DNF, too bland and generic. Thought so when the original came out and I still stand by it after replaying the 'remaster'.
DO NOT ORDER DRAGON AGE FROM SHEIN!!
In all seriousness, this was one of those "comfort food" games for me. Aside from the surprisingly robust combat system, nothing in Amalur really stands out all that much. The characters are bland, the story gets worse as it goes on, the game looks and feels like an MMO, complete with all of the hallmarks of the genre like braindead quest design, and yet...I can't really say I wasn't having fun playing it. It's more than the sum of its parts and really scratched an itch for me that hadn't been scratched in a while, and that's all I needed from it.
In all seriousness, this was one of those "comfort food" games for me. Aside from the surprisingly robust combat system, nothing in Amalur really stands out all that much. The characters are bland, the story gets worse as it goes on, the game looks and feels like an MMO, complete with all of the hallmarks of the genre like braindead quest design, and yet...I can't really say I wasn't having fun playing it. It's more than the sum of its parts and really scratched an itch for me that hadn't been scratched in a while, and that's all I needed from it.
Not to get all political, but I’m down with using the Kingdoms of Amalur-equivalent of FF7’s Meteor to wipe Webwood off the face of the planet
It’s not even a difficulty thing I’m just the #1 spider hater on the internet
I hate the way that they walk, the way that they stalk, the way that they leap, the way that they sneak
It’s not even a difficulty thing I’m just the #1 spider hater on the internet
I hate the way that they walk, the way that they stalk, the way that they leap, the way that they sneak
I’m not angry at it, just disappointed.
After 70h, playing the game in its entirety, and getting all achievements I can say my opinion about this game with no remorse. I would love to suggest this game, especially after this much time investment, but the only enjoyment I actually had in the game was because I was watching videos in the meantime, and that’s a new one for me.
Buyers Beware
The FATE Edition is not a bundle and cannot be purchased after the main game. Steam will NOT detract the cost of the base game to make you pay the difference. Currently, on sale, Fatesworn alone costs almost as much as the complete package.
Main Game
The game started as an MMO and was converted to a single-player with some obvious remnants of it.
The combat system plays with both melee and magic/abilities at the same time, and the inclusion of the Reckoning mode, which is like a rage mode from other games. The game tries to be a hack-and-slashy type of game, but even a greatsword is often not long enough making the combat frustrating. I had to use the ability to pull in enemies all the time as it was the only way I could reach the enemies 100%.
The game has an Alchemy system, and this is the first game I played where picking up an herb is a chance of taking it instead of being guaranteed. I plucked the plant, how can I not get it it’s beyond my understanding. The Alchemy skill tree can increase the chances. Thanks…for selling me a solution to a problem you made.
There is also a Gem crafting system, but I never used it as the best equipment doesn’t have Gem slots.
Lastly, there is a Blacksmithing system that it’s not useful since enemies drop the loot at your level and equipment can’t be upgraded, including epic equipment.
The game doesn't have a jump button but you can jump from some specific platforms that often don’t give the prompt to, and it’s a struggle to find where you can jump.
In my 100% completion of the game, I did around 300 quests. For a completist, this game is a nightmare as it features uncompletable quests that are forever in your quest log. The biggest problem I have with them is that it’s mostly fetch quests going from A to B. Other than teleporting to a point of interest, you must walk to all your objectives while sprinting is barely faster than running. This makes the game a solo-walking simulator more than people ever thought of Death Stranding. Not a joke, just a fact. It gets quite lonely, especially without a soundtrack, or anything to look at. Sometimes, quests will give you a follower. They fight but I swear I never saw them deal any damage, but at least it's company. I ended up summoning a skeleton fiend to have some company while going around.
The main story is nothing exciting, but it’s ok enough. You might read on websites like howlongtobeat that the main story lasts 20 hours, but truly, most will be walking in silence.
There aren't many sound effects in the game, so the thing you hear the most is your footsteps. Being originally a 2012 title sometimes instead of in-game cutscenes, there are low-quality pre-rendered videos that have these beautiful background sounds, i.e. of a battle, to then cut to the in-game cutscene where it’s completely mute of ambient sounds and you only hear the characters make noises.
The biggest disappointment for me though was the final boss as it was introduced so greatly, but you don’t even get to fight it. What you actually fight is some enemies until you charge the Reckoning ability and that damages the boss.
Re-Reckoning? More like Re-Release.
