Author Topic: IT'S STILL ON SALE!!!! Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning collection $7.49 GamersGate  (Read 4082 times)

Captain Electric

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« Last Edit: July 13, 2013, 11:14:06 AM by Captain Electric »

Aggelakis

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KoA is a great hacknslash. Super easy brainless bashbashbash, with a really nice story to boot.

(you can bump the difficulty to make it harder, but it works BEAUTIFULLY on 'normal' for stress relief that I never bumped it)
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Captain Electric

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Good news, it wasn't a daily deal, it looks like a sale-wide deal! You can still get this bundle for 75% off!

There are several other bundles listed on sale too, just have a look at the front page of GamersGate.com!

Captain Electric

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The game is not for sale on Steam, so people in the Steam forums have been debating about whether to get the game elsewhere, given the knowledge that they'd have to install EA's Origin platform if they did so. The debate isn't just about adopting other platforms, but about whether some games are worth doing it for. I wrote this opinion on there just now and thought I'd post it here too.

If this game ever went on sale on Steam (like 75 or 80 percent), I would probably buy it again just to get access to Steam achievements.

I bought the collection on GamersGate last night for $7.49 (75%). I downloaded it from GamersGate, but the installation process involved the installation of Origin and registration of the game through that service. Since I already have an Origin store account (for Ultima Online purchases), I was able to use that account to sign in to the Origin client. I didn't like having to sign up for EA's gaming platform on account of EA's always-on DRM, and I think EA's always-on hangup attributed to the game's financial failure in the market. (A game can be one of the best games ever made and still be a financial failure if it doesn't make back the investment that went into it, which in this case was enormous.)

Be that as it may, signing in for the first time and installing the game through Origin was easy. My level of tolerance for always-on DRM varies. I shun UPlay because it is nothing but a bag of problems, but I was willing to put up with Games for Windows Live for the sake of Dawn of War 2 (when I discovered GFWL doesn't hate newer PCs).

I started Kingdoms of Amalur and played for about two or three hours, through the first area of the game, and experienced no crashes or other problems; But bear in mind, my PC is built with all-new hardware that exceeds the game's recommended specs by far. The game ran smooth as glass. Playing through the Origin service was easy and painless last night, and as long as that continues to be the case, I'll put up with it if the game is worth it. If it lets me down, you'll hear about it here. (I'm aware that it HAS let some of you down already.)

The Origin client itself has a smaller memory footprint than Steam. It has three major components: the storefront, my library, and my friend list. The friend list allows you to add friends from across different networks, like XBox Live, Facebook, Playstation Network, and Origin itself. Origin also has its own cloud like Steam does, for saving and playing games across multiple PCs. And you can buy and install DLC from within games, which is handy if you want the $5 weapons and armor booster that isn't included in the GamersGate purchase.

All in all, I don't regret my purchase and if I had known the game was as fun as it is, I would have bought it at full price. The story in Kingdoms of Amalur is exciting from the start, and gameplay is similar to newer online RPGs like Neverwinter, but better in my opinion, because combat is more interesting and you start out with a base proficiency in all class skills, similar to older RPGs like Ultima Online. Kingdoms of Amalur also features stealth combat similar to newer games like Amazing Spider-Man and the Batman Arkham games. And because of your base proficiency, even if you decide not to specialize in that direction and become a master rogue or thief, you'll always be able to sneak up on the occasional guard when the situation calls for it.

Super Firebug

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I'm an idiot for not researching this game before buying it. A little tidbit I found on Amazon's listing of it:

INTERNET CONNECTION, EA/ORIGIN ACCOUNT, ACCEPTANCE OF PRODUCT AND ORIGIN END USER LICENSE AGREEMENTS, INSTALLATION OF THE ORIGIN CLIENT SOFTWARE (WWW.ORIGIN.COM/ABOUT) AND REGISTRATION WITH ENCLOSED SINGLE-USE SERIAL CODE REQUIRED TO PLAY

I love submarine sims, but I refuse to buy "Silent Hunter 5" because it won't play without a live Internet connection. And I hate having to install some company's client software to play their game; I feel like I'm being spied on. (Using their downloader program was bad enough.) I wish I'd known this crap before I wasted $8, and a 22-hour download by DSL. It's my fault for trusting instead of verifying.

Posted as a warning label, in case others also object to these things. If you don't mind them, enjoy.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2013, 07:00:08 AM by Super Firebug »
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Captain Electric

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This is a good example of "YMMV". I won't even try to talk you out of that viewpoint because I think it's entirely valid, and it's the same view I have about UPlay for instance.

"Always-on", by itself, doesn't bother me anymore. There are a couple of dozen single-player games I won't play on Steam if my Internet connection goes down for fear that it won't grant my achievements later. (This is supposed to be fixed in most newer games but I'm paranoid about it.) Reporting various usage statistics doesn't bother me in some cases. Our usage statistics are recorded everywhere we go online, whether we're told about it or not. I'm actually relieved when I'm asked or warned about it first, informed about what's being recorded and why. I really don't care if they want to know that I played for X amount of hours and bought the DLC and I'm in my 30s. More power to them but YMMV. Of course if I find out they are sucking bandwidth to gobble up huge reams of data about my playtime, they lose my business because that's pretty frakking irritating. Origin has a cloud service, so if I could run the game without Origin turned on, I wouldn't. I was actually impressed to learn about that, as well as the easy DLC install option. Origin also seems to have its own achievement system (I saw one pop up in the game last night). As always, YMMV.

My past self from only three years ago would punch my present self in the mouth if he heard me saying these things. I'm a huge supporter of personal liberties and privacy. But I always knew the entertainment industries would be the first to whittle away at my privacy, offering to buy it for entertainment that is hard to resist. I still have my limits but I do trade a little bit of my privacy with companies when the reward is sweet, like stealth action combat in a massive fantasy world. :P

Rust

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I'm still saddened that the financing for this game was so borked that the studio stood zero chance of success in the long term. These folks "got it".
All that I'm after is a life filled with laughter

silvers1

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I purchased one of the DLCs for the game, which never worked.  Their promised refund never materialized.

Just fyi for anyone else who wants to avoid getting burned.

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Captain Electric

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What DLC was it and where did you buy it? Also did you buy the DLC and base game from different places?

Just curious because I haven't activated any of my DLC yet. I'm about 15 hours into the game and loving it so far, but yeah, that would be an irritating snag if there ever was one.

silvers1

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What DLC was it and where did you buy it? Also did you buy the DLC and base game from different places?

Just curious because I haven't activated any of my DLC yet. I'm about 15 hours into the game and loving it so far, but yeah, that would be an irritating snag if there ever was one.

I purchased "Legend of Dead Kel", I believe through their Origin client.  The client listed the DLC as installed, however I never could get the starting
quest to trigger, despite repeated calls to their customer support.
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