Joined: Jul 16, 2011
Posts: 286
Location: Niagara Falls, Canada
Joined: Jan 15, 2009
Posts: 1169
Location: Connecticut, USA
*glee* I am looking forward to this SOOOOO much! from everything i have heard, its a great game, with an AWESOME in-depth story and very solid fighting and item mechanics.
Joined: Jan 15, 2009
Posts: 1169
Location: Connecticut, USA
its a demo, not a beta (i think) and you can get it from Origin, Steam, XBLA, or PSN. just click the link that Cyper put up, and click the hyperlink of the service you want to use on the right hand side of the page ( they are pretty Big tabs... )
Joined: Jan 15, 2009
Posts: 1169
Location: Connecticut, USA
ZOMG!!! so i just played the beta until the timer ran out (after you get out of the intro dungeon you get 45 minutes of exploring, not including dialogue trees or cutscenes), and THIS GAME IS AMAZING. super fresh and fluid, the story is very deep and expansive, and yet you do not feel like you have to slog your way through paragraphs of text. the voice acting is top-notch, I never heard a voice actor get repeated (and you can talk to pretty much everyone).
As for style, there is a bit of a cartoon-y feel to everything, but i think that it lends itself really well to the type of story that this is. the world and characters are vibrant and detailed, with very smooth motions. Combat is extremely intuitive and fluid, even though it is a different key set-up from any other game I have played, it took me all of a minute to adapt.
now i just have to cram the RPG nerd part of me back into his straight-jacket, and chain him in the corner for the next 2 weeks...
SSG.Braxis*BK*
Joined: May 31, 2011
Posts: 2631
Location: Fort McMurray, AB
Oh.. those RPGs.
I've enjoyed a few in the past quite a bit, but I haven't been able to any from teh past few years - even the top-rated ones... not sure why. Maybe I'll give this one a look-see. I guess it'd be godo to get on the likely-required multi-monitor fixes ..:/
-- Of all the soles I've ever tasted, his had the most ....cumin. --
Joined: Jul 16, 2011
Posts: 286
Location: Niagara Falls, Canada
I had alot of fun with it, pre-ordered thru origin so i get to use my unlocks just for playing the demo and the mass effect 3 unlocks when i get that. Braxis gave a good review, tough to top it LOL.
Joined: Jan 15, 2009
Posts: 1169
Location: Connecticut, USA
Cypher, the unlock bonuses will work no matter the platform/download service you use. They are tied to your EA online account (which you log into in the game), not the download service.
Joined: Feb 24, 2011
Posts: 537
Ok. Downloaded it last night and played on my XBOX 360 (which is where I play all my RPG's).
As Braxis says it is very cartoonish but fun to play none the less.
Pros: The Demo had a great story line
Items that could be picked up in Demo were cool
The weapons looked cool and had great additions once you level up
Cons: There is not enough loot (things to scavenge)
Limited on the maps as to where you can go, you cannot fall off the cliffs
Bad guys did not get harder as I increased in skill
Will I get this game YES. I love RPG's.
The developers were very unrealistic in their videos on what a person can and cannot do. They stated there was over two millions different pilferable items. If that was the case then every body would have items to take. The scenary was great as they stated but you are limited to certain paths so you cannot get up close and personel to see the detail.
SKYRIM is much better but again I will get this and give a better dictation after I play it for a couple of days. I have pre-ordered it via XBOX live and will auto download on 7 Feb 2012.
Joined: Jan 15, 2009
Posts: 1169
Location: Connecticut, USA
takerdeep, I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
While I LOVE Skyrim (and the elder scrolls in general), I think that Amalur has the potential (based purely on the demo, we shall see with the full release), to be a much more rounded game. There are already areas where Amalur is better. Combat in Skyrim was essentially the same system as they had in Oblivion (and Fallout for that matter). Its an old system that is not very fluid, and the flow of combat would be constantly broken by the surroundings/terrain. Once, i had a giant (when they were a challange) charge right off a mountain top and fall to his death, because i was beyond some wrinkle in the ground and the AI's pathfinding ability has more suction than a hoover. Funny, but really breaks immersion/flow.
Amalur was the complete opposite, The combat is fast, flows easily, and you can chain different abilities together seamlessly. Yes, the enemies were rather easy, and the difficulty curve could stand to be steepened slightly (if they just gave you less health potions this would be an easy fix), and there was not that much variation on the weapons, but I was still carrying upwards of 20 times the amount of junk that i could EVER possibly use.
Also, remember, this is a DEMO. yes, areas are closed off, but I still had 3 quests left unfinished, and I wasn't doing all that much random exploring. All in all, keep an open mind, and remember that they are NOT trying to be Bethesda, they are trying to make a product that you will have fun with. Just because the FPS area of gaming is a battleground of developers trying to steal users from each other, doesn't mean that the rest of gaming is as well.
SSG.Braxis*BK*
Joined: Mar 10, 2010
Posts: 61
Location: NC
Not to hijack the thread or any thing, but I found this "
Once, i had a giant (when they were a challange) charge right off a mountain top and fall to his death" very useful and a fun way to play in Skyrim. In every RPG I play, I spend time finding out if I can fall/be thrown/be knocked off cliffs or if any of those can happen with the enemy. There seem to be very few games out that allow the player to make use of his/her surroundings and I have always found that very disappointing. I found that I could use the cliff edges to my advantage (epecially since you still get the xp from the enemy's death). If I fight people/creatures that will charge me, I will try to get to the edge of a cliff if there is one. If the person/creature is not one that charges, I will try to use my shouts to knock them off the cliff. A few times this has backfired on me as I was the one falling to either my death or serious injury, but still a very fun way to play.
Joined: Jan 15, 2009
Posts: 1169
Location: Connecticut, USA
Trygar, I totally agree with you, when you can use the mechanics, this can be hilarious fun (and i have wasted quite a bit of time doing it). I was talking more when the AI Glitches because the pathfinding algorithms are pants-on-head ...special.
here's what happened, i found the giant. I attempted to sneak up to him, but he turned and saw me. There was a bit of a divot in the ground between us, maybe 2 ft deep. He proceeded to turn 90 degrees and bum-rush off the cliff.
while this situation is undeniably hilarious, it does tend to break the flow and immersion that I personally rate as very important in an RPG. All in all, I loved Skyrim, and have at least 100 hours of messing around logged (i dont think i've done a single thing for the main story). But its a very casual game to me, i never really got super sucked into it.
Just my thoughts, and I'm definitely looking forward to Amalur
SSG.Braxis*BK*
Joined: Feb 24, 2011
Posts: 537
