Ken Rolston's big game.

[ElectricOtter]

Shit, looks like Bethesda finally broke Ken. Poor soul

 

[Alex]

Ken Rolston worked with P&P before coming to computers. In fact, I get a pretty strong Runequest vibe out of Morrowind. Sometimes I swear Ken designed that games like he would design a really cool campaign setting for Runequest and simply didn't realize the computer wouldn't be able to act on all the things he implied but didn't spell out. Funnily enough, he also worked a lot with the Paranoia RPG too.

Ken was also lead designer on Oblivion, so let's not call him Lord British or MCA just yet. And IMO, if not for the interesting art design, Morrowind would be just as forgettable in my book.

Yeah, but I understood that he had relatively little influence in Oblivion, that Morrowind was his true baby. Still, my point is that if you take the lore of morrowind, what you know about the setting and story, and couple it with the area and character design, you get lots of imaginative ideas that would be more than enough to drive a fun P&P game, whereas it falls a bit flat as a game.

 

[Turjan]

Ken Rolston worked with P&P before coming to computers. In fact, I get a pretty strong Runequest vibe out of Morrowind. Sometimes I swear Ken designed that games like he would design a really cool campaign setting for Runequest and simply didn't realize the computer wouldn't be able to act on all the things he implied but didn't spell out. Funnily enough, he also worked a lot with the Paranoia RPG too.

Ken was also lead designer on Oblivion, so let's not call him Lord British or MCA just yet. And IMO, if not for the interesting art design, Morrowind would be just as forgettable in my book.

No. While the execution might be faulty, Morrowind manages to tell two stories at the same time. On one hand, you have the uncritical, tired and old story that leads your character from lowly prisoner to powerful hero who vanquishes a great evil. But if you really pay attention and look a bit behind the curtain, you recognize that you have been an abused pawn in a game with several other main players. The great thing about Morrowind is that it doesn't rub the latter conclusion in your face. You actually may never notice. I think that's great design.

As to this new game, I think it sucks. Big time.

 

[Mastermind]

yet another action rpg / don't care

Seriously. Does the world really need and/or want another generic fantasy action-RPG franchise?

True open world is fairly rare nowadays. Other than bethesda, who does that?

What about the 2 Worlds games? Never played them because they look pretty damn boring, so I could be mistaken. Divinity II? Risen? I don't know because I really don't care about generic fantasy action-RPGs these days.

Couldn't stand the Risen demo so I never bothered with it. The first TW was open but apparently the second wasn't. Never played it so I could be wrong, just read one of the reviews here. Divinity 2 is pretty much split into "chapters". The area in the second part is accessible as early as you can get there without dying, but you need the dragon form to navigate it. world design itself is also fairly linear. The entire game pretty much takes place in two giant chasms.

 

[JarlFrank]

Two Worlds 2 is non-linear and open in the first big island. It gets rather quite linear afterward. And it's parted into chapters, anyway, so it doesn't count as true open world anyway.

Piranha Bytes are awesome though. Gothic 3 is much better than Oblivion in being a huge open world to explore despite its initial buggyness, Risen is great, too, and Gothic 2 is one of the best. Also they're the only open-world RPGs I'm aware of that have proper climbing, and also some secrets hidden around that can only be reached by climbing.

 

[DraQ]

Has it occurred to anyone that KR was the senior designer on Oblivion and Oblivion was a piece of shit and this Reckoning also looks like utter shit confirms that, so now that he's no longer with Bethesda, Skyrimjob might actually be good?

I know, I know, I'm delusional.

: (

The hope was that he left Bethseda because he lost creative freedom. He left a studio right after a smash hit(Mega Seller)? Something was wrong. Or at least, that's the hope.

 

[Xi]

With graphics like that, it's like they are choosing to lose! Still, I'm pretty sure Ken Rolston didn't design the graphics. It's the gameplay that is in question. Hopefully that aspect delivers. Like someone else was saying, the open-world, non-linear style games aren't all that common(though this trend seems to be changing).

Pretty sure if Ken designed that, it was meant to be a giant dildo that he could anally ram up Bethsoft's ass while keeping a good distance away.

 

[hoverdog]

I want to be a hammer!

 

[Xi]

The character then awakes dead in the world of Amalur and the story begins.

 

[Metro]

Didn't notice it was published by EA -- icing on the cake.

 

[Stabwound]

This has failure written all over it.

