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

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:41 pm

Cheaper where? Other than a couple of dollars off on a pre-order, I've been seeing it for $59.95 everywhere.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:55 pm

Amazon = $50

A couple others had it around that price as well.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 3:57 pm

OK. I had just looked at Impulse, D2D, and GamersGate. I'll still wait until it's $30 or $40 (probably by June) to purchase.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:43 pm

Kelric wrote:Curt Schilling seems to be primarily a PC gamer from the interviews I've seen from him over the years about gaming. Having this one run the best on the PC is no surprise. I'll eventually pick it up in a Steam sale, the reviews seem very positive. Maybe I'll try the demo this weekend for the hell of it, but my budget certainly can't stretch to $60 for a game.

The Boston Globe has run enough gushing reviews and business stories about this game to interest even me, who doesn't care for fantasy games or hack-and-slashers. But $60 is too steep for me. So is $50. Someone poke me when it drops to $40 or less.

Meanwhile, I think I'll have a look at the demo.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:00 am

Spent 5 minutes with the demo. First thing I noticed is that the remapping of the controls does not include the movement keys. We have a major problem if I can't remap them through a mod, config file or the gui menu.

I can remap the keys on my computer so that the number pad appears to be the wasd configuration, but that's a pain and would mess with any typing I might do, such as an IM through steam when I alt-tab out.

Here's hoping there is a way around it or it is not as limited for the retail version.

edit: Found this thread and tool. I would prefer to avoid things like this, but I'll take it if no other option exists.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:28 am

Well I now own a house in what I possibly the crappiest town in the world. People are getting slaughtered in the streets, dying of poison and have barricaded their houses. So I figured what better place to build a mansion. It has a nice marble statue in the entryway, alchemy and enchanting stations as well as a plentiful herb garden in the basement. I’ve been selling my “crop” to the sick and starving townspeople at inflated prices. Does this make me a bad person?

Kelric · Post by **Kelric** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:47 am

Lordnine wrote:Well I now own a house in what I possibly the crappiest town in the world. People are getting slaughtered in the streets, dying of poison and have barricaded their houses. So I figured what better place to build a mansion. It has a nice marble statue in the entryway, alchemy and enchanting stations as well as a plentiful herb garden in the basement. I’ve been selling my “crop” to the sick and starving townspeople at inflated prices. Does this make me a bad person?

Why would you build in Detroit?

Buatha · Post by **Buatha** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:00 am

GreenGoo wrote: Spent 5 minutes with the demo. First thing I noticed is that the remapping of the controls does not include the movement keys. We have a major problem if I can't remap them through a mod, config file or the gui menu.

I wouldn't play this game without a 360 controller. I went for the PC version, even though it would have been easier to get the 360 version, since I have the USB wireless adapter for the PC. The graphics/lighting just looked so much better on the PC.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 10:05 am

I'm not much of a controller guy, and outside of the movement controls being somewhere other than where I want them, had no real problem controlling my character with my keyboard and mouse.

I guess what I'm saying is that there would be a huge learning curve and muscle memory issue if I switched to a controller, and since I wasn't struggling with the keyboard controls, don't see any reason to tackle that curve/issue.

I appreciate the advice though. I'm quite sure the controller is the best option for a lot of people.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:00 am

The 50 dollar price tag on Amazon combined with a little bit of cash left on a gift card I'd forgotten about was enough to convince me to take the plunge. Played through the intro area before hitting the hay last night. Looking forward to playing after work tonight.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:08 pm

Controls work great with PC and Mouse, not sure why you would need a gamepad. Playing as a caster I think I would have a harder time with a gamepad since I need a degree of accuracy to target my spells. Not to mention you can switch between spells immediately with the number keys. Also, a number of the submenus have hotkeys assigned to them letting you bypass the whole going to the “main character menu” screen, something I don’t think you can do with gamepad.

Lastly, I don’t know why anyone would want to NOT use WASD but it looks like you can remap them in the full game. The demo was based on a couple months old code, that must be one of things they improved.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:14 pm

Lordnine wrote:Lastly, I don’t know why anyone would want to NOT use WASD but you can remap them in the full game by the looks. The demo was based on a couple months old code, that must be one of things they improved.

