There was no excuse for having to do a second playthrough outside of a moment of stupidity when I started the game up. In total, my first save was around 35 hours, and the second save was around 25 or so. The second playthrough was entirely to mop up three achievements, two of which I could've done on my first save. As much as I set up my list to sort achievements by 'type' - difficulty completions, challenges, enemy kills, multiplayer, etc - I somehow didn't think about a couple, and I'll get to those below.
Posts like this are going to be simple enough. I'm going to break down every achievement in the game. Some obviously will have more commentary than others. Amalur wasn't too terrible as far as achievements go. The last one I got, I had to reach Level 36 and put all my points into one talent tree. It requires 109 points total. Getting from L35 to L36 took almost an hour. And that's just me wandering Alabastra and Klurikon killing mobs and popping Reckoning Mode on big groups. I did one or two minor quests, but killing things gives much better XP at that stage. If you get a couple trolls and ogres, you can get something ridiculous like 13,000+ experience.
Sadly, this post will be a little more disjointed than future posts will be. See, when I get an achievement, I'll delete it from my file. It's a morale thing. When I start the game, I pop the text file. Seeing the list getting smaller is good motivation, especially when I hit 15 remaining. Those last three sets of five are always pretty big boosts, since around that point, you're either mopping stuff up or working on the really difficult or annoying ones. Achievements marked in red are the ones that gave me the most trouble or simply caused the most swearing at my television.
---
A Life of Crime: Get caught committing a crime 25 times. - For this, I went to the first inn in the game and basically just pickpocketed/stole items in plain sight of everyone else. The guards would run in, I'd pay my fine, and then I'd go back to being the Worst Thief Ever. I did this after beating the game on Playthrough 1, so it took maybe 10 minutes. Pretty dumb achievement, to be honest. You aren't going to steal things when the chance of getting caught is high, so you actively have to hunt this one down. It's not a naturally-attained sort of thing.
A Wink and a Smile: Succeed at 50 Persuasion attempts. - This is one of the three I did on Playthrough 2. And it's purely because I didn't think there were so few Persuasion attempts in the game. Thankfully, the Amalur wiki had a wonderful page showing what quests had them and how many there were in total. Still, it took me pumping Persuasion before any other Skill, along with savescumming a couple of times in order to get my successes. The highest you can get it is 95%, and you'd be surprised how often it fails. Of the 3 achievements I had left on Playthrough 2, this was the first I got.
And Then There Were None: Kill 500 enemies with abilities. - Incredibly tedious, this one came down to me running around the starting zones, one-shotting mobs en masse to beef up my numbers. One of the problems in Kingdoms of Amalur is that the game tracks almost nothing you do. Certainly nothing specific. You'd think, with achievements for things like this and the one above, it would show you how many you've succeeded at. But that wasn't the case. I had to keep track of the Persuasion successes manually. This one, I just had to use the melee earthquake skill over and over until it popped.
Big Spenders: Spend 200,000 gold. - Incredibly simple. There are vendor items before you even leave the western continent that will run you well over 100K. This one didn't take long and happened naturally.
Blades of Glory: Acquire 10 Unique weapons. - This excludes any DLC weapons. I didn't have the DLC, so that wasn't an issue. This is just for getting 10 different named weapons. Happened fairly early on into Playthrough 1.
Bookworm: Read 50 books. - Normally, it's hard to get me interested in the lore of a game to begin with. Unless I'm already deeply invested in it, it's just not going to happen. I don't play games to read messages and books and notes. Even in games I really love - Resident Evil 4, Skyrim - I can't be bothered to read books in them. Amalur has plenty of books, they're just spread out to the point where it's a pain in the ass to get them. There's a vendor in Rathir (or was it Adessa?) that sells about 17 or them, which was a good boost. I actually got this towards the end of Playthrough 1. It was one of the last miscellaneous achievements I got before I started the Hard Mode run.
