Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
I bought KOA at release, about 18 moths ago now, and never got in to it. I recently started again and played all the way through the main campaign and a few extras, and I really enjoyed it, though it had lots of issues that stop it short of being great for me. It plays very much like a single player MMO, which is I believe what they were aiming at.
Positives
The World- Amalur is a lovely place to explore, with really stunning scenery throughout. Exploring is slightly hampered by an over-abundance of invisible walls, but it isn't game-breaking. The world is split in to 4-5 different free-roaming regions, which are all of a decent size. There are lots of settlements dotted about, and two big cities which are generally well placed and fun to explore. There is plenty to find if you go off exploring too, which you are free to do at any time. The settlements are very well done imo, and seem to fit in well.
Lore- The general lore in the game is well thought out and quite intriguing, even if it isn't used to it's fullest potential. The different races all seem to fit, and the back stories were all mildly interesting. The war going on in the background serves as a decent backdrop to the first half of the game.
Balance- Game is very well balanced in terms of levelled areas. There is a very good difficulty curve to the game. You will find a constant challenge whist exploring. As you first enter a new area, that decides the level that the area will be for the rest of the game. There are also minimum levels for areas, so there will be the odd one that is too tough for you as well. I was skeptical when I read that, but it works very well for this game
Length and amount of content- Playing through the main campaign, one faction and the DLC 'Legend of Dead Kel' took me 56 hours. That left me with many, many side quests left on my sheet, and areas still unexplored. There were still 3-4 factions I did not even start, which must be another 25-30 hours of gameplay. I ended up at level 32, and there is a cap of 40
Character customization and choices- You get to choose from 4 starting races, and character gen is pretty decent. You are given one of each weapon type early in the game to get used to your style. Another good feature is that of Fateweavers, you let you respec your character at any point, so suddenly 50 hours in to the game you could change from a tank to a ranged mage in the blink of an eye. The skills are fun to use in battle, a strength of this game is how it lets you mix and match you skills between the 3 classes.
Deep skills and skilltrees- There are lots of different aspects to consider when levelling up. The main RPG staples are there- Lockpicking, persuasion, smithing, alchemy enchanting etc. Most skills are pretty useful, though I did no sagecrafting at all, and smithing was far overpowered by the end! There is a decent stealth mechanic in the game, that can be used well to your advantage(and was by me). I am not sure if stealth and pickpocketing really feature much in the actual quests though...I did not come across a situation where I had to use them, but then I did not do the worlds version of the Thieves Guild questline
Combat- The biggest draw of the game. Combat is excellent, based on rolling/dodging/blocking and a mix of combos and magic. Most battles are fun and you always feel like it is fair. The targetting is also excellent after getting used to it. You get to carry one primary, and one secondary weapon at all times, and can switch between them with ease. The controls are great for combat also, feeling very intuitive....I can't overemphasize how great the combat is in this game!
Loot, armour and weapons- Looter's paradise! there are tons of weapons/armour sets in the game before you even consider smithing. The unique sets often look great and are paced about right for your level. The armour is very well done in this game, and it also does a great job of making each type of weapon feel different....you will find a massive difference between Greatswords and Longswords for example, and there are some really fun weapons for all different styles. Chakrams are great too
You end up feeling like a real badass!- Nobody will want to mess with you by the end. The game does a good job of making you feel that you are affecting the world around you, without making you some kind of 'chosen one' imo. Your powers, and the reasons you have them feel quite natural tbh.
Performance- I got very good performance when the game was working as it should, and the game really does look really nice in places.
A big plus for the DLC 'Legend of Dead Kel'- An excellent addition, that I played fairly early in the story(20 hours in). The story is ok, the main villain is a massive let down, but the island it takes place on is fun to explore, and it adds some great new gameplay elements to the game, the best being 'Gravehal Keep'. A player home that you can upgrade and run as a lord. You even get to sit the throne and listen to petitioners, send out an envoy to spy on rivals(this is not fleshed out at all, but shows ambition). I really enjoyed it.
