I’m not angry at it, just disappointed.
After 70h, playing the game in its entirety, and getting all achievements I can say my opinion about this game with no remorse. I would love to suggest this game, especially after this much time investment, but the only enjoyment I actually had in the game was because I was watching videos in the meantime, and that’s a new one for me.
Buyers Beware
The FATE Edition is not a bundle and cannot be purchased after the main game. Steam will NOT detract the cost of the base game to make you pay the difference. Currently, on sale, Fatesworn alone costs almost as much as the complete package.
Main Game
The game started as an MMO and was converted to a single-player with some obvious remnants of it.
The combat system plays with both melee and magic/abilities at the same time, and the inclusion of the Reckoning mode, which is like a rage mode from other games. The game tries to be a hack-and-slashy type of game, but even a greatsword is often not long enough making the combat frustrating. I had to use the ability to pull in enemies all the time as it was the only way I could reach the enemies 100%.
The game has an Alchemy system, and this is the first game I played where picking up an herb is a chance of taking it instead of being guaranteed. I plucked the plant, how can I not get it it’s beyond my understanding. The Alchemy skill tree can increase the chances. Thanks…for selling me a solution to a problem you made.
There is also a Gem crafting system, but I never used it as the best equipment doesn’t have Gem slots.
Lastly, there is a Blacksmithing system that it’s not useful since enemies drop the loot at your level and equipment can’t be upgraded, including epic equipment.
The game doesn't have a jump button but you can jump from some specific platforms that often don’t give the prompt to, and it’s a struggle to find where you can jump.
In my 100% completion of the game, I did around 300 quests. For a completist, this game is a nightmare as it features uncompletable quests that are forever in your quest log. The biggest problem I have with them is that it’s mostly fetch quests going from A to B. Other than teleporting to a point of interest, you must walk to all your objectives while sprinting is barely faster than running. This makes the game a solo-walking simulator more than people ever thought of Death Stranding. Not a joke, just a fact. It gets quite lonely, especially without a soundtrack, or anything to look at. Sometimes, quests will give you a follower. They fight but I swear I never saw them deal any damage, but at least it's company. I ended up summoning a skeleton fiend to have some company while going around.
The main story is nothing exciting, but it’s ok enough. You might read on websites like howlongtobeat that the main story lasts 20 hours, but truly, most will be walking in silence.
There aren't many sound effects in the game, so the thing you hear the most is your footsteps. Being originally a 2012 title sometimes instead of in-game cutscenes, there are low-quality pre-rendered videos that have these beautiful background sounds, i.e. of a battle, to then cut to the in-game cutscene where it’s completely mute of ambient sounds and you only hear the characters make noises.
The biggest disappointment for me though was the final boss as it was introduced so greatly, but you don’t even get to fight it. What you actually fight is some enemies until you charge the Reckoning ability and that damages the boss.
Re-Reckoning? More like Re-Release.
Re-Reckoning presents itself as a remaster, but the real remaster work seems to be the texture upscale, which looks like it was done with Photoshop’s Preserve Details 2.0. It looks like just an upscale, and if the detail was not there to begin with, it just looks blurry. The in-game HUD has a scaling option between too big and too small while the rest doesn’t scale. I’m not a fan of the new HUD because whatever they did, now you can see color-bending in most things, especially the health bar of enemies.
This new version comes with its own new and improved bugs and crashes. I had lost 9h of progress because the game would not read my profile and I saved it thanks to some tinkering that included reinstalling the game, creating new profiles, and using save managers. I suggest checking the Nexus for tools like the F2 Console as that saved me from many bugs the Remaster did not fix and from new ones that are just for the remaster, like a quest that requires 6 items for completion but the game only has 5 in it.
DLCs
Dead Kel
It starts with this in-game cutscene of your character stranded on a beach, and as it stands up the devs decided to use every sound the character could make in the perfect silence of the in-game cutscene. You’ll see your character do the impossible as you moan, cough, and lament all at the same time.
The DLC itself is a very linear story but has a very small map that at the end of the DLC story gets re-used with side missions that make you backtrack all of it just to make the DLC last longer.
