38 Studios might be new on the scene of game development but that does not mean they did not call out the big guns for their first release, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (February 7, 2012). Combining the artistic styling of amazing comic book and toy creator Todd McFarlane, the story telling prowess of R. A. Salvatore and the inventive game mechanic development of Ken Rolston, Reckoning already had high expectations from a game community hungry for a new Action RPG title. I was right there with the rest of the fans salivating with each screenshot, gameplay video, and story update that was posted. I wanted to help right the wrong, to learn more about the history, and to meet new friends. I did not realize how much I would be drawn into the legend of the Fateless One.
In the Beginning
The story of the Fateless One begins with a racial choice. These include dark and light elves, and roving and urbane humans with both male and female genders. As far as I have seen, choosing one gender over another is just aesthetic. Each race has inherent advantages that grant a bonus to specific skills. Once the race is selected, it is on to customization. Hairstyle, hair and eye color, tattoos, and scars are taken to flesh out the character. Choose that ever important name for the character and into the game, er, story we go!
Reckoning lives up to the hype of being a fable that the player experiences as the game progresses. I found myself being more propelled by the tale that was being presented and that I was able to control than I was in playing the game. A sweeping video begins the tale of the Fateless One revealing an unknown struggle against a mysterious foe, against whom the player is struck lifeless and collapses upon the battlefield. As this scene fades, the tale begins.
Gameplay
The game opens with a brief tutorial within a tower where we meet the brilliant Fomorous Hughes. His scientific research created the Well of Souls, an instrument through which the character is revived. The character’s memory has been wiped clean, granting the storytellers a blank canvas on which to create a portrait based on upcoming events, helping to tell the story to both the player and the character at the same time. Hughes leads the character through a linear starting area.
This story driven introduction offers a chance to experience each type of weapon and a brief taste of upcoming gameplay. Taking a bow from a fallen enemy, Hughes suggests that the character equip it and use it to take out far off enemies. Finding a staff that will grant a fire attack, Hughes instructs the character to use it against enemies that may have a weakness that particular element.
The character’s inventory is now filled with armor and an assortment of weapons and the story reveals an interesting twist. (Note: I don’t want to let slip anything as far as the story goes as I believe that there is a special level of Inferno for those who ruin storytelling in games with spoilers. I will endeavor to be as generic as possible.) After this development, the character leaves the tower and at this point is given the opportunity to explore the whole realm of Amalur.
As the character runs along the path, the player is prompted to accept a quest. This quest will lead the character to the next step in the main quest line, but that does not mean that the player is required to follow such a path. There are so many other things to see along the way even before entering the first town! There are wandering monsters begging to be the target of a stealthy backstab or a hammer smash. Behind a beautifully rendered tree, there may be a treasure chest in which the player can find items that can either help or be sold off. Reagents that can be harvested and later alchemized into healing potions. But I digress…
Returning to the story, the player encounters an older man named Agarth. Agarth introduces himself as a Fateweaver, and boasts that he understands more about the character than they initially understand. As he is relating a story that bridges the gap between what transpired in the tower and where the character is now, they are beset upon by Tuatha Soldiers. As the character teams up with the Agarth, his skill with a sword belying his avuncular appearance, the enemy falls swiftly and I cheered when I heard Agarth exclaim, “Another victory!” Agarth then teaches The Fateless One about a hidden talent, Fateshifting.
Fateshifting
This is what really sets apart this title from other games in the genre. Along with a typical health and mana bar, the Fateless One also has a Special Bar that is filled with Fate Energy. This bar is filled as the player uses any skill against a target. Dispatching your enemy using a variety of attacks rewards players by granting more Fate Energy. I think that this is an ingenious way to provide a benefit for players that decide to dispatch their foes with more style than button mashing. When the bar is full, the player can choose to enter Reckoning Mode. While in this mode, Fate Energy depletes much like a timer, damage is increased and enemies are slowed down. The player uses their ability to warp fate by changing the fates of the enemy. Once Fate Energy is completely depleted, Reckoning Mode is over. No enemy deaths occur while in Reckoning. Enemies simply are dropped to a near death state and stunned. This affect is not isolated to one target; the Fate of multiple enemies can be changed. A player may choose to end this mode before the timer expires. This results in a fatality animation which is different each time the player exits this mode. At this time, any enemy stunned by the player is dispatched.
Character Building
To God or not to God?
The player is offered a choice of divinities to follow. The choice of God or Goddess will grant a bonus to I chose to take no God so as to gain a slight increase to the experience I gained. I am not sure if NPC interactions would be different were a player to choose one God over another.
Destiny
Destinies are unlocked by the amount of focus used to strengthen a specific discipline, granting the player a benefit to existing abilities. The player may also choose from hybrid destinies, if they have placed the requisite points in multiple skill trees. I chose to play a Might build because I like to speak softly and carry a big Claymore. When putting so many points to back my Might build, I unlocked a new Destiny that increased the damage dealt with melee weapons and allowing me to more easily block incoming attacks. Putting points into Sorcery, I would be rewarded with Mana Regeneration and reduction of the Mana Cost of my spells. Finesse provides a boost to Ranged damage, and an increase to critically hit. A Seeker destiny is unlocked if the player picks skills from all three ability trees. A jack of all trades, but master of none, their skills from every ability tree are enhanced.
