KINGDOMS OF AMALUR: RECKONING (Zero Punctuation)

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This week, Zero Punctuation review Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,
Fast-talking Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw reviews a new game each week in this animated series that combines informed critique with cutting humor. Watch the next episode of Zero Punctuation a week early, only on The Escapist.
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[@drakkenmensch]

That world's fate system means that basically the same story keeps repeating itself. The elves KNOW this, but gladly submit themselves to it knowing that they keep reincarnating to relive the story unchanged over and over, like a play at the theater. The protagonist without fate is like a character without a script. Imagine Yorrik coming back to life halfway through Hamlet and starting to interact with the shocked cast who keep looking at the director who makes frantic "improvise!" lip movements in their direction. This is why your character can mess with fate, because you're the only character who is NOT supposed to be there anymore.

[@Facarwi]

Wait... I'm about to say fate a lot. If the world is bound by fate and the protagonist is the only one free of fate then the rules still apply to everyone else. Therefore if the protagonist took a life that would of been their fate being still bound by those rules... But the only way for that to work would be knowing in advance that would happy i.e. fate. The only way that would work is the moment something different happened i.e. the protagonists rebirth the whole system broke and nothing was bound by fate anymore. Furthermore, if the world is bound by fate, then the making of the soul well and it eventually working on that particular hero at that particular time would have been fate.... Dear god I have gone cross eyed.

[@WollyChaps]

Oh, Sagrill never dies but now he's dead HOLY SHIT someone get the vinyl player we've got a new song to write!

[@SJLuis]

It's quite possible every time the well of souls was made.... except it never worked before this time.

[@TheCorrodedMan]

Like Jim from mogworld,he's practically the same as the fateless one and...HOLY SHIT I MADE A CONNECTION

[@GonnaDieNever]

no that would be the dickhead dragon god.

[@objectiveasylum]

"Who is this game for?" Ellen. her name is Ellen.

[@yourguykhonshu3972]

It took too long to find a reference to Ellen in these comments

[@bevvox]

Yes!

[@ihaveagun22]

damn, I was going to make that joke

[@johnharrison2086]

She is our queen.

[@sambullock8339]

Good thing Yahtzee has never met Ellen

[@yourethatmantis5178]

It's been nearly 8 years now. When is "The Device" going to be completed?

[@rodrikforrester6989]

Maybe it already has been.

[@kedabro1957]

@@rodrikforrester6989 Oh thank god. That means 2020 is just a simulation and if we can just find the device and reboot ...

[@playin4power]

"one might think Kingdoms of Amalur was once meant to be an MMORPG" Oh how unknowingly right you are

[@Macroman595]

^^ This

[@alnu8355]

"MMORPG Fantasy with Elves, Dwarves, and vaguely Euro-Centric Kingdoms #768,843,129,057,793"

[@CaptainCharlotte69]

No internet connection and lost of time you say. Perfect for literally every Australian then.

[@jupitersgodzilla7114]

+Captain Davian Sounds like the USA after Net Neutrality...

[@dragonfire7354]

@@jupitersgodzilla7114 No honestly no one has felt the effects of it. Really strange.

[@adrianshephard6321]

I wonder if Yahtzee finished "The Device" yet?

[@geronimo3970]

Adrian Shephard Aren't you supposed to be in stasis?

[@adrianshephard6321]

Only until they release HL3/Ep3..

[@enclave315]

+Adrian Shephard soooo.... you're always going to be there then good to know

[@ToonedMinecraft]

Adrian Shephard strange, I thought the same thing...

[@spectolder8536]

I`m willing to bet that is just a nickname for the complete ZP series, seeing how watching these have gradually twisted my psyche to resemble his own. I no longer have a direct opinion on whatever he says, but rather judge whether he had successfully communicated what he really thought. What we really thought. At the same time, i know i can`t blindly agree with all of it. It hurts. Oh God, it hurts. Please like the videos, and subscribe to the Escapist channel.

[@louissteyn6871]

Listening to yahtzee's gripe about respawning enemies I was brought back to when I was playing sacred 2 and I was walking through an area I was way too over leveled for and noticed something: most enemy patrols stopped dead when they saw me and started backing away from me, almost like they where afraid of me

[@Lightscribe225]

Like many games, Kingdoms of mduvduh had a lot of potential. It had one fatal flaw: it was produced by EA.

[@ShatterPalm]

I'll agree with you partially but I'm actually enjoying the game quite a bit.The weapons feel good to use, the plot is unique as fuck, and some of the characters are kinda cool.

[@Lightscribe225]

ShatterPalm Like I said, lots of potential, then EA fucked it up with horrible time constraints, and poor use of a marketing budget.

[@ShatterPalm]

Yeah. The game did not get the publicity it deserved. I haven't looked into the development period for the game, but this is EA we're talking about; if it didn't completely fuck someone over, then I would question everything I know about this universe.

[@Warton567]

ShatterPalm Don't worry someone was fucked over I think it was someone who worked on oblivion I can't remember his name or what he did but EA fucked with the poor marketing.

[@RandomZombie412]

EA did make the Godfather and The Godfather 2, both really good games

[@jacobdavis5722]

I will give the game props for giving mages chakrams. ^^

[@weofparadigm]

Jacob Davis chakrams were amazing in this game

[@Changetheling]

The Elemental staves were also THE SHIT.

[@Kingdeathtrooper]

My favourite weapons!

[@l0stndamned]

I now want a tactical squad-based shooter setting in a medieval and/or fantasy setting.

