@Skyfire543:

Oh, I just skimmed your comment whoops. >.>

Everything about this game screams generic to me ... from the title to the art style. It might be well crafted but there's absolutely nothing special or characteristic about it. I'm bored by every aspect of the game.

I'm sure it'll find it's fans though as it seems to be the ultimate streamlined action/rpg.

Huh. The posts in this thread are making me apprehensive about the demo. I was looking forward to it, actually.

But I guess I'll still need to play it in order to get the Mass Effect stuff because I'm a Mass Effect whore.

For whatever reason I really dug the look of the game. Graphically it looks like an early-gen game but the cartoon look and use of really bright colors for plants and such make the areas so pretty to look at. Not entirely sure how I feel about the combat yet, though. I was going down the finesse tree and the first ability you could grab (the charge and dash slice thing) seemed pretty much useless, the next attack you got de-emphasized button mashing in favor of timing stuff which I much appreciated (button mashing bores me to no end) so if the game continues down that route it defiantly seems like something I would enjoy. 

The only part that really irked me was the silent protagonist. For a game with canned dialogue responses, this shit needs to go away. I feel it affects the atmosphere better than advanced shaders and tesselation, but that's a personal thing and it's understandable.  
 
The combat was fun, despite weird audio bugs. If those audio bugs are not fixed by the final product, then I will not be picking this game up until they patch that. The progression system is very cool and makes leveling feel very concrete and makes me anxious to level up, thus forcing me to do the quests. Some of the quests are indeed pretty generic and bad, but the ones that I accomplished in the demo had interesting enough story threads that I wanted to finish them (i.e. Egan, the Fae, the wolf, and the alchemist quests). The little bit of the story that you are able to complete had enough intrigue - if expected intrigue - to make me push forward. Oh, and those quests result in loot. That loot plus the progression made me want to play this game.  
 
Oh, and Roman gnomes. 

I really, really wanted to like this game.

I'm fine with generic fantasy settings, but good god, generic almost does not seem like a strong enough word from the set-up cutscenes. At least the combat is fairly freeflowing, yet slightly formulaic, but those are about the only two concessions I'm willing to give.

I don't know about other platforms, but the PS3 demo is fairly buggy and terrible. Large background models pop in and out depending on how much of them are in the frame, leading to jumpy framerate and the jarring effect of "I just barely moved the camera, why did this large wall covering thing disappear?" Plus, without that mesh/model/whatever you want to call it, it really just shows how samey and dull this opening is. I'll echo the complaints about dialogue, it just seems super-stilted and actually manages to bring the uncanny valley into this game about gnomes and dwarves and stuff. The guy you first meet's entire upper face simply does not move at all, leading to his excited voicework along the lines of "I JUST SAW YOU DEAD!" seeming almost routine to him... or he's had way too much plastic surgery... or he's tripping balls. And I don't even know about stuff past around 20 minutes, because I've had the entire thing lock up my console twice in two different places: once at the point where they introduce the sneaking, and again, before that, after the introduction to archery. I'd love to talk more about it, but I simply can't get past these parts, technologically speaking. It's ridiculous.

And just about the worst part is I find it hard to believe it will get any better between now and February 7th. Who knows, maybe just this tutorial is terrible, and it's non-indicative of how the rest of the game will play. Maybe my PS3 is just bad, which dear god, I hope not, it's only about a year old. But there just seems to be something fundamentally wrong with this, and I just don't see anyone being able to recommend it.

EDIT: Well, I managed to escape the glitchy tutorial of doom, and used about 15 of my 45 minutes before I got incredibly bored running around doing quests. For some reason, the framerate was infinitely better outdoors than indoors, which, I mean I guess makes sense in a weird sort of way due to leaf generation or something, I'm not that well-versed in why stuff happens the way it does (yet), but... the general feeling of bland never left. Essentially the quest I was doing involved some almost dead elf lady, and then running to a healer lady, to an apothecary, then the apothecary wanted to find her apprentice, and then the apprentice was a jerk, and then it just felt like there were way too many "and then's". Also it went back indoors, so the framerate immediately died. Again. Either way, my opinion of it is slightly better than it had been, but I still wouldn't reccomend it.

Yes, but did the demo seduce any of you? Were the mechanics and writing seductive enough?

