Courtesy of commenter MicroMagic, here are three videos — the E3 2011 live demo footage, actually — of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning gameplay…presented by none other than Ian “Tiberius Moongazer” Fraizer of Lazarus fame. And unlike much of the advertising coverage the game has received, these videos are more focused on the game’s RPG elements.

Here’s the first one:

Takeaways from the first video: the game will feature full NPC schedules and a very impressive inventory management system (I particularly like the junking feature). The crafting system — including the ability to dismantle items for enchanted components and then reassemble or add those components into other items — is also pretty slick. Reckoning, like the Elder Scrolls games, will feature an “open world” exterior map (although cities and interiors are on separate maps and require a loading screen). And like those games, you won’t necessarily have to follow quests in order; walk to the right point at any time and you’ll be able to pick up and continue the plot (or side quest) from there. That’s nice to see.

And really…did you all love the “calling the guards” bit? I loved that. Ultima 6, all the way.

Killable farm animals? You have my attention, Tibby. But I wonder…can I kill random NPCs as well? (Update: Tibby says “yes“.) That would be a neat feature to see come back to RPGs; who didn’t love the ability to accidentally kill off the person you next needed to talk to in pretty much every Ultima game, thus rendering the remainder of the plot impassible?

The idea of your character in the game having a “sound output” level, which is affected by stealth and which affects the ability of enemies to detect you — even, apparently, across large areas — is a pretty neat concept that I haven’t encountered in another game that I can think of. Which, note, is probably more of a commentary on how many games I haven’t played than it is on the number of games that lack a particular feature.

Here’s the third video:

The destiny system is, admittedly, an interesting feature, since it doesn’t lock you in to any one class (unless you want, of course). The fact that the fundamental game mechanics shift in response to changes in your destiny is also pretty cool. And let’s face it…those destiny cards look darn familiar, don’t they?

And damn, does the world sound cool…and large. And you get a house that you can customize…I wonder in what ways? Also, for those of you who have had it up to somewhere with the romantic subplots that have come to characterize BioWare games…Reckoning has none of that.

Anyhow, I am getting more and more stoked for this game all the time, with every bit of additional content that leaks out concerning it. And now I see that they have added a digital download pre-order option to the game on EA’s Origin service.