Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Roundtable Discussion
We recently sat down with the fine folks behind Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to discuss the upcoming singleplayer RPG. Read on for all the juicy details!
Interviews By Michael Bitton on January 26, 2012
EA recently invited us to take part in a roundtable discussion of sorts with some of the key players behind the development of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. If you’re unfamiliar with the game, Reckoning is a singleplayer RPG developed by Big Huge Games and there are a number of huge names attached to the IP and project, including Ken Rolston (of Elder Scrolls fame), R.A. Salvatore, and Todd McFarlane.
Why are we covering the game here at MMORPG.com? Well, for one, Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios is looking to create an MMO based on the Amalur setting and Reckoning will serve as many gamers’ first taste of what the IP is all about.
In attendance during our call were Ken Rolston; Lead Designer, Tim Coman, Art Director; Michael Fridley, Executive Producer; and Grant Kirkhope, Audio Director.
Ken Rolston has a long history in the RPG genre and especially with Elder Scrolls where he served as lead designer on both Morrowind and Oblivion. Naturally, I decided to kick things off with a question most PC gamers who have enjoyed his previous projects are going to want to know: can you modify Reckoning? Would there be mod tools?
Sadly, at launch, it doesn’t look like players will be able to modify the game, though Michael Fridley did note that the team is investigating providing some level of tools post-launch so that players can mess around with it. However, if you’re looking forward to tools on the level of Bethesda’s ‘Creation Kit,’ you might want to curb your expectations.
Continuing along the line of Elder Scrolls comparisons, we learned that NPCs in the game won’t really acknowledge your race, but some may know about and reference things you’ve done in the game.
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One Elder Scrolls staple that will in fact appear in Reckoning are the beloved side factions. We weren’t given any real details on the sort of factions players can expect to run into, but all that lovely side faction content will be available, and no, you won’t have to pick one and stick with it.
Speaking of having to stick with things – Ken noted that when he was a younger designer he thought being locked out of certain content depending on the choices you made in a game was actually a good idea, but he has come to learn that it’s better to let players experience all the content a game has to offer. This is reflected in the design of Reckoning, as players will not be locked out of any of the game’s content based on any decisions or actions they take. If you want to do every side faction and side quest in the game with a single character, go for it! The order doesn’t matter much, either. While you’ll have a bit more obvious guidance towards the main quest in Reckoning, you can pretty much ignore it completely and do what you like. And from the sounds of it, there will be quite a bit of content to do outside of the main quest. We were told that it took around 200 hours for their QA team (who knew where everything was) to go through all the game’s content.
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According to the team, what really sets apart Reckoning from its contemporaries is the game’s emphasis on providing a solid combat system, something they agree was lacking in most RPGs. Ken used the example involving the four pillars of an RPG: story, combat, exploration, and achievement. According to Ken, Blizzard does the advancement and achievement stuff really well, the Elder Scrolls series are great at exploration, and some of their colleagues do a pretty good job with story. Ken feels that despite all the amazing things done with the RPG genre over the years, combat has sort of lagged behind. While Reckoning will feature all the typical RPG trappings of loot, leveling, and skill progression, the actual moment to moment combat is said to be a lot more action packed, tactical, and less clunky than your typical RPG combat experience. For example, players will be able to combo attacks and even weave magic in between weapon combos. Reckoning’s Destiny system allows for ultimate flexibility between the game’s three trees of Finesse, Might, and Sorcery, and going down a hybrid of the three will be a completely viable option. If for whatever reason you’re unhappy with the choices you’ve made, you’ll even be able to respec your character for a nominal fee of gold.
At times our discussion veered off into the philosophical. I pointed out the lack of jump in the demo I recently played, and this really got the team chatting. It turns out the lack of jump was a deliberate decision and not due to a technical hurdle. Allowing players to jump affects the way world designers need to craft the world, and the team at Big Huge Games felt that they would be better able to create an interesting game world by leaving jumping out. We were told that if you can see something interesting in the game, you’ll likely be able to get to it. Ken, who was strongly against the inclusion of a jump feature, felt that jumping was better reserved for games that offered less guidance. If you don’t know where the cool stuff is, if you can’t see it, then you may need jump to explore the world and find these things, but the team behind Reckoning endeavored to make the more interesting areas of exploration a bit more obvious, making jumping unnecessary. It’s important to note that there isn’t full consensus on this with the team behind the game, just as there isn’t with gamers who have played the demo, and they are paying close attention to what you guys are saying about this particular issue.
