E3 2011: Fantasy RPGs Get a Reckoning
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This storybook feeling can capture unwilling imaginations.
I don't like fantasy. Dragons, medieval junk, and chainmail have never been my thing. This means a lot of games don't do anything for me. I don't want to manage spell wheels and find mystical swords that give me +5 valor. I got bored with Dragon Age, I'm not having a nerdgasm over Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and Fable's farts seemed really dumb. Now that you know all that, I can tell you that for some strange reason, I'm digging Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
Set with a simple, storybook art style, Reckoning is the RPG from 38 Studios -- the development house headed by former Boston Red Sox player Curt Schilling -- and it had me interested from the start of my recent demo.
Combat Doesn't Suck in Reckoning
The game opens with your character rising from the dead. You're the first person to ever do this, so it's kind of a big deal. Usually you'd have to pick a class in an RPG, but Reckoning goes in another direction. Here, you just pick abilities you want and get to explore the skill trees. If you choose to be a mage and don't like it five hours in, it's no big deal to switch over and begin investing in being a warrior. (All of this should be old news as IGN's covered Reckoning's introduction and Reckoning's role swapping in past previews.)
That stuff is exciting. When I attempted to play Dragon Age 2, I just had my DA2-nut of a roommate pick attributes and skills for my character as I leveled up. I wanted to jump in and play; I didn't feel like having to read every available description of every available ability to make sure I was committing to one I'd really enjoy. With Reckoning, it sounds like I can just pick the first skill that sounds cool and try it out.
Simplicity and flair carry over to combat -- stealth kills are awesome. There's a different takedown for every character in the game and they're as simple as approaching undetected. Watching a skilled thief sneak up on a giant troll and bury his blade in the monsters chest isn't likely to get old quickly. Simple button presses unleashed basic attacks, but combining those buttons with a trigger sent out magic attacks. Standard stuff, but it looked easy to transition between moves, pull off combos and switch tactics on the fly. Simple, rewarding combat is what I want from an RPG like Reckoning. Plus, the game ran smoothly as the hero beat on foes.
Looting the bodies of the fallen also struck a chord with me. When you collect stuff, you can tell at a glance if you need it or if you have something better -- you just click "compare." There's no menu to jump into and cycle through to try and judge a new item's stats against your old weapon's stats. If you don't need it, it's sent to your junk pile and will be sold the next time you go to a merchant. If you do need it, you can salvage the part and go on to a blacksmith to craft better weapons. You can swap in hilts, bindings, grips and gems to make your swords and daggers more powerful than ever.
Somebody's gettin' cut.
Some people don't like sports games, but I traditionally don't like medieval times with dragons and ? . Reckoning looks like it could be the exception to the rule. The combat is fluid, customizing my character to the specific specs I want is exciting, and hell yes I want to make a sward with a crazy core and snazzy binding. It all looks like something I could jump into and start having fun in the first few minutes. Sure, the menus and meters look a bit barebones at the moment, but there's plenty of time before Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning releases in 2012.
I don't like fantasy. Dragons, medieval junk, and chainmail have never been my thing. This means a lot of games don't do anything for me. I don't want to manage spell wheels and find mystical swords that give me +5 valor. I got bored with Dragon Age, I'm not having a nerdgasm over Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and Fable's farts seemed really dumb. Now that you know all that, I can tell you that for some strange reason, I'm digging Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
Set with a simple, storybook art style, Reckoning is the RPG from 38 Studios -- the development house headed by former Boston Red Sox player Curt Schilling -- and it had me interested from the start of my recent demo.
Combat Doesn't Suck in Reckoning
The game opens with your character rising from the dead. You're the first person to ever do this, so it's kind of a big deal. Usually you'd have to pick a class in an RPG, but Reckoning goes in another direction. Here, you just pick abilities you want and get to explore the skill trees. If you choose to be a mage and don't like it five hours in, it's no big deal to switch over and begin investing in being a warrior. (All of this should be old news as IGN's covered Reckoning's introduction and Reckoning's role swapping in past previews.)
That stuff is exciting. When I attempted to play Dragon Age 2, I just had my DA2-nut of a roommate pick attributes and skills for my character as I leveled up. I wanted to jump in and play; I didn't feel like having to read every available description of every available ability to make sure I was committing to one I'd really enjoy. With Reckoning, it sounds like I can just pick the first skill that sounds cool and try it out.
Simplicity and flair carry over to combat -- stealth kills are awesome. There's a different takedown for every character in the game and they're as simple as approaching undetected. Watching a skilled thief sneak up on a giant troll and bury his blade in the monsters chest isn't likely to get old quickly. Simple button presses unleashed basic attacks, but combining those buttons with a trigger sent out magic attacks. Standard stuff, but it looked easy to transition between moves, pull off combos and switch tactics on the fly. Simple, rewarding combat is what I want from an RPG like Reckoning. Plus, the game ran smoothly as the hero beat on foes.
Looting the bodies of the fallen also struck a chord with me. When you collect stuff, you can tell at a glance if you need it or if you have something better -- you just click "compare." There's no menu to jump into and cycle through to try and judge a new item's stats against your old weapon's stats. If you don't need it, it's sent to your junk pile and will be sold the next time you go to a merchant. If you do need it, you can salvage the part and go on to a blacksmith to craft better weapons. You can swap in hilts, bindings, grips and gems to make your swords and daggers more powerful than ever.
Somebody's gettin' cut.
Some people don't like sports games, but I traditionally don't like medieval times with dragons and ? . Reckoning looks like it could be the exception to the rule. The combat is fluid, customizing my character to the specific specs I want is exciting, and hell yes I want to make a sward with a crazy core and snazzy binding. It all looks like something I could jump into and start having fun in the first few minutes. Sure, the menus and meters look a bit barebones at the moment, but there's plenty of time before Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning releases in 2012.