i said this earlier but the only 3 weapons that should be used as a primary weapons are swords daggers and staffs. the rest are ranged or situational.

I was using daggers when I was going pure rogue, but I don't think I will anymore. A lot of the enemies seem to like to attack from a distance or run away, and as a melee fighter, I need the range. And greatsword is way too slow to be useful.

Use Daggers/Chakrams, haven't had a problem with range really with Chakrams as my secondary.

the greatsword is more for the need to deal a massive kill blow. huge dam, but i wouldnt use it against smaller enemies.

Also, at any point does blacksmithing begin to pay off? I've put a lot of points into it, but I still can't craft anything better than I've found in chests. Even with salvaging some decent gear.

i went with sage crafting (which is awesome) but it would seem that once you could get into the master tier with blacksmithing AND combined with socketing your own gems youd be able to make the most rediculous weapons possible. but the random weapon drops seem to be fine (much better than the random gem drops.) still i would prefer to be able to control what im using instead of waitng for the right drop for my build...which is likely the only perk of blacksmithing (like sage crafting and alchemy) and that the control. being to make the perfect weapon/gem/pot for your play style/build.

People were talking how beastly blacksmithing is, but I'm yet to craft anything better than comparable drops. My drops, in fact, tend to be so awesome I have only twice felt the need to actually buy a weapon or armour.

And yeah, Blacksmithing with Sagecrafting sounds cool, but again I have no shortage of better stuff. I'm selling shit that's better than what I crafted. Wouldn't be so bad if I had better components, I guess.

see im in the novice class (and always will be with my current build) so i have no idea what i will be able to craft when i can add up to the 5th component. anyone maxs blacksmithing please pass the info along tho :D

I haven't maxed it, but I am in Master territory.

can you craft weapons that can hold epic gems?

Also, I reallllllllyyyyyyy hate the fact that there's no option to drop items. Hate being in a dungeon only to realize I'm right at my limit and having to run out and go to a city to sell stuff.

What gem works with what is kinda persnickety. Like, okay, I'm a mage, right? Focusing in staff and chakram? Well, you can't put ANY weapon gems in either as far as I know. I think it's only certain UTILITY gems that fit in either.

Other weapons appear to be less finicky, but I haven't played around as much. I've been told certain items can be crafted with epics, yes, but what I couldn't tell you because none of my attempts have worked.

One of the reasons I bought one of the two items I did was that it had an epic gem slot. Quite naturally, my reaction was FUCK YEAH.

I have not purchased anything except potions. Everything else I get from drops and treasures. Detect hidden ftw.

I hate the fact that you can't store quest items. And that there are inventory glitches. I can't get rid of one item and I've confirmed it has no more quest uses and most people can sell or junk it.

Meanwhile, a lot of people are having similar problems with different items.

So to recap: Quest items take up space in your inventory, can't be sold accidentally (thankfully), can't be stored in your chest until you need 'em, and sometimes remain unsellable after you're done with them.

I make most of my potions. There are a few I don't have yet, and need to buy, but otherwise, most of the cash I spend is on lockpicks (my lockpick skill is like, 3) and repairs.

Oh, and sometimes it's easier to buy reagants/shards than wait for them to drop/hunt.

you can destroy junk...not the same but still

jelous :mad:

the first town sold some sweet early gam bows and daggers...since then not so much

I've put nothing into alchemy. I can craft like, minor health potions but that's about all. And I only seem to successfully harvest reagents like...a quarter of the time. Lockpicking is easy in this game.
Really...did not notice the option. That makes things easier.

The epic gem slot was only on a robe of the second continent. Probably less useful to you.

There may be some armours for fighters/rogues there, too, but I don't really look at stuff that requires might and finesse.

Lockpicking is easy, but it can be easy to break your picks on harder locks so I like to keep a stock of 'em.

If I knew how easy it would be to buy reagents later in the game, I might have skimped on alchemy.

The option only shows up on your junk screen. Easy enough to miss.

I just completed two sets in there last night. And then found a bunch of quests I didn't have. Grrrr.

Also, the guy who pays you for armbands is now missing. He might come back, because he's done it before, but still. Looked everywhere.

