Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Demo

[ElAmigo]

So the demo is out, I for one enjoyed it quite a bit and am verrrrrrrry excited to get this game (though it probably won't be for a while after it comes out cause I still have a long list of games on Steam I need to knock out).

Anyone else try the demo out? And if so, what are your opinions of the game so far?

[Zyzzyx]

Just played through it. I'm torn.. I love the combat style, focusing more on fast-paced action, as well as the loot and such...I'm still torn on the interface of it all. The game is missing style. The perks page (or whatever, abilities? Wherever alchemy is stored) seemed like it was thrown in really quickly, which was kind of true for the rest of the interface as well. Is there also no way to zoom the camera out? No first person view for aiming bows? Being forced to get close enough for the auto target seems kind of ... outdated. It was missing the epic feel we may have come to expect from single player RPGs (epic feel mainly being...yeah, Skyrim, the one that kind of ruined style for every other game).

Can't comment on the quality of story too much, a lot of quests were locked down as expected and I spent more time trying to get used to the interface. Overall, it seems like it'll be a fun diversion and I love the combat.

Also, the flame shield. Holy shit.

[mystik]

I'm interested in trying it before buying as I'm still a bit skeptical. for people that try it ....

is it like Oblivion/Skyrim? because I hate those games and find them boring. is the combat more interesting/involving? the main story?

I like what I've seen so far, but I am scared it will be like Oblivion/Skyrim and I couldn't play that for long at all without getting bored/disinterested.

[Achaman]

checked live and STILL not available for me

[ElAmigo]

I'm interested in trying it before buying as I'm still a bit skeptical. for people that try it ....

is it like Oblivion/Skyrim? because I hate those games and find them boring. is the combat more interesting/involving? the main story?

I like what I've seen so far, but I am scared it will be like Oblivion/Skyrim and I couldn't play that for long at all without getting bored/disinterested.

No man, that's what I loooooooooved about it. While it's start is reminiscent of ES games the combat and artstyle is NOTHING like it. The combat I found to be incredibly fun. Once I got a good sized bite out of it I withheld from the rest cause I want the game to feel fresh when I first play it. It's available on Steam for anyone that uses it so give it a shot.

[miguelcrespo85]

Game of the year!! i played the demo to unlock the armor for the real game

[obdigore]

I knew I forgot to do something before I left for work today. Will have to get this when I get home.

[mystik]

No man, that's what I loooooooooved about it. While it's start is reminiscent of ES games the combat and artstyle is NOTHING like it. The combat I found to be incredibly fun. Once I got a good sized bite out of it I withheld from the rest cause I want the game to feel fresh when I first play it. It's available on Steam for anyone that uses it so give it a shot.

all right sounds like I will check it out after all then. I love RPG's but the ES series just does nothing for me. this seemed to be a lot more interesting form the videos and such I saw.

[Achaman]

If I buy Reckoning on a different platform than I played the demo, will I still get the Reckoning demo items?

No, you must purchase Reckoning on the same platform that you played the demo on, and unlocked the demo items for, in order to get items.


thats complete bullshit i cant play the xbox version which id prefer since i dont have gold membership and its gold exclusive

and the steam version is super buggy it doesnt show the cinematics and once past them all its glitched between showing the continue/skip cutscene screen and the actual ingame screen

[obdigore]

So... the in game items make or break this game for you?

That is... interesting I guess?

[ukrainium]

If I buy Reckoning on a different platform than I played the demo, will I still get the Reckoning demo items?

No, you must purchase Reckoning on the same platform that you played the demo on, and unlocked the demo items for, in order to get items.


thats complete bullshit i cant play the xbox version which id prefer since i dont have gold membership and its gold exclusive

and the steam version is super buggy it doesnt show the cinematics and once past them all its glitched between showing the continue/skip cutscene screen and the actual ingame screen

guess its another game i wont be buying

Lol, it's a demo. Have you ever played a demo before? It's like playing a game in beta; it gives you a feel for the game before it's official release. The PS3 demo is extremely buggy as well (cinematics skip ahead, game freezes). I'm willing to bet it'll be fixed for launch.

Also, about your grief with the demo items -- well, that's just stupid. How does it make any sense for me to unlock the Xbox items if I buy the PS3 version? Do you expect them to create some sort of cross-platform magic "Oh! You downloaded the demo on the PS3!? Ok! Here's your items for the Xbox version!" device? Bleh. Go back to playing Minesweeper, kid.