Lefthandedness. The link I posted specifically addresses left handedness as well. I use the number pad for my movement, and all the keys around it for reloading weapons, crouching, special attacks, using items/opening doors etc. I can still have a hard time of it if I need to swap between specific weapons extremely quickly, as the top row number keys are far away, relatively, but for the most part it works ok. I ever scroll the weapon selection with my scroll wheel or I reach all the way over and press the number key. It's slower, but hasn't been so slow as to make any game unacceptably difficult. Yet.

I did read in that thread that the retail game has mappable movement keys, so that's a relief. I may install the tool anyway, as I think it has some additional functionality that I might find useful, although others might feel it's cheating. Multiple inputs from a single key press, things like that.

I'm going to fool around with the demo some more, but I didn't see anything I didn't like, so it'll probably be a purchase, the only question being when. And when I say when, I really mean how much.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:18 pm

Some questions a buddy was asking that I had no answer for.

Does the world "respawn" like diablo, or does an area remain devoid of critters once you've cleared it?

Saves? Is it save anywhere, or save points or something else?

I liked that you can empty your quiver and be left without arrows which makes for some additional tactical considerations, while at the same time ammo regens, so I don't have to pick up every single arrow I find.

Does anyone know if the quiver size is tied directly to the bow, and do different bows have different shot capacities? ie. is amount of ammo or ammo regen a function if each bow specifically and differently, or is it fixed for the game?

Buatha · Post by **Buatha** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:30 pm

GreenGoo wrote: Does anyone know if the quiver size is tied directly to the bow, and do different bows have different shot capacities? ie. is amount of ammo or ammo regen a function if each bow specifically and differently, or is it fixed for the game?

I believe I read somewhere that the skill tree for Rogues had something about increasing quiver size. Another review stated they kind of mixed "Hunter-type" and Rogue together, so the thieving experience feels a little sloppy since Archery got melded into the Rogue tree.

So far, the only negative I've heard consistently is the game feels very generic and it's hard to see R.A. Salvatore's influence (I've never really read his stuff, so I don't know). By generic, they mean the writing feels a bit flat and the quests aren't very inspiring. Additionally, you don't always know the reward, so it's unknown if a particular quest (there are a lot of them) is worth the time and effort.

I know the game started it's life as an MMO, so maybe the quest types weren't really fleshed out or they didn't want you to spend time reading. Due to work and life in general, I've only been able to play in spurts, so I'm still in the damn tutorial area.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 12:54 pm

I'm not a fan of RA Salvatore (or however you spell his name) so I'm pretty ok with less of his influence being evident. I'd probably call the bland writing his unless I knew better.

As for the rest of the story and quests, I'm not a veteran of any fps rpg's, so I (probably) won't notice it too much. Or at least not be bothered by it. I have no time in morrowind, oblivion, dragon age(s) or much of anything else. And only a few hours into Mass Effect.

I'm not jaded with how the gameplay works, so hopefully that means it can still feel fresh for me. I can see how people with more experience would be more discerning and demanding of the storyline though.

This is the first game that I've been interested in enough to start feeling that excitement of a new game release in a long time. It's a good, anticipatory feeling.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:10 pm

GreenGoo wrote:Some questions a buddy was asking that I had no answer for.

Does the world "respawn" like diablo, or does an area remain devoid of critters once you've cleared it?

Saves? Is it save anywhere, or save points or something else?

I liked that you can empty your quiver and be left without arrows which makes for some additional tactical considerations, while at the same time ammo regens, so I don't have to pick up every single arrow I find.

Does anyone know if the quiver size is tied directly to the bow, and do different bows have different shot capacities? ie. is amount of ammo or ammo regen a function if each bow specifically and differently, or is it fixed for the game?

I'm in the starter area after the tower, and I haven't noticed any respawning, but could be wrong.

You can save anywhere, and there's automatic check points as well.