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Finally, for those of you wondering about the MMO, we weren’t able to find out much, but we were assured that the events of Reckoning would be consistent with the 10,000 years of backstory R.A. Salvatore has put together for the IP, so any future projects based on Amalur would make sense against what players are experiencing in Reckoning.
Reckoning will be available for $59.99 on the PC, PS3, and XBOX 360 beginning February 7.
Anyone else think the game looks way better in these screenshots than it does in the demo?
I just don't get it. Is the MMORPG coming out on consoles or something? The game just plays very awkward on the pc. In my opinion, if they want to gather a playerbase for their MMORPG with KoA, make it feel the game is developed for the pc. The game is not bad at all, it just feels.. clunky. On the other hand, IF the MMORPG is set for consoles, then I understand the port.
ME.
It does not look even close to those screens in reality.
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Besdes why single player RPG get coverage on mmrpg.com ?
I will definetely get this game for PC. sounds like it has a lot of value as it may span up to 200+ hours.
Already pre-ordered... I get the feeling we were missing the higher res textures with the demo... also it was a 3-4 month old build which was broke off from the original code and finished by another company at EA's request (to tie in with ME3 i suppose)
It's not justification enough that something based on this will evolve into an mmo at some point. Your coverage should have been related to THAT MMO. If they don't want to divulge anything then they shouldn't get coverage. You probably could have yanked some exclusive details from them with the right tact.
Looks the same to me!
No. I could not. Believe me, I tried! :)
The ridiculously oversized weapons in those screenshots really puts me off. I know---it's fantasy so they don't have to make things look realistic, etc., etc. But that doesn't change the fact that it looks ridiculous.
Imagine if the guy's head were ten times too large for his body. You could explain that away as well by saying it's a fantasy world but it would still look ridiculous.
Why do people complain about non-mmo articles on here? It isn't like this article made it so we missed out on another article. It is just something else to read. Get off your high-horse.
I hate that too, along with anime-style cartoon graphics and silly things like high heels and oversized boobs etc.
But that's what sells, sad but true.
I'm in two minds about this one.
Based on the demo zone (not the tutorial bit) the game seems very 'on rails' and even the 'open' clearings feel boxed in. Sure it has the odd railway siding, maybe later zones open out but nothing I have seen on youtube suggests that, you get a good idea from the mini map on the later level demos.
It reminds me of Dungeon Siege III (which I actually quite enjoyed). People also seem to make Fable comparisons too which is reasonable.
Second issue is the UI, the PC one is really not good stuff you do many times is cumbersome with 2 or 3 more clicks and key presses than you need. It was frustrating. For example manipulating inventory (which has an 8 items a page list even at highres). It's nothing that could not be tweaked tbh, however the devs make a big thing about how it has been and seperately designed and not a port. That's not what I am seeing and makes me wonder whether the devs enthusiasm is ahead of the game.
Apparently the demo was from an earlier fork in the code but that actually makes me more sceptical that there are already excuses being made. As it stands I don't think it has the production quality of say Fable II but I guess that might be forgiven as its not a final cut. I guess I'll probablly pick it up as a filler game and see how it goes.
I played the demo on 360...
Thought it looked dated, played like a worse version of the Fable series (even had the bad pseudo-british voice acting) and was completely unoriginal.
Is this Skyrim with Fable combat? Doubtful.
All seems far too generic.
But then again, it was only about an hour with a demo - will wait and see what the reviews say after release.
the game isn't anything special, felt very like fable to me. I'm sure mmorpg.com will give it a 9.0 though ;)
Ya know, I don't really care if the Single Player game lore fits into the MMO's if the MMO isn't what I want to play, in which case this doesn't matter.
And until they give solid info on the MMORPG, I just can't garner any interest. Hell, I'm even tired of the levels and directed game play in Skyrim. I mean, I don't want to kill that guy to unlock the damn quest items from my inventory, heh.
And jump? If you have to ask, well don't bother. On the other hand, if you were locked into that by the code you bought, just say so instead of looking like you make bad choices.
