Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

We have played them for years. Stat-driven role playing games make the very base of gaming culture. Whether you know it or not, the game you are playing is using the fundamentals of pen and paper role playing. To take on the world of true open role playing is a feat that deserves respect. To conquer it, that deserves your reverence.

You may have heard the split reviews praising this game for it's combat system while degrading the game for it's lack of ingenuity. I have also heard and read a lot of noise from reviewers that honestly make little sense. Reviewers that ripped Two Worlds Two to shreds for it's glitches and nodded their heads at it's brave take on magic mentioned little of Skyrim's aging and inherently imbalanced game play and overlooked it's serious flaws. Kingdoms of Amalur is not Skyrim, and is not Two Worlds Two, and I thank the spirit of Gary Gygax that it is neither.

To sum the game up quickly:

Kingdom of Amalur is a well built, well balanced game that doesn't try too hard. It is fun to play and may be played for many, many, many hours to come. It is fast paced and likes to reward you for everything you do. The lore is not as epic as other games because it is first and foremost a game, not an interactive story. If you would rather play Diablo than Final Fantasy, this game is for you.

To sum the game up in a very long way:

Let's get all the hype and trivial whines out of the way first. Todd McFarlane may have lent his name to the games credits, but you will not notice any serious influence from the man of Spawn fame and yes, the art direction is highly reminiscent of World of Warcraft. Ken Rolston was also in the development ranks, but you are better off playing Morrowind if you want to experience the full expansiveness and unbridled visions equivalent to Dr. Frankenstien's monster. R.A. Salvatore was also a big name that doesn't quite grace the paragraphs of dialogue as well as the pages of a book. This is not the end all, be all of Role Playing Games. It is more like my favorite quote from Einstein "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."

Kingdom of Amalur is more in the vein of hack and slash than it is grind and build. There may be certain aspects that allow you to be tedious, but these are far from necessary. The development team really focused on the speed and fluidity of the game. Everything is designed in a way to make the game much faster and more accessible. If you think you will get bored of playing this game, you haven't thought about the hours of fruitless traveling and loading screens that plague it's competition. I work 40 hours a week at an actionless job. I don't have time for loading screens, useless skills, slow saves, horseback riding or glitched quests.

Amalur keeps the action coming. The combat system is quick and fluid, but beyond the basic wack, wack, block. Your health and mana potions are more accessible than they are in Diablo, but if you want to take a quick experience buff potion you can pull up the quick pick wheel and take your time selecting one while the the game waits. You have a primary and a secondary weapon that you are encouraged to use equally in battle. You will also be expected to sling spells or special attacks into your combat chains to build up your fate meter. A full fate meter will allow you to fate shift and kill more things much faster and end it in a brutal fatality move that gives you extra experience for slapping one button really quickly. The combat reminds me of a culmination of SoulCalibur and Streetfighter Alpha.

The combat ability trees are simple and the abilities are independent enough to be used together in any combination. Some are easier to build combo attacks with, but they aren't the end all, be all. The Fate Card system will reward you for placing so many points any combination of the each of the three skill domains. Between Might, Finesse, and Sorcery, the combat options are plentiful.

The support skills are separate and level separately. You don't have to balance your combat abilities with your support skills. You can be a great thief and still destroy your opposition. The development team obviously wanted you to be able to enjoy the balanced and useful support systems if you wanted to. They even included some systems that benefit the basic dungeon crawling game approach by helping you find hidden treasure, more gold, or even scrap items you don't need for a partial sum while freeing up inventory. If you are not happy or get bored with your combat abilities and skills, you can always pay a Fate Weaver to reset your skill points. The gold cost gradually grows with every time you use the Fate Weaver.

Speaking of scrap items, you will find that this game is a loot fest. You will find normal, magic, rare, unique, and set items and you will want to keep most of them because they look cool. You will luckily gain your own house and stash early on in the game, but you will fill that stash pretty quickly. Quest rewards are great items, but some of the best items will be found by exploring. All in all this game loves rewarding you. Finishing a quest may grant you a permanent boost to your stats, some sweet loot, or any number of additional frills. There are also items that can be collected to gain permanent boosts to your stats. Be action oriented and be rewarded.

Did you notice the mention of experience potions, and extra experience for fate shift fatalities? This game wants you to gain levels quickly. You gain experience for just about everything in this game. I am level 30 now and have put in about 42 hours of game play. If I hadn't been sidetracked with the crafting skills, I would at least be level 35 by now. The development team made sure that you do not need to invest a serious amount of time to be a seriously awesome character. You can stop to save your game and continue playing while it saves in a background process, it doesn't affect game play in the slightest. That is because they want you to play the game, not wait for it.

You will find that exploring focuses on details. The landscapes are fairly contained and encourage you to move through the game much like a linear game, except there are secrets to be found for those that wish to look. It is one of the more tedious things you may spend your time doing. You can also invest your time in harvesting ingredients for alchemy, crystal shards for sagecraft, or breaking down equipment for blacksmithing. These systems are well made and will reward you for using them. I am especially partial to the incredibly well build alchemy system. A master alchemist can binge on potions and become godly for a few seconds. Totally worth it.

The best part of the game is that after 42 hours in, all the quests have been completed without a single bug. I still have plenty of game to go and two available DLC campaigns waiting for my attention. The developers kept the game simple and contained, but they released a completely playable and re-playable video game. In the era of post release "we'll fix that later" attitude, Kingdom of Amalur is truly a magnificent thing.

Great Gaming Awaits.