I've heard KoA: Reckoning is kind of boring and travel is a pain. Do current mods fix any of this, or should I just skip the game?
Depends on what you want out of a game.
KOA: Reckoning is well-known - yes, that even on its Hard setting - to be quite EASY. Also - if you do tons of side-quests, you can become really overpowered. I would - and probably many others, for that matter - would suggest you go find the HeartCore Mod. I have not tried it, BTW - as its built to increase difficulty, if the regular settings feel too easy to you.
I liked the
KOA:R base-game - there's just TONS to do. Whether you are into playing what is, more or less, an offline-solo-player style MMO [b/c of its huge game-world, tons to do, and a lot of MMO-type of quests] - that's up to you. I thought a lot of the writing was solid and well-done - but, a lot of it really lacks personality. A lot of the main-quest stuff is quite good, but it's the side-stuff that can be overbearing - b/c there's so damn much of it. I went through about 72 hours of the base-game. It's probably not best to actually play the entire game at once - just like what I suggest for huge games like Skyrim, TDU2, and Far Cry 3.
If you have a controller - combat feels similar to Darksiders 1. I can't speak for this - but others also compare its combat to games like God of War. I love the feel of the combat here in KOA:R - as it feels great; smooth; and you really do feel and hear every hit. For a RPG to have combat like this, very similar to that of most action games - is just great. If you ever wanted great combat in a RPG - look no further, as KOA:R puts most games to shame in this. If only the vanilla-game was had more "higher" difficultly settings out-the-box from Big Huge Games, though...
The Legend of Dead Kel DLC is great. You have a bad guy to really (love to) hate here - which is great, since the base-game really didn't give you much of a personal reason (as it was more of a big-scope kind of story). Actually, this DLC has way more personality, humor, and story than your base-game - by a bloody mile. And, you'll actually likely care about the story - b/c the story centers around this small island; and what Dead Kel's done to the people + island there. After about 10 hours - this DLC's just great, a lot of fun, and the graphics-style w/ the pirate theme just looks slick. Granted, KOA:R ain't the best looking game, technically - or not even close to that, even back when it came out - but the artistic direction here in this DLC is often flat-out much cooler and more interesting than what the base-game had going on.
Teeth of Naros DLC was good + solid DLC, but it just ain't on Dead Kel's level. Just like the base-game, Teeth of Naros lacks the personality, story, and personal touches that made Dead Kel great. It took me around 10 hours to also get through this DLC, as well - and it's more KOA:R. If you liked KOA:R, you should give this a shot; since it's quite meaty + lengthy for a DLC. And I certainly did not do everything here, either - just like what I did with Dead Kel.
GGG has it on their store but if you try to checkout with a US address it says it's excluded from that territory and won't let you go through with payment.
ers.