Age of Decadence Reviews

[Goral]

The funniest thing to me is that VD has sent a review copy to such a site and he's not even into jRPGs/animu/mango. WTF Vault Dweller? Seriously, this is the worst AoD review I've read.

 

[PlanHex]

tutorial mode is extremely short and only teaches you the bare bones basics.

"The tutorial is a tutorial. This is a bad thing."


Also, apparently if you die a lot and the game has a short campaign with branching storylines, this now counts as roguelike elements, even if there is no randomness in anything other than combat rolls.
Does anything not count as roguelike elements these days?

 

[Vault Dweller]

The funniest thing to me is that VD has sent a review copy to such a site and he's not even into jRPGs/animu/mango. WTF Vault Dweller? Seriously, this is the worst AoD review I've read.

Obviously we didn't send any keys to such a prestigious site with deep role-playing traditions. If I have to guess, they got the key from Evolve (Tom Ohle's agency, he used to handle PR for Bioware and post here), which helped us boost visibility during launch and provided keys to any site on their list.

 

[MediantSamuel]

Jeez, that guy's bio reads like a teenager's. Are we certain he's in his early thirties? How did he even make a character let alone write a "review"?

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Love how all he wrote about a gameplay was a one sentence saying it was bad. Also, love how he spends a whole paragraph explaining how to use a cursor to navigate the game and how distributing stat points works (distributing stats as a part of UI not game mechanics).

 

[Fowyr]

Found very favorable Russian review.
http://www.old-games.ru/articles/71617.html

 

[StaticSpine]

Found very favorable Russian review.
http://www.old-games.ru/articles/71617.html

 

[Fenix]

Found very favorable Russian review.
http://www.old-games.ru/articles/71617.html

Yeah, really good, better then on riotpixels.

 

[Goral]

Another review, although not as bad as some of the previous ones: http://gamesinners.com/review/2016/07/08/age-decadence-violence-isnt-answer/

In Dark Souls, there is always a way to triumph. If you can’t beat a boss, you simply go back, kill a few thousand weaker enemies, and level up until you are strong enough to butt-poke your opponent into oblivion. It’s certainly difficult, but in the end combat is always the best choice. But in The Age of Decadence, fighting is an absolute last resort. Players are forced to find different, more creative solutions to problems, and quests are completed by more than just swordplay.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Players are forced to find different, more creative solutions to problems, and quests are completed by more than just swordplay.

[/QUOTE]
but what about when i massacred almost everything in my assassin run?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

But in The Age of Decadence, fighting is an absolute last resort.

Only true for scrubs who can't create a successful combat build. In my first combat playthrough (3rd overall), as an axe/dodge Imperial Guard, I did have trouble with the first few fights, but later in the Teron phase I managed to get ahead of the difficulty curve and thereafter won every fight on the first try with two exceptions (Arena Champion and Agathoth).

 

[Bastion]

Only true for scrubs who can't create a successful combat build.

I did have trouble with the first few fights

So much successful, yeah? I used the same build and it wasn't easy. I went through only because of stupid AI.

 

[huckc]

Sadly, Etiquette is a weak, underused skill, but Trading is checked quite often.

In merchant questline maybe. Everyone else can easily do without and not really miss anything.

Talking is 90% streetwise and persuasion, 10% charisma.

 

[huckc]

Great game, can overlook that one of the devs was a bit of a cunt to me for asking an honest question on steam, that I googled my ass off beforehand.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Great game, can overlook that one of the devs was a bit of a cunt to me for asking an honest question on steam, that I googled my ass off beforehand.

?

 

[MRY]

Great game, can overlook that one of the devs was a bit of a cunt to me for asking an honest question on steam, that I googled my ass off beforehand.

?

When one asks, "How does VD sell so many games?" he answers:

Etiquette is a weak, underused skill, but Trading is checked quite often.

:D

 

[Vault Dweller]

 

[valcik]

You have to know how to ask properly, on top of googling your ass off huckc.
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

 

[Akratus]

Spoiler

 

[Goral]

Really good Steam review: http://steamcommunity.com/id/mockerski/recommended/230070/

This unique isometric RPG opens with a quote from Glen Cook’s The Black Company, and fans of Cook’s dark military fantasy novels will feel right at home in this gritty and grimy setting. The Age of Decadence drops you into a crumbling empire teetering on the brink of chaos, with several major guilds and noble houses vying for power while the general populace struggles to survive amidst gangs of thugs, mercenaries, and religious fanatics. It’s a harsh and brutal world with very little magic outside basic alchemy and very few monsters, though your fellow humans fill the latter role quite admirably.

