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Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning |OT| An Enemy-Pounding Funfest

T

Trigunner

Member
H3rTz DoNuT said:
Got both sets and all of the pieces were random enemy drops, never found any of them in a chest.
Click to expand...

I'm 51 hours in and only got one gold drop from a monster. Most of the set pieces I have are ugly. I wish you never posted your pics so then I wouldn't know there are awesome armor that I'll likely never get. :)
 
1

1stStrike

Banned
Davedough said:
Wow... Very nice staff indeed. I'll be keeping an eye out for that one. My chakrams have really nice stats like that, although instead of beefing my overall health and mana, they leech them per hit.
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It's craftable from a quest. You're sent out to recover 3 staffs that have been stolen/broken, and they let you remake them with whatever stats you want on them. I went for the overall boost in hp/mp since I'd rather just have a larger pool to work with in the first place rather than relying on a low chance to steal it from an enemy.
 
H

H3rTz DoNuT

Member
Trigunner said:
I'm 51 hours in and only got one gold drop from a monster. Most of the set pieces I have are ugly. I wish you never posted your pics so then I wouldn't know there are there are awesome armor that I'll likely never get. :)
Click to expand...

Those sets are nothing, wait till you see more ;) I have a few more sets almost ready, missing one piece in each, will be hunting the rest of the pieces tonight :)
 
D

Davedough

Member
Trigunner said:
I'm 51 hours in and only got one gold drop from a monster. Most of the set pieces I have are ugly. I wish you never posted your pics so then I wouldn't know there are awesome armor that I'll likely never get. :)
Click to expand...

I've found plenty of gold pieces, but they're all for Might or Finesse. Here I am, a mix-matched ugly Mage that can tear enemies up and not look at all reasonably fashionable doing it.

2Th6s.jpg


Yes, I posted the same pic in the KOAR 2 thread
 
D

Deified Data

Banned
Just noticed that the player character is the only character in the whole game that doesn't blink. Eerie. Must have fucked up his/her facial nerves in the Well of Souls.
 
D

Davedough

Member
Deified Data said:
Just noticed that the player character is the only character in the whole game that doesn't blink. Eerie. Must have fucked up his/her facial nerves in the Well of Souls.
Click to expand...

He went to the Michael Cain school of acting and payed close attention to the "up close solo shot" section of the course.
 
O

Outtrigger888

Member
Saw curt on jimmy fallon last night, it looks like he needs some sleep. There was a nice long review in the star tribune this morning, and the writer loved the game and wrote a lengthy review for a news paper. It was also nice to know a guy from my work picked up the game so we have been talking reckoning all week
 
D

Deified Data

Banned
8 hours in. Rocking a lv.4 Dokkalfar Scout, faeblades primary and chakrams secondary. Aiming for a finesse/sorcery Destiny. Things were a bit rocky at first, but now I'm starting to get enough skills to hold my own against the rampant wolf packs and their preternatural attack-chaining skills.

Not that anyone asked. Just feel like sharing. =)
 
I

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Deified Data said:
8 hours in. Rocking a lv.4 Dokkalfar Scout, faeblades primary and chakrams secondary. Aiming for a finesse/sorcery Destiny. Things were a bit rocky at first, but now I'm starting to get enough skills to hold my own against the rampant wolf packs and their preternatural attack-chaining skills.

Not that anyone asked. Just feel like sharing. =)
Click to expand...

Continue sharing! My copy should finally be comin in today hopefully (in Japan) so I can finally join you guys on this adventure. I skipped Skyrim in favor of this (for many reasons) so I'm glad to finally have a wrpg experience. I seriously have no idea what to expect. I played the demo for like 5 mins to run through it but I can tell that I know so much about how it's going to play I'd rather not spoil all the little intricacies that will surprise me. Want to go in as fresh as possible.
 
N

Nista

Member
Deified Data said:
Just noticed that the player character is the only character in the whole game that doesn't blink. Eerie. Must have fucked up his/her facial nerves in the Well of Souls.
Click to expand...

I also noticed that both my character and Alyn Shir have detached eyelashes in front of our eyes. Super Creepy!
 
D

Davedough

Member
I'm currently a level 19 pure mage at 21 hours in, mainly because I always gravitate towards magic users in RPGs. I've had the strong desire to play as a pure Rogue type. I want to try the stealth/poison route to see how it is for once. When I go for my 2nd playthrough, this is where I'll go. I'll probably stick with the pure classes first and if I get bored, respec into a hybrid class since its so cheap to do so.
 