The game itself is ... ok. It feels a lot like a Fable clone to me. If people are getting this thinking it will replace Skyrim don't get your hopes up. They play nothing alike. Skyrim gives you complete and total freedom and you can do whatever you want. Kingdoms of Amalur seems very, very linear.

You can't jump. I hate games where you can't jump.

The demo doesn't provide much opportunity to get out and explore much. Unfortunately, my demo kept freezing when I reached Agarth just outside of the Well and I didn't want to play through a third time to see how much further the demo goes. The combat is pretty fun, but nothing new. It's your basic hack-and-slash to perform combos playstyle, or just blitz enemies from a distance with spells while chain-chugging mana potions.

The interface seems really dated and ... cheap. It's pretty clunky and jumbled together.

The skill trees are what you'd expect in a game like this, with three available (one for warriors, one for rogue-types and a mage tree). You have to spend X amount of points in a tree to unlock other abilities. In the mage tree, you start with a lightning spell and after 5 points it looks like you can unlock a fire spell. I didn't look into the other trees too much.

The perks page (or whatever, abilities? Wherever alchemy is stored) seemed like it was thrown in really quickly, which was kind of true for the rest of the interface as well. Is there also no way to zoom the camera out? No first person view for aiming bows? Being forced to get close enough for the auto target seems kind of ... outdated. It was missing the epic feel we may have come to expect from single player RPGs (epic feel mainly being...yeah, Skyrim, the one that kind of ruined style for every other game).

I agree 100% with all of this. The perks are confusing at first and seem really thrown together at the last minute.

Overall it seems like it'll be a nice distraction for a while, but I don't see it being as successful as other games in the same genre. It certainly doesn't live up to Skyrim, but nothing will because that game is in a class of its own.

[Achaman]

Lol, it's a demo. Have you ever played a demo before? It's like playing a game in beta; it gives you a feel for the game before it's official release. The PS3 demo is extremely buggy as well (cinematics skip ahead, game freezes). I'm willing to bet it'll be fixed for launch.

Also, about your grief with the demo items -- well, that's just stupid. How does it make any sense for me to unlock the Xbox items if I buy the PS3 version? Do you expect them to create some sort of cross-platform magic "Oh! You downloaded the demo on the PS3!? Ok! Here's your items for the Xbox version!" device? Bleh. Go back to playing Minesweeper, kid.

The game itself is ... ok. It feels a lot like a Fable clone to me. If people are getting this thinking it will replace Skyrim don't get your hopes up. They play nothing alike. Skyrim gives you complete and total freedom and you can do whatever you want. Kingdoms of Amalur seems very, very linear.

You can't jump. I hate games where you can't jump.

The demo doesn't provide much opportunity to get out and explore much. Unfortunately, my demo kept freezing when I reached Agarth just outside of the Well and I didn't want to play through a third time to see how much further the demo goes. The combat is pretty fun, but nothing new. It's your basic hack-and-slash to perform combos playstyle, or just blitz enemies from a distance with spells while chain-chugging mana potions.

The interface seems really dated and ... cheap. It's pretty clunky and jumbled together.

The skill trees are what you'd expect in a game like this, with three available (one for warriors, one for rogue-types and a mage tree). You have to spend X amount of points in a tree to unlock other abilities. In the mage tree, you start with a lightning spell and after 5 points it looks like you can unlock a fire spell. I didn't look into the other trees too much.



I agree 100% with all of this. The perks are confusing at first and seem really thrown together at the last minute.

Overall it seems like it'll be a nice distraction for a while, but I don't see it being as successful as other games in the same genre. It certainly doesn't live up to Skyrim, but nothing will because that game is in a class of its own.

dude stfu
comparing an any new rpg to skyrim is just retarded if you want something like skyrim just play skyrim
people do things differently if you dont like it dont play it

id agree with the perks they wernt the most exciting choices ive seen and i wanted to go the rogue kind of class sneaking around and stealing from houses but after being caught i didnt have much choice than to go to jail as the bribe skill was way too low to do anything else i personally hate rpgs that make you lose xp from dying or pissing off someone i also managed to fuckup a quest where you need to gather deer heads to summon a troll but as soon as it spawned it owned the questgiver and failing the mission i was still able to loot it and get a fancy ring out of it but who cares if quest givers get owned so easily then dont respawn to redo it

[ukrainium]

dude stfu
comparing an any new rpg to skyrim is just retarded if you want something like skyrim just play skyrim
people do things differently if you dont like it dont play it

Since Skyrim is pretty much the standard on how games like this will be reviewed, I fail to see how its irrelevant to compare the two. In this very thread alone it was brought up a few times as to how it compares, hence why I even brought it up.