[@BFedie518]

l0stndamned So Hunted: The Demon's Forge based on Rainbow Six instead of Gears of War.

[@shoezomaku]

I actually really loved this game. (it's one of my number one picks for being backwards compatible for the xbone). I enjoy yahtzee's videos regardless if i agree with them, but with this i must say i only agreed with the part where he talked about making the enemies respawn in areas where their is no reason to do anything anymore. I have always felt that about single player games. Once i destroy the mega spider nest hiding in the nearby witches abandoned castle... Why are there still mega spiders spawning limitlessly?

[@Jaceblue04]

"The Tuatha are engaged in a conflict with the Sealie Fae and the Jotun in the lands of Knickknackknocky and Bingilybongilyboo" lol

[@MySerpentine]

Tuatha, Seelie and Jotun are all from actual myths, so . . .

[@nopushbutton]

The State of Rhode Island Presents: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

[@minelegend6557]

At some point, I want to buy the Kingoms of Amalure IP, and make a new one with better everything. Maybe something like an easier Dark Souls.

[@Eon2641]

+Mine “Shadow” Legend An easier darksouls would be pretty boring don't you think? I mean the story's interesting enough but that's also because of how incredibly vague it is, if you tried to focus the game on it it wouldn't work. If you take the challenge away the combat isn't much to look at, and what with combat stringing everything together the game would be little more than a sightseeing tour with a few plaques to read outside of each respective ruined fortress.

[@AngelCakes1997]

+Mine “Shadow” Legend Dark Souls is too designed around what's already in it. Make the weapons too fast and players can't react to them well. Make the weapons do too much damage and the players will easily fly through your game. Make the player too fast and they'll speed right by everything between them and what they want. Make the enemies too weak and people will not find the game very satisfying.

[@aresreaper8761]

Im not surprised my state with its legendary corruption gave its money to a corrupt company, but I wish they took those millions and made a better game than this

[@YellowMage]

No longer; the IP has been bought by THQ Nordic!

[@Idiotturbs]

Combat was way better in KoA than Skyrim.

[@Idiotturbs]

***** Yeah, Can't agree more.

[@AlexLococo]

+Liam Hubbert So you've never played Morrowind? Lol.

[@AlexLococo]

***** Oh, certainly not. I can't defend a combat such as Morrowind's. Even Daggerfall's is better simply because is just as dated but the game is older.

[@Bigfitz2]

+TurboTurtleAssault that's about the only thing it does better

[@noruv3816]

no shit

[@bbd121]

Ellen from 'Outside Xtra' sent me here after banging about it for godknowshowlong. Even after your review, she still makes me want to play it.

[@yushakader4991]

It's time for work boys

[@FlakiCiociGosi]

I recommend KoA to people who like good combat where every weapon class really feels different and every unique item looks unique. Also, I'm pretty sure Yahtzee was not playing on the highest difficulty, because the game can be actually quite hard at most times, if one is unprepared. On Hard you may find yourself dying very easily after a couple of failed dodges/blocks.

[@noruv3816]

i play on easy and i find it hard...just like with dragons dogma i find this game alot harder than dark souls

[@ripperfisher182250]

on hard I was one shottin enemies after the second or third region. and when I turned destiny whatever fate magic on. I one shot bosses.. idk dude if I just set up an op build but it was too ez for my tastes.

[@ripperfisher182250]

***** even after i think 30 hours? i dont think i died. i killed all my enemies in seconds as if they were just little speed bumbs, then activate fate and insta kill boss...

[@bevvox]

FlakiCiociGosi he never does(play on higher difficulties) that’s just how he does his reviews, I mean some of the playthroughs he does(check his titular Yahtzee channel) do show him on higher settings but for reviews generally not...

[@Dreadnought_Toaster]

Hard is hard until you max out the mage skill tree and pick the right amulets. My pure mage has zero mana cost. For anything. Those meteors that kill everything? On the house. Blizzards? Free. Lightning storms? As many as you like.

[@frankynovotny2030]

Only problem I have with this game is that it doesn't feel alive with the population. Seems pretty...desolate most of the time. I had fun with it though

[@bevvox]

Franky Novotny great way of putting it actually...

[@mickyflint]

iirc the land you play in is the frontier. there's entire empires across the ocean we never see cause the pc is stuck dealing with the tuatha

[@the1flym459]

"Who is this game for?" IT'S FOR ME YAHTZEE! I LOVE BEING A LETHAL BEYBLADE!

[@vidafluxcrew8016]

I fucking love this game. amazing story, intuitive classes, and brilliant skill sets and weaponry, as well as excellent replayability. most of all i like the freedom - the way the game says 'hey you see that giant city 3 continents away? haven't done any missions beside the first? Fuck it! go there if you want!'

[@Derah_OG]

The funny thing about Yhatzee saying that Kingdoms of Amalur was planned to be an "mumurpuger" is....... that its actually true :P Originally they planned for this game to act as a prequel, to introduce the setting for a later MMORPG release, with the codename of the project being "Project Copernicus." However, due to the company going belly-up due to finantial shenanigans involving their CEO, it seems that will never come to pass.

[@richardmulledy3857]

I hope there's an RPG where I can actually choose Brian Blessed as my class one day...

[@donthatemyusername8975]

as cool as that would be, how long would it be till the "Brian Blessed class" got nerfed?

[@richardmulledy3857]

Eh, there will always be mods to bring back Brian Blessed's original glory.

