Why You Should Ignore Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's Constant Namedropping

The graphics are very rounded, kind of like WoW's. But it looks awesome.  Would love a game where Im not just hacking and slashing all the time. would be cool to have different fighting moves with different weapons and such, similar to dragon age where at level up you chose different fighting moves. that makes it so much more engaging.  Sometimes when I play games like skyrim I fight and play online scrabble at the same time its so monotonous!

From the 1up main page all you can see of this articles title is "Why you should ignore kingdoms of Amalur" lol.

I didn't find anywhere this game in romania? From where can i buy it?

That removes all curses and status ailments immediately

It's Cross-pollinization: forming existing ideas to create new ones. Gamers get so caught up in the certain borrowing aspects that they blatantly state it's a "rip-off" or "copy".

I would consider this game when I get un-backlogged....(see reply post below)

Somthing I can relate to this article being that it took about 15 hrs for the previewer to get into the game was similar to when I started out with Dragon Age. It took me about 4-5 hrs to get interested to where I am normally at with games and then the 10-12 hour mark to really hook and reel me in. At first the dialogue and graphics where a turn off for Dragon Age: Origins. But I really do love this game now.

Dark Souls & Skyrim....

it was the big names that made me ignore this title up til now. Rolston? Ho-hum. Salvatore? Yawn. McFarlane? Uh... gross.

So then it's good to hear that it isn't dominated by these names. 

For rillz? I'm super sick of the medieval themed fantasy western garbage. I would totally jump on this game if it was more themed like Spawn. No guns, still swords and hammers and stuff, but in a big dark metropolitan world. And bring all the mythical creatures, I'm just sick of lookin at viking helms and leather skins-wearing villagers. I say take everything in this game and splash it with McFarlane's designs, and place it in Saints: 3rd Row's setting. With more dragons... Boss of a game. Would drop $70 easy on that.

Eeeh, I'm still a little irked that Schill followed the money down to RI instead of sticking it out in Maynard, a sleepy little town in MA that really could've seen some tangible benefits had his studio remained there. 

Although to his credit, Providence does have a Dave & Buster's and The Foxy Lady... World-class indeed, Schill.

I like RPG's, but am finicky about them. The ones that have catured my attention have been the Mass Effect series, the last 2 Fallout games and Skyrim. That's about the extent. This game (Kindoms of Alamur) is looking to be a fantastic entry into this genre. From the video above, it looks much more action oriented but with all the upgrades and abilities of a traditional RPG.

I think I'm going to adore this game and have my pre-purchase already set. I am rather excited about this game.

At this rate I'll never be able to finish my backlog. So many good looking fantasy themed adventure games keep dropping. Dark souls, Skyrim, and all those around other titles I give attention to... man... someone needs to invent a device that allows me to connect my consciousness to someone else; that way I can hire some random (intelligent) teen to play my games, go about daily life, and still have enough time to work through hours and hours of gameplay when I am able.

I jumped on the hype train early because it melds a genre I'm very fond of (the character action game) with a genre I would probably be fond of if it weren't so dull and uninvolved (the RPG, or 'trying to order fun off a menu'). I was primed for it up until I tried the demo, which was both broken and full of bog-standard fantasy stuff and was painfully reminiscent of WoW. I don't know anymore. Word seems to be good across the board, but that word is coming from people whose tastes have not historically matched mine. Eh. Don't know, don't know. I think I'll probably wait until a price drop.

Ive been looking at vids of this game and played the demo, and what i see is a faster paced Fable with alot of in game history that most wont buy into.  Not a bad game just doesnt feel like its meeting all the hype. and with Titans like SKYRIM and the WITCHER2 out there i cant jump on this one at launch.  I am sure the game will hold my attention for a good bit but i doubt it will warrant my full attention like say MASS EFFECT 3.  WOW look at all the name dropping i did. But it all still holds true!

The game is generic, its boring, its a rip off of other games, and it doesnt even do that well

who ever wrote this can suck a dick. The fable games all sucked this game looks a million times better than any of the fable games. 

I have been following this game for some time. Yes, I was initially brought in when I heard about the people in charge of the game, but after seeing more and more of the game, I knew it was something with the potential to be great. It is the first game in a long time to take the label 'action-rpg', and actually focus on the second part. What people are going to get is an in-depth experience, though tied with hands-on, fast paced combat. Day one buy for me. 

demo didn't impress, but I give it the benefit of a doubt because these kind of games tend to need time to grow on you. Especially a first in a series, their throwing all the lore at you, Fateweaver and all this other stuff and you have no clue what their talking about half the time. It was the same in Mass Effect 1, it was a slog getting through those first two hours on the Citadel, but once you get accustom to it, it was great. I hope it takes less than 15hrs though.

... has more than enough to keep me occupied, and kept me coming back for more than one playthrough.  45 minutes wasn't enough for the small fraction of the game they give you.

Needless to say, I preordered and am looking forward to this game.

Bravo! Thank you for calling out the smaller folk who actually put the wheels on the cart. Big names are attention grabbing but this game didn't need it.

It's about time that game designers got the hollywood treatment, but I do agree that all that glitter can get in the way of the final product. Excellent write up and a good read. I'm feeling more and more confident in my purchase the more feedback I hear(as well as the more I play that demo)

...write-up. Appropriately respectful of the team that obviously put a lot of time into making the game what it will be. I have my copy pre-ordered and wish it the best but I'm a bit worried - the demo doesn't make a great impression. An experienced gamer can play it and see that it's one of those games that gets better 10-15 hours later, but the typical new gamer doesn't have that kind of patience or insight. He or she wants instant gratification like at the start menu.

BHG are the real stars here, as far as I'm concerned.

Anyone remember a little title called Rise of Nations, back in '03? And the beautifully esoteric Rise of Legends in '06? Ever since releasing Legends, they have been working on this game. Five years' effort from a very talented studio is good beans in my book.

Seriously... he deserves a juicy hamburger for this write up.   It not only clears a lot up for people on the fence about 'Amalur'... but he also explains one of the problems many companies have trying to explain or hype a new game coming out in general.  Sometimes the wrong type of demo can actually hurt a game in some gamers eyes.

And many gamers are too savvy to fall for the 'Back of the box' type BS they put on games... or the type of 'Star' hyping with Alamur with the guys involved in the game like McFarlane.  Like Scooter says... the real stars are the actual devs and guys putting in the long hours to make the game either hit or miss.  It's kind of like when Madden is hyping they brought in NFL players... or PGA brings in Tiger Woods.  Sure these guys can give some tips or try and explain the game in depth.  But in the end the devs have to deliver the experience and pull off the impossible.

In the end it's the game itself that's going to win us over... not all the hype machine nonsense.

Actually give Scooter a Double Cheeseburger.  He deserves it for such a well thought out article.   With Fries!!!

That's a big problem with game hype today. Aka parading "the big idea celebrities" while forgetting those guys and girls in the trenches working their asses off. Seems wrong to me somehow. If I was a "visionary" on a game I'd still be aware I'd be nothing without a great team backing me.

However, I don't think Todd, Curt,Ken, and Bob did this delibertely. Rather it was likely the guy in the PR department posting them on every front page.

Anyway, I'm excited for this. My pre-order is locked into place and I'm happy to welcome "new blood" into the rpg fold!