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Kingdoms of Amalur demo impressions thread [Up On 360/Origin/Steam/U.S. PSN]
- Thread starter CrunchinJelly
- Start date
Got the demo played through it completely a couple of times. Here are my thoughts:
What I Liked
What I Disliked
I'm definitely looking forward to the game. Hopefully the story, environments and enemies scale up and get more awesome. I'd love to fight some giant dragons or wyverns or whatever. I'd also love to see the team tackle giant cities with the same art style.
I'll probably buy it day/week 1.
What I Liked
- Game looked nice and clean. At least in the early stages, it wasn't pushing for grand, impressive architecture, but what was there looked good enough to keep me interested. I also liked the cartoon-y art style. As someone mentioned before, it felt a bit like a 3rd person Torchlight. I like that.
- The penalty free gameplay systems. Everything seemed more geared towards letting me have fun with any and all of the games classes and skills rather than restricting me. This was a welcome change.
- Being a Mage feels badass for the first time in a long time. Being a Mage in most other games feels somewhat slow and methodical. When you take into account the mana regen rate and the real-time evasive options, KoA really feels nice. I was running rings around most enemies waiting for my mana to regen and just wrecking their shit when it did. If I could use my spells, my staff and scepters worked like a charm. Of course, if I did get hit, it hurt a lot but this is a really good take on the 'glass cannon' concept.
- Combat in general is fluid and interesting. I've played Fable 1, 2 and 3 and I really do prefer the combat here. It feels heavier and I didn't find myself zoning out. The critical block ability helped with this and made fighting ranged characters fun.
- The way the armor is geared towards helping different classes/playstyles is really cool. So far as I could tell, I wasn't forced to use certain armor types as a mage, thief or fighter but they would certainly help me if I did. That's a nice touch.
- Quests. Quests everywhere. There are a good number of quests everywhere and at least one could be solved in more than one way. They also did a good job of making sure that, in the process of completing one quest, you would run across another one (or two . . . or three).
- Respawn rate of monsters felt just right. It was just enough to keep me on my toes while at the same time allowing me to stop and smell the roses from time to time.
- Different enemies fight differently.If you don't want to be wasting potions, you can't fight a bear the same way you fight a wolf or a wolf the same way you'd fight a boggan. Every type of enemy had different movement patterns and attack timings and that really helped to keep things fresh and made me focus on the on screen action.
What I Disliked
- The camera is too close to the player character. At least give us the option of moving it back in space. The combat feels awesome but it would look even better if it was given more room on screen.
- I don't mind taking away the jump, but more freedom around the environments would be nice. Like someone said earlier, there is no harm in letting me walk off a small bridge and into the water that's literally a foot or two below.
- Hidden areas show up on the minimap a bit too quickly.Now, I could be wrong, but it looked to me like hidden areas were showing up on the minimap as I got close to them, not necessarily when I was already inside them. Might be a glitch with my demo but it should be fixed if it isn't.
- I'm not sure of the utility of your Fate ability. So it slows down time and then you can dispose of enemies for extra experience. Is that it? Does it provide anything else? I'm not necessarily objecting, but I was hoping for a bit more out of it.
I'm definitely looking forward to the game. Hopefully the story, environments and enemies scale up and get more awesome. I'd love to fight some giant dragons or wyverns or whatever. I'd also love to see the team tackle giant cities with the same art style.
I'll probably buy it day/week 1.
Playing it on PSN. Loving it, but...
anyone else getting insanely terrible sound glitches? Or is that standard for everyone playing it? The whole sound package hasn't worked the whole time I've played it. Either the music isn't playing right, or the sound effects from combat aren't. Pretty much every combat encounter is silent except for some weak sounding effects from me hitting them.
Agreed. I love being mages in other games, but they're often times screwed over in combat in how they work. Being a mage on this game is really fun. Though to be honest, every class type has really cool looking spells (you can view the spells before you get them in the menus).
anyone else getting insanely terrible sound glitches? Or is that standard for everyone playing it? The whole sound package hasn't worked the whole time I've played it. Either the music isn't playing right, or the sound effects from combat aren't. Pretty much every combat encounter is silent except for some weak sounding effects from me hitting them.
Agreed. I love being mages in other games, but they're often times screwed over in combat in how they work. Being a mage on this game is really fun. Though to be honest, every class type has really cool looking spells (you can view the spells before you get them in the menus).
wow, way better than i expected. the artstyle is going to take some getting used to but the gameplay really impressed me. it's about time someone put god of war type combat in a hardcore open world rpg. i really don't like the fact that items wear over time but i guess i can live with it. but the combat really is my favorite part. i think this may be the first time i have played a rpg as a stealth/rogue character. usually i play as a straight up warrior since combat is lacking. but with amalur i love the daggers. i will eventually pick this up.