C

Carm

Member
Log4Girlz said:
Eh, anyone else with this bug? I had stored my house of ballads armor in my chest...when I retrieve it to destroy it...its stuck in my inventory...cannot junk, scrap, or sell it.
Click to expand...

I had the same thing happen to me with a epic dagger set. I was cleaning out the stash and pulled out Shine and Shadow daggers. Couldn't sell or put it back in the stash. Thankfully I had saved right before, because having that stuck in my character inventory would have annoyed the shit out of me.
 
H

H3rTz DoNuT

Member
Two more sets are done ;) First Belen's set, all the items were random enemies drops for me in Haxhi, Webwood and The Sidhe. Second set, Warsworn (every piece has a different name) is easy to get as you get three pieces of it from doing one of the Faction quest line. One piece is locked in the chest (you need a key to open it) in Sheldring Keep and the last one will be locked in the chest (you need a key for this one as well) in Helmgard keep.

Belen's set

6878101271_8a34ddf980_z.jpg


6878101277_f3b174b2f6_z.jpg


Warsworn set

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7196/6878101287_7259a1da8d_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7039/6878101297_649cd14ceb_z.jpg

Just the links for this one, cause someone asked not to embed images of the sets that have solid locations.
 
Grinchy

Grinchy

Banned
Davedough said:
I'm currently a level 19 pure mage at 21 hours in, mainly because I always gravitate towards magic users in RPGs. I've had the strong desire to play as a pure Rogue type. I want to try the stealth/poison route to see how it is for once. When I go for my 2nd playthrough, this is where I'll go. I'll probably stick with the pure classes first and if I get bored, respec into a hybrid class since its so cheap to do so.
Click to expand...

I'm doing the same thing. Pure magic now, and I'll try another pure class next. I almost never do a "strength" build in RPGs, so I might try pure might next on a male character.
 
B

Barack Lesnar

Banned
Davedough said:
I'm currently a level 19 pure mage at 21 hours in, mainly because I always gravitate towards magic users in RPGs. I've had the strong desire to play as a pure Rogue type. I want to try the stealth/poison route to see how it is for once. When I go for my 2nd playthrough, this is where I'll go. I'll probably stick with the pure classes first and if I get bored, respec into a hybrid class since its so cheap to do so.
Click to expand...

If I were you I wouldn't wait for the second playthrough. Respeccing costs nothing and is a really easy and fun process and adds freshness to the combat. Just my 2 cents, I think you should try all kinds of builds in the first playthrough. The game is so long and huge that multiple playthroughs might be hard to do anyway. Ignore the cost for respeccing, you will be filthy rich... respec 10+ times if you want.

Edit, and that's to Grinchy too.
 
D

Davedough

Member
Ya know, thats actually not a bad idea. I have over 200k in gold right now and literally nothing to spend it on. I only wish now I hadn't sold off all the high powered Finesse gear I've picked up. I'm going to have to save a couple sets and see how I like playing that type of character.
 
D

Deified Data

Banned
Was farting around on Metacritic. So far, the lowest score I've seen given for Reckoning has been G4's own Adam Sessler giving it a 2.5/5, which he considers "bad". I don't usually give two shits about reviews for games I love, but there are a few points Sessler makes that I'd like to respond to, if only to get them off my chest. (Original review)

The sheer ambition and intent is on display but, outside of an ingenious combat system, the game is incapable of the delicate merging of narrative, gameplay and art direction that is the hallmark of contemporary Role Playing Games. It is mired in design issues that place it more in a league of games from 2004 than as a real contender in this vibrant era of RPG’s.
Click to expand...
Has Sessler played an RPG since 2004? Last I checked, this current era of RPGs is mostly dark blue-mottled grey or brown. I love Skyrim to bits, but saying that Reckoning is lacking in "vibrancy" by comparison is ludicrous, considering Skyrim's muted color pallet and rock 'em sock 'em robots combat.

Reckoning declines to pursue even such simple binary moralism. Despite the clever narrative set-up that begs the player to feel responsible for the new world that he is shaping, the handful of choices made throughout the game are of little consequence; for example, side with a witch and kill the townsfolk, and you’re left with an empty town. Given the remarkable length of the game (70+ hours after completing every quest I could find), eschewing such player involvement in forming the world that the player is allegedly reshaping seems not only a lost opportunity but one of many elements of the game that keep the player at arm’s length, content to satisfy the experience with only the base mechanics of gameplay.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Would like to see more moral choices. That said, Skyrim didn't present any meaningful choice, either...

