KoA: Reckoning - Answers from the Team, Trailer

The latest batch of community questions have been answered on the Reckoning forums. Here's a lengthy answer about difficulty and skilled players using the action combat system to cut through the game:

Q: Because of the Destiny system in Reckoning, your character is set up to be a real powerhouse. I am aware of Reckoning's difficulty setting, but what other measures will be taken to ensure that players will not be running through Amalur with such a powerful character being pit against opponents who do not measure up? – By TheAgarrar

A: Great question! This is a unique design challenge we ran into when we started out, because we didn't want a highly skilled player to be able to dominate extremely high level enemies. We really want your RPG choices to matter – the investment in skills & abilities, the armor and weapons you have equipped, and Destiny you have chosen – these should all play a larger impact on combat than your ability to parry or kill groups of enemies without getting hit.

The answer to this question could go on for a while, so I'll limit myself to three points: One Versus Many, Enemy Variety, and Over-Leveled Enemies.

One Versus Many is a great way to think about our combat as a whole. The hero in Reckoning IS a powerful being, and fighting against one enemy is rarely a challenge. Fighting enemies in groups presents the real combat challenge. While a strong hero can juggle a single Murghan until it's dead, doing so with two other Murghan and a Banshaen is a sure-fire way to get flanked and take a lot of unnecessary damage. So, you’ll need to think about where each enemy is, be on the lookout for incoming attacks, and consider the presence of any obstacles like walls or poison pools. Our combat camera does a great job at keeping all the enemies on screen so you have all this information and aren't getting hit with any cheap shots.

Enemy Variety is how we keep things fresh and keep you on your toes. We put a lot of effort into making a bunch of enemy types, and keeping them different enough from each other so no two enemies fight exactly the same way. Then we thought about how these enemies fight alone, how they fight together, and how they fight when mixed with other types of enemies. This gives us a huge palette to try out different combinations, and be really creative with how we challenge you with groups of enemies. One of our most devastating combinations has turned out to be the Ettins and wolves. Ettins are strong melee fighters and try to get close to the hero, but are moderately easy to keep at bay by themselves. But when they are paired with a single wolf, the wolf will use its long range running attack to hit you, and by the time you've recovered, the Ettin will be right up in your face – often with a flying leap attack!

Finally, fighting Over-Leveled Enemies, or baddies that are much higher than your player level, is an exercise in futility. They will shrug off attacks as if your weapons were feathers. Their own attacks can't be parried, and they have bonus resistances to damage and stun. When these action elements are combined with the sheer damage numbers they can deal out, the fights are clearly not in your favor.

These are just three examples of how we keep things challenging for you. We can't wait for you to get your hands on it and see just how fun it is. – By Joe "JoeQ" Quadara, Lead Combat Designer

There's also a new Destinies and Fate trailer.