Impulse Purchase: Kingdoms of Amalur

There's a distinct possibility I might be in the process of being assimilated. By Steam.

I managed to ignore Steam for many years. Then, when I finally caved and installed it, I went a few more years using it only very occasionally.

Now find myself looking at it most days, picking through the suggestions and "ignoring" most of them, fiddling around with the screenshot folders and generally treating it as a resource rather than a potentially explosive package someone left in my porch overnight.

Today I did something I have never done before. Actually, two things, but the other is health-related and I am doing my best to keep that stuff out of here. I spotted something on sale on Steam and I bought it.

The offer I noticed was 75% off of Kingdoms of Amalur plus all three DLC packs. £7.99 for the lot seemed like a good deal and I have always been curious about 38 Studios precursor to the doomed MMORPG Project Copernicus. 

Rather than jumping straight on it, I took the time to see what was in the DLC packs. It didn't seem like much I'd want. The base game was itself on sale at 75% off at £4.99 so I decided to buy just that. Steam gives the game a rating of Very Positive from over 9,000 reviews but what really swung it for me were two specific comments:

 "The most underrated open world rpg there is. Massive open world"

and, from a negative review, 

"This game is incredibly easy and lacks any combat depth. Even on the hardest setting, it offers no real challenge after the first 5-10 hours or so. Potions have no cooldown, you can carry hundreds of them and they are easy to find. Crafting in the game allows you to make gear so strong you are practically invincible. The Fate mode allows you to lay waste to a boss without any effort. Even with self-imposed challenges, the combat is repetitive and shallow.

I would still recommend this game if you are someone who doesn't mind easy games, and wants a colourful fantasy world to explore"

Since I am exactly that person it seemed fated, so I bought it.

It took a surprisngly long time to set up and I had to make an EA account to get it running, even though the game doesn't appear to use it once you've made it. (I already have one, too, something I'd forgotten, so now I have two I'm not using).

Eventually I got it going, watched the highly generic intro, made a highly generic character and spent an hour going through a highly generic tutorial. In a cave. So far, so little to say, although I will put in a word for the voice acting, which is well above par.

The game really didn't want me to change any settings so I did the whole tutorial in the wrong resolution, which did the game no favors at all. When I finally made it to the outdoors I was able to correct that and suddenly everything looked a lot better.

One obvious problem is that it's virtually impossible to hide the UI. You have to download and install third party add-ons which, by some accounts, don't work anyway, so I'm going to have to put up with screen clutter if I post any screenshots. Unless I crop hard, which I probably will.

If I end up playing it to any substantial degree there will be a First Impressions post here at some point, no doubt. Only seven years late but so what?

We're Doomed!

Oh be quiet, Frazer.

So, farewell then 38Studios. One of the bigger, more mysterious MMO projects of recent years crashed and burned in spectacular fashion this week, sending flaming shards of shrapnel across the blogosphere that ignited comment brushfires wherever they landed. I could link to them all but then I wouldn't have room for anything else. If you just can't get enough bad news Spinks has more links and Wolfshead has perhaps the best summary I've seen.

Rolled in with most reports of Curt Schilling's hubris were hand-wringings over the mass redundancies (lay-offs, lettings-go, call it what you will) at SW:ToR. Tobold stood pretty much alone with his immodest proposal that maybe the best way not to lose your game developer job is to be better at making games.

And let's not forget the closing of the doors at Dominus. (Although I note with curiosity that their web page is still up. Even the Beta Application button still works).

Is this a watershed for MMOs? Are we at the crossroads? Is it time to wake up and smell the cliches? Some industry analysts think so. So does tractor-lovin' Scott Jennings.

MMOs? So last decade, darling. Want more evidence? Remember those Kickstarter projects I mentioned a while back? Let's take a moment to catch up on how they're doing.

Storybricks

393 Backers

$23,254 pledged of $250,000 goal

 

Dark Solstice

9 Backers

$866 pledged of $50,000 goal

 

 

Panzer Pets

224 Backers

$7,938 pledged of $85,000 goal 

Funding for this project was canceled by the project creator 3 days ago. 

That's going well, then.

Is this the end of the road for MMOs? A good run but now it's done? Will we all be watching Eurovision instead of kicking dragon butt this time next year? (Last night I did both simultaneously for the first time ever but I digress...).

I doubt it. Projects fail, MMOs don't get made or get made and flop all the time. Ultima Worlds Online, anyone? Asheron's Call 2? Dragon Empires?

There's an issue of scale in the latest debacles, it's true. When the dollars down the drain are measured not just in millions but tens or even hundreds of millions then it does seem alarming, leading to the question many are beginning to ask: "does it really take that much money to make an MMO?" If the relative commercial disappointment of TOR and the complete collapse of 38Studios leads to better-focused, better-managed, leaner MMO development then that's not such a bad legacy.

Let's end on a brighter note. Pathfinder's Kickstarter project is already funded. Double-funded, no less. It's "only" a tech demo, but that's a good thing. Baby steps, the way to go.

Still motoring along in development, as far as we know, are Wildstar, Otherlands, EQNext, Planetside2, ArchAge, City of Steam and Pirates101, just to name the ones I'm following. The Secret World, now looking like a solid bet, launches in June July (curse you, Funcom and your inconvenient new launch date!).

The new elephant in pajamas, Guild Wars 2, will be out "when it's ready". It won't cure cancer, stop global warming or hold back the coming apocalypse but it will be a big, successful, profitable MMO.

Life will go on and so will MMOs. It may be a bumpy ride but just sit back and enjoy it. I plan to.