Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
Product Details
- Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
- ASIN: B0044SA734
- Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 4 ounces
- Media: Video Game
- Release Date: February 7, 2012
By : Electronic Arts
List Price :
Price : $53.49
You Save : $6.46 (11%)
Product Description
Platform: PLAYSTATION 3|Edition: Standard
Amazon.com Product Description
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a single player Action Role-playing Game (RPG) set in the brand-new game fantasy universe of Amalur. The game features an expansive Open World game environment, the unique "Destinies" system that limits character development only by the combination of equipped spells and items carried, intuitive yet challenging combat, a robust crafting system and a range of special attacks. Additional features include: the written and design talents of R.A. Salvatore, Todd McFarlane and Ken Rolston; dramatic special and metered attacks; as well as multiple in-game races.
Amalur: a New RPG Realm with an Proven Pedigree
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning takes place in Amalur, an all-new game universe inhabited by various races of beings and filled with thousands of years of history. This deep fantasy based world is the brainchild of best-selling Fantasy and Science Fiction author R.A. Salvatore and the combined talents of Todd McFarlane, the creator of the Spawn series, Ken Rolston, the lead designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and the team at Big Huge Games. Reckoning bears the hallmarks of each of these visionaries, melding an epic, master-crafted storyline, rich graphics and heart-stopping animations, and compelling open-world exploration. In addition to being the setting for Reckoning, this rich world will also serve as a base for a future trans-media entertainment experience, including books, toys, comics, and a planned MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online RPG) video game yet be announced.
Gameplay
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a single player Action RPG that blends a new approach to character development with intuitive, yet challenging real-time combat. Characters enter the game as something of a blank slate after they are resurrected from death by the mysterious "Well of Souls" following a grand in-game conflict. Spurning the rigid character class systems commonly used in RPGs for the development of characters, the game instead focuses on player-shaped "destines" which hinge on the chosen combinations of abilities and equipped items and weapons attached to their character as the game progresses. With no traditional classes these are blended as the play wishes. This along with a large item inventory limit and a robust crafting system for creating new items, allows for a nearly limitless number of possible character paths, or destinies.
Active combat plays a major role in the game as players explore the Open World environment of the game on quests that bring them into contact with all manner of creatures. Regardless of character paths, all characters have access to primary and secondary weapons as well as magic. Unique attacks are tied to your choice of weapons, armor and strategies. The game also features powerful slow-motion attack opportunities called "Fateshift Kills" triggered by specific situations and/or equipped items. These devastating attacks are measured out as players time moves to a separate "Fate Energy" power meter. Additional features include unscripted real-time battles against large-scale enemies, melee and ranged weapons and enemy tagging abilities for ranged or delayed attacks.
Additional Screenshots
The minds of New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion lead designer Ken Rolston have combined to create Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a new role-playing game set in a world worth saving. Build the character you’ve always wanted and continuously evolve it to your style of play with the revolutionary Destiny system. Choose your path and battle through a master-crafted universe featuring some of the most intense, responsive, and customizable RPG combat ever.
Product Features
- Uncover the secrets of Amalur in hundreds of hours of immersive gameplay, from the vibrant city of Rathir to the vast region of Dalentarth to the grim dungeons of the Brigand Hall Caverns.
- Rescue a world torn apart by a vicious war and control the keys to immortality as the first warrior ever to be resurrected from the grips of death. Turn your lack of a destiny to your advantage and harness fate as a weapon.
- Explore deep levels of lore in a universe steeped in 10,000 years of fiction created by New York Times bestselling author R.A. Salvatore.
- Customize your play in a dynamic combat system that delivers some of the most intense and responsive action ever seen in an RPG.
- Seamlessly integrate magical and melee attacks as you take on scores of enemies in grand fight sequences and finish them off with brutal Fateshift kills.
- Build the character you've always wanted with the revolutionary new Destiny system that allows you to continuously evolve your character class to your style of play.
- Create and modify your hero with millions of combinations of skills, abilities, weapons and pieces of armor.
Customer Reviews
First off the many graphical glitches the demo had aren't present in the game. Kingdoms of Amalur is a good game. Its art style is similar to Fable with more of a deeper RPG feel. The game has everything needed to keep players busy for many hours. There are multiple side quests, several ways to build your character from mages to warriors and rogues. The real fun of this game is the battle system and many weapon types. The combat isn't boring like some games get. The games crafting and smithing system work well once you level them up. You only get one point at a time so you have to decide what area you are going to focus on. This means you won't be both a master smith and alchemist at least not early in the game. Your level in each area determines what items you find to use so it's a bit restrictive. The dialog system is odd as sometimes you get a dialog wheel and other times you get one word to click on. It works but doesn't feel quite like you're having a conversation. The characters I've encountered have more to say so you get some background on why you are doing the quest un like Skyrim where people just said hey go get this for me. I recommend the game because its battles are fun the story has some detail and you can play how you want. The developer claims there's over 200 hours of quests and I believe them since there are quests everywhere.
Update: You can redistribute your skills and change your character build for a reasonable fee. If you no longer want to be say a mage you can switch your skill set to something else. I am finding the merchants prices on items and to be a bit high on items though. Gold isn't made so quickly like some games so you need to spend carefully. The game has many spells you can learn but you can only map 4 at a time. It would have been nice if they made a way to map more spells for use.