I'm fine with quest guys moving around, but leaving on holiday? Fuck. That.

But I digress. Do you know what set you're missing a stone from?

the name escapes me but its the one that gives me 4% to max health. its in the second row on the lore stone sheet.

found it, it was on the path out of the sector, i had kept taking the southern path out with out realizing it i guess.

How are people finding the difficulty of the game? While I don't find it like, super hard, people are bitching that it's way too easy, to the point there are difficulty patch petitions.

i would like a raise in difficulty just because i like to be challenged a bit but im not angry about the difficulty either. i think a lot of it is that you go from hours of facing grunts without facing top level enemies. i do have to say tho that the reckoning meter can completely nulify any boss fight. dont see a way around that. if i happen to not have a full bar at the time of the boss fight some of them can be VERY chellenging. like having to fight a 5 wave set where the second set was 3 prisimire trolls that out level me by 4 followed by other uber cunts all while trying to protect an npc.... not that easy. thinking of making a stip on myself that as soon as my meter fills i HAVE to use it to remove the "wait for the boss" mentality that logic says to have.

That's really my only knock against the game, is that it's easier pathetically easy or artificially hard. Any battle that's has less than 4 enemies is pretty much cake. Any battle that has more than that is usually artificially hard, because there's so many enemies attacking at once that no matter how good you are at blocking or dodging, you will get hit. Frequently. And because of the way attacks stagger, you're gonna eat a few in a row. It can chew your health up quickly.

I don't mind losing because I used the wrong tactics or I'm not leveled enough. But getting hit by random wolf and taking a few shots from Ettins because of that is annoying. On the whole though, the game is pretty easy, and pretty much any battle can be one in a minute or so with a full Fate bar.

Meteor is also a real game changer. It's a top-tier spell that does explosive and massive fire damage in an area. It's about the closest thing the game has to a win button, barring Reckoning since you can't use it anywhere near as frequently. I mostly use it as a nuissance button, to help me navigate when a cave or castle is pissing me off. Run into a mob and just want to get out of there? Meteor. major yellow enemies will survive with a lot of health (Prismere troll), others may survive with a little (Tuatha), but it disposes of most and makes the rest less of a hassle.

Next DLC pack got announced for a March 20 release date although no price was given.

It will be called "The Legend of Dead Kel" and allows players the ability to access the Gallows End area of the game which will be a new continent added to the current game.

http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/...ng-next-month/

Yeah, meant to mention that earlier. Looks awesome.

fuck me...im never gonna finish this game...maybe i should quit my job...that is seriously way too tempting

What amazes me is how many people completed the game within a week or two of launch. Seriously, I thought I was playing it a lot, and I'm kinda underemployed.

So I wonder if these people are actually unemployed, or they just spend every waking hour playing the game.

really jelous of them tho... ihavent been able to play this week :( i need at least 2 1/2 hours free before i will fire it up otherwise it's just a tease. so sad. i MAY be able to play sunday tho so im pretty excited.

i seriously have too much going on right now. AMALUR IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT

Yeah, seriously can't play this for less than an hour. And preferably, not that little either.

yeah, i've gotta agree. just as soon as your making your checklist of things you wanna do in this session an hour has passed. i think thats a pretty big compliment to the game but a massive burdon for me. still just as hooked on this tho.

I've got like 60 quests in my queue. Sometimes, just deciding what to do is really a burden.

I hate how fast enemies respawn sometimes. I went through one area three times in my play session tonight, and they respawned each time I ran through. No fast travel, and I was still on the same day.

Zero Punctuation made a joke about respawning enemies today, and while I like them (unlike Yahtzee), it does get ridiculous at points. Yeah, if I fast travel, I can see it, but simply walking to and fro on a quest...

The good thing is, I do have several complaints and not a one of them has ruined my enjoyment. I mean, I'd rather have no complaints, but if I can't have that, ones that don't bug me much are better than game breaking or seriously annoying flaws.

