Dragon’s Dogma VS Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Suddenly the idea occurred to me to conduct an analytical comparison (battle, call it what you want) of two great (in my opinion) games that many have passed over. We are talking about Dragon’s Dogma and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The article will be very long and that is why I recommend that you have patience and, if you like, tea.

I highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with all those who did not dare to play any of these games for a number of reasons, or for people who have already completed. This comparison will also be useful for those who are not familiar with these games.

Let’s start with the introduction.

Either one or the other game was not successful. Although this is very controversial. Both of them are considered good games, but they never achieved cult status. What is this comparison all about and how did it come to my mind?? I’ll explain! I played through both of these games and literally fell in love with them, but each in different ways. I completed Dogma much earlier and therefore, while playing Amalur (I finished it, by the way, quite recently) I often caught myself thinking that a comparison of these two games suggests itself. Perhaps it was just me, but now I’m going to introduce you to my thoughts. Let’s go!

There may be minor spoilers.

There may also be errors due to the fact that I type quickly and may not always hit the key. After writing the article, I will, of course, double-check, but I may not notice. Sometimes noun inflections and verb conjugations may also be used incorrectly. I don’t know what this is connected with. Often I can write “I did” instead of “I did”. There is no cure for this.

I’ll probably start with him. By story I mean the main quest chain that takes us from the very beginning to the very end. And by and large, these games are quite similar. We have a great evil that needs to be defeated, but in Amalur this must be done precisely because this very evil is about to seize power and destroy all mortal races and it is you who must prevent this, because you are the only person (or non-person) who has no destiny, you yourself are free to decide what to do and only our hero can overthrow the sub-villain! Evil here is presented in the form of gone elves, who, it turns out, are still immortal. No, you can kill them, but after some time they will rise up and rush into battle again. This is why the mortal races had to lose sooner or later. But then you appear (the player in this game appears as having risen from the dead) and only you can stop this evil, absolutely no one else can. How interesting is all this arranged here?? Yes, in general it’s not bad, but in some places it becomes really boring to follow what’s going to happen, because there are no special twists and everything is more or less clear, and if it’s not clear, it will become clear later. According to the main chain (spoiler), one of the key (although this is debatable) characters will die. And it would seem that this should trigger emotions, but it doesn’t evoke anything other than WTF. It’s played out so stupidly that you don’t even understand what the hell it is. Maybe I just didn’t get into all of this, although, to be honest, I’m a fan of such banal plots, because it gives me a feeling of heroism and I can fully relate to a fantasy world where good guys always beat up bad guys (although this does not mean at all that plots that deviate from the banal are bad). And you know what at the end? Right! We win and everyone is happy. There is (almost) nothing special in the ending, although it is difficult to write this down as a minus, because such games often use this formula in the main chain in order to better develop sidequests and the world as a whole (although it is not clear how one interferes with the other, but the experience of the most popular game universes shows us exactly this. And this is not Dragon Age, where it would seem that the global goal is also built on the overthrow of world evil, but all this is so gorgeously played out in terms of the plot and its presentation that you involuntarily gasp, realizing that even the plot with the killing of a dragon can be developed in such a way that it doesn’t seem a little. No, don’t think so, there are twists in the game, but at the same time, I personally didn’t perceive them as having any “wow” effect. Perhaps because I initially did not treat the game as something masterpiece in terms of the script. And in general it was difficult to take seriously. The game was released almost simultaneously with Skyrim and that is why, probably, many people bypassed it. While Skyrim is full of gloomy locations and darker colors generally predominate, the opposite is true in Amalur. All this is perceived as a fairy tale, which is why it is difficult to feel all the anger of the antagonist and the threat to the world as a whole. At one point I simply lost the thread of events and frantically tried to find it again. And in the end I found it, but apparently missed something, although this hardly affected the overall picture much. And in general, the huge number of names and information makes you feel nauseous. These are not tons of texts that you want to read or listen to. It’s just S K U C H N O. By the way, the final boss, in my opinion, is not very interesting and charismatic (if you think that that elf from the introductory video is the main evil, then you are mistaken, but this does not change the situation as a whole).

Overall: Not bad (within the genre, very good, but nothing extraordinary)

What can Dragon’s Dogma compare to??

In fact, Dogma has a very good answer in this regard, but initially our goal of destroying the big dragon is not related to the fact that he is so bad and wants to kill everyone, but because we have personal scores with him. He stole our heart and we really want him back. But I don’t quite understand why, because even without a heart we can run, jump, and live normally. Since initially the game did not have a Russian localization, our people didn’t really understand what was there and how it was, like there was a dragon and it had to be killed (the dragon’s name, by the way, was Grigory). But it turned out that there is something to understand there. Especially the final plot twist (which can be understood without translation, but still). He came out really cool. And the game has several endings, but only one is, so to speak, the “correct” one, because if you finish the game with the “wrong” ending, then you will watch a video that will show you what your actions led to and the game will ask you to load from the last save in order to go through everything correctly. It would seem yes, there are twists, but still nothing special, but during the playthrough I felt much more EPIC or something. But I will be forced to describe why it happened this way in the paragraphs that will follow. In general, I must say that we didn’t see anything supernatural here either, but it’s much more interesting to watch the development of actions in Dogma. Everything is somehow cheerful (although both in one and the other game require approximately the same amount of time to complete the main plot). It’s not as detailed as what happened with Amalur, but there’s really nothing special to say. No complaints, but no particular praise, except for an interesting moment in the finale. Just a strong average peasant.

Result: Good

In the “Plot” section I will give preference to Dogma, but this is not “Heaven and Earth”, but rather “Closet and Nightstand”.

