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Kingdoms of Amalur demo impressions thread [Up On 360/Origin/Steam/U.S. PSN]

L

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
ReaperXL07 said:
That you get free stuff for playing a free demo? Bad new is subjective I guess.
Click to expand...

Yes, retextured items for advertising purposes, micro transactions, subscribing to online services. All this publisher imposed BS takes away resources from the development team that are needed to polish the game and the entire package. Enjoy your free shit.

Edit: Referring to publisher incentives.
 
T

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
loganclaws said:
This is such shit. The absolute rock bottom of the gaming industry.
Click to expand...

If there's one thing I hate, it's getting free stuff for doing free things. HOW AWFUL.

loganclaws said:
All this publisher imposed BS takes away resources from the development team that are needed to polish the game and the entire package. Enjoy your free shit.
Click to expand...

Yes, because creating free unlockable items requires the entire development team and time equal to polishing the game for release.
 
R

Ricker

Member
Once you get to the first village,the graphics took a little hit in the art style on some of the NPC's...it reminds me a lot of Divinity II actually but the combat and animations are much better...wielding that giant Hammer is great .
 
E

Effect

Member
NewEgg has the game up for preorder and there are promo codes for it as well cutting $12 off the price. Bringing it down to $47.99. This was posted on Amazon.com KoA:R forums.

StreetSavage at Amazon.com said:
The 48 hour sale ends at 11:59pm PT on 1/18

PS3 - EMCNJJC75
360 - EMCNJJC74
PC - EMCNJJC73

Free 3 day shipping and no sales tax (except in CA, TN, and NJ)
Click to expand...

I normally am not one to preorder PS3/360 games. It's rare when it happens as I don't like paying $60 if I don't have to. The Wii being my primary system this gen has helped with that but for $48 new I went for it. Have to make sure I play the demo though so I get at least those bonus offers as NewEgg isn't offering anything with their versions of the game.

Also Amazon.com has the digital download version for $50.99.
 
L

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
thetrin said:
If there's one thing I hate, it's getting free stuff for doing free things. HOW AWFUL.



Yes, because creating free unlockable items requires the entire development team and time equal to polishing the game for release.
Click to expand...

Even one artist is a development resource. In any case the rabbit hole goes much deeper. There are other negative implications in regards to these "free items"; game balance, immersion, monetization, etc... It's sad but I guess most gamers don't see the big picture and what a dangerous slippery slope this whole affair is.
 
B

Bisonian

Member
loganclaws said:
Yes, retextured items for advertising purposes, micro transactions, subscribing to online services. All this publisher imposed BS takes away resources from the development team that are needed to polish the game and the entire package. Enjoy your free shit.
Click to expand...


Yeah... hm... er... what? Did you post this in the wrong thread? Does downloading the free demo cost money now?
 
T

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
loganclaws said:
Even one artist is a development resource. In any case the rabbit hole goes much deeper. There are other negative implications in regards to these "free items"; game balance, immersion, monetization, etc... It's sad but I guess most gamers don't see the big picture and what a dangerous slippery slope this whole affair is.
Click to expand...

How can it be a slippery slope when this is already better than what we USUALLY get?

You know what? Forget it. I don't want to talk about this with you. I just want to talk about the demo.
 
W

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
loganclaws said:
Even one artist is a development resource. In any case the rabbit hole goes much deeper. There are other negative implications in regards to these "free items"; game balance, immersion, monetization, etc... It's sad but I guess most gamers don't see the big picture and what a dangerous slippery slope this whole affair is.
Click to expand...

You're flailing. None of that is relevant to a free demo, or free items being unlocked for playing the free demo. It costs you nothing to play the demo.

Of course the entire process is marketing for the retail release. That doesn't make it inheriently evil.
 
N

Nista

Member
loganclaws said:
Even one artist is a development resource. In any case the rabbit hole goes much deeper. There are other negative implications in regards to these "free items"; game balance, immersion, monetization, etc... It's sad but I guess most gamers don't see the big picture and what a dangerous slippery slope this whole affair is.
Click to expand...

Artists often finish up production long before the rest of the development team. Working on promo items gives them something to do while the game is in testing and optimization.

They aren't allowing weapon unlocks for MS points like the cars in Forza. Now that's a bit of "evil monetization" in the console space.
 
