I don't know if anyone else was following Fable as religiously as I did but I was following the first one religiously ever since one of the first official xbox magazines talked about it. Of course it disappointed... but then I played this game last night and I gotta say it feels pretty great. The open world, the TRULY well done fighting. + the choices in conversations feel much more real... this is going to be like dragon age where your choices matter to the world not to your character...(which ties you in for the whole game if you want bonuses).

Though TBH i found the hammer and great-sword to be the best way to go about this demo...but its probably a little early to call imba...I highly recommend you guys try it its on steam right now. This is the way demo's are meant to be done, they give you an hour and tell you to do what whatever you want(within a limited space of course).

What do you guys think? agree? not? impressions of the demo?

Completely disagree. At least I have fun with the Fable games but this just bored me the whole way through.

I didn't have any graphical issues on PC like some people, post processing worked great for me, the environments look nice, and the game runs at a solid 60 FPS. The texture resolution is kind of low though and the game doesn't translate well to keyboard and mouse, which is remedied by switching to a gamepad. I'm also not a big fan of the camera and the UI of this game. The camera is way too close inside and seems to stick in battle outside when it zooms out, being able to manually change the camera distance would really help this game. I'll probably pick it up when it's on sale on Steam.

@yoshimitz707 said:

Completely disagree. At least I have fun with the Fable games but this just bored me the whole way through.

I thought Fable was on the right track with Fable 2, but then they released Fable 3.

I have to play the demo again, didnt give it much of a chance. Played on PC. Camera really bugged me. Sits kinda low and tilted up? Menus were pretty rough as well. Still seems like it could be better then Fable, but thats not saying much. So sad, really wanted Fable to be a great series, but man.....

@gamefreak9 said:

+ the choices in conversations feel much more real... this is going to be like dragon age where your choices matter to the world not to your character...(which ties you in for the whole game if you want bonuses).

Having scoured the entire demo for all content (by removing the timer) I don't think there was a single actual choice in dialogue that affected anything (besides avoiding a couple of simple fights)

I only played the 3rd Fable, which sucked, since it was neither interesting as an rpg nor had any interesting combat. So in that regard Reckoning is miles ahead.

@gamefreak9 said:

Though TBH i found the hammer and great-sword to be the best way to go about this demo...but its probably a little early to call imba...

Pretty much all 3 of warrior weapon choices are superb in combat. Tho the greatsword is by far my favourite, very large AoE moves and by the end of the demo I was doing around 100 dmg per swing non crit (to everyone in the huge swing area. Anything a mage or rogue can dish out at that point paled in comparison. Considering abilities that do dammage in this game do not scale, it's easy to see warriors normal attacks simply dominate compared to everything else.

I think Fable has it's unique quirks still, relationships per person is still a cool Fable feature and it has a little humorous charm. Reckoning seems to definately have a somewhat more involved combat system but i'm really hoping the Story gets more interesting because the Demo didn't do much for me.

I did love Fable till now, despite its shortcommings, but I don't think this will entice me as it seems completely devoid of humour and the entrapings that made Fable audacious. 

Looks like it'll be good, I'll probably buy it. But i have Always enjoyed Fable, I thought 3 was better than 2. It does seem pretty similar, but to me they are still very different.

@Tennmuerti said:

@gamefreak9 said:

+ the choices in conversations feel much more real... this is going to be like dragon age where your choices matter to the world not to your character...(which ties you in for the whole game if you want bonuses).

Having scoured the entire demo for all content (by removing the timer) I don't think there was a single actual choice in dialogue that affected anything (besides avoiding a couple of simple fights)

I only played the 3rd Fable, which sucked, since it was neither interesting as an rpg nor had any interesting combat. So in that regard Reckoning is miles ahead.

Well no when I say real choice, i mean that its choice for YOU, like, I don't have to worry to make the good/evil choice, i can just do whatever I like. Though when there's a persuasion choice its pretty much always the best option to choose. Um though in terms of choices affecting anything your right, but you never know, some choices could show later, like that gnome you have the choice of killing after you save from the bear.

