Kingdoms Of Amalur Thoughts

[HoonDing]

people commenting on difficulty: isn't this a tutorial dungeon? most new school gamers would immediately return a game that they couldn't even get past the tutorial without dying...

 

unless the game is dark souls, but for that game everyone was given plenty of warning.

So then they'll return the game right after the tutorial?

 

And what about Ninja Gaiden, Way of the Samurai, Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Heavenly Sword, etc?

[Tigranes]

Difficulty doesn't change much outside the tutorial. And I don't see it changing a lot more because (1) there is no AI, they just take turns to slowly walk up to you and do their one move, (2) the combat is premised on you being able to chain a lot of cool combos on an essentially inert and helpless enemy, rather than dynamics of blocking and interruptions a la Gothic/Risen, etc. So it's not about difficulty, it's about chaining Cool Stuff!!!!!111, from what I can see.

 

There do seem to be interesting mechanics there, and I enjoyed putting traps down as my finesse character, but that all goes to waste if the monsters are all dumb and indistinguishable. The only real enemy of note was the wolf in the first open area of the game.

 

Might be good later on a $5/$10 sale.

[Hassat Hunter]

I suppose I would be more impressed if it... like... worked.

Instead of THIS:

 

Time to find what they screwed up. That my resolution and graphic options are never saved is probably a sign.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Turn off post-processing.

[Orchomene]

Turn off post-processing.

 

I confirm. I had the exact same problem and turning off post processing does the trick.

[Hassat Hunter]

Tried the demo. Hate it... uninstalling now.

 

The art sucks, the music sucks, the combat sucks.

And I am no graphicswhore, but the graphics are from 2008. And has heavy popup. And enemies that are invisible and only rendered when in your face sometimes. That the graphicoptions are screwed and keep resetting helps nothing either.

The AI is horrible.

"Hey, someone blasted me in my back... let's sit down again"

"Wait... that guy... oh, must be nothing. Lalalala...* 30 sec later *Hey, he killed me 7 times already. I am that much killable since I am a quest-giver. Yay being able to kill everyone, exceptions plenty of course"

 

More examples of geniality;

*attacks whole town, murdering about 20 people with ease...*

Guard; "give up"

Me; "no"

*kill more*

 

Leave... return 15 min later.

 

Guard: "Crimal, give in"

Me: "Why? I can easily kill all of you again!"

Guard: "Your resist option is greyed out!"

Me: "****! Well, lock me up I guess."

 

*escapes*

*gets killed by 2 guards. Somehow these 2 are more dangerous than 20 outside*

*clicks respawn*

*Guards are friendly... since I am not set to hostile anymore :/. Oh, and they don't mind me using a lever while it's labeled a criminal action*

 

And as everyone's saying here, you can stunlock everyone... but white bears (they are unstunlockable on their behind legs). I suppose it might get more impressive later, since I attacked a village of dark elves and they were all mages that gave me a run for my money (till the demo ended). Even bosses like the ogre.

And whoever came up with "press button repeatedly to get more XP" should get shot. Afterwards I just wanked it since I gave up hope already anyway, and wanted people be unable to say 'play more, it will grow on you!'

It didn't...

 

And don't get me started on the bugs... Oh, the bugs.

No game at all if post-processing is on. Loading a new map and the character keeps moving in a direction until you hit those keys. But good luck if you have a convo before you can do that, you're unable to select any options but the one it's locked on, afore-mentioned AI issues, some NPC's you're unable to turn hostile-mode on (even if you can kill them with it later), unpick-upable loot bags, various pauses during combat, a lot of lines that are shown on screen but never said, broken lipsynch (most people just keep their mouth shut) and that's just what came up to mind... cause there were loads more.

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention the UI is even worse than Dragon Age 2. The amount of screens and actions for your inventory, skills and other stuff is austounding. I just gave up on equipping items after the tutorial dungeon (then again, I did the same for the game), it's just soooo convoluted...

Edited January 18, 2012 by Hassat Hunter

[Morgoth]

This issue has been fixed with the final release though, the devs have confirmed.