T

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Famassu said:
What? You play a free demo and get free stuff. This is horrible because...?
Click to expand...

BECAUSE IT'S ADVERTISING, WHICH IS EVIL BECAUSE WE SHOULD ALL BE PLOWING FIELDS AND ENJOYING THE WORLD INSTEAD OF LIVING IN THIS CAPITALIST SLAVE STATE
 
I

ironcreed

Banned
Ricker said:
Once you get to the first village,the graphics took a little hit in the art style on some of the NPC's...it reminds me a lot of Divinity II actually but the combat and animations are much better...wielding that giant Hammer is great .
Click to expand...

Music to my ears. I LOVE Divinity II. As for the visuals taking a hit, I think the vibrant art itself will more than carry this game visually for me. Now, the wait for PSN to update continues, so I can play for myself. I'll give it a whirl on the 360 for comparison next week.
 
R

ReaperXL7

Member
Ok i'm going to try and nudge this back into the demo. I'll ask again, anyone find a favored weapon yet? Quite a few of them look really cool to me, interested in hearing peoples opinions of the weapon types.

Anyone find any Chakrums yet?
 
W

Wallach

Member
ReaperXL07 said:
Ok i'm going to try and nudge this back into the demo. I'll ask again, anyone find a favored weapon yet? Quite a few of them look really cool to me, interested in hearing peoples opinions of the weapon types.

Anyone find any Chakrums yet?
Click to expand...

On that topic, how does the combat system work for mages? Do they have to just hit things with the staff with the default attacks?
 
Dr. Kitty Muffins

Dr. Kitty Muffins

Member
I really liked the demo. I'm going through with my pre-order. To me, this is what Fable should have been. Don't get me wrong, Fable ranks up there as one of myfavrite all time series and I know these two games are different takes on essentially the same formula.

I'm amazed that this companies first outing hit the mark so squarely. I wish they had shown us a sneek peak at the evolved high combat (you unlock more moves, etc) but I can't really complain. There was some issues loading water here and there and the camera got stuck once during a cave fight but overall I was impressed with what they accomplished. I stuck mainly to sword combat but the gigantic hammers are quite fun. I may go Mage my next go around.

I found the quests to be varied and well thought out. I've been through a few of the unique dungeons already and they are laid out quite well. The quest characters are far from bland and (so far) none of the NPC's seem same-ish. I don't want to spoil anything but the quest involving the heart roots is my fav out of what I've uncovered so far. The wolf quest is alright too.

The story work of R.A Salvatore is very apparent and quite good. The music is great even if it does remind me of Danny Elfman's work- never a bad thing. And McFarlane's designs really add character to the WoW-ish artstyle.

Granted the game apes Fable and elements of other games, but this is what I wanted. They took the things I always wanted mashed together and got it right. I may wish the menu's looked a bit spiffier and the dialogue wasn't as cropped off but other than that, I'm looking at a definite 9'er in my book.
 
E

eshwaaz

Member
I've been really looking forward to this game, but the demo left me pretty flat.

The controls feel stiff and unresponsive, and the sound design is seriously lacking. Perhaps it's the unfinished state of the demo build, but weapon impact sounds are very weak and frequently fail to trigger at all, leaving you with a silent strike.
 
A

Artadius

Member
I wonder what the chances are that we'll see the PC demo cracked so you can play beyond the time limit and beyond the area restrictions... similar to how the Just Cause 2 demo was cracked to allow you to explore beyond the restricted demo area.
 
I

ironcreed

Banned
Sorry, I don't see how it is evil for them to want to market a promising new IP that deserves all the exposure it can get from the looks of things. I certainly am not going to complain that they are going to toss me a few free items for for playing demos of two games that I am already buying anyway. If it adds incentive for those still on the fence to give the demo a try for either game, then that's great. No harm, no foul. EA is just marketing the game. As they should be if they want sales, lol.
 
R

Rad Agast

Member
Played as a warrior, I like the fight mechanics but why can't I progress any further in the demo? I've hit an invisible wall :(

Will definitely play this on hard when I pick it up next month.
 
R

ReaperXL7

Member
Wallach said:
On that topic, how does the combat system work for mages? Do they have to just hit things with the staff with the default attacks?
Click to expand...

