Age of Decadence Reviews

[Jrpgfan]

Most of the negative reviews or criticisms I read about this game are so non-sense(not to call it retard). The ones that trigger me the most are the ones related to combat, that it's too difficult like it was a fucking flaw. I remember reading one where the guy said it's not worth going combat route because combat is too hard and bad and thus uninteresting, that going full "speech" is the only way to enjoy it.

The multiple paths, the freedom the game gives you allowing you to see the story from many different points of view is exactly one of the strongest suits of it. It bugs me how many people cannot realize it. Also, I find combat "routes" fun as fuck. Killing a bunch of thugs or becoming the champion of the arena and being recognized and challenged because of it(like in that gannezar fort quest) is really satisfying. People who complain about it must suck really bad at videogames.

 

[HoboForEternity]

The combat isnt even hard if you know what you are doing.

Specialize when you arent sure. Put your point in few skill and max them.

Utilize tools, firebombs to block path, bolas, net, grenade, poison, acid, aimed: legs and arms.

The only genuine ultra difficult battle is probably agathoth, or battle of harran pass ( thank vince god for the latest 4x speed combat animation)

Even that, true master player probably can finish agathoth in 5 minutes

I do admit, it sometimes RNG can screw you so much, but that happens quite rarely but your build and tactics is a bigger factor.

So if any reviews said teh combat is too dificult, they probably isnt qualified to review it, just let them do whatever the AAA market crap churn every year

Tl;dr: more than half of the world's population are stupid and you should expected alot of retarted reviews.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Even that, true master player probably can finish agathoth in 1 round.

Because Eyestabber did so.

 

[HoboForEternity]

wow. how many time eyestabber stabbed his eye?

 

[Goral]

A "review" written by Fallout 4 fan (he has over 244 hours spent in this game):

I want to like this game because it's obvious that a lot of work went into it without having access to much in the way of budget. The writing is entertaining, there's ample and well thought out lore that feels immediately relevant, and there's a plethora of dialogue trees and questlines promoting replay. Also, the setting is really intriguing and unique, and making combat inherently risky and more "real" while offering non-combat choices is a refreshing approach.

That said, the graphics are dated. While the sprites are very well done (the portrait art is some of the best I've seen, full stop) the character models are primitive. I'm not sure how much of that is a limitation of the engine, but I've seen other games using the same engine address that limitation through creative artistic design choices.

Though the writing itself is strong, the storytelling left me a bit cold. If an RPG isn't going to motivate the player by pushing them to level stats or find bigger and better loot, then it has to pull them along by engaging their sympathies with the main character. That never happened for me. It still felt like I was just walking around clicking on things and talking to people because that's how the game moves forward, not because I was motivated to progress along a quest line or for any particular roleplaying purposes.

Finally, and this is the thing that made me give up on the game, there are too many false choices in a game that prides itself on the strength of its dialogue. Many if not most of the conversations felt more like traps than actual role playing, reminiscient of the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. They boiled down to, "You see a knife. Do you a.) try to eat it, or b.) stab yourself." Without giving specific examples (to avoid spoilers) one that stands out results in either betraying the person you offered to help or having to fight an angry mob. As a persuasive, streetwise, charismatic trader I oddly never had the option to negotiate, an option I felt wasn't unreasonable to expect and which was my intention when I began the dialogue. I finally ended up simply avoiding the encounter, a choice I found myself having to make too many times through the game. The alternative, which I also exercised fairly often, was reloading until I found the right sequence of responses to progress.

As I say, I want to enjoy the game, but, frankly, there are too many other RPGs that have addressed the shortcomings here without being excessively "casual".

Complete retard, no wonder he loves Bethesda games.

Jrpgfan
I have similar view on the reviews but the newest review on Steam is even worse. He's not criticizing combat here because he avoided the fights altogether and was butthurt when he couldn't smooth talk his way out of every situation. WTF? BTW, does anyone have an idea what example is he giving? Darganus or what?

Also, currently the most helpful review is this one: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197976327138/recommended/230070/
Downvote this shit.

 

[PlanHex]

I think he's talking about the mob outside the preacher's house in Maadoran. You need 3 lore to get the diplomatic option after agreeing to take over for the guard. Since the option never showed up, the reviewer just assumed it wasn't there at all.

 

[Goral]

Nah, I don't think he meant that quest since there's no betrayal here. Even Vault Dweller doesn't know which quest this retard is talking about:

There are no false choices or traps. Every optional is viable IF you have the right skill. If you don't... Btw, which quest are you referring to? The one where you felt you had to betray a person or fight a mob.

 

[Vault Dweller]

The Rightful Owner maybe? Help the guy get his house back, ask the current owners to leave, they laugh at you and you either leave or make a deal, thus betraying the questgiver?

 

[vivec]

And even there you can first make a deal with the guy inside and then come back and backstab/intimidate them into leaving giving the house back to the idiot who it should not belong to in the first place. This game. I love it.