@Tennmuerti said:

@gamefreak9 said:

Though TBH i found the hammer and great-sword to be the best way to go about this demo...but its probably a little early to call imba...

Pretty much all 3 of warrior weapon choices are superb in combat. Tho the greatsword is by far my favourite, very large AoE moves and by the end of the demo I was doing around 100 dmg per swing non crit (to everyone in the huge swing area. Anything a mage or rogue can dish out at that point paled in comparison. Considering abilities that do dammage in this game do not scale, it's easy to see warriors normal attacks simply dominate compared to everything else.

Do the abilities really not scale? I have to say the warrior even had the best magic... that quake thing, if properly comboed up and he casts it 3 times, the third hit, pretty much the strongest thing I saw during my time playing. Also the bow was useless at close range... the enemies dodge it too much.

@gamefreak9 said:

@Tennmuerti said:

@gamefreak9 said:

Though TBH i found the hammer and great-sword to be the best way to go about this demo...but its probably a little early to call imba...

Pretty much all 3 of warrior weapon choices are superb in combat. Tho the greatsword is by far my favourite, very large AoE moves and by the end of the demo I was doing around 100 dmg per swing non crit (to everyone in the huge swing area. Anything a mage or rogue can dish out at that point paled in comparison. Considering abilities that do dammage in this game do not scale, it's easy to see warriors normal attacks simply dominate compared to everything else.

Do the abilities really not scale? I have to say the warrior even had the best magic... that quake thing, if properly comboed up and he casts it 3 times, the third hit, pretty much the strongest thing I saw during my time playing. Also the bow was useless at close range... the enemies dodge it too much.

At least in the demo they don't, they just do the static dmg listed in the tooltip.

Buffs and modifiers (and some rare gear) that have +X% like your patron god for example that gives +5% lightning dammage seem to be the only way to affect them.

I thought it was kind of interesting and fun, but the world looks very sparely populated and static. The combat was cool and I got a kick out of that, but most of the rest of it was familiar and lacking originality. Comparing it to Fable is suitable as well as The Elder Scrolls, World of Warcraft, and Too Human. Ha-ha, I even got into some Zelda-like barrel smashing. I always wonder in these situations why no one say anything about me just breaking every barrel and crate in town (or in their homes). The camera seemed a bit too wonky for my tastes and there were numerous times when I was locked into attacking something off screen. Also the bowman attacks seemed to work weird. I could fire a five arrows and then my character would put up her bow. I'd then need to go through the animation of her taking it out again before she could fire off five more shots. I spec'd mostly into "Finesse" so I'm not sure if I was just going about it wrong. I had more fun with twin daggers slicing a mob up then hitting them with a lightning bolt for the kill. Aiming with bows was also off in my opinion. It was hard to lock onto whichever mob I actually wanted and not just one the CPU picked.

I played the demo on the PS3 and the graphics were less than stellar. Actually, I'd rank them as just barely acceptable for this point in a console's lifetime. I think Runes of Magic had graphics about as good as this and that's a three years old and free. On the other hand, it's a new game studio, so I'm willing to cut them some slack there. Having said that, though I can't see myself paying full price for this game. It's an amusing distraction and I would strongly consider picking it up for $30 to $40. I'm curious to know if it gets better the farther you get into it, because right now I'd say it's 2012's first biggest disappointment.

I was pretty excited for this game just picked up the demo on the 360 and the main things that bugged me were the UI, it's just awful and bland, and the movement of the character was off but ill see how it reviews

I'm kind of turned off of this game just from the marketing push lately on gaming sites. That game designer making the podcast rounds is SO DAMN ANNOYING. Ugh, I had to switch off every podcast he guested on once his voice would hit that high pitched squeal.