Re-Reckoning presents itself as a remaster, but the real remaster work seems to be the texture upscale, which looks like it was done with Photoshop’s Preserve Details 2.0. It looks like just an upscale, and if the detail was not there to begin with, it just looks blurry. The in-game HUD has a scaling option between too big and too small while the rest doesn’t scale. I’m not a fan of the new HUD because whatever they did, now you can see color-bending in most things, especially the health bar of enemies.
This new version comes with its own new and improved bugs and crashes. I had lost 9h of progress because the game would not read my profile and I saved it thanks to some tinkering that included reinstalling the game, creating new profiles, and using save managers. I suggest checking the Nexus for tools like the F2 Console as that saved me from many bugs the Remaster did not fix and from new ones that are just for the remaster, like a quest that requires 6 items for completion but the game only has 5 in it.
DLCs
Dead Kel
It starts with this in-game cutscene of your character stranded on a beach, and as it stands up the devs decided to use every sound the character could make in the perfect silence of the in-game cutscene. You’ll see your character do the impossible as you moan, cough, and lament all at the same time.
The DLC itself is a very linear story but has a very small map that at the end of the DLC story gets re-used with side missions that make you backtrack all of it just to make the DLC last longer.
There is also a new Faction where you become the Lord of a keep in the DLC, but these missions are repeatable so they never go away. You also get the chance to adopt pets like wolves, rats, bears, etc. Finally, I can stop summoning that skeleton for some livelier company. Except pets can only stay at home and give the player a permanent buff, which makes them collectibles. Being the Lord you’ll be asked to do some more fetch quests from your subjects. Last but not least, a random woman you got as part of an alliance will force you to marry her to complete the quest. Although the quest does not complete, instead, it just stays in your quest log saying “Quest completed”. The game never featured romances except for some jokes during the story, but now I can get married to a random NPC that is a woman regardless of your sex.
Once in the DLC map, you can only leave by talking to the ship captain, who is a woman. I never hinted at anything, but in the dialogue where I asked her to bring me back, she hints at the fact that we had intercourse. So 10m after getting married I cheated on my wife.
Teeth of Naros
This DLC story is not too bad but the map is really small. In the DLC, for the first time Contract Boards refill, without notice. A quest you get from an NPC asks you to find some treasures in the DLC and bring them, except the items are NOT in the DLC[amalur.fandom.com].
The maps are very vertical and hard to navigate, especially the sewers. You can’t climb ladders, just like in Skyrim they only teleport you to the other side, but in this DLC they decided to use them everywhere inside the map. The developers must have decided to showcase the limits of the game engine. It’s confusing for my skeletal friend too as he was always stuck at all the ladders.
The DLC adds a new type of damage in this DLC: Beast damage.
Good thing you read about it here cause it’ll be the only time you ever think about it.
Again, in this DLC often you’ll be asked to go to the same maps for small fetch quests, which I think is just diluting more what it offers.
Conclusion
I started this game with the mindset of WANTING to play it, fooled by the God-of-War-y combat. Sadly, the more I went on with it the more I realized that what seemed beautiful in the demo was just smoke and mirrors. I enjoyed that in all that brain-dead fighting and walking around I could watch something, but I cannot suggest a game because it was fun to do something else in the meantime.
I wanted to give it a negative review and a 6 when I was around half the main game, but the rest of it lowered it to a: 3/10.
Strongly not suggested.
After 70h, playing the game in its entirety, and getting all achievements I can say my opinion about this game with no remorse. I would love to suggest this game, especially after this much time investment, but the only enjoyment I actually had in the game was because I was watching videos in the meantime, and that’s a new one for me.
Buyers Beware
The FATE Edition is not a bundle and cannot be purchased after the main game. Steam will NOT detract the cost of the base game to make you pay the difference. Currently, on sale, Fatesworn alone costs almost as much as the complete package.
Main Game
The game started as an MMO and was converted to a single-player with some obvious remnants of it.
The combat system plays with both melee and magic/abilities at the same time, and the inclusion of the Reckoning mode, which is like a rage mode from other games. The game tries to be a hack-and-slashy type of game, but even a greatsword is often not long enough making the combat frustrating. I had to use the ability to pull in enemies all the time as it was the only way I could reach the enemies 100%.