[@shoezomaku]

This is by far one of my favorite medieval rpg's ever. I like the concept of being fateless in a universe that is literally 100% guaranteed to be driven by fate. Its kinda like if you're in a world where there is 100% for sure a God and everybody knows and recognizes this, and God micro-manages everybody's lives. And all of a sudden Kratos shows up, and your playing him. I also like the analogy somebody else in the comments used about a play. Imagine you were in a play (with no intermissions) and your character died at some point, and you decided to bring the character back to life on your own. The director and other actors would be freaking out, but for some reason wouldn't be able to stop the play in any way. So now they have to change the story line of that play (totally impromptu) to accommodate the fact that you took it upon yourself to change the story.

[@rotz394]

Wasn't really a need for the last part; the one person this game was made for already brings up the game anytime she can.

[@neutral9414]

watching this today, I had to chuckle that this was the primary game that I played while on deployment, specifically because it was long, and required no internet connection. So he was right at the end y'all

[@Victimxofxprogress]

This is probably one of my favourite RPG's ever made. Yes, it's flawed. But the story behind its creation is quite unique. At first I just bought it to support Curt Shilling, but I ended up liking it in the end.

[@officiallastresort0248]

"Here comes the magic missile" Fucking damn it. 😂

[@Firestar4041]

"It was babies first Skyrim! Same gameplay features but substantially less complexity and claustrophobic environments." So . . . just Skyrim then? I don't recall very much combat in Skyrim, i remember hitting the same button until the big bad gobilty goo was less living and more road-kill, and a magic system that did bugger all. And a giant environment where it felt like f*k all was to do in it. I still don't quiet get the idea why Elder Scrolls is held as some gold statue, when all we ever truly talk about are the glitches we get every time we pop the game in.

[@silverthorne3335]

+Firestar4041 I had (And still have) a much more enjoyable experience with Skyrim because it wasn't the combat I was looking for but instead the lore and the world I found I could easily loose myself in. So game play turned into wandering into whatever quest I felt like doing next instead of being tugged along like I normally feel in quests. It just feels more organic than any other game I've played but hey, that's just my opinion.

[@Firestar4041]

SilverThorne333 Agreed, it just depends on taste. Its more organic, but for me i just dont find the lore or the world all that interesting. I like the open world idea, but i would still like a consistent story. Rather than "Hey can you go get that key over there, i would do myself, but....na" Idk maybe i just like a more "hand holding" experience like Mass Effect or Paper Mario.

[@silverthorne3335]

***** I think part of my engagement was the fact that my first file was an Argonian and there's 0 known about them, so it led me to dig deeper and learn more about both Skyrim and Elder Scrolls as a whole. So the story became less about "The Dragonborn saving the world" and more about a single lizardman trying to find his place in a new land and his place as a race that holds mystery for anyone who doesn't live in the Black Marsh.

[@jdblatt1808]

"Less complex Skyrim"? As if Skyrim was complex. Skyrim's combat was like a lumberjack simulator: hit and hit and maybe sometimes shoot something and eventually you'll realize you have gotten closer to something. Given, Skyrim does have stealth, but it's pretty useless because Skyrim's combat is potentially easier than Amalur's (and with fewer moves too) and it's pretty game-breaking because the AI has two modes: stand and slash. They can't investigate and for all we know probably don't have ears either.

[@Dreadnought_Toaster]

There was a memorable incident where my 100 sneak character in Skyrim literally walked into a bandit and wasn't detected. If you breathe funny in Amalur half the world knows.

[@akumarajio2691]

Puppet Master (Sneak, Conjuration, Illusion) was a fun way to play through. Use the boss as a glorified meatshield and resurrect them as your permanent bodyguard or just ingratiate the animal loving vampires with exploding doggies, even calmed a frenzied forsworn who managed to kill most of the camp because the idea of crippling guilt they'd feel gave me a dark chuckle.

[@doctoreggnog6644]

OH GAHD WHAT HE SAYS ABOUT FANTASY IS SO TRUE! I've had that opinion for years and I've been out of my mind wondering why I haven't heard anyone else making the same complaint. So, thank you.

[@s4tchm0j0n3s]

I don't know how I came to own this game back in the day, but own it I did. And play it I did. And throughly enjoy it, did I? I did.

[@spartanB0292]

To anyone who is interested I suggest you look up the controversy surrounding thus game. It's pretty tragic.

[@argenthellion]

I intend to go back and check up on Schilling's story as soon as he can think of a consistent one...

[@spartanB0292]

Nikola Silvers hes probably gonna be dead by then

[@argenthellion]

spartanB0292 ... true... unfortunately, in the near future, when any ambitious developers start looking for major funding, most investors will mention Schilling as the perfect excuse to avoid them...

[@spartanB0292]

Nikola Silvers i hope not. the gaming world is getting stale enough already.

[@tonixzmac6204]

citation needed

[@MURFGAMING1228]

I actually liked this game. I thought it was a fun multi-classed run through "MAJIK FANTASHY LAND #47!" Mainly because I leveled all my stats to be a 3 class mix, but the problem was I only really did the big warrior thing. (Run up and stab everything with a hammer. How, you might ask? Yes.) But the story was entertaining, the fighting was just stupid enough to not become repetitive (at least for me), and the characters were kinda fun in their own way. I've played all the Dragon Age games and none of them were fun enough for me to play more than the first 3 quests, but for KOA:R I bought every DLC and or other thing on the Xbox Marketplace. I really hope it gets added to the Xbox One's Backward Compatibility List (something that shouldn't exist, and yet we who bought an X-Bone have to deal with. Sony fans, you lucky bastards) sometime soon, because my 360 blew up a while ago. (AKA the day I bought it. That thing sucked ass.)

