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

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Holy shit, and no mention of EA on the Steam version! It looks like they self-published there. Awesome stuff.

This game is only co-published by EA, which means they're mostly distributing and 38 Studios only asked them for what was essentially a small to moderate money loan.

Hence why this game has had next to no advertising.
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
Holy shit, and no mention of EA on the Steam version! It looks like they self-published there. Awesome stuff.

Interesting. Nice spotting. I wonder what the real points are behind that. It would be slightly humourous if 38 Studios made more money on the Steam version compared to going with EA as a partner with Origin.
 

Fjordson

Member
Played through the demo again. I like it a lot. And I find myself wanting to hear more and more about the lore and the narrative. Trying not to hear too much, though, seems pointless to spoil it this close to release.

Very excited for the final game now.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Quit before it ended because I was already sold. Beautiful game with it locked at 1080P@60fps and everything maxed. Just gorgeous art. And I like the combat.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Interesting. Nice spotting. I wonder what the real points are behind that. It would be slightly humourous if 38 Studios made more money on the Steam version compared to going with EA as a partner with Origin.

I wouldn't be surprised if the game makes the most money on Steam out of any platform it's on.

It has no marketing, that doesn't work at retail.
 

The M.O.B

Member
Loved the demo, especially the good melee combat after the crap-fest that was Skyrim Combat.

Some Negatives

- Camera is way too zoomed in for me.
- Game is built for Consoles from the UI, the combat, and the controls. Didn't have my 360 controller atm so I used m&K and the default controls were a mess
- Bow is boring so far, may be better once you get upgrades.

oh and the Hammer is Awesome. Has a lot of impact to it. Mine had 40 dmg and I was blowing enemies away with it.
 

Maffis

Member
Loved the demo, especially the good melee combat after the crap-fest that was Skyrim Combat.

Some Negatives

- Camera is way too zoomed in for me.
- Game is built for Consoles from the UI, the combat, and the controls. Didn't have my 360 controller atm so I used m&K and the default controls were a mess
- Bow is boring so far, may be better once you get upgrades.

I thought the UI was supposed to change accordingly if you used keyboard/mouse or a controller.
 

Wallach

Member
I thought the UI was supposed to change accordingly if you used keyboard/mouse or a controller.

It does. Also I thought controller kinda controlled like ass compared to KB/M. The only thing I had to do was turn down the camera speed.

I just finished the first full 45 minute demo run and I have to say, being a mage in this game is fucking bad ass. Was running around with a pair of flaming chakrams, a rapid-fire sceptre, a shock staff (which enables you to perform a suction vortex move to pull guys to a central point) and laying waste with the Mark of Flame spell, which was super satisfying (tag multiple enemies with a flaming mark, then detonate them all with one cast). Plus I had a shield made out of magic and a purple helm that had 4 mage-centric modifiers on it (15% mana regen, -10% mana costs, 10% chance to absorb 1 mana per hit, and something else).

I was doing all that shit before I hit level 3. Definitely getting in on the full version. Why so far away, damn.
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
Played through the demo again. I like it a lot. And I find myself wanting to hear more and more about the lore and the narrative. Trying not to hear too much, though, seems pointless to spoil it this close to release.

Very excited for the final game now.

Back when it was first announced at a ComicCon in 2010 my biggest reason to wanting to play it was because of Salvatore's involvement. When you've got the guy who created Drizzt Do'Urden writing the lore for a game, you tend to sit up and put your headlights on to it.

My biggest fear was that Salvatore was going to hamfist it by pushing basics through and me clenching my fists in despair with tears streaming down my cheeks, but from what I can gleam on the main website is that it seems incredibly in depth at times. I kinda rolled my eyes when there were reports that he had created vast history and such, but it seems quite genuine. Without going too crazy, an aspect that I enjoy is that Reckoning is based in a small part of the world's history and that whichever games might come out later on can be thrown around in whatever landscape and time they want.

I wouldn't be surprised if the game makes the most money on Steam out of any platform it's on.

It has no marketing, that doesn't work at retail.