I'm ... sorry? :/

[ElAmigo]

Could someone please explain to me what exactly the new standards are that Skyrim set? Or why it was so revolutionary??

And while I do agree the interface seems a little dated it barely affects how the game felt to me and the game was very fun. As for the comment on the game feeling linear but you barely got outside of the cave, that's like playing Oblivion and saying the game felt very linear even though you stopped just before you got out of the sewers.

[Kosic]

I recently saw a video to this game and it did look cool. I didn't read into it, I was just browsing different game release videos. I'm downloading the demo to see how it plays. From the video, I believe it reminded me of a cross with WoW, Skyrim and a little of Fable (Hack and slash style).
Will test it out in a good hour or so. My wireless connection to my Ps3 is somewhat slow. >>

[Fibby76]

Story-wise, the demo seemed promising, and combat-wise, it felt a lot like Fable, and the skill trees seems standard, nothing special or exciting. But the deal-breaker for me was the interface. I hated the feel of the camera, you couldnt zoom out, and the interface felt like it was made for consoles. I had the graphics set to highest setting, but it felt cartoony (not good cartoony feel, like wow, but bad cartoony). I might buy it one day if there was a good deal from Steam, but otherwise, I won't be buying it at release.

[ukrainium]

As for the comment on the game feeling linear but you barely got outside of the cave, that's like playing Oblivion and saying the game felt very linear even though you stopped just before you got out of the sewers.

Sorry, I meant more linear in terms of character development (only 3 skill trees, the perks system). Although from what I did see from the environments (which was very little, yes) you had little choice as to where to go. Hoping I'm wrong, but if the minimap in the top corner is any preview, I doubt we'll get to see much open environment exploration.

[OrcsRLame]

Could someone please explain to me what exactly the new standards are that Skyrim set? Or why it was so revolutionary??

And while I do agree the interface seems a little dated it barely affects how the game felt to me and the game was very fun. As for the comment on the game feeling linear but you barely got outside of the cave, that's like playing Oblivion and saying the game felt very linear even though you stopped just before you got out of the sewers.

Skyrim wasn't revolutionary at all. It was just another Elder Scrolls game. It differed from other Elder Scrolls games in that it removed many elements of player choice and customization, but it also modernized it concerning graphics, combat, and quest structure.

Other than that, not much has really changed since Daggerfall. Trust me, if anyone on these boards could be called an Elder Scrolls fanboy, it's me. And while Skyrim is a good game, it was not revolutionary in any way. Oh, also, Daggerfall was way bigger. Over 11000 times bigger than Skyrim in fact. 188000 square miles vs 16 square miles. If anything, Daggerfall was the revolutionary game, and every Elder Scrolls since has been regression.

[Achaman]

Sorry, I meant more linear in terms of character development (only 3 skill trees, the perks system). Although from what I did see from the environments (which was very little, yes) you had little choice as to where to go. Hoping I'm wrong, but if the minimap in the top corner is any preview, I doubt we'll get to see much open environment exploration.

i remember reading somewhere that most of the time there'll only be a few paths to go through an area much like fable 1 where there wasnt much of an open world and more like walking on a forest path with everything fenced off wth the odd spot for a dig spot or demon door its still a very enjoyale game and hack&slash has come a long way since that game with combo's and the fancy animations that make it more interesting but after multiple playthroughs of a game u endup knowing exactly where the treasure chests are and where all the side quests are
skyrim may be a decent sized world full of loads of side quests but after awile ull get fedup of the same generic kill quests or talk to this guy then that guy quests which is why they added fast travel but like i noticed in fable 3 to get the most out of your character ud best walk run there and kill everything on the way to get enough experience to level up or upgrade your shit and with only 2 paths to go can be very boring

if i do get KoA ill probarly wait till steam has it on its summer mega sale to get it super cheap
as the majority of games i bought on release day were very disapointing

[Edge-]

Lol, it's a demo. Have you ever played a demo before? It's like playing a game in beta; it gives you a feel for the game before it's official release.

Sorry, but a demo and a beta are two VERY different things.

Demo's are just demonstrations, they're supposed to reflect what the game will be. They give people, as you say, a feel for the game. If it's buggy, than I would expect a buggy game.

A beta is a stage of the game where they are actively testing it to weed out bugs and/or get feedback about different aspects of gameplay. It isn't supposed to be entirely representative of what the game will be like when it launches as it is still being tested.

Just because a ton of MMO's and some other games call demo's "beta", doesn't mean the definition has changed. And for many "open beta's" it's not as much testing the game, but testing the back-end hardware on the part of the company.