The choices that a player makes in the ability trees are not permanent. With a bit of gold, all skills that have been unlocked can be reset so a player can choose to try something new within their current tree or perhaps take on new skills from another class. This is great as it will allow a player to remove a skill that may have been quite useful at the beginning of the game but has lost its worth in later stages and take those skill points to improve skills that have been unlocked in later levels. This concept needs to be in more games where the experienced player is not restricted by a choice that was made in the early parts of the game.
Twists of Fate
Twists of Fate are supplemental abilities granted to a player as a reward for completing quest lines. These are permanent and grant very useful bonuses like a boost to elemental resistances, increased gold find and improved experience gains. The game can be completed without finding these twists of fate. For me, the fun of completing the quest lines made these prizes a side benefit, rather than a necessity. Then again, extra gold is always nice.
Gameplay
This game is great for completionists out there. Characters are given skills and abilities to ensure that nothing can be overlooked. Detect Hidden will let you see any chest that is available and in the later levels, will grant the player the ability to also see Lorestones. This helps the OCD but also fuels the ADD. I found myself running through an area, with little time to spare (no clock, no timer, just based on the quest giver’s instruction) to complete a quest just to veer away at the last moment to activate that Lorestone that appeared on my mini map and then looking for that chest that appeared as well.
While navigating the landscape, the player will find lorestones. These items hidden in the environment will reward players who take the time to seek them out with a part of a story, a song or a fable. There are a certain number of these lorestones in each area and when each is found, the player Is rewarded with a permanent bonus to their abilities, be it a bonus to health, increased gold found or the chance to deal extra damage.
The entire realm is full of denizens that need assistance with tasks both simple and advanced. This grants the player an opportunity to help out and play a part in the side stories that make up the main journey. These quest lines perform a great job of helping to support the folklore of the main story or to tell a fun side story.
Weapons (or How to Kill Imps and Backstab People)
The character is given access to a wide range of armaments ranging from the familiar dagger and sword to the more exotic chakram and sceptres. Weapons can be found in chests, bought from stores, given as a quest reward or even created via Blacksmithing. Any weapon can be equipped and used, regardless of a character’s build. The build that has been chosen by the player benefits them by unlocking new abilities, increasing the damage dealt with specific weapons. All different manner of attacks are unleashed by different uses of the controller. Tapping an attack button will strike out at an enemy dealing light injuries while holding the button down will charge up an attack to deal more damage.
The different weapons have advantages and drawbacks. With the proper points allocated into specific class trees, new abilities and increased efficiency are unlocked. Large weapons like Greatswords and Hammers are slow but deal a lot of damage enhanced by points into Melee. Smaller weapons like Faeblades and Daggers may not dish out much damage but they do so swiftly and can be used to assassinate targets from stealth, improved by Finesse. Longbows can be used to take out enemies from afar but without requisite points chosen for this ability within the Finesse tree, ammo may be limited. Within the Sorcery tree, the player can boost their ability with Staves, each staff has a special ability based on the elemental affinity of each weapon ; a scepter which grants the player the ability to deal elemental damage from afar and Whoa! Where have these been?!? So much fun to use! Chakrams, now these ain’t your Xena flavor of Chakram, they are short ranged AOE damage dealing weapons that can be infused with different elemental attributes.
Reckoning allows the player to equip two weapons. One weapon is accessed from one button while the second is available via a second button. This allows for even more personalization when it comes to killing enemies. One large hammer to slowly spin through groups of smaller baddies and then a razor swift sword to finish off the stragglers? That’s doable! What about a staff to cast an AOE Spell and while the enemies are reeling, using a chakram to deal the final blow(s)? It’s all up to what works for the player.
Music
What is a fantasy game without good music? Most likely a paper and pencil game with a busted tape deck. Reckoning has a wondrous soundtrack that becomes as part of the environment as a Boggart. Each zone has its own melody that completes the mood of the environment. The music shifts from calm and docile in towns and villages to dark and dreary in dungeons and caves to epic and sweeping while in large cities and castles. I was very happy to experience the “Oh hell yeah, BRING IT!” goosebumps from the Boss fights as the battles began.
Art
The attention to stunning art yields environments more than worth taking a moment to spin the camera to see everything going on. Enemies are frightening and intriguing at the same time. In an attempt to keep quiet about a story spoiler, let me be general and state that there is a point in the story where I found myself taking damage from a source because I could not stop admiring the beauty of the rendering as well as the action that was developing in the background. (Please feel free, if you have beaten this game, to reach out to me and we can discuss it.)
Parting Thoughts
For fans of RPG games, Reckoning is a must have. The game does a wonderful job of setting things in motion to allow the player to control the flow of the narrative and even change the storytelling based on player’s choices. After watching the final name scroll in the ending credits, I put the controller down, trying to process what I had just experienced. Then it dawned on me that even though I closed the book of the Main Quest, there were still chapters of the fable that I had yet to experience. There were towns I bypassed, factions I neglected, lorestones lying dormant and geography unexplored. Your experience will most likely be different from mine and I look forward to hearing what you’ve found, the combination of armor/weapon/ability/destiny/God/twist of fate that worked for you and what you’re looking for in the next adventure of your flavor of The Fateless One. As for me, a Godless Forsworn Blacksmithing Great Sword wielding Warlord was just my pint of lager. Pour your own and tell me of your fate!
