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

ironcreed

Banned
That freakin' harpoon ability from the Might tree is a godsend for melee-focused characters. Once I decided to try it out I couldn't imagine not picking it up when I play through the actual game.

It is indeed. Ranged foes will meet their doom. Not to mention that it is also badass because it reminds me of Scorpion, lol. How can you not dig having an ability like this?

"Come Here!"

Scorpion_spear_mk9.jpg
 
For those of you that are up-to-date: does the quest structure become a little more dynamic? Everything so far feels like a fetch-quest variant.

How many quests did you do? Most of the quests in the demo are not fetch quests.

Finally got around to trying the ability in the sorcery tree that allows you to mark 4 enemies with flames and then explode them all. Too awesome.
 

Hawk269

Member
I found a cave under the waterfall in the first area in the demo that had a hidden treasure chest.

Also there's loot to be found in the water when swimming in those two early ponds.

Yes, there is a small cave behind a water fall with a few rats to kill. There are actually 3 chests all requiring lock picking, 1 of 3 has a trap.

Also,, this is where they took a Fable idea with the swimming and diving for loot. The loot is found by looking for a a circle of rippleing water, then "A" pops up prompting you to dive for the loot. Fable did the same exact thing.
 
LOVE the demo...except for just one thing :(

Why isn't my shield visible when I'm not blocking?! Seems like a terrible, pointless design decision. Seriously, they're going to get everything else right in this game and screw up something completely simple and obvious like that?

I want to have an awesome shield and see the shield strapped to my back or w/e when not in use. Or visible in my offhand while I'm attacking.

I hate when little nitpicky things like that ruin games for me.
 
LOVE the demo...except for just one thing :(

Why isn't my shield visible when I'm not blocking?! Seems like a terrible, pointless design decision. Seriously, they're going to get everything else right in this game and screw up something completely simple and obvious like that?

I want to have an awesome shield and see the shield strapped to my back or w/e when not in use. Or visible in my offhand while I'm attacking.

I hate when little nitpicky things like that ruin games for me.

It is what it is I'm afraid.
 

moop1167

Member
LOVE the demo...except for just one thing :(

Why isn't my shield visible when I'm not blocking?! Seems like a terrible, pointless design decision. Seriously, they're going to get everything else right in this game and screw up something completely simple and obvious like that?

I want to have an awesome shield and see the shield strapped to my back or w/e when not in use. Or visible in my offhand while I'm attacking.

I hate when little nitpicky things like that ruin games for me.

It's actually not a big deal.
 
LOVE the demo...except for just one thing :(

Why isn't my shield visible when I'm not blocking?! Seems like a terrible, pointless design decision. Seriously, they're going to get everything else right in this game and screw up something completely simple and obvious like that?

I want to have an awesome shield and see the shield strapped to my back or w/e when not in use. Or visible in my offhand while I'm attacking.

I hate when little nitpicky things like that ruin games for me.

Yeah, that also made me really irritated. I thought I hit a glitch that didn't allow me to see my shield. To hear, this is an intentional design really makes me sad.
 

Hannar

Member
LOVE the demo...except for just one thing :(

Why isn't my shield visible when I'm not blocking?! Seems like a terrible, pointless design decision. Seriously, they're going to get everything else right in this game and screw up something completely simple and obvious like that?

I want to have an awesome shield and see the shield strapped to my back or w/e when not in use. Or visible in my offhand while I'm attacking.

I hate when little nitpicky things like that ruin games for me.

That was a conscious decision made by the animators and art team. Even Curt thought it was a bad idea until he saw what would have been the result in practice. With the exaggerated animations and attacks in game, having the shield or the secondary weapon visible at all times wasn't possible without massive clipping and even more unnatural looking results.

The mage shield makes a lot of sense, still - but the warrior shields and bucklers require a little suspension of disbelief. Of course, so do the 120 pound hammers.
 

Khezu

Member
LOVE the demo...except for just one thing :(

Why isn't my shield visible when I'm not blocking?! Seems like a terrible, pointless design decision. Seriously, they're going to get everything else right in this game and screw up something completely simple and obvious like that?

I want to have an awesome shield and see the shield strapped to my back or w/e when not in use. Or visible in my offhand while I'm attacking.

I hate when little nitpicky things like that ruin games for me.

I'm guessing its two reason, one to keep the animation as fast as possible, have a de sheath animation would take longer, and it being a action game, you need to be able to instantly block at a moments notice. Two, because the shield is fucking huge and would look kinda weird and probably clip with your weapon and legs, not to mention you wouldn't be able to see jack shit because of how close the camera is.