I was more interested in this game before trying the demo. I still might buy and enjoy it but I don't know, something about it makes me hesitant. Also, I'm glad to see other people mention the shield thing; I almost feel bad that bothers me so much, ha.

I wouldn't call it bad.
Actually seems much better then quite a few recent rpg attempts like Divine Divinity or two Worlds 2
It's just genericky as fuck.
 
And demo has a sleugh of issues.
 
@Beforet said:

Yes, but did the demo seduce any of you? Were the mechanics and writing seductive enough?

I don't think you've ever played an actually bad game.

I'm actually really enjoying it; I love the art style, I enjoy the free-form combat and the options it presents, and I a downright sucker for this kind of loot-driven open-world RPG. The game is a buggy mess, though, with weird occurrences where the sound would disappear and all conversations would speed past, giving me no time at all to read the subtitles. With that said, it is a demo, so hopefully at least some of these issues will of been smoothed over come release.

Also I'm always appreciative of a game that gives a healthy list of broad and comically over-done facial-hair.

EDIT: Oh, I also dislike it when I can't play as a dwarf in these kind of games, so that's a bit of a downer.

GotY

I wouldn't say the game seems bad it just seems, alright. I find the setting kind of interesting and the combat is okay but nothing about it is super compelling. Oh yeah and whoever said the non voiced mass effect wheel is bad is totally right. It's also bizarre because sometimes it switches to a list like they couldn't figure out how to sort out your options in any sensible way.

@Tennmuerti said:

Actually seems much better then quite a few recent rpg attempts like Divine Divinity or two Worlds 2
It's just genericky as fuck.

Basically this is what I got out of it. The game seems like a slightly better Divinity II (not Divine Divinity. That game is actually pretty rad), which honestly isn't much of a compliment considering that Divinity II is aggressively mediocre in every aspect of its execution. The combat seems alright, but that's about as much as I can praise it. Everything else seems like a mish-mash of the most utterly generic fantasy world ever made with things that would've seemed innovative 6 years ago but now seem dated.

A friend of mine said it perfectly: this is a good version of Too Human. Fantastic combat, awesome loot, customization done right in an RPG, and an art style I can enjoy; however, that dialogue was horrid. I'm not one to skip right through voice acted bits like that, but I don't think I could have skipped half of those trees faster than I did with this game. While the acting was fine, it was just written in such a way that I don't think I could have cared less, or maybe it's just how it's presented on-screen? there's definitely a missing je-ne-sais-pas when it comes to the story-telling.

That said, what I liked about this game has amped me up for it.

I went in trying to like it and I ended up stopping after the game opened up and gave me a timer, but I was tired and was playing without sound due to my GF being sick and trying to sleep so I intend to restart the demo and try again but...nothing grabbed me, the art looked good when I walked outside for the first time but everything else just looks bleh.. and the ground textures Oh My the ground textures the PC version needs a high res texture pack something Bad. But I am not passing judgement yet I need to play way way more and with the sound actually on..

@Beforet said:

Yes, but did the demo seduce any of you? Were the mechanics and writing seductive enough?

No idea why, but this had me burst out laughing. In regards to Amalur; I'm fine with the silent protagonist but they just didn't pull it off right. With a new semester just starting I have to be really tight with my money. So I doubt I'll bother picking this up until it's around $20.

I hope it does well. I don't like seeing RPGs fail. But I have next to no interest in it.

Yeah the art style is pretty uninspired and probably one of the things that is bugging me so far in the demo. I'll probably wait for reviews or when it's on Steam sale before getting it.

I quite enjoyed it actually. The dialogue isn't an issue for me. I read a lot of books and I enjoy it, so story in games is a pretty important thing for me. Could've used some voice acting, but that's not a deal-breaker for me. The combat was a blast, and the whole destinies thing was pretty cool. I agree the inventory system could use work, scrolling down all the time to get to the boots got old fast. But the inventory item limit can be increased by buying backpacks, so that's not such a big deal for me. Just sell all your junk at every opportunity. The appearing/disappearing shield thing is kinda stupid, but if you use a talisman for your shield it makes sense again. Anyways, it was fun for me so it'll be a definite buy.

EDIT: Also, I liked the art style. It's different. Most games these days are shooting for realistic looking graphics. It's nice to see all these different art styles in games recently.

I liked the demo.

I thought it was pretty bad, until I maxed out the level 1 daggers skill and then I just spent 2 hours zipping around like a fucking ninja, stabbing dudes in their kidneys and generally being a badass.

