Equip the ring, bro
-
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Game News Age of Decadence Demo Released
- Thread starter VentilatorOfDoom
- Start date
Excidium
P. banal
Quick question: For the disguise skill, do you need to wear the disguise beforehand or just having the clothes in your inventory is enough?
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2007
- Messages
- 5,480
Actually, wtf. Was the turban preventing me from getting in before? I just got in now with the robe and no turban, haven't changed anything else. What. Also: not that it mattered since I couldn't do jack shit inside. Ridicule me all you like, but man I'm totally lost here.
Empty promises.
FUDU
Arcane
Excidium
P. banal
It worked for me. But I didn't try to impersonate Abn because my character was female, instead I just pretended to be a random loremaster. Then I used persuasion to convince I wasn't sent by Antidas, lore to convince I'm a loremaster and finally use the mantra I acquired from the arab dude with persuasion earlier (I convinced him to come peacefully using ettiquete) to stat the machine. Then the demo ended.
Fun fact: Chrome thinks AOD demo is a virus, and clicking "Discard" didn't discard the warning, but erased the fucking download instead.
Fuck you, Google.
Fuck you, Google.
Vault Dweller
Commissar, Red Star Studio
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2003
- Messages
- 28,044
You can also blow it up and then the demo won't end.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2007
- Messages
- 5,480
Eh, yeah. I dunno. Gonna bow out of this one. Nice job anyway, VD.
Excidium
P. banal
Oh, good to know!
crojipjip
Developer
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2012
- Messages
- 4,253
Packers.
I played a little, possible improvements:
* After saving game, it drops you straight back to the game, it seems to make more sense to stay in the main menu screen.
* In inventory screen, maybe use colors to indicate if it's possible to put an item somewhere - example, hood goes on head, color the head box green, but for an invalid item color it red.
Everything is above my expectations, will play more the coming days.
* After saving game, it drops you straight back to the game, it seems to make more sense to stay in the main menu screen.
* In inventory screen, maybe use colors to indicate if it's possible to put an item somewhere - example, hood goes on head, color the head box green, but for an invalid item color it red.
Everything is above my expectations, will play more the coming days.
Tigranes
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2009
- Messages
- 10,350
I wouldn't want save to stay in the main menu, most of the time I'm saving to keep on playing, rather than go to options or exit. Is there a quicksave function, though? That would change the priorities.
What would really be nice is if you could double-click items to equip them.
What would really be nice is if you could double-click items to equip them.
Stereotypical Villain
Arcane
I do not approve of the release of this "Arse of Dorkadence", nor do I find it's creator, the unsavory type known as "Valiant Degenerate", to be quite as awesome as the consensus in this place would make it appear!
Is it only me who remembers simpler time without Antelope orifice Droppings? Without all of the fandom for Ventriloquist Dummy? Simpler times when we would focus on the important things which makes the codex into what it truly is? Prisoner of Ice.
Yes, I remember, remember, the ninth of july... err...ember... when the wake of a great LP spawned a little less popular one! I can see no reason why that frigid prison should ever be forgot! Join in hands tonight and say that the despots claims are false! That Arsefull of Dope should be thrown out the air lock!
Can you feel it? Oh yes you can! You're all tools of a vile person who has manipulated you into believing that he is the second cuming of Cleveland M. Blakemore! But this false prophet is nothing but a farse! Stay true to your belief in assburgers, Prisoner of Ice, Corpse Crew and Grimoire lest I make the release of Aged old Dirt a day which you will not soon forget!
I am SVnomenous and I am watching.
...
...
... yes I'll (probably) buy the game.
Is it only me who remembers simpler time without Antelope orifice Droppings? Without all of the fandom for Ventriloquist Dummy? Simpler times when we would focus on the important things which makes the codex into what it truly is? Prisoner of Ice.
Yes, I remember, remember, the ninth of july... err...ember... when the wake of a great LP spawned a little less popular one! I can see no reason why that frigid prison should ever be forgot! Join in hands tonight and say that the despots claims are false! That Arsefull of Dope should be thrown out the air lock!
Can you feel it? Oh yes you can! You're all tools of a vile person who has manipulated you into believing that he is the second cuming of Cleveland M. Blakemore! But this false prophet is nothing but a farse! Stay true to your belief in assburgers, Prisoner of Ice, Corpse Crew and Grimoire lest I make the release of Aged old Dirt a day which you will not soon forget!
I am SVnomenous and I am watching.
...
...
... yes I'll (probably) buy the game.
Deleted member 7219
Guest
Decided to go the 'IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID COMBAT IN AOD' route by putting all my points into the social attributes and skills. The game is awesome. Shut up and take my money.