They probably should have had a toggle that allows you to put it on your left arm if you so desire, at least for the long sword.

With the exaggerated animations and attacks in game, having the shield or the secondary weapon visible at all times wasn't possible without massive clipping and even more unnatural looking results.

Oh, ya, that actually makes more sense. Especially with the GS and faeblades, those have some crazy animations, would look mad awkward.
 
It's kind of a tricky situation that in peoples mind (even mine) it kinda seems wrong and unrealistic.

But then if you think rationally your character in this game and most other RPGs is carrying an invisible item shop with them at all times anyway.
 
For anyone that cares, my first complete run through will be on a build I've never played in any fantasy game, pure rogue.

I never played a rogue past like level 10 in any MMO, never into that sort of game mechanic, and have never been a PVP guy.

But I fell in love with this destiny path from day 1, the way it plays, the very cool and deep strategy you can work with in combat. Traps, smoke bombs, stealth, assassinations and I love the ranged combat. Especially after Skyrim's bow combat. It feels bad ass, and that was all BEFORE I saw how to create juggle combo's from dagger and fae blades to bow finishers...

I'll likely go battlemage on the next go around.

I was a rogue in EQ and after about 7 Coirnav corpse runs in Plane of Water I needed a rogue break. That break ended up in me playing casters and tanks in every other game and I've oddly never looked back, even though I don't think any other MMO has used corpse dragging and that was my biggest source of burnout.

Gonna be jack of all trades for me for my first run through Reckoning I think.

I can understand the desire to see the shield, but I personally kind of like that it isn't always showing.

It stopped bothering me pretty quickly. It is kind of odd how much not seeing what you wield bothers you, when the fact that you're carrying an invisible backpack that can apparently hold enough parts to build a small car doesn't.
 
It stopped bothering me pretty quickly. It is kind of odd how much not seeing what you wield bothers you, when the fact that you're carrying an invisible backpack that can apparently hold enough parts to build a small car doesn't.
Half the point in RPG loot games is seeing how cool your character looks with equipment tuned to your build and playstyle, so I can understand the disappointment for shield/sword types. Its a whole class of loot you don't get to see the majority of time.

In Skyrim I'd hide my shield most of the time though so its not a big issue for me.

The LOD pop in *is* though, as I know I should be able to max this game out and then some without breaking a sweat. So it really stands out in comparison to all of my other PC games.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
So how many of those glowing barriers have you guys come across that is demo cut off points, I think I've come across about. 5or 6 in my too much time spent playing the demo. One in perticuler caught my attention, it looked like a pretty large opening to a cave, but I could not move forward because it was stuff not in the demo. It did not look like most of the others which had mostly open space beyond them it actually just. Looked like it could have been a pretty big dungeon.
 

QisTopTier

XisBannedTier
So how many of those glowing barriers have you guys come across that is demo cut off points, I think I've come across about. 5or 6 in my too much time spent playing the demo. One in perticuler caught my attention, it looked like a pretty large opening to a cave, but I could not move forward because it was stuff not in the demo. It did not look like most of the others which had mostly open space beyond them it actually just. Looked like it could have been a pretty big dungeon.

About 4? I kinda avoided going a bit to far and just stuck to testing out stuff in area's I knew already.
 

-Mikey-

Member
Will it be possible to get all of the skills in a playthrough? I know you only get 1 per level but you can also buy skill upgrades from trainers I believe and if I were to go Universalist that would be a bonus +3 to all skills.
 

jgminto

Member
I freaking love that you can kill pretty much everyone in the town. I could kill everyone there but the faction quest giver and the gatekeeper for the temple. I can definitely see the MMO roots in the game. I think it's moving around the world as well as some of the quest layouts. But if the MMO plays like this I'll definitely sign up.

One thing I did notice though was that the difficulty is pretty easy. On the two characters I rolled with the only enemy that was an annoyance was the wolves for my greatsword class. I know that it's early in the game but I wish it was a bit more challenging. I'll probably but it up to hard come release.

Also the greatsword/bow combo is bloody awesome for juggling enemies. Hitting them with a 3-hit combo which ends with an uppercut and then rapid firing your bow, which knocks them back a metre each time while keeping them in the air. It's a great way to create some distance between you and the enemy and then you can "Get over here!" them back into the fight and do it again.
 

Toki767

Member
Got around to playing the demo. Wish I played it sooner. I'm sold on the combat, the world, and the character building. I just don't know if I'm ready to start another open world game after finishing up my Skyrim playthrough. It's definitely on my radar though.
 