I do admit that the dialogue (and voice acting) is a bit poor, but I'm willing to overlook that. Also that opening was incredibly dull and anticlimactic. I hope the rest of the game is better.

I only downloaded it for Mass Effect stuff, but I was unimpressed by what I played of it. There were some cool ideas, but overall it seemed boring and some of the combat stuff was mediocre.

Sorry, guys but what does the word 'generic' actually mean?

Lets be reductive:

• Combat is awesome, loving the finesse tree.
• Art style is great. I love it when there is fucking colour in a game
• Story. Can't judge from 45 minutes really but its fine to me.
• Quests pretty cool.
• Talking: good enough, though I'm beginning to get sick of all fantasy being in England or french Canada. Don't like the inconsistency in talking menus.
• Controls: PC. Absolutely fine. Love that the cntrl key makes you sprint.
• UI, clumsy navigation on PC, though I'll probably get used to it and they've probably since tuned it to be better for release.

Day one purchase for me =)

Game seems extremely plain to me, wasn't really at all invested in what was happening. Also, is this an MMO engine? Seriously this looks like almost exactly like WoW, including the 7 year old texture and model detail. I don't normally rag on a games visuals that much but this really looks pretty low rent, they try to hide it a little with some fancy coloured lighting but it still looks pretty dated/ordinary.

It seems pretty solid imo. I will predict it won't be as impressive as Witcher 2 story wise and won't match Skyrim in pure size... but i will probably say it will be a notch above games like Risen and Two Worlds and i'd even say Fable. Will have to play the whole game to find that out and i plan too.

I disagree that the demo was aggressively bad, but it didn't do much to capture my interest, either. I could see the combat becoming awesome once you get deeper into the skill trees, but as far as I got in the demo, it wasn't grabbing me. And the lore--admittedly, this is a premature judgment--seems like the exact kind of fantasy that I try to avoid.

I don't think Reckoning is the game for me.

I liked it, but I feel like a demo doesn't do a game like that any favors.  You can't get a feel for the different types of characters because you're only going to get to level 3 or so.  And you aren't going to pay attention to the dialogue or lore, because you know it's a demo -- everything is temporary and you don't/can't care.

@Spoonman671 said:

I don't think you've ever played an actually bad game.

That's a fair point, I don't think the game is actually bad (besides the story/world/lore) its more just bland and jankey. Like Two Worlds, Divinity or Risen. Not bad.. just not particularly good.

I'm downloading Dungeon Siege 3 on Steam again. Seems like that game does a lot of the things I wanted from Kingdoms of Amalur, but better. And it has co-op. Note I said 'a lot of the things', not all.

What I disliked about the demo:

• This is some fantasy-ass fantasy. Fateweavers, Well of Souls, The protagonist who apparently is the only person in the world who can change anything. FUCK.
• ME-style conversation wheel is fine, but weird that they switch between that and a regular list whenever the "important" conversation is over and you get to start questioning about random stuff.
• The entire way the tutorial worked. "Hey, you should pick up the bow. Try shooting some. Oh hey, some daggers for sneaking. Go on, sneaky sneaky!" Listen, I get it. Just let me know how to sneak and assassinate, then I'm good. That shit doesn't need to stop the game, and it sure as shit shouldn't be required of me to get out of the tutorial area. I'm not an idiot, let me play your fucking game.

After the tutorial and the conversation with the Fateweaver(ugh) I was done with the demo. It was really all I needed to see. Not sure if I'm ready to give the game a chance, despite the combat and art style being really good.

The combat looks good but I really hated the delay on button presses (same as movement and camera I might add).

@believer258 said:

However, I disagree with you in the inverse way. I thought the combat was bland, but the pacing and storytelling were pretty good. As for mashing two genres, a fast-paced action one and a slow talk-y one? Remember that Mass Effect does the same thing. Fast paced action and a bunch of talk-y sections.

Yeah, someone else said Dragon Age does the same thing, and I don't mind it in either of those games for several reasons. For one, combat sections in those games are clearly delineated. When you're exploring or doing a quest, you know it's going to be mostly fighting for a solid 20 or 30 minutes, so you get your fix. Then you go back to town and you know it's going to be talking and doing all your management stuff. Also, Hawke and Shepard are actual characters you can invest in because they have a voice and personality. And Mass Effect and Dragon Age both have great fiction, in my opinion, which Amalur is lacking. Or at least, it's presented so poorly.