Don't know about the quiver.

And to make everyone else envious.... The game cost me $8

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:10 pm

Quick question from the reflex-impaired: Can one pause the game easily and at will, such as through the spacebar or P key? If so, can one do anything while the game is paused?

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:22 pm

I actually think the writing is really good… much better than Skyrim at any rate. The overall plot is a bit on the generic side but what they do with it is great. Side quests run the gamut from straight from an MMO to pretty clever and fun. I wish they had spent a bit more time here but it’s not bad and they usually do enough with storytelling and setting to make them worthwhile. Plus the primary story line quests are all fleshed out nicely, at-least so far.

I do think Herbs respawn at least.

There is no pause button that I’m aware of. Combat IS pretty fast passed. My character does a lot of damage fast so I made it through a lot of the early area without getting hit. It wasn’t until I tried to fight three trolls at once that I realized just how much damage certain enemies do. One hit from their clubs took away about ¼ of my health bar.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:22 pm

Kraken wrote:Quick question from the reflex-impaired: Can one pause the game easily and at will, such as through the spacebar or P key? If so, can one do anything while the game is paused?

you press start or esc to go to a menu to pause the game, can't change anything in game, other than armor/weapon selection, view map, etc...

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 1:36 pm

Lordnine wrote: There is no pause button that I’m aware of. Combat IS pretty fast passed. My character does a lot of damage fast so I made it through a lot of the early area without getting hit. It wasn’t until I tried to fight three trolls at once that I realized just how much damage certain enemies do. One hit from their clubs took away about ¼ of my health bar.

Guess I'll just give the demo a try. I'm terrible at action games, though.

Aedar · Post by **Aedar** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:15 pm

Things respawn except for chests

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:33 pm

Aedar wrote:Things respawn except for chests

Thanks.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 4:36 pm

Kraken wrote:
Lordnine wrote: There is no pause button that I’m aware of. Combat IS pretty fast passed. My character does a lot of damage fast so I made it through a lot of the early area without getting hit. It wasn’t until I tried to fight three trolls at once that I realized just how much damage certain enemies do. One hit from their clubs took away about ¼ of my health bar.
Guess I'll just give the demo a try. I'm terrible at action games, though.

I found the game very action-y, which is exactly what I was looking for, so I'm excited. I've read the combat compared to God(s?) of War if you're familiar with that. I am not so it meant little to me.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:48 pm

I found the Fae city of the House of Ballads an interesting take on elves, although completely detestable. The Fae are immortal, if they are killed they are resurrected intact at a later time. Because of this instead of passing on stories in song or writing they just reenact them. The heroes of the Fae endlessly battle the foes that made them famous because their foes are also immortal and come back with the seasons. They basically equate life as a play, one they are happy to repeat without progress for eternity.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 10:58 am

I love that I can jump between controllers (360 and mouse/keyboard) and the game automatically switches to the controller type without having to drop into options.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 11:56 am

Kraken wrote:Quick question from the reflex-impaired: Can one pause the game easily and at will, such as through the spacebar or P key? If so, can one do anything while the game is paused?

Don't worry about being reflex impaired. Just play on Casual, you'll be fine.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:14 pm

Spent a fair bit of time in the demo last night. Shame you can't save in the demo as I tend to play fairly slowly and not for long periods of time, so I still haven't reached the end of the demo yet, although I'm probably close. Found the town with the beaten fae and the game said I had 45 minutes to explore the town, after which I assume the demo ends.

I was enjoying myself until I got a very MMO vibe and realized that this was almost a tech demo for their intended MMO. At which point everything started to feel very WoW'ish and fairly hollow. It was more of an attitude change on how I perceived the game than any specific feeling from the game, but it did lower my enjoyment of it. Especially the combat moves, since the demo doesn't let you get too far into the skill trees. The thought of playing an RPG that is focused on combat, but that combat is similar to WoW's, is not appealing. I'm not saying the combat is the same as WoW, I'm just saying that the thought of playing a single player WoW was pretty meh and that coloured my impressions.

