Anyone else playing, (or has played) Kingdoms of Amalur to prepare for Mass Effect Andromeda?

what didn't you like?

Beats me... I remember I just started wandering off into the semi open world and then I lost interest in the story and quests. Maybe I'll try again some day, but my experience back then was - simply - boredom.

Wasn't a fan of the game story was blah, and while the game play was well polished it got very repetitive and boring for me. If it had a good story to keep me interested I wouldn't have cared as much about it's repetitive combat.

I liked KoA for its gameplay, but it just couldn't compete with other action games I've played like the devil may cry series, or bayonetta.

Ultimately the story was so bland I couldn't continue on. I did all the content in the first open area, and shortly after zoning into the 2nd open region of the game I saved and never touched it again.

My brother loved the game though, he's not a fan of straight up open world games, or even straight action games. But KoA found some kind of balance for people like him I guess.

Yeah, this was my problem with the game, too. There was something about it that was just... meh. I was bummed, too, because I really wanted to love it.

Oof, same. I just reinstalled it over the weekend to give it a spin. I remember I lost steam on the game at the point where you got to the desert-y area (I think that's only the second biome). It has a pretty decent intro and character creator. The open corridors world design is kind of tedious. I really didn't like the combat, I'd forgotten how spastic it was. A lot of rolling around and whittling away at health bars. I don't know why I find combat in these fantasy RPGs so unsatisfying unless they're turn-based systems. I guess because it feels like you're not getting much dmg in per attack but you're not really ever in any danger for the most part. Then you get a rusty bucket from the enemy corpse for your trouble.    Anyway, I got to the first town before I uninstalled it and went back to Hitman. 

I played Amalur not that long ago.

Story and setting aside (which weren't great for reasons already discussed), the combat system was fun and there's a few mechanics I wouldn't mind seeing in a future DA game.

Multi-stage spells, some of the combat maneuvers, glory kills... and the chakrams were a lot of fun in that game.

However, there were so many enemies who could interrupt/stunlock you, there was one warrior ability that was absolutely required to keep it from being teeth-grinding experience for me.

I played the game shortly after it was released. It was alright

I actually did a few playthroughs of it back when I had a 360. Enjoyed the gameplay and art design of the game. Now that I'm on pc though I got a large backlog of stuff which I got during sales that I can busy myself with as opposed to returning to games I've already beaten several times and spent 100s of hours in.

I rarely go back to old games, but I do have exceptions like the Mass Effect trilogy though at this point I'm ready to move on to MEA's SP and MP. I feel like I've gotten every drop of enjoyment that I could from the trilogy.

On this subject I think something like 24 would make a truly fantastic RPG.  I know that it may be controversial however because of the subject matter.  But something with that level and layer of plot.  Like...goodness that one game...Alpha Protocol...but hopefully much better. 

I am. I bought it used 3 weeks ago along with Fallout NV and Binary Domain for my PS3. I played an hour of each game but I got hooked on NV but then I started DA:O and I'm playing that now.

Tides of Numenera comes out tomorrow and I wanna play that -- GAH, what the fuck am I doing???

To comment on KoA though, a lot of its DNA is clearly transitioned into ME:A. Both Ian Frazier and the now departed Chris Wynn came from that game project before joining BioWare IIRC, and the Montreal-based "Lead World Designer" for ME:A is from KoA's dev team too. More specifically the "you can freely jump between classes and mix them" design philosophy has carried over as has the emphasis on many different mechanical playstyles.

I really liked the first hours of KoA. It's clear by the 2-hour mark that it's quickly turning into what I also didn't like about DA:I; the MMO-singleplayer game with quests that are all "go here, do that" based on quantity-objectives, where all you're consciously doing is going towards a marker on the map but don't care for what the context is, let alone because there's SO BLOODY MANY quests being thrown at you at a constant pace, but I actually found some enjoyment in the formula of KoA's first hours because it surprised me with how many systems it had, such as the day-night cycle, NPCs to talk to that aren't quest-related and being thrown into jail when I stole items after two guards came up to me. I even had the choice to fight back, refuse or go willingly. I dislike the genericness of the world but I gathered it's a high-fantasy created by a well reknowned fantasy author so it wasn't trying to be more than that.

In contrast, David Gaider said he loathed the initial pitch he was given when tasked with creating the world of Dragon Age. His dev team wanted a world with Orcs, elves and every trope in the book but Gaider kept saying no to orcs until one agreed to say that  if the cause for the "orcs" was that of a disease that was spreading like a plague, then it became more original. Suffice it to say, at least BioWare's writers oughtta squeeze more juice out of a game like KoA if they had been writers for it. It's not bad writing in KoA, it's just very, very tired and safe and overly friendly.

Also the UI looks like crap in KoA. It's really crude. One more thing that carried over