@quirkwood: Slow down sir, how do you equate people thinking this is not a good game to people not wanting original things? Amalur isn't really original, it just mashed 2 styles of games together in a way that doesn't gel at all, in my opinion. It's not a case of wanting it to be something else, it's a case of the game having an identity crisis and seemingly not knowing what it wants to be, compounded with all the issues I had with it I mentioned in the OP. May I suggest getting off your high horse?

What a weird game. Regardless of all its flaws, especially the lack of a fucking voice for the protagonist when it so desperately needs one, I still kinda want to play just to screw around with the combat trees and finesse myself some mighty and magical character.

Question is of course with TERA, Guild Wars 2, Secret World, PANDAS & POKEMONCRAFT.. do I want a single-player MMO like Ko..A:T..R? .. I guess I do, maybe! I dunno, I'll play more that's for sure.

@danieljd said:

I was more interested in this game before trying the demo. I still might buy and enjoy it but I don't know, something about it makes me hesitant. Also, I'm glad to see other people mention the shield thing; I almost feel bad that bothers me so much, ha.

See, it's exactly like Zelda. Link just pulls random things out of a magical backpack for quick-use.

That said, I think this game is endearingly low-budget. I have a terrible tendency to really enjoy low-budget RPGs. Two Worlds, Divinity II, Gothic.... feed that shit into my veins.

I stopped after I finished the tutorial section. It does a lot of things well, mainly the combat but the setting and atmosphere is so incredibly boring and uninteresting I couldn't muster the will to continue. I'll probably get it on a steam sale or something but definitely won't be buying it full price.

@project343 said:

That said, I think this game is endearingly low-budget. I have a terrible tendency to really enjoy low-budget RPGs. Two Worlds, Divinity II, Gothic.... feed that shit into my veins.

Well considering it's really meant to be the introduction to the eventual Kingdoms of Amalur (or whatever they endup calling it) MMO, they probably are spending the bulk of the supposed $100 million combined budget (for Reckoning + MMO) on the upcoming MMO game, not the singleplayer RPG.

The camera is way too close to the character and basically prevents you from seeing what's going on (switching to mouse and keyboard half way through made it easier to look around, but still..) <- That and the terrible menu for m&k are the two big problems I have with the game/demo. Why are companies not able to employ one person who can make a simple and easy/fast to use menu for a PC version of a game anymore? Bethesda has the same problem with all of their games on the PC btw.  
 
Oh and I would also appreciate them removing the automatic zoom in/out during the combat... it is very confusing when you turn your camera around while the game is zooming in and out on its own. 
 
Everything else seemed "alright" to me and if they don't implement a way to zoom out and/or change the fov I will probably never play the full version. That's actually a real shame, because I kind of liked everything else. :(

The game is a poor mash-up of allot of other games, it lacks anything that makes it unique, I felt the game to be bland and boring, I didn't notice any glitches but the game just lacks something that makes me excited and want to play it.

Well I really liked my time with the demo, day one purchase for me at least. My only minor complaint so far was the weird camera, but nothing I won't get used to.

@Hugh_Jazz said:

• The entire way the tutorial worked. "Hey, you should pick up the bow. Try shooting some. Oh hey, some daggers for sneaking. Go on, sneaky sneaky!" Listen, I get it. Just let me know how to sneak and assassinate, then I'm good. That shit doesn't need to stop the game, and it sure as shit shouldn't be required of me to get out of the tutorial area. I'm not an idiot, let me play your fucking game.

THIS. I was gritting my teeth the whole way through because no one was giving me a two-handed sword, just a bunch of bullshit weapons I don't want to use. I really dislike the progression of the tutorial. Ultimately, I was outside of the cave and still didn't have the weapon I wanted. Either make the player try out ALL variants of weapons or let him choose which weapon he wants to try at the start (with the option of trying something else).

@RVonE said:

@Hugh_Jazz said:

• The entire way the tutorial worked. "Hey, you should pick up the bow. Try shooting some. Oh hey, some daggers for sneaking. Go on, sneaky sneaky!" Listen, I get it. Just let me know how to sneak and assassinate, then I'm good. That shit doesn't need to stop the game, and it sure as shit shouldn't be required of me to get out of the tutorial area. I'm not an idiot, let me play your fucking game.

