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Age of Decadence Reviews
- Thread starter Infinitron
- Start date
Ol' Willy
Arcane
He has helmet from the Aurelian questline to protect himself against Agatoth mind attacks, but he's really lucky with dodge. I remember trying it with 10 dodge and 8 DEX Swords/Dodge character (Eyestabber has 9 dodge and 9 DEX, comparable) and it wasn't as good as this, Agathoth kicks you back, reducing AP and doing good damage.
If memory serves, the bleeding stops if you don't weaken him before the fight?
Also, I think that video is from an older version and he's been buffed a bit since then.
Also, I think that video is from an older version and he's been buffed a bit since then.
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2020
- Messages
- 1,503
Ok, I started playing Dungeon Rats and got the urge to replay AoD one more time. 3 nearly full playthroughs here I am.
It definitely seems more fleshed out than in 2015, and some fights seem harder. I didn't remember using Liquid Fire to get bandits away from me and be made into a pincushion the turn after. There also seem to be more partial success scenarios (failing one check but falling back on an alternative).
Some general impressions (spoilers):
- Fighting mechanics are very well balanced. All weapons are useful in some way. Some fights seem brutally impossible, until you change some little detail in your strategy that makes all the difference. Going with a hybrid still makes you a slave to RNG, though, as you can easily lose half of your HP in the first turn before even getting to move. There's always some ninja who spawns on your back and then it's Critical Strike + Bleeding + Poisoned. Fuck you! You're eating a bomb first chance I get, next time! It'd be cool if Perception or some other stat could help you with pre-battle positioning.
- If you're a Dodge character, any ranged character(which now is apparently everyone) can rape you from afar and there's no cover to be found anywhere, as most lateral areas are strangely out of bounds (but not all of them), while many things that seem solid aren't. Otherwise, it's a lot of fun to experiment with both Dodge and Block and their special moves. Many tactical battles won with 1HP left, I love it!
- I read Roxxor's review and I agree that the IG quest line is probably the best. I disagree regarding the MG, as I had quite a lot of fun with that one and a chosen one character, although I wish there were even more specific interactions. It'd be great to play as cult leader with godlike Charisma without having to run errands for the MG. Contrary to logic, becoming a Merchant is a bad idea for Loremasters, as they miss Al-Akia by definition (and most likely Zamedi)! If you want to go to most Lore related sites, you're better of siding with Gaelius, which doesn't make sense. There's a lot of artificial gating in the game, which is supposed to encourage multiple playthroughs. Fair enough, I understand, but you should get something in return whenever something is taken away arbitrarily.
- The AG are an interesting concept, some characters are great, but their quests seem underwhelming compared to those of the TG, which also integrate CS and Impersonate and often in a better way. I put some points in Impersonate in my Assassin, which was completely useless as he had low Charisma. I was looking forward to dumping rat poison in people's Corn Flakes and escaping by the window, but what I got instead was fighting outnumbered against dudes in full armor. In fact, the best assassination quest (kill Gaellius) belongs to the TG.
- Writing is competent, but often too verbose, particularly lore related info dumps that don't necessarily relate well to the game world. I prefer reading in small chunks. tl;dr I'm sorry.
- Combining a pseudo-historical scenario with Lovecraftian fiction was ambitious, perhaps too much so. The historical layer is unfortunately just flavor and there's very little authentically classical in it. The Old Gods of Lovecraft are conceptualized in purely modern terms and it's difficult to insert them in a "traditional" setting without making it seem jarring. The zealot cult is, I guess, supposed to evoke early Christianity and certain desert or "Magian" cults, but the portrayal seems more inspired by Monty Python than anything else. That said, the art direction was on point. The character portraits and some of the music are clearly a highlight.
- Teron is undoubtedly the best location. It's the most dense and has the most defined character. Maadoran is quite generic and empty in comparison, while Ganezzar doesn't have enough content to hold your interest for long. As a burglar thief, it's disappointing to see your game peak during the Antidas palace infiltration.