Lone_Prodigy
Member
The ME3 unlocks show up here:
http://social.bioware.com/user_entitlements.php
Chakram Launcher and Reckoner-Knight
http://social.bioware.com/user_entitlements.php
Chakram Launcher and Reckoner-Knight
The music and dialogue went out nearly the entire demo for me. It would briefly cut back on here and there, but 90% of the time it cut out. Also, when talking to someone, sections of what they were saying would skip out entirely, leaving me half knowing what the quest I just accepted entailed. Should be really easy fixes, though. Love the game.
dragonflys545
Member
After playing the demo twice and the game bug/freezing on me twice. I'm gonna wait for price drop. The cameras terrible too, sigh i had high hopes for this game.
There is no saving period in the demo; once you get to the point where you unlock Destinies though, you will be able to start in the "open" section from the main menu.
What?! Where is this shit??!?! This looks sweet :O
EDIT: And what are those naughty weapons you're wielding?!
Been playing the game off and on all day and I'm really digging' it. The combat took some getting use to, but after a few battles under my belt I was kickin ass. I like the leveling up systems and being able to switch on the fly is pretty awesome. I can tell this game will keep me entertained for quite a while.
The second pic is from the Fae Kingdom Something like that. Not really sure exactly what's the name but it's near the end of the map that's available in the demo. And the weapons are "purple" Faeblades Of Songs.
EDIT: Couple more shots from the same place
NullPointer
Member
Agree with all of this. I did have some graphics corruption where parts of the ground would go all wonky and stretch into weird shapes for a moment or two, and I did have to disable post-processing (crossfire 6950s here), but besides that the performance was solid.
One question though - whats with the long load times? I'd expect a game like this that doesn't seem to push my hardware at all to load pretty seamlessly like most games. Hell even Skyrim loads whole landscapes in less than 5 seconds. But here? It could be 15-20 seconds to enter the general store. No sir, I don't understand it.
Playing the demo lowered my hype a bit though, as combat seems like it only gets truly interesting at later levels, and the world while pretty, lacks that special something that keeps you engaged. The overall visuals are generic western RPG fare and you can't help the feeling that you've seen it all one too many times before.
The camera works OK in the overworld but I ran into major problems when the environments got a little cozier, like inside the general store. It couldn't keep one enemy on the screen much less the three guards I was fighting for looting a bookcase. Which BTW I don't quite get - the guards awareness meter had some color to it but I was completely out of line of sight. I guess I'm a loud thief? *shrugs*
But yeah, RPG comfort food? This is it. I think $40 is my own gut's fair asking price, so I'll either wait for a sale or buy sooner if I absolutely need my hack and slash and need it now.
And exactly this. I get an ambitious XBLA title vibe from this game which I'm going to attribute to the art style and environmental design I ran into.
I want my post processing effects. Those pics are great.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
The camera really pisses me off, but I let it slide because I'm coming from Last Story, which while I loved it, I hated the camera even more than KoA.
It really does. It's GORGEOUS.
I don't get the hate at all.
Hmm, okay. Ta.
Thank you, you magnificent bastardThe second pic is from the Fae Kingdom Something like that. Not really sure exactly what's the name but it's near the end of the map that's available in the demo. And the weapons are "purple" Faeblades Of Songs.
EDIT: Couple more shots from the same place
Looks like I'm going to have to uninstall the demo to stop myself from spoiling anything further!
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Thank you, you magnificent bastard
Looks like I'm going to have to uninstall the demo to stop myself from spoiling anything further!
I actually couldn't play the whole 45 min play time, because I was really scared of playing too much, and then being all annoyed in the full version, having to play that stuff again.
I played enough to know I'm getting it.
There's a loading bug on the PC demo, typical shit I used to see all the time so I found that one pretty fast (shame on you, zebra pants). You can get around it by fucking with your CPU usage - for example, running FRAPS I typically have load times of around 2-4 seconds. Even without doing FRAPS or anything else though I don't think I had a load time that long.
It really is beautiful and has it's own character. When the music was not cutting out it was just soaked with atmosphere. Cannot wait to take in the entire world with working audio, lol. I am going to love this game.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Finish the demo.
By waiting 45 mins? :/
Also the demo on PS3 auto-skips talky-talky for me. Which is a bit weird, and one of the cutscenes had a trail of the dudes sword when he was talking up to me. Weird. :/ Bad download?
Game is alright, but I do agree with the "Fable-feeling" comment. And I had my feel of Fables linear button-mashy-not-really-an-RPG-...RPG-ing years ago.
Thanks for the ME3 unlocks, I guess?
NullPointer
Member
Some camera fixes, post-processing enabled for my Radeon 6950s and significantly reduced load times in the released game and I'll bite. But for now I'll sit back a bit and see whats up after launch. Been burned by too many PC games and video card technical issues in 2011.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
Just in time for the shooty-gun-not-really-an-RPG...RPG-ing.
BHG themselves already said on their forums that the PP issues is fixed for the final release.
