Age of Decadence Reviews

[Verylittlefishes]

But you had no way of knowing that except for playing the game multiple times. So yes, meta-gaming needed.

AGAIN, because so many of you fucking retards are clueless:

whether a game requires metagaming or not is not a GOOD or BAD thing. It's all about development design.

So Dark Souls is the ultimate metagame?

 

[SausageInYourFace]

I can't remember how I killed Agathoth

After a couple of playthroughs as thief, talker and assassin, I used my acquired knowledge and made a combat focused character that murdered anything that came into his path. I had that amazing futuristic armor and won the arena with no issue and Agathoth at the end still completely wiped the floor with me. It really amazes me how people manage to beat this dude.

 

[xuerebx]

I can't remember how I killed Agathoth

It really amazes me how people manage to beat this dude.

Lots of patience, and...

 

[Ol' Willy]

It really amazes me how people manage to beat this dude.

I just whacked at his arms. Each attacks deals around ten HP of damage and gives him combat debuff, so he can't hit me. Most important part is to survive first rounds, stack enough debuffs, and then just safety chip away his health. Took maybe four or five attempts

 

[PlanHex]

Just throw a bola in his face.
It's so effective for most builds, it feels like cheating.

 

[Black Angel]

My first playthrough I don't have bolas. I only stack bleeding on him with my full Sword+Crit and he just bled to death. Not a lot of death and reload, too. I do have lots of bombs, especially that one you can use crafting to unlock. It wasn't much, but it helps.

 

[StaticSpine]

I can't remember how I killed Agathoth

After a couple of playthroughs as thief, talker and assassin, I used my acquired knowledge and made a combat focused character that murdered anything that came into his path. I had that amazing futuristic armor and won the arena with no issue and Agathoth at the end still completely wiped the floor with me. It really amazes me how people manage to beat this dude.

I remember I gave Eyestabber my savegame before Agathoth.
Eyestabro killed the dude and explained to me how to do it myself cause my build was good enough. I managed.

 

[Ol' Willy]

. I do have lots of bombs, especially that one you can use crafting to unlock. It wasn't much, but it helps.

Single bomb does 20-25 HP of damage to him. Bombs have 100% accuracy, so, having enough AP to throw two bombs during turn, and having placated gods of RNG, you can kill him in three turns. Alchemy is a real deal in AoD.

 

[Black Angel]

. I do have lots of bombs, especially that one you can use crafting to unlock. It wasn't much, but it helps.

Single bomb does 20-25 HP of damage to him. Bombs have 100% accuracy, so, having enough AP to throw two bombs during turn, and having placated gods of RNG, you can kill him in three turns. Alchemy is a real deal in AoD.

Hell, I didn't have much Alchemy on my first playthrough. I took the devs advice for first timers to heart and literally put all the SPs available into combat stats and skills, with the exception for 1 or 2 points in INT so I can get Crafting, and that's it. Because of how capable the fighter I build I rarely needed bombs and nets. And that was without going out of my way to fight optional encounters such as the Slums ambushes and Ganezzar smuggler's route. Heck I didn't even get Power Armor because I wasn't aware such thing even exist in the game at the time, and still Agathoth fell without much reloads.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Third playthrough: pure talker. All physical stats at 4, not a single skillpoint spent in combat skills. Finished with a solid 1 in bodycount - it was easier to blow up the construct with grenade that was lying around than to run back to Ganezzar to bring some fool to fight it. But full pacifist run is not only possible, but actually quite easy since all fights are avoidable. That's really impressive: rarely you will find an RPG where you could finish one run with 216 kills and the next one with 0. And this is done without running away from enemies or using various exploits, and with plenty of choice along the way. Game is very short that way, though. I guess it's better to create separate save at each fork to see how the events will play out.

I'm still impressed with how much new stuff you can see on each subsequent playthrough and amount of C&C in this game. Various points of view, various turns of events. So much opportunities to double-cross people or stay loyal. Some little touches of continuity, when characters remember how you treated them before (like Mercato) are pure gold.

 

[ItsChon]

I can't remember how I killed Agathoth

After a couple of playthroughs as thief, talker and assassin, I used my acquired knowledge and made a combat focused character that murdered anything that came into his path. I had that amazing futuristic armor and won the arena with no issue and Agathoth at the end still completely wiped the floor with me. It really amazes me how people manage to beat this dude.

Bolas and the special prewar bomb is what did it for me. I had the power armor and almost maxed Spear and shield stats but he still did a ton of damage. I beat him twice, first by weakening him, and than another time to see if he'd still just attack me right off the bat. I had to resort to using the bomb and bola to beat him the second time.

