@bmorgan303 I didn't like the game much, I laughed at "favorite game" and "far too awesome", but you'll gain a Like just for your positive attitude - a PC gamer who does want to share the goods with everyone no matter the platform. Kudos!

@001011000101101 I can't remember a THQ game with DLC that blatantly looked like it was ripped off the main content, so I'm not sure if the guy is "a bit late" - it's just that he's talking what he practiced.

But again, I don't represent the majority as the only cases where I really felt like the DLC was ripped-off content were the Prince of Persia (2008) "epilogue" and Ridge Racer Vita (still to play Asura's Wrath and make a stand). Even in Assassin's Creed II's case I felt like the endgame flowed better without the two chapters.

Oh, and before someone screams "Capcom!", I don't really play its fighters much so I wouldn't know.

@fanirama Pretty much any RPG in the market has better combat than Skyrim. That's definitely one aspect I don't play Skyrim for.

@Redwing66 As far as big publishers go, EA released more new IPs than any other in the last 4-5 years. Publisher isn't the problem here, but the studio's financial administration.

@desauce Yeah, lots of B-list brand sequels don't make that mark in a year. I'm still baffled by the whole thing. But then again, that's what you get for aiming too high with production. The game would probably be as good as it already is even if they didn't get Todd McFarlane on board and it had half the length.

@tommy_boy9999 "If you cant see the left right paradigm for what it is then I cant help you."

Exactly. People fail to notice that the left/right divide is a fantastic way to keep people's mind out of any viable alternative. Even when they do lose an election, Republicans and Democrats love this whole left vs. right thing because they know they'll eventually be back in the saddle again, and both will never be consigned to irrelevance for as long as people still believe it is 'necessary' to take sides.

There are lots of ways of contributing to social advancement without subscribing to either party. I wish people would wake up and notice that both socialism and laisses-faire capitalism are not viable anymore, and that pretty much everything both parties defend is inexcusable.

@nsfn Exactly. Only idiots still believe the US (and many European and Latin American countries, by the way) is still a pure capitalist democracy. It's saddled with this babysitter-state mentality, a holdover from socialist leanings that did nothing but ruin all countries it settled in. I really, really look forward to see America go back to its roots and kick its government's ass whenever it tries to do anything but managing basic urban infrastructure and security.

@JACOBDRAGON666 Videogame and pretty much everything save making laws and urban infrastructure.

Government steps in, someone profits. Best case scenario, these profits don't come from taxes but bribes and similar stuff. Worst case - and most frequent - taxpayer money is shared between government officials and conmen wrongfully representing their companies, while many robbed idiots who follow a number of outdated ideologies (be they left or right-wing) pathetically try to side with one or the other.

@Virtua_Souls IIRC, many of these guys are ex-Bethesda and worked on the Elder Scrolls series. You can't blame them for not setting on a smaller XBLA title or something like that.

The sad thing is that the game IS far beyond the capabilities of any other upstart company in the market. While one can point to 70-ish score on Metacritic, fact is that none of the flaws in Amalur are design- or polished-related; criticisms were mostly to story and characterization (ironically, two aspects that were pretty much sourced to minor celebrities outside the gaming industry).

In short, those guys did deliver, and it's no wonder so many famous studios are trying to reach out to them. Of course, resource administration is a tricky thing. Amalur could've had half the content it has and it would still sell the same 1.2 million I believe. They didn't need to limit themselves to a smaller, online-distribution-only title, but Amalur didn't need to go for the obsessive 100-hour gameplay run just because.

@kidnatural Agreed, though for slightly different reasons. I do play FPS on the PS3, and the draw for me on the Xbox controller isn't really the sticks but its overall format (it just feels better on my somewhat big hands), but yeah, overall I prefer the Xbox one despite the d-pad.