My character in the Reckoning demo: a red haired elf with a robe and a firey staff.
I am a sucker for a single player RPG, especially when it promises me a sweet reward in another single player RPG within my favorite universe. The debut title from 38 Studios, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning now has a demo available on XBL, PSN, and Steam, and it offers a sweet dungeon and 45 minutes of gameplay in the overland world. I played around with it for about 30 minutes and found it to be a surprisingly refreshing demo.
The most notable thing for me was the sound, which was masterfully done. There is intense music and great ambient sound that brings life to the world. I also really enjoyed the graphics, which were a pleasant surprise for me. I expected brown and drab, and what I got was a bright and colorful cartoony style. I have to respect any fantasy game that isn’t afraid to bring color into the world. Kotaku drew comparisons between Reckoning and Fable, and I can see that. I enjoyed Fable quite a bit, and I know many others who enjoyed the whimsical adventure as well. The combat is also fast and fluid, which is a refreshing change from many other fantasy RPGs. I found the class system to be intriguing, as it seems to offer plenty of room for customization in terms of the stat tree.
My character standing in front of a lush background of grass, flowers, and colorful foliage. She is wearing a tight leather shirt and pants.
The avatar customization leaves some to be desired, with only the basics available. I was able to choose my hair, my face from a few preset options, my eye color, my piercings and tattoos, and my skin color. There was no slider for height or weight, and the hair options were rather limited in terms of diverse portrayal (at least in the race I chose).
Of course, since we are Mass Effect fans around here, I have to talk about the goodies. For playing the demo, you get two sweet items in Mass Effect 3. The first is a set of Reckoner Knight Armor, which you get before you even log into the demo. The second, a Chakram Launcher, isn’t unlocked until you finish the demo. The upcoming Mass Effect 3 demo will also offer redeemable items for Reckoning, which is a nice little perk for anyone interested in enjoying both games like I know I will be. Even if you aren’t interested in Mass Effect, this demo is worth playing in my opinion.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning launches on February 7. What do you all think of the demo?
I was going to download the demo yesterday for this exact reason but I didn’t see it on the list of demos yet. I will have to grab it today. Of course, this is the type of game that I like so getting the demo will likely make me covet the game as well (their plan will work!).
I pre-ordered this ages ago and greatly anticipate it.
Thanks for trying the demo Cuppy.
Hope you enjoy it Gunthera, would love to hear your thoughts too.
I played the demo last night. I have some negative and some positive reactions.
(-)
The demo froze up on me so I wasn’t able to finish it.
My female rogue character sure swayed her hips a lot when she was walking (not when running). It was an exaggerated posture.
(+)
I really liked the dialogue system.
Playing a rogue was FUN!
I liked the battles/variety in strategy within them.
But the best part was the highly saturated/high contrast art style. I really liked the look of the game.
Overall, it definitely caught my interest.
Thanks for the feedback gunthera, and thank you Border House. A lot of my work in it was inspired by discussions here.
Played the demo through last night. Very impressed: lovely environments, a combat system which seems fast, fun, and also pretty deep. Crafting looks cool, but didn’t get to try it out in the demo (the fact that you can apparently name the stuff you make seems awesome). I do hope that the full game’s character creation options are more robust, they do seem a little spare (plus the race selection didn’t seem to list any *world* consequences/ backstory..?)
In any case, this game went from off my radar entirely to a probably pre-order in the space of a week. The ME3 tie-in was marketing genius.
I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time with the demo just yet, but I have to say, it makes me 1000% more likely to buy the game just because they let me play an Asian lady with a mohawk. That the developers took the time to put those options in makes me very happy.
Plus, colorful though somewhat cliche fantasy romps are relevant to my interests.
Mohawk or BALD! Yay for various hair styles. For my demo I went with a bald female rogue.
Damn you Border House, making me spend my money again! *shakes fist*
I can’t say I didn’t like the demo, it’s just it wasn’t setting any high note for me, graphics on PC version is uninspiring at best, and a story starts incredibly generic. Game reminds me of Venetica (skills, fighting system, graphics to a degree) but I kind of started to like Venetica at the first glance (despite all its shortcomings), here I am pretty much …meh.
As someone who doesn’t follow the industry anymore, I hadn’t heard of this game before but decided to give the demo a whirl, so cheers for the heads-up.
My own impressions from the demo –
The Bad:
* Invisible walls plus no jumping equals feeling very much on rails instead of a “vast open world”, plus it’s bad for immersion as well. In combat, my character rolls around like a world-class acrobat despite being in full plate, but she can’t jump over a rock in her path? Not good.