 

[HoboForEternity]

A "review" written by Fallout 4 fan (he has over 244 hours spent in this game):

Finally, and this is the thing that made me give up on the game, there are too many false choices in a game that prides itself on the strength of its dialogue. Many if not most of the conversations felt more like traps than actual role playing, reminiscient of the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. They boiled down to, "You see a knife. Do you a.) try to eat it, or b.) stab yourself." Without giving specific examples (to avoid spoilers) one that stands out results in either betraying the person you offered to help or having to fight an angry mob. As a persuasive, streetwise, charismatic trader I oddly never had the option to negotiate, an option I felt wasn't unreasonable to expect and which was my intention when I began the dialogue. I finally ended up simply avoiding the encounter, a choice I found myself having to make too many times through the game. The alternative, which I also exercised fairly often, was reloading until I found the right sequence of responses to progress.
Downvote this shit.

 

[Lurker King]

If an RPG isn't going to motivate the player by pushing them to level stats or find bigger and better loot, then it has to pull them along by engaging their sympathies with the main character. That never happened for me. It still felt like I was just walking around clicking on things and talking to people because that's how the game moves forward, not because I was motivated to progress along a quest line or for any particular roleplaying purposes.

This is gold, pure gold. It is written on the very nature of things that casuals will hate serious cRPGs. There is no way around this. This review is a medal that attests ITS worth. If a cRPG is selling too much or receives a warm enthusiasm from casuals, it is because it is shit – see Disneyland: Original Sin. The review should be also preserved for future generations and studied by monocle gentlemen. It provides a direct access to the mental process of popamoles. It is important for scientific purposes.

BTW, does anyone have an idea what example is he giving?

I think he's talking about the mob outside the preacher's house in Maadoran. You need 3 lore to get the diplomatic option after agreeing to take over for the guard. Since the option never showed up, the reviewer just assumed it wasn't there at all.

This.

Nah, I don't think he meant that quest since there's no betrayal here.

But there is a possibility of betrayal, though: (1) Give a hand and calm down the mob; (2) instead of dismissing the mob, add more fuel to the fire and lynch the preacher. You can even use this opportunity to start a militia. This is the “Patriot Militia Sponsor” achievement.

 

[Ninjerk]

 

[PlanHex]

Nah, I don't think he meant that quest since there's no betrayal here.

There kind of is? I mean, you don't really have a relationship with the guard or anything, but you're still doing the opposite of what he wanted. I don't really buy that anyone would describe the Rightful Owner guys as an "angry mob".
Maybe the mountain facility? The villagers would kind of qualify as an "angry mob" and I guess you're sorta betraying the quest-giver?
I'm perhaps just putting too much stock in the specific word choice. Maybe it was "angry mob" as in "some angry dudes" and not specifically "ragtag group of poorly armed commoners" like I think.

 

[Jrpgfan]

A "review" written by Fallout 4 fan (he has over 244 hours spent in this game):

I want to like this game because it's obvious that a lot of work went into it without having access to much in the way of budget. The writing is entertaining, there's ample and well thought out lore that feels immediately relevant, and there's a plethora of dialogue trees and questlines promoting replay. Also, the setting is really intriguing and unique, and making combat inherently risky and more "real" while offering non-combat choices is a refreshing approach.

That said, the graphics are dated. While the sprites are very well done (the portrait art is some of the best I've seen, full stop) the character models are primitive. I'm not sure how much of that is a limitation of the engine, but I've seen other games using the same engine address that limitation through creative artistic design choices.

Though the writing itself is strong, the storytelling left me a bit cold. If an RPG isn't going to motivate the player by pushing them to level stats or find bigger and better loot, then it has to pull them along by engaging their sympathies with the main character. That never happened for me. It still felt like I was just walking around clicking on things and talking to people because that's how the game moves forward, not because I was motivated to progress along a quest line or for any particular roleplaying purposes.

Finally, and this is the thing that made me give up on the game, there are too many false choices in a game that prides itself on the strength of its dialogue. Many if not most of the conversations felt more like traps than actual role playing, reminiscient of the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. They boiled down to, "You see a knife. Do you a.) try to eat it, or b.) stab yourself." Without giving specific examples (to avoid spoilers) one that stands out results in either betraying the person you offered to help or having to fight an angry mob. As a persuasive, streetwise, charismatic trader I oddly never had the option to negotiate, an option I felt wasn't unreasonable to expect and which was my intention when I began the dialogue. I finally ended up simply avoiding the encounter, a choice I found myself having to make too many times through the game. The alternative, which I also exercised fairly often, was reloading until I found the right sequence of responses to progress.

As I say, I want to enjoy the game, but, frankly, there are too many other RPGs that have addressed the shortcomings here without being excessively "casual".

Complete retard, no wonder he loves Bethesda games.

Jrpgfan
I have similar view on the reviews but the newest review on Steam is even worse. He's not criticizing combat here because he avoided the fights altogether and was butthurt when he couldn't smooth talk his way out of every situation. WTF? BTW, does anyone have an idea what example is he giving? Darganus or what?

Also, currently the most helpful review is this one: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197976327138/recommended/230070/
Downvote this shit.

AoD casual lmao.