Game developers. Can we get a "respec" for them? For a nominal fee, of course.
This game is extremly fun, feels like a great mix of Fable of God of War( which is supposed to be like ), lots of RPG elements and of course dialoge options. The demos graphics and stuff wernt as good as some of the pictures, but that can be just the demo itself or peoples systems.
The camera takes a bit to get used to on the PC because its extremly sensitive, but you really shouldnt let that get to you, or just invest in a 360 controller for the PC if you feel its worth it. Honoestly I just spent a few hours playing through the demo a couple times and you get adjusted to it. Its like buying a newer higher dpi Mouse.
I played this demo, gameplay aside, it looks nothing like the screenshots....i guess the round table discussion was a check writing ceremony eh?
(Please don't edit my fucking posts, if you don't like what i gotta say, delete them.It's one thing if i'm harrassing someone, it's another if i'm just expressing my opinion.)
Tryed demo till the end. For me is a bad, bad game if they want to do a real CRPG, very nice if intended as h'n's.
Combat system look like The Witcher 2 one, but without Geralt.
The open world is open, but too many dungeon (i thought: oh, another dungeon crawler! Or another Dungeon Siege-like game.
And, yes, there are gnomes!. Such as World of Warcraft!
Really not an origina game, really not fun, but really another "don't waste your money" one.
Replayed the demo a few dozen times to really explore some of the core functions and I just have to say I am really impressed.
Got my pre-order in this weekend on direct 2 drive with a 20% off sale they had going, apparently on monday D2D became gamefly so now I have the cheap price of D2D with the servers of gamefly : )
SCORE!
1: I played the Demo; little buggy but I still enjoyed it.
2: No the in-game graphics look nothing like SS posted, but after the TOR "hi-rez was a bug" deal I'm not expecting anything less now.
3: $60 is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to much for this game. I'll wait until it goes on sale for $40 or under.
I think the reason Kingdoms of Amular is here on MMORPG is that this game is a lead in to the Copernicus MMO being developed by the same team as an expanded world by 38 studio.
As far as the demo is concerned I have two minds:
For a console game, this is a refreshing take on the Fable style of play with the endless customization like Skyrim. With KOA, you can change your build at any time with destinies and have your talent points reset by a Fateweaver. I found the game fun and i liked the ease on console when it comes to switching fighting styles. (Elder scrolls take notes cuz your UI is batshit crazy).
Want rogue/spellcast? Set primary as daggers/ secondary as staff.
Want a ranged Melee? Set primary as swords/secondary as bow.
Want a smash and trash bad ass? Set primary as swords/ secondary as hammers.
And no matter your build, you can still block, dodge, sneak, and cast spells and pull up potions and items quick with radials.
This is one of the smoothest UIs I have seen for a fantasy game on consoles in a long time.
Ok, now the seond part:
This was advertised as a brain trust from RA Salvatore and Todd Mc Farlane and all we get is the same old crap as any other fantasy settings. Gnomes? Fae? Bhargest? Rock trolls? and wait, we even have wardens!!!
C'mon, guys, with your talent you could have drew up some crazy stuff like these damn sexy Mc Farlane toys and just through some letters together for a name. This is super lazy storytelling!!
Example: Draw a bad demonic creature with large mandibles and clubs for hands and call him:
Grab an A..... Grab a F.... some more consanants and add a vowel or two and we have a Fragmaw.....is that so hard...
I would rather fight a Fragmaw, some Hookinoos, and those damn cute Moomoo bugs, then sprites, trolls, and wolves...
That is what is wrong with the fantasy game genre....if it aint Tolkien of Dungeons and Dragons, then it isn't done.
That is what I don't like about KOA and the upcoming Copernicus... we were promised something new from these great talents and we got the same old, same old crap with a nice UI.
Really? The graphics in the screens look pretty nice, but in the demo, they seemed a lot more blocky and cartoonish.. could it just be from resizing? Sometimes screens look better, because they're smaller, and you cant see the lack of detail, but I don't know..
Graphics look the same to me, too. Maybe the game performs better on some graphics cards than others? Mine is an AMD Radeon 6800. Don't ask me about it, it was a gift, I know nothing about graphics cards.