[@MrRicksta76]

from start to finish i spent most of my time pissing myself laughing..Fuck this guy is funny, how he keeps a straight face when speaking is beyond me. lol

[@gigakoresh]

I really loved this game. There are so many of these enclosed stories you can find, with every settlement having characters with history, every quest and problem having some sort of background. And it's all voice acted. Really makes you immerse yourself in the world, unlike Skyrim, where a quest is just a marker on the map and a settlement is just a set of pretty models. Skyrim tells it's stories through environement while Amaleur tells them through voice acting and lots of writing. The combat is good too. The worst part of the game are quest objectives. Because while the premise of the quests is, unlike most Open World games, compelling, the actual objectives are always the same fucking fetch quests with a bunch of mobs standing between you and the thing you need to fetch. It was really frustrating. DLC improves on that to an extent by introducing *some* interesting sections - for instance there was a quest where you could discover a hidden area by jumping down a bunch of waterfalls, but still the quest objectives are really not fun and extremely repetitive. Overall I spent over 200 hours in the game and I absolutely adored the amount of detail behind every single settlement and minor "quest giver" character. It's really awesome that for some unknown elf in the corner of the map that only 1% of players will probably find, that devs would come up with an awesome story of how she lost her family in the war and had to find her own way out of the hazardous area, while taking care of her brother and how they settled down after a while hoping to start a new life, only to discover that the place they chose was somehow cursed by the previous owner's rival, who was now trapped.... It was really awesome to find all these cool details and stories behind every single minor character and village. I have only seen one game like that so far - Witcher 3. Most Open World games treat quests are filler content, posessing nothing more than what the player needs to know to complete the objective.

[@TyrBarghest]

I actually like this game more than Skyrim. In 39 hours, I virtually did everything Skyrim has to offer (not including DLC). KIngdoms of Amalur is at the 48 hour mark and I'm not even sure how close I am to being down with the main story. The combat system is better, the enchantments are better, the world is bigger, you have a more diverse list of enemies to fight. The only two points I can give to Skyrim is 1) its awesome soundtrack and 2) the archery system is top notch. I have yet to play another game that allows my to shoot someone from across the city with pinpoint accuracy.

[@RyuKaguya]

i dont know after i lost the spear to the giant monster thing and went to the new area the game started to blur for me as well as the world felt kinda empty i dont know at first it was great but later on it just started to drag and i lost interest more and more

[@legion999]

Amalur is less complex than Skyrim and it was just a bit dull at times, but it's still a very solid game I think. I seriously doubt you did everything in Skyrim in 39 hours though, Amalur took me 200 hours and Skyrim 250 hours without dlc.

[@TyrBarghest]

legion999 I said virtually everything. I didn't do the bards college because the idea of a college of bards sounds boring. And I didn't do the thieves guild. Every time I attempt the mission strand, Karliah disappears and no amount of reloading solves that glitch. Which is another thing KoA has over Skyrim. far less glitched.

[@RyuKaguya]

***** never had a problem with that (though i miss spellcrafting heavily) only issue i had with skyrim was that i had to use my damn horse every time my quest went near mountains XD

[@awesomen8]

Tyr Barghest "Virtually"? Your definition of "almost" must be different than mine. Currently at... -Checking my Steam- 174 hours. Only shaved my way through 3/4 of the game. (I assume, I don't know if there's more that what I've been told.)

[@Cultureghost]

The key thing here is that the combat makes you feel epic. You flip, dodge, teleport, smash with a hammer, critical hit with a dagger, stun lock with faeblades, slam your first into the ground bringing down pillars of lightning, stomp your foot to raise jagged spikes of earth, throw daggers made of shadow, use the scorpion spear to "get over here!" an enemy, bring down meteors on your foes. It's just a load of really fun combat. The quests can be tedious but one of the best parts of this game is that there is zero pressure to get your build right. You can seek out NPCs called fate weavers who will for a measly sum of gold allow you to completely respec your skills with no penalty. I played the first half of the game as a rogue Mage combo (shadowcaster, as it's called in game), then got bored and switched to warrior/Mage (called paragon) for the second half. And he didn't mention reckoning mode, where you literally tear people's fates apart.

[@whatchachattin]

How to save money: 1. Game on sale on steam 2. Watch Zero Punctuation review 3. No money spent

[@Xevailo]

That's exactly why I came here :D

[@JyL1]

Fuck it, I'm buying it anyway. 30+ hours of content for 6 dollars is just too good a bargain. And ah fuck it I'll spend another 6 for the DLC, whatever.

[@vanderin]

JyL1 it's definitely worth it. while it's certainly not the quality of RPG you'd expect from a full-priced AAA title in 2012, it's still worth a look. If you can get passed the dated graphics, get the full game + DLC for $12, you'd be foolish to pass it up

[@clauricaune]

Your loss.

[@evanknutson3044]

That's not what you should do, Yahtzee makes everything sound worse than it is.