Breaking and Entering: Pick 50 locks. - I like playing Thief-type characters in games, so this was simple and quick to get. Shame all chest loot is random and, after getting the achievement, you'll likely never bother picking one open again.
Bull in a China Shop: Smash 1,000 objects. - Actually had to focus on this, because attack animations tend to take awhile to come out, even with fast weapons. It boiled down to me just opening fire with my bow occasionally and seeing how many crates or pots it would shatter. Got this one about halfway into my first run.
Cartographer: Discover 100 locations - Occurs naturally, especially in conjunction with finding all the Lorestones.
Cleaning Up the Streets: Kill 50 Bandits - Another simple one. There are enough bandits around the starting town that you could get this within the first half hour if you really wanted.
Crime Doesn't Pay: Spend over 10,000 gold in crime bribes. - I actually got this the first time I started working on A Life of Crime above. I'm not entirely sure what the hell I'd stolen that got me such a massive fine, but it was somewhere in the realm of 60,000 gold. Oh well, easy achievement whatever the case!
Destiny Defiant: You have defeated Tirnoch, and defied destiny. - You get this for beating the final boss, who is just a series of minion fights. Kill a couple minions, get your Reckoning Meter up, and enter Reckoning Mode to attack the boss directly. Actually killed her faster on Hard Mode, somehow.
Destiny Dominated: You have won the game on Hard difficulty. - Beating the game on Hard Mode, of course. This was the second of the three achievements I got on Playthrough 2. The final boss and the much harder one before her both went down far faster than on my Easy Mode run.
Diamond in the Rough: Craft a Pristine Shard. - Since this game is basically a junkier, shorter single player version of World of Warcraft, it had to ape some standard fantasy-RPG ideas. Like Jewelcrafting. This one's just for combining lower-level gems into a higher-level one. All you need for this is to put a certain number of points into the Sagecraft Skill.
Elixir of Fate: Make a potion with the Essence of Fate. - This requires you to get the Essence of Fate item, which is frequently found on enemies you've killed while in Reckoning Mode. Once you have a couple, all you have to do is make a potion that uses it.
Five Finger Discount: Steal and fence an item. - You can sell stolen goods at the Sun, Moon, or Star Camp areas. Or you can max the Mercantile Skill and you can fence items at any vendor. I was doing a lot of respeccing at the end of Playthrough 1 to get these Skill-related achievements.
Foiled Again: Parry 100 times. - I actually didn't get this until well after I'd beaten the game the first time. I rolled more than I blocked, and it took awhile to get the timing down on when to block to trigger a parry. Still, 100 times isn't too much. It happened fairly quick once I'd actively started doing it. Towards the end, I'd just sit and parry guys without attacking. They'd still die, since parrying does a certain amount of damage on its own, but it went along faster than the alternative.
Good as New: Repair a piece of equipment. - All you need for this is a Repair Kit, something easily and cheaply bought in the first town. Can be attained within the first half hour of the game.
Green Thumb: Harvest 10 of each type of reagent. - Remember when I mentioned that the game doesn't track anything you do, really? This is one of the things it doesn't deem necessary to inform you of. So if you haven't actually paid attention to how many of each you've already gathered, you're going to be running around like an idiot for ages. You can't even look into your reagents bag to see how many you have, since they're fairly common a drop on basically all mobs in the game, and unless you harvest it from a gathering point, it doesn't count. I tried keeping a list, but in the end, I got it while collecting something I thought I'd already harvested well over 10 of. One of the worst achievements in the game unless you keep notes.
Hero of Mel Senshir: You have defeated the great Balor. - Plot achievement. Happens when you head to the eastern continent. Retaking Mel Senshir is the first thing you have to do. The Balor is a giant with a Beholder-style head. Very easy boss, very dull achievement.
House of Ballads: Complete the House of Ballads storyline quests. - An annoying final boss fight aside, this one was pretty simple. The Maid of Windemere fight is the first time you'll encounter a really add-heavy battle. If you don't go into the fight with your Reckoning Meter full (and with a full compliment of potions) you probably won't beat it the first few tries.
