What It Is: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Looks like it would be fun to play, but that art style is atrocious.

This seems incredibly pedantic, but those guys really need to change that font.

I dont like the cartoon feel i get from this game, but combat and character development seens ok. Also, if you get deep in sorcery, can you summon Rich Gallup??

This game look really neat. I like the look of the world and combat, and the little aspects of the many different games it seem to adopt. Nice to have a new game to look forward to.

One question, anyone know if it has a Magic Find stat? I always love action rpgs with a MF stat.

Was there jumping in the game? Please tell me there is.

Granted that Skyrim is a beautiful looking game but the actual melee based combat in Skyrim could use some improvements.

In Skyrim your character is basically just going back and forth while frantically hitting stuff with a weapon or weapons. It seems that in this game you can actually do more in combat than just move back and forth.

In short the combat could use some improvements to make it more dynamic. For example I tought the combat in LOTRO: War in the North was pretty well done. Not perfect by any means but something that I would have liked to see in Skyrim also when it comes to melee based combat.

This game looks more interesting every time I see it. Definitely a buy.

Very cool the combat seems awesome, I just hope the world is rich. And that is a fantastic art style.

Generic Fantasy: The Samening

PASS

this looks kind of like a PS2 game :/

@BeachThunder said:

Fascinating! Video games have been around for decades now; how come no one's ever thought to make a fantasy RPG before? Kudos on these guys for breaking out of the mold and trying something fresh!!

Heaven forbid that a group of people who love fantasy RPGs make a fantasy RPG.

This is Fable right?

Totally surprised at how much negativity there is in the comments here. Are there a bunch of graphic designers in the crowd? I've never heard so many comments on UI in a game outside of an actual game development studio. And PS2 comparisons?

A colourful, loot-driven action-RPG in what looks to be a large MMO-ish world? What exactly is there to hate here? This is looking a whole lot better than I thought. I'm on board. The combat looked great, and the spells/moves were pretty awesome. Those flying circle blades are kind of amazing, as were the stealth kills.

I like what I see. ARPG combat with more of a straight role playing feel. Really interested in this game.

I dont' know what the 'Big Huge Games' influence will be (how much of the talent is still there) but they are one of my favorite development houses. Rise of Nations was brilliant and they did an OK job with Rise of Legends and the TItan Quest expansion.

My gaming time has been cut drastically recently due to family and work obligations, and the release window has games like Diablo 3, MA 3 and Starcraft 2: Swarm of Zerg (or whatever it's called). TOR will take up some of my time, but I think I will be unsubscribed by the time this comes out.

If the PC version get's good reviews and I don't need to go through the Origin hoops, I will buy. How much I play will be another question.

I'm really excited about this, it looks like Fable done right. Hopefully it turns out good.

Three questions will decide if this is a buy when on sale or a must-have day one release:

Can I respec my character?
Does the difficulty ramp up?
Replayability (specifically New Game Plus with tougher difficulties and better loot)?

The menus and UI look like crap. Reminds me of some old PS2 game for some reason.

Seeing any MMO style mechanics puts me off. But then Rich Gallup helped build this game so I cant say no. @Lotus: fuck yeah.

I wanted to like this game, and I really want 38 Studios to do well...but this art style just looks awful to me.

I'm really looking forward to this

Wow, this looks REALLY deep and awesome. I like the combat...I like the skill trees. Very well narrated by Brad and Vinny as well btw.

I like the look of this. Art style seems pretty unique as far as Western RPG's go. And the combat seems fun. Can't wait.

A third person action game with Fallout/Oblivion loot and dialogue options and a long story? HELL YES. Sign me up!

I had no idea this existed, but it looks really interesting. Can't wait to see more.

If only it didn't look like Fable.

If only it wasn't arcadey, QTE-filled combat.

Then I might really be looking forward to it. Those just aren't what I want from my big, open RPGs. I'll still give it a chance, but I just wish it didn't have those two huge "If only"s.

And it's extremely disappointing to see a game made by people with Elder Scrolls background filled with "kill ten rats" and "collect 5 doodads" quests. I want a world like Morrowind and Skyrim, with quests that feel like part of the world. MMO quests are the worst things ever in single-player RPGs. (Well, for me they're the worst things ever, period. Not a fan of MMOs. No story.)

And another, from the character screens shown, it looks like if you decide to stick to one of the three paths, you can unlock everything in that path. So you decide to be a thief, you don't decide what kind of thief. That thief had everything except the very highest. As did the warrior.

It does have pickpocketing, though, so there's a ray of hope. If I can pickpocket a key or letter and bypass half a quest, I'm happy.