The game has an Alchemy system, and this is the first game I played where picking up an herb is a chance of taking it instead of being guaranteed. I plucked the plant, how can I not get it it’s beyond my understanding. The Alchemy skill tree can increase the chances. Thanks…for selling me a solution to a problem you made.
There is also a Gem crafting system, but I never used it as the best equipment doesn’t have Gem slots.
Lastly, there is a Blacksmithing system that it’s not useful since enemies drop the loot at your level and equipment can’t be upgraded, including epic equipment.
The game doesn't have a jump button but you can jump from some specific platforms that often don’t give the prompt to, and it’s a struggle to find where you can jump.
In my 100% completion of the game, I did around 300 quests. For a completist, this game is a nightmare as it features uncompletable quests that are forever in your quest log. The biggest problem I have with them is that it’s mostly fetch quests going from A to B. Other than teleporting to a point of interest, you must walk to all your objectives while sprinting is barely faster than running. This makes the game a solo-walking simulator more than people ever thought of Death Stranding. Not a joke, just a fact. It gets quite lonely, especially without a soundtrack, or anything to look at. Sometimes, quests will give you a follower. They fight but I swear I never saw them deal any damage, but at least it's company. I ended up summoning a skeleton fiend to have some company while going around.
The main story is nothing exciting, but it’s ok enough. You might read on websites like howlongtobeat that the main story lasts 20 hours, but truly, most will be walking in silence.
There aren't many sound effects in the game, so the thing you hear the most is your footsteps. Being originally a 2012 title sometimes instead of in-game cutscenes, there are low-quality pre-rendered videos that have these beautiful background sounds, i.e. of a battle, to then cut to the in-game cutscene where it’s completely mute of ambient sounds and you only hear the characters make noises.
The biggest disappointment for me though was the final boss as it was introduced so greatly, but you don’t even get to fight it. What you actually fight is some enemies until you charge the Reckoning ability and that damages the boss.
Re-Reckoning? More like Re-Release.
Re-Reckoning presents itself as a remaster, but the real remaster work seems to be the texture upscale, which looks like it was done with Photoshop’s Preserve Details 2.0. It looks like just an upscale, and if the detail was not there to begin with, it just looks blurry. The in-game HUD has a scaling option between too big and too small while the rest doesn’t scale. I’m not a fan of the new HUD because whatever they did, now you can see color-bending in most things, especially the health bar of enemies.
This new version comes with its own new and improved bugs and crashes. I had lost 9h of progress because the game would not read my profile and I saved it thanks to some tinkering that included reinstalling the game, creating new profiles, and using save managers. I suggest checking the Nexus for tools like the F2 Console as that saved me from many bugs the Remaster did not fix and from new ones that are just for the remaster, like a quest that requires 6 items for completion but the game only has 5 in it.
DLCs
Dead Kel
It starts with this in-game cutscene of your character stranded on a beach, and as it stands up the devs decided to use every sound the character could make in the perfect silence of the in-game cutscene. You’ll see your character do the impossible as you moan, cough, and lament all at the same time.
The DLC itself is a very linear story but has a very small map that at the end of the DLC story gets re-used with side missions that make you backtrack all of it just to make the DLC last longer.
There is also a new Faction where you become the Lord of a keep in the DLC, but these missions are repeatable so they never go away. You also get the chance to adopt pets like wolves, rats, bears, etc. Finally, I can stop summoning that skeleton for some livelier company. Except pets can only stay at home and give the player a permanent buff, which makes them collectibles. Being the Lord you’ll be asked to do some more fetch quests from your subjects. Last but not least, a random woman you got as part of an alliance will force you to marry her to complete the quest. Although the quest does not complete, instead, it just stays in your quest log saying “Quest completed”. The game never featured romances except for some jokes during the story, but now I can get married to a random NPC that is a woman regardless of your sex.
Once in the DLC map, you can only leave by talking to the ship captain, who is a woman. I never hinted at anything, but in the dialogue where I asked her to bring me back, she hints at the fact that we had intercourse. So 10m after getting married I cheated on my wife.
Teeth of Naros
This DLC story is not too bad but the map is really small. In the DLC, for the first time Contract Boards refill, without notice. A quest you get from an NPC asks you to find some treasures in the DLC and bring them, except the items are NOT in the DLC[amalur.fandom.com].
The maps are very vertical and hard to navigate, especially the sewers. You can’t climb ladders, just like in Skyrim they only teleport you to the other side, but in this DLC they decided to use them everywhere inside the map. The developers must have decided to showcase the limits of the game engine. It’s confusing for my skeletal friend too as he was always stuck at all the ladders.
