So last night 38 opened the new Amalur site, and it contains a huge amount of new information about the 10,000 years worth of lore that R.A has helped to craft for the franchise, including the Reckoning which comes out in February. It contains a map of a chunk of the world of Amalur, information on many different races, factions, key history points within the timeline, and alot of other information.
You can check out the site here:
http://www.amalur.com/
I have not been able to get through all of it yet,as it's just a ton of information, but it's enough information that I think it deserves it's own thread. It's also believed that Copernicus will take place during the Age of Heroes in accordance with the timeline, but it's just speculation right now.
I'm also going to use this thread as a place to put updates, since most threads of KOA seem to die down pretty quickly it seems like it will be a better idea to just have one thread for awhile, especially because they are putting out "series" videos pretty frequently, and making a new thread for each to only disappear within a day or two seems pointless.
New Screens:
So here are the series vids:
A Heroes Guide:
Factions:
Factions Guide
Destiny, and Fate:
Fate and Destiny Guide
Inside Reckoning:
Cinematics design
Narrative Design
Live Dev Q&A:
Narrative
Starts at the 7minute mark.
Destiny
Released today.
*I will update each of the series vids as the new ones are released.*
Dev weekly community Q&A:
For developer walkthroughs with alot of gameplay you can go to these previous threads:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=441133
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=447206
You can check out the site here:
http://www.amalur.com/
I have not been able to get through all of it yet,as it's just a ton of information, but it's enough information that I think it deserves it's own thread. It's also believed that Copernicus will take place during the Age of Heroes in accordance with the timeline, but it's just speculation right now.
I'm also going to use this thread as a place to put updates, since most threads of KOA seem to die down pretty quickly it seems like it will be a better idea to just have one thread for awhile, especially because they are putting out "series" videos pretty frequently, and making a new thread for each to only disappear within a day or two seems pointless.
New Screens:
So here are the series vids:
A Heroes Guide:
Factions:
Factions Guide
Destiny, and Fate:
Fate and Destiny Guide
Inside Reckoning:
Cinematics design
Narrative Design
Live Dev Q&A:
Narrative
Starts at the 7minute mark.
Destiny
Released today.
*I will update each of the series vids as the new ones are released.*
Dev weekly community Q&A:
Q: Will quests have multiple ways to be finished? Such as instead of killing someone, you can persuade them to go away, etc. By Fluent
A: Yes, there will be some quests in which the outcome can be altered by making different decisions. Some quests that have Persuasion options in them, may also give you extra EXP or varying rewards based on successful or failed Persuasion attempts. Quests which allow you the option to make different narrative choices may result in an NPCs demeanor changing, one NPC living versus another, allowing the player to either keep a particular item or return it to its owner, and many other scenarios. There are also quests where you may decide that rather than attempt to persuade an NPC, you can help them out by running a side errand for them to progress the quest, or bribe them with gold to save yourself the time of running the errand. NPCs that you agree to help may offer you services after completing a quest for them, where they previously didn't offer you any before.
As you might imagine, another alternate way to prematurely end a quest would be to kill the quest giver or an NPC crucial to that quest. Some side-quests are linked together, or supplement the outcomes of other quests, so killing off quest NPCs may hinder the end result of a quest chain. You may have to complete favors for a few NPCs before they will unlock more quests, in which case killing the original quest givers might never allow you to unlock the follow up quests (sometimes, this may cause you to miss out on valuable rewards as well!). If you complete the tasks asked of you, the NPCs may reward you with certain weapons or items that will aid you in defeating a more powerful enemy at the end of the quest chain.
Quests in Amalur offer a wide variety of exploration, choice, and reward. I have found that this adds greatly to replay value, especially if youre like me and enjoy creating multiple saves so you can see how things would have turned out if you made all the opposite decisions on another play-through. By Kitty Neko Hughes, Level Designer
Q: How will attacks work on the PC? (What buttons are currently used in place of let's say X, Square, O and Triangle on the computer?) What steps did the Reckoning team take to make sure PC combat without an XBox 360 controller is as fun as combat on the consoles? By Kaloris
A: We've spent a large chunk of development time, and more importantly, play-testing time on getting the PC controls to feel right for Reckoning. At different stages of the project's development, we've put the game in front of players from outside of the studio. During these sessions, people will go hands-on with the game for a few hours or more with no guidance from us. Meanwhile, I (or another designer) watch through a one-way mirror and takes notes. Many of those players have been playing with a mouse and keyboard instead of a controller. That is where we have gotten a lot of our most useful feedback on what we are doing right and wrong with our PC controls.