Grinchy

Banned
Got around to playing the demo. Wish I played it sooner. I'm sold on the combat, the world, and the character building. I just don't know if I'm ready to start another open world game after finishing up my Skyrim playthrough. It's definitely on my radar though.

That was exactly my impression after the first time I played the demo. After playing some of it a couple more times, I'm getting more and more sold.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
I freaking love that you can kill pretty much everyone in the town. I could kill everyone there but the faction quest giver and the gatekeeper for the temple. I can definitely see the MMO roots in the game. I think it's moving around the world as well as some of the quest layouts. But if the MMO plays like this I'll definitely sign up.

One thing I did notice though was that the difficulty is pretty easy. On the two characters I rolled with the only enemy that was an annoyance was the wolves for my greatsword class. I know that it's early in the game but I wish it was a bit more challenging. I'll probably but it up to hard come release.

Also the greatsword/bow combo is bloody awesome for juggling enemies. Hitting them with a 3-hit combo which ends with an uppercut and then rapid firing your bow, which knocks them back a metre each time while keeping them in the air. It's a great way to create some distance between you and the enemy and then you can "Get over here!" them back into the fight and do it again.

The enemies within the first couple of areas are pretty easy but there is a creature called the thresher that can be quite tough, kobolds in packs can be pretty dangerous aswell. From the ignpreview though he does mention that the challange does go up abit the further you go. Plus if you wander in zones above your level you'll probably get smacked around aswell.

I love the creature/ enemy variety only two caves I've gone into featured the sametype. Have a feeling the dungeon crawling in this will be pretty rewarding.
 
Got around to playing the demo. Wish I played it sooner. I'm sold on the combat, the world, and the character building. I just don't know if I'm ready to start another open world game after finishing up my Skyrim playthrough. It's definitely on my radar though.

I would, if I´m sure that I will enjoy exploration, story, setting and quests in it. But I don´t know about those things in this yet. This seems to be much more of an action game than Skyrim.

While the demo shows that game does have a combat mechanic that´s way better than Skyrim´s, Skyrim often let you handle encounters without actually fighting. You could sneak pass them, make yourself invisible, take alternative routes, pit them against other NPC´s, etc. This one seems to be much more about throwing yourself against hordes of enemies.

Amalur seems to be a really really good game, but I get the impression that it´s not the game I wanted it to be when I heard that Ken Rolston was making a new game. But that´s just a feeling, and I´m awaiting more impressions from reviews and Neogaf.
 

Syrionus

Neo Member
I would, if I´m sure that I will enjoy exploration, story, setting and quests in it. But I don´t know about those things in this yet. This seems to be much more of an action game than Skyrim.

While the demo shows that game does have a combat mechanic that´s way better than Skyrim´s, Skyrim often let you handle encounters without actually fighting. You could sneak pass them, make yourself invisible, take alternative routes, pit them against other NPC´s, etc. This one seems to be much more about throwing yourself against hordes of enemies.

You can do the same in KoA:R. In fact, just as well as Skyrim, if not better. Of course this is based off of videos and limited experience with the demo.
 

Toki767

Member
You can do the same in KoA:R. In fact, just as well as Skyrim, if not better. Of course this is based off of videos and limited experience with the demo.

The sneaking is pretty much like Skyrim, though the openness of the world isn't as completely open as Skyrim in that you can't really fall to your death anywhere you go since there are invisible walls.
 

ElyrionX

Member
Going to settle on this build:

Finesse
Precise Weaponry I: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Dagger Mastery: (Rank: 4 / 6)
Precise Weaponry II: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Faeblade Mastery: (Rank: 6 / 6)

Sorcery
Arcane Weaponry I: (Rank: 3 / 3)
Sceptre Mastery: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Staff Mastery: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Storm Bolt: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Arcane Weaponry II: (Rank: 3 / 3)
Chakram Mastery: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Sphere of Protection: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Mark of Flame: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Conservative Casting: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Summon Faer Gorta: (Rank: 1 / 6)
Healing Surge: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Chain Lightning: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Ice Barrage: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Arcane Weaponry III: (Rank: 3 / 3)
Transference: (Rank: 1 / 5)
Sphere of Reprisal: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Smolder: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Frostshackle: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Arcane Weaponry IV: (Rank: 3 / 3)
Elemental Rage: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Tempest: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Sphere of Retribution: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Meteor: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Winter's Embrace: (Rank: 5 / 5)

Primarily a mage character. There's a lot of stuff in the the Sorcery tree that I'd rather not have added points to. For example, a single point in Healing Surge seems more than enough and I don't like summon spells in my mages and I don't think I will be using Sceptres much to justify the full six points. However, I needed the 109 points to reach the highest mage destiny and had no choice but to put points in a lot of abilities I'd rather not have.

