Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning trailer highlights fighting

A new developer commentary trailer for Big Huge Games' upcoming action-RPG has arrived, explaining the principles of combat in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

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Big Huge Games has released a brand-new trailer for the February-due Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning today, in which the developers discuss the game's action-based combat system and the symbiotic relationship it shares with the game's animation design. Described as an action-RPG, the developers seem eager to reaffirm that the game combo-driven combat retains the customization and epic storyline that RPG enthusiasts will expect.

Combat in the game is all about combos. Players will be able to seamlessly flow between melee, ranged attacks, and magic on the fly. "It's all about creating this language that players can then build off of," explains Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Lead Combat Designer Joe Quadara.

According to the trailer, the animators worked closely with those designing the gameplay mechanics to ensure that each encounter and action is visually portrayed using "strong stances" that lend visual power to each movement. In other words, the developers want you to be able to pause during any frame of animation and be able to deduce things like the player's strength, weight and power of the weapon being used, and the impact of each landed blow.

Based on the video, we're curious to hear what you think about the combat system in the comments.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is due out for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 on February 7, 2012.

From The Chatty
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    December 22, 2011 4:00 PM

    Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning trailer highlights fighting.

    A new developer commentary trailer for Big Huge Games' upcoming action-RPG has arrived, explaining the principles of combat in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

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      December 22, 2011 5:43 PM

      Most of that looked pretty fun. I really liked the spell towards the middle that was a fire-finisher double-handed blowtorch thing that lifted the player up and slowly jetted them backwards while roasting the bad guy. In fact, it looked like most of the magic finishers created breathing space for the player in some way.

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      December 22, 2011 6:22 PM

      Cool, although I do wish the music reminded me LESS of Star Wars.

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      December 22, 2011 7:11 PM

      The combat looks like good fun.

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      December 22, 2011 7:37 PM

      Ok so its an Action RPG, but what kind? like Divinity 2, Risen, Gothic, The Witcher or more like Diablo,Torchlight, Titan quest?

      I prefer my Action RPG's with a good story, npc's to talk/interact with and lots of different quest types with multiple outcome (i know its quite rare these days) oh and some great diverse environment to explore.

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        December 22, 2011 7:45 PM

        Fable meets Elder Scrolls

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        December 23, 2011 6:01 AM

        That's exactly what Reckoning is. Massive number of quests, NPC's (all voiced). Huge world to explore, tons of dungeons all handcrafted. Massive amount of loot (think Diablo).

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      December 23, 2011 9:55 AM

      Looks awesome, but without mod tools, I'm not too interested in PC version.

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      December 23, 2011 2:23 PM

      So does this RPG have those 3rd person povs in which you use the mouse pointer 'in game' like in WOW ?

      Or 3rd person in the style of Assassins Creed or Risen, or GTA etc??

      I'm quite fussy when it comes to that.. I dont like 'in game mouse pointer', it takes away the realism of the game for me. . .

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        December 23, 2011 6:47 PM

        Since this is a console with a PC port release you can bet it's not mouse pointer setup for movement.

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      December 28, 2011 8:28 AM

      I hope the game has some difficulty to it. I like what they are saying about the solid feeling of the combat. That connected feeling between the animation and the actual damage being done is one of things which I found so compelling about Dark Souls. If they also make the game challenging plus have a deep RPG experience in an open world... it could be something really cool. I'm not too crazy about the somewhat cartoony design of the game.... but it's probably something I could get used to.

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