The DLC adds a new type of damage in this DLC: Beast damage.
Good thing you read about it here cause it’ll be the only time you ever think about it.
Again, in this DLC often you’ll be asked to go to the same maps for small fetch quests, which I think is just diluting more what it offers.
Conclusion
I started this game with the mindset of WANTING to play it, fooled by the God-of-War-y combat. Sadly, the more I went on with it the more I realized that what seemed beautiful in the demo was just smoke and mirrors. I enjoyed that in all that brain-dead fighting and walking around I could watch something, but I cannot suggest a game because it was fun to do something else in the meantime.
I wanted to give it a negative review and a 6 when I was around half the main game, but the rest of it lowered it to a: 3/10.
Strongly not suggested.
Las primeras horas realmente me sorprendió un montón y me pareció un gran juego, pero rápidamente se hace repetitivo, en dificultad máxima no es más difícil sino que los enemigos tienen más vida y son esponjas, y la historia no me pareció memorable. Primeras horas muy buenas pero se desinfla rápido.
the gameplay is fantastic imo. this is another title that pushes the gameplay of action rpgs forward. 2nd best action rpg combat of all time. the armor and weapon designs look good and it gets cooler as you progress. the skills are absolutely sick and it works fluidly with the normal weapon combos
Un juego penoso, agravado por un alargamiento absurdo. El guion no genera más que indiferencia; el combate tiene una débil gracia por apenas unas horas, la exploración no es atractiva y el sistema de loot es de los peores que experimenté.
Tengo la leve sospecha de que es un proyecto que fue concebido como MMORPG, pero en algún punto de su desarrollo todo se desvió.
El único logro de Kingdoms of Amalur es que me dio ganas de jugar Skyrim.
Tengo la leve sospecha de que es un proyecto que fue concebido como MMORPG, pero en algún punto de su desarrollo todo se desvió.
El único logro de Kingdoms of Amalur es que me dio ganas de jugar Skyrim.
With the caveat I dropped this after only about 5 hours, this really didn't grab me. May have been better at the time and the combat isn't bad, but the intro area has incredibly MMO-ish design in terms of questing (linear, self-contained, minimal reactivity). New Vegas came out two years earlier and the team worked on Morrowind, so I have to assume this is either pointless filler content that isn't signposted or just the way the game works. The thing that ultimately turned me off can be explained in a small anecdote:
After hearing mention of the situation from another character, I organically find an undelivered letter informing a woman in town that her husband has perished in the war. I go to bring it to her, and while I can ask her about the same 7-8 keywords everyone else can talk about, I can't give her the letter.
After hearing mention of the situation from another character, I organically find an undelivered letter informing a woman in town that her husband has perished in the war. I go to bring it to her, and while I can ask her about the same 7-8 keywords everyone else can talk about, I can't give her the letter.
Pense em Elder Scrolls fundido com Fable e utilizando mecânicas de God of War. Agora adicione a escrita de R. A. Salvatore (Dungeons & Dragons), a música de Grant Kirkhope (Banjo Kazooie, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) e a direção de arte de Todd McFarlane (criador e desenhista de Spawn e Venom). Pode não ser o melhor do gênero, mas é o que mais me atrai.
If I had picked up the original during the height of the PS3, I would have loved it; now though, I feel like this is not quite what I am looking for in a videogame.
Leaving aside the graphical part of the game (it is a PS3 game) the character creation is actually quite fun and the lore and story very interesting. The attacks don't have a lot of weight on them (movement in general felt floaty) and the continuos equipment of new pieces of armor was not something I particularly enjoyed.
For a PS3 game it does look quite nice but unfortunately it is victim of the 2000s color palette of black, grey and brown; everything is poorly lit and not very vibrant to look at.
I feel that this would be a good game for MMO players.
Leaving aside the graphical part of the game (it is a PS3 game) the character creation is actually quite fun and the lore and story very interesting. The attacks don't have a lot of weight on them (movement in general felt floaty) and the continuos equipment of new pieces of armor was not something I particularly enjoyed.
For a PS3 game it does look quite nice but unfortunately it is victim of the 2000s color palette of black, grey and brown; everything is poorly lit and not very vibrant to look at.