 

[Johannes]

Isn't comparing endboss fights pretty meaningless if you fail to mention whether or not you weakened him beforehand

 

[urmom]

An extra chapter in AoD would have been nice. (For instance Agathoth escaping and running amok or beginning to recruit people.) Which would have the added benefit of making the game even more replayable.

 

[Black Angel]

Isn't comparing endboss fights pretty meaningless if you fail to mention whether or not you weakened him beforehand

ItsChon mentioned it right above your post there, though.

I beat him twice, first by weakening him, and than another time to see if he'd still just attack me right off the bat. I had to resort to using the bomb and bola to beat him the second time.

But yeah. If anybody cared, my previous post talking about me beating him in my first playthrough I did it without weakening him because I wasn't even aware such option existed, just like with Power Armor.

And even if you don't weaken him, like PlanHex mentioned a bola or two to his face is actually enough to lower his defenses enough so you can actually damage him or lower his THC by whacking at his arms like Ol' Willy did. Or you can channel your inner Ryuugun Seiya from Cautious Hero, and prepare bolas, bombs, Power Armor, buff your stats with the surgery machine and alchemy, buff your weapons, and weaken him

 

[Ol' Willy]

By Monday finished my fourth run. Four runs in a row - man, it was a long time since I was so invested in a game. And I still haven't seen Thieves questline.

This time, meta one, loremaster to discover most of the game locations. I consulted some guide for requisite stats (requisite skills are fairly obvious - lockpick, lore and craft) and some strats in Teron, for it's very important to squeeze as much SP as possible at before Maadoran. Went for Godhood ending - hilarious stuff!

It happens, that it's not that hard to discover and explore all game's locations in a single run. Don't know how much tries it will take without meta, but it doesn't require pinpoint accuracy skillpoint juggling: I ended with 10 and 10 in attack/defense and 6 in crit to breeze through combat, but it's possible to get away with less.

All this stuff made me really appreciate two-layered game narrative:
- first level, myths and distorted stories, legends and tales. Known and told by everyone and accepted as common knowledge.
- second level, things as they actually happened, discovered only from hard to reach sources.
Simple, yet very intriguing story device. AoD doesn't dump all the lore on your head in the first hour of the game. You can hear some stories, you can see some discrepancies, and finally you can dig up the truth if you persistent enough.

 

[jackofshadows]

By Monday finished my fourth run. Four runs in a row - man, it was a long time since I was so invested in a game. And I still haven't seen Thieves questline.

This time, meta one, loremaster to discover most of the game locations. I consulted some guide for requisite stats (requisite skills are fairly obvious - lockpick, lore and craft) and some strats in Teron, for it's very important to squeeze as much SP as possible at before Maadoran.

It happens, that it's not that hard to discover and explore all game's locations in a single run. Don't know how much tries it will take without meta, but it doesn't require pinpoint accuracy skillpoint juggling: I ended with 10 and 10 in attack/defense and 6 in crit to breeze through combat, but it's possible to get away with less.

All this stuff made me really appreciate two-layered game narrative:
- first level, myths and distorted stories, legends and tales. Known and told by everyone and accepted as common knowledge.
- second level, things as they actually happened, discovered only from hard to reach sources.
Simple, yet very intriguing story device. AoD doesn't dump all the lore on your head in the first hour of the game. You can hear some stories, you can see some discrepancies, and finally you can dig up the truth if you persistent enough.

Well, the 'hardest' was imo getting into Abyss. It's entirely possible w/o any guides (have done it before all that myself) but I remember how satisfying was

Spoiler

taking off on the fucking space (?) ship for the first time

As for narrative, as stupid as it may sound, I was AMAZED by storyteller in Teron. It was such a huge contrast to everything else (plus, I wasm't familiar with slutty loremaster properly yet back then) so yeah, the way it evolve from some dirty dust piss stories to actual discoveries later on were so great! I mean, when you talk to Teron's lord and hear him out, realazing it's just a fucking game you getting that it's more than possible to find that temple and STILL!

Fuck, I'm so drunk right now so gonna wrap it up: kudos to you, glad that you joined to quite special (urm) community and after you're done with AoD welcome to try Colony Ship demo, it's super-cool (and will put you in that sweet anxiety state since release is faaar away and the entire fate of the game looks grim right now). Cheers!

 

[Ol' Willy]

Well, the 'hardest' was imo getting into Abyss.

I was denied Abyss three times: two times not enough PER, third time as gimpy merchant who can't get gasmask. But fourth time it was too easy: not even the opportunity to get instakilled in CYOA section.

