Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Community Q&A #4

We are at the fourth installment of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’s Wednesday community Q&A and this time, combat & systems designer Matthew Berner, systems designer Will Miller, and level designer Kitty Hughes reply on subjects such as the title’s “loot colors”, the possibility of owning a house, the developers’ favorite build and more. Excerpt ahead:

Q: Will we be able to own a house or have a place you can call home in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning? By JDTwoSixTwo

A: Creating a feeling of ownership and a sense of belonging in the world of Amalur was extremely important to us when designing Reckoning. To that end, we have created unique houses which range from modest village dwellings to a massive castle. Each house is unique to its surroundings, and is acquired in a different way. Some houses are a reward for completing quests, while others play a more active role in the story line.

All houses offer some basic services. In them, players can regenerate health and mana by sleeping, customize their appearance using a Mirror, or store excess inventory items in the Stash. For convenience, stashed items show up in every house, regardless of which house you originally stashed them in. In addition, some houses can be upgraded to feature additional rooms, Sagecrafting, Alchemy, and Blacksmithing tables, and even pet monsters! By Will “BHG_Miller” Miller, Systems Designer

Q: What’s your favourite character build to play with, and why? By Ajwol Semreth

A: That’s a tough question, of which I’ve seen a lot of different favorites here in the studio! Early on, we surveyed the studio in order to classify everyone’s play styles. We asked all sorts of questions, ranging from how important do you consider potions to ranking your interest in stealth and their understanding of hit reacts in fighting games. Throughout development, we’ve tried to service people’s play styles rather than focusing on archetypal classes in order to balance the game and promote our classless Destiny System.

My personal favorite is a hybrid Rogue-Mage, with about a 70-30 split. I love the Finesse tree, and really enjoy mixing it with a bit of Sorcery for support. With our Two-Weapon system, I’m generally wielding a set of icy chakram and poisoned faeblades. This particular combo lets me slow enemies, while navigating the field and dishing out exorbitant amounts of damage! The ability combos are pretty nice too, with both traps and a summonable familiar helping me keep the enemies I’m not focused on at bay. By Matthew “MBLucid” Berner, Combat & Systems Designer