I find it weird that this review mentions Aliens and The Thing and not the works of H.P. Lovecraft which it so openly draws from, there is even a Cthulhu reflected in the goggles of the guy... (which in itself is nonsensical as Antarctica is the realm of Shoggoths and Elder Things and Cthulhu isn't found there at all)

At the Mountains of Madness (which this game's plot almost plagiarizes) is one of my favorite Lovecraft novellas. I'd like to know how faithful to its story and atmosphere the game is.

"That's very clear. I've believed for about a year now that as soon as tablets can stream on to TVs, then there's no reason why you should buy a console anymore. We're still pushing the tablet game market ourselves, and you'll see both casual and hardcore titles from us." -- Cevat Yerli, Crytek CEO

Right... Only thing that's clear to me is tablets are nowhere near the gaming-PC-replacement-level of consoles and if they come close, I suggest we rethink the attribution of the name "tablet". ^^'

Can't wait to try hardcore titles on tablets, though. That'd be a welcome change. :)

@IanNottinghamX I know. That's why I pick TSW instead of TERA (I hate PvP, myself).

I just wish there was an engaging story in TERA and engaging combat in TSW. ^^

I can't play two MMORPGs at the same time... A shame I have to choose between engaging combat in TERA and engaging story in TSW and I can't have both...

I'll go with TSW personally, but I can't fault people who pick TERA instead. ^^

Obviously not everybody cares about the same stories.

The problem I had with KoA wasn't with its story, but with the exposition of it, which, IMO, was TERRIBLE:

- all characters were clones

- the voice acting sucked... what with almost everybody trying so hard and having weird accents that didn't match those of other people in the area...

- the writing was sub-par, especially the dialog lines

- the whole story is about not being tied by fate and being able to change the fate of others... except the game doesn't give you much leeway in practice... countless times I had to watch NPCs die without a chance to even try to save them, which completely broke immersion for me, as it was the most important (the only?) defining feature of the protagonist.

The most aggravating problem for me was the dialog system... Every boring generic quest-giver would ramble on for ages, but when I was finally interested in some topic, I couldn't get more out of them. Case in point: Alyn Shir. She appears and tells you she knew you before you-know-what (don't want to spoil it).

I wanted to ask her all manner of things, including: What's my real name? How did you-know-what happen? What kind of person was I before you-know-what? Were we best friends? Allies? Rivals? F*ck buddies? Did you even try to prevent you-know-what from happening? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU???

But I was only given a handful of non-sensical questions described by misleading words (one or two). For instance, when I clicked on "War", I assumed I would ask about which side she was on and if she thought we had a fighting chance and stuff... But seeing as her answer went along the lines of "Have you been living under a rock for years? Of course there's a war!", I assume it was much dumber and uninteresting a question than that... Also, I'd like to point out how heartless and dumb it was to say that knowing about you-know-what.

So there, I agree that KoA had a good story, but I've seen hack'n'slashes and MMOs deliver whatever passes for their story much better. Which is why I think of KoA as a great hack'n'slash and not an RPG.

@resident_jisen Baldur's Gate, not good?

We officially agree to disagree.

And as a pen and paper player and master myself, I can't say I understand what appeals to you in KoA. Then again, I've met some pen and paper RPG players to whom story and characters do not matter much... you could be one of them.

And here I thought static models were bad... but it's worse when they rock non-stop and the armors breathe. -_-

@resident_jisen I won't argue that Skyrim is better than KoA, but I think Baldur's Gate >>> KoA, Planescape Torment >>> KoA, Neverwinter Nights >>> KoA and so on and so forth... Heck, I even think Lands of Lore >>> KoA.

And I'm only comparing Western-style RPGs.

Maybe you just haven't played that many RPGs yet... or maybe you don't care much about the story, characters and immersion (all of which were ruined in KoA, IMO).

@resident_jisen Best hack'n'slash, yes. Best RPG? Come on.

The gameplay was top-notch, but the dialogues (writing and voice acting) SUCKED. I've used the skip button more times in Amalur than in all other games I've ever played combined...

@Lhomity Everybody is able to pirate and not everybody does. I could have pirated Amalur and I didn't. In fact, 330k copies were sold to people who could have pirated the game. I'm just saying piracy (and used games) are clearly not the only factor in a game's success or a company's woes. You seem to think this factor plays a HUGE role. I disagree. Again, it's hard to prove a negative.

For the record, though it's completely UNRELATED to the matter at hand, I agree with you that being unable to afford something doesn't give one the right to steal it. Please do not hijack our conversation and imply that I condone piracy in any way, because I don't. Thank you very much.