Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning saves class decisions for later
Kingdoms of Aamlur: reckoning rejects the RPG convention of picking your class before you've had a chance to play the game.
"The Destiny system came from a rejection of a very common convention in RPGs," Will Miller, system designer at Big Huge Games, said in the latest Inside Reckoning episode.
"We pick our class at the beginning of the game. You're basing that decision on information you don't have. You're not sure how a rogue is going to play - even if you're a seasoned RPG veteran, you're not sure how this calls is gonna play through the long play of the game."
The team drew inspiration from the "title" system of some Eastern RPGs to develop Amalur's leveling system, which sees players making choices as they progress. This ties in neatly with the game's R.A. Salvatore-penned fiction, which sees the player reborn as the only being without a fate in a deterministic universe.
"You pick abilities from three different ability trees - might, finesse and sorcery - and based on the distribution of your abilities in these trees, we unlock for you new destinies that you can apply to yourself," Miller continued.
"Those destinies are effectively a class. They come with buffs, they come with special abilities."
There are 40 different destinies unlocked as the player progresses, divided into seven types which represent might, finesse, sorcery and hybrid classes. Multiple ranks are available along each destiny path.
The system is further complicated by Twist of Fate cards, which were detailed in an earlier developer diary. Watch the full episode below.
Kingdoms of Amalur is due on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in February 2012.
Thanks, GameSpy.