Unlike most RPGs, The Age of Decadence emphasizes story and character interaction over combat as the player gets caught up in various schemes and power struggles. In many events throughout the game, the player is confronted with meaningful choices which alter the direction of the story in meaningful ways, opening new possibilities while closing off others. There are multiple paths through the story and the player can choose between allying with the Commercium (merchants guild), the Imperial Guards, the Boatmen of Styx (assassins guild), and several other factions. Each path provides a different perspective on the overarching story while the player’s decisions and actions help shift the balance of power between the various factions. This lends the game excellent replay value as each playthrough with a different character type creates a distinctly different experience.

Skills are split between Combat Skills (e.g., Swords, Bows, Dodge, Block, etc.) and General Skills (e.g., Sneak, Streetwise, Crafting, Lore, etc.). Building different skills unlocks different options throughout the game, allowing the story to progress in different directions. Of course there are never quite enough skill points to go around, so you’ll need to make some choices in terms of what to focus on, and those choices will impact which options or paths are available as you work through the story.

While combat isn’t the primary focus of the game, the turn-based combat system makes for some challenging conflicts. There’s a good variety of weapon types with poison, potions, and other items like nets and bolas supplementing your character’s abilities. Fans of traditional RPGs should be advised that The Age of Decadence takes a slightly more realistic approach to combat; you’re not likely to become an unstoppable killing machine but focusing on combat skills will allow your character to progress quite a bit. Or you can focus more on non-combat skills, leveraging skill-based alternative options which allow you to progress through the game with minimal combat.

The game’s fairly heavy on text, drawing inspiration from Cook’s noir-flavored narratives to build a broken and decaying society filled with shady characters. The world design follows suit with lots of yellows and browns, crumbling ruins and scrabbly flora. All together, it builds a cohesive world with a very distinctive feel.

Bear in mind that it isn’t an open world RPG, each area is broken up into zones and the paths to navigate those zones are somewhat limited, so you don’t get the kind of free range exploration found in open world RPGs. It also isn’t a terribly long game, though what’s there is plenty substantial enough to be satisfying, and the variations when playing through it with different characters lends it a lot more life.

Despite those limitations in scope, The Age of Decadence accomplishes what it sets out to do extremely well, delivering a unique and challenging RPG experience in a dangerous world echoing the spirit and tone of Glen Cook’s landmark military fantasy series. Just as Cook challenged and subverted the fantasy genre’s conventions in the 80s and 90s, The Age of Decadence flips around many of the conventions common to modern RPGs, offering meaningful choices and branching story paths, with gritty combat and a focus on street-level characters with limited abilities rather than gods and kings.

Highly recommended for fans of isometric RPGs who'd like a change of pace emphasizing story and meaningful choices over endless combat.

 

[Lurker King]

Goral, I saw a couple more this past months. Like this one, in which the reviewer says that AoD is "possibly the best CRPG to come out in 15 years" and this one, quote: "one of my favourite games from the last couple of years". There is a couple of negative reviews too, but they all involve more than 2 hours of gameplay, so at least they will not ask for a refund.

 

[Goral]

Lurker King
I've seen them too but the first one is just a short opinion of a fan and the second is a tutorial-opinion hybrid. The one posted above is a proper review and really good at that. Not too long, not too short and gives the reader a good idea of what he can expect.

 

[Lurker King]

I know, but here everyone here knows what they can expect from the game. I'm more interested in knowing what is the reception the game is receiving lately and the steam reviews are useful as indicators.

 

[Goral]

And another cultist is born: http://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/the-age-of-decadence-great-rpg-or-greatest-rpg-ever-made.206534/

Well I finally got some free time to get into this game and let me tell you it is one of the best RPGs ever made - ever. This is exactly how role playing games are supposed to be designed! The amount of nuance in the writing and the depth of interactivity with the game world is staggering in comparison to the offline-MMOs masquerading as "RPGs" being churned out by AAA studios.

Finally we have a game where you can actually fail dialogue! Dialogue isn't simply a list of options where you just click through all of them for no reason. You have to actually think about your dialog choices because they may have immediate or long-term consequences. This is one reason why Planescape Torment is loved so much.

I have not encountered a single MMO fetch quest so far. This game does not waste your time with such lazy things. The writing and dialogue destroys pretty much every other game on so many levels and harkens back to a time when this sort of thing was standard in RPGs.

