Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Having just finished the game, I thought I would record a few thoughts about it.

Kingdoms of Amalur is the first game from a new company, 38 Studios, which is the brain child of Curt Schilling, yes, the Curt Schilling, former Major League Baseball pitcher. Turns out he was a big fan of Everquest II, and used to hang out online in various places and discuss what was wrong with the game. As he says himself, like every else, he thought he knew how to fix it, only unlike everyone else, he had the resources to do something about it.

He assembled a really good team. Best-selling author R.A. Salvatore is the Executive Creator of Worlds. Ken Rolston worked on RPGs like Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind, before going to Big Huge Games, which was working on a single player RPG (like Morrowind) and was purchased by 38 Studios. Todd McFarlane worked on the Spawn and Spiderman comic books before going to work at 38 Studios as the Executive Art Director.

So, today we have a single-player game built mostly by Big Huge Games, with a story set in the pre-history of the MMO that will be coming sometime in the future. In the game world of Amalur, 2500 years will pass between the events of Reckoning and the MMO...hopefully, we won't have to wait that long to play it.
Now, I should state ahead of time that I am not a big fan of MMOs, but I am a big fan of single-player, and multi-player RPGs. The problem is that I like to Role Play, and most MMOs don't really foster RP, but that has nothing to do with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (KOA:R), since it is completely single player.
Let me start them by reviewing some of the game factors, before I give the spoiler alert and go into the actual game.

The style of the art is slightly cartoonish, but not in a truly horrible way. Comic-bookish might be a better word, and considering the background of the Executive Art Director, that shouldn't be too surprising. On the other hand, parts of it are truly beautiful. The landscape is often dramatic, though with more than a hint of the fantastic, a fantastic that is often unrealistic, huge jutting rocks and enormous stone bridges are common place. The architecture is monumental, which is good. The characters are relatively realistically drawn, so while all the women are well endowed in the chest area, and all the men large and muscular, it isn't grotesque, some of the monsters are, but they are supposed to be that way.

Of course, like most fantasy games, the armor is awful and the weapons are worse. The armor would hinder your movement and the weapons would all be heavy and cumbersome. As someone who has made armor, I am always disappointed by the armor in games. No one seems willing to study the real thing. The same goes for swords and other weapons, so the one hand swords appear to be at least six feet long, with blades that would bludgeon rather than cut, and the great swords would look accurate if you were 10 feet tall. And, don't even get me started on the hammers (OMG). But, that is a personal peeve, so let's move on.
I've decided to make this into two posts, and put all the spoilers in the other post.

The game is fun, but the combat system is a bit hard to master, and I cannot say that I ever really did. You have several different weapons types, and for each weapon types there are a series of moves. First, there is the basic attack button move, then there is a attack button, pause, attack button move. After that, there is dodge, attack button move, and a block, attack button move. There are also a couple of moves where you hold the attack button while your toon sets him/herself for another special move. The problem is that at times you are surrounded by multiple enemies, and stopping to try one of the various moves means that one of the guys you are facing blasts you into next week. I found that I could really only use a few of the moves, because the key to staying alive and not spending an hour killing enemies was to keep mashing the attack button, which makes it a lot like all the other games out there. 38 Studio tried really hard to make the combat more complex, but really all they did was make it more complicated and only partially usable.

Also, the basic outline of the game is a clone of the one used in Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, Elder Scrolls 3, 4 and 5. There is a mainline plot, which you must follow in a direct line. You can delay as much as you want, but there is only a single path to the end of the game. The same is true for the factions, one path from the start of the faction quests to the end. Once again, you can delay as much as you want, you can start a faction quest line, and then go back to the main quest line, and then do some side quests, and finally get back to the faction quest line, but it doesn't hide the fact that it is a single path from one end to the other. There are multiple paths through the game, but it is only by leaving one path and then moving to another and then coming back. The side quests and faction quests don't do anything to advance the main quest.

