Age of Decadence Reviews

[the mole]

post screens

2 playthroughs ago, if you don't remember the fight try it again, I'm currently on another character in the madlands

 

[skaraher]

for the imperials specifically, 3v5 in the first quest doesn't make much sense

It's not hard. Build a character that can fight and you'll find that quest very easy

I had maxed sword and shield at the point, my character had above average stats in all combat attributes, in the end the ai on your side takes care of it, 5v3 is overtuned and should not have required over 10 reloads with a combat character as your first quest

Did it recently on first try with a 4/4 axe/block with iron equipment (auxilary armor and infantry shield) after murdering through aurelian outpost, bandit camp and all thugs encounters in Teron. Rush the three goon at the back and let your allies 2 vs 2 the others, kill the squishy ones first, and you should have no problem. It's an easy fight, nothing like Thieves ambush in Maadoran or IG ambush if you made Gaelius kill Paulus, where if you basically don't take actions in a very specific orders, you die on turn 2.

 

[the mole]

What an anticlimactic end, feel like I was sold a jank overtuned stat dump as a game, from a person who worked in sales and never played their own game, the beauty in video games is to escape reality, get lost in a fantastical setting, the game is just a series of disappointments, your stats are never high enough

Human beings have a natural urge to explore and experiment with things, by forcing the player to use their skill points in a way that restricts your experience, you actively discourage the player from exploring, counterintuitive game design

What was the point of adding traps to the game, did you actively want to cause other people pain, why do you give enemies 2 turns in a row, seems like you're actively trying to cheat the player, definately an unfinished game

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

What are some examples of some actually decadent things you can do in this game?

 

[Black Angel]

What are some examples of some actually decadent things you can do in this game?

You can run around some combat field and force your enemies into a chokepoint.

 

[Lemming42]

Human beings have a natural urge to explore and experiment with things

Play it again as a different character then!

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I had maxed sword and shield at the point, my character had above average stats in all combat attributes,

This is not helping substantiating your complaint lol

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

What are some examples of some actually decadent things you can do in this game?

The title of Age of Decadence seems to have been chosen due to Vince's predilection for the title quote, taken from a novel, rather than because it actually suits the game's setting. Aside from the internal political bickering in Maadoran, there isn't much decadence in the game.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

What are some examples of some actually decadent things you can do in this game?

The title of Age of Decadence seems to have been chosen due to Vince's predilection for the title quote, taken from a novel, rather than because it actually suits the game's setting. Aside from the internal political bickering in Maadoran, there isn't much decadence in the game.

Bahh.. how very disappointing.

 

[Lithium Flower]

What are some examples of some actually decadent things you can do in this game?

I mean you can try to extort a refugee family by making them a deal they can't possibly turn down or fulfill and slaughter them all after they decide they would rather die on their feet rather than let you sell them into slavery.

Not sure if that counts.

 

[AbounI]

Age of Decadence is also a reminder of the decline of modern cRPGs

 

[thesecret1]

What are some examples of some actually decadent things you can do in this game?

I mean you can try to extort a refugee family by making them a deal they can't possibly turn down or fulfill and slaughter them all after they decide they would rather die on their feet rather than let you sell them into slavery.

Not sure if that counts.

That'd be Age of Mafia or something. Age of Decadence evokes the image of arranging a manwhore for some guy as a quest, having gender issues seep into every possible aspect of the game, the gameplay itself feeling sluggish and tired... Tyranny is the perfect example

 

[Üstad]

Am I remembering wrong or critical was supposed give 15 points per investment? Because mine gives 10 per investment, I'm almost sure it shouldnt be like that.

 

[†††]

Am I remembering wrong or critical was supposed give 15 points per investment? Because mine gives 10 per investment, I'm almost sure it shouldnt be like that.

10 for every skill. You maybe got some CS training and got confused.

 

[Üstad]

Am I remembering wrong or critical was supposed give 15 points per investment? Because mine gives 10 per investment, I'm almost sure it shouldnt be like that.

10 for every skill. You maybe got some CS training and got confused.

But it says here they merged DR changes to AoD which should be include 15 crit per investment. If it's 10 per skill in vanilla any way to change it? I already have the modding tools.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/aod/announcements/detail/666937047906028512

 

[Ninjerk]

I have the modding tool you need in this house over here. Very cheap!

 

[vota DC]

Age of Decadence is also a reminder of the decline of modern cRPGs

But seems more an rts title.

 

[Bester]

Playing first time as Praetor that doesn't fight.

Problems so far:

- Turns out I have to fucking fight ... Decius was it? Carranias' bodyguard. Well I couldn't fight for shit, so I had to reload way back and redistribute my points into fighting. It was either this or quitting the game. It felt wrong that I encountered an fail state by doing everything right (pumping the social skills like crazy). Felt like a CYOA where you just casually choose a dialogue option and all of a sudden the game ends. In CYOAs like that, most of the gameplay is nothing more than guessing which option doesn't end with a game over. That makes players feel powerless and their choices irrelevant.
Also, loading this much back kills the narrative flow. Breaks the suspension of disbelief.