* Character graphics look quite dated and customization isn’t very deep. No body types mean even the most bookish male wizard will look thrice as strong as a pure female warrior-type.
* The outfit on the elf you find with the body of the Fateweaver? Yeah. I call pure fanservice wank on that and it pisses me off. If we see men in anything half as skimpy, I’ll eat my socks.
* Movement feels clunky and jerky and gave me mild to medium bouts of motion sickness, especially indoors. The controls could be more responsive and the movement smoother.
* The UI is clunky, too. Apparently this is being developed for consoles too which explains it, but I find it somewhat hard to get used to.
The Can’t-Decide:
* Thumbs up for full-coverage armor on both male and female characters (sad as it is that such a thing is rare enough to warrant a mention). Thumbs down for how much of the gear I’ve seen nonetheless emphasizes the breasts on women.
* Thumbs up for women as crafters, guards, peacekeepers. Thumbs down for all the war-talk exclusively being about men. I have the same issue with ToR and certain zones in WoW, too. Is the world gender-egalitarian or not? If yes, why are female soldiers erased in conversations?
The Good:
* I too like the colorful fantasy world, and the dated character models aside, the graphics are quite appealing and do a good job at drawing me in.
* Crafting is always a big plus for me. The idea of experimenting with various ingredients in order to find a potion recipe is fun, as is breaking down old equipment for blacksmithing components.
* Freestyle character development! I never liked the idea of predefined classes.
* The premise of being the first and only “success” of the Well of Souls experiment, and what that does to my character’s “fate”, is interesting enough to make me want to learn more. Also, I want to avenge the poor brave Professor who saved me twice.
* I’m more a charge-in-and-smack-them-in-the-face kind of player, but the stealthy part of the tutorial was fun and made trying that playstyle tempting.
I did some research and found out that there’ll be player housing, which is sweet. Pets, too? All in all, I’m torn but if nothing else jumps out and grabs me this year, and especially if I don’t stick with ToR, I may yet try this.
Ack, formatting got messed up there with line breaks after each “bullet point” not being recognized for some reason.
Fixed for you.
Much obliged!
I enjoyed the demo, I’ve played it through three times now to play around with different skills. The story hasn’t really grabbed me yet and there are a few visual things that annoy me, such as the UI being a little on the large size, the lack of character body customisation and the way shields appear from nowhere when you block. No really major complaints though and I’m pretty sure I’ll be picking this up.
For me the larger UI was a HUGE positive. I have trouble seeing the smaller UI and text of most games (like Mass Effect or Dragon Age) so this larger UI was great for me. I think the option of a larger UI or text is great for players with visual impairments. I wonder if there is a slider in the game that allows you to make it smaller since you prefer a smaller UI?
A simple UI scale slider would make everyone happy. It’s pretty much standard in MMOs and I can’t see it being hard to implement here. It’s such a small thing (excuse the pun!) but it makes a difference to a lot of people.
I tried the demo.
I liked it overall though character customisation was very limited.
Not going to be playing it though, because they only allowed very limited remapping of keys. That means that after a certain point (usually very early in the game), I won’t be able to play it anymore. But at least I got the armor for ME3.
I decided to just ask them about it on their forums, and apparently in the full game you will be able to remap pretty much everything the way you like.
For the life of me I don’t know why they decided to restrict remapping in the demo, for the movement keys especially. The impression it gives is pretty bad, for people with my kinds of issues, but also for people who just don’t like the default layout and would like to remap purely for preference. I doubt that many would bother to check with them if this was a permanent thing.
This was an interesting demo. It feels a bit dated but there are some good ideas in it. OTOH it feels a bit generic fantasy while having an identity crisis. There are examples of progressive thought, lad mag sexism and missed opportunities all rolled into one. In some ways, it feels as if the game doesn’t have a voice or any particular point of view.
Good points:
- Colorful fantasy world
- Skippable and pausable cinematics! Yay!
- Fateweaving a nice lore idea
Bad points:
- colorful fantasy world causes eye-fatigue after about 20 minutes
- only one race available if choosing to play as a black man
- hair styles are too similar and gated by gender
- frustratingly wonky camera (unforgivable this generation)
It just seemed really – meh. I did like the graphics style, but that’s the only thing that stood out. Also got quite a major bug – during a big fight, the whole screen went black and had to navigate the entire fight by using magic (auto-aimed, luckily) and the health bars. Reports of other major bugs in just the demo (disappearing head of main character, apparently) means I won’t be getting it, whereas had previously thought I might pick it up when it’s gone down in price a bit. Disappoint!
