Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

[Dioneo]

I picked this up to tide me over until Mass Effect 3 came out. Kind of a mistake as this game is HUGE.

It's hard to compare KoA to other RPGs, simply because it borrows from so many of them. The most obvious comparison is to the Fable series. If you really disliked Fable's gameplay then KoA won't be for you. I found Fable tolerable. I like KoA a lot more. I'd say it's like Fable but with more testosterone.

The RPG system is also a lot more in depth than Fable. More along the lines of the first Dragon Age. There are three basic classes - Fighter, Thief, Mage. As you progress in level you get bonuses that enhance those classes. However as you progress you can also choose "Destinies" for your character that are kind of a multiclass system. They have dual class combos for any combination of the three, and even a triple class destiny for someone who wants to be a jack of all trades when it comes to combat.

The combat system is pretty arcadey, and definitely weighted towards offense. It seems pretty hard to break an enemies attack combo once it gets started. What works better is to not let them get off any attacks in the first place by dodging around opponents, keeping them off balance with a combination of melee and ranged attacks. The combat works very well for what it is. I rarely noticed any slowdown with multiple enemies and after a bit of practice combat felt very natural.

There quests. So many quests. Side quests, faction quests, storyline quests. Everybody wants something from you, and if you don't keep up with completing them the map on your HUD will be obscured by quest icons. I mentioned the game was huge, right? Apparently the main storyline can be done in 35-40 hours. They said a "speed run" of all the game's quests takes around 200 hours. That included skipping all the dialogue and cut-scenes. Speaking of dialogue - there is a ton of it as well. All competently voiced by competent actors.

The amount of weapons and armour is also astounding. In this I think they borrowed heavily from Borderlands. Which is a great system to borrow from. On top of the seemingly infinite varieties of randomly generated weapons and armour is a system that lets you partly customize weapons and armour with gems that provide extra traits/bonuses. Assuming that particular piece of equipment has gem sockets available to be used. Creating the gems is another skill altogether, although they can also be purchased a lot of the time.

So, great value for your gaming dollar if you think you have the time to invest.

This is probably going to be a game I pick up and put down between other game releases.

[dezzpayne]

It's on my list but my list combined with games I still need to finish is getting out of control. FFXIII-2, KOA, Tales of Graces F, Xenoblade Chronicles, ME3. Xenoblade Chronicles is what I am most looking forward to.

If KOA has a Diabloesque loot system color me even more interested. In my humble opinion it was the biggest thing Skyrim was missing. To me it was a letdown that the best armor/weapons were very easily craft-able and once you made them.....what's the point of dungeons? If Skyrim had Diablo's loot system it would be as close to perfect as possible.

[WarrenC12]

I have been very interested in this game after hearing who was involved a few years ago (Ra Salvatore, Todd McFarlane).

Any recommendation on which platform might be the best? Typically PC always wins but mine is a few years old. I've got a PS3 and 360 though.

[Dioneo]

The comparison screenshots I have seen are very similar and I haven't read about any big problems with either platform. I'd say go by whichever system's controller you prefer

[CentaurChester]

Just a quick note. I have the 360 version. I have notice after many hours of play the graphics slowly start to get worst, As if they aren't loading properly, Kinda like skyrim problem.

I did install the whole game to my Xbox Slim HDD. It's minor issue.. and I'm only using short 6 foot Gold HDMI cable to my LG 42 tv. But I Love this game.. In some ways I think its better then Skyrim lol.
All my other games like me2/Me3 run fine.. no I got Skyrim on pc (( mods make so much better :P )
You can also see that they love wow - world of warcraft lol

But I found I had exit out game and go back into it every so often for return to very smooth graphics, I thought I read something about patch for it later, known issue on 360, but I don't remember where I read it..

But its still very good game The 360 version is good.