Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning lead designer Ian Frazier has told OXM that character customisation no longer sets role-playing games apart from other genres, adding that class-free specimens like Skyrim can be dissatisfying.
Asked (like Mass Effect 3 producer Mike Gamble) which feature or mechanic RPGs simply cannot do without, Frazier argued that piling on skill points is no longer enough. "The RPG genre is really hard to talk about in that sense, because there are very, very different definitions."
"So many genres have absorbed those elements. When's the last time you played a game that didn't have some way to advance your character and customise it to some extent? So while I'd like to say that, I don't think I can. Hmm. What would it be at this point?
Frazier thinks role-players need to offer a better balance of choice and structure, and Amalur's (fresh) take on character classes is nuanced accordingly. "For us in particular I think it's being able to build a class that you want to build. Because that's something that's unique to Reckoning, it's an RPG with a twist. If I was only going to keep one thing, that's what I'd keep: the system that lets you change your fate and play how you want to."
Amalur gives you three distinct upgrade trees and a deck of "Destiny" cards like "Arcanist" which buff different skills and attributes. You can reset your upgrade points entirely by visiting Fateweavers in the game world, and swap in different Destiny cards at any time.
"When we set out to build this game, and looked at the Destiny system at its earliest level, there were two things we saw in RPGs that bugged us, in opposite directions," Frazier went on. "I'm going to try to not name games here, but - there are some games where you choose a class at the beginning, and I hope it's good, because you're stuck with it for 80 hours.
"And then there's the other model that says you can do whatever you want. There are a couple of franchises that use it. You can shoot a bow, throw a fireball, swing a sword, and if you're willing to spend a bazillion hours eventually you'll be good at all those things.
"I wanted to find a solution that was somewhere between those extremes. So in Reckoning you technically can do everything, but you can't do it all at once.
"You have to choose the scope of what you'll let yourself be good at, both in terms of skills and combat abilities, and you do get that title - you get the nice little tarot card that tells you this is what you are, which for me at least as a player of table top games, I want that. I want to know that I'm a Paladin, and this is what a Paladin is, and Paladins are cool."
Watch out for an Amalur review next week, and peruse our most recent hands-on preview, Amalur weapons feature and Amalur demo to-do list in the meantime.
4 comments so far...
terry cheyne on 3 Feb '12 said:
i'd rather play skrim than this gutter trash
Spiderless on 3 Feb '12 said:
I like the sound of what they're doing but his constant knocking of Skyrim (even when he's 'not naming names') is annoying, its a great game, people love it, so you don't agree with some of its design directions? We get it, seriously.
Still I think Amalur is looking pretty good.
Clanger67 on 3 Feb '12 said:
But surely that is the idea of an role playing game.I haven't stayed ten years old all my life and have learned to do things in the intervening years.Alright they are only games but i don't mind developing my character and not being able to do everything in the first ten mins.And surely that adds re playability if i choose to be a warrior,with a bit of magic and other skills.On the next play through if i like the game enough i can be a theif.
Grummy on 4 Feb '12 said:
My god this guy talks some nonsense.
Amalur's take on the RPG isn't new at all, nobody I've spoken to thinks so, and no posts on different message boards and forums around have ever said so, they all say the same thing; it's old school.
He talks about freedom to build the character you want in his game, that it's unique and then aims yet another awful attack at Bethesda when part of the appeal of Skyrim is that it is so utterly free! Bethesda have been doing this for years over their games.
I also love how he makes it sound like Reckoning is the only RPG around where you can build a specific character that is unique to you. Utter hokum.
I'm all for developers promoting their game, good, go them, but if they're going to do it, for the love of god don't be so transparently full of crap. I don't give a monkeys bum if these guys are still bitter about splitting from Bethesda, I don't care if they like or hate Skyrim, what I don't like is when they try and promote their game by belittling another then trying to pass off their particular game as being unique when it demonstrably isn't. Fate cards? Puh-lease, its no different from playing a game that gives you bonus skill points to distribute at given levels, of which there are dozens, if not hundreds. I've got nothing against the mechanic, I think its interesting, but its not unique, its a bog standard mechanic just packaged differently.