Played very little, but here are my impressions so far. I guess they're kindda chaotic, I apologize. I wrote them by hand while I played.
First off: Fucking nice job, just fucking nice job. Whatever my ultimate stance on the game and whether I will love it or hate it, it is functional and it is a major mile-stone for proper game design values in a world of utter crap. It has the right ideas - what remains to be seen is whether they are carried out in a way I like. But no matter what, I congratulate Vault Dweller and the team for the effort.
My sporadic first impressions are with a Praetor with primary skills Block, Etiquette, Persuasion and Hammer.
+:
+ Music is awesome
+ Character Creation is cool
+ Graphics are really good
+ What's good about the combat: Weapons feel and play different, different attack options were interesting to explore at first. Turn-based is great of course (albeit slow animations will be a pain in the long run, I foresee). I love focusing on my characters strengths, and I like being penalized for his weaknesses.
+ "TEXT-ADVENTURE" STYLE IS FUCKING AWESOME! Fuck the teleporting-criticism, I'm on your fucking ship, VD, and I'll sail it into the maw of hell defending it. There is variety, you have a sense that your choices affect the course of the mini-plots within the quest-lines in a major way, and maybe most important: You always have the sense that maybe you could've done better. In a game about choice, what you did not choose matters as much as the choice you did make. It is true that the skill choices sometimes actually "deny" choice because they are obviously better, but meh. It is a small problem compared to how much fun I'm having with it.
-:
- Loading screen text flies by way too fast
- I can hardly see the character I'm creating (1366x768 resolution)
- Needs moar auto-save
- What's bad about the combat: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much "1st level D&D syndrome", meaning that lucky rolls more often than not will decide the outcome of a fight. I get that you're all about making combat hard, but there's good hard and bad hard. Good hard is when making bad choices or not playing smart punishes you. Bad hard is when rinse-and-repeat is what'll win the day. In short, I agree with what sea said. For reference, I specialized in Block (my highest skill), had good dex, low con, and average str. The game gave me a sword for some reason (highest weapon skill was hammer and axe) but my skill with it was ok so I don't think that mattered much. The point was that even with good combat skills, random rolls made some encounters nigh impossible on the first go, and a cake-walk after a single reload.
- The game's combat really, really suffers from not being party-based. Combat and it's mechanics are in and of themselves excellent, it's just that you don't utilize it that much with just one dude. It often ends up being you standing still on the spot, using whatever combination of options nets you the most damage-for-AP ratio. And it's a colossal shame when you think about the excellent mechanics lying behind it all. In essence, my initial thoughts on combat are "really good fundamental mechanics, bad execution", and I feel this way because it feels like you use the mechanics too little.
- Dialogue much too often conveys almost nothing but the information I need regarding the quest. Sometimes there is an utter lack of characterization. Whoever is able to immerse themselves in the game anyway I salute. I, for one, cannot. The fact that some characters speak like bill-boards or infomercials throws me right out of any immersion created by the awesome world, cool setting and good music. My Praetor's first conversation is a prime example:
Quest-giver: "Hail, Charname. Have you heard about the murder? Traders are slaughtering each other. Usually I wouldn't care, but I need an artefact on the dead guy. Go get it."
Charname: "I remind them who runs this town."
Quest-giver: "Talk to Dellar."
Charname: "At once, my Lord."
I mean, who the hell has conversations like this? Fortunately, what the dialogue lacks is partly rescued by the excellent description-text that precedes the dialogue.
To conclude, I like what I see so far. It certainly beats the living shit out of most "RPGs" I've played the last couple of years, except a few notable exceptions.
First off: Fucking nice job, just fucking nice job. Whatever my ultimate stance on the game and whether I will love it or hate it, it is functional and it is a major mile-stone for proper game design values in a world of utter crap. It has the right ideas - what remains to be seen is whether they are carried out in a way I like. But no matter what, I congratulate Vault Dweller and the team for the effort.
My sporadic first impressions are with a Praetor with primary skills Block, Etiquette, Persuasion and Hammer.
+:
+ Music is awesome
+ Character Creation is cool
+ Graphics are really good
+ What's good about the combat: Weapons feel and play different, different attack options were interesting to explore at first. Turn-based is great of course (albeit slow animations will be a pain in the long run, I foresee). I love focusing on my characters strengths, and I like being penalized for his weaknesses.