- Lots of nitpicking is due to all the small ways the game could be improved, not by fault of design. I think this is a game that could be expanded upon to double the amount of content but I doubt the developers are up for it and that it would sell. People will eat a turd if it comes out of Larian or Bioware's asshole and recommend it to their friends, but when it's a small studio like IT they'll feel ripped off unless they get NEW LOCATIONS, or FULL VOICE ACTING or some such.
It'd take me hours to go through everything. All in all, definitely in my top 10. I love that they picked the concept of C&C and went all they way with it, not compromising in the slightest. More of this, please.
It definitely seems more fleshed out than in 2015, and some fights seem harder. I didn't remember using Liquid Fire to get bandits away from me and be made into a pincushion the turn after. There also seem to be more partial success scenarios (failing one check but falling back on an alternative).
Some general impressions (spoilers):
- Fighting mechanics are very well balanced. All weapons are useful in some way. Some fights seem brutally impossible, until you change some little detail in your strategy that makes all the difference. Going with a hybrid still makes you a slave to RNG, though, as you can easily lose half of your HP in the first turn before even getting to move. There's always some ninja who spawns on your back and then it's Critical Strike + Bleeding + Poisoned. Fuck you! You're eating a bomb first chance I get, next time! It'd be cool if Perception or some other stat could help you with pre-battle positioning.
- If you're a Dodge character, any ranged character(which now is apparently everyone) can rape you from afar and there's no cover to be found anywhere, as most lateral areas are strangely out of bounds (but not all of them), while many things that seem solid aren't. Otherwise, it's a lot of fun to experiment with both Dodge and Block and their special moves. Many tactical battles won with 1HP left, I love it!
- I read Roxxor's review and I agree that the IG quest line is probably the best. I disagree regarding the MG, as I had quite a lot of fun with that one and a chosen one character, although I wish there were even more specific interactions. It'd be great to play as cult leader with godlike Charisma without having to run errands for the MG. Contrary to logic, becoming a Merchant is a bad idea for Loremasters, as they miss Al-Akia by definition (and most likely Zamedi)! If you want to go to most Lore related sites, you're better of siding with Gaelius, which doesn't make sense. There's a lot of artificial gating in the game, which is supposed to encourage multiple playthroughs. Fair enough, I understand, but you should get something in return whenever something is taken away arbitrarily.
- The AG are an interesting concept, some characters are great, but their quests seem underwhelming compared to those of the TG, which also integrate CS and Impersonate and often in a better way. I put some points in Impersonate in my Assassin, which was completely useless as he had low Charisma. I was looking forward to dumping rat poison in people's Corn Flakes and escaping by the window, but what I got instead was fighting outnumbered against dudes in full armor. In fact, the best assassination quest (kill Gaellius) belongs to the TG.
- Writing is competent, but often too verbose, particularly lore related info dumps that don't necessarily relate well to the game world. I prefer reading in small chunks. tl;dr I'm sorry.
- Combining a pseudo-historical scenario with Lovecraftian fiction was ambitious, perhaps too much so. The historical layer is unfortunately just flavor and there's very little authentically classical in it. The Old Gods of Lovecraft are conceptualized in purely modern terms and it's difficult to insert them in a "traditional" setting without making it seem jarring. The zealot cult is, I guess, supposed to evoke early Christianity and certain desert or "Magian" cults, but the portrayal seems more inspired by Monty Python than anything else. That said, the art direction was on point. The character portraits and some of the music are clearly a highlight.
- Teron is undoubtedly the best location. It's the most dense and has the most defined character. Maadoran is quite generic and empty in comparison, while Ganezzar doesn't have enough content to hold your interest for long. As a burglar thief, it's disappointing to see your game peak during the Antidas palace infiltration.
- Lots of nitpicking is due to all the small ways the game could be improved, not by fault of design. I think this is a game that could be expanded upon to double the amount of content but I doubt the developers are up for it and that it would sell. People will eat a turd if it comes out of Larian or Bioware's asshole and recommend it to their friends, but when it's a small studio like IT they'll feel ripped off unless they get NEW LOCATIONS, or FULL VOICE ACTING or some such.