Blowing up Maadoran is cool. I feel it's been done as a huge middle finger to Fallout 3: in AoD it takes very specific stats to be able to blow up the biggest city in the game, and in F3 it's just puny Explosives 25 check, and city is absolutely non-important.

Fuck, I'm so drunk right now so gonna wrap it up: kudos to you, glad that you joined to quite special (urm) community and after you're done with AoD welcome to try Colony Ship demo, it's super-cool (and will put you in that sweet anxiety state since release is faaar away and the entire fate of the game looks grim right now). Cheers!

I hold my hopes very high with Iron Tower guys. Seems that it's not all lost in our day and age, when some indie developers carry on the good spirit and design philosophies of excellent classics.

 

[GarfunkeL]

But you had no way of knowing that except for playing the game multiple times. So yes, meta-gaming needed.

Turns out every single replayable games in existence can't be replayed without metagaming *at all*

Gaming is cancelled, it's short but good to know you guys

Why do you insist on being retarded? Because I recall you being a reasonable poster with whom one could discuss and debate things. Suddenly, you've lost all that rationality in order of cheap one-liners that hat no meaning. Go fuck yourself and once you've done that, please return here as a player of high quality who can evaluate and examine everything.

 

[GarfunkeL]

So Dark Souls is the ultimate metagame?

No, it isn't. Why is this super basic thing so difficult for people to understand?

 

[Absinthe]

After a couple of playthroughs as thief, talker and assassin, I used my acquired knowledge and made a combat focused character that murdered anything that came into his path. I had that amazing futuristic armor and won the arena with no issue and Agathoth at the end still completely wiped the floor with me. It really amazes me how people manage to beat this dude.

Lots of ways, really. Use the anesthetic canister to weaken him and the fight becomes much simpler (especially if you have a mind shield from blowing up Maadoran or the magic helmet for showing up to Maadoran early, as they stop his psychic attacks). At that stage the fight is kinda a joke. Fighting him without handicaps is a bit more interesting, but even then there are ways to trivialize the fight. The easiest way is with high alchemy and all you do is take a neurostim for high AP and toss bombs at him until he's dead. It's dumb but easy and effective. Strictly speaking you don't even need high alchemy for that, especially if you managed to put together the bomb you find in hellgate before the murderbots, since you can buy and stock up on a lot of bombs and neurostims anyway. Aside from that, you can do something like a 10 dagger + 6+ swords + 10 crafting + high alchemy build for synergy bonus (high perception helps too) use the power armor for 12 strength and 12 dex, use Berserker, Eagle Eye Neurostim, and Whetstone and proceed to murder agathoth with the dagger for obscene amounts of damage before he can move. Bit of an overkill build but it works. You can also do lazy 10 throwing 4 crossbow 4 bows builds with 10 perception (the THC is through the roof on this one) and use crafted throwing knives for a very high rate of ignoring armor and do the usual shit to murder Agathoth. 10 Crit 10 Axes build with a 10 crafted axe and whetstone and some nets + THC synergies is normally a retarded overkill build, but it will also brutalize Agathoth with a quickness. You can also use nets on Agathoth iirc (carry a lot, since nets are nerfed for a shit duration now) and generally just carry neurostims to keep yourself going. Block builds generally make it stupid since block chance is much higher than dodge chance (and you can get training too, hurray) and there are plenty of shields that give you block bonuses against Agathoth's ranged attacks. You can use a crafted or special shield with the Power Armor if you put it in your main hand and just attack from the belt bag (knife, hand crossbow, net, and bombs come to mind). Berserker potions are only worth using if you have a very high level berserker potion.

 

[Üstad]

I can't remember how I killed Agathoth

After a couple of playthroughs as thief, talker and assassin, I used my acquired knowledge and made a combat focused character that murdered anything that came into his path. I had that amazing futuristic armor and won the arena with no issue and Agathoth at the end still completely wiped the floor with me. It really amazes me how people manage to beat this dude.

Easiest way to kill agatoth is using sword passive effect. Just fast attack him and let the bleeding malus stack. Spears are amazing for every other fight but sword excels here if you dont have anything else, such as alchemy.

 

[urmom]

I had trouble in combat after a certain point and gave up in Dungeon Rats. I came back months later and had no issues. I have no idea what made the difference. I don't think any patches were released in between, so it was not that. I guess I just grokked it.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I have no idea what made the difference.

Got lucky, maybe.

 

[urmom]

It may have been that I started using the potions and weapon enhancements more instead of hording them like I often do.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Easiest way to kill agatoth is using sword passive effect. Just fast attack him and let the bleeding malus stack.

And how do you protect yourself against his attacks in such scenario?