[@Elhvir]

Personally what I liked the most about this game was skill re-mapping. I'm the kind of person that normally has to play game with three saves at same pace 'cause I get bored with the class having to repeat same attack pattern over and over and over and over and over... In KoA, you can go talk to a fateweaver and they reset your skill points, so you can turn your mage into a rogue-mage hybrid, warrior or triple combination character whenever you want. For me, that kept game fresh and interesting since I can try different strategies on the fly, even with same class (make a dagger rogue instead of archery, etc.) Of course, this causes some problems... (get full points in one of the craft skills, craft all the gems you can, reset skills to get max weaponsmith and make yourself ultimate weapon to house those perfect gems you have. Makes you +30 levels higher than game expects for challenge)

[@kwititnow]

I liked the skill remapping, I would've liked it if each class had some uniqueness to it though other than passives. I know you make the class by stitching together what you want. But I think it would have been a little more complex if a Dimension walker or shadow weaver or whatever had some unique attacks that neither mage nor rouge would have had. (for example) It was a good idea, it would have been a better idea if taken further.

[@princessaria]

I’ve clearly been binge watching too many of these because now my inner voice sounds suspiciously like you...only you were narrating even more nightmarish scenarios than whatever John Romero comes up with nowadays. Insomnia is not my friend, my brain goes pants on head bonkers when I don’t get enough sleep so I just auditorially hallucinate for multiple hours straight.

[@masters5312]

My... Mom played this as her first game and spent 100+ hours on it , she doesn't understand English so I sell her useless stuff point her in the right way to go, get annoyed im called every 5 mins because your inventory in the game is filled in 30 seconds spend an hour on a glitch that increases your inventory space so I stop getting called every 5 mins and instead get called every 30 minutes she played the game twice first time she spent 30 hours and hardly reached anywhere 2nd time she spent 96 hours and beat the game

[@WarmongerL0M3N]

wat

[@Banzay27]

Zero punctuation doesn't quite cut it on text.

[@TheCorrodedMan]

You’re mom sounds like a fucking badass

[@NeoSaturos123]

Good job your mom.

[@texasgun2731]

how many hours did she pour into skyrim

[@pentadeuce1086]

Who else is here because they're bingeing Zero Punctuation?

[@MetalAddict247]

Here! Here!

[@nindger4270]

I'm never *not* bingeing ZP. To quote from the episode "Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water", it helps me to stave off the inevitable moment of drunken self-reflection.

[@TheLearningDroid]

binge binge but audio binge while I do data entry

[@Flameboy1985]

It's 5am what am I doing with my life

[@TheLearningDroid]

Flameboy1985 you're binging on zero punctuation with your life :D self explanitory really.

[@DexFlames]

I just had an NPC tell me he lost a hand in the war, then wave both of his fully attached hands in my face in one of the over the top hey-I'm-not-just-staring-at-you hand gestures the NPCs are prone to performing. The game is still great, but I laughed pretty hard. That's damn lazy. Either don't include that line of dialogue or make a handless character model. Jesus.

[@bobbluered8984]

This was the only game 38 Studios made before going bankrupt. Way to go, guys. Really left your mark on the world.

[@Nick-mp1zh]

+Bob Bluered If I recall correctly, this game was never even planned. They threw it out the door as a way to make money to fund the bigger project they were working on the time that turned out to be a colossal failure. Can't remember what the game was called

[@villainvoice5143]

+Nickolas Marchuk You and Yahtzee both hit the nail on the head. The world was GOING to be an MMO, and this was their launchpad.

[@bevvox]

Hey, and I don’t mean to sound rude here, but some people liked it, quite s bit really, I mean I wasn’t a great fan, in fact hardly a fan, preferring Fable and all, but still... it wasn’t terrible as all that, as all that what we’ve now grown to expect from recent times in triple A development, especially in recent times. As Yahtzee himself so often laments...

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

Watching this review again just gave me an idea- what if they made a tactical squad-based action game but, get this, it's not a modern realistic shooter, but a fantasy game?

[@ldmt1995]

Baby's first Skyrim Redundant

[@XboxGuineaPig]

0:53 is freaking GOLD

[@GrimK71]

well this game was basically a test for making a Amular MMO, so thats why he felt like it was a singleplayer mmo

[@AdAmTheStonE]

One of the best games I've ever played..

[@ZoeyPaigeLunaPhD]

It is a joy to play. I'm filled with sorry knowing I won't get to see what a next gen sequel would have looked like :(

[@GameLoot]

I played this for like 400+ hours... LOVED this game. I also see THQNordic bought the rights to it! Fingers crossed we get a remaster and then a sequel!

[@EagleEyeMcFly]

How would anyone who doesn't have internet connection hear about this?

[@dethbreth8]

We found a plot hole! NURSE!

[@armourawesome9507]

I record it in a digital recording camera and show it to you

[@chazzergamer]

Yahtzees point is that in category 2 you can't turn round because you are afraid that something is behind you and you know it is and you know the second you turn around he will get you. Slender is under category 2 because it matches everything Yahtzee said. Something is behind you (after the first paper find): Check Atmosphere makes you afraid to turn around: Check Get more and more tense as the game progresses:Check Eventually you turn round and more often you get a fright: Check Category 2.

[@alwaysangry2232]

BIG HUGE last game, really wanted another rise of nations *cries in front of the RTS tomb*

[@TheRedstonian]

I wanted Rise of Legends to be finished, but then they died. D:

[@pungivergiverofpuns3611]

I preferred rise of legends, but maybe that's because I played it first.

[@Thejigholeman]

thing about koar is that you can beat it extremely easily if you go for the jack of all trades route. longsword and shield, heavy armor/light armor ,magic "take less damage" bubble and lightning blast from beginning of game, poison attack aura that looks like a leaking pressurized pipe from the rogue tree,and gem your long sword with poison damage and maybe some fire, viola you win.