I feel that this would be a good game for MMO players.
n tem muita diferença do original mas continua sendo ok, falha na questao das missoes repetitivas parece mmorpg e a a expansao teeth of naros ate q tenta mudar mas nao mt mas eu tenho um certo apego com o combate e o resto desse jogo
A "remaster" of an ARPG with some of the most fun combat to ever grace the genre. Great ideas and an interesting world with undercooked execution. Having the game designer of Morrowind and Oblivon miiiiiight have cursed the game with an abundance of bugs, but this is well worth picking up on sale for $20.
Positives [+] and Negatives [-]
+ The faction quests are actually interesting despite it being optional.
+ Fun to try different builds with diverse skill trees. I found Finesse to be the most fun for me.
+ The OST is memorable and really improves world immersion.
- The main story/quests are not that interesting.
- Exploration was moderately tiring and perhaps unnecessary to even explore. I gave up opening chests and picking up dropped enemy loot by mid-game.
Originally played this on the PS3 and dropped it after some time. Though, I did have many burnouts, I would always find myself wanting to play and finish the game so I bought the remastered.
I can only recommend this game if you have a lot of time to spare and are willing to commit to a long journey of this RPG.
+ The faction quests are actually interesting despite it being optional.
+ Fun to try different builds with diverse skill trees. I found Finesse to be the most fun for me.
+ The OST is memorable and really improves world immersion.
- The main story/quests are not that interesting.
- Exploration was moderately tiring and perhaps unnecessary to even explore. I gave up opening chests and picking up dropped enemy loot by mid-game.
Originally played this on the PS3 and dropped it after some time. Though, I did have many burnouts, I would always find myself wanting to play and finish the game so I bought the remastered.
I can only recommend this game if you have a lot of time to spare and are willing to commit to a long journey of this RPG.
Played the original back on 360 and enjoyed it - figured it was worth a replay and the remaster was a good excuse. I don't even think it's a particularly amazing game, the narrative is confusing as hell. But the gameplay is superb. I 100% the game with every achievement.
One of the most definitive RPG experiences I've ever had, whilst also bringing something to the table wholly original that sets it apart from most.
What I instantly noticed straight off the bat was this game's resemblance to the Darksiders games, very loosely. The dungeon crawler approach reminded me so much of this and compelled to want to go back to Darksiders in the near future. I came for the gameplay, that I had seen in a YouTube video, and didn't expect much outside the realm of that but I was surprised to learn that this is a pretty solid game in almost every aspect. An intriguing narrative, addictive gameplay and a world that keeps you wanting more with arguably one of the best player insert RPG protagonists.
To say that the gameplay is good is a gross understatement. While it's skill and build system isn't as complex and intricate as others in the RPG genre, it still holds pretty well on it's own. You will find that you will experiment with various weapons, all which are pretty solid on their own, but eventually you find the combination that fits your playstyle which definitely does vary based on what skill tree/weapons you might invest in more than others, which I really enjoyed having the freedom of choosing. It's very true to the nature of it's narrative, essentially forging your own destiny, and it does a great job and making you feel like you really do have that freedom, even if it could be a bit of an illusion (I'm not sure whether this game has multiple endings or not, would be a shame if it really doesn't.) The combat is great, I love being able to mash up combos, making it super satisfying. Once you reach higher levels, you become an unstoppable force, which makes you want to engage with enemies even more because of how satisfying decimating Tuatha canon-fodder can feel. However, there were some instances where I felt as if the combat was a little rough around the edges at times. Very rarely, the camera will be your worst enemy, because you can't really move it around too much in encounters. There will be some environments that are a little bit of a tight squeeze and your view will be obstructed either by objects or the world itself. There were very few bugs that I came across personally, mostly just things in the real-time cutscenes with NPCs, where my character would be off-camera and it'd look like the NPC was schizophrenic, or even the camera being too zoomed into an NPC. I'm not sure if it's intentional, but some of the pre-rendered cutscenes were also missing SFX. Maybe it's like that in the original game, too, I wouldn't know, but it was a little bit jarring and mildly ruined big moments.
As for the open world, and it's lore, it is very intriguing. I'm glad the world isn't largely huge, either, because you will be running everywhere. There are no mounts. But this isn't an issue, there are tons of fast travel points and honestly, being able to take in the sights as you do is very therapeutic and freeing. The lore itself reminded me SO much of Tolkien, certain plot points actually felt like they were directly ripped from The Lord of the Rings, even the way the world was laid out. Rathir felt like Minas Tirith and Mel Senshir, Minas Morgul. Alabastra itself was basically Mordor, and the surrounding Klurikon being the Dead Marshes. Is this a bad thing? No, it actually made me resonate with the world more and I really appreciated the parallels, even if they weren't intentional.