I attempted to play this twice, and both times the game ended freezing up. Needless to say, I expect glitches from pre-release code, but the amount I found on this gives me pause. I encountered graphical glitches (these were very minor, not a big deal), dialogue issues (either the dialogue took a long time to load, or it would auto-select options and go through the text without giving me opportunity to read), music issues (halfway through the demo the music stopped), and well, the two crashes (both times I attempted to play it).
From what I could play it looked like it had potential. It's a pity I encountered so many issues.
From what I could play it looked like it had potential. It's a pity I encountered so many issues.
Snapshot King
Member
The only two problems I have with the demo so far are the camera being far too close to the player, and the LOD popping on just about everything is constant, but it's a fair price to pay for a smooth framerate.
You must not have played very far, because this game is 100% RPG. Unlike Fable which says it is, but isn't. It has quests, exploring, leveling up, tons of mobs to fight, lots of loot to buy and sell, crafting, skill trees for character customization, etc. It's like WoW as a single player game. I can understand not liking the aesthetics, but this game is definitely an RPG.
Once I got out of the tutorial area, the game really opens up. Lots of quests, and they seem pretty interesting so far. I really can't wait for the final game.
But I did that and only see the Knight unlock on the Social list. I also watched the end trailer too.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
This was never an MMO. Copernicus is not Reckoning. Never was.
Did you play for the entire 45 min timer?
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
The game looks great without PP. Crisp, clean, vibrant, and it holds 60 fps. Why ruin a good thing with poopy bloom and motion blur?
Bloom especially. I'm enjoying how crisp everything is with PP disabled.
I really wish you could change the LOD load-in on PC. The game is gorgeous, but I'd like the game to give my rig the benefit of the doubt. The LOD load-in really messes up the visual for me.
NullPointer
Member
+30% critical purchase chance.
I think bloom would add some depth and texture to the WoWish cartoony visuals a bit.The game looks great without PP. Crisp, clean, vibrant, and it holds 60 fps. Why ruin a good thing with poopy bloom and motion blur?
Bloom especially. I'm enjoying how crisp everything is with PP disabled.
Something happens at the end of the 45 minutes? I have about 5 minutes left and I'm trying to finish as many quests as possible before that happens, but there's no way that's going to happen. Mainly, because I can't stop exploring and killing stuff. Heh, heh.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
The final Mass Effect 3 unlock.
Snapshot King
Member
I'm referring to the 360 version really. I'd love to get this on PC, but well, no can do.
ProtoCents
Banned
I don't know. I wanted to love it. It just doesn't feel fresh. Rather dull. It seems like a last-gen game.
rollingstart
Banned
The hitches, audio problems, and fairly length loading times will hopefully be fixed in the final game.
Enjoyed the 45 minutes. Questing doesn't seem that great when one of the first things thrown at you is "break 10 boxes" but w/e, it was more of a guided path and not searching them out. I just don't want it to fall into an MMO trap design.
Only managed to get one quest finished and two to step 2 in 40 minutes. The last 5 minutes were spent breaking out of prison and seeing how difficult the game could get against every guard. The answer: not very hard at all. Granted, it's normal mode, so I'm thinking starting on hard is probably the way to go.
Also, that one guy in the Inn seems to be immortal, which is always kind of a downer. not a big deal since all these games have an immortal guy here or there.
for people playing this for the bonus, it seem playing it for the 45 minutes of free roam unlocks something for Mass Effect 3.
Enjoyed the 45 minutes. Questing doesn't seem that great when one of the first things thrown at you is "break 10 boxes" but w/e, it was more of a guided path and not searching them out. I just don't want it to fall into an MMO trap design.
Only managed to get one quest finished and two to step 2 in 40 minutes. The last 5 minutes were spent breaking out of prison and seeing how difficult the game could get against every guard. The answer: not very hard at all. Granted, it's normal mode, so I'm thinking starting on hard is probably the way to go.
Also, that one guy in the Inn seems to be immortal, which is always kind of a downer. not a big deal since all these games have an immortal guy here or there.
for people playing this for the bonus, it seem playing it for the 45 minutes of free roam unlocks something for Mass Effect 3.
Camera definitely needs to be fixed. It is pretty annoying even playing it on with the 360 pad. I will probably try a mage-ish run later with kb/m. PP I don't know if I'll miss it since the game looks perfectly fine without it (though a little late-last-gen-ish but that's not worth bringing up), plus I typically hate the use of bloom anyway.
I maybe put a couple hours in the first Fable so I am no authority on how it's combat works but KOAR's combat is pretty fun. Adding that I can mix and match mage/warrior/rouge weapons and skills is interesting indeed. I really want to try doing a mage/warrior combo since I thought alternating between even the tutorial sword and fire staff (and the spell) was pretty fun already.
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
The problem is that the camera isn't an issue with KBM, but then with KBM, the hot keys are stupidly designed. hitting the button to switch powers but not to actually use the spell in question is really silly.