The menu UI looks awefull, and the npc interactions look very basic, i hope once your playing it does not look as bad.

Yeah they do look very doll like and stiff, and whats with the same bloody fat-giant fights over and over?

There lifeless and dull, same for the cutscenes, other hands-on gameing sites have complained of this also, for such a basic graphical style not requiring much horse power, i expect allot more.

The combat does look cool, and I actually like the visual style (in terms of art direction)... but that's about it.

I don't like the UI, hub or text design, and it seems pretty tame in comparison to *that other RPG*. I guess it depends whether you're viewing it as a total RPG package or an action game with RPG/free roaming elements.

If you view it as the former then it falls short of current standards, but in terms of the latter it looks to be a decent package.

Yeah, i love engrossing stories and sidequest so the NPC's are a very important element, i'm less enthused about this game now, but will still pick it up and give it a bash, i mean if i can give TwoWorlds2 a chance i can give this a chance lol.

Combat is the very best of the genre as far as we have seen.

It has the Destiny system in place in this game that no other game as far as I know have, where you can become a hybrid class of your liking and not restricted to what the game tells you.

This is a first game from this studio and as the way it looks now they are making a fantastic job and focusing in the very most important things about a RPG.

Expressionless NPCs are nothing in the grand scheme of things because thats not a part of gameplay like something for example "combat" "Loot" "Lots of dungeons" and things important in a game.

Two Worlds 2 can't be that bad is it?

Story/voice acting/npc expression (or lack of) TwoWorlds2 has some of the worst of these i have ever seen implemented in a RPG, the only thing that kept me playing for a while and its only saving grace was the Magic/Spell system where you could near enough make any type of wacky spell you could imagine, but in the end the lack of immersion killed any reason to continue playing and i stopped never to return.

This game seems to be going down the same root, i may enjoy the combat for a while but if the story is bad and lack immersion persist, it will go.

Q: During the newest Reckoning Destiny and Fate trailer with Ian Frazier, Will Miller, and Matt Berner, Will mentioned the Jack of all Trades Destiny that at the highest rank can equip all weapon mastery's. I was wondering is that because a Jack of all Trades person would have chosen to invest all points only in weapons as they leveled up? Or could I equally invest points into other skills like traps in Finesse, Mark of Flame in Sorcery, and Quake in Might as example and still gain the perk to use the weapon buff? I'm trying to make sure I don't waste points investing all into weapon upgrades skills if the perk does that for me, or understand more clearly how that works. – By Falkon

A: To earn the Universalist Destiny, it doesn’t matter which points you invest in, as long as you satisfy the requirements of putting a minimum amount of points equally in Might, Finesse, and Sorcery. So you can avoid investing in weapon upgrades and then get them all later for free! My own strategy would be to invest in the weapons that I use, but then pay some gold to reassign my skill points at a Fateweaver once I’ve earned the Universalist Destiny. – By Joe "JoeQ" Quadara, Lead Combat Designer


Q: How do you handle magic: do you scale damage, duration based on the player's level? – By Cjail01

A: The base values for all abilities are determined by the ability itself, how many points you've invested into it, and any buffs from your gear, Destiny, and Twist of Fate you've earned. You'll know what the damage you're putting out with a particular spell is without mysterious scale. That being said, enemies have their own armor, resistances, and weaknesses based on what they are and their level. See an enemy made of wood? Light it on fire with your magic or flame sword! – By Andrew "Andre" Frederiksen, Producer


Q: Are all Chakrams elementally themed? – By BurstDragon

A: Yes. All the weapons that are part of the Sorcery tree (Chakram, Sceptres, and Staves) always have an elemental damage type of Fire, Ice, or Lightning. Fire weapons apply a burning effect that does damage over time and sends some enemies into a panicked state. Ice weapons apply a slowing DoT. Lightning weapons will pulse Lightning damage and cause random hit reacts on the target. Further investment in the Chain Lightning ability will give your Lightning damage a chance to jump to nearby enemies. – By Joe "JoeQ" Quadara, Lead Combat Designer


Q: How will save files be handled? We know Reckoning will use the traditional game save system with checkpoints, but will each character get a separate file/folder for their saves (Like Mass Effect), or will it be a single file/folder that all saves will be stored in (Like TES)? – By Ajwol-Semreth

A: Reckoning keeps your save files together in one "folder", but when you are selecting which one to load you will see the level and name of your character, and where the save was made. So, it is very easy to know what you're about to load…and make sure it's the right one! Also, if you're playing Reckoning on PC, you can make separate profiles, and organize your saves by profile. – By Andrew "Andre" Frederiksen, Producer


Q: I am very curious about who the people are that are doing the voice acting. Could you name drop like never before? We know, because you told us and we have heard a little bit, that the voices are awesome, but who are the people behind? Can you tell us a bit more about the process of finding voice actors and the actual recording? – By Scroll

A: With roughly half a million spoken words in Reckoning, VO was an ENORMOUS undertaking.