This is all too apparent in the actual storytelling on display. Interactions with other characters play out in turgid cutscenes that fill only one half of the screen where your character stands rigidly in front of your dialogue partner, enlivened only by arbitrary hand gestures. With little exception, the narrative is advanced through these unendurable sequences that frequently can’t be viewed because the camera is lost behind some object in the environment.
Click to expand...
Anything like Mass Effect?

It is possible that the information conveyed is interesting but the plastic character models and wholesale lack of characterization in both the voice acting – which never syncs up with the jaw movement – and animations imbue the information with leaden appeal. (The subpar quality of facial animations is made even more evident in those moments when the voice acting is good, by drawing attention to the dissonance between what you hear – say, nuanced delivery of the dialogue – and what you see – the robotic, emotionless quality of the speaker’s face.) You are offered seemingly inconsequential dialogue options, but your character does not speak, which, lacking the charm of the similarly mute Zelda games, does nothing to assist in bringing a sense of essential vitality to help drive the action.
Click to expand...
Facial animation is a bit wooden, and in the PC's case, nonexistent. Voice acting is stellar, however. Why can we never have both?!

With the numerous (well over 100) quests available in Reckoning, not giving them a unique flavor through storytelling techniques lets them stand as mere ciphers for getting a player in a dungeon and leveling up through combat. Repetitive behavior is at the core of any game, but with dexterous use of story and setting, a good game can offer the player a promise of something new and remarkable around the corner, the illusory sense of the unique that compels him to continue. Developers such as Bioware, Bethesda and Lionhead have championed this art; it’s unfortunate that Reckoning only highlights their accomplishment.
Click to expand...
Sessler's comparisons to AAA titles abounds. In Amalur, I know that I can step into any dungeon and come out with at least one piece of gear that I can use - usually more. I get the gear, the combat, and the exploration. In AAA titles like Skyrim or Mass Effect, the reward for exploration is just that - exploration. I love dungeon crawling in Skyrim, but I never went into a dungeon with the illusion that I'd come out a changed character. This is an unfair comparison.

Initially simple, the fighting does start to develop sophistication and depth as you grow your character, but gradually enough that those less exposed to the combo-heavy action games should acclimate comfortably. The character skill tree is a mathematical wonder as, being without fate, you are never locked into one class at a time and can spread experience points across the three categories of Might, Finesse and Sorcery as one sees fit; and it works. This is where the game finds its compulsive soul, leveling up and deciding what skill to advance or new skill to acquire creates the motivation for proceeding through the game, just to see how it manifests on the battlefield. For some players, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction gained in the combat sequences may be enough to declare the game enjoyable. And after investing so many hours, who could blame them for wanting, and finding, value in those isolated moments of pleasure?
Click to expand...
This is how you turn a positive into a negative, people. "The combat's great! But that greatness reminds me of how dull the rest of the game is". Eh.

Even with such an elegant combat system, however, Reckoning does not know how to indulge it. The actual combat scenarios themselves are painfully pedantic and lose any surprise after the first few hours of play.
Click to expand...
Hah, how does combat become pedantic? As a self-styled pedant, I'd expect Adam to know what the word means.

Beyond the camera, a shocking lack of polish is prevalent throughout Reckoning. Missing audio, framerate slowdown, a garish menu and incomprehensible maps are among the strange issues that plague the game and make it stand out from its triple-A contemporaries for all the wrong reasons.
Click to expand...
Hah, yeah, games like Dragon Age and Skyrim just drip polish.

...

Unnecessarily long post, I know. Point is: Sessler gives Reckoning flak for things that AAA titles get a total pass for. I know, I know - "reviewers being reviewers". I'm just glad Sessler's attitude is in the minority.
 
H

HP_Wuvcraft

Banned
Deified Data said:
Was farting around on Metacritic. So far, the lowest score I've seen given for Reckoning has been G4's own Adam Sessler giving it a 2.5/5, which he considers "bad". I don't usually give two shits about reviews for games I love, but there are a few points Sessler makes that I'd like to respond to, if only to get them off my chest. (Original review)


Has Sessler played an RPG since 2004? Last I checked, this current era of RPGs is mostly dark blue-mottled grey or brown. I love Skyrim to bits, but saying that Reckoning is lacking in "vibrancy" by comparison is ludicrous, considering Skyrim's muted color pallet and rock 'em sock 'em robots combat.


