Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an action RPG from Big Huge Games (38 Studios) published by EA. This is a nice first entry in a potential new RPG franchise. This game seems to be more focused on action (specifically combat). Basically, it is two button combat (a primary and secondary weapon) along with some skills (that can be accessed through pulling the right trigger and pressing the corresponding face button). i think combat plays fairly decently. There are a bunch of quest to find and complete (including 5 or so factions). This game seems, to me, to be sort of a mix between Fable and Oblivion.
However, there are some issues in this game - chief among them being the camera. Basically the issue i have is that there are mobs in this game and it is really hard to keep the camera in a proper view (sometimes impossible), there will be times when you can't really see anything or struggle to keep the camera remotely centered when you are rolling out of the way or chasing down enemies. Sure you can click the right thumbstick to center the camera (but you kind of use your right thumb for combat). i guess i wish there would be a tighter follow mode. The game froze 5 times on me during my playthrough. There was an interesting camera glitch where it seemed the floor devolved that happend several times.
Grade: C
What to Expect:
* Numerous Quests to do - and locations to explore
* Some degree of button mashing X,Y - roll away B, block -LT
* A bunch of monsters to vanquish - sometimes in bigger, more annoying mobs, i hate Prismere Trolls
* Somewhat deep crafting system (blacksmith, alchemy, sagecrafting - like charm, adds effects)
* A fairly forgettable story about someone without a destiny for some reason.
* Fate Shifting (reckoning mode) - LT & RT, used to go into a slow time mode where you can do damage, or damage the final boss (spoiler-ish).
* Difficulty: some say it is far too easy on Hard, i say it is about right (or a little hard)
* Some cutscenes - that can be skipped with start
* Numerous Lorestones to find (175 or so) - that reward you with lore and XP
* Occasional boss fights
* Button mashing for experience points after fate shifting or certain fights
* Three ability trees, which you can mix/match
* Destinies based on abilities selected - finesse, might, sorcery or a mix
* Twists of Fate: after some quests you are reqarded by these which, apparently, up your stats
* Levelling up (max 40): you get one skillpoint and three ability points. There are also trainers for skills scattered throughout the Kingdoms of Amalur
* Some enemies tend to level with you (or appear to) - i hate that
* Some houses (stashes) to acquire where you can store some items
Hints:
- If you want things a little easier, learn sagecrafting (at least until you can make epic gems) and smithing. Use master components if you can (flawless come later, not as easy to get)
- Fateshifting on bosses can give you an advantage (more if they weren't always surrounded)
- Enemies and bosses can occasionally be corner-trapped
- Skills: you don't really need that many points in lockpicking or mercantile
- Detect Hidden skill is nice (especially early on), at level 10 it shows lorestones
- You will frequently run out of inventory space, so you might as well dismantle excess weapons if you have the money you need
- Buy a bunch of repair kits when you can (they will save you a bunch of money in the future)
How i Played:
- Difficulty: Hard
- Play Time: 73 Hours, 6 minutes
- Quests Completed: 191 (plus two i failed on as apparently i was supposed to protect characters)
- Achievements: 50/50 (1,000 Gamerscore)
- Smithing/sagecraft style: HP regen and HP increase (HP over 2,500). My longsword (after i got Prismere)
Oh yeah, how about a link... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmQylLb0REoBdFlTMDczSkxvVlEzcmg0NmczQzZDR0E
Achievements:
Overall, this is a fairly managable list - a couple of them will take some exploring/work. There are achievements for finding all lorestones, completing faction questlines, beating enemies with skills, crafting, criminal activity, etc. There is a 100 pointer (10%) for beating the game on hard.
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