By the way, a funny thing is that the final bosses in both games are not the ones who were introduced to us at the beginning as the main villains. Nothing special, just a coincidence.

Since we touched on the topic of the main storyline, it would be nice to immediately move on to the secondary quests and, perhaps, I’ll start again with Amalur.

At one time, many people criticized the game precisely because there were so many quests that it made you sick. Literally at every step, and given the architecture of the locations, this could turn into running through a minefield, where the mines were actually quests. And it’s true. However, does this make the game worse?? I doubt. What’s the matter here?. As in any other RPG, there are a lot of quests of the “go-fetch-kill-report” type, but fortunately the developers did not forget about something more interesting. Now I’m talking about factions, of which there are six in the game, if I’m not mistaken. And each of them is unique in its own way. Interesting chains in each. Yes, there is also a tried-and-true “go-fetch-kill-report” formula, but each faction has its own plot. And this very plot, damn it, is interesting and I would even say, more interesting than the main storyline, because sometimes you want to calmly solve local problems, and not save the world from evil for the hundredth time. So, let’s say in the “Travelers” faction, the initial task of robbing people turns into some kind of intricate idea, where we must overthrow the current guild routine and establish our own. However, it is worth saying that at the end of most quest chains we are given a choice. And this choice is to join one of the sides in the conflict (after completing almost all the factions, I naively believed that at the end of the storyline we would be given a choice, but alas). If we take the rest of the quests that are not related to factions, then they are mostly of the same type and not particularly interesting. Everywhere there is a plot, sometimes even a good one, but everything always comes down to the same thing: “go-bring-kill-report”. In faction quests, this is presented much more elegantly, if this word is applicable in this context. It’s not entirely clear why the developer was so eager to cram in such a huge number of quests. Perhaps to stretch out the game, but it’s a no brainer that no one will undertake to complete absolutely every quest. Although, I must say that I took almost all the quests and it is worth noting that even among the stupid mob-killers and grinders there are worthy ones, with an interesting premise, but much less often with an interesting ending, because it happens that at the beginning you are like “wow, cool, I’ll help, maybe there is something interesting,” but in the end everything is as usual.

Result: Good. Very much so. Not ideal, of course, but the factional ones were made in good faith. Really good sidequests are lost against the backdrop of a huge amount of similar garbage.

How will Dogma respond??

There are an order of magnitude fewer quests here, but their quality is better than the stupid grinds in Amalur. It’s really a pity that in Dogma there was no place for factional wars, or for factions in general (although there’s not much room for that anyway). I really remember the quest in which we sort of stick a young wife to a local monarch (Arousing Suspicion) or the quest where we need to catch a thief at night in the starting village who is bothering everyone (I don’t even remember the name). In general, there is more variety than in Amalur, but unfortunately there are no long chains. The only chain in Dogma is the plot one, but at the same time it itself is divided into a bunch of shorter chains and from them a full-fledged plot is created. Well, seriously, at first our task is to simply move forward, then kill the hydra and show its head to the duke, but before meeting him we need to complete several quests from the local captain of the guard, then run from the duke, then from his servant… It sounds like a typical scenario, but at the same time I couldn’t help but feel that these were just several different chains cleverly stitched into one. And really smart. Well almost. So, somehow we moved away from the topic of sidequests. They are here and they are more interesting than in Amalur, but it is worth understanding that the scale is simply incommensurable and the lack of normal sidequest chains has a strong impact. Yes, there are quests that are like a whole adventure, but all this is due to the lack of fast movement in the game (absence in its typical sense) and the need to constantly run. And there are no mounts in both games. In Amalur this is not felt so much, although the world is clearly larger.

Result: Good
In the “Sidequests” section, I will give preference to Amalur only for its excellent faction quests, although it should be understood that this does not make Dogma’s sidequests bad. They’re just not that large-scale, although each one is like a separate adventure in its own way.

3. Environment and open world.

At this point I want to touch on the locations themselves and how they are designed. We’ll talk about the graphic component in the next paragraph.

And again I want to start with Amalur.

