I’ve finished up the desert zone Detyre and I can confidently say it is my least favorite zone. The Gnomish city of Adessa wasn’t only confusing to run around, there were a bunch of Gnomes there who thought they were better than me and kept saying so over and over again! Detyre itself was, ok. Each zone had it’s own story again and most of that story was helping a Gnomish mining corporation kick people out of their homes and businesses….the Gnomes are wonderful people in Amalur. I enjoyed the Red Marches the most. The whole zone takes place in a big canyon which leads to some great screenshots. There’s also a tunnel system you have to go through to get to places you can see but can’t reach any other way. I thought that was nifty.

The main story leads me to find Fomorus Hughes, who raised me from the dead, in some cave trying to recreate the Well of Souls. It turns out the gnome templar who was funding his operation also wants me dead…I hate these gnomes. After finishing up with that quest like and the zones of Detyre it was off to Mel Senshir to break a siege.

Mel Senshir feels like where the game should have ended. It’s this massive battle where you’re completing objectives and hunting down the big bad Niskaru Balor who you must stop or Mel Senshir will be burned to ashes. The fight with the Balor is the first time I’ve actually lost a boss fight. I mean, this one has mechanics that need to be avoided, I couldn’t just meteor strike my way through it. The battle culminates in a thrilling conclusion where I rip the beast apart with my magic Fate powers and am celebrated as a hero!

And then I’m told I have to go to a swamp. I can’t even enjoy my time as the “Hero of Mel Senshir”, which the locals now address me by,  because Gadflow still has to be stopped. I had mentioned that I was excited to see the zones of a Klurikon and Alabastra. The zones have cool names like Cursewood and The Twighlight pass. I though Klurikon was going to be more of a spooky foggy place but it’s actually a rotting swamp. The winter Fae live over here and while their counterparts, the Summer Fae, represent life and growth, they represent death and decay. So this swamp is their holy ground. The Midden is my favorite zone in Klurikon. It’s supposed to be a fae graveyard celebrating decay. But the Tuatha are using it as a graveyard for the mortals they kill. The most interesting set piece here is the Gallows Tree which takes up most of the zone and has hundreds of bodies hanging from it. Again, it’s supposed to be a celebration symbol as the Fae do not actually decay when they die. But the Tuatha stuck a bunch of mortals up there who do. Everyone in the zone keeps complaining about the smell.

Klurikon and Alabastra have fewer locations and fewer side quests than the previous zones. This was a blessing as I’m starting to get a little burnt out on the game. There is a new faction questline for the House of Sorrows in Klurikon. To be honest, I’m not really sure what the point of it was but I did a lot of running around to collect “Sorrows” before someone else did which was supposed to aide in my fight against the Tuatha. It runs you through some dungeons throughout Klurikon but nothing really interesting comes out of it.

Alabastra was even shorter than Klurikon. It’s actually very streamlined and I believe I only did one or two side quests here. There are some tunnels that will bypass some of the zones and get you closer to the final boss. I didn’t take many screenshots of the place as it’s just various shades of gray rock and blue crystals. At this point, I also stopped delving into dungeons. They were marked on the map and I kept expecting quests to lead to them but they never did so I never went in. Also at this point I’ve stopped looking in chests and even looting enemies because I haven’t seen single gear upgrade since Mel Senshir.

I’m always surprised how long these zones take to get through. They don’t look that big on the map but by the time I finished Klurikon I had added another 5 hours to my playtime. Alabastra took another 3. I’m not complaining, I enjoyed my time but I also felt like both zones should have been over sooner.