House of Sorrows: Complete the House of Sorrows storyline quests. - This one starts on the eastern continent and is fairly easy, if rather dull. It involves lots of backtracking, moreso than a lot of other quests in the game, and going through multiple loading screens to get to and from the main quest giver.
It Didn't Explode!: Make a stable potion by Experimenting - Why you would ever Experiment, I'll never know. Reagents give a highlighted word giving you a hint as to what they might work with, but recipes are abundant. You can make a basic Minor Healing Potion right from the first town if you want. There are more than enough reagents en route to it from the tutorial dungeon.
It Is Your Destiny: Unlock a top-tier destiny. - This is the last achievement I unlocked, just before starting work on this article. The easiest way to explain this one is that you need 109 points in a single talent tree to get this. That requires you to reach Level 36. Once you hit about Level 32, leveling up slows down considerably. I beat Hard Mode at around L30, and it took a good 5-6+ hours of grinding via western continent quests and just running around killing mobs to get to it. I think the level cap is 50, and I dunno who would be insane enough to go for it. There's thankfully no achievement for hitting that cap. That would just be cruel. As is, this was one of the most annoying achievements in the entire game. The last hour I played was running around Klurikon and Alabastra, grinding enemies and popping Reckoning Mode for the boosted chain-kill XP whenever a 'big' mob was in the group.
Jack of All Trades: Unlock a Jack of All Trades destiny - Great description there, huh? Thanks, fellas. What this means is you have to put an equal number of skill points into all three talent trees. Why anyone would do that, on the other hand, is a complete mystery. Got this one after I beat the game the first time while I was getting the Skill-related achievements.
Jailbreak: Break out of jail. - Oh, word? Painfully simple, if you get locked up in the starting town. And probably elsewhere, the jails never have many guards inside of them for some reason. Got this while working on the other being-a-criminal achievements.
Juggler: Land 5 consecutive hits on a launched enemy. - Actually didn't get this one for awhile, despite rolling with a Bow as my Secondary Weapon across both runs. Into your melee weapon's combo, or with some skills, you'll pop an enemy into the air. Then it's a simple matter of mashing whatever button you have your Bow mapped to. Each shot keeps them in the air a second longer. Probably could get this very early, possibly in the tutorial dungeon.
Loremaster: Discover all Lorestones. - There are something like 175 of these fucking things, scattered all over the world and inside dungeons. You'll likely never find them all, even if you max out Detect Hidden so that they're shown on your map. Even with that, I had to check multiple guides and maps to find the ones I was missing. One of the last achievements I got on my first playthrough and one of the worst in the entire game. Many hours of aimlessly running back and forth across every zone, all for 'lore' of the world. And by 'lore,' I mean 'poetry that would make an angsty 13 year old cringe.' Seriously, I'm not kidding here. Go to Youtube and see for yourself.
Master of the Forge: Crafted an item that uses all 5 forge component slots. - People say Blacksmithing is insanely overpowered. I ask them what they're smoking. Even maxed out, you're not going to be making great stuff, because you're rarely going to have the mats needed to make something worth a damn. Still, this is an easy thing to do. You just have to put a certain number of points into the Blacksmithing Skill to be able to work with all 5 component slots.
Niskaru Slayer: Kill 25 Niskaru - Niskaru are super aggressive assholes with blade hands. I think, anyway, it's kinda hard to tell sometimes. This is another easy one. The Warsworn questline has you primarily fighting the little bastards, but they're plentiful on the eastern continent even if you don't do that.
No Destiny, All Determination: You have met High King Titarion, and have been confronted with the true scope of your powers. - "Get this far into the game." It's a plot achievement, and one you get about a third of the way through, give or take.