I would have went for a mage/rogue hybrid destiny but the Sorcery tree has too many stuff I want that requires 70 points invested in the tree. Since you only get 123 points to mess around with, trying to get the highest tier skills in any tree while playing a hybrid build would mean that you would need to forego reaching the highest tier destiny available to your class (the two-class hybrid destinies require 55 points investment in each tree to unlock the highest tier destinies).

EDIT: For those wondering where you can plan your build, this ability calculator was posted by someone else a couple of pages ago.
 

Loxley

Member
I'm guessing its two reason, one to keep the animation as fast as possible, have a de sheath animation would take longer, and it being a action game, you need to be able to instantly block at a moments notice. Two, because the shield is fucking huge and would look kinda weird and probably clip with your weapon and legs, not to mention you wouldn't be able to see jack shit because of how close the camera is.

That was my first thought. As cool as the shields look, and as weird as it is to basically....pull them out of your pocket...they are gigantic. I don't need a giant piece of metal blocking me from seeing my character at all times.

Shields appear to always be a challenge in games, I don't even like it when they're perpetually attached to a character's arm like in Dark Souls. So I'm not too bent out of shape about not seeing it at all times.
 

gehrig38

Member
If you care to read the shield thread on the Reckoning forums check it out. I was, and I emphasize the was, in total agreement about the lack of a shield as I moved.

Heard the reasons that decision was made and many have already been mentioned, but the most important one, or one of them, was the decision to choose. We could have had weapons and shield visible, but that was an issue for animations, clipping and some other stuff inside our combat system.

Ultimately the weapons, in depth and breadth, are so huge and so many that we wanted them to be the visual eye candy out of combat.

I hear the LOD stuff and I ain't touching it because there are far smarter folks than me that can explain what the demo is doing and/or if that is different than the game, and if not why not.

So many issues not present in the final code made their way into the demo that honestly surprised me, even with a demo of code that was carved out of the full game, things you would not think would be impacted, were.
 

BrettWeir

Member
I'm perfectly happy with the lack of shield graphic while stowed. With the sizes of shields, you wouldnt be able to see the armor sets and weapons, not to mention clipping/animation issues.

Arent we supposed to start seeing video review, etc this week? Really want to see more of the final build in action.
 

ElyrionX

Member
Hmmm, after messing around with the build calculator again, I just might go with this Sorcery/Finese hybrid:

Finesse
Precise Weaponry I: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Dagger Mastery: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Longbow Mastery: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Precise Weaponry II: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Faeblade Mastery: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Drawpower: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Envenomed Edge : (Rank: 6 / 6)
Arrow Storm: (Rank: 3 / 3)
Inoculation : (Rank: 1 / 5)
Precise Weaponry III: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Barbed Arrows: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Blade Honing: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Precise Weaponry IV: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Scattershot: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Mysterious Toxins: (Rank: 5 / 5)

Sorcery
Arcane Weaponry I: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Storm Bolt: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Arcane Weaponry II: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Chakram Mastery: (Rank: 6 / 6)
Mark of Flame: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Conservative Casting: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Healing Surge: (Rank: 1 / 5)
Chain Lightning: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Ice Barrage: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Arcane Weaponry III: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Smolder: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Frostshackle: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Arcane Weaponry IV: (Rank: 2 / 3)
Elemental Rage: (Rank: 5 / 5)
Tempest: (Rank: 5 / 5)

The lack of mana is a concern though. With two sustained spells (Blade Honing and Envenomed Edge), I'm afraid I might not have enough to cast Elemental Rage and Tempest which requires 230 and 175 mana respectively. With this build, I have a base mana of 193 and -15% spell cost from Conservative Casting. The Shadowcaster destiny does not provide for -% spell cost reduction so I'm going to need a lot of +mana and -% spell cost reduction from equipment and I have absolutely no idea what kind of equipment can be found in the game at this point in time.
 

chifanpoe

Member
If you care to read the shield thread on the Reckoning forums check it out. I was, and I emphasize the was, in total agreement about the lack of a shield as I moved.

Heard the reasons that decision was made and many have already been mentioned, but the most important one, or one of them, was the decision to choose. We could have had weapons and shield visible, but that was an issue for animations, clipping and some other stuff inside our combat system.

Ultimately the weapons, in depth and breadth, are so huge and so many that we wanted them to be the visual eye candy out of combat.

I hear the LOD stuff and I ain't touching it because there are far smarter folks than me that can explain what the demo is doing and/or if that is different than the game, and if not why not.