The world is truly huge here. I don’t know how much, but in terms of sensations and the map it’s really quite big, but it’s not without its flaws. As sad as it may sound, it is not seamless. There is loading between some locations and this literally kills the integrity of the world. Although these same downloads, fortunately, are not so common, but nevertheless. The locations themselves are divided into small zones, in which there is a narrow path leading to the next one and this should also be considered a disadvantage. The world is very gut-shaped, seriously. If you watched the reviews or played, you understand what we mean. You always have to walk on the paths because you can’t really wander around. Yes, you can just turn, say, left, but after literally 15 seconds of running you will hit a wall. Everything, absolutely all locations are closed and, as I said above, have a narrow passage to others. This, of course, you may not notice, but you always feel closed within some walls, while being in the open air. You are always running along a path that can stretch across half the map and this, I tell you, is not the open world we deserve. Dogma and Amalur came out in the same year, but Skyrim came out a little earlier, which I generally don’t like as much, but the world there is truly magnificent. I don’t know why it couldn’t be done this way. Okay, Skyrim and Amalur were developed at the same time and they couldn’t peek from it, but the person who also made Oblivion and Morrowind also worked on Amalur. Couldn’t he really replicate the openness of Cyrodiloa (aka Cyrodiil)? This isolation does not allow you to feel truly free, but only creates the feeling that you are walking on different levels. Although large, but still at levels. Yes, the transitions are smooth, yes the world is big, but it is NOT OPEN. At least not the way I would like to see it, but it’s worth giving it its due, everything is really quite harmonious and beautiful, but more on that later. The lack of jumping still prevents you from fully experiencing the world. This isn’t Dragon Age, where you get used to it. Here you can’t even fall off the ledge (although there are special ledges from which you can and even need to jump, but this does not change the fact that it is very inconvenient to walk here). Let’s say you’re going down the steps. Even if there is no railing, you are still forced to go down, because you cannot fall, even from a small height. Just like climbing on it. Yes, you can even dive into the water only in strictly designated areas. This once again tells us that we are kept within limits, while in Dogma there is even something like parkour (you can climb buildings, etc.).n., but this, of course, is not Assassin’s Creed). Now about the pros. There are really a lot of settlements in the game. There are only two large cities, but there are a huge number of villages and they are all unique. There are also a lot of faction bases, which is also some kind of city or village. In the case of one of the factions, even the semblance of fortresses. I didn’t look closely, maybe the house models are the same, but everything is arranged differently and that’s really cool. Everyone is busy with something: guards guard, blacksmiths forge, merchants trade. Settlements are really alive, which cannot be said about the rest of the world. He’s so… clumsy, or something?. Especially if you take into account the location of the enemies. It’s really infuriating that when you’re just running, a bunch of enemies jump out of the ground and you either fight or run. And you won’t be able to enjoy the views themselves. As if the developer specifically gave you a reason not to notice the semi-open world. After such a move, you completely lose the feeling that this is an AAA project. Seriously, enemies from underground? Of course, there are enemies here who are carefully placed, but it would be better if they placed everyone and there wouldn’t be these stupid jumping out of the ground, which is a stupid stretching of the game. And even if you come across a location that you really want to explore, you will still be forced to fight. By the way, from a certain moment you can even know where your enemies will jump out. On the mini-map, if the path begins to widen, and after 30 meters it narrows again, then you can be sure that this is a mini-arena where you will be attacked. Or if you see an object that lies point blank against any wall, then be sure that when you approach, enemies will appear behind you. Again, you can’t say that the world is bad and ugly, but you just don’t understand why you should do this.

At one point there was a feeling that the developer really loved the popular MMO-RPG World of Warcraft. There is a type of weapon in the game called “Blade of the Elves (Fairies)”, the design of which is taken, it seems to me, from the Twin Blades of Azzinoth. Also, at the end of one dungeon, I discovered the bow of a certain Silvan (doesn’t resemble anyone?) and next to it is a sword with ice damage that looks painfully like Frostmourne.

Now about dungeons (dungeons). To be honest, you will spend no less time in them than in the open air, and there are a number of reasons for this. One of them sounds like this: almost all of your quests come down to the fact that you need to take something/beat someone up and all this happens mainly in dungeons. I read somewhere that the developers say that each of their dungeons is unique and every time like the first, but this is never the case. They are the same, although I don’t even know if I can attribute this to disadvantages, because I didn’t notice it right away, and it’s not very noticeable. Fortunately, it’s not completely a carbon copy, and thank you for that. There is also a rather funny moment of repeated dungeon projections. Let’s say I noticed a “dungeon square”. This is when the dungeon is, in fact, square and you need to make a circle around it (well, more precisely, not a circle, but go from one corner to another and eventually crawl to the entrance). There is also a “straight dungeon” (I think there is no need to explain) with an exit on the other side or without it, in which case you will have to run back. Although there are quite a few unique ones in major story and faction quests, and here everything is fine with us. But in dungeons everything is the same, although it was hardly possible to come up with something new in this genre. It almost always happens that we have a path, from time to time we go out into more or less wide spaces and fight, move on, loot chests, optionally go to optional areas of the dungeon and dump. By the way, there are really a lot of chests in the game and I was incredibly tired of opening them at the end of the game, and given that most need to be hacked, this turns into a whole separate chain of opening chests. Although, maybe I’m just so sick and obsessed with these chests. In general, dungeons are controversial. Probably because there are a lot of them to visit. Overall they are not bad. In some places even good.

Result: Not bad

I’ve been dragging my feet on this point, but let’s move on to Dogma.

This is where our world truly is seamless, although it doesn’t feel that big, but who cares when we have a place to walk. Although it is worth noting that this is not without sins. Yes, here the world feels much more holistic, yes, it is more pleasant due to the absence of these fucking zones of separation, but here, just like in Amalur, there is a gut-like quality. Fortunately, she is much less noticeable and much less annoying. Dogma is also full of paths, but they are much wider than in Amalur. Here you can really roam. Of course not Skyrim, but not rails either. Especially the area around Gran Soren (the capital and only city in the game). There are groves in which you can frolic, there are also glades. In general, the feeling of openness is much more clearly visible in Dogma and that’s cool. A world without sudden changes in climate zones. I also can’t help but note that here the enemies are placed normally and there are no stupid jumping out of the ground, which makes it possible to just stand up and look around. Of course, there are zombies at night that crawl out of the ground, but this is only at night and can somehow be logically explained. It would seem so good: there is a free map, the enemies are normally located, but even here there are some major problems. Settlements. In fact there are always two of them. The village where we start and the capital (Grand Soren). I won’t count the military camp a little further than the first (and only) village, because it can hardly be called a full-fledged city. Of course, there are some bases, there are also places with friendly NPCs, but it’s not the same. At least because you can only shop in Gran Soren. There are sellers in front of large story dungeons, but they have much less goods, and they rather act as a tavern where you can sleep. If in the wild areas of Amalur we can meet NPCs (albeit stupid ones who do nothing, but still NPCs), then in Dogma only pawns walk around the world. Speaking of pawns. These are kind of partners in the game. There is no complete control over them, but you can set certain actions. You have a main pawn, which you create, equip, and it is always with you, and there are also pawns that you pick up ready-made on the street, or in a special place where you can summon any. If you wish, you can walk alone, but in the initial stages it is highly not recommended. You can throw them a load, throw them off a cliff, etc.d. In general, partners, but in a slightly different sense than we are used to. I didn’t want to devote a whole paragraph to this, so I briefly described it here. In short, with the world population in both cases, everything is very controversial. And now about the only city in the game. He’s cool. Really cool. Large, seamless (in Amalur even the cities are divided into several parts) and interestingly built. True, at the end of the game (spoiler), half the city will go underground, but that’s okay. There is also a feeling of liveliness here, but it’s difficult to say where exactly it feels better. It’s just that in Amalur there are much more populated areas and the residents are more active, but in Dogma the only city is made better than all of Amalur’s, because there they are so gut-shaped (namely cities, with villages there everything is more or less normal, and in some places even good), and it is more beautiful, it gives the impression of something really majestic.