I'm actually going to take another run through the demo today with my son to get a second impression. How the demo is set up doesn't allow you to vary your character much until the very end of it, so it will be a replay of my playthrough last night, but that's ok. I'll be looking to wash away the feelings of a single player wow-like rpg with wow-like combat.

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:38 pm

Sorry but the combat is nothing like WoW. I only wish combat in WoW was like this.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:11 pm

The game design is pure WoW, but the combat is its polar opposite. If there's one thing here that won't remind you of WoW, it's the combat.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 2:19 pm

Yeah, that's a bit confusing. It absolutely has a single-player MMO feel to the design (and again, I'm just talking about the demo) and world layout, but the combat was something I really enjoyed. Not only did it feel completely different to use sword and shield or staff, the animations were great. I'm a button masher and it felt satisfying to just whip through groups of guys - especially with a magic staff where I could alternate a ranged fire attack with good old fashioned stick-on-face beatdowns. It reminded me a bit of the combat in Jade Empire, though it's been a while since I've played that game. I just remember the RPG aspects of leveling up attacks and getting new moves or combinations, all resolved in real-time third person.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:33 am

Lorini wrote:Sorry but the combat is nothing like WoW. I only wish combat in WoW was like this.

No need to be sorry. I said this after all.

I'm not saying the combat is the same as WoW

Part of the problem is that for my first run through the demo, I only ever got to level 2, and that was at the end of the play session. Unlike Smoove, I don't want to be mashing buttons. I wanted something deeper, and when you're low level, your options are limited to button mashing for the most part. Especially if you use anything besides a sword.

During my playthrough with my son this morning, I went a lot more quickly, and played longer, eventually running out of the 45 minutes the demo gives you at the end. I also focused on casting. I moved some of the keys around to more convenient places too, so some actions were more intuitive for me, such as blocking.

The first time I played through, the rock troll gave me a run for my money, and I ended up drinking 5-7 health potions to defeat it. This second time I only used one, and probably could have gotten away with none. I was much more able to block at the appropriate time, such as when it launches rubble at you in 3 trails. And I was dodging much more successfully.

So the rock troll fight gave me a better indication of what combat in this game could be like. I also started to parry with my shield, mostly by accident, but somewhat frequently. Being rewarded with bullet time for my dodges against the Troll, or with a successful parry was very gratifying and fun. It showed me that there was more than button mashing in the game, if I wanted it. I also leveled up to level 3, which gave me 3 more skill points to spend. I spread those around and tried a few skills that I hadn't seen before, such as the attack from block stance and the staff aoe. So with this still limited exposure to the combat system I find it much more interesting than that initial button mashing had led me to believe. And that's not mentioning the fate moves, which I still only half understand, since not all opponents allowed me to initiate a fate finishing move.

I also got to do more of the secondary quests. They definitely had an MMO feeling to them, but the writing and voice acting was satisfactory. In fact I've found the whole fate/fateless aspect somewhat fresh and interesting. Remember I almost never play these games, so this story line seems interesting to me. I found the side quests to be ok as well. While on the surface they are standard fare, they seem to cover that up fairly well with text/conversation. Removing a curse from a wolf turned into a man and tracking down a teleporting well did not bore me in the least. Another quest seemed to require me to act out a ballad with an NPC, but I never completed that quest so I can't be sure how it played out. Still, an interesting premise for a quest.

Contrary to some comments in this thread, I found the writing to be a step above MMO writing such as that found in WoW. It may not be up to some really good story driven single player rpg's, but it's "good enough" for me.

My son said "they sure do like to talk a lot" and I had to agree. I was chomping at the bit to get moving, but the NPC's all wanted to talk my ear off. Of course I could just ignore the conversation options but that's seems a sure way to miss out on lots of things in the game.

I liked it. And some of the trailers show some fairly intricate combos, with melee, ranged and magic attacks all used together. Having done some decent melee/magic combos myself with limited options, I think the skill trees and the combat system have some depth that I'd like to explore.

