Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning announced

[Blackjack]

Is there any way in Origin to check how many hours you've played something? (as on Steam titles)

[naednek]

I believe you can find that by access the stats in the game menu.

[Qantaga]

It's also in the save game file description (viewable when saving or loading).

[Roguetad]

I finished tonight clocking in with 50 hours played, level 38.  No spoilers, just generally saying that the ending was cool.  It's worth slogging through the last zone to see/play it. I didn't stop to do any side quests once I hit the last section.  Even racing straight to the quest circle to start the finale was a bit of a slog fest.  Nothing hard, just lots and lots of fodder to be killed along the way.  I easily could have added another 2-4 hours and maybe 2 levels if I had spent time on the side quests in the last zone. 

I did all of the faction quests for the Warsworn, Scholia Arcana, House of Ballads, and House of Sorrows.  I did nearly all of the sidequests through Klurikan (sp?).  By that point I was getting burned out and needed to stick to the main story until the end.  Again no spoilers, but I wanted to pass on that the game allows you to keep playing after the completion of the main quest.  All of my sidequests were still active and in my log, as was my travelers faction questline.   

[greeneggsnham]

Having lots of fun. This almost feels like a singleplayer equivalent for the MMO lewt pinyata. And tons of subquests.

Mage is pretty godlike... which is ironic, because I really liked the rogue in the demo. I keep holding onto rogue gear to maybe respec, but.... again, pretty godlike.

[Blackjack]

It's also in the save game file description (viewable when saving or loading).

Thanks Q and Naednak. A big "duuuuh" from me, I guess I was expecting Origin itself would have the info. It indicates I've put in 20 hours or so.

Yeah at times I feel like I'm playing a mix of God of War, LOTR: War in the North and an mmorpg. And while that maybe sounds horrifying, I've found it very addictive and fun. I agree it can get kind of easy at later levels, even on the toughest difficulty, but that doesn't bother me so far.

[Blackjack]

Game Banshee's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning The Legend of Dead Kel Review

As far as DLCs go, "Dead Kel" is definitely one of the better ones I've seen, both in terms of providing bang for your buck, as well as improving upon Reckoning's gameplay template. One of the things that really bothered me after sinking several hours in the first game, for instance, was how the combat began to get monotonous, as there wasn't nearly enough variety in enemy encounters or types to sustain the game for the advertised 200 hours. In "Dead Kel", that has been improved substantially. Not only are there new and more enemies to find, but they have more interesting tactics as well - the Scavs, fast-moving predators with scythes for arms, are both fast and powerful in melee, but can also launch persistent area-of-effect attacks and even blow themselves up if you try to take them down too quickly. Root Golems, meanwhile, can tunnel underground and fling Boggarts (smaller enemies) at you. This goes hand-in-hand with a general reduction in trash mobs to fight, and more memorable encounters with varied enemy composition.

Another thing that's been improved is the overall pacing and quest design. Reckoning tended to go off the rails due to the sheer number of quests and locations available, and while much of that content was interesting, it was often drowned out in all the random fetch quests and dungeon crawls in between. The smaller focus of Gallows End means that "Dead Kel" can tell a more forward-moving story, and the side-quests it does offer tend to tie in with the environment and story arc a little better. Granted, it's not fine literature by any means, but combined with the greater variety in environments and enemies, I found myself much more compelled to keep moving forward and exploring.

Assuming my ME3 co-op affection wears off eventually, I still have a long way to go in the original Amlur release before I'd consider the DLC. It sounds promising enough though.

[Lordnine]

Cross posting from OO since there seemed to be more interest here.
Someone traded me the Dead Kel DLC for a bunch of TF2 hats so I’ve got some impressions!

Since I have already finished the main campaign and pretty much maxed out my character as a mage I decided to respect entirely as a rogue. It would have been really nice if the DLC has raised the level cap a bit since I’m sitting at 39 but not much can be done there. The DLC can be done any time after level 10 provided you’ve already made it to the human capital since that’s where it starts.

You meet up with a wonderfully incompetent ship’s captain and soon find yourself marooned on a very hostile island. I highly recommend exhausting the captains’ dialogue options; many of the stories she tells are hilarious.

The basics of the DLC are mostly more of the same but this definitely feels much more fleshed out story and character wise than even the faction quests from the main game. Also, so far it seems like most of the Scottish speaking people are gone, replaced with mostly accent neutral voice actors. I bring it up because I know some people had a hard time taking the original actors seriously. They’ve also expanded on the house ownership portion of the main game and have added some fun options for animal ownership and further improvements to your keep.

I can’t speak for the length yet but the island seems pretty large and the scenery is very enjoyable to explore. I’m not sure it’s worth $10 but it was definitely worth a bunch of hats.  $5 would probably be ideal.

[Blackjack]

Ooops. Guess Curt Schilling's money only goes so far...

Kingdoms of Amalur studio facing financial troubles, still owes millions
http://www.neoseeker.com/news/19170-kingdoms-of-amalur-studio-facing-financial-troubles-still-owes-millions/

Back in 2010, 38 Studios was actually founded in Boston, Massachusetts, but the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. managed to draw the developer to Providence by offering a $75 million loan guarantee, with an interest rate between 6-7.75 percent. Not everyone supported the deal, and a lot of criticism was thrown at its advocates as well as the governor's office. Politics, you know how it goes.

The issue now is that 38 may not be able to pay the bonds as studio founder Schilling originally assured they could. If this is the case, taxpayers will be responsible for the $112.6 million owed, and Governor Chafee will need to ask the General Assembly for help in repaying private investors.

Originally, everyone assumed the studio could foot the bill with revenue generated by game sales. Since its February release, Kingdoms of Amalur has sold roughly 410,000 across all platforms, as reported by NPD. Shortly after launch, Schilling reportedly said, "The only way taxpayers lose is if the company failed."

Yikes. I had the impression the game was a lot more popular than that, at least on consoles. Did it come out on PS3 too? I forget.

[Blackjack]

Yeesh. Various reports are saying 38 Studios and Big Huge Games are kaput -- everybody's laid off.  

Amalur developer 38 Studios lays off all staff - report
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-05-24-amalur-developer-38-studios-lays-off-all-staff-report

Embattled Kingdoms of Amalur developer 38 Studios is in its death throes, according to a Polygon report.
All of staff have apparently been laid off today, so say sources close to the Rhode Island-based outfit.
A separate Kotaku piece claims subsidiary Big Huge Games has also closed its doors. The Maryland studio, which co-developed EA-published RPG Amalur, was bought by former pro-baseballer Curt Schilling's 38 Studios outfit back in 2009.

Big Huge's past credits included 2003 RTS Rise of Nations and Age of Empires 3: The Asian Dynasties.
38 has been limping along for the past few weeks now, struggling to pay back s government loan and failing to pay staff. As a show of strength, it issued a trailer for planned Amalur MMO Project Copernicus earlier this week (see below), however, it appears that was not enough to keep the wolves from the door.

From what I'd read, Amalur apparently cost so much to develop, they probably needed sales like the latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare titles just to break even.

[Azhag]

I'll probably pick this up during the slow summer when it's cheaper. Sad the studio closed, but you shouldn't make a top tier MMORPG if you don't have the funding...

[Caine]

yeah, it was a fun game, but nowhere near enough to hit 3 million copies.  what were they thinking?  sad that big huge goes down with them.  Rise of Nations was one of my favorite AoE clones back in the day. 

[CeeKay]

wow, can't believe the last game BHG worked on before this was in 2007.

[Azhag]

I've been enjoying this since grabbing it on a good sale. Recommended