As for the game, I enjoyed the thing they claimed to have done better than other RPGs, which is the combat. I do NOT agree that other RPGs have bad combat, and I think it's a bit arrogant to suggest that, but the combat was nice. Unfortunately the rest of it was no better than a Fable game except the storyline, which from what I saw so far in the demo, wasn't as good (Fable 3's story wasn't very good to begin with, KoA felt even more shallow and cliche). I didn't really get to play with the mechanics of the game (the skills and such) so it looks like there will be a fun level of potential complexity there. Overall it looks like a game I'd enjoy playing despite the faults, but not enough for pre-order/first wave purchase. I'll be waiting until it's on sale.
Reckoning plays clunky because it's made for both PC and console. I hate that. I also think there should be jump. How can you feel immersive without jump? It it isn't a technical hurdle, it should be added. duh
Someday perhaps we will again get a really good single player rpg that has all the features we enjoy.
Jump needs to be in, it feels crap without it & is a definitye detriment to the enjoyment of exploring in a natural way.
I'd even go so far as add some climbing into the game
I played the demo last Sunday.
I slept on it for the week and I have decided NOT to buy the game this soon.
Not a pro/con list, just some points that have remained on my mind.
I wasn't impressed with the Demo. The camera blew it for me. I did, however, like this slightly more 'mature' Fable idea. But in all honesty, I don't see anything new about the combat here, it's just like Fable or Kingdom Hearts from what I've seen; A third person action RPG with combos. Except this one has skills trees and an awful camera problem. I found the story and dialogue a little childishly cheesy as well, which isn't a problem, but I wasn't expecting it with Salvatore on board.
There are games spanning back over 8 years that would give the same experience as this and the graphics ain't much worse (look at fable 1 again and compare, its pretty shocking).
Fable (2003):
Kingdoms (2012):
I'll still be checking Kingdoms out though.. I check out just about everything. But for anyone excited about this game that hasn't already played Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga (NOT Eco Draconis).. you owe it to yourselves to get your self a copy.
Same here, I've done the pre-order thing before and was disappointed. Also, going to wait for a price drop. I think its too pricey right now.
I didn't think the standard edition price was to bad. Simply because the game will last longer than most MMO's I buy.
For me that is.. not saying its the same for anyone else.
Now when I clicked on the link to see the limited editions at their store... I just closed the page real quick and shook my head... I guess the normal LE wasn't too bad price wise but the top two... way out of my league of anything I'd pay for a game.
The graphics in Kingdoms suffers from having the game produced for the Consoles. Just as Fable and Skyrim's graphics do. Just as most games created nowadays do. We just don't see what the PC is able to accomplish graphically. Batman Arkham City? Same thing.
Crysis...now that's for the PC.
Crysis 2? Good...but it really didn't utilise all the features available.
I enjoyed playing KOA Demo. I especially liked the Combat that I got to experience in the Demo. The interface felt straight out of a console, however. In fact I struggled to remember the last RPG I played that seemed to have an interface designed for a Mouse and Keyboard on a PC Monitor. Can anyone help me out here? Was it Neverwinter Nights?
The game I would most compare KOA to is Fable III. From the very start the graphics, gameplay and style instantly reminded me of Fable.
I used my Xbox Controller to play in the end, there really was no advantage or benefit to using the mouse and keyboard.
I think the game plays fluidly if you use a controller on the PC. It even fixes some of the annoying things and bugs that you get using keyboard/mouse in this game. I am really considering on buying this, not sure if I will wait for price drop or not though.
Actually it does look like these screens on the PC. And the game plays amazing with a mouse that you can bind keys to.
I got a chuckle out of this as well. And they even get defensive about it in the article itself. In my opinion though, if you feel you need to put in some sort of comment about that in the article, it should be a really good sign that it doesn't belong.
I would like jump too, but to say it is not immersive because it doesnt have jump is just silly. How often in real life when you are walking around are you bouncing up and down into the air as you go?
If anything not having jump is more immersive for realism.
I really enjoyed the demo. Can't wait to play the full game!
Seems to me those guys designed the game without much freedom and with guided events mostly. By the way why weapons are bigger than the characters? :]
This is also where I,m at with this, seeing as the talant pool was hyped so much, to end up with this was abig let down for me, remove all the names and try playing the demo as an unknown source, you would be left with a big load of "MEH seen it,done it and whats with the 20 foot weapons".