Now about the dungeons. Here it is worth admitting that Dogma is absolutely head and shoulders above Amalur. There are much fewer of them here, but each of them is unique. That’s really everyone. Especially there are plot ones. Made with a bang. I get up and clap. There is nothing more to say about them. Beautifully made. Moreover, this is one of the few games where light (and here we have a lamp) is simply necessary. It’s impossible to walk at night without a lamp, you just can’t see anything. Same thing in dungeons. Completely blind. In Amalur, because of the overall colorfulness of the picture, it is always light, but here who likes what more. Personally, I prefer the much darker world of Dogma.

Result: Very good

But, alas, I cannot declare a clear winner at this point. Yes, Domga is really open, the dungeons are much better, the world is more holistic, but at the same time Amalur is fabulously beautiful in its own way. And there are more populated areas, and the residents are more lively, and it’s just, damn, beautiful. Even with all its corridors.

4. Visual design.

Let’s not stray too far from the topic and immediately discuss the visual. It’s the quality of the picture, the style, the panache.

As I already said, Dogma is much darker, sometimes you can even catch yourself thinking that you are a little afraid (especially when it’s dark). The graphics are nice, the drawing is more realistic than in Amalur. All the effects are beautiful, there is nothing eye-catching.

In Amalur, everything is more fabulous, sweet, bright and it is very difficult to be truly afraid of this world. The effects are also beautiful, but much brighter and quite a bit eye-popping.

In the “Visual Design” section, I’ll give my vote to Dogma, since it has much more “wow” effects on the world and its visuals. And you won’t be able to see any landscapes in Amalur because of the semi-open world, but the point is very controversial, because arguing about the graphics is a crazy idea. I still regret that I even chose a winner here, but I had to, because it would be disrespectful to Dogma and it would be ugly to ignore the obvious advantages in the form of consecration and landscapes.

I’ll add that I won’t particularly take this point into account in the final comparison, so as not to offend those who prefer Amalur’s style.

At this point we will touch on the gameplay, but not the combat system, because I have a separate point for the combat system, because in both games it deserves attention separately from other points.

I’ll tell you what https://nonukcasinosites.co.uk/review/jackpotraider-casino/ you can do besides fighting.

And again I want to start with Amalur. The game has a lot of different interesting activities. You can collect ingredients to brew a potion. You can also forge your own weapons and armor. You can create power-up stones to add to your gear and crush your enemies even more powerfully than before. If you don’t like peaceful activities, then you can sit on the courts, crawl up from behind and steal something, although you should be careful, because you can be caught by the guards and you will either have to pay a fine or go to prison. Yes, you can even sit down and read if you have absolutely nothing else to do. Walking around the world won’t do much, since you will be provoked into a fight in any case. You can talk to people, get to know ENT better, or just learn some information from strangers. It would seem that there are quite a lot of interesting activities, but they are all, to one degree or another, related to battles (except for conversations). Without a fight you won’t be able to get the ingredient for the potion. The fragments for creating power-up stones are knocked out from enemies or chests, and the chests are mainly in dungeons, where you will most likely have to fight if you have not fully upgraded your stealth, and even there you will have to try not to get caught.

Result: Not bad

It’s even worse in Dogma. There’s simply nothing you can do here. Seriously, nothing. I remember a couple of quests where you don’t have to fight, but these are just a couple of quests. There is no crafting in the game, there are no professions (in general, classes are called professions here, but you understand what I mean). You can collect some ingredients, but they are needed to strengthen weapons, and the coolest of them drop from mobs, so in the game we only have battles and admiring the open world, but admiration alone will not get you far. It won’t even be possible to communicate. All you can do is set your pawn in a special place on how to behave during the battle. But it’s hard to call this a full-fledged occupation. The conclusion suggests itself.

In the “Gameplay” section, Amalur wins because at least there is something to do there besides fighting. Even if it is not implemented at the highest level.

And now we’ve come to one of the juiciest points on this list, because I’ll say right away that the combat system in both games is excellent, so there won’t be much to describe.