True. I suspect any console sales will be from the new EA demo deals and its link with Mass Effect 3. Gives EA a chance to not spending a lot to push the game to the forefront while still completing its publisher terms in (basic) advertisement.

Hitting Steam is the best thing for the game and adding TF2 items is a boon - you'll have the attention of a decent amount of players who check the store/TF2 discussions daily.
 
I am downloading this now on Steam after really disliking the 360 version. Maybe a much cleaner and smoother PC version will not turn me away from the game as badly as the 360 version did.
 

Ceebs

Member
Argh, the game crashed on me when I activated "aggressive mode" upon entering the first town. Since there's no option to save the game, I'll have to play through that entire intro section :(.


If you start it again, it detects that you finished the tutorial and drops you out at the exit.
 

Hannar

Member
Back when it was first announced at a ComicCon in 2010 my biggest reason to wanting to play it was because of Salvatore's involvement. When you've got the guy who created Drizzt Do'Urden writing the lore for a game, you tend to sit up and put your headlights on to it.

My biggest fear was that Salvatore was going to hamfist it by pushing basics through and me clenching my fists in despair with tears streaming down my cheeks, but from what I can gleam on the main website is that it seems incredibly in depth at times. I kinda rolled my eyes when there were reports that he had created vast history and such, but it seems quite genuine. Without going too crazy, an aspect that I enjoy is that Reckoning is based in a small part of the world's history and that whichever games might come out later on can be thrown around in whatever landscape and time they want.

When people who are interested in both the RPG and the MMORPG understand how those two stories fit together with the Well of Souls and the different ages of Amalur, it's going to make the universe that much better.

It's definitely genuine lore effort -- http://www.amalur.com gives some great background. The history by Salvatore was about 100 pages, and the team filling in the pieces is lead by Steve Danuser, who used to write Mobhunter and was the EQ2 community manager and later creative designer for many years before joining 38 at the inception of the company. They have good people working on this.
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
Anectodally, my local Gamestop is plastered head to toe with Reckoning posters/ads.

Maybe the manager is a pre-release fanatic :p

When people who are interested in both the RPG and the MMORPG understand how those two stories fit together with the Well of Souls and the different ages of Amalur, it's going to make the universe that much better.

It's definitely genuine lore effort -- http://www.amalur.com gives some great background. The history by Salvatore was about 100 pages, and the team filling in the pieces is lead by Steve Danuser, who used to write Mobhunter and was the EQ2 community manager and later creative designer for many years before joining 38 at the inception of the company. They have good people working on this.

Aye, most of my fears were all related to not knowing anything but the website really helped after I watched very recent footage of the game being played and the interest rose up again. Less than two days ago I was going to pass this game. Today I'm waiting eagerly for the demo to finish just so I can get it out of the way and wait for full release.
 

chris-013

Member
Damn, the main quest end after the first town in the demo... 2-3 side quests remaining and I think I have done everything in the demo.
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Anectodally, my local Gamestop is plastered head to toe with Reckoning posters/ads.

Hmm, maybe they decided to spend all of their (presumably smaller) marketing budget right at the end.

Could be an interesting approach to keep costs down while still aiming for profitability.
 
So. All in all, I liked it. Not a day one for me, but then again, not many games are. It suffers from "Big Name, Small Budget" syndrome in the graphics and world design departments, but my God, the Todd MacFarlane Monsters are the best things that I think he's ever done. The Boggart is especially awesome.

But the menu UIs look horrid. Hopefully that will change with future titles in the series. Dialogue is perfect, though. Skip, shop, everything is there in easy-to-use format.

The crafting system is awesome. For that alone, I will buy it on Steam Sale.
 
Didn't really enjoy the demo much, some of the writing and voice acting is atrocious.

Game kind of reminds me of Dragon Age meets Fable meets Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm.
 
Is anyone else having an issue when you use the bow for the first time the demo locks up? I've tried getting past that point three times and it locks up very shortly after I kill the first archer you meet.

Maybe i'll just re-download it tomorrow.
 

branny

Member
Well, just started the PS3 demo and it seems okay so far. I have a few gripes already. The camera is zoomed in slightly too far, and it swings too much when trying to rotate in the other direction after moving it one way for a while. The framerate is also unlocked, and it's kind of jarring to see 55-ish fps one second and 23-ish fps the next. Reminds me of the PS3 ME2 demo. I also don't like how you can't go to the bottom of the equip menu by pressing up at the topmost item.