Small Niggles
There are soooooo many small niggles in this game, that would be very easily fixable, and would improve the game 100%, and even push it in to classic territory imo, I will start with quickly listing them:
-Can't turn captions off, so every time you talk to someone half the screen is taken up by a black bar and subtitles
-Shields do not show up until you use them- It is a very strange design choice, and ruin immersion for me.
- Your character sheathing your weapons a few seconds after using them
...very poor
-Invisible walls often hampering you whilst exploring, and not being able to jump is a little annoying
-Backpacks being rare(to upgrade inventory space)...ran out of space far too often.
-Clipping issues can be quite annoying, especially as I found a really cool piece of armour, but couldn't use it as it just look ridiculous cutting off my greatsword half way down!
- Even on the hardest difficulty, it was quite easy tbh, and I never usually think that
-Voice acting is atrocious, one of the worst I have ever heard. The Scottish accents are particularly bad!
-Poor FOV. Needs a fix
Negatives-
Story- The story is very bland, which does the world created a real disservice. It occasionally threatens to get going, but is muddled at best, and you never get a good idea of who, or what you are fighting against until the very end. It does a decent job of getting you exploring, but there is no urgency, and I was never quite sure why I was doing some of the things I was doing
The big one for me, Characters- The game is filled with totally uninteresting NPCs. I would struggle to name 4 right now....I promised myself I was not going to mention Skyrim
p), but if you compare it to that for a moment, there are characters right throughout Skyrim that, whilst hardly being deep, are at least distinctive, or even memorable. Amalur is populated by cardboard copies of the same Gnome/Elf/Fae etc, who you struggle to seperate. Your main companions turn up occasionally to move the story along, but never care a jot for. The most memorable NPC comes from the dlc 'Dead Kel' (Bratigan I think her name was)...Also, the weakest NPC does, Dead Kel himself, who is incredible underwhelming
Quite buggy- had a fair few CTDs, and some quests not completing.
Atmosphere and some design inconsistencies- Now, generally the atmosphere is ok when you are out exploring, but it suddenly changes as you enter different areas. This is no big deal, but can get a little annoying. The biggest problem is when atmosphere can be ruined by the design of the game. For expmple, you get a mission to explore a haunted forest, which might be described as being horrible, infested with disgusting creatures etc...then you get there, and it is all Disney-bright colours, and upbeat music. There are many instances of this kind of thing which get in the way for me. NPcs often sometimes suffer from this too, Dead Kel being the main one that I can think of. He is presented as a legendary undead Pirate, very intimidating, bu when you meet him he just looks like some tit in a halloween mask, who is about as intimidating as Nick Clegg. I would also say that the game is geared slightly towards a younger audience.
Bland side-quests- Whilst there are many, many side quests in the game, most are totally forgettable and not worth doing.
Lack of enemy variety- About 40 hours in to the game, I left the first continent you start on and arrived in Klurikon. I left the main city, and the first side quest I got was to kill a dozen or so Boggarts...they were the very first enemy I encountered in the game! And there was not a single new enemy anywhere to be found on the second continent. A result of this is that many fights end up getting very repetitive. It gets a little tedious, but can be overlooked as the combat is so excellent.
Overall
A lovely game that I am very pleased that I revisited. I really enjoyed it, but wasn't too sad that it ended, even though I still have probably another 30-odd hours of side quest and faction quest not done. The lack of enemy variety means I will probably leave the factions I did not do for another playthough, if I ever play it again.
The game is very nearly a true great. There are just a lot of little things that hold it back, mainly in the list of 'little niggles' I made. These are particularly annoying as they would be quite easy to fix, and would improve the game massively. Any way, I really enjoyed my time playing this game, and the niggles and negatives are not enough to stop me from wholeheartedly recommending it to anyone who enjoys RPGs, or even hack & Slash game tbh. Taking everything in to consideration, I would give this game 7/10