Honestly, games like this, i hold up Morrowind. You could do a completely undocumented end-around the whole main quest. Say "screw you and your quest-giver status, Vivec", kill him, find a weird object, and figure out what to do with it all on your own. It was this awesome, long, convoluted and difficult, secret way to finish the main quest without ever really starting the main quest. More of that in games, please! (If someone tells me there's something like that in Skyrim that I've not found, I'll love them forever!)

God of War style combat? Genuine, colorful style...from a WESTERN game? And it's a fully featured RPG too, with sidequests, loot, dialogue trees and tech trees and stuff? Fuck you, Skyrim!

I am pumped for this game. Hope it does well. Thank you Curt Schilling!

@Stahlbrand: That's too bad man. Why would you limit yourself from playing great games, simply based on the aesthetic?

I love the realism of DS, and to a lesser degree Skyrim, but I'm chomping at the bit for this one. I love looking at fantastical worlds (especially ones conjured up in the minds of great artists.)

I think you a philistine Stahlbrand, I'm sorry.

@zoner said:

@Stahlbrand said:

The art design isn't for me. Looks silly next to Dark Souls and Skryim. WoW-silly.

Will take the cartoon silly over Skyrim and Dark Souls' hideous humans.

YOU APOLOGIZE TO LYDIA RIGHT NOW

but i do agree with you

@OrigamiElephant said:

@Stahlbrand: That's too bad man. Why would you limit yourself from playing great games, simply based on the aesthetic?

I love the realism of DS, and to a lesser degree Skyrim, but I'm chomping at the bit for this one. I love looking at fantastical worlds (especially ones conjured up in the minds of great artists.)

I think you a philistine Stahlbrand, I'm sorry.

I'm glad you care.

FWIW, the game isn't out yet, and from my perspective doesn't look great as a game experience, but then I thought Fable 2 was terribly shallow and boring. From what I've seen it looks like a game many people will enjoy, but it might not be a good fit for me, too much repetitive 'combo-based' mashing. So far I haven't made any prejudgments about the final game, but I have decided the art style doesn't work for me. The post by @thebigJ_A: a few down is pretty in-line with my thoughts on what has been shown and discussed of Reckoning's gameplay experience.

As far as the aesthetic goes; the cliched combination of 'swirly elven junk', 'moar spikes', 'giant jagged anime weapons', and 'just crib the rest from Blizzard' is a real turn off for me. It looks like a fantasy-themed trapper-keeper ate a box of crayons and threw up on itself. For the same reason I couldn't get behind Darksiders (also I didn't fancy the demo). It just really isn't the style I want to stare at or immerse myself in for 50+ hours. Personal preference, but I think the upper-tier weapons in Skyrim are too-fantasy and usually just upgrade the more down to earth weapons instead of progressing to 'glass swords'. So something like this just isn't my cup of tea.

Whether R.A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane are great artists is another discussion entirely.

As for calling me a philistine because I don't like a particular game's art style; go fuck yourself.

Great video; in terms of information per minute it was even better than a Quick Look. As for the game, I think I'm getting a bit excited about it and particularly appreciate the fluid combat and distinctive styles (both in terms of actual gameplay and visual presentation) associated with the three different specs. While I'm primarily a fan of turn-based or pause-based RPGs, the accessible action RPG subgenre as a whole really needs to move much closer to the kind of unapologetically action-oriented formula seen in games like Kingdoms of Amalur. As The Elder Scrolls demonstrate with such painful clarity, being dependent on dice rolls doesn't make much a whole lot of sense in pure realtime games.

Looks like a ton of fun!

Looks a lot like a studio's first game. I have too many excellent and interesting games to play to devote too much of my time to something that looks a lot like cobbled-together parts of Diablo, Fable, and Darksiders with not-so-great animations and a ridiculous blur over everything. And that UI looks like something from the original Xbox and takes up way too much of the screen. I'm willing to give it a chance and, as always, gameplay is the king, so if it's fun to play I'm willing to forgive a lot. But my impressions so far say that I can probably skip it and not miss much.

I wonder how Brad didn't get the comparison to Dialbo shooting into his head.

When i first heard about it i wasn't too impressed. But this vid has really swayed me. See what the Quick Look is like before getting it and hope the europe release date isn't too far behind US.

The art style seems very mmo but the fluid look of the combat looks great. Im really liking skyrim and having a more fighting skill game but with the elder scrolls elements sounds great. Without actually playing this I might say this could be my game of 2012

@Stahlbrand:

I'm with ya', man. I have not and will not play Bayonetta entirely due to the main character being totally gross-looking to me. The style of Reckoning isn't 100% up my alley; everything else seems awesome, though, so I may be able to get over it. I still never quite understand the desire some people have to tell others "I like this, and if you don't you're wrong and dumb."