- After I finally kill Decius, Antidas fires me, because the lore master said something about me threatening him about cutting his fingers, moments before the Styx hit. So what? How the fuck is that a problem? The hit happened, it's a success. Who said what doesn't matter. It's done. What the fuck is the problem? It's not like nobody suspects who's behind the hit anyway, and since we know that the Imperials didn't greenlight Carrinas' expansionism, we're not even going to have a feud with them over it. The quest's fail state seems completely arbitrary.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Playing first time as Praetor that doesn't fight.

Problems so far:

- Turns out I have to fucking fight ... Decius was it? Carranias' bodyguard. Well I couldn't fight for shit, so I had to reload way back and redistribute my points into fighting. It was either this or quitting the game. It felt wrong that I encountered an fail state by doing everything right (pumping the social skills like crazy). Felt like a CYOA where you just casually choose a dialogue option and all of a sudden the game ends. In CYOAs like that, most of the gameplay is nothing more than guessing which option doesn't end with a game over. That makes players feel powerless and their choices irrelevant.
Also, loading this much back kills the narrative flow. Breaks the suspension of disbelief.

- After I finally kill Decius, Antidas fires me, because the lore master said something about me threatening him about cutting his fingers, moments before the Styx hit. So what? How the fuck is that a problem? The hit happened, it's a success. Who said what doesn't matter. It's done. What the fuck is the problem? It's not like nobody suspects who's behind the hit anyway, and since we know that the Imperials didn't greenlight Carrinas' expansionism, we're not even going to have a feud with them over it. The quest's fail state seems completely arbitrary.

Surely you realize that you could have done all that without ever fighting anyone and kept your job on top of it? You were asked to handle it quietly. You didn't. Nothing arbitrary about Antidas being displeased and firing you.

 

[Bester]

Surely you realize that you could have done all that without ever fighting anyone and kept your job on top of it? You were asked to handle it quietly. You didn't. Nothing arbitrary about Antidas being displeased and firing you.

I don't usually load back to change the events, because I like to stick with what I did and what the outcome was.

But since I was frustrated with the arbitrary results of my actions, I did try to load back and explore all possible options. One such option was to use Cado's help, and it resulted it me not being fired, although the fight still happened.
Edit: or maybe it didn't? I played drunk last night. Shit, maybe it didn't. In which case, you have no idea which approach will result in a better outcome, you're just guessing.

Another thing. It may sound like I'm saying the game is shit, but I'm not. The stuff I don't like is maybe 5% of the game.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Sure. I'm just saying there are several ways to handle it and several outcomes and a pure talker can do it without fighting anyone. You can involve Cado or use Sohrab but Sohrab will be more cooperative if you didn't threaten to chop of his fingers.

 

[Eyestabber]

Just noticed today that the game currently sits at "very positive 81%" in overall reviews and "very positive 86%" on recent reviews.

Looks like playing the long game and waiting for word of mouth from satisfied customers to spread worked!



Vault Dweller Elhoim

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Truth always emerges at the top in the end.

 

[Fenix]

Truth is a first victim - whole history cries out loud about that.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

Someone asks for a similar game in the community hub.

Then this monron posts this:

Sandra GIGI ☃︎☚ 11 May @ 2:59am

Unfortunately AOD is very unique and since years I´m looking for games with this mature and realistic tone.

Tyranny: You´re the bad guy (however you can also be the good bad guy). Still the world feels similar and there are is some nice moral dilemma and ambiguity in it (although Obsidian played it again too safe, wasting somewhat the "bad guy" setting). World feels pretty similar to AOD but is more high fantasy. Don´t get distracted by the strange comic art style they´ve chosen for the covers and cutscenes, probably to make it appear less "evil" for the "oh noes I have to play a tyranny guy?!" people. However the game´s art style and immersion is pretty free from that. The world of the story is limited to one region somewhat hampering the feel of an epic world some people desire.

Pillars of Eternity 1: Pretty big game when counting in all content, alot of quests and locations which should satisfy your "find out something new" needs. Writing & story pretty mature with focus on spirituality & religion, writing loses sometimes itself in too extreme descriptive details even surpassing novels but for that you have skimming. Alot to discover. Grand scale. Alot argue that the main story of POE1 misses bang and epicness. Also it follows somewhat the one-dimensional doctrine that playing the nice guy is more rewarding than anything else. Has some good moral ambiguity in it and some exciting unforeseen consequences.
POE2 improves on game mechanics but other than that story, immersion-wise etc. the people aren´t that happy and I didn´t play it.

Inquisitor - also an indie project that got worked on over a decade. Mature dark world and you play an inquisitor (which is awesome), dialogue-heavy - skimming recommended, also very combat heavy. The oldschool diablo-like combat was very off-putting for me and in the end I couldn´t bear it despite the promising other parts of the game. If one loves Diablo 2 he may enjoy the full package.

Baldurs Gate 2 + Addons / Enhanced:Also a good one, some of the story elements are pretty cheesy

Expeditions: Viking

Dragon Age Origins

Fallout 1/2

Dungeon Rats (from the same guys, plays in the world of AOD, focuses on fights, almost no story)

I know there are many more and I know them all but they didn´t made it on my list.

These people should be shot down in the street.

Not only is half of the list complete shit, but how is Inquisitor in any way like AoD?

I really wish Inquisitor to be more story mode without that combat (which is not hard, just retarded). Could be really compared to AoD in that case.