THIS. I was gritting my teeth the whole way through because no one was giving me a two-handed sword, just a bunch of bullshit weapons I don't want to use. I really dislike the progression of the tutorial. Ultimately, I was outside of the cave and still didn't have the weapon I wanted. Either make the player try out ALL variants of weapons or let him choose which weapon he wants to try at the start (with the option of trying something else).

When you get outside the cave, and the demo timer starts, there is a little place to the left, outside the cave, you get awesome loot there.

One of them, being a big ass hammer.

@amir90 said:

@RVonE said:

@Hugh_Jazz said:

• The entire way the tutorial worked. "Hey, you should pick up the bow. Try shooting some. Oh hey, some daggers for sneaking. Go on, sneaky sneaky!" Listen, I get it. Just let me know how to sneak and assassinate, then I'm good. That shit doesn't need to stop the game, and it sure as shit shouldn't be required of me to get out of the tutorial area. I'm not an idiot, let me play your fucking game.

THIS. I was gritting my teeth the whole way through because no one was giving me a two-handed sword, just a bunch of bullshit weapons I don't want to use. I really dislike the progression of the tutorial. Ultimately, I was outside of the cave and still didn't have the weapon I wanted. Either make the player try out ALL variants of weapons or let him choose which weapon he wants to try at the start (with the option of trying something else).

When you get outside the cave, and the demo timer starts, there is a little place to the left, outside the cave, you get awesome loot there.

One of them, being a big ass hammer.

Yeah, I know. But I'm not a hammer guy. So I had to sell almost everything I had in order to buy a two-handed sword in town.

Bad? Not so much. Lacking any original flavor? Yes.

I like it.

I don't feel as negatively about is as most people. I enjoyed the combat and recognize that as the game advances it will occupy a greatest amount of the time spent in the full game. That said, I did have my own issues. Of course the story sucked, you must have seen that coming from the trailers. However, what bothered me most was that when I stole something with no one in the room, the guards still knew about it and I had to kill the entire starting town. There were some aspects of it that felt strangely budget though, for example, there were major encounters with no music - the troll in the tutorial for example.

KoA:R is like the opposite of a Tetley's Teabag. Tetley's the is a horrible tasting swill - but it comes in a fancy, but less funcitonal, Tetley's Teabag. You'd rather drink Tetley's swill for it's original packing than a good solid tea from some no-name new brand coming in a regular teabag. While I wasn't blown away by the demo, I know there's something in there that I'll love. I forced myself to adapt to the low FoV, I looked past the silent protagist and my initial disinterest in all the writing and characters... and I found a deep and fun character progression system and rich combat mechanics and eventually stumbled over some good writing and interesting questdesign.

Just like Skyrim, which sidequests are mostly not that good, the same is true for KoA:R, but there will be awesome stuff in there for sure. After 3 runs at the demo, I'm sure KoA:R is a slow burn burning brighter with every hours that passes, until it grows into one of my favorite gaming experiences of 2012. Hunt down the 'Court of Ballads'-faction's starter quest. It's worlds better than the other quests I found and an indication of how good KoA:R will eventually grow to be.

I'm calling 'Secret of Mana' on Kingdoms of Amalur : Reckoning, a game which started out being rather bland and unteresting, but over its course grew into my favorite action RPG experience to this date. I've a gut feeling KoA:R will do the same.

@Tennmuerti: Yeah, I disagree. It seems totally silly to me that, in a game that's being marketed as being all about player choice, you're forced to wield weapons you don't want to wield for the first part of the game. And yes, I purchased the weapon I wanted in the first town. Like I said, I had to sell most of what I had to do so because it was crazy expensive.

Still, while I hold this against the game, it isn't on my list of main gripes with this game.

@Tennmuerti: You hear a lot of people complaining about Skyrim's opening? That's the best way to go about those things. Tight, linear opening area where you're introduced to everything without it being shoved in your face. People can figure out how an inventory system works. And as for only needing to get through the tutorial once: fuck that. No game should demand that shit of you, ever. I'd rather be stumbling around in the open world not knowing what to do than having to specifically try out everything before getting out the door. In my mind it's how to play open world games.

[EDIT] I feel like I should add that since my first post in this thread, I've decided I'm probably going to get this game at or just after launch. It does interest me in a lot of ways, and if I can play and love Piranha Byte games then I can sure as hell make my way through this.