It'd take me hours to go through everything. All in all, definitely in my top 10. I love that they picked the concept of C&C and went all they way with it, not compromising in the slightest. More of this, please.
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Am I the only person around here who doesn't like AoD that much? I finally got it and while the beginning of the game and the first location of the game are quite good, it quickly declines into half-empty and unfinished world of soulless tasks, albeit with intriguing setting and lore.
I appreciate the work put into this game and its engine, but AoD doesn't hold up for long.
First of all, the writing is too edgy. Sure, it's a game about cutthroats and other degenerates in a broken world, but when an NPC asks you for help and it's a third or fourth ambush in a row, you lose interest in accepting random quests anymore. Moreover, the amount of indecorum is exaggerated. Dialogues in this game remind me of Hollywood movies - with cool and edgy characters swearing and acting violently all the time because they live in edgy and dirty world. It's completely over-the-top.
Unfortunately after the first location, the game becomes a bit empty. The largest city seems to be just a few NPCs standing here and there, with a few simple quests and nothing more. Oh, and a combat-focused location plus arena. Further locations past that city are even emptier, having scarce amount of tasks for the player.
The game focuses on choices and their consequences, but too often these are completely broken even 3 years after the release of the game. For example, trying to play throughout the game as house Daratan, but also trying to play another faction house Crassus, I completed quests for both of them. When I was about to find a temple for them, I went to Daratan instead and blow entrance up. You'd think that would have some consequences, huh? Out of curiosity I went back to Crassus and not only they did not mention it - I could continue the quest... and go to the same location where entrance was still perfectly fine!
The player often does not actually have many choices. The choices available are usually pre-defined by character's statistics. Very often you only have one option in a dialogue (past the first location) and therefore it's hardly choose-your-own-adventure or role-playing, it feels half a game and half a novel - even more so when you realize the game forces you to meta-game and only level small amount of skills that you will then always have to choose in dialogue checks to continue with the game.
On a positive side, the world of Age of Decadence is quite intriguing. While it doesn't come up with anything exceptionally original, it mixes fantasy (with low magic) and science-fiction themes in a meaningful way. Lore is the best part of this game and reading lore-related texts made me regret I did not create a lore-based character, but typical charismatic type I usually make in RPGs.
Another good aspect is a decent combat system, although it suffers from the fact that the player always controls only one character. The system seems to be made with tactical games in mind, and indeed the second game of the same developers, which is called Dungeon Rats, is a tactical game where the player controls 4-men party and is significantly better than AoD as it focuses on the strong point of this studio's skills, while not boring the player with uptight dialogues and superfluous tasks. DR also has a much smaller scope than AoD and it works in its advantage.
Age of Decadence is not a bad game, but at the same I can't say it's good or worth recommending. It is an average game with good ideas but too many shortcomings.
I appreciate the work put into this game and its engine, but AoD doesn't hold up for long.
First of all, the writing is too edgy. Sure, it's a game about cutthroats and other degenerates in a broken world, but when an NPC asks you for help and it's a third or fourth ambush in a row, you lose interest in accepting random quests anymore. Moreover, the amount of indecorum is exaggerated. Dialogues in this game remind me of Hollywood movies - with cool and edgy characters swearing and acting violently all the time because they live in edgy and dirty world. It's completely over-the-top.
Unfortunately after the first location, the game becomes a bit empty. The largest city seems to be just a few NPCs standing here and there, with a few simple quests and nothing more. Oh, and a combat-focused location plus arena. Further locations past that city are even emptier, having scarce amount of tasks for the player.
The game focuses on choices and their consequences, but too often these are completely broken even 3 years after the release of the game. For example, trying to play throughout the game as house Daratan, but also trying to play another faction house Crassus, I completed quests for both of them. When I was about to find a temple for them, I went to Daratan instead and blow entrance up. You'd think that would have some consequences, huh? Out of curiosity I went back to Crassus and not only they did not mention it - I could continue the quest... and go to the same location where entrance was still perfectly fine!