Hi orphiel,
The demo was branched from an older build a few months old, and most of the bugs are a result of that. The graphics related bugs, texture loading (missing heads) and black screen are fixed in the final build. Hope that addresses some of your concerns!
That’s good to hear! I, too, had some graphical bugs and messed up textures, but I’m glad that those were fixed for the final release of the game. It’s really great to see a dev from this game reading and participating on TBH.
My two cents for what it’s worth: I love the demo and have been looking forward to this game for quite a while. The art style and lore are right up my alley and I find them quite delightful, especially the player armor. It’s such a big plus (and such a sad thing that it’s as rare as it is) that the armor is pretty much the same across genders. I love my warrior lady in her big, clanky tin can
The only things I find myself hesitant about so far are the inequitable clothing I’ve seen on Dokkalfar (the men do seem to like revealing some chest, but that’s nothing compared to the women) and the hints at dealing specifically with racism and sexism in quest lines.
Which instances of these issues did you notice? I’ve seen a few things that bug me too as I said, and combined with the lack of jumping it’s my biggest hurdle to buying it.
Though I must say after replaying the demo as a pure Sorcery character, gameplay was a lot more fun this time around. Maybe it’s because I got better, maybe it’s because chakrams — my reason for replaying — just flat out rock. And they have an AoE when investing in Arcane Weaponry I, which was something my longsword-user was sorely missing the first time around. Paying more attention to the fate meter helped too. (Though sometimes it looks as if it’s full, yet reckoning mode won’t trigger anyway. Hm.) Even mages have kickass melee moves in this game and that suits me because I’m a melee-lover.
I wonder though why the game is significantly more expensive on Steam than it’s at Amazon.de and Amazon.co.uk.
Oo, good to know, thanks very much
Thank you for the feedback Korva and Zaewen, duly noted! I’ve been reading Border House Blog since its inception and love the community here.
*slight spoiler warning, I think*
I’ll try not to say too much, because hopefully you’ll discover this in-game, but the Alfar are considered gender-equal and sex-positive, and it is good for us to know whether or not this is conveyed in the clothing. Korva, this also might speak to your previous comments about the Almain villagers. There is more to Gorhart than what appears on the surface.
What about gender equality in the human cultures? As I said, it was just a bit grating to see female characters in a variety of roles including combat, yet war-talk is all about men.
And are there any references to non-heterosexual people and behavior?
I *was* pleasantly surprised when a lorestone called the Summer Court ruler “he, she, it”, meaning that although Ysa is commonly referred to as male, there’s possibly something there that transcends rigid gender views.
And it’s awesome to hear that a designer reads and likes this site.
I feel more and more tempted to get this for my birthday next month.
Hi Korva, this post on the reckoning forums I made a while ago might help clarify some things without spoilers:
http://forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php?1875-Racism-Religious-Discrimination-and-Sexism/page3
Also, I’m glad you liked the first Summer lorestone, I really enjoyed writing that set!
This game wasn’t on my radar at all until I saw it here, and now I’ve got it pre-ordered. Had some technical problems with the demo, but it’s good to see those are fixed in the full release. It’s really nice to see a bright, colorful fantasy game, especially one with mostly-reasonable costumes and an interesting plot, and it’s also really nice to see a developer here! Looking forward to the full release very much.
I enjoyed what I played, until I aggro’d the entire town on me after trying to steal a book in a quest. Why didn’t I go to jail instead! Beautiful world, lovely music, really nice design.
Control wise though, I tried it on PC and I’m wondering if I’d have a better experience on console. It’s not terrible, but something about the setup makes me wonder if I’d have a better time in front of the TV. Thoughts?
Yea, I re-played it on an xbox controller and you can definitely tell the setup was deisgned with consoles in mind and the PC controls added later, especially the menu systems.
Thanks – maybe I should give this a whirl on the PS3.
Anyone else notice the startlingly thong-ish underwear on the female player character? After Skyrim, which gives men and women pretty decent undies to wear, I got eye-slapped by my female character in Amalur when I was changing around her armor and inadvertently left her pantsless. Having half her rear hang out like that disappointed me, because it was very obviously catering to the perv set.
Sigh. I actually really enjoyed the demo besides that, and it sold me on the game. Since I don’t have a lot of free time, I’ll probably wait for a bit of a sale, but this was definitely a lot of fun. I’m always for more games that allow me to play as a female of color.
I was also wondering if there’s any mention of non-hetero characters in this game? Does anyone know if you can pursue relationships in Amalur like you can in Fable or Dragon Age?
Had a lot of fun reading everyone’s thoughts on this demo, by the way.
My husband and I both played the demo over the weekend, and we both enjoyed it!