So, while, in game terms, you are the master of your destiny, at some point there is only one way to proceed. After playing a lot of fantasy RPGs, I have to admit that I am getting tired of it. It never really makes a difference at the end. Yes, you get choices along the way, and you can create and devise your character anyway you want, but you are constantly reminded that you are really in someone else's story, and in the end they push you along to the conclusion they envisioned.

I'll try to remember to put another part of my conclusion in the other post, since it includes some spoilers.
I enjoyed playing Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and I might play it again, but not right away. It has been less than 2 days since I finished the game, and already it seems a little boring. That is not a good sign. I am a little tempted by the idea of playing it again, but I am trying to figure out how I am going to make it different. But, for now the game is over and I need to work on other things.

Next time, there will be spoilers, as I go into the storyline and Role-playing aspects of the game.

Computer Decision

Well, sort of...

The history of my personal computers is long and mostly boring to anyone but me. I have had three portables, a Latitude CPt, an Inspiron 9100 and an XPS M1530. I have had a series of desktops as well, but those have all been homebuilt, from the early models that were made up of parts scavenged from various friends to several that I build from parts that I bought at Frys. The problem is that both my portable and my desktop are getting a bit long in the tooth.  

For most things that is not a problem. The web works great, I can write and post to my blogs, facebook and check my email without any issues. I can even watch Hulu, Netflix and the BBC iPlayer without a glitch....but I like to play computer games. Most recently, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and I want to buy a copy of Mass Effect 3, and neither of my systems meets the minimum specs for these games. Now, they aren't far off, but the video cards are one notch below what they suggest. Kingdoms of Amalur played just fine though, so at the moment it isn't really a problem.

But, I cannot help but look forward to what I want next.

As you can tell if you have been reading these pages, I am fascinated with tablets, and I think rather than getting another portable, I think I will get a tablet, maybe like this one.

Now, this particular one runs Windows 7. This should not be a surprise to anyone who has read this blog, since I am not a big fan of Apple. Now, I could go with an Android tablet, like say, this one:

This second is the Asus Transformer Prime, which is probably the best Android tablet available right now, though the Lenovo Thinkpad might give it a run for its money.  

Now, each of these comes with a keyboard, at least as an option. The Iconia's keyboard acts like a case when you aren't using it, and the Transformer's turns the tablet into a netbook...with the advantage of extended battery life. Now, I like the idea of having a keyboard, but the Transformer's keyboard is just too small for my big fingers. And there will be the rub with the iPad, which has a couple of nice keyboard/cases and every other Android tablet. They size of the tablet means that they cannot fit a full size keyboard on something the same size as the tablet.

But, because the Iconia runs Windows, it is larger and so the keyboard is larger. I've given the Iconia keyboard dock a try and it is big enough. Plus, the Iconia runs Windows 7 and will run Windows 8, both the Consumer Preview now, and the final release later. That's important to me, because I think that Windows 8, and its ARM tablet iteration, Windows RT are going to blow both Android and iOS (iPad) right out of the water. Now, I am not predicting that it will outsell them, at least not at first, and maybe never, but anyone who wants a tablet that is truly more than a large-screen smartphone is going to move to Windows RT (on ARM) and Windows 8 (on x86/x64).

Maybe by the time I can replace my portable, I will be able to buy a tablet with Windows RT, but for now, this would be the choice.

And, for my desktop, I think I will look for a new motherboard and processor and then start building a new desktop piece by piece, because games are working their way onto tablets, but I think it will be a long time before I am playing a version of Amalur or Mass Effect, or whatever future games I want on a tablet.

Recipe for Success in the Tablet Market

Google Tablet: A very good thing done the right way

Well, the guys over at Tech Republic got me going again. Now, usually I don't like James Kendrick and I cannot say that I like this article either. This was my response...

You're looking at the wrong model again.

