38 Studios is Working on a Game, Apparently, Afterall (Kingdoms of Amular)

[Sky]

Big weapons look fucking cool. I don't get all the hate on huge swords and giant axes lately.

[Azazel]

I agree, the hammer is unrealistically oversized. Then again, ever seen anything put out by Games Workshop/Warhammer?

More importantly, I've gotta agree with Draegan. who gives a shit?

[Paelos]

Oversized weapons make you think of JRPGs, or anime, which a lot of gamers hate. Simple.

[Rendakor]

Because there aren't oversized weapons in western RPGs, or modern MMOs. 

And clearly Sky, I have an anime avatar so I must be broken.

[Severian]

Interview at USA Today (originally linked in other thread)

Let's be clear, I'm not trying to make a video game that looks like my artwork. And R.A. is not trying to write a story that is like one of his books. We know we are entering into a video game world and there's rules that we have to abide by. You still have to do a sword swing. Why can't it be a cool sword swing? What happened to the cool factor here? That is the stuff that was getting me scratching my head to try and see if we can't try to get some of those components in.

Cool = big.
Q.E.D.

[Typhon]

Is it a big deal?  No, if the combat is good I'd consider trying it - it wouldn't take long at all to get over the clownshoe-sized hammer.

Am I waiting around for more work and am bored?  Yes.  That said, I'm not trolling, I meant everything I typed.

Edit: yes, everything.

[Sky]

And clearly Sky, I have an anime avatar so I must be broken.

Not broken. Biased.

[WayAbvPar]

Is it a big deal?  No, if the combat is good I'd consider trying it - it wouldn't take long at all to get over the clownshoe-sized hammer.

Am I waiting around for more work and am bored?  Yes.  That said, I'm not trolling, I meant everything I typed.

Edit: yes, everything.

I'm with this guy. It is just fucking silly looking, and makes me think of shitty console or arcade fighting games.

[Engels]

So dushematic and someone else already dissed Salvatore's writing. Do other people feel this way about his work? I know he's not Tolkein, or even RR Martin, but I find him to have written very well for the scope of what he was aiming for. And you can't lay the emo charge on him since emo wasn't even a concept then. He's not anywhere near the level of drip found in currently written vampire/emo chicklit.

[ezrast]

I liked the Drizzt stuff when I was a kid. I haven't read any Salvatore since high school but looking back on it now I can only remember it as being pretty terribly pulpy. And vaguely racist.

[Draegan]

There is a lot of racism in those books.  Ya'know, orcs hate humans, evil evils hate evil elves etc.

[Bzalthek]

Big hammer aside, it's nice to know they were actually doing something at 38.  The screenshots look cool, but that video grates on me for some reason.  I think stunning the skeletons with an elbow to the face and finishing the other one with a stab to its nonexistent innards might be part of it.  I'm probably going to think this is a retouched video where those weren't originally skeletons and the combat sequence made more sense.

All in all, kinda disappointing after years of supersekretomgcanttell but I think I can understand why it was so hush hush if this is what they finally gave the nod to.

Probably best to stick with stills for right now...

[dusematic]

The cinematic was average.  It didn't look cheap.  It didn't look good.  I'm surprised they waited 4 years to release that, and then nothing else.  I mean, should we expect an information flood soon?  Because this trailer left me with zero interest in the game, whereas before I had some passing interest in a former baseball player making a game.  For comparison, go watch the Witcher's opening trailer  (they both feature the protagonist fighting undead).  A game that came out years ago looks and feels better. 

[Rasix]

I thought the single player release before the MMO was somewhat of a recent development for them.  Their endgame is still the MMO, so it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that this may be underwhelming or look somewhat half baked / disconnected from the MMO deliverable.  They're obviously shoehorning an acquisition into their game world and product roadmap.

If it doesn't suck, I really won't care about the small inconsistencies in the art design.  Most western RPGs look terrible anyways.

[Murgos]

So dushematic and someone else already dissed Salvatore's writing. Do other people feel this way about his work?

Yes.  Let's put it this way, he almost single handedly created that bookshelf in Borders that has nothing but derivative fantasy IP sequels on it.

[HaemishM]

Holy hell, that's a big fucking hammer.

[bhodi]

It could be perspective!

Or, maybe the hammer's made of foam rubber.

[Brogarn]

It could be perspective!

Or, maybe the hammer's made of foam rubber.

Magnetic foam rubber because I don't see how else it was stuck to his back.

[Soln]

The cinematic was average.  It didn't look cheap.  It didn't look good.  I'm surprised they waited 4 years to release that, and then nothing else.  I mean, should we expect an information flood soon?  Because this trailer left me with zero interest in the game, whereas before I had some passing interest in a former baseball player making a game.  For comparison, go watch the Witcher's opening trailer  (they both feature the protagonist fighting undead).  A game that came out years ago looks and feels better. 

pretty much what I was going to say

[Sky]

Magnetic foam rubber because I don't see how else it was stuck to his back.