I don't like the art style and I really don't like the HUD in this game; it looks like it comes straight out of a free-to-play flash game.

That said, I like everything else about this game. I just don't know if it'll be worth suffering through terrible art direction and UI design.

The skill tree and experience system still seems like the most interesting part of this game, really hope the combat turns out to be fun though.

The art style is hideous.  Reminds me of Divinity 2.
 
I can deal with hideousness, but damn, this game looks extremely boring. Level design is non-existent, and the combat is way too shallow to carry it.

@mabber36 said:

skyrim is an ugly world without any color, this looks colorful, fast and fun

Spoken like somebody who has never played it.

A decent RPG with a focus on good hands on combat is something that appeals to me.

(lock picking mini games can go fuck themselves tho)

I think this game is unintentionally a great commentary on how this generation of games has gotten so old, repetitive, and boring. I honestly dont care about anything in the next year other than Mass Effect 3, and I really just want to fast forward to the new consoles. This game is a great example of something that I would most likely have seen as an awesome game 4 years ago, but now I feel as though there is no reason to play this game.

Guess I'm just off to playing Skyrim, Dark Souls, and anything and everything in from years past that I missed until we get some new consoles.

Big empty areas with multiple colors and bad draw distances where enemies magically spawn in when you get close enough.. reminds me of something, Still I'll want to give it a try when it's released.

Was already sold on this game ages ago glad to see brad and vinny are on board too!,as much as i enjoyed skyrim i have a good feeling this will be more of my type of game because i like fast pace combat and i wasn't 100% cool with how dark skyrim could be at times.

Every time I see more of this game I get more and more excited.

Looks really generic and meh.

@TurboMan said:

@BeachThunder said:

Fascinating! Video games have been around for decades now; how come no one's ever thought to make a fantasy RPG before? Kudos on these guys for breaking out of the mold and trying something fresh!!

Fantasy RPG with an action game-like fighting system... so it actually does do something new.

Divinity 2:Ego Draconis - includes all of the above.

@BeachThunder said:

Fascinating! Video games have been around for decades now; how come no one's ever thought to make a fantasy RPG before? Kudos on these guys for breaking out of the mold and trying something fresh!!

Well, let's see. People literally pay for the same franchises every year, games that don't change much at all when it comes to the next iteration. What happens if a developer tries to do this? People call it out and say it should have a new IP and it would be ok. The reality is that they would cry foul and call said game a rip off anyway and it's not doing anything different.

A new IP following some genre cliches, people complain and/or criticize it for it not being any different. People hardly want change and then complain when there is no change.

I find it head ache inducing on a lot of the criticism a lot of games get because a lot of it seems to contradict what people say they actually want out of stuff. People want X, X happens and then all of a sudden that is not what is wanted anymore.

I think the game looks good for what it is, I don't expect it to do anything great but the combat looks like something that could make the game really fun. Hopefully it is.

@Sanious said:

@BeachThunder said:

Fascinating! Video games have been around for decades now; how come no one's ever thought to make a fantasy RPG before? Kudos on these guys for breaking out of the mold and trying something fresh!!

Well, let's see. People literally pay for the same franchises every year, games that don't change much at all when it comes to the next iteration. What happens if a developer tries to do this? People call it out and say it should have a new IP and it would be ok. The reality is that they would cry foul and call said game a rip off anyway and it's not doing anything different.

A new IP following some genre cliches, people complain and/or criticize it for it not being any different. People hardly want change and then complain when there is no change.

I find it head ache inducing on a lot of the criticism a lot of games get because a lot of it seems to contradict what people say they actually want out of stuff. People want X, X happens and then all of a sudden that is not what is wanted anymore.

I think the game looks good for what it is, I don't expect it to do anything great but the combat looks like something that could make the game really fun. Hopefully it is.

While I agree there is a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" aspect to video game criticism, I really dislike the "people say this, but do this" argument.

People don't even agree on types of soft drinks they prefer, monolithic agreement on what they want in a video game is obviously not a reality. So it's not so much a factor of people being hypocrites, being entitled, or loving to complain (though there is certainly elements of that in any whine fest), its that different people want different things, and the people that are merely content (which might comprise the vast majority) aren't going to speak up and say "I am content". So you're going to hear from the people that weren't happy with it, and THOSE names/handles are likely to change as the game they are commenting on changes as they become mollified and a new group of people are outraged.

The more I think about is, the less I can figure out what a role playing games consists off. And don't get me started on JRPGs.

Umm, every class seemed melee specific, there was no getting away from stabbing dudes.