Obviously, though, the narrative itself wasn't nearly as captivating as anything Tolkien has written. But, it was still pretty decent. I think what motivated me to get it finished was anything to do with fate/destiny, the themes of forging your own story instead of playing to the rules laid out by someone or something else resonated with me personally and the ending definitely held some words to live by. A very common theme explored in media, but done in a very different and unique way, I felt. Even outside of the main storyline quests, there are still some pretty interesting narratives to get yourself caught up in. The side quests and faction quests are just as interesting themselves and I feel like I'll probably spends hours more in this world just to get the most out of it. It is a very forgiving open world that doesn't make the task of doing something like that feel as daunting as most other open world RPGs would. Skyrim will always be in it's own league, of course, but I feel like this game is severely overlooked by many because of that.
If you're into this genre, this is a must-play. It's a great game overall, despite it's minor flaws.
What I instantly noticed straight off the bat was this game's resemblance to the Darksiders games, very loosely. The dungeon crawler approach reminded me so much of this and compelled to want to go back to Darksiders in the near future. I came for the gameplay, that I had seen in a YouTube video, and didn't expect much outside the realm of that but I was surprised to learn that this is a pretty solid game in almost every aspect. An intriguing narrative, addictive gameplay and a world that keeps you wanting more with arguably one of the best player insert RPG protagonists.
To say that the gameplay is good is a gross understatement. While it's skill and build system isn't as complex and intricate as others in the RPG genre, it still holds pretty well on it's own. You will find that you will experiment with various weapons, all which are pretty solid on their own, but eventually you find the combination that fits your playstyle which definitely does vary based on what skill tree/weapons you might invest in more than others, which I really enjoyed having the freedom of choosing. It's very true to the nature of it's narrative, essentially forging your own destiny, and it does a great job and making you feel like you really do have that freedom, even if it could be a bit of an illusion (I'm not sure whether this game has multiple endings or not, would be a shame if it really doesn't.) The combat is great, I love being able to mash up combos, making it super satisfying. Once you reach higher levels, you become an unstoppable force, which makes you want to engage with enemies even more because of how satisfying decimating Tuatha canon-fodder can feel. However, there were some instances where I felt as if the combat was a little rough around the edges at times. Very rarely, the camera will be your worst enemy, because you can't really move it around too much in encounters. There will be some environments that are a little bit of a tight squeeze and your view will be obstructed either by objects or the world itself. There were very few bugs that I came across personally, mostly just things in the real-time cutscenes with NPCs, where my character would be off-camera and it'd look like the NPC was schizophrenic, or even the camera being too zoomed into an NPC. I'm not sure if it's intentional, but some of the pre-rendered cutscenes were also missing SFX. Maybe it's like that in the original game, too, I wouldn't know, but it was a little bit jarring and mildly ruined big moments.
As for the open world, and it's lore, it is very intriguing. I'm glad the world isn't largely huge, either, because you will be running everywhere. There are no mounts. But this isn't an issue, there are tons of fast travel points and honestly, being able to take in the sights as you do is very therapeutic and freeing. The lore itself reminded me SO much of Tolkien, certain plot points actually felt like they were directly ripped from The Lord of the Rings, even the way the world was laid out. Rathir felt like Minas Tirith and Mel Senshir, Minas Morgul. Alabastra itself was basically Mordor, and the surrounding Klurikon being the Dead Marshes. Is this a bad thing? No, it actually made me resonate with the world more and I really appreciated the parallels, even if they weren't intentional.
Obviously, though, the narrative itself wasn't nearly as captivating as anything Tolkien has written. But, it was still pretty decent. I think what motivated me to get it finished was anything to do with fate/destiny, the themes of forging your own story instead of playing to the rules laid out by someone or something else resonated with me personally and the ending definitely held some words to live by. A very common theme explored in media, but done in a very different and unique way, I felt. Even outside of the main storyline quests, there are still some pretty interesting narratives to get yourself caught up in. The side quests and faction quests are just as interesting themselves and I feel like I'll probably spends hours more in this world just to get the most out of it. It is a very forgiving open world that doesn't make the task of doing something like that feel as daunting as most other open world RPGs would. Skyrim will always be in it's own league, of course, but I feel like this game is severely overlooked by many because of that.