So many issues not present in the final code made their way into the demo that honestly surprised me, even with a demo of code that was carved out of the full game, things you would not think would be impacted, were.

Thanks for the updated info. IGN did not talk about the LOD at all so I was assuming it was a demo issue as well.
 

Log4Girlz

Member
About the shields...it looks cool when its one of those energy ones, even kinda makes sense it only pops out when necessary...not so much when its a metal shield.
 

Truant

Member
I am afraid that this is not going to happen. I have seen Curt and others from the team respond to almost everything posted, except for the LOD issue. It seems like they are avoiding talking about it because it is not something that they fixed or possibly something they cannot fix.

I do wish they would say something though. I would rather be told something rather than complete silence on the subject.

I know they have fixed alot of stuff as Curt and others have talked about, but the LOD/POP In issue is the one thing that bothers me the most about what I played of in the demo.

Too bad, I'm holding out until they fix it.
 
I'm not sure if this has been discussed here but I'm kind of curious about this pre-order item that comes with an item pack from ordering at Amazon. It's called the dowsing rod, here's the description:

With the dowsing rod, all reagents (potion-making vegetation) are visible on the map. Never miss a flower, shrub or mushroom!

I'm not going to buy the game from Amazon since there are other outlets offering better deals but I was wondering if it's possible to find this item in the game. It seems kind of useful.

Side note: pre-order bonus content is my least favorite trend this generation.
 
The lack of mana is a concern though. With two sustained spells (Blade Honing and Envenomed Edge), I'm afraid I might not have enough to cast Elemental Rage and Tempest which requires 230 and 175 mana respectively. With this build, I have a base mana of 193 and -15% spell cost from Conservative Casting. The Shadowcaster destiny does not provide for -% spell cost reduction so I'm going to need a lot of +mana and -% spell cost reduction from equipment and I have absolutely no idea what kind of equipment can be found in the game at this point in time.
I've been tinkering around with a Shadowcaster build myself. I find that trying to get the best of both worlds is a bit impractical, so I decided to specialize to the bow and build a skill set around there:

Bow:
- Longbow Mastery + Drawpower for power.
- Barbed Arrow for heavy bleed damage, Envenomed Edge for poison effect.
- Enduring Agony to prolong those effects.
- Arrow Storm and Scattershot for multiple arrows/AoE, thus increasing the chance for those status effects to kick in.
- Smolder, Chain Lightning, Frostshackle in case I have an elemental weapon.

Decoy:
- Max out Summon Faer Gorta branch.
- Smoke Bomb.

Close combat:
- Faeblade or Daggers (depending on which I like better) for close range individual enemies.
- Staff for close range crowd control (love that charge ability as a 'get off me' move). Chakrams look awesome, but they're redundant with the bow.

Attack Magic:
- Mark of Flame, Storm Bolt, Ice Barrage. I'll forgo the higher level spells and focus on the individual, easier to spam magic to expose elemental vulnerabilities.

Buffs:
- Skillful Defense and Hardy Constitution to survive more hits if needed.
- Conservative Casting to reduce mana expenditure.

...My build came out to 57 finesse, 55 sorcery, 11 might. That should buy me the Shadowcaster destiny, which is especially nice for that mana regen and critical hit to mana point perk. And of course that poison blink is just awesome.

Having said all that, I think it's more practical just to go for top level finesse destiny though, but I just like the idea of hybrid classes.
 

moop1167

Member
For you guys all planning on hybrid builds, what are you going to do about all the weapon choices? I was thinking of going pure mage, meaning I would be getting talents in 3 different weapon styles by picking all magic, but maybe I would drop sceptres all together. However, if I delve into the finesse tree, it's going to require me to take one of the weapon skills in that tree, but I already have two from the sorcery line. I don't really want to be switching between three weapon types all game.
 

abundant

Member
Will it be possible to get all of the skills in a playthrough? I know you only get 1 per level but you can also buy skill upgrades from trainers I believe and if I were to go Universalist that would be a bonus +3 to all skills.

Going that route, you will have enough skill points to max out 7 out of 9 skills. You'll need 19 more skill points from the trainers, if possible.
 

alba

Little is the new Big
I've been playing the demo like 5 times so far and I just put my pre order down on steam, I can't wait. It'd be awesome to get some kind of post release support and maybe mods and get something going like skyrim would be great :)

Love the combat so much more than skyrim already, I'm glad. It runs perfect on my current hardware too. Thumbs up 38/BHG !
 
When was the last time a thread for a demo for a game in a completely new franchise from a lesser known developer got over 60 pages on Neogaf? :)
 
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