[Nonek]

Liked the character creation, very simple and intuitive (and you could craft an Ahnolt the barbarian). Overall i'd give a hefty shrug however, there are too many niggling little irritations to convince me to endure the game. It doesn't seem lacking in any significant way, just rather mediocre; i'd rather be walking the Mojave in the hopes of finally finishing new vegas.

[MacMichael]

Played a bit of the demo until I got hung up on the tutorial dungeon boss's body and couldn't get free. Enjoyed the combat enough, though the camera kept annoying me. I'm actually a little surprised how well it ran, since I'm still stuck on my laptop after Skyrim killed the mainboard in my desktop a couple months back. Need to give it another try, but it looks like something I'd pick up, only question is how long after it's released.

[Orchomene]

I won't buy it unless it's at a very low price (less than 10 euro). It's not that bad, but not very attractive.

[Oner]

Demo, round 1: Froze when I equipped the longbow.

Round 2 after work.

[sorophx]

as Tigranes said, the enemies are so dumb it's not funny. the combat itself looks and feels solid, but not much point in all that since there's no challenge. I got my ass kicked once, by that pack of wolves. but switching from melee to magic did the trick, right now magic feels like cheesing.

 

and omg the interface...

 

maybe the full game will have enough redeeming qualities. I'll wait for opinions though

 

oh, and how do you save in the demo?

Edited January 19, 2012 by sorophx

[Hassat Hunter]

oh, and how do you save in the demo?

You don't...

[Tale]

So... chakrams are pretty awesome. They have a medium range and seem to attack anything in the path of their flight. They and the sceptre seem like the best weapons in the game. My rogue-mage had more fun with his mage weaponry.

 

Kind of struggling to figure out what I'll use the rogue part for now. The shadow ability was kind of nice to slip into combos but was completely unnecessary given how well the dagger combo chains into chakram by itself. Stealth is a non-combat ability unrelated to finesse and assassin's arts is given automatically.

[mkreku]

I liked it. Felt like a single player World of Warcraft. Will probably pick it up when released. The world seems interesting enough and that's all I need.

[GhostofAnakin]

Any companions/henchmen/sidekicks in the demo?

[Labadal]

I think I'll get it.

 

There were some annoying stuff, like the camera, and enemies/NPCs popping up on screen. I hope this will be fixed, the demo was not based on the final build from what I read. I can see myself enjoying this. Probably picking this up in March.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Any companions/henchmen/sidekicks in the demo?

 

Strictly single-player affair.

[Oner]

I have to say the lockpicking and dispelling tutorials suck. The former barely gives an explanation of the mechanics while the latter jus refuses to let you practice and get the hang of it.

[Bendu]

The best thing about the demo is the free Mass Effect 3 stuff.

[Blarghagh]

Any companions/henchmen/sidekicks in the demo?

 

Strictly single-player affair.

 

Just the demo, or the whole game? I'm not sure if I'll get this yet, but companions would be a deal breaker.

[Labadal]

Any companions/henchmen/sidekicks in the demo?

 

Strictly single-player affair.

 

Just the demo, or the whole game? I'm not sure if I'll get this yet, but companions would be a deal breaker.

 

No companions from what I understand.

[Gizmo]

I was underwhelmed by the demo ~and this surprised me.

[entrerix]

got bored with the demo after 20 minutes, this game has no place in my life

 

edit: more detail - if you want to make an action game, include hit detection and animation that matches, precision, timing, and spacing should be key, not mashing buttons. see dark souls. if you want to make an rpg you need to do more to hook the players into your world. see planescape torment. lastly, if you want to clone an action rpg hybrid for god's sake don't clone fable. (proper answers could include diablo, system shock 2, deus ex, fallout new vegas, morrowind, or dark souls)

Edited January 25, 2012 by entrerix

[Nepenthe]

got bored with the demo after 20 minutes, this game has no place in my life

 

edit: more detail - if you want to make an action game, include hit detection and animation that matches, precision, timing, and spacing should be key, not mashing buttons. see dark souls. if you want to make an rpg you need to do more to hook the players into your world. see planescape torment. lastly, if you want to clone an action rpg hybrid for god's sake don't clone fable. (proper answers could include diablo, system shock 2, deus ex, fallout new vegas, morrowind, or dark souls)

I think that about covered it, yeah.