Well each tree has three weapon types

Might:
Long swords
Great Swords
War Hammers

Finesse:
Daggers
FaeBlades
Bows

Sorcery:
Staves
Scepters (wands)
Chakrums

At first you'll only have some very basic stuff that you can do with them, once you get leveled though you'll put points into the weapon specific abilities There are specific weapon mastery abilities, and then Weapon style (all weapons in that tree) abilities

The might tree for instance has the "Brutal weaponry" options, and these will unlock new moves and what not. Brutal Weaponry 1 for instance unlocks charged attacks, the second tier Brutal weaponry 2, unlocks attacking from block, etc.

Then you can combine all these abilities with your magic, ability moves. One vid showed a character knock an enemy in the air with a sword, then juggle them with a bow. So it starts out simple, then adds alot of options the higher you level.


Artadius said:
I wonder what the chances are that we'll see the PC demo cracked so you can play beyond the time limit and beyond the area restrictions... similar to how the Just Cause 2 demo was cracked to allow you to explore beyond the restricted demo area.
Click to expand...

No the reason people are getting the invisable walls is because there is nothing past that point in the demo. It's not the full game with a time limit, it's just a seperated chunk of the game turned into a demo. The Timer will probably be exploited though at some point.
 
Dr. Kitty Muffins

Dr. Kitty Muffins

Member
ParityBit said:
This is posted on Amazon.

Do we get anything in the full game for playing the Reckoning demo?
There are three unlocks earned in Reckoning for playing the Reckoning demo:
1. A Twist of Fate Card is earned after you have installed the Reckoning demo and linked your Origin account
2. The Twinned Souls Chakram is earned after you have installed the Reckoning demo and linked your Origin account
3. The Infernal Helm is earned after completing the Reckoning Mode Tutorial

Will I earn items in the Mass Effect 3 full game for playing the Reckoning demo?
There are two unlocks earned in Mass Effect 3 for playing the Reckoning demo:
1. The Reckoner Knight Armor is earned after you have installed the Reckoning demo and linked your Origin account
2. The Chakram Launcher is earned after completing the full Reckoning demo and seeing the call to action video in its entirety

Will I get items in Reckoning if I play the Mass Effect 3 demo?
Yes, you earn the Omniblade Daggers after installing the Mass Effect 3 demo and be linked to your Origin account​
Click to expand...


This is in addition to your pre-order bonuses. I've got quite a bit of free items for Day 1 and I have to say more companies should consider doing this. Granted, none of the items will be all that great by mid-level but stuff like this helps in the beginning.
 
T

The Mana Legend

Banned
Gotta say, while I'm still in the Well of Souls, it's pretty bad so far. Overly sensitive movement controls and camera, and overly stiff and slow combat controls. The graphics/art style are ugly, and the menus are a mess. Maybe it gets better once I leave this place, but still. It seems pretty bad so far.
 
L

loganclaws

Plane Escape Torment
thetrin said:
How can it be a slippery slope when this is already better than what we USUALLY get?

You know what? Forget it. I don't want to talk about this with you. I just want to talk about the demo.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what your usual is.

WanderingWind said:
You're flailing. None of that is relevant to a free demo, or free items being unlocked for playing the free demo. It costs you nothing to play the demo.

Of course the entire process is marketing for the retail release. That doesn't make it inheriently evil.
Click to expand...

I am not referring to the free demo of course. I am referring to their marketing strategy to give players incentives to sign on to external services they tack on, so that later down the road they can bombard you with their micro transactions and "DLCs", which causes the developers to chop up the game into small pieces (DLC on disk, disjointed narrative, etc). Why do you think EA has a problem with Steam? Really, think about this before you hit that reply button.

Famassu said:
What? You play a free demo and get free stuff. This is horrible because...?
Click to expand...

Not complaining about the free demo (should we start paying for demos now?), see above.

Nista said:
Artists often finish up production long before the rest of the development team. Working on promo items gives them something to do while the game is in testing and optimization.

They aren't allowing weapon unlocks for MS points like the cars in Forza. Now that's a bit of "evil monetization" in the console space.
Click to expand...

