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Age of Decadence Reviews

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,234
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Weebs are a plague.
 

Vault Dweller

Commissar, Red Star Studio
Developer
Joined
Jan 7, 2003
Messages
28,024
Recent refund data:

I didn't understand the explanation of the combat system. I kept hitting the opponent in the training area but failed to damage him more than once. I admit I could've tried longer, but I doubt I'd have figured out how to actually deal damage or block an incoming attack.
while i expected supbar graphics, the total absence of any voice-acting and infuriating point-and-click mechanics diminished any enjoyment i found in the setting.
No random encounters, its not a game thats part of the same genre that was advertised to me.
Too much reading and too hard.
Old-fashioned and boring mechanics even for those like me who have been dueling for years at TES V AND FALLOUT !!
i tried the tutorial and spent 20 minutes reading about the combat and now i want to take a nap
The game is not what I expected. It would be better if there was a demo for it to try before buying.
Its literally unplayable
Couldn't make character attack and gameplay was bad.
The game is supposed to be a RPG, you are supposed to be able not to fight your way in, but with a non combat character you can't have any success early in the game and you can't fight, so you can't do any quest available... I'm bored.
Combat is just a boring clickfest, in which you will die because the game is 'hardcore'...ugh, no thanks. I'm a mercenary/bodyguard who has to avoid fighting because I get my ass kicked. Not a game for me.
This game does not live up to the hype. The graphics are poor, the RPG tree is weak, and the combat system is more demanding that what I was looking for.
 

Goral

Arcane
Patron
The Real Fanboy
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
3,552
Location
Poland

Binky

Cipher
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Messages
453
The perils of the Digital Era. Imagine playing AoD on your laptop during your lunch break. Break over, you're using heavy equipment and then you start feeling drowsy. Lives could be lost because of this game.
 

Invictus

Arcane
The Real Fanboy
Joined
Nov 3, 2013
Messages
2,789
Location
Mexico
Divinity: Original Sin 2
At least the last one is honest in saying that the combat system was too complicated to what he was expecting
And I loved the idiot who thought he was hardcore because he played Skyrim
Ah well decline... decline never changes
 

agentorange

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Messages
5,256
Location
rpghq (cant read codex pms cuz of fag 2fa)
Codex 2012
It's always the same passive aggressive shit with these reviews, where they try to shift the blame for not being able to enjoy the game, due to their own impatience, onto the developer.

"No random encounters, its not a game thats part of the same genre that was advertised to me."

Well at least we have one more clue to the objective definition of an RPG, it must have random encounters.

By the way there is 1 Japanese review for the game on the steam store page and it's very positive. Although obviously they say it would be nice if there were a Japanese translation.
 
Joined
Dec 12, 2013
Messages
4,228
It's always the same passive aggressive shit with these reviews, where they try to shift the blame for not being able to enjoy the game, due to their own impatience, onto the developer.

"No random encounters, its not a game thats part of the same genre that was advertised to me."

Well at least we have one more clue to the objective definition of an RPG, it must have random encounters.

By the way there is 1 Japanese review for the game on the steam store page and it's very positive. Although obviously they say it would be nice if there were a Japanese translation.

What is written in it?
 

Big Wrangle

Guest
Old-fashioned and boring mechanics even for those like me who have been dueling for years at TES V AND FALLOUT !!
Sup fellow hardcore gamers? Just managed to finish my melee only run in Oblivion and New Vegas. And let me tell ya, you never know what's gonna come through that Gamebyro.
 

conan_edw

Arbiter
Patron
Joined
Dec 3, 2017
Messages
846
Grab the Codex by the pussy Pathfinder: Wrath
Recent refund data:

The game is supposed to be a RPG, you are supposed to be able not to fight your way in, but with a non combat character you can't have any success early in the game and you can't fight, so you can't do any quest available... I'm bored.