[@ZoeyPaigeLunaPhD]

I'm just going plate armor, longsword, chackrams, shield, and magic and at level 16, just clobbering everything. I'm not even tourching the rogue/thief tree. I'm sure there are some tough enemies ahead but how much stronger will my character be 5 levels from now? :D

[@sparkie1j]

so was it worth damaging the economy of the state of rhode island?

[@rightwingersexposed8800]

The game might have been a smash if Schilling and Salvatore were not taking giant cuts from the payment system.

[@One3673241]

Rhode Island is never going to hurt financially; most of its inhabitants are rich fucks who hide their money in off-shore bank accounts anyway.

[@wyveriusblackfire3834]

I think the reason for it's failure is that it came out too close to Skyrim. Bit unfortunate that.

[@herohades2230]

@@One3673241 Oh how I wish this were true

[@One3673241]

@@herohades2230 It is.

[@MSUHitman]

The vids released to YT are 6 months old. You have to go to their site to see the newer videos.

[@Gingrnut]

Wow, I think he liked it :o

[@phenomenon4810]

No, he's saying its a waste of time -_-

[@truekurayami]

One note about the "Fae" thing in the game it that would use the over race that most elves in myth come from being Faeries, Or as we normally see the spelling Fairies. As for the Unseelie part that just points out they are supposed to be dark to their nature.

[@dyldragon1]

How the fuck can there be w baby's first Skyrim when Skyrim was baby's first RPG

[@dyldragon1]

I don't like any Elder Scrolls games. Combat sucks and there's no characters or plot that I can get attached too. I don't know why people insist that this series has some great lore when all I get out of it is generic fantasy (dragons elves and orcs are original as fuck). I would say my favorite WRPG series would be the Fallout games (3 and Brotherhood never happened shhh), but I found that WRPGs never have the same story telling chops or fun gameplay that more traditional JRPGs have (my favorite game franchise is definitely Shin Megami Tensei).

[@dyldragon1]

I know there's stuff about religious persecution and ascension to godhood, as well as the feuding Daedra. Even with this, it lacks a personality.

[@dyldragon1]

I've played Morrowind. I kinda like it. Elder Scrolls games are sort of ok. I never got why people like the gameplay, it's just too basic. I get that there's a lot of lore but it's still pretty typical of a fantasy setting. It's not like SMT Nocturne, where you gradually learn of why the world ended, it's eventual rebirth, and the reasons of the 3 orders, not too mention the mythological context of each individual demon.

[@Grom763]

"Here comes the magic missile !" Yahtzee

[@derrickhaggard]

Anyone besides me here because of hype for the upcoming remaster KOA: Re-Reckoning. And yes I did love the original and did do a decent amount of side-quests including the House of Sorrows side-quest-line.

[@LCMusic96]

That downward camera thing is so true. It was such a bad idea.

[@EvanCWaters]

Noticing a very suspicious concentration of really enthusiastic KOA fans in the comments.

[@Dazen101]

Ya. This game has some sort of a small cult following and I dont understand it since the game is shit.

[@uzernam303]

Sean Thompson some people are bored and feel the need to justify their waste of money, I suppose.

[@uzernam303]

***** Yeah thankfully Steam Sales can make previously unappealing games much more attractive by slashing their prices. Honestly I probably shouldnt have made that earlier comment anyway since I haven't even played the game, but whatever. Have a good one.

[@k34t-nkeaton97]

Neenjah Rammus "unappealing" explain how an offline mmo thats fable mixed with wow mixed with morrowind and a touch of darksouls minus the lolsohardcore is a bad thing? fuck you dude.

[@uzernam303]

Ynn Ponya "offline mmo" is already pretty damn unappealing. "mmo" is like a great big pile of shit to me these days, and the only reason to tolerate one might be for the social interaction, so if you make it offline, that's like leaving the big ol' pile of shit to bake in the sun for a couple weeks. there. I gave you an explanation. happy? great, now feel free to go fuck yourself.

[@Natterforme]

Cant wait for the re-reckoning review lol

[@kylewhite9383]

Ellen from outside extra should watch this 😂

[@ShinobuSakurazaka]

Unsurprisingly, the two companies that work on this game both when to the wall just 3 months after this game was released. They were based in Rhode Island which is a shame because the only time New England is related to gaming in any way is either PAX East or some CEO in New York makes some announcement about something in GTA V.

[@damobeck1]

Hey Blake how is Weiss?

[@ahaziaderrick9853]

Did he say kingdoms of Alamo?

[@Tohstie]

He just says it Alamur instead of Amalur

[@QuilloManar]

1:49 - "Kingdoms of Vurhbedur"

[@Binyamin.Tsadik]

He did that on purpose... i think

[@ahaziaderrick9853]

Binyamin Tsadik i know mate :)

[@fireruby544]

1:41-1:45 There's an exception to every rule?.... Which as I think is actually a pretty good comparison when talking about this, given how that too has a paradox so unsettled that I wonder if I made a grammatical error for not putting a question mark at the end of the word "paradox".

[@ReleasedHollow]

I enjoyed this game, it was a welcome colorful break from bland and gritty generic fantasy everything that is out right now. I enjoyed making my might/sorcery character with a bit of Earthbending thrown in (Quake ability) and even though the quests got a bit repetitive i still was entertained. I'd advise you to rent it though. Now back to grey scale realism.

[@DexFlames]

Where can you even rent games nowadays? D: I always thought the modern-day equivalent to "rental" was "steam sale".

[@ReleasedHollow]

We have a Rental store in town, its nice when you want to try a game without wasting too much on it in case its not what you thought it was.

