• 18Apr 12

  Thoughts on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

  

  

  Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is an amazing action RPG and worth every penny. From superb graphic design to fluid gameplay mechanics, it offers a vast amount of content.

  There are tons of sidequests, and much like the Elder Scroll series, there are also a variety of factions which you can join while (or after) you work on the main quest. The premisse is interesting; you start the game "walking from the dead" and soon discover that you are the only person who can actually change his/her Fate. In the world of Amalur, every person, every event is pre-determined to end in a specific manner, and there are even certain people called Fate Weavers who can "read" your Fate, seeing what you are destined to do, how you are supposed to die, and etc. However, you soon start traveling through the world, and people realize your actions are actually affecting and changing the outcome of events that were once, "set in stone." Unfortunately, I believe the storyline fell short throughout the game; I felt like the dialogues and characters involved in the main quest were somewhat superficial and the story lacked depth.

  

  At any rate, this Fate ties down to the very character creation and development process. You have a few basic "Fates", or as the game calls it, "Destinies", which are cards that will power up your character in a specific direction. You will have a card "Rogue", in which you can develop it further by leveling up and unlock the card "Scout", which will grant you more skill points and ability points to spend either on your "Finesse" map or, if you decide to improve the other two areas "Might" or "Sorcery", possibly unlocking different cards such as the hybrid "Disciple", a "mage-rogue" mixture. Overall, the system is very flexible and fun to mess around with; rpg gamers will definitely enjoy leveling up their character and crafting to their needs.

  The gameplay is so much fun! My character was primarily a Mage build, and I had spent a lot of points on the Chackram, which I loved using in conjuction with my magic (not to mention juggling enemies around with it.) It's a combat system that made me feel powerful and always rewarding me with tons of loot. There are many options for the 3 main abilities and they provide quite a few combos. Leveling up is not a chore; the combat is very smooth and fast. A few bosses here and there might give a bit more of a challenge, but overal I found the game to be pretty decent in difficulty. There's also a Hard Mode for those wanting a bit more challenge.

  The visuals in this RPG are insanely beautiful. I never got bored at looking at the scenery and environments. The dungeons were fresh and different from one another, even if all of them (or better yet, the entire game) is very colorful. Unlike the Elder Scrolls series, which devides each game to a specific region in Tamriel, Amalur provides the entire world at your hands, even if not in the same huge scale of the TES. But to me, the ability to be able to explore all different areas in one game was much more to my liking, because the regions vary so much (be it in the overall feeling or aesthetics that it shows.) I thought the characters were very vivid and lively, and the monsters also varied in shapes and forms a lot, as well as battle manouvers. The art design in the game is trully something to be looked at, and I actually enjoyed seeing the loading screens artwork, so beautiful they were.

  On the background of it all, there lies the soundtrack and sound effects. It's all orchestrated, and gives you that "fantasy world" sense of exploration and wonder. The music is soothing when it needs to be, and engaging when it needs to pump me up for an epic battle. It made my travels in Amalur much more enjoyable.

  I thought that, for a first game in a series (the next one, set in the same world is supposed to be an MMO), this game is a great achievement for 38 Studios and Big Huge Games. I didn't like their partnership with EA in publishing this game (there is even a game breaking bug unfortunately, but so far no patch has been released. At the same time, EA has already put out 2 DLCs, so why is this not being addressed?), and I hope they don't on their next. Browsing their forums, it's clear that the developers want to do things right, but are impeded by bureaucracy from EA. I also hope that when I they are done with the MMO, they can start working on a single player sequel, maybe with a more indepth main storyline and more dialogue choices. This is a must for any TES fans out there, and for fans of action RPGs in general who love a good combat system experience and loot.

  
  DEVELOPER: Big Huge Games, 38 Studios
  PLATFORM: PlayStation3, Xbox360, and PC
  RELEASE DATE: February 7, 2012

  • Posted Apr 18, 2012 11:35 am GMT
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• 4Apr 12

  Tales of Graces f - Dance like the damned!

  

  Well, I finally finished this wonderful rpg. First off, thanks to Namco for localizing this. I really didn't expect you guys to actually do it. Here's hoping you guys will bring Xillia eventually (well, I guess I can't hope for a Vesperia PS3 as well, that would be too much right? :-P )

  Tales of Graces f ("f" stands for "future") is a remake of the Wii game (which was released in Japan around 2009.) It adds to it a prologue-like content after you beat the game giving player around 10+ hours of gameplay. The graphics have been retouched for the PS3 and continue as charming as ever.

