Probably what you say is typically correct, this was a self funded game that negotiated a special deal in order to make payroll. The state they were located in already owned the copyright, so EA bought publishing rights for a fat sack of cash (probably too much) and hoped their cross promotion with ME3 would make the new property worthwhile.

Incidentally they were working on a MMO of KoA as well, EA pretty much killed any chance any other publisher would touch it, because EA held some rights to publishing part of the lore. I'm also thinking EA wanted to "lock in" first dibs on future publishing, which would have been lucrative if their gamble hadn't failed. I see EA buying the full rights off the state government soon, for pennies on the dollar. If they get a hold of all of the assets they may make their nut back in the long run.

Do not continue playing KoA until you have used this [url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZO94sX4YFdYJ:forums.reckoning.amalur.com/showthread.php%3F8613-Release-YSA-Youngneil1-Shapes-Amalur+&cd=25&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au]"mod"[/url]. It's up to you (although recommended) to use Cheat Engine, but you don't have to. Anyway, this thing changed my entire enjoyment of the game and is the best hope of balancing gameplay now that Studio 38 is dead. Enjoy!

P.S. The mediafire links might be dead so PM me if you have any problems downloading as I still have a few tables archived somewhere...

Bit of a necro here.

Even that link is down. What was the mod for?

The developers disbanded soon after release and the forums soon followed. The only way to find this mod was through Google cache, but it seems not even they want it anymore.

YSA is a mod that uses Cheat Engine to actively change certain in-game parametres on the fly. Basically, it makes the game harder because vanilla is so ridiculously easy. The cool thing is that the code is annotated and completely customisable, making the mod perfect for anybody's needs.

If I were you, I woudn't continue playing the game without it :)
I can provide you with the last released cheat tables if you are interested.

Finally playing this. It has a nice world and decent combat, if you like a more action God of War kind of style. I have to play it with a pad, but that's fine.

My main question... the dialog and story is SO fucking boring. Does it pep up, ever? I'm about 6 hours in and every conversation is like needles in my fingertips. Just endless, mindless crap. Usually I click every dialog option in a game like this but I am skipping most of them here.

Basically, anything that isn't related to any of the guilds is the most generic fantasy dreck you could possibly imagine. The guild storylines themselves are pretty decent self-contained things in the style of the Elder Scrolls guilds. Amalur is a neat game with some well-made mechanics and good art design, but it is not great at being immersive or having an especially enthralling story. Also it's absurdly easy on normal as long as you stay in areas meant for your level.

Personally I enjoyed Amalur, but to each their own right? :D

I dropped the game, too boring for me :(
Even on Hard is too easy, and I don't like the plot at all, I've no interesto in playing this sadly :(

Yes. Doing everything is actually a pretty great way to get over-leveled and plow through the last 1/5th of the game with no danger at all, but in any case you'll be fine for most of the game on normal regardless of what character you choose to make.

No, it gets worse until you get to the final area.

Ha... with the DLC installed the game will not work offline.

Lovely.

hm, are you sure? I seem to remember being able playing it on a laptop in the breaks sometime ago (no internet then). Is it through Origin?

The story is decent enough, the faction stuff is quite good story-wise, I really liked the Sidhe bit as its based on irish folklore. I also really liked the talking stones thing (5 in each area), I thought the "lore" aspect was very well done. Horses for courses I guess.

Dunno why the DLC is causing such a problem though.