If you're into this genre, this is a must-play. It's a great game overall, despite it's minor flaws.
Decent remaster. Decent game mechanics.
This game actually, unironically, rules.
heard that THQ acquired the game's IP I felt like the happiest gamer in the world. I purchased the game as soon as it was possible, but it came with a few issues in the beginning. Either way, I've finally got around to playing it. Since we can't progress with our old save file, I've had to restart the game but mainly focused on the main quest, so I could try the newest DLC as soon as I could. Although this version feels slightly buggier than the original (or was it just me?), it's still a great revisit to the game.
Looking forward to what THQ has in store for this franchise!
Looking forward to what THQ has in store for this franchise!
The amount of content in this game is genuinely ridiculous. I have over 110 hours in it and only just beat the main quest, one expansion, and all of the vanilla + one DLC factions. I did most side quests I came across and according to the in game journal that is 221 quests completed... And I skipped some in regions I didn't like and I'm sure I missed plenty and didn't do every dungeon. In terms of sheer content per dollar spent, this is easily worth it, the expansions are honestly very high quality and come bundled into this version, likewise all the DLC is here, including the pretty fun Arena faction, the House of Valor.
The combat in this game is super fun, very simple hack and slash with unlockable abilities and the core of it being focused around weapon switching on the fly. Build variety as such is almost limitless, the Fate system is great and unlocking new ones and new Twists of Fate are fantastic. I recommend playing on Hard difficulty, the game is fairly easy and Hard offers just enough challenge to still make you have a fantastic power fantasy but not be completely on auto-win.
I'm not a huge fan of the character's art-style but the landscapes, cities, and dungeons, all look amazing and beautiful! The architecture is very fun. The lore at first glance looks very generic but there are some interesting things to be found there. The main story is so-so, but the meat of the game is in its free-form exploration and combat. Join some factions, steal some things, do some dungeons, unlock some of the many houses. It's good fun. Not a masterpiece, but it is the perfect mindless fun ARPG. Turn your mind off and have fun.
Update: Finished the DLC content, all of it is honestly so good! One is set in a Mediterranean Greek setting populated with living Greek statue people. It has new enemy types, pretty visuals, and fun lore. The other is a gothic pirate story set on a gloomy island with a bonus of castle-ruling and a new pet mechanic! I love home-bases in RPGs and while the base game had housing, this adds a proper castle you build up and recruit for, it's great. The island is gorgeous too with dark forests and spooky undead pirates. The House of Valor faction is really fun with an arena questline as well as a lot of extra challenge content, honestly one of the best arena factions I've seen in a game, Oblivion's and this are probably tied now.
The combat in this game is super fun, very simple hack and slash with unlockable abilities and the core of it being focused around weapon switching on the fly. Build variety as such is almost limitless, the Fate system is great and unlocking new ones and new Twists of Fate are fantastic. I recommend playing on Hard difficulty, the game is fairly easy and Hard offers just enough challenge to still make you have a fantastic power fantasy but not be completely on auto-win.
I'm not a huge fan of the character's art-style but the landscapes, cities, and dungeons, all look amazing and beautiful! The architecture is very fun. The lore at first glance looks very generic but there are some interesting things to be found there. The main story is so-so, but the meat of the game is in its free-form exploration and combat. Join some factions, steal some things, do some dungeons, unlock some of the many houses. It's good fun. Not a masterpiece, but it is the perfect mindless fun ARPG. Turn your mind off and have fun.
Update: Finished the DLC content, all of it is honestly so good! One is set in a Mediterranean Greek setting populated with living Greek statue people. It has new enemy types, pretty visuals, and fun lore. The other is a gothic pirate story set on a gloomy island with a bonus of castle-ruling and a new pet mechanic! I love home-bases in RPGs and while the base game had housing, this adds a proper castle you build up and recruit for, it's great. The island is gorgeous too with dark forests and spooky undead pirates. The House of Valor faction is really fun with an arena questline as well as a lot of extra challenge content, honestly one of the best arena factions I've seen in a game, Oblivion's and this are probably tied now.
