Kingdoms of Amalur – WilfridWong.com

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning – The First Eight Hours

“My name is Cara. I was dead and am resurrected at the Well of Souls. I am reborn with no destiny, thanks to the gnomes. I am the fateless one. And I choose my destiny. I cannot remember my past, nor do I know what my future will bring. Where is the Well of Souls? Destroyed, perhaps. I could be the last mortal in Amalur who has cheated death. You may say all things happen for a reason. Why does this happen to me? I honestly do not know.”

Finally, Kingdoms of Amalar (KoA) is out. I have started playing the minute the game is live and have clocked in eight hours of play time so far. I reckon the first eight hours into a game gives us a good feel as in whether or not we shall continue investing our time into playing it. Hence, I am starting a new First Eight Hours series in my website. If time permits, I shall write a first forty hours follow-up and post it here.

I doubt KoA would satisfy all the role playing gamers out there. Even Skyrim – recently awarded Game of the Year by AIAS – may have drawn a fair share of criticism that may or may not work for some. Below are my observations. Does KoA work for you? Only you can decide.

Engaging Combat System

My take after playing the demo is still valid. I have not seen a combat system quite like KoA in any role playing game. Using a gamepad for the PC platform is highly recommended. Because of the flexible character development, you can possibly find a balance that suits your play style. Special moves can be unlocked. With the dodging and blocking, charging and slashing, very soon, you may find that you are playing an arcade game. Yes, all combats happen in real time. There is no pausing and re-positioning. You roll, you hack, you slash, and you loot.

Open World, Vast but not that Vast

Some say KoA is an open world. Some say it is merely zones connected by narrow tunnels. However you see it, KoA does require a fair bit of walking and exploration. If you feel that walking is too inefficient, you could sprint. If you feel that sprinting is not good enough, you could open up the world map and perform a fast travel.

The zones are not that vast. You do not need to comb through a huge area to look for that something. It is less likely that you will get lost. It does not feel too empty like some other open world role playing games I have played. There are always packs of enemies lurking somewhere, guarding some treasure chests. Some enemies may spawn from nowhere and charge onto you. There are herbs to collect, and other mini-games to play such as lock picking and dispel. Enemies seem to respawn at a regular interval. So there is no shortage of loots and gold, experience points and action.

“Ah, the great outdoor!”

Artwork has a Cartonish Feel

Some despise gaming environment that is too cartoonish, say it is too dated. Some dig it. I happen to love how the fantasy world is painted in KoA, as I am a big fan of World of Warcraft. Since I have only played the game for eight hours, there are two towns I have seen. One is colorful and shiny like the picture above. The other is gloomy and dark, full of spider webs. I can understand why some may prefer artwork to have more realism. While I am on the topic of graphics, the retail version has a much higher quality than the demo version.

A Game for the Casuals?

Should games be hard? As hard as, say, Demon’s Souls or Dark Souls? Some enjoy dying a million times before seeing the ending. A true test of skill and concentration. Some prefer playing a game to relax. The normal mode of KoA is accessible. My character has yet to die once. There were some hair rising moments, including a curse that indefinitely zapped my mana and rendered my character incapable of casting any spell until she visited a healer. But with a bit of dodging and a bit of potion drinking, my character seems to do fine. Some gamers find the normal mode too easy. And they find the hard mode too easy too. If you are one of those, there are always ways to make such a game very challenging. Inspiration can be drawn from here.

Questing and Questing, Wait, Where is the Main Story?

Coming from the background of a massively multiplayer online game, I find the questing structure of KoA perfectly acceptable. Each town is a questing hub. You get to talk to the town folks, learn the town history from different perspectives. Some may need help from you. You may ignore and continue pursuing your main quest. Or you should spend time doing some side quests. Of the eight hours I have poured in, ignoring the beginning bit that is more like a tutorial, the time I get to experience the main story is very minimal. There seems to be so much to do. It take a quality assurance game tester 200 hours to test out all the quests on easy mode, skipping all the dialogues. It would probably take more than 300 hours to complete everything, if I so choose to.

I have not completed many quests so far, just a handful because it does take time even to tackle one. Some do have memorable stories provided that you have the patience to listen through the scripts. I do. Because I want to know what I am doing, why I am doing things. For those who prefer to skip through the audio dialogue, these quests would likely be reduced to the common tpes of kill and collect, collect and kill, FedEx, and escort.

Also, because this game encourages open questing, the main story may not seem as tight as those that are scripted linearly. Pros and cons, for either approach. I enjoy both extreme.

“OK then, let’s talk.”

PC Version or Console?

I don’t really have a choice. Because KoA and FF13-2 are released in the same time period, I play FF13-2 on PS3 when Cynthia is not watching TV and I play KoA on PC when she is. PC provides a higher resolution but requires you to be seated quite near to the monitor, unlike playing console games on a large flat panel TV. I play KoA through Origin and my progress is saved onto the cloud online. You can also take screenshot on a PC. For trophy lovers, you can more easily brag about your achievements on a console platform, or if you play via Steam. On PC, the switch between keyboard + mouse and gamepad is seamless. I don’t think playing KoA using only keyboard + mouse is a wise decision.

I am inclined to say that for some, the console version may be slightly better. Field of View and Level of Detail – both are hot topics on the forum, a concern for the PC gamers. KoA may be more tuned to console gaming, from the graphics point of view. Playing KoA on a PC may cause motion sickness. I would strongly advised you to play as far from the screen as you can. And yes, a gamepad would help. KoA is not a first-person-shooter. You don’t need to spin your view that fast.

Fancy a Re-spec?

I have not tried the re-spec function yet. But I read that it is possible to reset all your point allocation and potentially play the game in a completely different way. If stealth is not your cup of tea, no problem, try out a magic caster, or a strong melee. If you don’t like your skill specialization, reset it! If you don’t like a hybrid class and want to try out a pure class, pay some gold and get it done!