This is a generalisation referring to only the example I gave, which is just one example, how do you know which resources are being exploited to build the required infrastructure for EA's free items? Or to hook into ORIGIN? Or to detect that you played the demo of game X so now we will give you this awesome retextured item which completely ruins the difficulty curve?

In any case I do not want to derail the thread but I had to say my piece.
 
I

ironcreed

Banned
Might and Sorcery for me, with a touch of Finesse. That is the plan anyway, which may change. Going rogue looks mighty bad ass as well. More so than any RPG I can recall.
 
F

FairXchange

Member
Awesome, thanks for the heads up OP.

Dr. Kitty Muffins said:
I really liked the demo. I'm going through with my pre-order. To me, this is what Fable should have been. Don't get me wrong, Fable ranks up there as one of myfavrite all time series and I know these two games are different takes on essentially the same formula.
Click to expand...

It's funny you mentioned this, my initial impression of this game was "I hope this is the game Fable should have been". If this really is the case, count me in on day one.
 
T

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
loganclaws said:
I'm not sure what your usual is.
Click to expand...

Gamestop preorder bonuses, 15 minute demos, demos masquerading as betas, overpriced DLC, preorder bonuses later sold as overpriced DLC. You know, all the stuff you were complaining about.

ironcreed said:
Might and Sorcery for me, with a touch of Finesse. That is the plan anyway, which may change. Going rogue looks mighty bad ass as well. More so than any RPG I can recall.
Click to expand...

I'll probably roll with might and sorcery as well. I tend to gravitate towards characters like that.
 
T

The_Darkest_Red

Member
The Mana Legend said:
Gotta say, while I'm still in the Well of Souls, it's pretty bad so far. Overly sensitive movement controls and camera, and overly stiff and slow combat controls. The graphics/art style are ugly, and the menus are a mess. Maybe it gets better once I leave this place, but still. It seems pretty bad so far.
Click to expand...
Hmm... doesn't sound promising. Hopefully your opinion will change after you spend some more time with it.
 
S

ShdwDrake

Banned
loganclaws said:
I'm not sure what your usual is.



I am not referring to the free demo of course. I am referring to their marketing strategy to give players incentives to sign on to external services they tack on, so that later down the road they can bombard you with their micro transactions and "DLCs", which causes the developers to chop up the game into small pieces (DLC on disk, disjointed narrative, etc). Why do you think EA has a problem with Steam? Really, think about this before you hit that reply button.



Not complaining about the free demo (should we start paying for demos now?), see above.



This is a generalisation referring to only the example I gave, which is just one example, how do you know which resources are being exploited to build the required infrastructure for EA's free items? Or to hook into ORIGIN? Or to detect that you played the demo of game X so now we will give you this awesome retextured item which completely ruins the difficulty curve?

In any case I do not want to derail the thread but I had to say my piece.
Click to expand...

The game is on steam... Juniors man.
 
C

Carm

Member
Went though the game twice. I'm sure as, they mentioned, this isn't final code so some of the issues listed may be fixed, others won't be though.

3 catagories Fixable, Won't be fixed, Might be fixable

Fixable

Camera
Numerous times during combat, the camera would just drop to the ground and I could neither see my character or the enemies I was fighting.

While in combat and running away, the camera seems to zoom out a lot, messing up your viewpoint with what direction your heading. Seemed more of a problem in dungeons with enclosed spaces.

The camera auto rotation upon movement is erratic. Sometimes it worked, other times I had to constantly move the camera while moving though the enviroment.

Audio
The sound glitched out numerous times. I lost sound completely switching to a new weapon.

Sound mix during conversations is bad in some instances, particularly the beginning with the gnome.

Graphical glitches
Weird glitches , hard to describe but wasn't normal, if it happens to you, you'd notice.

Won't be fixed
Framerate
Eyeballing it, the framerate dropped below acceptable levels (30fps) numerous times, mostly during combat.

UI
The UI is pretty bad, have seen indie games with better ones, but it's all we are gonna get.

Voice acting/Writing
Just plain bad, I rarely skip dialog in rpgs, and I started doing it by the second npc. I don't know if it's just the acting that's bad or a combo of a bad script/va.