Open Sesame: Dispel 50 Wards - Wards are an additional/alternate lock on some chests. Unless you invest points into the Dispelling Skill, it's going to be a huge pain in the ass to open anything above Easy. Thankfully, instead of running around, you can just get a quest in Adessa (or was it Rathir?) where you're sent upstairs in a building to dispel 3 chests. You can do the quest over and over and each one counts towards your progress. The difficulty of the wards does go up, but it does so every few attempts, and if you have points in the Skill itself, that isn't going to matter. Dumb, but easy to get when you know you don't have to run around hoping to find them.
Out of Your League: Kill an enemy 4 levels higher than you. - As soon as you exit the tutorial dungeon and get to the first town, lockpick the jail open, release the prisoner, and beat the hell out of him. It's the quickest and easiest way to get the achievement. The game makes a save of when you leave the tutorial, so you can load that up at any time and get this without any effort.
Reborn: You were reborn from the Well of Souls, and have escaped Allestar Tower. - Hooray For You! You've gotten out of the tutorial dungeon. You are capable of both moving a stick and pressing a button! Please enjoy your free achievement!
Reckoning Rampage: Kill 5 enemies with a single Fateshift - Fateshift being the thing that ends Reckoning Mode before the timer runs out. Very easy to get. Fill meter, pop slo-mo vision, kill five enemies, then hit A to finish them off with the QTE.
Riposte!: Land 25 special attacks out of a Parry - Requires you to actually have those from the talent trees, I believe. Takes a surprisingly long time to do. Or maybe that was just for me, since I only ever blocked in this game to eat magic (which is a pain in the ass to dodge roll to avoid) or to get the two achievements related to Parrying.
Romancing the Gem: Craft an Epic Gem - Again, you just need to have a certain number of points in the Sagecraft Skill to get this one. If you wait long enough, you'll be able to pop this and the other one back to back. Epics Gems are far less useful than you'd think because although the gems themselves are often very good, you'll rarely get socketed gear to put them into.
Scholia Arcana: Complete the Scholia Arcana storyline quests. - Another major side quest chain. I don't actually remember much from this one, but I'm pretty sure it was annoying towards the end. Anything involving magic usually is in Amalur...
Shock and Awe: Kill 100 enemies with abilities: The baby brother to the earlier achievement. Again, pretty easy to pop this fairly early on, if you remember to spam your early abilities as finishing moves.
Shop Class: Craft a piece of equipment with Blacksmithing - Another one you can get as soon as you hit the starting town. The smithy even sells stuff to make weapons and armor with, so you don't have to Salvage anything you've picked up by that point.
Some of This, Some of That: Unlock a two-class hybrid destiny. - Another 'why would you do this?' achievement that requires equal talent tree point distribution. The best skills in a tree can only be unlocked when you've spent 70 points in it. You're crippling yourself by dabbling in multiple skill trees, even if they can boots your Secondary Weapons a bit. It's just not worth doing. I got this after beating the game the first time when I was just doing respecs to knock out a whole bunch of achievements in a very short time.
Streaker: You spoke to someone while not wearing clothes - Remove all of your armor and talk to a dude in the starting town. Could probably do it directly outside the tutorial dungeon, even.
The Great Detective: Detect 25 hidden things. - This involves putting points into the Detect Hidden Skill. You'll occasionally run across loot piles hidden in logs or rock piles. You'll get this after investigating enough of those. I believe it also works for finding hidden doors, but those are rare and far between.
They Never Saw it Coming: Backstab 20 enemies - Even if you're going pure Thief and taking just the Finesse talent tree, you might not get this for awhile. You'll want to invest points into the Stealth Skill to make enemies take longer to spot you while you're creeping around. It's mostly difficult due to the fact that enemies are rarely by themselves, and you kind of need them to be. You can get a backstab off on one person in a group, but you're gonna alert everyone else you're there.