Kindle isn't the target. Neither is the iPad. They should take a page from the Galaxy Note. Now, I can hear you groaning and rolling your eyes, and you'd be right if I thought the Galaxy Note was the target...but it isn't.

Why did the iPad succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.

Why did the Kindle succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.

Why did the Galaxy Note succeed? Because there wasn't anything like it.

Do you see the pattern?

Samsung copies the iPad, but with a different aspect ratio and Android as the OS (Galaxy Tab 10.1), and????? It failed. Ditto for Asus, Acer, Dell (even if theirs was 7"). They were all designed to lure users away from Apple.

Kindle did things differently and it succeeded. It's aimed at different users, someone who wants something Apple doesn't really offer...no they don't, get over it.

Galaxy Note did things differently, and it succeeded. It ran different ads. It talked about what it does that the others don't. Not what features they have that others don't, but what you can do with a stylus and their new software. Big Hit.

Phones are a different market, and you cannot compare the success of Android in the phone market to the tablet market. Everyone carries a phone. Every gets a new phone every couple of years. It's a repeat market that has already been built, though it is still expanding.

Tablets aren't going to be subsidized. The iPad isn't. The Kindle isn't. Okay, so to a certain extend both may be by the expectation of future sales, but they are not directly subsidized by two year contracts. Kindle comes closes, but you are not required to be a Prime customer to buy one. Yes, people do buy unsubsidized phones, but what percentage of the market? The main phone market is subsidized.

Tablets are never going to be big as a subsidized product, because you cannot charge for the phone contract, only the data.

Tablets have to stand on their own, and so far the biggest problem for Android tablets is that the iPad does it better, and it doesn't cost that much more. There is no firm value proposition to the present tablet market. If I take your suggestion of tying the tablet to Google services as the suggestion of giving it a strong value proposition, then you are at least partially right, but when that set of Services isn't really better than Apple's, of Amazon's, then it just doesn't wash. iPad and Kindle will still beat them.

As the iPad did, and still does, and as the Kindle Fire did, and as the Galaxy Note did, they need to find something that the Google tablet will do better than any other tablet, and sell that as the important feature people should want.

So far, all the Android Tablets are trying to be a better, or cheaper iPad...and they are failing. You are suggesting that Google build a better Kindle Fire...and that is going to fail as well, because the Google services aren't as good and don't have the following of the Amazon Services. And what I was trying to say earlier is that they shouldn't try to build a better Galaxy Note. Each of these successes has its own equivalent of the killer app. Google needs to find theirs.

Succubus Revealed

by Richelle Mead

I have enjoyed all of the books in Richelle Mead's Succubus series, and now, finally, she has closed out the series with this, the sixth book. Now, as series go, this one is a bit odd, because it both is and isn't a single story. Each novel stands alone, and you won't need to hurry out to buy the next book just to learn what happens. Each book comes to an individual end, but yet there is a story told across all six.

In the books, we are following the exploits of Georgina Kincaid, who happens to be a succubus. Mead's succubus is rather like the succubi (plural of succubus) of legend. A succubus is very seductive and during sexual relations she consumes some of the life force of her victim/partner. However, most of the legends do not include the concept of the creation of succubi by making a deal with the devil and selling your soul.

So, Georgina was born on Cyprus somewhere around 500 AD, and became a succubus. She has lived since then, seducing men and helping gather souls for Hell, her true employer, which brings us to another of the differences between Richelle Mead's succubus books and a traditional view. In the stories Hell is more like an employer, and Georgina's relations with Hell are very much like she is being employed by Hell. She has a boss, a demon, and co-workers, an imp and two vampires, who are her friends and occasionally accomplices.

But, Georgina also works at a bookstore, it seems that Hell does not pay much by way of spendable coin. It is at the bookstore that she meets Seth Mortensen, the author of her favor series of detective novels. The series of novels tells the story of Georgina and Seth, as they fall in love, break up and get back together again. That is, the series of Richelle Mead's novels, not Seth Mortensen's series of novels.