Ze goggles, they do nothing!
Blurry mess in some places, hard to make out any real detail. May or may not be acceptable for the average console game. My view may be skewed because I've been playing one game with far more detail on my pc as of late, and haven't touched my 360 in weeks. GoW 3 looks clearer though.

Player character models
Ugly, surprisingly, after seeing art of other things in the game. Step above Oblivion, which isn't saying much.

Might be fixable
Auto lock on system

Seems very lazy and doesn't seem to work 100% of the time.


I did enjoy the combat, and even with what seems like quite a few negatives, I'll stick pick up the Steam pc version, unless it's loaded with 2 or 3 forms of DRM, otherwise, used on 360 way down the road.

Edit: One last negative, never, ever put an escort quest in your demo, or game for that matter, they are never fun.
 
T

The Mana Legend

Banned
Caspel said:
The main title/theme music is similar to the Spider-Man theme from the film series
Spider-Man
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUADYVeogIY&feature=fvst

KOA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGYdOcS9hXE

At first I had thought it reminded me of Batman, but it was Danny Elfman's more recent Spider-Man work that KOA seems to borrow from.
Click to expand...

Wow, this is almost as bad as that Transformers 3 song that completely rips off Inception.

Shame, too, since Grant Kirkhope is an incredible composer. But this is just a bad, blatant ripoff. Even my girlfriend, who is completely clueless in terms of music and video games, just said "Do I recognize this?" And I told her "it's a theme for a video game that rips off Spiderman." The fact that even she recognized it is pretty sad.
 
Dr. Kitty Muffins

Dr. Kitty Muffins

Member
Effect said:
NewEgg has the game up for preorder and there are promo codes for it as well cutting $12 off the price. Bringing it down to $47.99. This was posted on Amazon.com KoA:R forums.



I normally am not one to preorder PS3/360 games. It's rare when it happens as I don't like paying $60 if I don't have to. The Wii being my primary system this gen has helped with that but for $48 new I went for it. Have to make sure I play the demo though so I get at least those bonus offers as NewEgg isn't offering anything with their versions of the game.

Also Amazon.com has the digital download version for $50.99.
Click to expand...

Hopefully, Amazon matches that price so that my pre-order is even cheaper. I used a 25 dollar amazon gift card already on my purchase. :)

Personally, I think Curt Schilling may have said to Kirkhope "Damn it, it is my money and you damn well better give me some motherfuckin' Danny Elfman tunes since he turned me down!" LOL.
 
N

nel e nel

Member
ReaperXL07 said:
To be fair there are two Studios there is 38 which is the studio that Curt Shilling Founded. They were working on the MMO before Reckoning exsisted. Curt bought Big Huge games from THQ and they remade the game they were making for THQ to fit into 38's MMO. It's all actually an interesting story.

They already confirmed that they have plenty of plans for more Single player RPGs after Reckoning though so no worries on that front.


MMO is seperate. Big Huge Games makes the Single player RPG side, 38 is working on the MMO, but the MMO won't start being disussed until Reckoning has been out for abit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought I had read somewheres that KoA was to be the introduction to the universe that the MMO takes place in. It's like The Hobbit to LotR.
 
Dr. Kitty Muffins

Dr. Kitty Muffins

Member
thetrin said:
That's because the director of the game was the director of Morrowind, and has been making games for 30 years.
Click to expand...


I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this earlier in the thread.

Ken Rolston pretty much can claim he stands toe to toe with Peter Molyneux when it comes to this style of game. I really like it that much. They are two variations of the same core game. Peter's game has a different kind of charm but I like them both. I'm not sure I would want R.A. Salvatore trying to mimic the spirit of Albion in his work.lol But they both do a good job of creating a believable fantasy setting and the dialgoue seems to be just as good in KoA so far- just different.

That being said, I wish they had dumped us in a higher level zone and not the starter area. I've seen the developer in-game walk throughs and some zones are more open than others. And showing off the more complex combat that comes later would really help show it does more than Fable's streamlined combat system. You get the basic game here but what else should I expect from a demo?
 
C

cackhyena

Member
nel e nel said:
Yeah, I thought I had read somewheres that KoA was to be the introduction to the universe that the MMO takes place in. It's like The Hobbit to LotR.
Click to expand...

Except won't it feel like a step backwards in terms of game play? Can you have an MMO with this kind of involved combat?
 
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