I agree that the combat is certainly much better in this game but you really can't compare what Fable was "supposed" to be with what the KoA:R demo is. Fable was supposed to be a sprawling open world where every choice had its consequence, a game where you could join up with the bandits or fight them, where planting an acorn would would eventually grow into an Oak (or whatever acorns turn into). Fable (as much as I enjoyed it) was never what it was supposed to be, it was a handful of gimmicks cobbled together into some semblance of an RPG. That said I still enjoyed Fable and Fable 2.

What the KoA:R demo seems to be is a better version of what Fable turned out to be. For me it seems to be Fable without any of the gimmicks distracting you from what this game actually appears to be, and that is a well crafted ARPG.

@yoshimitz707 said:

Completely disagree. At least I have fun with the Fable games but this just bored me the whole way through.

I agree. Fable was great with its own charm and everything. Why does everybody have to compare Kindoms of Almur to such big titles like Fable, Skyrim, and dragon age? Why cant this game be its own game and not have everyone comparing it to everything.

This happens any time developers try to make a new IP.

-___- and this is why we cant have new ips people are so overly critical nowadays to be honest im quite suprised at how well the game plays its refreshing to have an rpg where the combat is so fluid

yes the menus suck yes the graphics are somewhat subar but it is a new ip if it does well just imagine how great the sequel will be btw the demos was outsourced to other developers and its a 4 month old build

I had fun with the demo off steam but think that I'd do better with the console version for the controls being better away from the keyboard for a more responsive game than Fable 2 was. There were many moments for me in the demo where I'd be stuck trying to remember some of the key controls or getting stuck in an auto-run mode, also I'd prefer to play this on the console due to my tv being bigger than the monitor for enjoying the stylish look of the game. Really enjoying the fate mode kills on the rare enemies where your character just puts together some mystical huge weapon & hammering on a key/mouse to get more xp out of it. Too bad that in my time with the demo I stole some item out of the inn with nobody around to find out that everyone in the town was aware of me stealing some pants out of the upstairs room but resisting arrest didn't end until just about every npc was dead (just discovered the crafting at the weaponsmith shop & wanted to get all I could to see what I could make with it).

Good thing it's a demo as I'll definitely start over or only steal useful things & looks like anyone playing the demo will get some special things unlocked on your EA account for Kingdoms of Amalur as well as some armor for Mass Effect3 (guessing that you get this too by buying the game but could be wrong).

@fox01313 said:

I had fun with the demo off steam but think that I'd do better with the console version for the controls being better away from the keyboard for a more responsive game than Fable 2 was. There were many moments for me in the demo where I'd be stuck trying to remember some of the key controls or getting stuck in an auto-run mode, also I'd prefer to play this on the console due to my tv being bigger than the monitor for enjoying the stylish look of the game. Really enjoying the fate mode kills on the rare enemies where your character just puts together some mystical huge weapon & hammering on a key/mouse to get more xp out of it. Too bad that in my time with the demo I stole some item out of the inn with nobody around to find out that everyone in the town was aware of me stealing some pants out of the upstairs room but resisting arrest didn't end until just about every npc was dead (just discovered the crafting at the weaponsmith shop & wanted to get all I could to see what I could make with it).

Good thing it's a demo as I'll definitely start over or only steal useful things & looks like anyone playing the demo will get some special things unlocked on your EA account for Kingdoms of Amalur as well as some armor for Mass Effect3 (guessing that you get this too by buying the game but could be wrong).

The 360 pad is natively and perfectly supported for the PC version. Do you really want to waste more of your precious lifetime on loading screens? It's similar to Skyrim in terms of loading time length and frequency. Whilst I can barely read the helpful pro tips on PC, because loading times are so quick, that certainly ain't the case for console versions of these games.

So between getting the exact same experience when using a gamepad and native 1080p rendering, higher framerate, much faster loading times and likely the possibility to tweak settings like FoV and god knows what else and paying less for the box - it'd be downright stupid to get the console version. There isn't even a multiplayer aspect to the game, so XBL and PSN friends don't factor in.

I estimate you'd spend 10x as much time on loadingscreens when playing on consoles than on PC. If you're gonna do a thorough 100+ hours playthrough, I bet it's going to be couple of hours on loading screens opposed to a couple of minutes overall. And if you don't have a 360 pad for your PC yet - it's integral for the best multiplatform gaming experience around and it should be a highest priority purchase for you.