You don't really have to read this series in order, except that I would suggest reading the first, first and the last, last. You won't understand some of what is going on in the others if you haven't read the first, and you won't understand most of what is going on in the last if you haven't read all the others first.

Okay, that's really confusing. Don't read the sixth book until you have read all the others. Many things in the final book refer back to earlier events. #5 is directly related to #3, so you won't understand motivations in #5 unless you have read #3. For the rest of the books, the only thing that will be confusing is Georgina's relationship with Seth, which changes through the course of the books, and if you get that out of order...well... But, other than that, each one stands on its own.

Of course, it really is best to read them in order, because each follows right on the heels of the last. All six novels cover a period of only a couple of years...maybe 3.

So, if I haven't totally confused you, then you should see what while each is a stand alone story on one level, all work together to tell a single story on another.

I guess I should have said that first.

Now, the problem for Succubus Revealed is how do you get a life-sucking succubus together with the mortal man she loves, and who loves her. The fifth novel, Succubus Shadows does an excellent job of setting up the problem of the last novel without giving anything away. If you pay attention through the first five, you may figure out some of the last book, but don't worry, Richelle Mead makes it worth the trip.

I really don't want to give much away, but I can say that it involves lots of work from her friends...at least her demonic ones, and it involves a trial in Hell. Now, if the idea of a trial in Hell isn't enough to convince you to read these books, well, then I probably can't find a lot more to get you interested.

Now, I do have to give a little warning. The book is about a succubus. A succubus seduces men and has sex with them. Yes, there are fairly graphic descriptions of sex in these books, so if you are offended by same, then don't read them. But, the books are not filled with sex scenes. There is at least one in every book, and there might be two in some of them. The sexual content does not dominate the books, but the main character is very sensual, and sexy, and there is sex. You've been warned, so don't complain to me about the sex in the books, either get over it, or don't read them.

So, this ended up being a review of the whole series more than the final book, but I am doing it to celebrate the end of good series of books. Finishing a series I enjoy is always a bit of a let down, but this one did a good job of getting to a satisfactory ending, and of doing more than getting to the end and saying goodbye.

The book ends at Georgina and Seth's wedding, which is held at dusk, so that they can be married outside with some light, but so that her vampire friends can attend the reception after the sun has gone down. It also includes last words from the one Angel who makes it all the way through the stories (yes, there are angels as well as demons). Through much of the series the Hellish side comes off as being more sympathetic than the Angelic side, but at the end, you find that the Angels really are in the business of saving souls. The resolution of the problem might be very slightly sappy, but the angel's final words put a nice cap onto the series.

Microsoft Reader???

A Windows 8 e-reader: If someone builds it, will they come?

This article got me thinking.  One reason was the picture below.

Note that each device on the slide is distinct, not just by name, but also by form factor. 

 

Traditional Desktop, with monitor, CPU box, keyboard and mouse.  Laptop, with keyboard and touchpad.  Tablet, now this has generally been used to mean a keyboard-less device like the iPad, but here, Microsoft is using it to mean a convertible, basically, a laptop with a touch scene that can be turned to become a tablet.  Next of course, is the Slate, which most everyone else calls a tablet, no keyboard and obviously it would have a touch screen.  Next is a Reader, and I am going to gloss over that for the moment, other than to note that it appears to be smaller than a slate, and used in portrait orientation, rather than landscape orientation, like the slate.  Then we continue down the size spectrum to the smart phone, and finally finish up with a TV, which is already an important device for Microsoft when used with the XBox, though I and probably many others use our TVs as a second big screen monitor for watching Netflix, Hulu and movies. 

 

What if Reader is just Microsoft-speak for 7" tablet?   