[@reaverred9729]

ReleasedHollow Indeed, the best way to get an idea of a game is t play it yourself, I watch Yahtzee's reviews usually as a comedic personal opinion show.

[@ApocalypseMoose]

3:27 Theodore Roosevelt confirmed best WoW player.

[@fede6811]

Yahtzee: plays Kingdoms of amalur using the most time effective, if boring build possible. Also Yahtzee: GOD THIS GAME IS SAMEY

[@aelechko]

Then perhaps the game needs to balance itself so there’s more then one best way to do something. Completely viable criticism.

[@IC-xk4gi]

Mixing 2/3 parts Warrior with 1/3 of mage gets you pure awesomeness, teleporting back and forth doing are damage just by appearing and having instakilling area attacks with flashy explosions while looking epic in a mix of cloth and heavy armor, calling down asteroids while holding your big ass sword over your shoulder

[@thecompanioncube4211]

I'm surprised Zero Punctuation is still alive and has not been killed by Ellen yet

[@demacry]

Honestly "baby's first Skyrim" is pretty accurate. I never really had a thing for RPGs but KoA was easy to pick up, with decently rewarding RPG-ish things like crafting, stat/skilltree growing and a disturbing number of side quests. Now I thoroughly enjoy wasting away my waking hours conquering many old RPGs that were acclaimed but, at the time, not for me. I've replayed the first hours of KoA so many times it must of done something right; that or I'm a lot easier to please than I thought.

[@runeshark22]

still, sounds like a decent game, can't be worse than skyrim's combat system...

[@markostamenkovic8350]

It features one of the, if not THE best action based combat systems in an RPG to date. KoA, that is. The problem is, as Yahtzee said, in difficulity, even on Hard enemies get rekt, especialy endgame.

[@sebizzus]

its a polar opposite

[@Binyamin.Tsadik]

It would be if it didn't have so many side quests... I couldn't finish it because I got tired of doing the same thing over and over for 40+ hours... I'm pretty sure I got close to the end but it lost all appeal after hour 5. Do yourself a favor and play something else.

[@markostamenkovic8350]

Binyamin Tsadik Side quests are not necesary. That is why they call 'em side quests. You can just skip them. I personaly never got bored of fighting in this game, wich is good cause there is a lot of it. And character building is fun with those well made skill trees.

[@ShatterPalm]

Marko Stamenkovic Combat was pathetically easy, especially once you can load yourself down with a hundred and ten healing potions, but there are a few enemies that were absolute assholes. The Ettin Warchiefs, for example. Fucking hell, those guys wrecked my shit.

[@GuyWithTriangle]

I wonder if the shenanigans behind the scenes of this game will ever be the subject for a ZP "gaming history" video

[@maxhydekyle2425]

Why are elves always about to leave our world because they're the old wise ones? I'd love to play a game with elves that are young and dicks to everyone.

[@Selvyre]

Basically, we need a good Discworld game.

[@agentstarkk]

KC Halcomb "That doesn't work. " (in an English accent)

[@miraj6272]

The elves in the elder scrolls are dicks

[@MALICEM12]

"turned chicken and ran away when it saw all the skills outside of World of Warcraft's cave." that seems up that game genre pretty well...and is hilarious!

[@somniloguy12]

You know, as soon as a game comes out that requires just the tiniest amount of work to get some good things out of it Yathzee seems to be incapable of dealing with it. Kingdoms of Amalur is actually a lot of fun under the surface. The plot is deep and interesting, the combat is fun if you just change classes anytime you get bored. The only thing that really bothered me is that the whole experience is just a bit too spread out, if the just took 25% of the whole game and used it to polish up the remaining 75% it would have been a real masterpiece.

[@somniloguy12]

Robert Douglas And with that I agree. I do think it has some really cool things though. Both the lore and story test your patience but are worthwhile in the end, I liked the class mixing and I never had any trouble with grinding on my second playthrough, when I knew what I was doing and when I didnt put all my points into lockpicking and persuasion. And I stand by the point that taking a quarter of the game to make the remaining parts better would have done a lot

[@Gamer3427]

In regards to the enemies respawning thing, it's pretty much purely for gameplay purposes. If enemies don't respawn, then you have a limited number of resources, exp, ect in each playthrough. That's fine for games that are balanced in a way where you have fixed progression, but in an open world RPG that could potentially mean crippling yourself resource wise if you make some bad decisions, or worse, having to deliberately clear every map entirely to try and get a little bit more exp/loot if you ever get stuck on a tough fight. I'm not saying it's impossible to balance an open world RPG around the idea that enemies are limited, but it's a hell of a lot harder to do it well than it is to just have enemies respawn.

[@getxyourxkillxon]

Yeah there was something of KOA that just didn't do it for me. It felt a lot like Fable as he mentioned, but I think the main reason why i didnt enjoy it all that much was due to the fact, I had just burn't myself out on Skyrim after 40,000 hours plugged into it, and i so desperately waned for another fantasy based RPG, but as he mentioned in the video, everything about this game was a slightly less interenting version of Skyrim, and therefor, i just couldnt get into it. I felt like i was playing the kiddie version of the game i had already spent what felt like half of my life. And so the gapping void that would be compared to a gay porn stars rectum yearning for a fantasy RPG remains unfilled.

[@fede6811]

getxyourxkillxon ESO might try to fill it, if not try Fallout NV, or come join me by the campfire while we wait for Elder Scrolls 6 to peek over the horizon cause I know only Bethesda can strike Skyrim's ray twice in a row

[@getxyourxkillxon]

I already played Fallout NV until my thumbs fell off for an ever un-quenched lust for a game that resembles Skyrim.

