Video Game Vintage Title: Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a single-player action role-playing video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 developed by Big Huge Games and 38 Studios, who together with Electronic Arts also published the game.

Ken Rolston was the game's executive designer, R. A. Salvatore created the game universe and lore, with Todd McFarlane working on the artwork, and Grant Kirkhope creating the musical score. The game was released on February 7, 2012, in North America and on February 9, 2012, in Europe. The first public demonstration was at the Penny Arcade Expo East 2011 on March 11, 2011.

The game was met with a positive reception, but was not a financial success, eventually leading to Big Huge Games' and 38 Studios' closure.

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning Plot

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning follows the story of a mortal known as the "Fateless One", who having died before the game's outset, is revived in the experimental Well of Souls by the gnomish scientist Fomorous Hugues. The first and only success of the experiment, the Fateless One must escape the facility when it comes under attack by the Tuatha Deohn, a subsect of the immortal Winter Fae, who are currently waging a "Crystal War" on all the mortal races in the name of their new god "Tirnoch". Having escaped the facility, the Fateless One � having no memory of his life before his death � learns of the intriacies of the world he has returned to by the Fateweaver Agarth; Agarth explains that every individual in the world of Amalur has a predetermined fate and that Fateweavers' like Agarth are able to read this fate, predicting the circumstances surrounding the eventual death. Having been fated to die (and fulfilling that fate), the Fateless One's return from the death has taken them out of "Fate's weave"; theirs is the only life in the world without a predetermined end.

Beginning a quest to uncover the truth surrounding his death, the Fateless One soon learns that by interacting with the wider world, the fate of others can be changed as well, saving Agarth from his fated, "lonely" death at the hands of a native creature; earning the personal attention of the King of the Tuatha Deohn, Gadflow. It is eventually decided that the only way the Fateless One can uncover the truth of his death is by locating the scientist who revived him, Fomorous Hugues, who went into hiding following the Tuatha attack on his laboratory.

Meeting with Hugues patron, a gnomish Templar (a sect of Mages) named Ligotti Octienne, the Fateless One is directed to a former laboratory of his, deep inside the gnomish territories of Detyre, where the two are subsequently ambushed by assassins sent by Octienne. Surviving the ambush, the two make plans to publicly reveal Octienne's betrayal and, in turn, prise the location of another gnomish scientist, Ventrinio, who Hugues believes might know the details surrounding the Fateless One's death.

Travelling to the gnomish city of Adessa, the Fateless One confronts Octienne and forces his true allegiance into the public, in the process learning that Ventrinio was previously spirited away by Octienne to the region of Klurikon, deep behind Tuatha Deohn lines. In order to reach him, the Fateless One is directed to the Alfar city of Rathir, and then on to Mel Senshir, the besieged Alfar city in Klurikon at the centre of the Crystal War. Once again defying the dictates of Fate, the arrival of the Fateless One and his allies breaks the siege and turns the tide of the war in favour of the Alfar, earning him the moniker of 'Siege-Breaker'. Together with Alyn Shir, an Alfar who admits to knowing the Fateless One in his previous life, and Cydan, one of the few immortal Winter Fae unaffiliated with the Tuatha Deohn; the Fateless One locates and confronts Ventrinio, who reveals that they had previously entered Alabastra, the centre of Gadflow's empire, in an attempt to collect the valuable prismere crystals which not only powered both Fomorous' and Ventrinio's own respective Well of Souls', but guide the Tuatha armies.

Determined to return to Alabastra, the Fateless One and his allies, Agarth, Alyn Shir, Cydan and Ventrinio help spearhead the Alfar counter-attack through Klurikon and into Alabastra. Splitting up, each made their way into the heart of Gadflow's kingdom, with the Fateless One eventually happening upon Alyn Shir and a dead Ventrinio. Alyn Shir reveals that the Fateless One was her fellow member of a non-descript organization dedicated to protecting the secret of Tirnoch's existence and her true nature, silencing any who might learn and ensuring Tirnoch's continued imprisonment. She reveals that Tirnoch is a dragon with the power to rival that of Amalur's gods, who saw the previous dedication of the Fateless One and his fated demise. Tirnoch helped revive him through Fomorous Hugues Well of Souls, freeing him of the dictates of Fate which would always prevent her from escaping.

Deep beneath the Bhaile, capital of the Tuatha Deohn and former home to the Winter Fae, the Fateless One fought and slew Tirnoch. He awakes several days later in the city of Rathir and learns from Agarth that Alyn Shir had extracted him from the rubble of Bhaile before disappearing. Agarth also reveals that following the battle, many Alfar soldiers had approached him for readings, but that he had been unable to provide, indicating that all were now free of the dictates of Fate.

Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning Gameplay

Kingdoms of Amalur features five distinct regions, four playable races, and three class trees with 22 abilities per tree. The four playable races are the Almain (Civilized Humans), the Dokkalfar (Dark Elves), the Ljosalfar (Light Elves), and the Varani (Nomadic Humans). The player starts off as a "blank slate", but can afterwards choose a class among the three available in the game, which are called Might, Finesse, and Sorcery; they correspond to the fighter, rogue, and mage classes respectively. As the player fights and gains experience, additional levels are unlocked. With each level gained, the player gains three ability points which can be invested in the skill-tree system to unlock or augment the 22 abilities. By completing Faction quests and investing ability points, the player can also unlock various "destinies", which add positive buffs to the player.

Combat is based on the timing of button presses, similar to an action role-playing game, with occasional quick time event cutscenes. The combat includes a 'fate' system which allows players to accumulate 'fate points' and ultimately enter 'Reckoning Mode', a slow motion mode that allows the player to quickly dispatch enemies. The Reckoning Mode may end on player's command, with the depletion of the fate bar or by the act of 'Fateshifting' an enemy. Fateshifting involves performing a brutal finishing move on a single enemy. During the cosmetic Fateshifting phase, the player may rapidly tap a random button (chosen and displayed by the game) to increase the experience yield up to 100%. After the Fateshifting, all weakened enemies also die.

The player can travel on land, jump down from predesignated spots and swim in the water. The player has the ability to communicate with, rob or kill NPCs; each of these actions have their own consequences. Lead combat designer Joe Quadara emphasized that "twitch skill is only going to get you so far. Strategy and proper RPG playing is going to get you farther." 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling said that the style of the game would be a marriage between God of War and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

SettingReckoning is set in the Faelands, one of the Kingdoms of Amalur and home to the immortal Fae of the Summer and Winter Courts. The Faelands are divided into a number of separate regions; the forests of Dalentarth, the Plains of Erathell, the canyon territories of Detyre, the marshes of Klurikon and the crystal kingdom of Alabastra. Throughout the Faelands exist settlements belonging to the mortal races; the human Almain and Varani, the Ljosalfar and Dokkalfar; light and dark Alfar (elves) respectively, and the gnomes. It is these mortal races that the Gadflow's Tuatha Deohn � corrupted Winter Fae � seek to exterminate in their "Crystal War", not only in the Faelands but in the neighbouring kingdoms as well. Before the arrival of the Fateless One, it was well known that the Tuatha Deohn were fated to win their war against the mortal races.