Here I’ll probably start with Dogma. The creators were inspired by the most iconic representatives of the genre and, I must say, they did it at the highest level. You really feel every blow, there are a lot of options for combinations thanks to a large number of abilities. Colorful strikes coupled with truly unusual techniques make the combat system in this game one of the best in the genre. What was especially pleasing was the fact that you can climb on large creatures like in one well-known game and beat them. You can be stunned, put to sleep, paralyzed, and even turned into stone (fatal), but you resist this in every possible way, wear armor with protection effects from harpy songs, so that right in the middle of the battle you won’t be knocked out for half a minute. Thanks to pawns, battles become even more interesting, because the enemy can run after them, and you hit him from behind and… Phew… In general, very beautiful and epic. And it’s also worth noting that Dogma has the best and most beautiful magic in the history of video games (in my opinion and only my opinion). There is no mana bar in the game, but each spell has a casting time (no cooldowns). If you take the most powerful ones like meteor shower or hurricane, they really take a very long time to cast, but when the spell is cast… You will really experience the wildest pleasure. Especially for the first time. And this meteor shower is not some kind of fireballs flying from a height of five meters, these are really huge stones that fall from the sky onto the battlefield and demolish everyone who falls under them. The damage is catastrophic, but there is no imbalance. The cast is so long that you will be killed, resurrected, and then killed again in the time it takes you to cast. Fortunately, there are pawns who will protect you, although they do not always have time, and the cast tends to go astray. The battles are very interesting and colorful. It’s something like Dark Souls with Shadows of the Colossus and a couple more similar Action RPGs, but much more epic. There are enemies that are vulnerable to magic, and there are enemies that are completely invulnerable to it, which sometimes makes you completely helpless and then you have to watch how pawns fight. Damn this is cool! It’s as if the game is telling you “you’re not God here”. In Amalur, you can kill anyone, even if the enemy has resistance to your type of damage. In general, I don’t even know what to call the combat system. This is hardly a slasher film, but the elements are clearly visible. It’s hardly a stupid click, but there’s also something from it. I can say that Dogma has absorbed all the best aspects of the coolest fighting games of all time.

Overall: Great

In Amalur, in general, everything is also good. Very dynamic, very colorful and impressive, but the problem is that by the end of the game I was already a little nauseous from the number of skirmishes. Although it’s probably just me, they are imposed so often. Amalur is absolutely a slasher. Enemies scatter just like that, you put them down in packs, you get a thrill from the incredibly colorful finishing moves. Here the battles are much more dynamic, since the battlefields are smaller, there are more enemies, the attacks are faster and this creates a certain feeling of God of War. Many people have already expressed that the combat games are generally similar. I am among them, but it is worth understanding that this is not God of War and this formula doesn’t always work here. I can’t say for sure where the combat system is richer. In Dogma the magic is much more effective (although within the fairy-tale fantasy genre, Amalur holds up well and also has its moments), there are much more spells and they are more interesting and effective. In Amalur there are many different weapon combos and interesting active effects like “activate me and with every hit you will have a chance to poison the enemy”. Certain types of enemies have vulnerabilities to certain types of damage, which makes it necessary to carry two weapons of different elemental damage, or without it at all. There are also rolls in the game (Dogma also has them, but only if you carry daggers, so this disability does not count), which you use, of course, not as often as in the same Dark Souls, but they are still useful. The combat system of this game has been dubbed the best thing in the game. I can’t argue, but I can’t fully agree either.

Result: Very good

Also in both games you can choose different combat tactics and it’s difficult to say where this system is deeper. In Amalur this is often a combo combo, rolled from a hit and a combo again. If the enemy is weak, then it’s easy to stab him with a spell, if there are more, then there’s no way without a shield or rolls, because any of your blows can easily be knocked down (as, in fact, in Dogma), but there the opponents and situations in general are completely different. In Amalur, in general, fighting is much easier, but this is more likely due to the fact that the game initially planned its combat as a slasher game. Of course, there are difficulties when it is difficult for you to kill someone, but this does not happen so often.

In the “Combat System” section I declare a draw. I was torn and at one time even thought about giving victory to Dogma, but I couldn’t. Both games have a great feel for combat, meat, and epic (in Dogma, epic means some well-staged battles, and in Amalur it’s about finishing moves. They’re really gorgeous).

7. Opponents and difficulty

No less interesting point than the combat system, I must tell you.At first I thought to divide “opponents” and “complexity” into two different points, but then I realized that it would be very difficult to describe the first without relying on the second.

What does Amalur have in its arsenal??

Yes, everything here seems to be in order! There are also human enemies, there are all sorts of fairy-tale animals, there are even bosses! But not everything is so rosy. Yes, the game has slasher elements and this is no secret, but should this affect its difficulty?? No way. And here it affects. The game is ridiculously simple. I’m telling you this as a person who completed it on the maximum difficulty level. Moreover, at first it was really difficult and opponents could leave you with an almost empty health bar, but I died only ONE time in the entire game and that was on the final boss of the House of Songs faction. I don’t know if it’s related to the fact that after switching from a magician to a war, I literally became a machine, but the game really, after the first faction completed, for me became pure entertainment without a single hint of a challenge. What’s the problem? It’s hard to say. The combat seems to be juicy, the enemies are not completely stupid and can interrupt attacks, but I can’t understand why it’s so easy. Starting from the middle of the game, when you have more or less passable equipment, monsters fly off with a few pokes, and those that don’t fly off are still not difficult to kill, because their moveset is not difficult to read even the first time. It’s another matter when you are attacked by a crowd of average mobs led by a strong one, but even in this case there is nothing that will stop you from killing them. Again, only in the first half (or even a third) of the game I drank potions like crazy and after each long quest I ran to the store for a new portion of health, then the potions stupidly began to accumulate. Yes, I felt the dynamics when they beat me and I quickly, quickly run away, being a magician, to drink a healing potion, yes, I was afraid for my life, yes, it was not easy for me in places, but guys, I only died ONE time during the game. And I must say, I didn’t just run through everything in the plot and I have more than a dozen hours on my account. It can be attributed to the fact that I have a skill in such games and it was easy for me to get the hang of it. This is partly true, but I can’t say that hundreds of hours in Dark Souls somehow saved me here. If I need to roll, it’s solely so that the combo doesn’t get thrown off, and not because I’m afraid for my life.