Edit: And there are some major sound glitches. Like, no sound. From anything. Only once in a while.

Edit 2: Annnd other bugs. Sometimes the character will randomly appear somewhere odd after moving/rolling. I have no clue what any NPCs are saying now because the text is auto-skipping everything. In the forest area after the first town, fighting those masked thingies caused a pretty unsightly graphic glitch, too. =\
 

JdFoX187

Banned
Played a portion of the 360 demo and I'm impressed. The game came out of left field for me. I'm looking forward to it now, but will wait until a sale. I have a sad feeling this will be one of those games available for $30 a month after launch. I've still got a fall backload I'm working through, so no real hurry to get to this.
 

zinder

Member
Well, just started the PS3 demo and it seems okay so far. I have a few gripes already. The camera is zoomed in slightly too far, and it swings too much when trying to rotate in the other direction after moving it one way for a while. The framerate is also unlocked, and it's kind of jarring to see 55-ish fps one second and 23-ish fps the next. Reminds me of the PS3 ME2 demo. I also don't like how you can't go to the bottom of the equip menu by pressing up at the topmost item.

Yeah I agree with the camera being too zoomed in. Hope they made a zoom out function.
 
Is anyone else having an issue when you use the bow for the first time the demo locks up? I've tried getting past that point three times and it locks up very shortly after I kill the first archer you meet.

Maybe i'll just re-download it tomorrow.

That happened to me too, after I equipped it and returned to the game my character failed to show up and I was left completely unable to do anything other than move the camera around. Should've known better than to expect an EA game to work properly.
 

Hannar

Member
Are the Steam exclusives just hats?

I remember reading somewhere that there was more.

Steam is just the hats.

Most retailers are offering a "Fate Touched Weapons Pack" which features 9 weapons with XP bonuses for fate shift kills.

EBGames/Gamestop is offering the weapons, plus a "Compass of Fate" and a "Twist of Fate" card that offers some bonuses.

Amazon is offering the weapons, plus a dowsing rod that lights up all of the harvestable items on the map.
 

Unity2012

Member
Played the Demo (360), and absolutely LOVE it. I was trying to be skeptical and picky for a while but it won me over easily. The more I played the more I liked it.

Now I am more pumped than ever and glad is coming out so soon.
 

burgerdog

Member
Now that I've played the demo up until the 45 minute mark the only problem I have with it is the bugs. If they can fix those before the game is out then I'll definitely buy it on day 1. Going to see what other gaffers say regarding the sound bugs, game freezing before combat, and if the amd bugs.
 
Wow, I really hated the camera in this demo. It's a little too close, but the big problem is that is doesn't auto turn with your character in the dungeon. Once I got outside it started to do it a little bit, but it was still not great by a long shot.

Combat felt kind of clunky too. The animations just feel like they take too long. I'm sure it improves once you get better weapons and more spells, but I wasn't enjoying it as much as Fable, Skyrim, or Zelda, which seems to be the kind of games they're going after.

EDIT: Played PC version with a 360 controller BTW. Had to turn off the Post Processing like other AMD/Radeon users.
 
Has anyone else been having issues downloading demo's from PSN?

It happened with both FFXIII-2 and now this game that it downloads, then goes to install and tells me the data is corrupted...
 

Bog

Junior Ace
Canceling my $42 amazon preorder and giving steam $60 for it, because that's how fucking terrible Origin is. Seriously.

How'd you get the additional $9 off? I got some promotional email telling me I get an extra $9 off a preorder, but all I see is the $50.99 price that everyone gets.
 

moop1167

Member
Fuck this game is awesome. Day 1 for me.

One problem... any way to pull the camera back a bit? It's a little close for me. Also wasn't a fan of the targeting... kept hitting random enemies, which goes back to the camera.

Anyone have any nvidia inspector settings for this thing yet? I added a profile but I don't have any compatibility modes to go off of.
 
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