I think this doesnt bode well for their lead in plan to their MMORPG later down the track thats linked to this single player offering, its to must of a cliche to everything we are all jaded about.
Didn't care for it. Tried the demo on PC, didn't play long but I was just kind of put off by it, reminded me of playing Fable immediately, then I realized that this game is probably better on the 360 and quit. Not going to bother with it. Put too many hours into Skyrim, I think I have been spoiled. Probably a fine game, just not going to drop 60 bucks for it.
It was a good read.
OMG over 200 hours of non jumping action.... i really hope the Lore and overall gameplay make ir up for that...
loved the character visuals (roled a female blue elf on the demo) :D
I played the demo twice, and there were a few things bugging me.
- I encountered rather many bugs .. concerning in a demo so close to release.
- The UI needs improvement ... too much clicking through menu's
- Maybe i just didn't find it, but i want to zoom out :)
- Camera angles were often really awkward
- When running, i sometimes got blocked .... because i was on a 10cm high ledge :S ... me ... the big hammer swinging warrior .. am stopped by tiny ledge ??? .. and that is why you need jump.
- Making all the good stuff so obvious is NOT a good thing. Give explorers something to do ... make us work a little to find stuff. Please stop with making mmorpg's for 6 year olds, we do like a bit of challenge.
- Too much been there, done that.
- Admittedly, the combat is fun :)
If this is the setting for the upcoming MMO, count me out.
Well I kinda looked forward to this game and as you can read above posted and commented by many people, it's not too bad but not too great either.
I played the demo for hours also trying different things in the limited demo time which did seem very short for me to test out the big *guns* so to say. Screenshots and ingame textures? I'm gonna surprise you but ingame it looks better for me even, why? probably people's different pc specs, dont want to bluff but i am running a crosshair IV Formula motherboard, amd sixcore 1090XT CPU, on an SSD, a Geforce GTX480 and nice 5.1 surround (doesnt need to be more than that). Trust me, with everything maxed, it DOES look better (But to each his/her own).
I still feel jumping should be implemented not for reaching areas or secrets, nope. simply for getting over a stupid treeroot and tiny edges on slopes. This is easily achieved in the current build of the game (and the older build on the demo even). So it's a 50/50 yes and no real jumping but it gives a little more sense of freedom cause the demo did make me feel trapped a bit.
Love the designs, love the creatures all good and well but like posted above, please be original in names, you got great writers and artists, please people I dont expect you all to triple jump hoops of fire but just a little creativity in names can never hurt.
I felt like a bit of a visual polished version of Fable, although contentwise i think they are right about 200 hours of exploring and achieving. (or so i like to believe).
Controls....bit of a double edged sword. I am a PC gamer for FPS cause nothing beats keyboard and mouse there, but when it comes to adventure, fighting and platform games I really like a controller much more. I think that for consoles this will feel very nice on the controller although again I have to say, with the right tweaking here and there the keyboard and mouse (read camera) controls weren't too bad.
I did preorder it, to play the full game and give a more indepth review since it looks more like a mediocre adventure game, but something is sparking my interest in the story, especially if this game leads to the MMO.
The main problem with this game (as it was with Skyrim) is the very bad UI interface for the PC. Games with these kind of interfaces are obviously console ports, with little thought given to the advantages of having a mouse and being able to make choices on a third axis.
I think it has a chain reaction on the genre. For example, a site like this, which is about MMORPG, starts putting non MMO on here like LoL, GW1, Vindicus, DDO, Dynasty Warrior Online,Diablo, etcthe community will start to believe and except that these games are actually MMO. When players start to believe that these games are actually MMO, the developers will exploit that by making more of these non MMO, and advising them as MMO. How are the unaware forum readers to know it's not a MMO, if it's on this site which they read for MMO talk?
Yeah the jump thing coupled with the on rail thing is bad. It's like Ikea (for those that have not been to Ikea irt is pretty much impossible to get to the exit without walking past every single display). That in and of itself is not a problem but the devs don't seem to be representing it how it is.
I think its going to be a good game, the question for me is however how deep the rabbithole goes, as in how deep the game and its mechanics is.
Did i just brush over the surface in the demo or did i pretty much experience how this game is going to be till the end?
Thats what will make or break my decission about purchase.
