When I started Kingdom of Amalur: Re-Reckoning yesterday, though I haven’t played for six years, it all came rushing back. I immediately remembered why I’ve never actually finished the game — the aching loneliness of running an MMO by myself.
I remember really wanting, back in the day, a version of EverQuest without other people, just me and a party of NPCs, killing stuff and camping camps. Games like KoA remind me that something like that would be really boring.
I’ve never finished KoA in the three or so times I’ve played it over the years, but this time — it’s happening.
The last time I played, I started off as a dark elf with a knack for stealth and daggers. Eventually, in that last playthrough, I respec’d to a combination of stealth and magic that mostly killed everything before mobs knew I was even there. I resolved that in this play through, I was going to try something new and entirely different. Maybe a warrior of light? Maybe a priest bringing the divine justice?
Or maybe — hear me out — a stealthy dark elf focusing on daggers? I was disappointed in myself for making a character just exactly as I made before. Thankfully, it’s very easy to change builds in KoA, so I can change to a goddess of nuclear mayhem if I so choose. That’s what I did in my second playthrough.
I might just be too familiar with this game for my own good.
While the graphics have been notably upgraded from KoA: The Unrereckoninged, I didn’t see too many other changes. It took me an hour to escape the tutorial as I checked every nook and cranny for loot, all the while my little gnome docent grew increasingly panicked by my lack of urgency.
Hey, calm down, man. I was just dead.
I’d forgotten that in this game, you’re actually a newly created soul inhabiting a recently dead body. Since you didn’t come to life in the usual way, Fate has no plan for you, and so you can do as you please and nobody can tell you different.
Anarchy rules.
I’d forgotten that health doesn’t regenerate naturally in this game. You can find or craft weapons with lifesteal on them, or rest at an inn, for a price, or drink potions.
I remembered that, back in the day, the most important skill to learn was Blacksmithing, as it allowed you to break apart all the vast amounts of worthless loot you acquire and make new and different loot from it. I also vaguely remember that at some point I stopped with the smithing as it didn’t look like I could make more upgrades from it.
This is the key issue for me in this game — after all this time, I still remember the game so very well. I even remember the stuff adjacent to the game — all the real world drama with Curt Schilling and 38 Studios and the state of Rhode Island, and how much I was looking forward to seeing what all my favorite game designers and world builders were cooking up for the MMO for which KoA: The Pirkinning was only an appetizer.
This is what we could have had. (Does anyone else think that the world fly through there looks a lot like the original EverQuest trailer? Just with better graphics?)
I ended the night about three hours in to the game, having just unlocked the first hub and on the edge of level three. Still having fun, and with the whole world that I seem to remember in vivid detail ahead of me.
If you thought that KoA: The Reconnectingining was going to bring a different game, you’re wrong. It’s just the same, and the only reason to replay it now is either because you liked it the first time around, never played but always meant to, or want to be ready for the DLC coming out next year.
Options one and three for me.