+ "TEXT-ADVENTURE" STYLE IS FUCKING AWESOME! Fuck the teleporting-criticism, I'm on your fucking ship, VD, and I'll sail it into the maw of hell defending it. There is variety, you have a sense that your choices affect the course of the mini-plots within the quest-lines in a major way, and maybe most important: You always have the sense that maybe you could've done better. In a game about choice, what you did not choose matters as much as the choice you did make. It is true that the skill choices sometimes actually "deny" choice because they are obviously better, but meh. It is a small problem compared to how much fun I'm having with it.
-:
- Loading screen text flies by way too fast
- I can hardly see the character I'm creating (1366x768 resolution)
- Needs moar auto-save
- What's bad about the combat: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much "1st level D&D syndrome", meaning that lucky rolls more often than not will decide the outcome of a fight. I get that you're all about making combat hard, but there's good hard and bad hard. Good hard is when making bad choices or not playing smart punishes you. Bad hard is when rinse-and-repeat is what'll win the day. In short, I agree with what sea said. For reference, I specialized in Block (my highest skill), had good dex, low con, and average str. The game gave me a sword for some reason (highest weapon skill was hammer and axe) but my skill with it was ok so I don't think that mattered much. The point was that even with good combat skills, random rolls made some encounters nigh impossible on the first go, and a cake-walk after a single reload.
- The game's combat really, really suffers from not being party-based. Combat and it's mechanics are in and of themselves excellent, it's just that you don't utilize it that much with just one dude. It often ends up being you standing still on the spot, using whatever combination of options nets you the most damage-for-AP ratio. And it's a colossal shame when you think about the excellent mechanics lying behind it all. In essence, my initial thoughts on combat are "really good fundamental mechanics, bad execution", and I feel this way because it feels like you use the mechanics too little.
- Dialogue much too often conveys almost nothing but the information I need regarding the quest. Sometimes there is an utter lack of characterization. Whoever is able to immerse themselves in the game anyway I salute. I, for one, cannot. The fact that some characters speak like bill-boards or infomercials throws me right out of any immersion created by the awesome world, cool setting and good music. My Praetor's first conversation is a prime example:
Quest-giver: "Hail, Charname. Have you heard about the murder? Traders are slaughtering each other. Usually I wouldn't care, but I need an artefact on the dead guy. Go get it."
Charname: "I remind them who runs this town."
Quest-giver: "Talk to Dellar."
Charname: "At once, my Lord."
I mean, who the hell has conversations like this? Fortunately, what the dialogue lacks is partly rescued by the excellent description-text that precedes the dialogue.
To conclude, I like what I see so far. It certainly beats the living shit out of most "RPGs" I've played the last couple of years, except a few notable exceptions.
Nick
Iron Tower Studio
F5 is quicksave, F9 is quickload. We'll make controls rebindable soon.
And yes, most people prefer if they're shown the game screen right away, after saving. Previously it switched to the main menu, we've chaned that before the demo release.
flabbyjack
Arcane
This is probably not the place for bug reports but...
After killing Dalarius(wrong name, but its the guy who sets you up in the merchant's plaza), only his feet/knees are valid mouse-over-able in order to loot him.
If you kill two guys in the same tile the fall over each other and the (first?) one becomes unlootable. I think I may have killed both of them with the 'sword finishing move' attack animation where you stab 'em in the neck.
After killing Dalarius(wrong name, but its the guy who sets you up in the merchant's plaza), only his feet/knees are valid mouse-over-able in order to loot him.
If you kill two guys in the same tile the fall over each other and the (first?) one becomes unlootable. I think I may have killed both of them with the 'sword finishing move' attack animation where you stab 'em in the neck.
Nick
Iron Tower Studio
Do you have a savegame I can look at?
Known issue, will be fixed soon.
Effing this. The fist point is just a shame, I know it's a design decision and won't (and can't) change at this point. But the second one is something that can and should be adressed. I know AOD comes from a "no bullshit" paradigm, no random feth-quests and everything, but it is so "direct"/"to the point" sometimes that it's just doesn't seems like a real conversation, it's ironic in a way.
But overall, it seems like a great game. I really like it.
jiujitsu
Cipher
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2004
- Messages
- 1,444
I played for about an hour. I really like it. Back when this project first started I thought, "These nubs can't make a real game..." Well, I was wrong. This is a great demo and I'm kind of pissed that I tried it because I don't really have the time for games these days, haha.
I downloaded the demo, started as a drifter, made an all-round character and died 5 minutes later, trying to protect a merchant from some thugs. It was glorious.
Pegultagol
Erudite
Hmm installed the beta, but the game just doesn't start. The program itself is shown running in the process list, strange. 
Brayko
Self-Ejected
Needs more 'social' elements. This thread just isn't enough.
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