From what I've seen the game seems to have a stellar combat system thats fast paced and on higher difficulty might get really complex, a "unique" art/sound design and interesting world.
However if there is nothing more to the game than what I've played in the demo then its not worth my 40€.
For a "taste" the demo was very good, for a main course its lacking.
The demo wasn't good enough, imo. Wasn't it from an old old Alpha client and not even put together by the company itself?
So much different info online regarding this "demo".
After the game has launched there will be other ways of getting a better demo of the game. And if you like what you see, support the devs and buy the game.
That's what I do.
Wait so the demo wasn't even from the finished product? If so, that's a good thing. That means it's a better chance that the game will be even better, because I didn't like the demoFrom what I have gathered, correct.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1038279242&highlight=alpha#post1038279242
The demo kind of cost them my sale actually.
I had been looking forward to it for close to a year, and what I was faced with didn't exactly live up to expectations, even while knowing it was a demo from an older build.
The general word I see people who disliked it saying is "generic" and tbh that's how it felt. It was such a blunt mash-up of other games (mainly WoW and Fable) that is basically melded into one giant uninspired feeling while playing it.
BUT! That's not even really my problem with it however.. Outside of it's acceptable (not as great as hyped to be) combat, it all basically felt more like a single player MMO than it did a single player RPG! Those are two very different beasts in terms of how things are made/designed/layed out/etc and to me it appears to be only a building block for their upcomming MMO.
Its what I was planning on doing, or the other way is that i will travel to a country soon that will have the game on a much lower price than the west (legit, its a currency thing) and might pick it up there (can probably get it as low as 25€ there).
What really bothered me was the visuals, thats why i put the "unique" in quotes because i really don't dig the artstyle, the sound-design is good, but the game is too bright, glowy and colorful for me. That doesn't mean its bad, i generally feel the artstyle is consistent and well done but just not my thing.
I very much prefer the Fable artstyle if we compare the two games where its colorful too but slightly muted, while KoA:R smacks you around with oversaturated color palettes.
Got Sunstrider Isle flashbacks all the way from the demo.
360 Version here. Yes you are right. I reserved the game yesterday. But wish I played the demo which I did when I got home. Once again EA I think has TRICKED ME. First with SWTOR and now with this. I had put Skyrim down for a while but figured I better start playing it again before I got this game. I am looking for something else to play other than SWTOR. And finally got to last night. I was so unimpressed with the graphics of this game. It looked like a cleaner version of WOW. The gnomes in the beginning looked like WOW gnomes. It kind of made me double take. I played for a little bit. Then was like WTF no jump.
The demo is based on code from a month ot two back not alpha code this is from the chairmen:-
Haven't read through this in detail, I will when I get home tonight. But I am assuming you posted this knowing that the demo code used to create the demo was over 3 months old? It was created 3 months prior to us going gold master on the game, and also is NOT the entire code base, the demo code was 'carved out' of the game code by a third party, and thus introduced immense amounts of bugs, which while frustrated, we cannot change, and take full responsibility for the sucky experience those bugs may have create
I was looking forward to the game. Then I played the demo. It just feels cheap and bland. I even ran across the "hey mom look no sounds " bug in the demo which made me laugh.
That said, it does interest me enough to try it a few weeks after release most likely when it goes on sale for 50% off on steam. I will NOT pay full price for something that felt so cheaply done.
As far as it looking like the screen shots? Not even close. Saying it does is silly.
I would hope the final release is a lot more polished but not expect much change in the core gameplay (or UI which they have been defending).
If a player can be join every faction and see everything then there really is nothing special about ones choices.
IMO a poor choice by the designers that cheapens any kinda of choice on makes. and kills replayability. At least Bethesda Developers were smarter then that, and I'll wager Kingdoms won't sell or do nearly as well as skyrim
I liked the demo but I'm on the fence about getting the game. My biggest problem is the camera. It felt off in a lot of places and not being able to zoom out didn't set right with me.
However, I did enjoy the combat and the skill trees are pretty nice. I'm not a big fan of the graphics but I can live with it. Overall I just don't know what to think of it. I probably will hold off on getting the game until I hear more about it after release.
Funny, I hated that in Oblivion and Skyrim, too. You can choose to join every faction, and practice every skill. It takes all the fun out of making choices.