What a bunch of horseshit. He probably read some popamole twitcher retarded fan calling this a CYOA game and tried to formulate a criticism based on that just for the sake of criticizing by picking one isolated example(which people don't even know what quest it is from) to prove his point.

Actually this is the kind of review casuals love to write. They nitpick by mentioning a lot of small, irrelevant details and making a big deal out of it instead of just admiting they prefer causal popamole games made for retards like Fallout 4.

The combat isnt even hard if you know what you are doing.

Specialize when you arent sure. Put your point in few skill and max them.

Utilize tools, firebombs to block path, bolas, net, grenade, poison, acid, aimed: legs and arms.

The only genuine ultra difficult battle is probably agathoth, or battle of harran pass ( thank vince god for the latest 4x speed combat animation)

Even that, true master player probably can finish agathoth in 5 minutes

I do admit, it sometimes RNG can screw you so much, but that happens quite rarely but your build and tactics is a bigger factor.

So if any reviews said teh combat is too dificult, they probably isnt qualified to review it, just let them do whatever the AAA market crap churn every year

Tl;dr: more than half of the world's population are stupid and you should expected alot of retarted reviews.

I killed agatoth in 2 turns on my second playthrough. I used the canister though and got lucky with the crits. Never attempted to kill him without the canister, but I'll assume it's a lot harder. Didn't find the haran's pass fight that harder either.

IMO there are other more difficult fights. I know it depends a lot on the build, but I struggled with the ganezzar "sewer" fight where you have to fight a bunch of thieves and after killing them a thief "boss" shows up. I'm pretty sure you need a heavily focused combat build to beat that fight. Atleast high con and heavy armor are a must since you get a bola to the face and stabbed like a voodoo doll before you can even do anything.

 

[valcik]

.. I struggled with the ganezzar "sewer" fight where you have to fight a bunch of thieves and after killing them a thief "boss" shows up.

Yep, one of them is wielding bolas, nasty thing. The same goes for final fight against three thieves in Basil's quest. The most tough fight for me was ambush, set by Levir in slums after gaining very negative reputation in his guild. There are two arbalist, one axeman, one swordsman, and one heavy armored hammer wielding thug in this fight; impossible to beat with any non-combat build. Agathoth nor Harran's Pass are nowhere close to these.

 

[Jrpgfan]

.. I struggled with the ganezzar "sewer" fight where you have to fight a bunch of thieves and after killing them a thief "boss" shows up.

Yep, one of them is wielding bolas, nasty thing. The same goes for final fight against three thieves in Basil's quest. The most tough fight for me was ambush, set by Levir in slums after gaining very negative reputation in his guild. There are two arbalist, one axeman, one swordsman, and one heavy armored hammer wielding thug in this fight; impossible to beat with any non-combat build. Agathoth nor Harran's Pass are nowhere close to these.

Yea those last quests on basil's questline are pretty tough too. They are no doubt some of the hardest in the game.

 

[Eyestabber]

Even that, true master player probably can finish agathoth in 5 minutes

Nigga pls:



Fucking newfags, amrite? :D

Sup AoD bros, how goes the good fight?

 

[makiavelli747]

Atleast high con and heavy armor are a must since you get a bola to the face and stabbed like a voodoo doll before you can even do anything.

If you have enough AP then your turn is first and you can avoid bolas.

 

[Jrpgfan]

Atleast high con and heavy armor are a must since you get a bola to the face and stabbed like a voodoo doll before you can even do anything.

If you have enough AP then your turn is first and you can avoid bolas.

My character didn't have enough AP so it was pretty rough. Had to savescum to get past that one(should have probably sneak past the guards and avoided the hassle). Still, that's 2 fights in a row without the chance to prepare for the second, and the last guys got archers and are pretty strong from what I remember, so having con on the high side is desireable in case RNG decides to screw you.

These last fights against the thieves guild are very hard overall if you don't have a combat focused build, preferably one with high AP and high alchemy.

 

[PlanHex]

killing agathoth video

Good stuff. I notice you don't have any videos for ranged builds though. Ever managed to kill him with one of those? Especially after the buff to block?

 

[makiavelli747]

preferably one with high AP and high alchemy

alchemy is not the best choice for pure combat build

 

[Jrpgfan]

preferably one with high AP and high alchemy

alchemy is not the best choice for pure combat build

Why not?

 

[makiavelli747]

Why not?

Because weapon skill is more important if you have high physical attributes, while alchemy is better for low strength builds.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Even that, true master player probably can finish agathoth in 5 minutes

Nigga pls:



Fucking newfags, amrite? :D

Sup AoD bros, how goes the good fight?

anyway, why didn't vince put that character in the arena? i would love to die 1000 times fighting him.

 

[vivec]

Hmm

Even that, true master player probably can finish agathoth in 5 minutes

Nigga pls:



Fucking newfags, amrite? :D

Sup AoD bros, how goes the good fight?

Nice build. I have something similar with dex 8 at the start and the rest into INT. Then I start as a thief and get the two machine doses to make it 10. The end result is similar (2 turns of combat, not one).