I'll decide this week whether I'm going to cave and pick it up, or continue to wait for a sale.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:40 am

I had no idea how to pick locks, but I managed to do it a couple of times.

I got thrown in jail for rifling through someone's home. I just did the peaceful thing and waited out my sentence. I lost some exp for it.

My 2nd level detect hidden skill paid dividends, and I was finding hollowed out logs with items inside, and looting slain enemies resulted in more money. Keep an eye on the mini-map, as lootable containers will show up there, especially if you have the detect hidden skill.

Quest mini-map interface was intuitive and useful, with your active quest having a gold waypoint, and all other quests having silver waypoints on the map.

The inventory system. I've never seen such a well organized inventory system that was such a pain to use. Strange but true. It's a great way to organize things if you're a store. It's not so great if you are looking for a specific item, or want to compare what you're using to the boots, sword and gloves you just found.

Combat animations were great of course.

During conversations, some of the NPC's eyes were crossed, or looking in different directions. The models and skins are good enough that these little quirks were glaring.

I'm not much of a reviewer, but these are some of the things that come to mind from my 2 playthroughs of the demo. I'm sure I made a lot more observations that I've forgotten. I hope those of you who are deeper into the release version of the game can continue to give us your insights.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 2:09 am

I couldn't play the demo. Intro, cut scenes, menus, everything was fine until it came time to load the game, and then I got a black screen. It turned blue when I shut my computer down (memory error).

Will try again, but I'm curious if anyone else had trouble loading it. Seems to me like 8G ought to be enough RAM.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 2:40 am

Yeah I don’t get the bad writing comments. It’s not up to the best of Bioware but it’s better than most of the other RPGs that come out these days.

I think the game is versatile enough that you could enjoy it in a couple ways. If you want a story driven RPG it’s definitely in there and even non quest related NPC’s seem to have tons of interesting recorded dialogue. Alternately, if you just want an action game with leveling the combat really is good enough that you could just run through the primary quest line and you would still have a blast.

I would have liked to see a bit more variety in quest structure but even without it the game is very solid and is definitely worth a look.

--Lockpicking--

To pick locks move the slider to the right, if the pick wiggles it means it’s about to break. Stop moving the slider and rearrange the pick. The more the pick wobbles the further off you are.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 9:15 am

Lordnine wrote:--Lockpicking--

To pick locks move the slider to the right, if the pick wiggles it means it’s about to break. Stop moving the slider and rearrange the pick. The more the pick wobbles the further off you are.

Oh, I thought once the slider started moving you had to finish moving it all the way to the right. By your description, I'm wondering what the differences are between an easy lock and a hard lock?

Reemul · Post by **Reemul** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:08 am

GreenGoo wrote:
Lordnine wrote:--Lockpicking--

To pick locks move the slider to the right, if the pick wiggles it means it’s about to break. Stop moving the slider and rearrange the pick. The more the pick wobbles the further off you are.
Oh, I thought once the slider started moving you had to finish moving it all the way to the right. By your description, I'm wondering what the differences are between an easy lock and a hard lock?

The pick breaks quicker if you aren't very close.

TiLT · Post by **TiLT** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:10 am

The way I understand the lockpicking, harder locks move faster and require more precision in where you put the pick. I quickly discovered that trying to pick a hard lock meant my pick would break before I even had much of a chance to react, whereas very easy locks give you ample time to react and don't require you to find a precise angle for the pick.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:18 am

Reemul wrote:The pick breaks quicker if you aren't very close.

Ah, ok. Picked a hard or very hard lock with a character who had no lock picking skills. Got lucky I guess.

naednek · Post by **naednek** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:35 am

Kraken wrote:I couldn't play the demo. Intro, cut scenes, menus, everything was fine until it came time to load the game, and then I got a black screen. It turned blue when I shut my computer down (memory error).

Will try again, but I'm curious if anyone else had trouble loading it. Seems to me like 8G ought to be enough RAM.

Kraken,

That's a known bug for the demo, you have to turn off post processing in the graphic's options. The retail game works fine.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 6:24 pm

It's about time a game included this much nose touching during cut scenes...