Kingdom of Amalur Reckoning and ME3

[StarBound]

This is mainly for the game Kingdoms of Amalur: the Reckoning that is being released in a few weeks time but felt since it is promoted that Mass Effect 3 should share a mention or 2.

Reckoning is an RPG and from the bit I have seen it looks like World of Warcraft with a single player experience. The following link is for the destiny and fate trailer:
http://reckoning.amalur.com/en/r/media/ ... y-and-fate

Now for the ME3 bit. Next week the demo for the game will be released on the 17th. If you download the demo you will get a code to be used to unlock armour for ME3 inspired by Reckoning. And if you complete the demo you will get another code for a weapon in ME3. Sadly it is not cross platform so I can't download for PS3 and redeem on PC. But I can always download on both.
http://reckoning.amalur.com/ME3

From an developer interview on Invisible Walls they claim the game to be longer than 200 hours on a speed run. That makes Skyrim sound small but I won't hold them to it. For those looking for more RPGs this year and think that you will have finished Skyrim before then, and that you might have finished this game before Diablo 3 or Mass Effect 3 hits be sure to check out the demo if atleast it is for the freebies.

Its 2012 and we already have massive games lined up for the year.

[Anakha56]

Looks good! I wonder how big that download will be...

[doo_much]

I've a few gigs left on my cap. So I'll download it for you. Just tell me where I can e-mail it for you...

[StarBound]

Will have to wait and see.

ME3 Goodies: Armour - Download and install Reckoning
ME3 Goodies: weapon - finish demo

The demo is going to be the tutorial section. After that you have 45 minutes to explore 2 of the zones from the full game but its more than likely you wont even be able to finish 1 that you are busy with.

Still, wednesday 17 Jan is marked for download.

[Anakha56]

I've a few gigs left on my cap. So I'll download it for you. Just tell me where I can e-mail it for you...

Just wondering if I can download the demo at work or not .

[StarBound]

It needs Origin to download the demo and since Origin is spyware/malware/virus/satan I don't think they would allow it

[Anakha56]

Fubar, I hate being unable to download a demo or patch through the browser. That means my measly 384k is going to spend forever trying to download a stupid demo... *sigh*

I showed a friend of mine this game and his first words after seeing some of the screen shots were "Ohhh pretty..." I worry about him...

[StarBound]

Get him to download it, then give you the files, then just hit the install from Origin.

On the subject of Origin, people HATE it. That is an understatement.

[StarBound]

Guys the demo is out today and no one commented on me saying 17 Jan is tuesday, not wednesday.

Oh have to add this:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/102500/

yes it is on steam. Now I have to decide $60 x exchange rate or buy for less retail.

[Anakha56]

I went retail .

[StarBound]

Odds that retail needs origin? Well since Origin already infects my system.

Ok my take on the demo:
I am reminded a lot of Heretic 2 while playing. All that changes quickly however as you start running into the consoles ever loving feature, invisible walls. See that river down in the cave? Can't fall off the ledge. Can't go where your not suppose to go. Not even dying for going where your not suppose to.

The inventory screen is a bit long winded. Getting something equiped takes a bit long.

The combat is good. It feels fluid. But I had a problem where I went into stealth mode infront of an enemy then walked around him for a stealth kill.

Dialog is too long for my taste with voice acting repeating some words too much. Yo dawg comes to mind.

That covers the biggest parts of the demo. This is a game that I will buy.

[rustypup]

from the demo, $60 for this is hilariously adventurous...

mass yawn/alien-sexing 3 is hardly an enticement...

bargain bin purchase - at best... :/

[StarBound]

You sure hate everything coming from Bioware these days. Is this because they forgot how to make a proper RPG?

[rustypup]

no... it's because they tore RPG's head off and did something unspeakable to the remains with hordes of drooling dim-bulbs applauding while making appreciative hur-hur noises into their sippy-cups..

that, and their current stable of games are less game-like and more sausage-like...

be honest... even as an action title... $60 worth?

[Anakha56]

I hope I get the bonus items even though I am downloading the demo from Steam...

@rusty with so little rpg's coming out that stay true to the nature of the beast I am forced to find my addiction where ever it may lay...

[D3PART3D]

Are we talking about Mass Defect here? Yeah, I think it's total rubbish too. It fails as a third person shooter (compare it to what's been done in Dead Space) It fails as an RPG (No character building that changes play style, really obvious fetch quests...) The "story" in Bioware games is an absolute insult. Carp Effect shamelessly copied it's back story and characters from popular sci-fi franchises with only enough change to make it all fit together (not that they even got that right).

But yeah, it has alien sexing and it's cinematic! 10/10!

[StarBound]

Your still logging in with your EA account when playing the demo so your getting rewarded as you go. Think they will bind the item as unlocked to your account when buying either game so Steam or Origin doesn't matter.

