Since companions aren't with you full time, there's this bungled structure in respect to critical information. Your main companions are.serviceable, but it's a real shame I had to seek out the Dead Kel expansion questline to discover someone wonderful and inimitable like Captain Rast Brattigan (obvious Futurama reference). Even with a limited amount of grandiose cutscenes Amalur sprinkles just enough breadcrumbs to remind you of this larger world the power fantasy never wanes like the script's quality. Aside from an odd creative decision of Amalur's lead villain sounding like Winnie the Pooh's voice actor, the eclectic cast of characters properly fit their roles. There are more successes found within the story's presentation than its structure. Amalur aping that dialogue wheel system and capturing neither the expected production values nor gameplay potential is among its biggest fumbles.
Even if someone can point to smoke n' mirrors for their story beats, that series consistently sold me on my world being unique. Truly a marvel of RPG speech-crafting! It's interesting to look back in time and compare this to EA's other published RPG of 2012, Mass Effect 3. For the first entity to ever craft their own destiny, selection comes down to the "incredibly diverse" options of agreeable or snarky-but-agreeable when moving the story forward. This constrictiveness even worms its way into dialogue options. When choices so often feel like checklists it's easy to see where Amalur could've expanded. From my experience, the most notable example is set aside in the Legend of Dead Kel expansion: completing various tasks go towards rebuilding your new keep. You're lured to an exclamation mark on your mini-map, told to do something that typically involves fighting something to the death, and being modestly rewarded with no meaningful changes to the surrounding environs in fact, one of the biggest alterations I recall in the main game was helping three ginormous flowers bloom across a desert wasteland. There's an MMO-like design to quests, main or otherwise. It also neatly captures a distinct parallel between most western and eastern RPG developers of the era: where many Japanese titles (Final Fantasy, etc.) maintain tradition, Amalur and several North American contemporaries look to have the player's will shape the world around them.įor all the embellishments Salvatore and company took in telling you this important feature, showing wasn't as high a priority.
Since you're the first enigma to ever cross their way, this essentially means you create a butterfly effect that can alter everyone else's circumstances furthermore, Fate itself essentially prophesied this eventual occurrence long ago. "Fateweavers" can look into the Tapestry of Fate to view anyone's future. Through the leveling structure and specific character interactions, tarot cards and destiny are central thematic tenets for the person you want to be. Despite unadventurous turns made in the plot, the key storytelling hook about existing outside the bounds of Fate is so fascinating and substantial. This doesn't mean I dismiss the story entirely. The structure and stakes are formulaic for anyone who's walked down the fantasy aisle in a bookstore. You'll set off to faraway lands with exotic flora and fauna, fight enemies hatching devious plans against innocent villagers, and maybe handle a few fetch quests along the way. But when you get past the exercise of learning a glossary's worth of information between each mortal race, the Fae, various wars, and so on, you're left with a typical story. With this new life you're tasked with leading the charge against the wicked Gadflow and his Tuathan army.īoth the previous developer and publisher, EA, enjoyed playing up best-selling author R.A.
After a few bouts with the bad guys, known as "The Tuatha," you discover your special place within this world: the role of "The Fateless One," someone unbound by predetermined destiny. There's nary a scratch on you, but amnesia clouds most memories of your past life. The expansive world of The Faelands, one of Amalur's kingdoms, begins with your player character's death, alone among a pile of corpses. Your reawakening is wholly thanks to the Well of Souls. The dilemma? For as solid of a job as 38 Studios and Big Huge Games managed the first time, Re-Reckoning presents that frustrating issue of expecting too much gold for too little work. But like the source material itself, THQ Nordic gave Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning new life with the help of developer Kaiko. It was as if Fate itself stacked the deck against these otherwise respectable intentions. A baseball legend's tarnished dream and a New England state’s ruinous investment once seemed to be the final chapter on a failed financial venture.