For my first play through, I have picked a three-way hybrid class. She is certainly not the most powerful being in Amalur. What to wear has always been a struggle (armors are itemized to the pure classes). But I enjoy a bit of flexibility. Because I cannot decide.

Did I Mention Player’s Housing?

Without giving away too much spoiler, yes, you can have a house of your own. You can even pay someone to upgrade your home by stages. There is a stash that store your hard earned loots. A mirror that allows you to change your appearance. Your home is going to be very functional too. You will see.

“Welcome to my home in Amalur! There is a bedroom upstairs and a basement below too.”

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning – A Demo Play

Update Feb 7, 2012: I have pre-ordered the game and have started playing since last evening at eleven. The graphics display is so much better than the demo version. I use a game pad (Xbox Controller) on a PC version. All the clumsiness of the keyboard and mouse control has gone! Yes, use a game pad to play this game. And if you are put off buy the demo quality, I am happy to say that the full game version is so much better.

I have not heard of Reckoning until recently, when the media starts to pick up on this upcoming western role playing game. Some label this as one of the most anticipated games in 2012. Wow, really? So I gave the demo a try. Now, before I get into that, here is a little background for you. Lead designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Ken Rolston is the executive designer of Reckoning. Fantasy author R.A. Salvatore writes the lore and Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn, creates the artwork. In 2009, THQ sold Big Huge Game – the then developer of this game – to 38 Studios, which is owned by former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. And EA Game is the publisher for Reckoning. I think so far so good except the last bit. I am not a fan of EA Game (recently broke the $1 billion mark in 2011 by the way). While I am pretty sure EA Game will destroy any sequel Kingdoms of Amalur may have – as how they destroy the Dragon Age franchise and more – let’s enjoy Reckoning while it lasts.

Reckoning is a vast open world western role playing game with an engaging combat system. It plays almost like a hybrid of Oblivion and God of War. Because the executive designer comes from The Elder Scrolls, Reckoning has a distinct Oblivion feel. I have not played Skyrim. Reckoning appears to have fixed a lot of annoyance I found in Oblivion. I don’t need to keep jumping or walking in stealth in order to gain level. Lock picking seems less frustrating. Spell casting and melee fight appears to be more seamless. It is so much easier to target, execute the moves in arcade style, dodge out of the danger, and continue to hack and slash, mixing magic with brutal melee attacks. And the dialogues? They have brought in the experts from Dragon Age team to help. Hence the strong resemblance. Although I must say, try not to expect the same level of cause-and-effect as it is in the Mass Effect universe.

There are four playable races. Two look like human race while the other two look like elves. You don’t get to pick a class, but rather you may specialize into might, finesse, and sorcery abilities. That roughly maps to a warrior class, a rogue class, and a wizard class. You can also have a hybrid of two, or even three. According to the interviews I have read so far, hybrid classes are totally viable. And you get to reset your choices in-game, if you so wish to. In another word, you don’t have to get stuck with a character development that you may have regretted.

Specializing into finesse can be very satisfying. As a rogue like class, you can eliminate your enemy with one-shot (that comes with decent animation). I have also tried a wizard like class. For these sort of games, I often find it hard to survive as a magic player. Reckoning‘s combat system makes it somewhat easier. But I still prefer a strong melee warrior type of character. I am just not too good at button mashing.

This game will be available on Feb 7 for the three gaming platforms. I feel that the game play may flavor the use of a controller, rather than keyboard and mouse. I have tried the PC demo. It does require my fingers to be quite acrobatically agile. To sprint, I need to toggle the left control key while performing the traditional WAD mashing. To execute the reckoning nuke move, I need to press and hold the X key while moving around and mashing both the keyboard and the mouse. There is no jumping in Reckoning (boo?). Pressing space bar enables your character to dodge at a direction you desire (yes, more button mashing). Some dislike the menu system. It does require quite a few clicks to get to where I want and quite a few ESC buttons to get back to the game. Because of the traditional inventory management system like any good old role player game has, I tend to visit the menu quite often to equip items during game play. I wish they could streamline how items can be equipped rather than the need to click through different categories in order to equip them.

I have played the demo twice. The game is certainly growing on me. The lore seems interesting and the encounters are refreshing. According to the developers, if you are to play Reckoning on easy mode skipping all the dialogues, it will take you 200 hours to complete all the quests. This is one very lengthy game, be warned!

Click here to view in-game images (with captions).

If you find the demo unplayable, you are not the only one. EA Game has sent the 3 months old code (prior to reaching gold standard) to a third party to package into a demo version. The result is a disaster. This is so typical of EA Game of course. On one end of the spectrum, we have games like Diablo III whereby the demo or beta is almost flawless. The game takes forever to be released. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Reckoning whereby the demo is so broken that it leaves many on the fence. Shall I pre-order or shall I not? Ken Rolston is right about one thing though. EA Game does generate the buzz as promise. I hope it is a good buzz. If you have time, you may wish to read Curt Schilling’s sincere apology. That post moves me. According to one official game reviewer, the game in its released form plays smoothly, with no issue. So it could well be the demo’s poor quality and not the full game. Back to the PC demo, if you have a black screen problem (like I did), go to video setting and disable the post-processing option. If you are unable to connect to EA server and claim your bonus items should you buy a full game, open the personal.ini file located in your document directory, wipe away the “blaze_email” entry, and restart the demo. This should solve your problem.

PS. Reckoning is the title of the last episode of Legend of the Seeker season one. In that episode, the Seeker’s eyes send out beams of light, just like in this game. And in this game, the destiny card for a character that generalizes into three abilities is coincidentally called the “Seeker”.