KoA: Reckoning - Review @ PC Gamer

[Dhruin]

KoA: Reckoning has been reviewed at PC Gamer. The score is a modest 74% because of "generic world design and familiar story":

For a character whose greatest talent is the ability to change his own fate, you make few decisions with any lasting consequences. Big decisions at the end of faction questlines offer the illusion of choice, but without changing the world in a meaningful way. Beyond wiping out its wildlife, there aren’t many opportunities to leave your mark on Amalur. There’s something rigid and mechanical about the way quests are dished out in clumps, too. I found myself clearing zones as I would in an MMO, turning in batches of completed missions as fast as possible so I could quickly move on and see something new.
Above all, Kingdoms of Amalur is too long. With a faster main quest and the wildlife-slaying filler quests removed, the scenery would change faster and progression feel less like a grind. More care could have been taken in making each area feel interesting. The Faeland’s verdant forests, sunny plains and deserts are pretty, but always derivative. It just doesn’t feel like a place where people live, and there’s no sense of discovery to exploring its lands.

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[joxer]

"wildlife-slaying quests"… for god's sakes why ppl can't just say "we despise mob respawns in a singleplayer" or it's really not allowed to write that in a review.

 

[sjett]

Loved KoA for the first 30 hours or so, then lost interest (though I will return to it at some point). I agree with the "too long" comment. I love long games, as long as I don't have to explore every single region to complete the main quest. The game would have been better served by having a reasonably-lengthed main quest, and leaving how much to explore outside that up to the player (a la Elder Scrolls). Forcing you through every single region in the game as part of the main quest wasn't a good idea.

I really enjoyed those 30 hours, though. Loved the world (normally I don't go for the animated look) and the writing. I was apparently in the minority in that I found the combat boring.

 

[Deleted User]

I don't understand what's so "generic" about Reckoning. Seems like that's a buzzword that a lot of reviewers are running with, along with the whole "it feels like an MMO" thing. If you actually dive into the lore you will see that it's not generic at all; not any more generic than any other fantasy setting known to man. And to me, Reckoning feels like a single player RPG, just like any other single-player RPG out there. The only thing MMO about it is quest markers over people's heads, because World of Warcraft did that. Everything else feels very much like a deep single-player experience.

 

[Roland]

I like a long RPG...and I completely disagree with this comment "and there’s no sense of discovery to exploring its lands"

Much more sense of "discovery" than say the Dragon Age series imo

 

[JDR13]

Much more sense of "discovery" than say the Dragon Age series imo

That's not saying much though.

 

[Deleted User]

That's not saying much though.

Exploration in Reckoning is done very well in my opinion. I love exploration in RPGs and I'm very satisfied with how Reckoning handles it. There's always something to see/do/find around every corner, and there are lots of nooks and crannies to explore. Go off the beaten path and find a quest, or a lorestone, or a hidden treasure cache, or someone to talk to, etc. I think it's great.

 

[sakichop]

@Fluent likes KOA... who knew.

 

[rune_74]

It's a good game...especailly for a first game...hoping they do well enough to make sequels work on it a bit.

 

[you]

I like a long RPG; but I found KOA very stale. I really did not like it very much - in my books it is a 55 or 60% game. In the past I said the game has no heart; but I'm not really sure how to describe my issue with the game. I played bg2 a few years ago (around 2008) for the first time and even though I tend to gloss over the story I really enjoyed the game (exploration, mechanics, combat). With reckoning I could fall asleep as I played the game (maybe it was too easy - i payed the entire game on hard) but it was deeper than that; when I played ice wind dale 2 around 2004 I was excited when I found that elven chainmail; I thought it was an amazing find; with KOA I never felt much excitement when i discovered a secret door or a new chest or won an 'epic' battle (ok it didn't have any 'epic' battles). Anyways been there done that have moved on.

 

[crpgnut]

I thought it was a decent first effort, but I'm unsure whether single-player is in the works for any other projects, so it will be my only BHG game purchased if SP goes away.