Update: There's a lot of side-quests lore and collectables in the game. The main story is not its strongest point as most of what's going in the world is learned by exploring new areas and doing quests. You can't really power level to max all skills nor do you need to. The weapon smithing and gem crafting are fun when fully leveled up. My only 2 gripes with the game are its inventory system is severely limited for space and the menus are clunky to scroll through. The 4 spell limit is a bummer too because it forces you to really choose what spells you like. (The way both Dragon Age games used the R2 button to double scroll the buttons would have have really helped this game out.) I do really enjoy playing this game and recommend it to anyone who enjoys Rpgs.
Pros
Many ways to play the game mages warriors or stealth rogues
Play how you want...steel, sneak and many quests allow a peaceful or combative solution.
Detailed alchemy crafting and smithing systems
Fun battle system
Many side quests
Beautiful environments with a huge world to explore
Good story and voice acting.
100+ hours of play time
Doesn't lock up my PS3
Cons
Restrictive leveling only 1 point per level to spend on skills like smithing alchemy sneaking persuasion etc. It takes several points to max an area so you'll want to focus on being either a mage rogue or warrior. This can be changed for money but you still wont be able to max all skills until at very high levels
Some of the graphics on the characters look like they needed more polish
Sometimes the camera goes off into la la land in conversations.
Load times are around 20-30 seconds when entering buildings (it varies some go fast some are slow)
Some slowdowns with graphics engine when a lot is going on.
Camera can blind you at times in combat
I encountered a nasty glitch that made the whole TV screen twitch every 10 seconds and it would not go away until a previous save was loaded. My character got stuck in a spell cast mode during a battle so I lost a half hour of play time.
Only able to use 4 spells at a time
Some minor graphical hiccups occur in some spots
I play games for a variety of reasons. I play them to relax, to get lost in a world, to hear/play a good story, and I play them as a way to escape. This game fits the bill on all of those accounts perfectly. As a mature (read: over 30 years old) gamer, I have a different set of expectations that have grown and changes as I have gotten older.
This game first appeared on my radar as word of R.A. Salvatore being involved trickled out onto the web. I have played another game he was involved in, "Demon Stone" for the PS2. As with that iteration, this one is well written- the story takes the cake. Intrigue, plot twists, friends, foes, allies, and antagonists all take center stage in a tale that is fun and engaging here. The main quest is a good yarn in and of itself, but veering off the well beaten path takes you to other villages, characters, problems, and areas that you would just as easily miss if you don't look around. Superb writing, plotting, and setting. The story might seem kind of contrived and a mash up of genre staples...but Salvatore weaves it all together into something wonderful. I would have to say this game is like "playing" a very ambitious fantasy novel.
The combat is easy to master, but still presents a challenge as enemies scale to your level, the fighting can get intense, and there are several moves and tactics that unlock as you level up that make all the zipping around the screen fun and satisfying. The weapon and spell effts are nice, realized well, and graphically pleasing. Intense colors, good sound design, and a freedom of movement lends itself to combat that doesn't feel stale and challenges you to mix it up and see what happens. McFarlane's talent really shines through in the creature design and world art. From things that are creepy to silly- there a quite a few vistas, creatures, plants, and areas to look at. It is very pretty, vibrant, and busy. Other areas are appropriately dark, somber, and decayed. All in all- the game looks as good as it plays, and in may ways, the setting of Amalur is a character in and of itself.
Collectors of in-game stuff rejoice! As this game is packed with all you would come to expect from Rolston- the mad genius behind some "Elder Scrolls" games. There are scraps of paper, books, lore stones, items, journals, lockpicks, chests, loot, and tomes to collect, read, and discover. The info is doled out well and comes at a pace that encourages exploration. There are several times (as I am not done with the game yet) where I have been distracted with a side quest just because I want to know more about what is happening in the world around me. It lends itself to a very fleshed out feeling, a world fully developed, alive, and teeming with secrets to discover. Again, this game is superb in its presentation on all of those accounts.
Getting down to the technical details, there are systems that feel familiar, yet lend their own flair to the game. Crafting, weapon/equipment repair, and reagent gathering are all things that have been done before. They are integrated well with this game and the feeling of familiarity is helpful at keeps the learning curve from getting too steep. There is not a physical manual included with the game...it is added to the disc. I don't find that I miss it, as info in pretty easy to come by and the interface is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Taking the best parts of past games, throwing in new ones, and whipping up a recipe for something new is a welcome addition to both the genre and the world of video games in general. I haven't experienced a single glitch, hitch, or mess-up with the game on my system. Load times are forgiveable and don't take forever- but then again, with the amount of content and data I don't expect instant load times. The world is vast, expansive, and feels that way as well. With that, fast travel isn't a "must have" but is something that I use quite often, just to traverse the distances that soon become very apparent.
Others might say this game is too similar to "Fable" or some other megalithic MMO out there. While I see some of the similarities, I also see that 38 studios has crafted an entirely different, yet familiar feeling, monster. They have poured passion, heart, blood, sweat, and tears into this game- and it shows. Its massive, teeming with things to discover, and presented in a beautiful package. Combat, crafting, exploration, leveling, and play styles are all as fluid as you would want- they (the devs) have really tried to make an expansive and all-inclusive game- and they have come as close to perfection as is possible at this point in my opinion.
So- buy this game if you are looking for some amazing value for your dollars. Buy it if you want to see where I predict the next generations of RPG's will be going. Buy it if you want an awesome story, amazing playability, and some great art. Buy it if you are looking to really get into a game and not be finished in 10 hours. This is hands down- one of the BEST games I have every played. Simply amazing- worth every penny spent and then some.
Related Product
No comments:
Post a Comment