 

[SlowLane]

I had hope, foolish I know but when it's all you have left you cling to it no matter how many poisoned thorns it sprouts. I mean, on the one hand you have Morrowind, stupid and flawed and I played and played and didn't give a shit about any of the shortcomings, it had a soul. On the other hand you had Obomination.

Ken worked on both these games and so did Todd. Ken left very soon after Obs release, a-ha creative disputes perhaps, maybe some day Ken will make his own RPG and we'll eventually find out who is the master and who is the maker of turds.

Kingdoms of Amalur, the day of truth beckoned and I looked past the ott graphics and killing moves and waited until more was known. Yesterday I fond unreleased footage of the actual game and, well..

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC03bufEwBY

The turd has two makers

 

[Luzur]

Kingdoms of ANALur more likely.

 

[Achilles]

Why, for the love of God, is the audience... cheering?

 

[Commissar Draco]

The hammer is a bit small, but it looks like a good game alright.

for lack of emo hairstyle and manga beard. Total game rating 1/10.
locuta causa finita.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

I await with baited breath being able to play my great fighter/mage/thief build from Oblivion again.

 

[Data4]

As a storyfag, the one thing that makes me hold out hope for the game is R.A. Salvatore.

*pausing for effect as rage-filled fingers begin slamming keyboards across the world*

Salvatore is a hack writer. His books are banal shit boring. He's the Stephanie Meyer of fantasy literature. I know this. I've suffered through the Dark Elf Trilogy. BUT... I'd wager he's a better writer than Gayder. His writing may actually play out better in a video game than on paper. Given that game stories aren't exactly pulitzer prize winners anyway, it's all a matter of perspective. A shitty novel writer might actually be a decent game writer.

I've never imagined this to be some sort of coming of the Messiah of RPGs. I already knew it'd basically be a hack n' slash clone of Oblivion, and so... it might be good for what it is.

 

[Commissar Draco]

As a storyfag, the one thing that makes me hold out hope for the game is R.A. Salvatore.

*pausing for effect as rage-filled fingers begin slamming keyboards across the world*

Salvatore is a hack writer. His books are banal shit boring. He's the Stephanie Meyer of fantasy literature. I know this. I've suffered through the Dark Elf Trilogy. BUT... I'd wager he's a better writer than Gayder. His writing may actually play out better in a video game than on paper. Given that game stories aren't exactly pulitzer prize winners anyway, it's all a matter of perspective. A shitty novel writer might actually be a decent game writer.

I've never imagined this to be some sort of coming of the Messiah of RPGs. I already knew it'd basically be a hack n' slash clone of Oblivion, and so... it might be good for what it is.

No Oblibion, No Oblibion at all. Judging from interviews, screens and vids it's DA2 Reloaded. So candy and shining you won't need manga mods to "fix" it. Don't delude yourself or the false hope will break you.

 

[Jaesun]

Salvatore is a hack writer. His books are banal shit boring. He's the Stephanie Meyer of fantasy literature.

Stephanie Meyer's The Host was pretty fucking good actually.

 

[Mastermind]

Why, for the love of God, is the audience... cheering?

I never raged so much about a retarded audience in my life. The combat doesn't look too bad though. Might be a decent hack and slash.

 

[ghostdog]

blends R.A. Salvatore’s storytelling mastery with Todd McFarlane’s eye for artistic excellence

Kill this guy. Now.

 

[ghostdog]

Play a unique character, your character. In Reckoning you can be whoever you want to be :

A WARRIOR !

A MAGE !

A WARRIOR/MAGE !

A WISE CLERIC !

A BACKSTABBING ROGUE !

THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS...

Hey guys, I got exclusive MAGE CLASS screenshot, with a STAFF:

Also in this screen you can see the ALIEN SPEAR FIGHTER from the planet Hammernoggen.

These awesome posts need to be quoted forever.

 

[IronicNeurotic]

Salvatore is a hack writer. His books are banal shit boring. He's the Stephanie Meyer of fantasy literature.

Stephanie Meyer's The Host was pretty fucking good actually.

yeahh.....


Noooooo....

All the good parts she stole shamelessly from better books.

 

[Jaesun]

Salvatore is a hack writer. His books are banal shit boring. He's the Stephanie Meyer of fantasy literature.

Stephanie Meyer's The Host was pretty fucking good actually.

yeahh.....


Noooooo....

All the good parts she stole shamelessly from better books.

I do not read much sci-fi so that is certainly possible. I did enjoy it however.

 

[Lord Rocket]

Hey guys lets not forget Todd McFarlane is doing the graphics for this one. Of course it looks retarded.