Attacking in the default PC control scheme doesn't have an exact 1:1 remapping from the gamepad-based control scheme. On a controller you can attack with one weapon by hitting X (or Square on a PS3 controller), and attacking with your second equipped weapon with Y/Triangle. On the PC, your weapon attacks are tied to the left mouse click, and you have one weapon available at any given moment on that click. However, you can quickly swap to a secondary weapon by scrolling the mouse wheel, similar to switching from an assault rifle to a handgun in a first-person-shooter. The right click on the mouse is used to cast your active spell. This "left-click weapon, right-click spell" setup allows you to quickly mix weapon and magic attacks mid-combat.
You can map additional spells to your keyboards 1 through 0 number keys, which gives you 10 options to quickly swap to as your active spell. This is a big difference from using a controller, where you just have 4 magic options to quickly switch between (one for each face button X, Y, A, B). The rest of your basic combat suite is rounded out with dodge on the Spacebar and blocking controlled by holding down Shift. By Justin "perezidente" Perez, Systems Designer
Q: I've heard that the console versions of Reckoning will have a few presets you can use to customize the controls but what about the PC version? Will it be fully customizable or something similar? By occumsrazor
A: Every keyboard press in the answer above is from the default control setup. They can all be remapped to whatever buttons you prefer. Dodge with shift, block with control and sprint with Spacebar, if you'd like. It's very customizable. And if you're playing with a trackball, or any mouse without a scroll wheel, you are free to move the secondary weapon swap command to a button on the keyboard that works for you.
And worth noting, you can always plug in a USB controller if you'd like the play the PC version of the game but prefer console controls. The game's UI will even dynamically change itself based on what controller you are currently using. When playing or testing my work on the game here at the office I actually find myself using a controller to do all the fighting and exploring in the game and relying on my mouse when I'm navigating menus. I'm not sure many people will utilize the quick swapping of controls to that degree when they are actually playing the game, but it's neat that it's there. By Justin perezidente Perez, Systems Designer
Q: To what extent will voice acting be present in the game? Can we look forward to some "real" bosses in instances with voice acting and special moves? By Goatrek
A: Voice Acting was a major undertaking in Reckoning. It took 10 weeks of all-day recording with studios in LA, Portland, New York, and the UK to get lines for every conversation, every cinematic, and every Lorestone in the game.
The talent we were able to get was fantastic, as were the Director and Studio Tech. One of the factors that resulted in the great VO youll hear in the game is the writing from our Narrative Design team. Multiple actors commented about how excited they were to read for characters with the depth and texture seen not just in the Main Quest, but the Side, Faction, and Freeform Quests as well! Its a testament to everyone involved on the project that participants in our recent press events have gone on at length about "the injured girl in Gorhart", or "the wolf-guy in Dalentarth" being their most memorable moments in the few hours they spent with us.
As to your second question, there are indeed boss fights with special moves and exceptionally well done VO. Jim Cummings did a great job as the maniacal Gadflow, though his Winnie-the-Pooh version of the Gadflow lines will likely never go public sadly . By Sean "notthatseanbean" Bean, Producer
Q: What type of interaction can we expect to see with NPC's? Would some develop throughout the game or will NPC's only have a few things to say and then nothing new again? By HolyKnight
A: There are many interactions you can have with the NPCs in Reckoning. Aside from being able to use the services that certain NPCs may offer (whether it be healing services, training services, or some other type of service), you will also be able to engage in conversations with them. You can ask NPCs about certain topics aside from questline-related topics, and you may also find some can be swayed by using the Persuasion option.
Many NPCs dialogue will, in fact, be affected as you progress through the game. This could stem from choices you made during a quest, how much of the main quest-line you have completed thus far in the game, or even what time of day it is. Certain NPCs will also change their responses about a particular topic, so speaking with them multiple times about the same topic, at different points in the game, will sometimes give you more insight to how that NPC feels about a specific action that you or those around them have made.
Some NPCs may even offer to play a mini-game with you, and others still may give you the option to bribe them. There are a few that might offer insight on fellow NPCs nearby, or advice on who to speak to if you are looking for a particular service. NPCs are not always stagnant, either, and they may move around the town based on the time of day. If you can't find a particular NPC you spoke with in town during the day, perhaps you should check the local inn or the NPCs home at night. Even NPCs need to rest occasionally, too. (Although, you may find a few of them stumbling around the local tavern in the evening as well!)
The NPCs in Reckoning also participate in many different activities. Don't be surprised to find that some are skilled lute players whose tunes entertain tavern guests, or that others keep busy tending gardens or praying by shrines. There are even situations where you may find NPCs living, and later find them deceased in their homes. This is a great reason to revisit some of the towns you may have already been to. Things could change by the time you return; some may change for the better, some for the worse.
Of course, there is always the option that you might also choose to take your rage out on a towns NPCs, and assault or murder some of them too. In that case, you should be stealthy about it, or else be prepared to have the towns guards start hunting you down to serve out some hard time in the local jail! By Kitty "Neko" Hughes, Level Designer
For developer walkthroughs with alot of gameplay you can go to these previous threads:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=441133
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=447206