We started by taking the 900-odd NPCs in the game, and working with the Designers to determine which were so unique or crucial to the story line that we needed to find actors with very signature voices to perform them. Once we had the list of "Unique Voice Types", we created a character bible, and sent it out for auditions. About a week later, we were drowning in great reads for all our NPCs, and the Creative Director, Audio Director, Lead Narrative Designer and I sat down and selected our top picks for each. Once the VO Session Director (Douglas Carrigan) confirmed the actors' availability, we created a 10-week schedule to get everything done. If only schedules had the ability to control the chaos that is life…. Mostly, everything went swimmingly, but as family emergencies, baby births, and other jobs came up for our actors, we scheduled sessions around the globe in England, New York, Seattle, Portland, San Diego and LA in order to finish on time.

To prepare the recording scripts, our team in Baltimore locked the text for any given session about 2 weeks before recording, giving us time to make final edits for spelling, continuity, and tone. I'd then take the lines, organize them by voice-type, and create recording scripts for the individual day. More than once, a Designer would run into my office calmly stating "So-and-So was labeled as the wrong NPC in the tool, when do we record?!" about 10 minutes before the actor was to read for said NPC. Let it be known, it is harder to make scripts while pretending to talk to an actor about their commute than one might think.

For each session, I or another producer along with a designer would sit in a room with the script on an LCD screen, dialed in to the recording studio where we could listen and talk to the studio tech (the lovely and talented Jaimie Siedow), the session director (the aforementioned Douglas), and the talent. Doug did an amazing job ingesting the lore of Amalur, as well as the part each character played in the world of Reckoning. We were on hand for the rare occasion someone didn’t read a line with the proper inflection, as well as the frequent occasion where someone didn't know how to pronounce a fantasy word or name we'd made up. Jaimie was a rock star, secretly keeping a list of pronunciations that ended up longer than 1,000 terms!

I won't name-drop every actor we have in Reckoning, as this would be an even longer response than I could write or most would have the stamina to read, so I'll just hit a couple that stand out for me:

Abby Craden voices the sultry and necessarily violent Alyn Shir.

Alan Shearman was an absolute joy to work with, amazing voice and great personality!

Cam Clarke (of Ninja Turtle fame) was a BHG favorite! We never asked him to do Leonardo, but we could hear it in his speaking voice (which would set us to giggling like the geeks we are).

Eliza Jane Schneider is super talented, super funny, and an all-around great gal.

Erin Fitzgerald was great for all the same reasons.

Greg Ellis did an amazing job with every character we could throw at him, including the Wolf-turned-Human (look for him north of Gorhart!).

Jim Cummings, of…well, everything fame, was so great to work with. He just "got" his characters, with almost every read a keeper. We've spoken earlier of his willingness to say "hi" to our kids in Pooh's and Tigger's voices, and he's an absolute joy to work with. Definitely some of our favorite sessions!

Jim Ward (Captain Qwark to some) did a great job jumping in as Fomorus Hugues when our original actor fell ill before finishing the character, as well as nailing every other character he had.

Kair Wahlgren was great and funny and awesome.

Laura Bailey was fantastic! She's also done "Lust" for Full Metal Alchemist and, ironically, is engaged to the voice of Captain Mustang from the same!

Liam O'Brien (known to me as "War" from Darksiders) was also really great to work with and very talented.

Simon Templeman is a personal favorite of mine from his work on the Legacy of Kain series. His work with Michael Bell and the late Tony Jay was A. Maze. Ing. When we had Simon in the booth, I stepped out of my "dispassionate producer" persona to ask if he had risen above receiving compliments for his work. He laughed and invited as much praise as I could throw at him, which I did. That was one of my biggest geek moments working on this project.

Again, there are far more actors in Reckoning than are listed here, and I would (hopefully will) work with all of them again in the future. I hope this bit of behind-the-scenes look at the Voice Acting helps you appreciate it that much more when you have the final game in your hands! – By Sean "notthatseanbean" Bean, Producer

@Blmbox

The game was originally a MMORPG design, but they decided to give it a SP mode so they can release the MMO version later on.

This does bode well for me.