  Storyline: My most important element when playing an rpg, I found Graces f a wonderful (if not way over the top) adventure based on "friendship". The plot was good and kept me interested, and I also enjoyed the characters (a few more so than the others). My favorites were Hubert and Pascal. Pascal by the way, gave me the "Rita" vibe. The two are so alike, but while I always found Rita annoying while playing ToV, I thought Pascal was a very awesome character, not to mention the VA did a wonderful job bringing her to "life". I thought Asbel was a good protagonist, but didn't like the VA for some reason. Oh, and I'm tired of the "jrpg" romance in which Cheria doesn't let him know her feelings and he is too dense to notice... but then again, I'm not 18 anymore. I also liked how they setup the game with us playing the children arc; it was very neat seeing what they came to be year later even if we don't see the progess itself. I also should mention this game has tons of skits (oh and they are voiced, unlike Abyss.), which adds a lot to the game's storyline. The bad part is that if you miss a few, you may end up missing a few nuggets of story elements from the game (especially character development.)

  Gameplay: The story caught my interest, but above all what really shines here is the battle system. I never had so much fun on a Tales of game. Ususally, I'm very average when it comes to mastering the series' battle system, but Graces f made it very easy and addicting even to "averages" like me. I actually took time to learn the combos this time around, contrary to, say, in Vesperia. It is very rewarding, especially since you are often earning a title every battle or so. I have also never been much into "defending" but with the CC (Chain Capacity), I found myself doing it constantly since you earn CC points quicker and then can unleash various combos using A-Artes or B-Artes ("Assault" and "Burst".) There a quite a few sidequests and a lot of items to collect in this game as you'd expect. I missed the Monster Book from Vesperia and which Abyss 3DS (and PS2) didn't have, but was relieved seeing it come back in Graces f. The game has a few puzzle-centric dungeons, and one or two might give you headaches. Personally, I enjoyed them even if there are only a few toward the mid-end game.

  Graphics: I know this generation many people wanted to see magnificent things done graphics wise, with Unreal Engine shows and everything, but I, for one, didn't bother very much with this issue. I actually believe rpgs suffered this gen because a lot of emphasis on graphics meant compromise, so we saw much less rpgs than last gen (not to mention the bigger costs of production overall). Even though a port of a Wii game, Graces f shaded cell animations feel fresh on the PS3, and very vibrant in colors. Personally, I loved this s tyle I also liked a lot of the characters designs, with the exception of a few (yes, I'm looking at you, Sophie.) The mystic artes animations and such are also very vibrant as usual. There are also a few anime CGIs here and there throughout the game.

  Soundtrack: Yeah I know, Sakuraba tends to make the "samey" OSTs but on this particular Tales, I thought the lack of that "samey" was a bad thing. With the exception of the vocal intro song, nothing else really caught my earbuds on this Tales. I think he does a superb job on Star Ocean games, but when it comes to Tales of, he is very hit or miss kind of composer. Still, nothing really made me cringe either. Very average soundtrack.

  Overall: A very enjoyable Japanese rpg, with a lot of content and replay value for the fans. The story might be something we all have already seen many times, but is presented in a manner that doesn't bore you to death, and to be honest, one of the better Tales yet. In my opinion, the best battle system to date in the series and when compared to many other games released lately. I believe the music in the game was the only thing that really disappointed this time around, with the lack of catchy rythms and memorable tunes. I had a lot of fun playing this game and look forward to Namco localizing Xillia or Innocence R next.

  
  DEVELOPER: Namco Tales Studio
  PLATFORM: PlayStation3
  RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2012

  • Posted Apr 4, 2012 9:23 pm GMT
  • Category: Opinion
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• 15Dec 10

  50th Blog Post: My 2011 Gaming Wishlist and Collection Pictures.

  

  Here I am posting again after quite some time!

  How are you all doing? Enjoying a lot of games?

  Anyway, here are the games I'm really looking forward to play and add to my collection in 2011.

  #1. DRAGON AGE 2: It would be ME3 on my top wishlist, but honestly I doubt the game will be released next year... but who knows! At any rate, Dragon Age occupies the top spot on my list because I loved the first dearly! While I don't like the idea of having a set character for the game, instead of creating your own like in the first game, I'll reserve judgement until after I actually play the game. And the fact that Bioware didn't forget was female gamers (or was it for teh boyz? lol ) and gave us a female Hawke version is cool (she looks way more decent than female Sheppard btw). I loved the games' combat and lore, and I'm sure this one won't be a disappointment on those ends. The only thing that is a bummer is for PC gamers losing their isometrical view; I also loved that but... oh well.