@senorfuzzeh said:

@yoshimitz707 said:

Completely disagree. At least I have fun with the Fable games but this just bored me the whole way through.

I agree. Fable was great with its own charm and everything. Why does everybody have to compare Kindoms of Almur to such big titles like Fable, Skyrim, and dragon age? Why cant this game be its own game and not have everyone comparing it to everything.

This happens any time developers try to make a new IP.

Because VIDEO GAMES. Everything is iterative of something else. Especially when Reckoning looks like the most unoriginal fantasy world ever created.

@themangalist said:

@senorfuzzeh said:

@yoshimitz707 said:

Completely disagree. At least I have fun with the Fable games but this just bored me the whole way through.

I agree. Fable was great with its own charm and everything. Why does everybody have to compare Kindoms of Almur to such big titles like Fable, Skyrim, and dragon age? Why cant this game be its own game and not have everyone comparing it to everything.

This happens any time developers try to make a new IP.

Because VIDEO GAMES. Everything is iterative of something else. Especially when Reckoning looks like the most unoriginal fantasy world ever created.

Just gonna leave this here, since it's the most 'revealing' footage out there. It certainly makes the game look incredibly enticing to me.

Original fantasy is overrated. Look at modern day Final Fantasy (a matter of taste I know) and all the other 'oh-so-original' JRPG-crap. Barely coherent stories about shemales and teen idols and their furry friends going on a time paradox laden roadtrip to nonsenseville being all teenage angst and deep thoughts on emo philosophies of questionable validity. I take tolkienesque High Fantasy or Dark Fantasy any day. Or WoW'ish comic fantasy.

Standard fare (of whatever) has an undeservedly bad rep, especially since whatever set the standard is usually the best of its kind. It's human nature to be wrong. Being down on standard fare by default is erroneous.

@Seppli said:

@themangalist said:

@senorfuzzeh said:

@yoshimitz707 said:

Completely disagree. At least I have fun with the Fable games but this just bored me the whole way through.

I agree. Fable was great with its own charm and everything. Why does everybody have to compare Kindoms of Almur to such big titles like Fable, Skyrim, and dragon age? Why cant this game be its own game and not have everyone comparing it to everything.

This happens any time developers try to make a new IP.

Because VIDEO GAMES. Everything is iterative of something else. Especially when Reckoning looks like the most unoriginal fantasy world ever created.

Just gonna leave this here, since it's the most 'revealing' footage out there. It certainly makes the game look incredibly enticing to me.

Original fantasy is overrated. Look at modern day Final Fantasy (a matter of taste I know) and all the other 'oh-so-original' JRPG-crap. Barely coherent stories about shemales and teen idols and their furry friends going on a time paradox laden roadtrip to nonsenseville being all teenage angst and deep thoughts on emo philosophies of questionable validity. I take tolkienesque High Fantasy or Dark Fantasy any day. Or WoW'ish comic fantasy.

Standard fare (of whatever) has an undeservedly bad rep, especially since whatever set the standard is usually the best of its kind. It's human nature to be wrong. Being down on standard fare by default is erroneous.

Thank you for the back up, amigo.

Fable's puerile sense of humor really got on my nerves; there were a few moments throughout the series that got legitimate laughs out of me but all the chicken and fart jokes were just lame. While I don't condone more games to go the "thuper therial" route and make it all about elves and ripping off Tolkein and shit, I do think Amalur is doing it right. That is, looking at things in the long-term: taking a chance on big ideas and hoping to flesh them out for years to come. 38 Studios and Big Huge have some fuckin' balls, which should be bronzed and then polished daily even if you don't really want to.