Very ambiguous feeling. It’s like you feel the dynamics, like they’re giving you a kick, but they still can’t kill you. Perhaps for those who haven’t played something like this, it really won’t be easy, but in the same God of War, if you play at the maximum difficulty level, it’s much more difficult to survive. Perhaps the poorest moveset of 85% of the enemies and their meager damage is to blame, perhaps it’s my fault. Still, I thought the game would let me know that I’m not playing the game, but it’s playing with me, but in the end everything turned out to be what it turned out to be. Pradva combat system saves. It’s fun to chop down even absolutely trash mobs. Moreover, as far as I understand, in dungeons the level of enemies adjusts to yours and still does not save.

Although, it is worth noting that I began to feel the absolute ease of the game precisely when playing as a war and when one spell was opened, which gives short-term resistance to knocking down blows. This probably saved me from some of it too, but well, in the first half of the game I died only once, playing both as a mage and as a robber?

Bosses. They are, excuse me, disgusting here. And not even in the sense that almost all of them are humanoid races, but in the fact that they are damn simple. Even the bosses. Well seriously. As I said above, only the final one from the House of Songs faction caused problems, and even then he fell ill on the second attempt (although I must admit that I had to sweat, but this is due to the huge number of mobs in the arena). They do not have any features or advantages over the player. They are the same, but only with a special health bar on a quarter of the screen. In the main storyline we only meet two unusual bosses. They are both huge and both are killed absolutely stupidly. Just like the Old Iron King from Second Souls. You stand in the arena and wait until he puts his hands/face up and you kick him. But the problem is that the Old Iron King was at least interesting and epic, but here we have an absolutely stupid call without a single chance to die, because they do almost no damage and die quite quickly (again, could this be due to the fact that I returned to the plot after running through almost the entire game and having good equipment? Don’t know. It seems like everything adapts to your level).

There are a lot of mobs in the game, but it can’t be said that there are very many types of them. Even the most identical battles can be overcome by good combat, but even with this factor you can sometimes get bored.

How can she answer?? Yes, in general, the same thing applies to the number of mobs. They also tend to repeat themselves, but in Dogma this is not so noticeable, because the battles themselves are provoked less often. Although it is worth noting that battles often last much longer. This is due to the size of the arenas in which you have to fight and the greater mobility of mobs, among which you can find flying ones, which, being a melee soldier (melee combat), you can’t reach. In Amalur, even flying mobs are always at the player’s level. And the battles themselves in Dogma are somewhat more difficult due to a slightly less slasher combat system and a large amount of health among enemies, but in general, if we exclude the factor of the meeting place, then ordinary monsters fight about the same in both places, although one cannot help but notice the fact that even with them sometimes skirmishes can end in tears. Especially at the beginning, when you have to beat them for a very long time. And this is one of the problems of the game. All mobs are fat and have a lot of health. If towards the end this is not so striking, then at the beginning the shutdown really takes a long time, but here, as in Amalur, the combat system pulls out. If everything goes by too quickly there, then on the contrary, everything is a little long, but I can’t attribute this to a minus either here or here. B O E V K A O G O N.

Both games have unique, nighttime mobs. True, I never met them in Amalur, because in all my dozens and dozens of hours I never walked at night. It came out unconsciously and is very funny. But they say they are stronger than usual. In Dogma, I experienced this myself and it’s really better not to walk at night. Dangerous!

Bosses. In Dogma they jump over Amalur’s by two or even three heads. Lord, how beautiful they are and how wonderful the battles with them are. All, absolutely all bosses inspire fear and horror upon first meeting. They are huge. Some are slow, some are fast, and some even fly, but they all make you literally feel their greatness. Yes, they are not unique and tend to be repeated, but every battle is something new. The troll will most likely become your first boss in the game and, it would seem, nothing special, but how interesting and cool it is to beat him. There are also trolls in armor, which are harder to beat than usual, and this is also a new experience. When I first saw a huge eye with tentacles, I was delighted. Battles are always interesting and take place in several stages. And for the flying bosses, my deepest bow. Even though they are animals, whatever one may say, they are made so realistic, so alive that it takes your breath away.

One of the best boss fights of my life happened exactly in Dogma, when one of the quests required you to fight a griffin. You beat him in an open area, everything is fine, but then he takes it and FLYS TO his tower. You run there across the entire map, simultaneously cursing the developers for stretching it out like this, but when you arrive, all your complaints disappear. I was lucky and on my first playthrough my meeting with him in this tower happened at night. Just imagine: the tower, the night, you, your pawns and soldiers, magic sparkling everywhere, arrows flying and a griffin in the sky. Indescribable epic.

Also, all bosses have their own weak points and this adds even more variety to battles with them, because at first you don’t know about them at all. I won’t spoil too much, but one thing I have to say: when the griffin burns, it’s beautiful.

And the dragons here are some of the best in the history of video games. Much better than Skyrim’s. The difference between their different types can be seen very clearly and it’s interesting to beat them.

The main boss of the game, the dragon Gregory, also did not disappoint. The staging of the entire meeting and the battle itself were done perfectly. Gorgeous boss face with a gorgeous dragon that will put you out of place.