The combat has been criticized for being random or frustrating but I have to disagree. It seems obvious that the combat wasn't just thrown together - it is incredibly nuanced and everything has a rhyme and reason.

You can, and will, FAIL! You will fail dialogue, you will fail combat. You can try to scheme and make plans to make this game world look the way you want and make the story unfold the way you want. Well too bad - this game's choice/consequence and interactivity will find a way to throw a wrench in your plans, and that is what makes this game so great: you are not the Dragonborn and you sure aren't the female lawyer Sole Survivor who magically turns into a super soldier and takes on entire legions of Raiders in Fallout 4. You are not going to become the High King of every single faction through some boring, dumbed down linear questline. NO sir (or madam)! Not this game! If you play this game like your standard Bethesda or Call of Duty game you will last about 5 minutes. The Age of Decadence is meant to be played seriously - you must carefully choose your battles and dialogue.

This game demands that you treat it as a believable simulation of an actual game world. You actually have to roleplay that you are inside this universe, and as such it doesn't allow you to wantonly go around taking on entire armies by yourself and dominating everything and molding the entire universe to your will. You're not a snowflake in this game. (...)

 

[Lurker King]

Another new fan, this time posting on the ITS forum:

Finished!

...and WHAT a game! As I've said in another post, this might well be the best game since Planescape: Torment, and that says a bit!

The good:
* An INSANELY good story.
* Set in a post-roman empire fantasy world, what's not to like about that?

* The music score: probably a 10/10.
* One can actually play the game without resorting to fighting even ONCE.
* Several endings, some of them quite creepy.
* Tomb of VARN, anyone?

The could-have-been-better:
* What to do next is difficult to see some times, especially if you switch allegiances/act in manner the game might not expect... In my first playthrough I started out as Loremaster, then double-crossed the Commercium and joined the IG and from then on tried to follow that quest line. It got me into fighting, which I couldn't survive. Also I couldn't see where to go next, since there are very few hints in the game. A full walkthrough, including info about items, would be appreciated.
* Later in the game it seems that journal updates are getting more rare and then altogether missing. I've received quests that don't appear in the journal after entering Ganezzar and its sub-areas. Also, the "Grain of Truth" quest was "revived" after I went to speak to Cassius late in the game. It would have been nice to either have an option to botch quests myself, or having dialog options that did it. Note e.g. that turning down Darganus does not remove his quest.
* Combat is RIDICULOUSLY hard. Some was even un-winnable when using top equipment (Power Armor) AND cheating (Zamedi demon, Hector, Marcus Valla).
* I THINK that some objects that can be interacted with do not appear even if you've set the tab on to show them. At least it seemed to me that some I had to mouse-over in order to see.
* Also, on the contrary, in the same house as the Maadoran inn there's a door to a shop of some sort. There's a chest icon there that says "shelf", but it's impossible to interact with it.
* Some items and locations and seemed for a time to be unavailable if you play a certain class and join a certain faction. And some also ARE inaccessible unless you choose a special path.
* There still are quite a few typos throughout the game.
* Some texture bugs here and there. One toga does not have an icon (think it was the blacksmith at the pass), neither does the Power Armor helmet. It didn't even show on my character's avatar until I had tried to use the armor in battle.

The bad:
* Well, it could be have been longer.

Also, I encountered a strange bug, but I had other saves so it didn't prove fatal. But it was like this:
I helped the Ordu come to the pass, and spoke to Carbo. Quick-saved and talked to Thorgul, and then went on to Maadoran. Reloaded the quick save in order to try another path, but then the game got confused somehow, since I could NOT talk to Thorgul - in fact, he wasn't there. Instead Bass had returned to life, and was quite pissed with me that I helped the Ordu.
I think perhaps that a "default path" kicked in rather than the one I had chosen (helping the Ordu)? I could talk my way out from being killed by Bass, but something snapped, since when I returned to talk to Gaelius the conversation was broken when I chose the "About the Ordu..." option.
Maybe something to look into, but I don't know how to reproduce it. If it happens again in my second playthrough I'll keep the save game if someone wants to have a look at it.

In all, this has been a marvellous ride, and I'll play it again ...and again... and again.

Would be swell if some of the issues I've mentioned could be fixed, especially that about the journal updates. That's the main thing that needs fixing IMO. Also, this game can still be elaborated/having new content added. The more the merrier.