy »

Alefroth wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 12:38 pm
Skinypupy wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:57 am I'd be a bit more interested knowing there's additional content.
Additional content? Man, the reason I haven't finished it yet is because of all the content.
Sorry, bad phrasing. I don't want more content, I want them to streamline the overwhelming-ness from the original.

It can certainly be done. The recent Xenogears Chronicles Remaster did an incredible job of taking literally hundreds of annoying sidequests and turning them into an enjoyable process that encouraged exploration of the gameworld.

I also want Curt Schilling to never see a single thin dime from this remaster effort.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

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I can get behind that.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Smoove_B »

Yeah, is there something I need to sign?
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Buatha »

Skinypupy wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 12:54 pm
Alefroth wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 12:38 pm
Skinypupy wrote: Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:57 am I'd be a bit more interested knowing there's additional content.
Additional content? Man, the reason I haven't finished it yet is because of all the content.
Sorry, bad phrasing. I don't want more content, I want them to streamline the overwhelming-ness from the original.

It can certainly be done. The recent Xenogears Chronicles Remaster did an incredible job of taking literally hundreds of annoying sidequests and turning them into an enjoyable process that encouraged exploration of the gameworld.

I also want Curt Schilling to never see a single thin dime from this remaster effort.
It's a bit disappointing I haven't seen any mention of streamlining/improving the fetch quests. I remember playing the game thinking, "Oh, yeah, I'm going to be skipping many of these sidequests".

My friends and I started skipping sidequests in Dead Island...and things vastly improved with our sessions. I love sidequests...unless they are "Gather X things" without some nice story to make it worth the effort of obtaining.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Skinypupy »

So I went ahead and picked this up. It’s more of the same, which is about what I was looking for right now. RPG comfort food with a very slightly better coat of paint.

The only real problem is that the load times are absolutely atrocious on PS4. 30-60 seconds later very time you enter or exit a building. And since you’re doing that very often, it can end up feeling like you’re spending more time in loading screens than anything else. It’s obnoxious.

Other than that, it’s the exact same game as before...for better or worse.
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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Blackhawk »

From the brief checking I did when it released, the main differences were some graphical improvements (see the video below), some changes to loot creation, a change in the ways areas were leveled, and the addition of an additional difficulty level. I've heard that there's also a big discount on the PC version if you own the original.

I'd actually like to give it another go when I can afford it. I haven't played it since my time on the PS3.

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Re: Amalur: Destiny and Fate(Kingdoms of Amalur:Reckoning now

Post by Skinypupy »

The upgrade is $15 if you already own it in Steam. No discount on the PS4 version, as far as I could tell.
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