But there are some downsides here too. Yes, it’s interesting and difficult to beat them without knowing about all their surprises, but they have a lot of health. Seriously, very. In the initial stages, you can beat the boss several times longer than you would in Dark Souls or Bloodborn. Of course, your pawns save you. which also cause any damage, then this can still drag on for a very long time. It can be really annoying sometimes. So, for example, when you kill a golichimera, you don’t know that it can heal itself (heal itself) and you will have to hit again what it patched up for itself. This mechanic is interesting, but damn you, when you took away half of her health for half an hour, and then she healed some of it… It can seriously burn. Because of this, at first, super boss fights can turn into repetition of the same very long actions for you. This did not happen for me and I perceived it as a challenge, but the fact remains a fact. They have a lot of health. Although, when you level up and have a bunch of effective and damaging spells in your arsenal, there will be no problems with this. This could probably get annoying somewhere in the middle of the game when you’re a little bored of poking them but don’t yet have enough damage to knock them out in a few minutes. So, for example, I had an incident with our beloved dragon Gregory. I went into battle with him at a very low level, with a poorly leveled class, and guess what?? I beat him for four hours and that’s not an exaggeration. Moreover, I died two or three times and when I started from the beginning, I just banged my head on the table. Yes, the battle is very dynamic and the dragon is made superbly, not clumsily, you are always on pins and needles, he alternates his attacks competently, but when this happens for the fortieth minute in a row, you naturally begin to freak out. I just didn’t have enough potions to heal me. True, pawns can be raised, no matter how much damage they absorb, and it’s good if there is a healer who will not let you die, but if after an hour of battle with him he kills you with one blow, you naturally burn. On the one hand, it’s my mistake that during the first playthrough I didn’t really delve into the sidequests and didn’t do them.

The mobs and bosses here, as is already clear, do not adapt to you and they always have the same level. True, almost at the very end of the game, when you killed Gregory, all the mobs become stronger, a bunch of new normal and bosses appear, and walking is now much more dangerous, which is undoubtedly cool and even after killing the main boss it gives you such a hard kick in the ass.

These are not Dark Souls, where even with the most inferior dagger you can kill anyone. You just don’t have the nerves and the dodging system here isn’t as cool as you’d like, so you’ll have to get it in the neck anyway. So, for example, while killing another ordinary troll, he simply took me and threw me off a cliff. Of course I died. This can probably be considered a plus, because even when you, unsuspectingly, beat an ordinary troll, he can simply kill you, but I was really burned out then. Also, let’s say, you can cling to a griffin and fly to the heavens, but it has every chance of throwing you off, because stamina is not infinite (unlike Amalur) and you always need to keep an eye on it. Although it is beautiful, yes, very beautiful.
There is also a certain golem that is absolutely immune to magic, which is why when playing as a magician you can get into a stupor, because it has strictly defined places where it receives damage, and your pawns sometimes may not reach the most inaccessible ones (for example, the foot).

Result: Very good, but the survivability of the bosses is clearly too much, although the epic in each of them is incomparable

Under Opponents and Difficulty, I give the win to Dogma. Whatever one may say, it is more difficult and in terms of bosses it is much better than Amalur, and bosses for many are an incentive to move further in the game in order to kick even more dangerous creatures than before and feel like a hero.

8. Classes and role system

And again combining two points into one. Why? Yes, because in Dogma there is no role system in its typical sense. And this is how? I’ll explain!

In Dogma we have nine classes (which are called professions) and they are the ones that make up the entire leveling of your character. You take any class and start playing with it. In the process of killing mobs you upgrade it and in addition to the levels of your character, levels are also given to the class. For each new level you receive new active and passive abilities, but you need to purchase them in the tavern, and not have them immediately after leveling up. Moreover, it is worth noting that if you received a passive on, say, a mage, then you can use it for any other class. This is very convenient for creating your own builds, although, in the end, there are only a few that are most effective. In short, all character leveling is based solely on class leveling and nothing else. Based on the description, you might think that without a typical skill tree, role-playing goes to hell, but this is far from the case. Believe me. Upgrading classes is no less interesting than the character itself in any other game.

Now more about classes:

Fighter – sword and shield. A typical medieval knight, but with his own tricks. In general, I think it’s a very interesting class. You can easily block attacks, you can also throw pawns into the air with the help of a shield, which opens up some scope for imagination and how it can be used. Very beautiful, by the way, he waves his sword.

Strider, aka robber – a class loved by many for its versatility. Can use both bows and daggers equally well, which makes it possible to hit the enemy at any distance. On the other hand, since it is universal, it is worse in damage than the same dry archer.

Mage – not as ordinary as ordinary people in the RPG world are used to seeing. Yes, he still uses spells, but the point is that they are effective and varied. It can give a weapon buff to the entire team, and these buffs are different and you use different ones for each enemy. The only class that can heal.

Warrior – two-handed weapon. In my opinion the most boring class. His attacks are slow (obviously), but at the same time there are so few of them and pawn warriors usually die before everyone else due to the lack of protection. It would seem that this should be compensated by damage, but sometimes they don’t even have time to swing before they are taken out. Very inflexible class. There are also very few abilities themselves.

Archer – from his arsenal he has a large bow (not to be confused with a regular one) and daggers. Relies, as you might guess, on long-range combat. It shoots far from its huge cannon and hits hard. Overall good and, like Strider, loved by many.

Witch – the same magician, only without healing and with a set of much more powerful and effective abilities. Casts for a long time, but hits incredibly painfully. Perhaps even the most damaging class, but it’s not very easy to play it yourself due to, in fact, castes and the need to constantly be protected during them.

Particularly amusing are the moments when you have a sorcerer on your team and while everyone is fighting, he stands there by himself and you think to yourself what the hell is doing there, and then when the entire battlefield is carried into the sky because of his hurricane and all the enemies die before they even reach the ground, you adore him.

Mystic Knight — in his arsenal there are one-handed weapons and tower shields. Damn cool class due to the combination of a fighter and a mage. Wears heavy armor and can enchant his own weapons, and can also enchant a shield. Based on the name, you can understand that since he is a mystic, he also has something of a magician. Has one long-range spell.

Assassin – according to many the best class in the game. He can carry swords, daggers, bows and shields (but only two on himself). When leveling up, a passive is unlocked for a bonus to damage alone and at night, which makes this class suitable for singles and the wildest all-rounders who want to be ready for anything. True without magic, but still chic.