If you're one of the many out there who complain about how stagnant the industry has become, or how it all seems to be about "the money" these days then you should take a good hard look at this game. Fuck buying it, or liking it; that's petty talk. Let's talk about how we can support more projects like this in the future instead of complaining about the small stuff like we always do

Fable is a game that is driven by its atmosphere and charm, and the combat is just a means to an end. Amalur is a game without atmosphere and charm where the combat is the entire focus. The comparison is completely myopic.

I guess I was lucky to not be following what was being said about Fable 1 at the time because I still really enjoy despite it's "disappointments"

I like it a hell of a lot more the Fable 2 or 3.

Yeah, when I played through the demo all I came away with was, "this is just Fable without the charm."

@Seppli:

Well considering my pc isn't all that great right now & personally I don't mind playing single player games on the console. I just find it more comfortable to play for long periods of time in games like Skyrim/Fallout New Vegas to do so while sitting on a couch looking at a 30" tv instead of a 20" monitor. My thoughts is that people should play it to see what all of it is about & go with whatever system the will enjoy the game most on.

@Seppli said:

Original fantasy is overrated. Look at modern day Final Fantasy (a matter of taste I know) and all the other 'oh-so-original' JRPG-crap. Barely coherent stories about shemales and teen idols and their furry friends going on a time paradox laden roadtrip to nonsenseville being all teenage angst and deep thoughts on emo philosophies of questionable validity.

No oversimplification or stereotyping here. Nope.

@Hailinel said:

@Seppli said:

Original fantasy is overrated. Look at modern day Final Fantasy (a matter of taste I know) and all the other 'oh-so-original' JRPG-crap. Barely coherent stories about shemales and teen idols and their furry friends going on a time paradox laden roadtrip to nonsenseville being all teenage angst and deep thoughts on emo philosophies of questionable validity.

No oversimplification or stereotyping here. Nope.

The negative spin on JRPGs is mostly there for effect, even if I don't appreciate modern day JRPGs much. I loved them during the 16-bit era and am still playing one a year on average. I completely understand the fascination with them. That said, usually JRPG stories are far from coherent, well paced or believable and I find little redeeming value in the fact that their setting is usually very unique (yet most often structurally derivative of every JRPG before it).

The point I'm trying to make is, unique settings are overrated. A well done 'standard fare' game is more likely to be memorable, than a shitty game putting a unique spin on its setting. Like the game I'm looking most forward to in 2012? Firaxis' X-COM remake. Straightforward alien invasion. The most overused and common videogame premise ever. I love a well done alien invasion. Just as much as I love high fantasy with elves and orks and dragons and whatnot. Amalur still has to prove itself for sure. What we've seen in the demo wasn't all that great. Disqualifying it outright for being 'standard fare' though? That's just dumb.

@Storms: Yes, there was, to all of your rhetorical questions.

@Getz said:

Fable's puerile sense of humor really got on my nerves; there were a few moments throughout the series that got legitimate laughs out of me but all the chicken and fart jokes were just lame. While I don't condone more games to go the "thuper therial" route and make it all about elves and ripping off Tolkein and shit, I do think Amalur is doing it right. That is, looking at things in the long-term: taking a chance on big ideas and hoping to flesh them out for years to come. 38 Studios and Big Huge have some fuckin' balls, which should be bronzed and then polished daily even if you don't really want to.

If you're one of the many out there who complain about how stagnant the industry has become, or how it all seems to be about "the money" these days then you should take a good hard look at this game. Fuck buying it, or liking it; that's petty talk. Let's talk about how we can support more projects like this in the future instead of complaining about the small stuff like we always do

this ^^^^ stop complaining about all the sequels

if your not willing to give agame a fiarshot without going omg the grafix its buggy for a demo that means the real game is that way

as for it being unoriginal i see your point but to be fair it is a fantasy world and eleves are to be expected granted the artstyle is like wow somewhat but you could say the same with celshaded games

Fable should have been Black and white 3

@Seppli said:

@Hailinel said:

@Seppli said:

Original fantasy is overrated. Look at modern day Final Fantasy (a matter of taste I know) and all the other 'oh-so-original' JRPG-crap. Barely coherent stories about shemales and teen idols and their furry friends going on a time paradox laden roadtrip to nonsenseville being all teenage angst and deep thoughts on emo philosophies of questionable validity.

