Kingdoms of Amalur

[beLIEve?]

Even though I didn't care much for Amalur I felt kind of sorry for the studio for it at least seemed like a product nicely done.
On the topic, for those who played it, from what I gathered I heard this game has good combat but what put me away is the MMO structure of the quests, is this true ?
I mean, not every quest has to be epic, but at least some should be better then "go there, kill this monster". If anything quests should at least have a back story or some nice motivation.

I heard from some reviews Dragon's Dogma suffers from this as well (if indeed Amalur suffers from it), because I do plan to at least give a shot to those games, but if they happens to be like those I'll give preference to other RPGs like Atelier Meruru, Gungnir and the import version of P4.

i particularly like the end of the thieves guild side quest lines a lot of the quests were fetch quests and go kill shit quests but there were interesting things going on with the house of ballads quests that made me think it wasn't all meh worthy. 

dragons dogma is sorta the same in that it's flawed but the combat is fun. so far id say that the quest lines in dragons dogma are more go kill shit quests and fetch quests but there really isn't anything that has been "wow that was a cool story thing" to it yet. the worst thing i've seen was the escort quest of symone i wanted to toss that bitch in a cage full of harpys. but that said, it's not really where it's draw was for me in the first place i was looking to jump on a big monster and stab them in the face and it's got plenty of that. and speaking of jumping the lack of a jump button in KoA drove me nuts. KoA lets you follow the main story line easily which isn't the case dragon dogma. the lack of a story, cohesive quick travel, and no auto lockons don't do dragon dogma any favors either. still, i'm having a ball with it.

[dyeager]

Terrific article: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2012/07/38-studios-end-game/print/

The most interesting nugget here to me is the lack of any venture capitalism, which is not the impression one got from previous conversations.

[Chairman7w]

Terrific article: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2012/07/38-studios-end-game/print/

The most interesting nugget here to me is the lack of any venture capitalism, which is not the impression one got from previous conversations.

OMG that's depressing! I now hate Curt Shilling.

[daschrier]

Why so much hate for Schilling?

Despite the fact that people signed up to work for a former baseball star who now wants to run a video game company, there is always risk associated with joining a startup company. I am in biotech, and most biotech companies either get bought, or fail. That's why there is great risk and great reward for joining a startup.

[dyeager]

Why so much hate for Schilling?

Despite the fact that people signed up to work for a former baseball star who now wants to run a video game company, there is always risk associated with joining a startup company. I am in biotech, and most biotech companies either get bought, or fail. That's why there is great risk and great reward for joining a startup.

I agree with you up to the point where certain things, like health care and moving services, are explained to be paid for when in actuality they are not. Totally agree there is risk involved in signing on with a startup, no question about it. But even from a startup I think it is reasonable to expect that if the company says your moving expenses are paid for and your health care is covered, they actually mean what they say.

[Maxximum]

I said people would forget about this game in a few months...didn't see this one coming though. The game itself might not be memorable, but the story behind it will make it a legend.

[dyeager]

I actually still play it - it has some of the best bang for your buck DLC I've ever seen IMO.

But you are correct, it will be remembered more for the saga of 38 Studios than the game itself.

[Kevadu]

Kind of sad since this game has very little to do with 38 Studios.  Sure they bought Big Huge Games and adapted the game they were working on to fit in the Amalur universe, but otherwise Big Huge Games pretty much did their own thing.  Even the funding for the game came from EA, not the money 38 Studios got from Rhode Island.

Had Big Huge Games been left to their own devices they still probably would have made a great game.

[dyeager]

Kind of sad since this game has very little to do with 38 Studios.  Sure they bought Big Huge Games and adapted the game they were working on to fit in the Amalur universe, but otherwise Big Huge Games pretty much did their own thing.  Even the funding for the game came from EA, not the money 38 Studios got from Rhode Island.

Had Big Huge Games been left to their own devices they still probably would have made a great game.

True, but remember that without 38 Studios buying them, BHG would have very likely ceased to exist - the funding for the game didn't come from EA until 38 Studios struck the publishing deal with EA.

EDIT: It has been argued that KoA paid for itself with the EA publishing deal, but I remain skeptical on this point. It has been conceded that the publishing deal did not generate much, if any, profit, and based on the salary numbers and publishing deal numbers we've heard I find it really difficult to make the math add up.

[daschrier]

Why so much hate for Schilling?

Despite the fact that people signed up to work for a former baseball star who now wants to run a video game company, there is always risk associated with joining a startup company. I am in biotech, and most biotech companies either get bought, or fail. That's why there is great risk and great reward for joining a startup.

I agree with you up to the point where certain things, like health care and moving services, are explained to be paid for when in actuality they are not. Totally agree there is risk involved in signing on with a startup, no question about it. But even from a startup I think it is reasonable to expect that if the company says your moving expenses are paid for and your health care is covered, they actually mean what they say.

Moving services I can sort of agree with, although if it were me I would for sure double check that my house is actually on the market and the sale progressing. As for the health insurance, any company that fails to pay its bills will lose their insurance. I'm sure 38 Studios is not the first company to not be able to pay the bills.

[dyeager]

Agree. However companies that don't pay their bills AND fail to inform their employees of that fact ought be met with scorn precisely because employees themselves could find alternative coverage if necessary and informed. I think it is unreasonable to expect employees to check every day or heck, even every week that their coverage is still active. I would think it is the employer's responsibility to actually SAY "hey you aren't covered anymore".

EDIT: In other words in principle I agree with your notion that working for a start up is a high risk, high reward proposition, but there are still basic matters of human decency in play, and those include actually telling somebody "you don't have health coverage anymore" or "we weren't able to sell your house" so that people can plan accordingly. It would still suck to be told those things, but at least you would have a chance to do something about it.

[John]

Big Huge Games is back, as Impossible Studios.

http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2012/1786.html

Best.  Logo.  Ever.

[Ramza]

It's like ManBearPig, but infinitely more ... "Epic."

^_^

[Maxximum]

Is that a Unicorn bear with wings?

[Kevadu]

I can't say that I'm excited about them making iOS games...