Archer Mage – my favorite. Uses magic bows. Probably, after the sorcerer, the most spectacular class due to various types of magic arrows (they, by the way, fly slower than usual, but have a slight homing). A bunch of explosive, bright and epic abilities, including self-ignition. But not without its drawbacks. The bow has purely magical damage, which can sometimes put you in an awkward position. Fortunately, the daggers save him, although he wields them, still, worse than a strider.

Bottom line: Classes are great, the role-playing system is debatable, because it is not here in the typical understanding of the role-playing system.

In Amalur, we have three pure classes, but they can be combined with each other. For example, a warrior mage or a warrior robber, or you can even download three skill trees at once. They are not even close to the same as in Dogma and now I will explain why. It’s interesting to play as pure classes, I admit, because you unlock different abilities from the skill tree and run to fight. If you pump three at once, then you always have to divide and it’s not always possible to achieve the desired result. Fortunately, points can be reset. The leveling and classes themselves are well done and interesting, but I would still recommend playing with dry classes, without mixing, in order to achieve maximum efficiency.

More details about classes:

Warrior – you can use a long sword, or you can use a huge two-handed one. There are also hammers. You have to choose mainly because of damage and speed, because any class always has a shield on a separate button and it is not an active element of equipment. No, of course you block it, but you get it at this very moment. It’s not always in your hand. Effective abilities available.

Mage – the most ordinary magician, nothing special, but everything is also quite beautiful, although it can’t be compared with the magicians from Dogma, but still not bad. There are a couple of spectacular abilities. You can also call for help from a guard (who, when fully upgraded, will save your ass a bunch of times).

Robber – bows, daggers and twin blades, which are called elf (fairy) blades here. You can stealth (go through secretly), but this can be done on any class and it’s a sin in a game with such combat to avoid these very battles. Is it only when they’re really in the crosshairs?. True, there is a plus here too. If you are holding daggers or elven blades, you can attack in the back. In the case of daggers, if your opponent is not too big, then you will pull off a nice stealth kill.

It would seem that we should immediately give the victory to Dogma for the awesome classes, but damn you, no. Amalur still has a role-playing system and in addition to classes, you can also upgrade abilities (such as alchemy, blacksmithing, collecting crystals, stealth, etc.).n.).

I won’t say much about weapons, armor and other things. Both there and there everything is fine. There are many different sets and weapons, but the truth is that in Amalur the textures are often the same, which can be written down as a minus.

Result: Good
In the paragraph “Classes and role-playing system”, I will give the victory to Amalur by the smallest margin precisely due to greater flexibility in this regard (the hero is not tied to a weapon or is not constrained within his own class) and the presence of a full-fledged role-playing system. Upgrading Dogma is excellent, and if we were to judge classes dryly, then Amalur would hardly be able to win, but here we have what we have.

In Dogma, I must note, the developers were not too lazy to come up with something new (like a magician-archer and the same mystical knight. Although in some places he may remind you of the same palladins).

Fortunately, you won’t have to write much here.

Dogma has a great theme in the main menu, but other than that, nothing really stuck with me. The sounds of enemies, battle and everything else are normal. True, the dragons are beautifully made in this regard, especially Gregory, but there is only one Gregory, and there are many mobs. I can’t say anything about the music in general. I didn’t pay much attention when I was playing. This suggests that the music is not bad, but not great either. It just exists and it’s quite within the genre.

Result: Not bad, but for Gregory – 10/10

But in Amalur there are a lot of things that infuriate me at this point. For example, the fact that during battles quite often I was accompanied by just silence. Is this a feature or what?? In terms of sounds, everything is normal, just like in Dogma. Nothing came to mind either, so there’s probably nothing good or bad here.

Result: Not bad

In the “Music and Sounds” section, Dogma wins, but the criterion itself is so-so and the victory can be considered not particularly significant.

10. RESULT OF ALL THE ABOVE

Damn good games. You can’t say anything, they’re both cool, but each in their own way. It was difficult for me to take Amalur seriously due to the picturesqueness and feeling of a fairy tale, which completely rejected gloomy thoughts and thoughts about the victory of the forces of evil. Dogma is much darker, scarier and more dangerous in this regard, but in the end we have two good games in their genre. Everything I wanted to say, I said above. I won’t do a brief retelling at the end.

Plot – Dogma

Sidequests –
Amalur
Environment and open world – Draw

Visual design – Dogma (I promised not to look too closely at this criterion)

Gameplay – Amalur

Combat system – Draw (again)

Opponents and difficulty – Dogma

Classes and role system – Amalur

Music and sounds – Dogma

We give 1 point for a win in each point, half a point for a draw, and for the points “visual design” and “music and sounds” I will give a total of one point to Dogma (the reasons are described in the points themselves).

Dogma – 4 points Amalur – 4 points
I honestly didn’t think it would be such a draw and I think it’s not worth dwelling on such a stupid result.

I ANNOUNCE DRAGON’S DOGMA THE WINNER OF THIS CONFERENCE.

It’s hard to say what I love more, but whatever one may say, in one of the points Amalur is only a little better than Dogma. I also deducted half a point from Domga in two points, but she still won them.

The confrontation was very equal and I myself did not suspect that it would come to exactly this result. I gave the final vote to Dogma because, overall, I love her just a little bit more than Amalur. And also because I hate it when, after a titanic fight, they declare a draw. This was probably the main reason. You can safely assume that this is a draw, but the author’s love is still a little more inclined towards Dogma.

Many thanks to everyone who read to the end. I worked on this article for many, many hours and I express my sincere respect to all those who were able to finish reading and will also be able to share their opinion on everything I said. Thanks everyone.