I liked Mass Effect 1. Mass Effect 2 I liked less because it strayed away more from an RPG type game. Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 are both HnS so not sure if those are 2 titles you would look forward to. To me I can't wait.

[rustypup]

Diablo 3

sorta....

EA can take origin and.... cuddle it... cuddle it hard...

[D3PART3D]

I liked Mass Effect 1. Mass Effect 2 I liked less because it strayed away more from an RPG type game. Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 are both HnS so not sure if those are 2 titles you would look forward to. To me I can't wait.

I get how people could like it, and I think my hate is a little disproportionate, especially considering how I liked ME1 so much when I first started playing that I rushed out and got the deluxe edition of ME2. After playing Troika games though, I look at things very differently.

Diablo 3 looks like it could be good. And so did that other indie Diablo clone Anakha had a thread for...

[StarBound]

Grim Dawn?

[Anakha56]

Well played the demo and my first thought when I saw the graphics and people was "Hey this is a Fable graphics engine and design". Reminds me of Fable just more serious...

I will be getting the game, I enjoyed it even though it was simple. Loved the whole fate weave mechanic, could have some serious fun with that. Controls are not that intuitive but then I see console first written all over it...

[StarBound]

The invisible walls was the dead give away. If it was PC you could jump off the cliff and get greeted with a nice respawn screen.

[Anakha56]

Also if it was a PC game, you could jump...

[Anakha56]

Well Penny Arcade seems to have given this game a good write up. Not sure if he played the console version or the PC version, probably console...

http://penny-arcade.com/2012/01/27/amalur

Once again I was able to beg an early copy of a game. This time I scored Kingdoms of Amalur. I’ve been playing it now for a few days and I am in love. I’m probably not supposed to talk about the game yet but I figured it would be much easier to ask for forgiveness rather than permission as the old saying goes.

I’m not incredibly far in the game and I don’t want to spoil anything but I do want to give my impressions. Yesterday on Twitter I said I thought it was better than Skyrim and I want to tell you why that is.

I’ve mentioned before that I have a problem with open world games. When given all these options I tend to get paralyzed rather than excited. for some reason Amalur is different and I think I know the reasons why:

The combat in Skyrim is miserable. If games like Bayonetta and God of War are on one end of a spectrum, games like Skyrim are so far on the other end that they have fallen off the spectrum and actually can not even see the spectrum from where they are. It seems like if you want to play a massive open world RPG you have to give up a fun,energetic combat system. The thrill of discovering a cave full of vampires in Skyrim is diminished by the knowledge that once I get in there, fighting them is just going to be a chore.

Amalur is the polar opposite. The combat system in Amalur is fast paced and incredibly deep. I’d say the way this game handles class choice is one of my favorite things about the title. There are three skill trees, might, finesse, and sorcery. As you level up you earn talent points and can invest them into any branch you like. So far pretty standard stuff. The twist is that throwing points into these trees will slowly unlock hybrid classes. For example, I started off in sorcery and chose a pretty standard wizard type class. I got a bonus to my mana pool and that sort of thing. Then I started putting points into finesse and I unlocked a couple of hybrid classes. Now I’m a spell casting rogue with magic blades! I get a bonus to blade weapons and a boost to magic damage. There are tons of these hybrid classes encompassing all the various combinations of talent points and trees. So as you play the game and shuffle your points around you can also be cycling through different class choices each with their own bonuses and special powers.

Having cool powers and a great class wouldn’t matter if the combat itself sucked though. thankfully Amalur delivers a visceral, smooth, flashy combat experience that I’d put up alongside games like Darksiders and Devil May Cry. I think that in Skyrim, story, exploration and discovery are the things that are supposed to keep you playing. Amalur has all that stuff too but it doesn’t sacrifice the game play to deliver it. This combat would feel right at home in an action game but they have combined it with solid writing and a massive open world.

The other big thing that keeps me in Amalur is the art. Skyrim is nice looking in its own way but I found the gray and brown to be incredibly boring after a while. The world felt procedurally generated to me rather than built by a designer. Obviously Amalur’s style isn’t for everyone. It has been compared to WoW and Fable which, honestly I think is fair. If that sort of style doesn’t turn your crank then Amalur isn’t for you. personally I lost interest in exploring Skyrim and Dragon Age 2 because I never saw anything that looked very interesting. A big part of the reason I play games is for “new art”. That is the thing more often than not that keeps me progressing. What will the next level or zone look like? Amalur in my opinion is absolutely beautiful. This world has been thoughtfully and artfully constructed. It is vibrant and unique in a way that makes me hungry to explore over the next hill.

In the end I just want to make sure this game doesn’t slip past your radar. I think it would be easy to look at it and think it’s a pretty standard RPG. In reality Amalur is a unique experience full of great ideas. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

-Gabe out

[StarBound]

The combat in Skyrim is secondary to me. It's the world that grabs me everytime I boot up the game after having left it for a while.

2 weeks then we have amalur.