Trapper: Kill 25 enemies with traps - This is a weird one. There's only one Trap in the game that I know of, and it's the frost trap in the Finesse tree. Granted, I never really played a mage, so I didn't look at their skill tree too much. If they have one, surely it's better than the frost trap, which is really just a giant turd since it barely does any damage. Even to start-of-the-game mobs, it took 2 with a fully maxed out set of related skills. Tedious, but easy.
Travelers: Complete the Travelers storyline - Take the Thieves Guild from an Elder Scrolls game - right down to finding the Skeleton Key and all - and then make it shit. Congrats, you've made the Travelers quest series! And you don't even get to use the master key when it's all over, so it's twice as dumb!
Turning the Tide: A ruse has baited Octienne into betraying the necromantic nature of his experiments. - Another plot achievement. Octienne is a mage who mostly sends minions after you, taking potshots from behind a magic shield that makes him invincible. Kill the minions and continue along until you get to throw his gnomish ass through a window, which is incredibly satisfying.
Warsworn: Complete the Warsworn storyline quests - If Travelers is the Thieves Guild, this is the Fighters Guild. Only total crap. It's a lot of Niskaru fighting, so you'll at least get two achievements for your troubles!
Where's My Wallet?: Pickpocketed 20 times - Pickpocketing is a pain in the ass since, again, no one is ever by themselves in this damn game. Got it at the end of my first playthrough during my respec blitz.
Would You Like Fries With That?: Complete 100 attack chains - Mash X with a melee weapon equipped. You'll get it in the first hour or two of playing.
---
It's not hard to see why Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning failed. It initially shows a lot of promise. But it doesn't take long to realize that the combat is incredibly shallow, the voice acting is subpar, the quests are all boring and repetitive, and it does a poor job of telling its story. You have a main villain in Gadflow, but he's barely brought up throughout the course of the game. Just as well, as Jim Cummings delivers the most lifeless performance I think I've ever heard out of him. Sometimes you just need to make your car payment, I guess.
And the final boss herself, Tirnoch, is a dragon - and a hell of a strange-looking one at that - that basically doesn't even come up until the very end. The fights with Gadflow and Tirnoch are both simple and dumb. For Gadflow, I was able to enter Reckoning Mode and took him out with three or four fully charged Bow attacks. Tirnoch is a simple fight - she summons minions, you kill them to fill your Reckoning Meter, then you trigger it. Her head will fall, you attack it, then you move to a new platform and repeat.
It took 4 cycles on Normal and 3 on Hard, likely because by then, I was primarily using my Bow for everything. If you want an overpowered weapon, try a Bow and max out all the skills related to it in Finesse. Finesse in general is probably the best talent tree to use. The top-level skills you open at 70-points in are all pretty nice, the best being the mines you can throw out. When enemies run over them, it pops them into the air and interrupts whatever they were doing. You can charge it while casting to send like 25+ of the things out in a wide arc.
I bought Amalur used off of Amazon, costing me just shy of 12 dollars. For the amount of time spent in it, I'd say it was worth the cost. The two DLC missions both cost 10 bucks apiece, and fuck that noise. I've got OCD when it comes to achievement hunting these days, but it thankfully ends with buying a bunch of DLC at full price. Even when I went back and perfected Borderlands 2, I only did so because the DLC was on sale. If Amalur's DLC ever does, I'll definitely go back to it and fully perfect it. For now, base game perfecting will do.
I went through a strange arc with this game. At first I thought it was great, then I thought it was complete garbage. And now that I'm done? Eh, it was okay. It wasn't the worst thing I've played this year, it isn't gonna be the best. And maybe that's why it failed. Aside from needing absurd numbers to recoup costs, Kingdoms of Amalur isn't great or terrible. It just... is.
Next up on the list is returning to Aliens: Colonial Marines. I'd started work on it before Amalur arrived, but decided to switch over. It's been an interesting time so far, and I'm eager to resume work on it. As I'll have to play through its 11 or so missions multiple times due to having Difficulty-based achievements, I'm sure I'll have plenty to say when it's time to do its Breakdown.
No comments:
Post a Comment