This is funny because today I started a loremaster playthrough and I'm gainning more SP than I ever did before :lol:
 

agentorange

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Messages
5,256
Location
rpghq (cant read codex pms cuz of fag 2fa)
Codex 2012
It's always the same passive aggressive shit with these reviews, where they try to shift the blame for not being able to enjoy the game, due to their own impatience, onto the developer.

"No random encounters, its not a game thats part of the same genre that was advertised to me."

Well at least we have one more clue to the objective definition of an RPG, it must have random encounters.

By the way there is 1 Japanese review for the game on the steam store page and it's very positive. Although obviously they say it would be nice if there were a Japanese translation.

What is written in it?
They like the setting and the various character interactions, bringing up how there are almost no good guys (although they rightly specify that there are a few) and how most characters will gladly lie to you and betray you. Also they like the combat system, especially how each weapon class has its own special technique/trait, but mention how it's difficult to try different weapons because of the skill point system.
 

Goral

Arcane
Patron
The Real Fanboy
Joined
May 4, 2008
Messages
3,552
Location
Poland
My new favourite review: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198063937597/recommended/230070/

5 people found this review helpful

Kaiser von Wilhelm II

65 products in account
27 reviews


Not Recommended
3.1 hrs on record

POSTED: 23 DECEMBER
Fallout 1/2 but the combat sucks and the dialog is 15 pages long and does not tell you where to go in the quest log. Meaning if you forgot about a quest you would forget where to go. But over all 10/10

Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
2 people found this review helpful
2 people found this review funny
:D

This one takes the cake though: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198052633453/recommended/230070/

the.waves.of.time
236 products in account
49 reviews


Not Recommended
7.2 hrs on record

POSTED: 28 DECEMBER
Sorry but in my humble opinion this game is the most overrated game of the year.

I absolutely cannot recommend it to anyone and here are my points. (Do not get me wrong this game has very many brilliant ideas and interesting twists but how it is implemented and seen as a bigger picture is unbearable)

Let’s start with pros first:
- Each Role you chose at the beginning does contribute to the story that can be seen from different perspective. I tried to start with 3 different roles
- Even at the beginning of the game there are game-changing choices
- Writing is good
- Quests are interesting – I played only 7 hours but never seen a fetch quest or anything like that – all the quests I have seen (and I got as far as the big city) were quite unique and contributed to the story somehow

Now, what killed this game for me (I know I may not be in the position to recommend it or not as I only played for 7 hours but I just could not bring myself to play more)
CONS:
- Graphics – it is dated yes but usually that isn’t really a problem to me. But this graphics is just ugly – I know what you are going to say it gives the post-apocalyptic world gloomy atmosphere of decay and agony but… for me it is just boring. I know games which do it much better. It looks much worse than 1st Neverwinter in 3d and worse than every 2d cRPG I played from the 90s.
- Fighting system – god it is frustrating and based purely on luck! You will have to reload 1000x times – also it is extremely boring – poison your weapon and hit one opponent. Then opponents hit you and you hit. You can also push with a shield or reduce DR with a hammer, bleed your opponent but guess what it is also based on luck. It is turn based, very irritating and also boring in the same time.
- Music in the game – it is boring as hell. Music in town is not-changing and after a while started to give me head ache and during combats it’s no better
- No voice acting of any kind – dialogue reminds me about Morrowind where you had to click and just read through the walls of text
- Fast travel is basically forced down your throat – while doing quests you are just being teleported to different locations which are small and extremely boring by the way
- Did I say that the dialogue, music, graphics and fighting are boring? Here is a shocker – characters/NPC are extremely boring as well! You see the face you read through walls of text (yes you get 2-3 choices to reply sometimes but many times it is just no choice) you finish the quest and be done with it

I may be harsh here and this rating may be unjustified as I only wasted few hours but this is the rating based on my FIRST impression. I was led to believe that this game is just some kind of freaking miracle for classic cRPG fans from 3rd person perspective. I would rather prefer finish Baldurs game 3 more times (and I did it dozens of times) than to come back to Age of Decadence

