Ah, fair point. I've not hit that issue yet, and I hope I don't. I'm still getting stompled somewhat regularly.
It is on sale on Steam, I wouldn't think they would sell a game that required a competitors platform. However, I will now remove it from my wish list. I guess I will need to be more careful in the future and not assume if it is for sale on Steam that it is an Origin free product.Originally Posted by Brian Rubin
The steam version doesn't require Origin.
(It's a special, "self-released" version of the game. If you look, you'll see the publisher is 38 Studios, not EA.)
Oh, I read that it did. My bad.
I can confirm this.
Additionally, logging into the EA account is not mandatory either (though apparently you need to do this to get your bonus items)-
Again, what RPG does this differently? What are you expecting? Some nebulous and arbitrary assignment of monster scaling that doesn't follow the standardized ascending curve based on progression?
Bethesda veers slightly off the norm with true 'scaled' enemies that conform to your character level, particularly in Oblivion which was met with severe controversy for that decision.
If it is JUST a matter of information exchange("knowing" those Kobolds are lvl. 3 or 'within your level range'), then how is that difference worthy of a pass vs. purchase? Is the need for trial and error to figure out if this enemy will kill me or not before I engage that much of a difference? The only real sacrifice there is a matter of excessive save reloading.
I guess my point is that when you face the 'unknown' versus an enemy that is clearly labeled as being 'above your current level', your tactics won't change. You will still play as cautiously and unsuredly as you would in either scenario. It won't take long to uncover that Mudcrabs are basically 'grey' enemies you can relax against in either scenario either. The 'suspense' is far too fleeting.
Last edited by BDGE; 02-10-2012 at 11:57 AM.
Mobs, blah, blah, dinged, blah, blah...man, I hate MMO-speak...
I started a 2nd character as pure sorcery last night just to try it out. Not sure if I like my previous pure finesse dagger/bow setup or the new mage yet.
In a skill-based combat system, in which your survival is not strictly dictated by number crunching but also by how adept you are at twitch controls, it is a huge, huge difference. I wouldn't call it a buy/don't buy issue, but I think it was an ill-advised design decision.
Sounds like you mostly just prefer leveling out of the equation entirely, a medieval Ninja Gaiden with scripted encounters en route to Mordor.
I do agree that one of the biggest issues facing the challenge in this game is the players skillful handling of the combat. Moreso than the RPG elements(or potion cooldowns or whatever), the ease of challenge I am suffering is MOSTLY due to how impenetrable I am. With an average mastery of rolling, dodging, and parrying, you can effectively avoid or mitigate damage entirely.
It's the nature of the beast, but often I feel it's more difficult for any enemy to effectively land a blow unless I allow it. I have yet to see the most ruthless or aggressive foes yet, but in the early goings this is an issue that I worry over.
Maybe it's the squishiness of rogues or maybe it's my lack of twitch skills, but I'm having no trouble getting landed on over and over. I had a group of 5 kobolds kill me 3 times in a row last night in the Overgrown Thicket.
I envy you guys' reflexes.
I'm mostly just keeping distance and abusing the ice traps and bows with my full rogue. If I dive in with my daggers I will usually take a beating unless I counter in time.
I did take on some sprites that shoot homing magic recently wherein if I didn't roll away in the short window could really mess up my HP. That was pretty a nice change.
Any pure warriors here? I see a lot of talk on magic and finesse stuff. I have not picked up this game yet, but when I did I was planning on going pure warrior (with minor rogue skills).
True, if you don't want to log in to an EA account when you start up the Steam version, just click the X in the upper-right corner.
I'm liking pure Might so far, but Greatswords and hammers feel too slow so far. I'm enjoying the moves and speed of the basic longsword the most.
1.) With regard to the non-scaling enemies my biggest complaint is that it seems like there is some "order" that I am supposed to complete the quests in for optimal ratio of player level vs. monster-level. Since all quests in the quest log are grey (and not color coded as to "difficulty level") and no other hints in game I'm at a loss of which area to go to. This has led to the fact that I've been in some tough-as-nails areas which I later found out I was supposed to do later. Subsequently the easier areas which I skipped by doing the harder ones first are consequently way too easy afterwards.
I do like the fact that there are no scaling enemies but I would prefer some better information as to where to go for an optimally balanced challenge.
2.) After a few hours I still have not had detect hidden find me a hidden door. Are these very rare or what gives? (yes, I do have the prequesite skill points allocated).
3.) Is anyone else noticing occasionally bad AI, especially when using the bow? Sometimes, after running 20 feet away (placing traps, run-and-gun etc.) enemies will either stand there brain dead or run back to their spawn location (while I am obviously still in combat with them or their buddies).
This is one of the reasons why I'm considering moving away from a bow build.
No, I like that there's a stat system driving the evolution of the character, but I don't need as many cheat sheet elements as the game provides (with no option to remove them). It's already far too easy as it is.