There is also a new Faction where you become the Lord of a keep in the DLC, but these missions are repeatable so they never go away. You also get the chance to adopt pets like wolves, rats, bears, etc. Finally, I can stop summoning that skeleton for some livelier company. Except pets can only stay at home and give the player a permanent buff, which makes them collectibles. Being the Lord you’ll be asked to do some more fetch quests from your subjects. Last but not least, a random woman you got as part of an alliance will force you to marry her to complete the quest. Although the quest does not complete, instead, it just stays in your quest log saying “Quest completed”. The game never featured romances except for some jokes during the story, but now I can get married to a random NPC that is a woman regardless of your sex.
Once in the DLC map, you can only leave by talking to the ship captain, who is a woman. I never hinted at anything, but in the dialogue where I asked her to bring me back, she hints at the fact that we had intercourse. So 10m after getting married I cheated on my wife.
Teeth of Naros
This DLC story is not too bad but the map is really small. In the DLC, for the first time Contract Boards refill, without notice. A quest you get from an NPC asks you to find some treasures in the DLC and bring them, except the items are NOT in the DLC[amalur.fandom.com].
The maps are very vertical and hard to navigate, especially the sewers. You can’t climb ladders, just like in Skyrim they only teleport you to the other side, but in this DLC they decided to use them everywhere inside the map. The developers must have decided to showcase the limits of the game engine. It’s confusing for my skeletal friend too as he was always stuck at all the ladders.
The DLC adds a new type of damage in this DLC: Beast damage.
Good thing you read about it here cause it’ll be the only time you ever think about it.
Again, in this DLC often you’ll be asked to go to the same maps for small fetch quests, which I think is just diluting more what it offers.
Conclusion
I started this game with the mindset of WANTING to play it, fooled by the God-of-War-y combat. Sadly, the more I went on with it the more I realized that what seemed beautiful in the demo was just smoke and mirrors. I enjoyed that in all that brain-dead fighting and walking around I could watch something, but I cannot suggest a game because it was fun to do something else in the meantime.
I wanted to give it a negative review and a 6 when I was around half the main game, but the rest of it lowered it to a: 3/10.
Strongly not suggested.
After 70h, playing the game in its entirety, and getting all achievements I can say my opinion about this game with no remorse. I would love to suggest this game, especially after this much time investment, but the only enjoyment I actually had in the game was because I was watching videos in the meantime, and that’s a new one for me.
Buyers Beware
The FATE Edition is not a bundle and cannot be purchased after the main game. Steam will NOT detract the cost of the base game to make you pay the difference. Currently, on sale, Fatesworn alone costs almost as much as the complete package.
Main Game
The game started as an MMO and was converted to a single-player with some obvious remnants of it.
The combat system plays with both melee and magic/abilities at the same time, and the inclusion of the Reckoning mode, which is like a rage mode from other games. The game tries to be a hack-and-slashy type of game, but even a greatsword is often not long enough making the combat frustrating. I had to use the ability to pull in enemies all the time as it was the only way I could reach the enemies 100%.
The game has an Alchemy system, and this is the first game I played where picking up an herb is a chance of taking it instead of being guaranteed. I plucked the plant, how can I not get it it’s beyond my understanding. The Alchemy skill tree can increase the chances. Thanks…for selling me a solution to a problem you made.
There is also a Gem crafting system, but I never used it as the best equipment doesn’t have Gem slots.
Lastly, there is a Blacksmithing system that it’s not useful since enemies drop the loot at your level and equipment can’t be upgraded, including epic equipment.
The game doesn't have a jump button but you can jump from some specific platforms that often don’t give the prompt to, and it’s a struggle to find where you can jump.
In my 100% completion of the game, I did around 300 quests. For a completist, this game is a nightmare as it features uncompletable quests that are forever in your quest log. The biggest problem I have with them is that it’s mostly fetch quests going from A to B. Other than teleporting to a point of interest, you must walk to all your objectives while sprinting is barely faster than running. This makes the game a solo-walking simulator more than people ever thought of Death Stranding. Not a joke, just a fact. It gets quite lonely, especially without a soundtrack, or anything to look at. Sometimes, quests will give you a follower. They fight but I swear I never saw them deal any damage, but at least it's company. I ended up summoning a skeleton fiend to have some company while going around.