I played it after finishing Tyranny (which was brilliant) and wow Age of Decadence is just inferior every term - even fighting which was not perfect in Tyranny beats Age to its knees
 

naossano

Cipher
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
1,232
Location
Marseilles, France
My new favourite review: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198063937597/recommended/230070/

5 people found this review helpful

Kaiser von Wilhelm II

65 products in account
27 reviews


Not Recommended
3.1 hrs on record

POSTED: 23 DECEMBER
Fallout 1/2 but the combat sucks and the dialog is 15 pages long and does not tell you where to go in the quest log. Meaning if you forgot about a quest you would forget where to go. But over all 10/10

Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
2 people found this review helpful
2 people found this review funny

How can you not recommand a game when you would give it 10\10 ?
 

Grim Monk

Arcane
Joined
Nov 7, 2011
Messages
1,217
I finished Age of Decadence this year as a Mercenary Assassin, trying to exploring all endings open to my particular character stats.
I've also since read some other peoples Lets Plays of the game.

So I would like to voice my thoughts on the game.

Vault Dweller

AoD IS a very impressive achievement.
I like the vast amount of C&C.
I don't mind the Gamebook/CYOA gameplay.
I like the Combat, my Mercenary was an Arena Champion.

But overall I ended up being disappointed...

My problems are with story and world building.


Firstly your advertised backstory was a lie.

Fixed Version: In a land where ancient evil has never awakened, the job of destroying the world was left to mankind Extra-dimensional Super Beings.

You could argue that they where brought in to this world by the “actions of men”, but that is an intellectual slight of hand.
Isildur keeping the One Ring or “Captain Obed Marsh seeking out the Deep Ones” could also be spun as “actions of man”.
The apocalypse is no longer “man made” if sentient higher beings are key movers and shakers. The theme is altered.
It's the way Fallout is hurt by Bethesda having the Great War being cause by "little green aliens".


Then the problem of what I call “Claustrophobic Fictional Universe”.
It is issue not in any way unique to AoD but something I personally have found increasingly irritating about many games and works of fiction. Its when a fictional world presented in such a way that it comes out as unbelievably small and hyper localized.

Its prelevent in much of derivative “high fantasy” where the is the “Good Guys Kingdom(s)” and the “Dark Lords Empire” and the “Fate of the Entire World” will be settled by who wins. I can't help thinking about what is south of Harad or beyond the Easterling Steppe and fondly remembering Robert E Howard's Hyperborea...


This also applies to Age of Decadence where three cities a short travel distance apart are all that determines the fate of your counterpart Roman Empire. It could have been averted by implying that the game takes place in only one of the provinces of the vast fallen empire. You would be influencing the fate of an equivalent of Vandal North Africa, Ostrogoth/Langobard Italy or Early Frankish Gaul. That would have given the world a proper sense of scale. Of things out there beyond the horizon...

(And it would have provided much more ground for expansion in a potential direct sequel.)


Also the fascinating early game spectator of a rising new faith inspiring fanatical adherence and disrupting the old order is instead revealed as being strictly limited to one (probably grifting) power broker and can be easily nullified simply by sticking him with a knife. And there are no potential unforeseen consequences or stubborn hanger ons in spite of being portrayed as being something people where willing to die for.

Even ignoring real life, lets contrast another fictional example: The Masters ideology in the original Fallout.
Aftershocks and trace elements of “The Unity” still show up in both Fallout 2 and New Vegas.

AoD handling comes as a wasted possibility...


And finally is that you basically "smash the sand castle" that you built.
There is basically no opening in the likely endings for a return to the fascinating “Fall of Rome” setting.
Which you admit in planing to set the a sequel in lands across the sea.

I acknowledge it's your game (born of ten years hard labor), and the final decision of ending is your right alone.

But the real apocalyptic transition of Antiquity into the early “Dark Ages” has such potential that I am regretful the that it was not explored deeper in the game, and will not returned to in the future.

Still for 80% of my plaything of Age of Decadence you gave me that experience and for that you have my sincere gratitude.
:bro::excellent::bro:

Would enjoy hearing your thoughts in response...
 
Last edited:

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