Ben-DutkaBeing a role-playing fan, I’m always interested in attempts to create epic, involving experiences. And in regards to Big Huge Game’s Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning , there are two encouraging facts: firstly, the freedom and player choice involved is impressive (you’ll see an example of this below) and secondly, the talent behind the scenes is plenty promising. We’ve got Ken Rolston, the lead designer for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion , best-selling author R.A. Salvatore writing the lore, and “Spawn” creator Todd McFarlane working on the artwork and design. Perhaps surprisingly, ex-Boston Red Sox pitcher (and World Series hero) Curt Schilling founded the studio.
You’ll be able to pick from several classes and it seems combinations are possible, such as a mage rogue, and although there is no morality system, there will be consequences to your actions. For instance, if you commit a crime in a town, the villagers will react to you differently and if you’re caught, you can either try to fight your way clear or pay a fine. Either way, people will remember what you did. At the same time, it’s interesting to note that regardless of your decisions, all the quests will remain available to you, so feel free to be as good – or as deliciously evil – as you please. Quests are marked with exclamation points, and you can even participate in activities like blacksmithing (which reminds me of Fable III , to some extent).
Being able to change your weapons by standing at a forge and messing around sounds like something I’d enjoy. It seems we’ll be able to melt down weapons into raw materials; so if you’ve got a few useless daggers and you’re a big ol’ warrior who only uses swords, you know what to do- just melt down those daggers and maybe you can use the resulting materials to enhance your bigger blade. As you wander about the various towns and forests, you'll see very large areas crammed with people to see and things to do. Hence, make sure you take the time to explore every nook and cranny. Blacksmithing isn’t the only thing you can do in town, you know, and gameplay appears to be pretty standard fare:
You can access your skills during battle with a simple press of a button, and the rest is dictated by real-time combat. Heck, you can even have two weapons equipped at once (and the two hands will be assigned to two face buttons). You can string together attacks into big-time combos, and of course, experience earns you ability points to spend on your character. Lastly, you can unlock new hybrid destinies; there are 40 of these in the game, and they’re kinda like classes. The biggest difference is that you can change your destiny by visiting a “fate weaver” at any time in the game, so yeah, I’m thinkin’ we should do some experimenting. Still, I imagine the points we assign to the various stats – might, sorcery, and finesse – will be final, so make those decisions carefully.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning doesn’t have an estimated release date, but I’m interested…