[@fede6811]

Lets just have an Ale and wait for it

[@getxyourxkillxon]

yes agreed. an Ale or twelve.

[@fede6811]

That's a good man

[@ZanathKariashi]

One thing I really wished was added before the company collapsed was a Very Hard mode, where all world areas are automatically at the maximum level scale, and dungeon areas dynamically scaled. Since it's very possible to dramatically alter your strength level outside of leveling up by using consumables and enchantments, and the early game ranges are reasonably low any way, it would've dramatically improved the combat substantially IMO. That would mean you could actually use the good combat system to it's fullest AND not feel like you're playing in God-mode for just looking at the alchemy/enchantment system menu.

[@sythersight]

"In a single player game I don't understand the point in re-spawning enemies." Ahahah. Dark Souls.

[@garethniles6152]

Have you played this game? If you turn the camera away from where you previously looking the monsters will respawn. Not a reset every time you fail

[@voidremoved]

cool. great. the worst is games without respawning. then its empty with nothing left to slay :( guess I will stop trying to find positive reviews of the game and just go buy it.

[@cam-the-bassist]

'like breeding a fly that eats rolled up newspapers' - amazing

[@JediSpectre117]

Mmmm I take issue with Yahtzee with what he says about teaching yourself a second language, for one thing he calls it Norwegian, WRONG, the Seelie Fae as he refers to them are Celtic (thus Scottish and Irish) in fact he's completely wrong with the "Fae but really Elves" as fae is the original Irish and Scottish word for Fairies, (though ironical he is right at the same time as the Norse counterparts are, you guessed it Elves.) In fact I take issue with him essentially calling it generic, for one thing its nice and vibrant in colour with beautiful location (heck it would have still had that if you did it Witcher/ Skyrim style.), Its story slightly cool with the fate stuff (which he does mention) and it makes a lot or references (not just with creatures) to Celtic mythology, (and often use creature names that are rarely used in fantasy.) In fact this is the only fantasy I'm aware of that refers alot to Celtic myths (that being of Ireland and Scotland and the four other Celtic nations.) Having got it in the steam sale, (now over) I'd encourage others to get it as it's quite good, especially if you are of the Celtic nations or have a love of Celtic mythology.

[@KibaPwnU]

I'm just amused he had the word Norge in the review "Norway" in norwegian unless the "nor" didnt make it clear :P

[@Plankensen]

I'm pretty sure he took Norwegian because its quite hard to english-speakers to pronounce it anywhere near ok.xD What I find funny was that he put the mumitroll as ''european folklore''

[@dnrob7]

He doesn't wan't to learn another language to play the game, so he didn't. How can you then "take issue" with him guessing it wrong? o_0 He just used the word 'Norwegian' instead of 'that foreign shit I didn't learn'

[@Paulbreetbisihrkotzt]

And *I* got flamed for pointing out that inworld Fae and Elves are completely different...Un-f******-believable...

[@MultiHydralisk]

It's official. I learn more about culture from youtube comments and videos then I do in my damn college classes. *applause*

[@Morec0]

I cannot wait for the completion of "The Device"!

[@Galiardde]

Combat was well done, quest variety was not

[@Rodrigo-ei4ht]

i came to see what he would think of Ellen's child. I wasn't disappointed. Pretty good review. He didn't seem to hate it xD

[@hiphopfanatic4088]

Baby's First Skyrim would be a victim of child rape, since Skyrim is already for babies.

[@Jonesracheld]

I'll tell you what, this game really helped me adjust to working the PS3 controller, and just fell in love with the game, my buddy had a character allready leveled up a bit and let me go with it, and i got to the end of the game and ended up starting from the begining so i could explore every nook and crannie.

[@theindisposable5525]

Who else is here because Ellen?

[@Cawtea]

worst part is they are doing a remake now that visually looks the same with new lighting...

[@Becktastic01]

When you described the setup, I had to pause the video to laugh so I didn't miss what you said next. The land of bingelybongelyboo LOLLLL

[@user-zf3fc9tn5k]

Did Yahtzee ever get around to finishing "The Device" or is it still in production?

[@Nigglingor]

Someone actually used the phrase "baby's first skyrim" unironically. That's hilarious for so many reasons I can't even be bothered to count.

[@ramjet94]

Yeah I noticed that whole "camera pointed gown thing too"

[@snorksteranimation5524]

One of my all-time favorite games, you know there was a sequel in plan that was nearly halfway done sad will never get to see it.

[@MysteriumArcanum]

your comment and account icon go hilariously well together XD

[@candymountain5]

Because seeing a zero punctuation in my subbox makes my day, even if I've seen the video 50 times already

[@AlwaysANemesis]

The only reason I ever subscribed to this channel: This right here.

[@Gameshunter92]

One of the things I did myself in this game was be a Rogue/Wizard with Wizard clothes (selfmade with the best of the best, I was OP as fuck), and altered weapons between FaeBlades/daggers and bows... yes, a mage using a bow, but you should know, Bow skills maxed was the shiz for killing big enemies. At close range a fully charged shot will just make them kiss the floor in a milisecond.

[@sator_project]

I actually bought the game based on this recommendation. You see, I wanted to play some Skyrim, but at this point if I play anymore Skryim, I'll go into a diabetic coma. I wouldn't call it a great game, but it certainly is fun time. So as a half decent Skyrim clone, I'd say it was well worth the $12 I spent on steam for it, and it's worth keeping an eye out for during Steam's next big sale.