The player often does not actually have many choices. The choices available are usually pre-defined by character's statistics. Very often you only have one option in a dialogue (past the first location) and therefore it's hardly choose-your-own-adventure or role-playing, it feels half a game and half a novel - even more so when you realize the game forces you to meta-game and only level small amount of skills that you will then always have to choose in dialogue checks to continue with the game.
On a positive side, the world of Age of Decadence is quite intriguing. While it doesn't come up with anything exceptionally original, it mixes fantasy (with low magic) and science-fiction themes in a meaningful way. Lore is the best part of this game and reading lore-related texts made me regret I did not create a lore-based character, but typical charismatic type I usually make in RPGs.
Another good aspect is a decent combat system, although it suffers from the fact that the player always controls only one character. The system seems to be made with tactical games in mind, and indeed the second game of the same developers, which is called Dungeon Rats, is a tactical game where the player controls 4-men party and is significantly better than AoD as it focuses on the strong point of this studio's skills, while not boring the player with uptight dialogues and superfluous tasks. DR also has a much smaller scope than AoD and it works in its advantage.
Age of Decadence is not a bad game, but at the same I can't say it's good or worth recommending. It is an average game with good ideas but too many shortcomings.
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2015
- Messages
- 13,343
The fundamental weakness of Age of Decadence is its abject dependence on scripting over game mechanics. In order to maintain some semblance of control over the garden of forking paths, it becomes necessary to sharply limit the options available to the player, or else the possibilities would proliferate beyond the capabilities of the designers. Moreover, this encourages metagaming, since the available options are determined by the player-character's skills and abilities. The result is that the player feels straight-jacketed and railroaded even though the intent behind the design is the opposite, to encourage "choice and consequences".
Fortunately, just as the developers realized that the relatively complex combat system designed for Age of Decadence was wasted on a single PC (as amply demonstrated by Dungeon Rats), so will they ameliorate the flaws of Age of Decadence in their forthcoming Colony Ship game.
Fortunately, just as the developers realized that the relatively complex combat system designed for Age of Decadence was wasted on a single PC (as amply demonstrated by Dungeon Rats), so will they ameliorate the flaws of Age of Decadence in their forthcoming Colony Ship game.
Momock
Augur
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2014
- Messages
- 668
Make one?
You read some of these posts, and you just have to ask yourself, are these people fucking serious? How can anyone be so stupid? Did they drop on their head as a child? Maybe they regularly drink from lead pipes or their house is slowly giving them CO2 poisoning. I just don't know any more. These posts have no rhyme or reason, they are simply dumb. The guys who make these posts are cowards. They know nothing about high powered cut-throat environments of the business world mirrored with a sublime combination of realism and artistic exaggeration into the game world. They are clueless, and still dare complain. Pride and no substance. They can't handle defeat, they are incapable of learning, how dare is there an internal game world logic present here? Why does my 4 int char not have the funny dumb lines like in fallout? Why is every single moronic decision not completely simulated and presented as a viable choice? How else am I meant to compare it to my own life and feel immersed? I just want to know if they were this stupid before their clueless parents had them vaccinated. I don't think so. Mental midgets who prefer the tedium of small animated legs clumsily making their way through the city instead of the patrician comfort of teleportation induced narrative tension. Don't even get me started on the camera. You dumb ass. You fool. You clown. Why does this game not work like a VR simulated reality piece from my wet dreams that are completely devoid of any design temperance or good taste? Just shut the fuck up. Stupid idiots. They are larpers. Playing the game for them doesn't mean engaging with the game world and system, it simply means a one way ticket to escapist lalaland where they are liberated from the necessity to think or engage with problems. They write lines and lines of text pointlessly. The only thing they learned from VD is the autistic style of line by line quoting. Have they ever heard of Hegel? No. The dialectical perfection of AoD is