I generally like a colorful World of Warcraft-esque cartoony style over a more realistic one, so the look of KoA is appealing to me. Interface elements are nicked from WoW, Bioware, and Bethesda, but that isn’t a bad thing, since the world is so easy to navigate through, and it’s never a mystery whether something can be interacted with or not. I’m interested in seeing if dialogue-wheel choices aside from “I’ll do this” or “I won’t do this” make any difference on the large scale.
I like how free-form the battling is! I played a “versatile” character, using a combination of ranged, magic, dual wield, dodge, shield, while my husband was more the “wade in mashing X” type. Both worked just fine.
I already had a EA sign-in from playing Dragon Age 2, but wasn’t happy with the fact that signing in was mandatory to play the demo. People would complain if they missed out on their ME3 goodies because they neglected to sign in, so it goes.
We’ll definitely be picking this up come Feb. 7!
A quick return/reply to self to say that my husband tried the demo on PS3 as well as 360. The 360′s worked fine, but on PS3, about 2/3 of the way through the demo, the dialogue went on autoskip and the music cut out.
Finally got around to giving this a whirl after fixing some graphical hiccups, and I enjoyed it. I found the art style really appealing, and honestly, it was nice to see such vibrant colors after so much time running around in Skyrim (where I spent a lot of time contemplating the rates of SAD amongst the populace.) Visually, it’s a bit whimsical, and a little bit of whimsy never hurts. I do think, as someone mentioned above, that the controls were pretty clearly designed for console first, and that was a little frustrating as someone who just… doesn’t play console games, at least, not since the days of Croc. People w/ more experience in that arena will probably have an easier time .
Oh, and more customization options would be nice – presets just seem very old-fashioned, I guess. My girl was one of the pirate people and I was a little sad she could only have one piercing at a time. I wanted a face full of golden hardware, but alas, it was not to be.
One thing I couldn’t help but laugh/cringe at – my female PC’s walk. I only saw a bit of it in a cutscene, and from behind, but… huh. I’m not sure if people (ok, men) realize that to walk that way (holy hip rolling sexy walk like whoa) generally requires conscious effort? And it’s kind of bizarre that my PC would care enough to walk , very slowwwwly, in an overtly sexually appealing manner when she’s trying to escape the rabid Fae that are, oh yeah, trying to kill her. I mean, maybe she’s… drunk? I don’t know. It threw me out of the moment though, for sure.
Still, it was fun, and while it’s not a pre-order for me, I’ll probably end up purchasing it at some point.
Sigh. When I hear about a cat-walk hipswing of a female PC it turns me completely off as playing my PC as a female. I love having the option of playing as a female, its my first choice. I have wondered if this is fan-service for guys who like to play as females and perv at the rear view the entire game. I might just play KoA:Reckoning as a male, and see how that goes. It will be the first time I’ll be doing this (unless there is no female PC option). I noticed how they changed the walk from DA:Origins to the twisty walk in DA 2, and I just groaned and kept her running. I just hope my female Shepherd in ME3 retains her confident movement. Thanks for your comment, this has been an interesting thread to follow.
I really wish walk animations were more contextual in games. Some games just use a slow version of the run animation and others as you’ve detailed here use an exaggerated rolling hip walk to differentiate women from men. It’s distracting and sadly funny when the two come together. There are so many missed opportunities for expressiveness in how characters walk. A PC could tip-toe, strut, swagger, lumber, drag one’s feet and more!
I enjoyed this demo a lot and I’ll probably pick it up. I enjoyed the graphics, the characters and the dark fairy tale feel of the story. Being able to mix up magic with daggers and/or swordplay made the battles fun, instead of a chore like in some RPG. I’ll most definitely play as a girl the first time around, which marks a first for me (I usually do a play through as a male first and later as a female if that option exists).
I had one odd bug with a whole head on one of the dwarf/gnome guys in the beginning dungeon popping in about 10s into the cutscene that was a bit jarring. Aesthetically, I liked the colorful world a lot, the character models did feel a touch dated, though they are stylized decently in my opinion. The environments were pretty solid. Combat felt ok, but trying wizard and rogue, it felt like there was just way way more control as a rogue and kind of staggering opponents nonstop vs wizards seldom getting to finish a charged cast. I couldn’t figure out how to make a female character on the pc demo, which really turned me off from the game. The whole UI on pc really suffers though, it’s very clearly designed for consoles and some traditional pc conventions are just totally not there or not up to snuff and it bugged me a lot. Probably going to pass on this for now, but if I hear good things about it, I may check it out on consoles later on.
There are two silhouettes near the top of the race list in the very first screen. One has a dress. Selecting that gets you the women’s menu.