Editor-in-Chief Chris "Pwyff" Tom went down to San Francisco to get some hands-on experience with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's high-level content.

Game preview events are always a dangerous thing. Sometimes I'll get plunked down in front of a pre-constructed instance with a pre-constructed character, surrounded by developers who get a little nervous when I say things like "experimental play styles" or I preface sentences with "what happens if…" It's not to say that these events are bad things; it can just get difficult to form a decent opinion when the events are designed to deliver an optimal experience. In this way, when 38 Studios and Big Huge Games invited me to San Francisco for a high-level preview of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning to supplement my initial low-level experiences, well, that got my attention.

One of the focal points of the event was to highlight the fact that the team wasn't lying when it said that Reckoning was big. It is. Given that we were trying out high-level characters (they started at level 20, with Reckoning's level cap being 40), it made sense to also advance us along the storyline to see more "epic" level content. All of the premade characters started out at the "Siege of Mel Senshir," and, while I won't spoil any of the story for you, Mel Senshir seems to act as a gateway hub that unlocks access to an entirely new continent of zones. The latter part of that sentence was a bit of speculation off of a mini-map that was handed out during the event, but it was confirmed that the Siege of Mel Senshir does act as a gateway event to a lot of new content.

Last time I got to try Reckoning, I went for a full Hammer Might build, but was ultimately turned off because I kept getting hit in the middle of my combos. Instead, I opted for a Finesse / Magic build with daggers and chakrams. This time around I went for a Might / Finesse character wielding a Hammer and a pair of Daggers, but fate was not on my side and technical problems eventually forced me back to a Finesse / Magic build. I did, however, get the opportunity to try Hammers once more, and I was happy to see that some of the deficiencies I previously noted had been tuned up. If not, well, I'd make them work regardless.

One thing that I utilized more frequently this time around was Reckoning's respec system. In Reckoning, players can visit a "fateweaver" who allows players to reset their class abilities and character skills, for a price. At lower levels, this makes for great experimentation, to maximize your choices, but at level 20, with almost 70 ability points to sink into my class trees, it was very odd knowing I could change my entire character for one price. Halfway through the game, I was able to go from being a blacksmithing, Fae Blade wielding Thief to an all-powerful Mage who also happened to be the greatest tailor in Amalur.

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