Agreed. Would like to see more moral choices. That said, Skyrim didn't present any meaningful choice, either...


Anything like Mass Effect?


Facial animation is a bit wooden, and in the PC's case, nonexistent. Voice acting is stellar, however. Why can we never have both?!


Sessler's comparisons to AAA titles abounds. In Amalur, I know that I can step into any dungeon and come out with at least one piece of gear that I can use - usually more. I get the gear, the combat, and the exploration. In AAA titles like Skyrim or Mass Effect, the reward for exploration is just that - exploration. I love dungeon crawling in Skyrim, but I never went into a dungeon with the illusion that I'd come out a changed character. This is an unfair comparison.


This is how you turn a positive into a negative, people. "The combat's great! But that greatness reminds me of how dull the rest of the game is". Eh.


Hah, how does combat become pedantic? As a self-styled pedant, I'd expect Adam to know what the word means.


Hah, yeah, games like Dragon Age and Skyrim just drip polish.

...

Unnecessarily long post, I know. Point is: Sessler gives Reckoning flak for things that AAA titles get a total pass for. I know, I know - "reviewers being reviewers". I'm just glad Sessler's attitude is in the minority.
Click to expand...

.... why do you care so much?
 
K

Kuro Madoushi

Unconfirmed Member
Hmm...I've been in a lot of dungeons where I came out with stuff, but it was all crap. It really is more about the exploration for me. And this friggin game is HUGE.
 
1

1stStrike

Banned
Well, this is fucked up. Has anyone else gotten a bug where you can't loot chests? I can loot piles and stuff, but certain bodies and a whole bunch of chests are glowing, but no matter what I do I'm not prompted to loot them and I can mash F, but nothing happens. D:

I'm in the
Archmage's underground chambers with the chests down there
and can't access any of 'em =\
 
W

Wallach

Member
1stStrike said:
Well, this is fucked up. Has anyone else gotten a bug where you can't loot chests? I can loot piles and stuff, but certain bodies and a whole bunch of chests are glowing, but no matter what I do I'm not prompted to loot them and I can mash F, but nothing happens. D:

I'm in the
Archmage's underground chambers with the chests down there
and can't access any of 'em =\
Click to expand...

Luckily your bug is less damaging than you think. As far as the bodies, there are times where enemies normally unlootable (like some of the guys in the dreamworld you just got out of) will show the loot glow as if they were. Usually this happens if you one-shot them, like killing them with Meteor. As for the chests, they are not lootable until the end of this quest chain.
]

Heavy said:
This isn't a PVP game. We're not two melee zeal paladins 1v1'ing in Diablo 2. This is just a PVE game so the TIME that's required to pick up and buy reagents + create them at the table + pop them during battle certainly counts towards overall DPS and, excluding the broken Meteor spell, mastercrafted blacksmithing is clearly superior to popping potions. Sorry you don't agree.
Click to expand...

Nobody would agree, because this is the most asinine definition of DPS you could come up with to try and rationalize your argument. DPS as only a useful metric when both damage and time are relevant specifically to the unit of time you are analyzing. When you stretch that out to include time frames where damage isn't relevant at all - or in your case, I guess the whole game - you get into idiotic shit like the fact that reading quest dialogue would be a "DPS loss", and fast traveling would be a "DPS gain". Give me a fucking break, please. The fact that you're really trying to argue this rather than just say Blacksmithing is the better skill even though it isn't as powerful is silly.
 
1

1stStrike

Banned
Wallach said:
Luckily your bug is less damaging than you think. As far as the bodies, there are times where enemies normally unlootable (like some of the guys in the dreamworld you just got out of) will show the loot glow as if they were. Usually this happens if you one-shot them, like killing them with Meteor. As for the chests, they are not lootable until the end of this quest chain.
]
Click to expand...

Ahh gotcha! They could have made it more obvious that you weren't supposed to loot them :p
 
Grinchy

Grinchy

Banned
Deified Data said:
I don't, really. Discussion forum, etc, etc.
Click to expand...

:shrug: I actually agreed with your feelings about what the review was saying. I have been avoiding reviews for long enough now that I can't remember the last time I relied on them. Reading those excerpts remind me why I made that choice so long ago.
 