The main story is nothing exciting, but it’s ok enough. You might read on websites like howlongtobeat that the main story lasts 20 hours, but truly, most will be walking in silence.
There aren't many sound effects in the game, so the thing you hear the most is your footsteps. Being originally a 2012 title sometimes instead of in-game cutscenes, there are low-quality pre-rendered videos that have these beautiful background sounds, i.e. of a battle, to then cut to the in-game cutscene where it’s completely mute of ambient sounds and you only hear the characters make noises.
The biggest disappointment for me though was the final boss as it was introduced so greatly, but you don’t even get to fight it. What you actually fight is some enemies until you charge the Reckoning ability and that damages the boss.
Re-Reckoning? More like Re-Release.
Re-Reckoning presents itself as a remaster, but the real remaster work seems to be the texture upscale, which looks like it was done with Photoshop’s Preserve Details 2.0. It looks like just an upscale, and if the detail was not there to begin with, it just looks blurry. The in-game HUD has a scaling option between too big and too small while the rest doesn’t scale. I’m not a fan of the new HUD because whatever they did, now you can see color-bending in most things, especially the health bar of enemies.
This new version comes with its own new and improved bugs and crashes. I had lost 9h of progress because the game would not read my profile and I saved it thanks to some tinkering that included reinstalling the game, creating new profiles, and using save managers. I suggest checking the Nexus for tools like the F2 Console as that saved me from many bugs the Remaster did not fix and from new ones that are just for the remaster, like a quest that requires 6 items for completion but the game only has 5 in it.
DLCs
Dead Kel
It starts with this in-game cutscene of your character stranded on a beach, and as it stands up the devs decided to use every sound the character could make in the perfect silence of the in-game cutscene. You’ll see your character do the impossible as you moan, cough, and lament all at the same time.
The DLC itself is a very linear story but has a very small map that at the end of the DLC story gets re-used with side missions that make you backtrack all of it just to make the DLC last longer.
There is also a new Faction where you become the Lord of a keep in the DLC, but these missions are repeatable so they never go away. You also get the chance to adopt pets like wolves, rats, bears, etc. Finally, I can stop summoning that skeleton for some livelier company. Except pets can only stay at home and give the player a permanent buff, which makes them collectibles. Being the Lord you’ll be asked to do some more fetch quests from your subjects. Last but not least, a random woman you got as part of an alliance will force you to marry her to complete the quest. Although the quest does not complete, instead, it just stays in your quest log saying “Quest completed”. The game never featured romances except for some jokes during the story, but now I can get married to a random NPC that is a woman regardless of your sex.
Once in the DLC map, you can only leave by talking to the ship captain, who is a woman. I never hinted at anything, but in the dialogue where I asked her to bring me back, she hints at the fact that we had intercourse. So 10m after getting married I cheated on my wife.
Teeth of Naros
This DLC story is not too bad but the map is really small. In the DLC, for the first time Contract Boards refill, without notice. A quest you get from an NPC asks you to find some treasures in the DLC and bring them, except the items are NOT in the DLC[amalur.fandom.com].
The maps are very vertical and hard to navigate, especially the sewers. You can’t climb ladders, just like in Skyrim they only teleport you to the other side, but in this DLC they decided to use them everywhere inside the map. The developers must have decided to showcase the limits of the game engine. It’s confusing for my skeletal friend too as he was always stuck at all the ladders.
The DLC adds a new type of damage in this DLC: Beast damage.
Good thing you read about it here cause it’ll be the only time you ever think about it.
Again, in this DLC often you’ll be asked to go to the same maps for small fetch quests, which I think is just diluting more what it offers.
Conclusion
I started this game with the mindset of WANTING to play it, fooled by the God-of-War-y combat. Sadly, the more I went on with it the more I realized that what seemed beautiful in the demo was just smoke and mirrors. I enjoyed that in all that brain-dead fighting and walking around I could watch something, but I cannot suggest a game because it was fun to do something else in the meantime.
I wanted to give it a negative review and a 6 when I was around half the main game, but the rest of it lowered it to a: 3/10.
Strongly not suggested.