If you're good at hack and slash games, Amalur is not going to be much of a challenge. To its credit, the game doesn't cheat (as far as I have seen), but it's odd that they couldn't come up with some enemies that have a few loopholes they can exploit against the player.It's the nature of the beast, but often I feel it's more difficult for any enemy to effectively land a blow unless I allow it. I have yet to see the most ruthless or aggressive foes yet, but in the early goings this is an issue that I worry over.
According to my stats screen, I have found one hidden door, but I have never found a hidden door to my knowledge. I don't even know what icon to be looking for on the minimap.
Hidden doors look like upside-down capital Us on the map. Most (but not all) dungeons have at least one, usually with a ton of treasure. If you want an example, there's a hidden door in the first warsworn castle.
I am pure warrior for my first playthrough. I'm mostly using longsword and a little bow for ranged when I get the drop on a mob, but it's pure hack n slash fun so far.
What's nice is that skills like lockpick and detect invis are independent of your class build. I love that my warrior can open everything easily and detect all the secrets.
Well.. wen the game paint gray the names of the mobs, I feel like the game say to me very loud "get out of this area, is not for your level, player!!". Actually, I have a lot of fun on the area!, is not even true, because every new quest that make you enter a new dungeon, have you facing mobs of your level, so the grey color may make abandon pretty cool quest series, and nice areas.
I don't think I have seen this before in a singleplayer RPG, but I can be wrong, maybe countless other singleplayer rpg's do it. Like, hack and slash rpgs, perhaps.
Maybe in a RPG, wen the player have killed the "lord of evil" of a area, can stop spawning unnecesary mobs around, since the area is pacified, or something. I don't know. I just comment my surprise after finding these gray names.
postdata: the game is great, I am having a lot of fun with this thing!!
postdata: learning to make videos for youtube. My 3th attemp. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST-a6...ature=youtu.be
Last edited by Teiman; 02-11-2012 at 05:33 AM.
Warrior is easily the most powerful of the three options, you literally become immune to damage. You also have a skill that turns you into a God (unable to be interrupted, which is the main way enemies challenge you in this game, with damage reflection and gaining health per hit while active) which would be ridiculous if your other advantages weren't so big anyway. Ignore the two-handers early game but definitely switch to one of the two options later, the damage is obscene and you can't get interrupted anymore which is their only disadvantage. Only put 1 point in Harpoon though, you'll use it for it's re-positioning a ton and so don't want a mana drain aswell.
I've found as a full warrior though, it was still worth it to put 14 points into sorcery early. The damage from lightning bolt is super useful in early fights and the perma-shield you get is crazy strong for the whole game, and 30% of your mana means nothing to you, and the battlemage destiny card is easily better then anything else you are going to get for at least 10+ levels afterwards (at which point you can respec out of the tree anyway).
Thanks! First dungeon I visited after posing this question contained two hidden doors...
Do the skill points one buys with "training" remain even if one resets one's destiny at a fateweaver.
Yes, you get to keep any points you trained.
Welp, I got my first house (yay!). However, I died trying to take out the widow (boo!). Fun times though! I wish I didn't have to take a break today, but I've got games I need to play for my blog.
Certainly more positive than Entertainment Weekly's review: http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/02/10/ki...koning-review/
Personally, I lean more towards the NYT than EW. Definitely flawed, but a really good time. I'm also really excited to see their next game after learning the lessons from this one.
I really wish stealth was more effective. Switched to Sorcery, it feels a lot more powerful than Finesse. Chakrams are crazy, Mark of Flame is WAY too good for how low level it is.
Have not messed with Might much yet.
The game needs scaling enemies, within reason. And yeah, why there is no character stats page/screen...boggles the mind.
This part didn't make any sense to me:
Why is taking an open world game and giving it an action based combat system so mind boggling to the author of that review?Kingdoms of Amalur was originally going to be an MMO, and in an interview with Joystiq, Schilling said, “We’re taking God of War and marrying it with Oblivion.” The problem is that those two games have nothing in common whatsoever: He might as well have said, “We’re taking Grand Theft Auto and marrying it to Angry Birds.”
And I believe the later examples is called Red Faction: Guerrilla.
Not to mention that the reviewer you quoted is incorrect. Amalur was never going to be an MMO. 38 Studios has been working on their own MMO for a while now, and acquired Big Huge Games who had a single-player RPG in the works. 38 asked them if they could retool their single player game with the lore from the MMO, and that's how this game came to be.
The development of the MMO continues apace, I believe.
The EW review is just badly written. I understand not liking this game much as a lot of it feels pretty average but he didn't make his points very well.
Simplified but confusing? How simple does this dude need something to be?The action stuff is fun, but the magickry is confusing and feels tremendously simplified.
Personally I'm having a lot of fun. I'm only about 16 hours but I just figured out what everyone's problem is with the difficulty. I was having a hell of a time with my pure melee character (swords/knives/stealth). It was a lot of fun but bosses and swarms of enemies would kick my ass. Especially the ones that spam ranged attacks.
Then I switched to a sword/bow/ice trap build. It was like hitting the easy button. Suddenly I'm walking all over stuff that used to slow me down to a crawl.
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