Meh
I dabbled with this game back at its Xbox 360 launch but only committed to a few hours and then bounced for other games. I was intrigued by the release of a remaster in 2020, though. Ended up dumping 175 hours into this and, needless to say, I am a big fan. Essentially, they created a single player MMORPG and it was a nice callback to my WoW days without having to pay $15 a month. It has a large map with tons of quests and if that sounds good to you then it is an easy recommend. Too bad some of the original game's bugs were ported over as well, so beware of some that can bork your game completely.
I'm not joking when I say I skipped 95% of the dialogue in this game and still really enjoyed myself. I have no idea what the story was about but the rest of it was more than fun enough to keep me going.
The story of the game takes place in a classic fantasy world. Amalur is divided into several regions. The story begins with the death of the main character, followed by his resurrection in the Well of Souls. Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning we create a hero from scratch and together with him we save the world from evil. Despite the possibility of making decisions in dialogs similar to the Mass Effect series, the story presented in the game is essentially very linear and we don't have much say.
We start the adventure with an extensive character creation screen that allows you to choose one of the four available races, Almain, Dokkalfar, Ljosalfar and Varani, as well as change their appearance. We don't choose a class at the beginning of the game, but as the game progresses you can develop your character in three skill trees. These are warrior, rogue and mage. Among the available skills, there are both ranged and melee skills, over 60 in total. In addition to these in the skill tree, you can also develop your character in crafts and social skills, such as alchemy, blacksmithing or persuasion.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning immerses players in a very open and expansive world filled with various stories created in the head of R. A. Salvatore, the creator of the Universe. In addition to the main story, Salvatore has written numerous side quest stories in the game, including guilds scattered across the various regions of Amalur, much like in The Elder Scrolls series. By completing quests, we receive experience points and gain reputation among the various factions if we wish.
But the main focus of Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning's main focus is on combat, which is very arcade with Quick Time Events that often make the game closer to the hack and slash genre. Winning battles is therefore determined not only by the skills gained through character development, but also by the player's skill and the appropriate use of items, such as bombs or spells.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a single player game. It also includes new story-based DLC packs: The Legend of Dead Kel, Teeth of Naros and Fatesworn. The enhanced version Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, its graphical style takes influence from the Fable series, Divinity II: Ego Draconis and games in the Forgotten Realms universe, slightly improving on the original's graphic design. Resolution and texture quality have been increased and the game runs at +60 FPS on eighth generation consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for greater smoothness. The game offers over 100 hours of gameplay in the story campaign with all side content.
We start the adventure with an extensive character creation screen that allows you to choose one of the four available races, Almain, Dokkalfar, Ljosalfar and Varani, as well as change their appearance. We don't choose a class at the beginning of the game, but as the game progresses you can develop your character in three skill trees. These are warrior, rogue and mage. Among the available skills, there are both ranged and melee skills, over 60 in total. In addition to these in the skill tree, you can also develop your character in crafts and social skills, such as alchemy, blacksmithing or persuasion.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning immerses players in a very open and expansive world filled with various stories created in the head of R. A. Salvatore, the creator of the Universe. In addition to the main story, Salvatore has written numerous side quest stories in the game, including guilds scattered across the various regions of Amalur, much like in The Elder Scrolls series. By completing quests, we receive experience points and gain reputation among the various factions if we wish.
But the main focus of Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning's main focus is on combat, which is very arcade with Quick Time Events that often make the game closer to the hack and slash genre. Winning battles is therefore determined not only by the skills gained through character development, but also by the player's skill and the appropriate use of items, such as bombs or spells.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning is a single player game. It also includes new story-based DLC packs: The Legend of Dead Kel, Teeth of Naros and Fatesworn. The enhanced version Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning, its graphical style takes influence from the Fable series, Divinity II: Ego Draconis and games in the Forgotten Realms universe, slightly improving on the original's graphic design. Resolution and texture quality have been increased and the game runs at +60 FPS on eighth generation consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for greater smoothness. The game offers over 100 hours of gameplay in the story campaign with all side content.
Some great 360-era ARPG fun; though the lack of different movement options is a bit annoying. The combat, which this game is well known for, is unsurprisingly good. The world-building and story is also quite good. I found myself immersed in its world, more so than I have been with many other fantasy RPGs. The dialogue is fully voiced as well, and the side quests feel substantial. It's a fulfilling experience. I've put it aside for now after getting sidetracked by other games, though.
Flawed launch, but saved by patches. Barely a remake.