<div style='width:650px;font-size: 12px;'><embed src="http://cdn2.themis-media.com/media/global/movies/player/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.7.swf" flashvars="config=http://www.themis-media.com/videos/config/5416-2ba294afe6b1b1558924fabc7cdb4bf5.js%3Fplayer_version%3D2.5%26embed%3D1" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" quality="high" bgcolor="#000000" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" width="650" height="391" wmode="opaque"></embed><div><a href='http://www.escapistmagazine.com'>The Escapist</a> : <a href='http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation'>Zero Punctuation</a> : <a href='/videos/view/zero-punctuation/5416-Kingdoms-of-Amalur-Reckoning'>Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning</a></div></div>

Here is said Zero Punctuation.

ill watch it this evening once im home :y:

that was pretty awesome

I'm a Zero Punctuation fan. Then again, people are usually fans up until Yahtzee pans a game they like. You should have seen the backlash to Skyward Sword.

eh some people have no sense of humor, and to be fair several of his opinions were spot on on. others not so much but even then i thought they were funny. in any event that was the firts one of those ive seen and it was very awesome. gonna search through their archieves.

Camera point was TOTALLY valid.

Im glad he was able to put it to words. i commented on it almost as soon as i got but had no idea how to express what it was that bugged me. He did however. AND IT STILL DOES. its my biggest gripe with the game so far. also his knock about why it was an mmo straight out of the gate is pretty valid too. :lol:

The camera bugs me in a lot of ways. When going up a slope it often resets it so you're looking at the slope. When going down, it often seems to keep the same focus point so you're no longer able to see. And using the camera stick is easy enough, but with the way it centers, usually after only a couple seconds, it can be a pain in the ass.

Also, several games have the capacity to center the camera in the direction your character is facing. This should be fucking standard on any action game with a rotatable camera. Swinging the camera around is a pain in the ass in the midst of combat.

On an unrelated note, I love the Chakram attack from a roll (teleport). I didn't unlock it until I started blowing points to get the top tier Destiny for mage. I forgot I even bought it until I teleported through a Niksaru and then air-juggled it.

Uf they do another non MMO game in the series, I will buy it first day as long as they fix the camera and do better quality control.

Wouldn't mind some other things, too. now that I fully understand how the level-lock works, I fucking hate it.

also where is target lock?

and please elaborate on level lock.

Target lock?


When you enter a new zone, it has a finite range of levels you can encounter based on your initial level. Entering a zone too early leaves it stuck at that low level, which means going back later you'll encounter low level bad guys and get low level loot. There are several zones that can scale to 40, but several of them are also ones you're likely to attack sooner rather than later. An example are the final "dungeons" of the faction quests.

Basically, it can make the late game kind of boring.

I like the idea of being able to go back and stomp stuff, I guess, but if you're going to have areas scale, have them scale.

88 quests done. Still only at like quest 3 of the storyline.

Had a glitch where I couldn't walk anywhere. Thankfully, it was outside, and fast traveling fixed it.

just wanted to stop in and say I PLAYED FOR 7 HOURS YESTERDAY AND IT WAS HEAVEN.

anyhow: target lock that i control. the current system the target will change if you're a long rand and someone get into melee. pretty annoying if im trying to off the elite on the field and some grunt approaches me.

scaling: that how i thought it worked cept i didnt realize zones had caps. kinda lame. why not just set each zone to a certian level and if i enter the wrong zone let me get pwnd and one shot'd...why is this taboo?

Decided to try out Chakrams yesterday. Wow. Super effective. I think I have a new secondary.

Target lock: You can't.

Scaling: It's like they tried to split the difference between the two schools of thought and pleased nobody.

But you can enter a zone too early and get one shot'd. Or close to. There's even an achievement for beating a character at least four levels higher than you, and the loading screens sometimes mention that if you're in an area with red names over the enemies, you're underleveled.

Except against Pikachu.

gonna respec after i get the tier 7 destiny most likely just to play with other builds at max. cant wait to try those out.

and yeah, the targeting would be perfect with the switching targets with right stick and all if it would auto switch targets. dear game: dont tell me what to do.

Has anyone done the Tomb of Fyargnos quest in the Red Marches? I've done the first two parts of it, but I can't find the NPC to trigger the third. Glitch or what?

NPC?

