Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - First Impressions!

I've played the game for two hours, so I'm prepared to at least provide you with a bit of an overview of what I think.  A lot of what I'm going to be saying here you'll be able to hear me say in the videos I'll be posting -- I've been recording everything -- but just because I've been posting videos doesn't mean I'm going to stop actually writing.  And, well, y'know...I like writing.

First off, I cannot call this game a Poor Man's Skyrim, because it's the same price as Skyrim.  Natch!  And actually, Skyrim is currently on sale on Steam for $39.99.  So Skyrim is actually CHEAPER for the time being.  And let's not beat around the bush here -- this game is not as good as Skyrim.

But enough about that.  The comparisons between the two could go on for infinity (and beyond!), but it's not really going to tell you very much, is it?  Nope.

So let me lay it out for you here real simple like:  You're going to play this game, and for the first hour or hour and a half you're going to be thinking to yourself, "Why the hell am I playing this?"  The graphics are sometimes a bit bland.  The voice acting is a bit questionable.  The facial animations are atrocious.  And the world looks very....fuzzy.  That is the best word I can find in my vocabulary to describe it.  Everything looks FUZZY and just slightly out of focus.  Like it's a dreamworld or something.  I understand the style -- it's supposed to be fantasy, sure -- but I suppose Skyrim's graphics have me spoiled.  Skyrim is CRISP.  It's SHARP.  And I love that.  So that difference really set me off quite a bit -- moreso than anything else, really.

But what's interesting is that after that hour or hour and a half, you begin to notice things.  You begin to notice, "Hey, this dungeon looks pretty cool, I like the design of it!".  You may begin to find yourself starting to enjoy the combat, which probably confused the ever-living hell out of you at the start, but is now starting to make some sense.  You may start to notice there are a LOT of things to do in this game, and they are actually pretty enjoyable and engaging.  Point I'm making is, you just may start to LIKE this game, and want to keep playing.  And I'm saying that because it's exactly what's happened to me.

Do I think this game is going to get the kind of ravings Skyrim got?  No, no I do not.  I mean -- take a look at Steam right now.  See where it's at.  Right now, on release day at 12:18 AM, it's #12 with 4,464 players.  It's peak is 4,940.  That's GOOD.  But it's not Skyrim.  Skyrim is #1 right now, and it has been #1 since its release.

But I do think this game will receive favorable reviews from critics, and I think that anyone who decides to give it an HONEST try will find a lot to enjoy.  As I sit here and write this, I want to play some more.  I really want to go back and play some more right now, and that is always a good sign.  Not many games are able to do that to me.

So, how about I talk about some of the things that I find really cool?  Sure.

First of all, when you level up you get to do a few things.  It's actually quite interesting.  The first thing you do is assign a point into a ladder of secondary skills, such as Alchemy or Blacksmithing.  I've leveled twice so far, and I've put both of my points into this Detection skill.  And it is freaking awesome -- it shows me secrets on the minimap!  Plus, I get gold bonuses while looting.  I love it.  Now, after you do that, you get 3 skill points to spend in the normal trees that you're used to seeing in all RPGs.  Fine and dandy.  But after THAT, you get to then choose a sort of Tarot card-like thingie that buffs you even more, and is reliant on how you spend your skill points on the previous screen in the talent trees.  I really like it.

Next, the combat.  This is what took me an hour to start to like, after I got it all up to where it should be, weapon and skill-wise.  I'm going the mage route, and I have two weapon slots.  I currently have a staff in one, and a sceptre in the other.  The sceptre uses a small amount of mana each shot (it's like a wand) and it's long range.  The staff uses no mana and it's shorter ranged.  I also have one spell, a lightning type bolt, that uses a large amount of mana.  I also have a fate bar that fills up as I kill things,  and when it's full I can go super saiyan 9001, and RIP THE FATE OUT OF PEOPLE.  I know that ripping the fate out of people doesn't make any sense BUT I DON'T CARE BECAUSE IT'S AMAZING WHEN YOU DO IT.

There's really not a lot more for me to say.  The first video I have for you covers the beginnings, character creation, a bit of combat, some dialogue, and me just being a noob and learning how the controls work.  I have enough footage for another five or six videos already, though, so I'll be able to post one a day if I so choose.  For now, though, enjoy the first!