  #2. 3rd Birthday (my behind, PARASITE EVE 3): Aya Brea is back after so many years! I had played Parasite Eve 1 and 2 countless times years ago and in my opinion the first game was the better one. The only real con I have so far is the amount of pics depicting her almost nude... I mean, I get it teh boyz want it, but how about a bit more respect toward the female audience? - yeah, let me awake from the third layer of my dream in which this don't happen. Hahaha, anyway, I hope the combat is still fun and the storyline as usual that cool-nonsense pseudo sci-fi and police drama. Ah, and lots of cool new arms. Like a katana... lol!

  #3. TACTICS OGRE: Let Us Cling Together: Another PSP game on my list! 2011 is looking like it will be my year of the RPG and PSP. Speaking of the game itself, it can't go wrong with such a series and strategical RPG. The amount of dept and choices seem almost overwhelming. I'm really looking forward to play it since it's been a while I played a game like Jeanne D'arc and of course, Final Fantasy Tactics The Lion Wars. I also have to mention that I love the art in this game... the character designs are simply awesome! The bits of ost from their official website is also very good. The most important thing to me though will be the storyline and how intriguing it will be - hopefully not as confusing as FFT was at times.

  #4. MORTAL KOMBAT: Just like every MK gamer next to me, I also remember the theme song from the movies everytime MK is mentioned. Yesterday they just released info on their pre-order and collector's stuff, and I have to say that I'm really wanting that fighting stick cabinet that comes with the Tournament edition... so awesome! And as much as I don't like dlcs and pre-order bonus at different chains, I'll have to go with Best Buy for the Sub-Zero costume... Sub-Zero :heart:! I'll also defintely pick it up on the PS3 not only because I'm now building my collection around it but because of Kratos; that VGA trailer in which he appears is simply pure awesomesauce! Mortal Kombat... good memories being finished off because I was such a poor fightning games player... lol. Can't wait to see how much worse I am now!

  #5. DISSIDIA DUODECIM: It has Final Fantasy characters in it so anyone can guess I'll get it no matter what... and yes they are right! This time around I can't help but chuckle at the fact that they will have a world map for characters to wander around... and I think it is pretty safe to assume any SE Japanese game will have one because of the backlash on FFXIII. Obviously another reason to get another Dissidia (I played tons of hours on the first game) is the addition of other FF characters such as Lightning and Laguna (ugh they picked Tifa instead of Aeris! RAGE!! Can't wait for new annoncements regarding new additions. Ps: What in a name? SE always coming up with weird names... lol.

  HONORABLE MENTIONS
  (aka making sure this post doesn't get way to long)

  Mass Effect 3, provided it won't get delayed as I think it probably will...;
  The Elder Scrolls V, same as above;
  Uncharted 3, provided I finally play the earlier two games when I have time;
  Marvel vs Capcom 3, when price drops or used so greedy DLCy Capcom doesn't get too much/any of my gysahl greens;
  Radiant Historia, will definitely pick up this game because I love the thematics and time travel stuff;
  Diablo III, picking this up in a brink provided they release it in 2011;
  Tales of Xillia, might import it since I officially gave up hope they will localize Vesperia and Graces F for the PS3 in NA.

  I probably forgot to add a few but 2011 is looking great for me in terms of RPGs, so I'm really looking forward to it!

  On a different subject (but still related to gaming), I have decided to grow my collection on the PS3 and will let the 360 mainly for exclusives. I have now used both consoles for quite some time and chose the PS3 since I noticed I was using it more, and I can also import Japanese games without having to buy another console like in 360's case. Being able to watch my blurays is also a huge plus since it's my only player... The only real con to me right now is Netflix being off limits because my PS3 is japanese, so I'm hoping Netflix will fix this issue since I AM in the US (I did call them and they said they were working on it, but you know, who knows). Also, my brother is an Xbot so I'll gave him all of the multis I have (haven't decided on my ME CEs though, I doubt I'll have the will to give such awesome CEs of a such awesome series away! ). Gaming is very expensive but by far my favorite hobbie. I have been collecting RPGs for my PSP and DS, and on the PS3 I have been getting a wider variety of games especially on huge sales like black friday and gamestop's buy 2 get 1 free.

  This year was my first time with an HDTV, and now I cannot go back! I used to play and watch movies on my PC's monitor (22" with component cables). Now I have a Panasonic 42" plasma tv... and it is another world entirely. I also got last month the GT driving force wheel for GT5... love it! Now what I need is a fighting stick for my PS3 since the one I had gotten on a sale year ago is for the 360. And a nice shelf to put all my games; right now I have most of them hiding on drawers... XD

  Nerd mode on: here are a few pics of my collection!

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  Nerd mode off. XD

  Well, that's it for now! Happy holidays and a wonderful new year!

  • Posted Dec 15, 2010 9:07 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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