I know what an NPC is, before anyone gets cute. I just don't remember the NPC in question. Was he the one who accompanied you the whole way? Because I didn't need him to "show up."

Her name is Eathe Dunbert or something like that. To trigger the quest "Her Righteous Fury".

I'll check my quest log when I next run the game. I don't remember that. Odd, since I did it yesterday. We're not talking about ages past.

I'd be playing now, but the game froze on me, so I can't be arsed. I'm sure it was just a one-time thing, but meh.

I don't have "Her Righteous Fury" in my quest log.

It's all good. She randomly appeared without one of the exclamation points on the map.

I am a killing machine now, btw.

That's convenient, since I am a machine killer.

Beat the main story last night and started the game on Hard.

The final boss pissed me off for several reasons.

was he cheap?

I'm gonna spoiler this whole thing, but the short answer is: I didn't think so.

Love mage options. Playing a Rogue on my Hard playthrough.

Mostly, I was going to post this though:

I saw comments a couple times before the game was released where people were bitching that you could gain a group of blood enemies who will attack you on sight (That's as spoiler free as I can make it) and the complaint was that nobody would so much as bat an eye. It's like "lol nothing changes."

I don't know, but I keep noticing guards coming toward me any time I so much as smash a box. They won't attack or accost me until I do something the game considers WRONG, but they clearly pay attention to the world around them. Citizens will often get up and move away from you if you do this shit. Sometimes panicked, usually not. Okay, it'd be cooler if they fled in terror when you attacked boxes and pots, but come on, this is a far cry from "nobody cares."

Another minor niggle is that they don't need to remind me about Reckoning 10 hours into my second playthrough.

This probably would have bugged me in my first playthrough, but Mages didn't really call for much in the way of precision on the same level that a rogue does. I'm spending more time with precision dodges and since arrows (My most invested ability) require not being blocked by landscape it'd be nice if I could see where they were going instead of having half my field of vision covered with a reminder to fateshit.

i cant wait to get back into this :'(

been two weeks for me sadly

The thing about having incredibly flexible work hours (long as I meet my deadlines, nobody cares and the other stuff I can schedule on convenience) is I can be fairly free to game if I so choose.

Of course, I can't remember the last game that drew me in this much. MAYBE Saints Row 2.

im on the opposite end of the spectrum...my time is scheaduled 18 hours a day 6 weeks in advance...

I really want the DLC, but I've read a ton of glitch reports. The most common is Achievement glitches, but there are others that impact the game world. And I really don't want that.

EA seems to do this with a lot of games, these days. I mean, they're only the publishers, but I'm noticing a pattern with it. It's mostly EA games, so I'm wondering if there's a rush order on content from them.

Just finished up the main quest of Dead Kel. Good DLC. Story is interesting and I kind of love Captain Brattigan. Building up the keep is also awesome.

Notice any glitches?

I played this game

Not a one that I saw.

Cool. I've wanted the DLC, but I fear game-breaking glitches.

gonna beat this soon... :'(

Just beat my secod playthrough.

Now that I'm done school gonna plow through the rest.

Going to try this soon.

May get it in a Steam sale since I've waited this long.

HATE YOU

I really should get Dead Kel.

Heard Teeth of Nazgul is pretty weak.

38 Studios struggles to remain solvent

By Matthew Handrahan


http://images.eurogamer.net/2012/art...bnail/360x200/

Tue 15 May 2012 7:35am GMT / 3:35am EDT / 12:35am PDT

Local government intervenes to protect $75m loan, admits "tight time-frame" to achieve resolution

Kingdoms of Amalur developer 38 Studios is struggling to stay afloat, forcing local government in Rhode Island to intervene.
According to a report in the Providence Journal, Lincoln Chaffee, Governor of Rhode Island, has been meeting with representatives from the 38 Studios over the last few days in an effort to "protect" the $75 million incentive the state offered to lure the company away from its Massachusetts headquarters.

Precise details of the meetings are still secret, though Chaffee has admitted that he is working under a "tight time-frame" to "keep 38 Studios solvent."

"We're concerned and just doing everything possible to ensure that 38 Studios stays part of the Rhode Island community," Gov. Chafee told WPRI. "We're working on different issues with them.