No oversimplification or stereotyping here. Nope.

The negative spin on JRPGs is mostly there for effect, even if I don't appreciate modern day JRPGs much. I loved them during the 16-bit era and am still playing one a year on average. I completely understand the fascination with them. That said, usually JRPG stories are far from coherent, well paced or believable and I find little redeeming value in the fact that their setting is usually very unique (yet most often structurally derivative of every JRPG before it).

The point I'm trying to make is, unique settings are overrated. A well done 'standard fare' game is more likely to be memorable, than a shitty game putting a unique spin on its setting. Like the game I'm looking most forward to in 2012? Firaxis' X-COM remake. Straightforward alien invasion. The most overused and common videogame premise ever. I love a well done alien invasion. Just as much as I love high fantasy with elves and orks and dragons and whatnot. Amalur still has to prove itself for sure. What we've seen in the demo wasn't all that great. Disqualifying it outright for being 'standard fare' though? That's just dumb.

Labelling JRPGs as having incoherent but unique storylines is a stretch; it doesn't prove your point. I also don't recall saying i'm dismissing Reckoning, so I don't understand why you are jumping in defense oh so quickly. But i'll tell you i don't find it appealing at all.

First and foremost, don't use the word "redeem" here because presentation and gameplay should not be measured on the same scale. Yes we have the Dragon Age that plays great with a well-written yet heavily inspired fantasy story. What made X-COM so special was also how the game played. Calling its setting unoriginal is not much a shocker right? And then we have HL2. Alien invasion FPS but the setting, the character designs, and the overall world is far from "standard". Point is, we often define good games as having either good gameplay, or good presentation; the five-stars have both.

It is true that with all the works of fiction out there after hundreds of years it is hard not to tread on the same conventions. But good games usually try to be innovative (aka different); or perfect the formula. Look at zombie games. They still make them, and yet there exists many play styles of tackling the zombie apocalypse scenario. Other than the tired duel stick shooters, I'd proudly say the zombie genre is well "alive" and kicking. It's a tired setting but hey, people still find new ways of letting the player kill sum zambies.

Therefore, a game can be different be it through gameplay or presentation (design, narrative, etc.), and I see neither in Reckoning. The closest I can say is that Reckoning is an attempt to perfect the ARPG formula, but it's a genre that had been done so much and so well the only thing that would make me want to dive into yet another fantasy world would be if it tried differentiate itself from the other major milestones in the genre. Of course I'd wait for the reviews, but up till now I'm nowhere near excited. I guess I've made my point that I'm not refusing to give Reckoning a chance because it is standard fantasy, and I am not dumb.

@Storms: Atmosphere isn't the same as immersion. With all the lens flare, soft edges, fairytale music and narration, Fables 1 and 2 were shot through with atmosphere. And as for charm, the game's lighthearted sense of humor inarguably resonated with a great many people. I was somewhere in between your position and theirs, but I certainly saw the appeal of something you can just fart around and play house or kill your wife, or buy hats, or whatever.

By the same token I could ask you what immersed you in Amalur, since I just followed pointers for twenty-five minutes until I went to steal a book, was caught (despite no one else being in the room to see me do it), and then was attacked by the entire starting town, whom I killed in self defense. Immersive. But we don't need to argue about it. Clearly, the point is made that what works for fans of fable does not work for fans of Amalur in the Charm and Atmosphere departments - at least in our two anecdotal cases.

At least Fable has a unique look. KoA seems like Todd McFarlane choose to make exact copies of WoW art and put none of his personal style into it.

I didn't think this question warranted a thread so I figured this thread could suffice?

I was wondering if there are any spears/polearm weapons in the game? I'm currently playing the demo and have yet to find any :[

I didn't think this question warranted a thread so I figured this thread could suffice?

I was wondering if there are any spears/polearm weapons in the game? I'm currently playing the demo and have yet to find any :[