V

Vamphuntr

Member
Beat the Scholia Arcana quest line and I have to say it was fairly disappointing. I saw what was going to happen miles away and the result at the end is fairly ridiculous. House of Ballads quest in comparison is much more sensical and interesting.

I also don't like how you can do every faction quests no matter what your build is. I mean you could be a warrior and do the mages quest?

Game is fun, beautiful and addictive but man is the story boring and bland.
 
S

Seraphis Cain

bad gameplay lol
Welp, demo + GAF impressions totally sold me. I've joined the Amalur party. :D

Anyone know what's up with the daggers you get from the ME3 demo? I'm planning on playing a Rogue, so they'd actually be pretty nice for me to have, but I also quite dislike Mass Effect, so I don't want to play the demo if I don't have to. :lol
 
S

scy

Member
Vamphuntr said:
Beat the Scholia Arcana quest line and I have to say it was fairly disappointing. I saw what was going to happen miles away and the result at the end is fairly ridiculous. House of Ballads quest in comparison is much more sensical and interesting.
Click to expand...

I actually found the quest fascinating. At least the end of it, anyway. The notes you find were kind of fun to read and
the final one of the Archsage as a child being taken away made me sad :(
. It was a bit predictable though but I think it's because
every Mage guild quest ever kind of runs the same way
.

I think the bigger takeaway I enjoy from the factions in general is all of them at least referencing
your removal from Fate as the reason for you being special to the faction itself; it's basically unnecessary but it was nice that attention was brought to it at least
.
 
W

Wallach

Member
Vamphuntr said:
Beat the Scholia Arcana quest line and I have to say it was fairly disappointing. I saw what was going to happen miles away and the result at the end is fairly ridiculous. House of Ballads quest in comparison is much more sensical and interesting.

I also don't like how you can do every faction quests no matter what your build is. I mean you could be a warrior and do the mages quest?

Game is fun, beautiful and addictive but man is the story boring and bland.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Scholia Arcana was sort of middling and too predictable. House of Ballads is still the most interesting faction I've taken part in. I think there's another fae faction line, so I'm hoping that one is on par.
 
V

Vamphuntr

Member
scy said:
I think the bigger takeaway I enjoy from the factions in general is all of them at least referencing
your removal from Fate as the reason for you being special to the faction itself; it's basically unnecessary but it was nice that attention was brought to it at least
.
Click to expand...

This is why the House of Ballads quest line was interesting to me. You are literally changing their "fate" which is repeated again and again by reenacting the songs.
 
T

thetrin

Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Heavy said:
If I were you I wouldn't wait for the second playthrough. Respeccing costs nothing and is a really easy and fun process and adds freshness to the combat. Just my 2 cents, I think you should try all kinds of builds in the first playthrough. The game is so long and huge that multiple playthroughs might be hard to do anyway. Ignore the cost for respeccing, you will be filthy rich... respec 10+ times if you want.

Edit, and that's to Grinchy too.
Click to expand...

Heavy, I completely agree with you, but I'm going to go ahead and giggle while I point out that you were complaining about respeccing being in the game.
 
W

Wallach

Member
H3rTz DoNuT said:
I have over 60 hours and just got to Detyre lol
Click to expand...

I definitely took my time getting to Detyre myself (I think I first got there around 40 hours or so), but luckily it is looking like it isn't quite as vast as the plains. Much more dense, and overall just seems to be a bit less to do. That is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, because I want to at least get all of the Lorestones and main quests done here but I'm already creeping on level 32.
 
H

H3rTz DoNuT

Member
I'm level 20 at the moment, did some of side quest here and there, finished House of Ballads and Warsworne quests so far and very little of the main quest. I'm really enjoying the game and don't want to rush anything. I listen to all the dialogs, read books, check the lorestones etc.
 
T

Trigunner

Member
I'm level 26; two main missions done; 79 side quests and about a dozen more finished but I haven't accepted the rewards yet so I don't level up as quickly. Usually I exhaust all dialogue options in games, but I've been skipping a lot of the non quest NPC's here since it's a chore to watch the scenes without being able to disable subs. I'm going to keep just doing side stuff, then faction, then the main story. So far I haven't been burnt out yet even though most of the quests and lore aren't engaging. I started Detyre this afternoon; I don't like the scenery as much as the Plains. I need to start reading the books; they're taking too much space in my stash.
 
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