"It's always been a volatile industry to be in. That's just the risk you take when you get into the business."

The $75m loan was awarded by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation before Gov. Chaffee took office, and he spoke out against it during his 2010 election campaign. 38 Studios moved to Providence, R.I., in April 2011, pledging to employ 450 people in the area.

According to a disclosure notice obtained by WPRI, 38 Studios had 379 full-time employees spread between its two offices - as well as 34 full-time contractors, 8 interns and 18 listed job openings - as of March 15 this year.
At that point it had received $49.8 million of the loan, all of which is being used to fund the development of its ambitious, and still announced, MMO 'Copernicus'.

However, concerns over the stability of the company are longstanding. Last June, PricewaterhouseCoopers admitted "substantial doubt" over whether 38 Studios would remain solvent. More recently, the company backed out of the E3 Expo.

38 Studios was founded in 2006 by the former baseball player Curt Schilling. It attracted attention with the scale of its ambitions, assembling a crack team - including former Elder Scrolls designer Ken Rolston, comic artist Todd McFarlane and author R. A. Salvatore - to develop a AAA fantasy MMO at a time when the genre appeared to be in decline.

The universe for the MMO was established in 38 Studios first release, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which was warmly received by critics and performed respectably at market.

Can see EA swooping in to play "hero" and buying 38 Studios. Then they will make one more good game and the rest will be terrible.

Suppossedly 38 Studios hasn't really hired anyone or come close to the 450 hired mark in RI with the majority of its employees either from the Mass branch or were there before the deal was made with the state.

Even if EA bought the studio, they'd still need to hire 450 people in RI or pay back the loan with penalty fees.

Do you really doubt EA would do that?

Just picked up this game over the weekend, so I'm doing my part to keep 38 Studios afloat.

Currently going for a Might/Sorcery build with my PC. Just hit level 6 doing the Warsworn quests.

38 Studios Skips Payroll in Favor of Paying Back State [UPDATED]

Workers go unpaid as the studio works to make its owed $1.125 million payment to the state of Rhode Island.

By Alex Navarro | May 17, 2012

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0...540_middle.jpg

38 Studios head Curt Schilling being accosted by reporters following yesterday's meeting with the Rhode Island EDC.



Coming on the heels of yesterday's circus-like meeting and press conference regarding the developing situation at 38 Studios, WPRI is reporting that the company is in the process of paying its overdue $1.125 million payment to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, but is doing so at the expense of its own employees.

Current reports state that 38 skipped payroll this week, leaving the more than 300 full-time employees at the company without a paycheck. In addition, a source has told Joystiq that all temp and contract employees had been let go as of this week.

In the wake of the situation at 38, Keith Stokes, the executive director of the RIEDC since 2010 and architect behind the $75 million loan that brought the studio to the state from Massachusetts, has resigned.
38 Studios still has yet to comment publicly on the situation.

UPDATE: Just when you thought this whole thing couldn't get any worse, WPRI now reports that the check 38 Studios reps hand-delivered to the RIEDC has been returned due to insufficient funds.

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Curt on a perp-walk

Rumor is a few people in upper management might have been embezzling some of the funds due to nobody knowing where some of the spent money went to and their next project appears to have been abruptly cancelled but nobody in the studio knows why except its not due to the recent mess.

Edit: Apparently their next project wasn't cancelled after all and was unveiled today
http://www.giantbomb.com/news/38-stu...pernicus/4162/

Finally got this and it is pretty f'n sweet..

Kinda a mix between Fable and Dragon Age..

The Hit detection was probably the best I've seen in a game before. I hate getting hit by shit that I clearly dodged. Really tragic what happened to the company and the people who made this great game.

I'm still hoping (against all probability, granted) that there will be a resolution to the situation where we see a new Amalur.

Or an Amalur-like game from the folks behind the first.

Dunno anything abut it but this game is sweet.. The graphics has grown on me and I absolutely love the Brownies.. Love the factional stuff too..

Gonna go back and read this whole thread now..

Starting Skyrim made me lament the lack of fluidity compared to Fiefdom of Arabia.