Oh my, my. The hype is at an all time high, isn’t it? First saying that the in Amalur lore is richer than that in Elder Scrolls, saying that Amalur’s combat sets it apart from games like God of War and Skyrim, and now this. The game certainly looks awesome.
In a Q&A session at Reddit with fans, Ken Rolston, lead designer of the game, said that Amalur has, quite simply, the best combat for any RPG or CRPG ever, better even than Dark Souls, which is known for it’s incredible combat. “Yup. Reckoning has the best combat ever in an action RPG,” he 
said when asked about the same. “AND Reckoning has the best combat ever in a CRPG, period. IMHO. Which you should immediately discount, since I have a vested interest.”
“I, too, admire Dark Souls,” he continued. “I do not admire it’s mean-spirited treatment of its users, but I appreciate the Earnestness of its High Game Aspiration. And I totally admire the suitability of its narrative and themes to support its gameplay.
“Dark Souls makes you feel the tension of a fight by relentlessly killing you. That’s one way to do it. Probably the way it gets done in real life combat. And not the way I’d do it in a game. I’d let the user define his own tolerance for challenge and frustration.
“Personally, I won’t be interested in spending the time and effort to traverse the content and experiences of Dark Souls. I have WAY too many other computer game experiences to get to before have time to grind through Dark Souls.
“But I do acknowledge that I’ve been inspired to study with more care and depth of empathy the desire to play challenging games like Dark Souls, and I’d like to add that experience to my checklist of desirable RPG game experiences.”
When asked by a reader what he feels is the best part of the game, Rolston said: “Combat. Actually, just plain moving around.”
“Tactical movement is the most important thing in any wargame,” he said. “So many choices of direction, timing, and relative advantage. And with the great animation and movement in Reckoning, it is just a delight to use my controller, dodge, and zip around to the flank to attack.
“Or to deliberately, and insanely, dash into the center of a mob… then gracefully, and elegantly, strike, dodge, shift, and dodge back out, dealing damage, but getting not a spot of blood on my tights.”
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning releases on February 10 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Stay tuned for more coverage.
