I played the original several years ago but ended quitting because of EA's atrocious origin software. The only issue I have encountered thus far is, occasionally, upon exiting the game, the screen goes blank and my desktop doesn't load back up. This is easily remedied by opening the task manager and ending the Kingdoms of Amalur process. I have done a side by side comparison of this version and the old version and there is a huge, in some cases a significant, improvement in graphical fidelity. I'm not sure why some people are claiming otherwise. The game runs smooth as silk on my rig, constant 60 fps with no hiccups (I have v-sync enabled). I have had no issues with the audio. I haven't encountered any bugs as of yet (other than the log out one). The story is well written, the side quests are fun and interesting, the itemization is decent and the types of gear is varied. The combat is fast and fluid. You have a lot of flexibility when it comes to customizing your playstyle. You can mix and match abilities from might, finesse and sorcery to make some truly awesome combinations and unleashing reckoning mode during combat makes your character feel like a true badass. The crafting system is interesting and involves forging weapons and armor, alchemy and sagecraft (creating gems which can be socketed into your gear to impart added abilities like extra poison damage on attack or increased fire resistance). The leveling process is a little on the slower side but for me it's perfect. I hate playing games where you level to max in a matter of hours. The locales in game are varied and the lore behind them is interesting. The history of the world is thought out and well written. From some of the other reviews it sounds like people had unrealistic expectations for what this product was and ended up getting disappointed. For anyone who is a true lover of RPG's you would be doing yourself a disservice by not trying this game, truly one of the best single play RPG's in my opinion.