beyond these base animals. Have you killed the Zamedi demon, you pretentious idiot who sullies the name of his great game? Trick question, moron, he isn't a demon, in fact, it could be argued that the player character is the real demon, you just don't get that in other games. Listen to me, I have seen the inside of Meru's hidden library, there isn't even an achievement for that, it's a hidden reward for killing Meru after his mind got infected with foreign entities just like your own got infected with extreme levels of retardation. You cannot even begin to talk to me about this game. I know everything, and you know nothing. Why is there a lockpick check? You fucking moron. If you asked me this in real life I would have my boyfriend beat you to a pulp. I actually don't have a boyfriend but if I did I would have him do that. There should be more reactivity if you play a woman? Maybe true, but did you know that in the thieves guild quest in Teron, Cado berates you for being late if you stop by Linos to tell him about the heist and says he will never work with a woman again? Subtle, but realistic, men often complain to women about things they would tolerate from other men. That's what social reactivity is about, not dressing up in harem clothing to appease loser nerds who just want to have a quick wank before dying to the bossfight because they are too stupid to build their characters properly. Yes, there are proper ways to build your character? Don't like it? Go live in a conformist utopia, you absolute mongrel. That's how life works, you live or you lose, you figure out what is the correct path through. People who complain about this are probably the same sort of a troglodyte that studies STEM or CS as a westerner in the 21st century in hopes of getting a well paying job even though all of your fields are oversaturated and getting outsourced overseas. Go dagger and crit, grab some dodge, max one or two non combat skills. There. Your problems are solved. Moron. Don't ever complain about AoD again. I will kill you.
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2013
- Messages
- 4,510
this tbh
It's not as bad as you say. The guild and lord quests largely leave space for the lore locations. There's lore even when Gaelius sends you somewhere (helm related to Balzaar, tower with the science shit). I agree that the guild questlines aren't as interesting (other than as a challenge in combat and skillchecks), but they're part of the lore in itself -- the shitty decline and mediocrity that came after the War. You can't have the Cthulhu shit make sense without them.
Ol' Willy
Arcane
Probably Epic Fantasy fans. The Great Evil, the Band of Friends, The Destiny and all that shit. AoD has none of that, it's down to earth, gritty and despondent by design.
Sure, here are a few random examples: Gothic 1 & 2 + NotR, Deus Ex, The Void, Prelude to Darkness, Risen 2 & 3, Max Payne 1, Bloodlines, Arcanum, Planescape Torment, The Witcher 1, some Neverwinter Nights series addons (Witch's Wake, Mysteries of Westgate, Mask of the Betrayer)
Does it help anyhow?
Zer0wing
Cipher
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2017
- Messages
- 2,607
Ahem. Reading Hegel after reading Marx-Engels is like reading alchemists' works after reading Mendeleevs works about chemistry. Pointless.
Bruma Hobo
Lurker
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2011
- Messages
- 2,483
The Age Of Decadence Review
Edit: It's working fine, you tards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-3jIOkcU8M
Edit 2: Mirror.
Edit: It's working fine, you tards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-3jIOkcU8M
Edit 2: Mirror.
Last edited:
Is he hiding from someone?
What was the last build version released? I have the one from the BMT Micro site and want to make sure its the latest version before starting a playthrough.
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2018
- Messages
- 8,781
1.6.0.0139
Thanks.
The version available through BMT Micro is 1.6.0087. I tried to look into torrenting the latest version but the ones I've seen are under .139
c u in da ballpit ashren
Learned
- Joined
- May 7, 2021
- Messages
- 206
Posts like these alone, are worth coming here for.
Stole it from a poster "like new stuff or whatever?". Some great pasta though
Nm6k
Scholar
I did not expect that he would like the game.
How is he saying the game is very short, I checked his stream and it took him 7 hours of uninterrupted gameplay to get to one of the endings with close to no combat at all. Otherwise good summary.
Fenix
Arcane
Heroic Liberator
Arcane
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2018
- Messages
- 19,826
His early videos back when he still filmed at his workplace were top cozy. Still watch some of his content from time to time, but it doesn't have the same soul. Plus nowadays most of his vids are Star Trek and MLP reviews of all things.
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