 

Walk with me as we take a trip to Redmond.  You are part of the Microsoft team, and you are planning for Microsoft's dominance across all platforms.  You want Windows on everything, but there are going to be differences depending on hardware.  We know that Windows 8 is going to run on a lot of this, and Metro on all of it.  The TV will run Metro (that's the Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8 UI, by the way) either through an XBox, or some other TV box, or possibly even on the TV itself.  Everything else is going to run Windows 8, or something based on the kernel, since Microsoft has already said that Windows Phone 8 will be based on the Windows 8 kernel and not on a Windows CE kernel. 

 

Desktops, Laptops and convertible tablets will all run Windows 8, at least if they are Intel based, and if they are based on ARM, then they run Windows on ARM (WOA).  So, why separate Slates from Readers?  Well, one reason could be usage, and that is what is discussed in the original article.  Windows on dedicated eReaders.   

 

But, I have another idea.  What if Readers are just small tablets, say tablets with screens 7" and smaller?  If they are going to run a different variant of Windows, then they would need to be differentiated on the slide.  We already know there will be two versions of Windows 8, one for Intel and one for ARM, so why not a potential third variant, Windows Reader (because of the name on the slide and for want of a better name for the moment).  Maybe, it would be a version of Windows Phone 8 optimized for the larger screen.  Or maybe it could be WOA with a few features stripped out. 

 

Will the legacy desktop be any real use on a 7" screen?  What about a Reader version of WOA with the legacy desktop stripped out of it?  So far, there are at least two Reader apps in the Windows 8 store, Kindle and Kobo.  What if the "Reader" won't be a dedicated eReader, but just a small tablet?  Maybe Microsoft will let OEMs tweak the UI to focus in on their reader app, but maybe Microsoft just sees 7" tablets as being something that doesn't need the full power of legacy Windows. 

 

I don't have any special insights or sources at Microsoft, and I doubt that any of them are going to be talking at the moment, so this is just speculation...but it does make for interesting thinking. 

Sad Gadget Head

I am a sad gadget head.

I am a huge gadget head, I love to read about all the latest phones, and tablets. I love to debate whether we are in the Post-PC world or not (I still sit with not). I read gadget blogs, and subscribe to gadget newsletters and I can bore most normal people to tear with gadget ramblings...but, there's a problem.

I don't make enough to buy the latest gadgets. I bought an original Razr when they were well past their primetime of coolness. I bought my last feature phone when everyone was going to smartphones, and a Windows Mobile phone on the eve of the release of Windows Phone 7. Now, here is the one place where I caught the curve. Thanks to Microsoft, I got Windows Phone 7 before it was officially released, but because I am on Verizon, I then had to wait many months before I could get Windows Phone 7 and use it as a phone.

Now, my geek-gadget-headed-ness is pushing me towards a tablet, but I cannot afford one of the latest models, with Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich (those are Android flavors for you tech cretins), no, the only thing I can afford runs lowly Froyo, the old version of Android.

I'd love to have a nice shiny Asus Transformer Prime, but I simply cannot afford it...or at least I cannot justify the expense with so many other things that need doing. I can barely afford a Samsung Galaxy Tab...and I don't mean the Galaxy Tab 10.1, or 7.7, but the old original 7 inch version of the Tab. I am having trouble pulling the trigger on the sale, because...it is such an old version, and I am tired of being behind the curve.

I need to win the lottery, just to fuel my gadget addiction....well, actually...I need to win the lottery to START a gadget addiction.

Windows 8 First Impressions

So, I finally got Windows 8 installed. It is the Consumer Preview, but that is all I can get for now. This is just some first impressions.

First, the computer I installed it on. I have a tablet, a Samsung Q1U, but it doesn't support multi-touch, so I didn't install it there. I may try it just to see how it runs Windows 8, but it is a little under powered for Windows 7, so I doubt it is going to be a fun experience.