Great stuff. Looking forward to testing the launch version.
The game look like that just disabled "Post Processing" you will see the graphics fidelity. Post Processing is similar to a bloom affect.
This game looks great, but I will not be buying it do to EA's locked out quest lines for used games. I refuse to buy from any company that tries to strongarm gamers like this.
I actually decided to preorder the game for a couple of reasons: It's on steam (I pretty much buy single player games only from steam nowadays), there's a MMO coming for it that might be interesting, and demo was interesting enough.
That being said it was a so and so situation because I find the lack of jumping moderately aggravating and the PC controls are a bit annoying. Especially when there's a target lock but no way to set it to manual locking, so I'm either stuck to attacking one foe when there are in fact three behind me, or then it suddenly decides to swap target from near death foe to full health one when I dodge. It feels like the controls were created with a controller in mind - which they most likely were. Inventory is pretty much a dead giveaway for this as well. Seems it's one of the things that always ends up suffering most when the game UI is primarily designed for consoles.
On a bonus side I like the mobility and speed of the combat system in general and the fact enemies die reasonably fast (no minutes beating down a single foe), and hope they adapt it to MMO as well. Also the AoE splash damage from weapons after certain amount of hits is a definite bonus. However there either needs to be no target lock at all or then a way to tab target enemies. Oh and if the MMO comes with no jump then I'll have to pass because playing GW without jump was bad enough. I don't think I can stomach another MMO with "can't hop over this fence so you have to run through half of a labyrinthine zone with tons of dead ends to actually get on the other side".
As for other elements. Well, your race basically does not matter. In fact I'm not sure why they bothered giving options for races in character creation since every race uses same character model and has pretty much exactly same customization options save for skin tone. Also as was mentioned NPCs don't react to your race. Again something to improve on the MMO if they plan to compete with some of the upcoming games.
Yeah it's encouraging but I still am a little sceptical. I am a bit turned off by the UI which is poor for PC. Rather than achnowledging it they are being pretty defensive and that kinda bothers me. The other thing (as I have said before) is the whole 'on rails' feel of it not a deal breaker but slightly concerened that again what they are saying there does not crrespone to how things are.
Still there is not much round right now so chances are I'll have a go regardless.
For all their combined intellect, it amazes me that they will not have a 3 faction mmorpg with pvp for grown ups. I'm already hearing it's 4-5 races mirrored on both sides along with a handful of the same same classes. However, that being said, world might be enjoyable and a nice upgrade from WoW.
I have hope.
I had a very similar bad reaction to the interface. I think it's actually worse than that. For armor, it only shows you the armor rating, but the game is designed around warrior heavy, rogue medium, and caster light armor, so it's just not really helpful at all for anybody not playing as a full warrior.
The other thing I absolutely did not care for were the quest markers. Exclamation points and question marks to me are so overdone that I literally just hang my head when I see one for the first time. Escorting a guy through a dungeon and having a white (incomplete) question mark over his head the whole time was just really bad design, imo.
To me, the game was ok. The combat was the high point, and the game looked good. I would just question a lot of the design decisions. Not a game I would pay full price for (money is tight for me right now) but I might pick it up at a discount. I think a game like this is going to be divisive and depend on the individual and what they're looking for. What it comes down to is that the demo is available, so play it and decide for yourself.
I found it amusing that you had to talk to that escort guy a few times during the mission but despite the escort coninuing he would end each dialogue with a goodbye. Kind of nitpicking I know but sounded odd. I also semi bugged him out by firing at the boggit things across a little lake to the left before you enter the cave. He went into combat mode but could not reach them so wouldn't move. Once I killed them it was OK but because they where in a place not connected to the 'rail track' it was hard as they where un reachable and at the edge of ranged weapons reach.
Talking of dialogue they have spent a lot of time and money on VO (sounds familiar), I was disapointed that it was often mufled and reverby, this was particularly noticable in interior locations like inns. I am guessing that one could be blamed on the demo being an earlier fork in the code. One would hope so.
Game plays great but felt too easy early, good news is that in reviews on IGN the combat AI actually gets smarter ie flanking etc. So the game will not just be easymode.
Me also.
Demo is looking totally differently then what is shown in screenshots.
Maybe, that was the idea. ;)