Kingdoms! Of! Amalur! Mass Effect 3 aside, it's rapidly shaping up to be this spring's role-playing timesink, with a reported 60 hours in store for those who brave the Faelands.
You'll get 45 minutes out of those sixty hours in the Amalur demo, less the time you'll spend in the tutorial. So, what should you prioritise once the stage-setting concludes and you're tipped into the world itself? We have a few suggestions.
1. Pickpocket everybody
It's easy to glance at Amalur's cover and forget there's a veritable tome of a game lurking beneath. The graphics aren't so hot, and the big-boobed, sharp-lobed, porcelain-skinned aesthetic is about as compelling as cacti on toast. Take the time to touch on every dialogue topic with every individual, and you may be surprised by the depth.
2. Visit the Golden Age Alchemy
There's a cheap and cheerful entry-level dungeon crawl to be found just round the corner from Gorhart, in Agnur Farhal. It takes you on a tour of bandit-infested caverns, then spits you out into Ordarath's first region to track down Olde Worlde WMDs. Visit Golden Age Alchemy and speak to the owner about her potion problem. The rewards include a store discount.
3. Recover the Seelie Hood
If you're after bigger rewards, and don't mind dealing with magical lightning traps, visit the Mission of St Odwig above Gorhart and accept the quest to recover the missing brother. You'll find the man north of the road through the forest. He'll agree to return with you to the Mission, providing you help him recover a potent magical artefact from nearby Waterhall Down.
The enemies within aren't especially testing - Boggarts mostly, highly susceptible to flame magic - but there are those aforesaid traps, which inflict both immediate and continual damage. Watch out for suspicious-looking stones and keep your thumb on the roll button.
4. Find the Wolf Man
Not far into Ordarath's second region (follow the road) you'll find a limping man who thinks he's a wolf. The encounter results in a few of the script's funnier moments, particularly the bit about pants. There's subsequently an exciting battle to be fought with element-themed sprites.
6 comments so far...
bamozzy on 17 Jan '12 said:
If all I have to do is play for 45 mins to unlock the gear then thats what I will do. I really am not interested in anything else and judging by comments from a lot of others - neither are they!! I have not heard many good things about this demo from my friends so if I have to, I will have to endure 45mins to get what I want from it.
Bezza89 on 17 Jan '12 said:
It's a good game if you're into RPGs, but I mean into RPGs. But once you get a message saying you have 45 minutes I stopped playing and just left my character there doing nothing, brewed up, chattered away aimlessly on the forums, pressed ok on the 'you have 20 mins left in Kingdoms of Amalur' then by the time they were up, BAM, free guns for Shepard.
kronk10 on 18 Jan '12 said:
Well i found this game a breath of fresh air! It is not original or breathtaking to behold but it is really really good fun! I didnt play the full 45 mins as it was late but i will wack it on again tonight to get the free stuff but i will be buying this game as i had a good time playing the opening level! The graphics look dated but when you look at the scenery etc it looks bright and vibrant and actually quite nice but the combat is epic! I love combos and over the top combat and this has it in spades and i love mashing certain buttons when it tells you to so you can an even longer kill on your enemy. The stealth kills are also good as this will be my prefered choice of character. Its not epic like skyrim and nothing except anouther eldar scrolls will be but it has bags of charm great voice actors, combat and when you dig its actually a deep rpg game! It seems this is what dragon age should have been
danhalen74 on 23 Jan '12 said:
demo felt a bit last gen to me, didnt play my 45 mins worth. looks like a solid 5/6 out of 10 type game to me (hard to gage from a demo obviously) and hearing todd macfarlane designed the characters i was pretty stunned at how 'meh' the whole thing looked....
bamozzy on 23 Jan '12 said:
I played the full 45 minutes worth purely to unlock the Mass Effect 3 items - Personally I though the game was ok but nothing special - combat got very repetitive and very quickly too. I certainly wouldn't pay £40 for it. If I happen to see it in a bargain bin for £10 AND there is a lull in games, I may be tempted......... (but it would also depend on what other games are in the bargain bin with it)
Clanger67 on 24 Jan '12 said:
Bit late to this party just downloaded and played demo.Don't think that i can add anything that hasn't been said.Think i might get this eventually not straight away though.Some other releases and looking after a house will stop that.