I installed Windows 8 on my XPS M1530. In my opinion, this is an excellent system to test Windows 8 on, because it is right at the edge of what might be considered for an upgrade. It is unlikely that I will pay to put Windows 8 on this old a machine when the time finally comes to pay for it. But, it is a good test, because it doesn't have a touch screen, and no special hardware (buttons, etc.) intended for Windows 8. The question that Windows 8 must answer is how well it handles backwards compatibility, which has always been a Windows strength.

Windows 8 is very different. It is the first thing you will notice from the moment you install it. The start screen and Metro desktop remind me of Windows Phone 7, and yet it isn't the same. I've been using Windows Phone 7 for nearly 18 months, and this is not quite Windows Phone 7, but using Windows Phone 7 has made this seem more familiar.

It's been a long time since Windows made a change this big. It was probably the release of Windows 95, more than 15 years ago.

The above was written ten days ago. Now, I have lived with Windows 8 for about 3 weeks, and I still like it. I keep reading reviews that Windows 8 is terrible for keyboard and mouse, but I don't think so. It is a change, and a big one, but it still works. It is obvious that touch was the first consideration for Windows 8, and that keyboard and mouse came second, but I do not think that keyboard and mouse were given short shift.

In most of the OS, the right-click context menu is gone, well almost. One click is the new double click, and right-click is how you get other commands, but it is usually only a few, and often one. When you go to the upper left corner you get your list of open apps. Left-clicking switches to that app. Right-clicking opens a one item menu...close. In Internet Explorer the address bar will disappear, but right-clicking will bring back the address bar and open up a list of your open pages across the top.

I do find a few things disconcerting. Windows 8 is a horizontal OS, and the mouse wheel has changed. In most apps, the app extends to the right off the screen, and when you want to go to scroll right, you use the mouse wheel. In Internet Explorer, the wheel still takes you up and down, but in many apps, like the store, up takes you to the right, and down takes you to the left. It can be a little disconcerting at first, but I got used to it really quick.

I don't like that they have made it more difficult to close apps. They keep running and there is no X in the upper right corner. It is a bit to easy to get a lot of apps open. I don't know how well tombstoning is working in Windows 8 and it gives me a little concern.

But, my biggest problem with Windows 8 is more of a question mark, but it isn't the one that most of the tech writers are complaining about. I am not concerned with whether or not Windows 8 offers any important advantages over Windows 7. Windows 7 does not really offer any important usability advantages over Windows XP. It doesn't really help me get things done any faster, or any more efficiently. Windows 8 may not be better, but I don't think it is worse, just different....very different. Most users will be switching to Windows 8 when they buy a new computer. A few will be intimidated by that, but I think most will adapt easily enough.

No, my concern has to do with those of us who shelled out big bucks for big monitors. One of the reasons for doing that is having lots of screen real estate for lots of open windows. I have gotten good at parking lots of apps around my screen where I can just see an edge of each one...or a bit more, and then click, click, click to switch from one app to another or back to the first. The biggest change in Windows 8, is that it really isn't windows. Your apps do not open in Windows, your apps fill the entire screen. Yes, Windows 8 has the snap feature, but it still isn't Windows. That isn't a very efficient way to use the 21 inch monitor on my desktop PC, and a lot of the people I know have even bigger monitors. On my 15" portable it is a lot more reasonable, though even it is a bit big for always running full screen.

A few tech writers have suggested that Microsoft made a mistake calling their new phone OS, Windows Phone 7. As I stated above, it really isn't Windows, though to be honest, nothing based on Windows CE ever was. I doubt they are, but I think Microsoft should be seriously considering dropping the name Windows. Though the vast majority of PCs run Windows, and the name has tremendous brand recognition, I don't think that it has quite the brand loyalty that Microsoft would like to believe. I think that Windows Phone 7 might be doing better if it wasn't called Windows. I like the sound of Microsoft Metro, which they are already using as the name for the interface. It is building brand recognition, and it is associated with the live tiles that are used on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7.

Just something to think about.