For some reason I'm really craving Mallomars right now.
Anyway, I played the demo to this a while ago for the Mass Effect 3 goodies and I heard it was apparently a pretty ambitious game. The demo left me feeling very unimpressed, it was one of those timed demos and I actually remember looking frequently at the timer to see when it would end. Still, I have an entire summer (well, half a summer) to game so I've been shelling out for the WRPGs or Westernish RPGs and KoA seemed to be on the list.
The full game does feel a lot better than the demo but I don't exactly know how. It's probably just a larger sense of freedom since the demo only had one area open. Content wise it's leaning more towards the Elder Scrolls side of things; every time I enter a new town I'm greeted with a cavalcade of new quests to do.
Gameplay wise it's a bit of "God of War-but-WRPG". Dragon's Dogma definitely has better combat. Here it feels a bit more button mashy although there's definitely some variety to it. There's a good selection of different weapon types across classes (Longswords, Greatswords, and Hammers for Warriors, Sceptres, Staves, and Chakram for mages, and daggers, Faeblades, and bows for rogues) and you can carry any two you want. Character construction is pretty open. You can spec across any of the classes and receive "Destinies" based on whatever you spec in. Currently I'm playing a Warrior/Mage character so I get mana when I take damage and stuff like that. But there's a ton of skills to invest in and you can really choose the type of character you want to play.
Typically I'm not a fan of "storybook fantasy" art like Fable and stuff but I actually enjoy it here. The environment feels very vibrant and colorful, definitely more lively than your typical TES affair. Lore wise, it's done by RA Salvatore so there's probably a lot there but I don't really care about reading every book and listening to every story. Still it's there if you're into that sort of thing.
I'd say the biggest complaint I have is that it can be quite repetitive. Most quests eventually devolve into basic combat scenarios. Either kill these guys, kill this many of those guys, or go here and do this while you kill some guys. If it's not that, it's typically fetch quests. Still, it's repetitive in the sense that TES is, so often times you'll get lost in the content to care or realize.
It's a pretty solid WRPG though if you enjoy them. Lots of content, combat can be a bit button mashy but there's definitely depth to it if you want, and the environment is very pleasing. If you're looking for a decent single player time sink then you could do much worse.
Anyway, I played the demo to this a while ago for the Mass Effect 3 goodies and I heard it was apparently a pretty ambitious game. The demo left me feeling very unimpressed, it was one of those timed demos and I actually remember looking frequently at the timer to see when it would end. Still, I have an entire summer (well, half a summer) to game so I've been shelling out for the WRPGs or Westernish RPGs and KoA seemed to be on the list.
The full game does feel a lot better than the demo but I don't exactly know how. It's probably just a larger sense of freedom since the demo only had one area open. Content wise it's leaning more towards the Elder Scrolls side of things; every time I enter a new town I'm greeted with a cavalcade of new quests to do.
Gameplay wise it's a bit of "God of War-but-WRPG". Dragon's Dogma definitely has better combat. Here it feels a bit more button mashy although there's definitely some variety to it. There's a good selection of different weapon types across classes (Longswords, Greatswords, and Hammers for Warriors, Sceptres, Staves, and Chakram for mages, and daggers, Faeblades, and bows for rogues) and you can carry any two you want. Character construction is pretty open. You can spec across any of the classes and receive "Destinies" based on whatever you spec in. Currently I'm playing a Warrior/Mage character so I get mana when I take damage and stuff like that. But there's a ton of skills to invest in and you can really choose the type of character you want to play.
Typically I'm not a fan of "storybook fantasy" art like Fable and stuff but I actually enjoy it here. The environment feels very vibrant and colorful, definitely more lively than your typical TES affair. Lore wise, it's done by RA Salvatore so there's probably a lot there but I don't really care about reading every book and listening to every story. Still it's there if you're into that sort of thing.
I'd say the biggest complaint I have is that it can be quite repetitive. Most quests eventually devolve into basic combat scenarios. Either kill these guys, kill this many of those guys, or go here and do this while you kill some guys. If it's not that, it's typically fetch quests. Still, it's repetitive in the sense that TES is, so often times you'll get lost in the content to care or realize.
It's a pretty solid WRPG though if you enjoy them. Lots of content, combat can be a bit button mashy but there's definitely depth to it if you want, and the environment is very pleasing. If you're looking for a decent single player time sink then you could do much worse.