Some day some pioneering dev house will uncover the secrets of sheathing technology (or strapping in the case of the HAMMER!!!1)

[WayAbvPar]

So dushematic and someone else already dissed Salvatore's writing. Do other people feel this way about his work?

Yes.  Let's put it this way, he almost single handedly created that bookshelf in Borders that has nothing but derivative fantasy IP sequels on it.

Go read the first few pages of the MMOG forum thread about Schilling's Green Monster Games. That should give you a feel for how many folks here view Salvatore.

Hint- he is not well loved.

[Engels]

Doesn't make any sense to me. Even if he 'single handedly created that bookshelf in Borders' is that strictly his doing? Not just a bandwagon effect due to his success within the fantasy nerd community?

Go read the first few pages of the MMOG forum thread

I'll go do that.

Edit: came back from reading the posts from 2007. Wow, I already had this argument. In detail. In any case, sorry that Drizzt ruined Trammel for WUA, WAP and Duse.

[Typhon]

I read "fighter-like combat" and said, "yes, that's what I'd like to have... I don't really believe that you'll deliver that, but I want it so badly that I'm willing to believe!"  Therefore I'm mildly interested in this game.

[Baldrake]

The sad truth is that most game writing is so poor that even a hack can significantly boost the level.

[WayAbvPar]

Doesn't make any sense to me. Even if he 'single handedly created that bookshelf in Borders' is that strictly his doing? Not just a bandwagon effect due to his success within the fantasy nerd community?

Go read the first few pages of the MMOG forum thread

I'll go do that.

Edit: came back from reading the posts from 2007. Wow, I already had this argument. In detail. In any case, sorry that Drizzt ruined Trammel for WUA, WAP and Duse.

Haha I went and read it again too and was just coming to mention that we had this discussion then too! Just wait until we are 80 and we can argue the same things multiple times a day without remembering.

[Azazel]

Oversized weapons make you think of JRPGs, or anime, which a lot of gamers hate. Simple.

http://www.games-workshop.com/

edit - okay watched the video. Looked like they were going for a real LOTR-feel in the opening with the Galadriel-alike VO. The skeleton fight was ok enough. Generic of course. The only silly part was, yes, stabbing the skeleton instead of decapitating it or something, but whatever.

And yes, the hammer bit at the end was fucking stupid. I can accept giant hammers, but I expect them to have some kind of heft. That hammer had all the heft and weight of a hairbrush. I'd only seen the stills, where I'd assumed that the thing was weilded in a manner that indicated it had some weight.

But really, this just goes with everything I've said all along. The company put together by the ex-baseball player with his new friends the comic artist/toy company owner and the fantasy pulp novellist doesn't mean shit in and of itself, since they're not necessarily any better at game design than anyone reading this thread. Generic new fantasy game/IP is going to be fucking generic.

[Azazel]

So dushematic and someone else already dissed Salvatore's writing. Do other people feel this way about his work? I know he's not Tolkein, or even RR Martin, but I find him to have written very well for the scope of what he was aiming for. And you can't lay the emo charge on him since emo wasn't even a concept then. He's not anywhere near the level of drip found in currently written vampire/emo chicklit.

How I feel about his work:
Overblown pulpy fiction written predominantly for gaming nerds between 16-26. Ok for what it is, but that genre isn't exactly going to produce much high quality writing. Massively overrated. Created one character that captured his market's imagination (the "good" rark elf who dual weilds - a fantasy Boba Fett - with absolutely no similarities with Elric.) And has been getting accolades and fanboi blowjobs for it ever since as he (understandably) rides that moneymaking character into the sunset.

No personal insults to anyone here, but that's how I feel about RA and his writing.

[tmp]

You can tell it's a modern game, rogues are holding their daggers backward

Slightly more serious, looks pretty but that "generic" comment from earlier hits pretty close; looking at the screenshots, between the colour palettes and aesthetics can't shake off a feeling i'm watching a (much) higher fidelity Torchlight/next Diablo clone with 3rd person perspective rather than more overhead view. Though maybe that's intended.

[Azazel]

What I've seen I consider even more generic than that - it just looks like the next/another one in the line of every generic fantasy action rpg game ever made, almost all of whom's names are forgotten 2 weeks after release.

[Lucas]

Comic-con summary from Gamespot (video is just the game trailer):

http://comic-con.gamespot.com/story/6270587/38-studios-takes-wraps-off-kingdoms-of-amalur/?tag=gs_news

Nothing worthy of mentioning, beside Rolston wanting you to drool on your controller like an angered yak or something.

And anyways, I heard that the fighters guild is recruiting, and that if you murder someone, the dark brotherood will come visit you in your sleep.

[Tarami]

Fucken drows.

[WayAbvPar]

I didn't realize they made clownshoes out of plate armor. 

[Arrrgh]

Fucken drows.

KneePeen

[HaemishM]

I guess dark elves don't dance, because he'd impale his fucking partner with those knees. Seriously, WTF?

[Sky]

I guess dark elves don't dance, because he'd impale his fucking partner with those knees. Seriously, WTF?

Then they're no friends of mine.