Game News Age of Decadence September Update: Release date - October 14th!

[Zorba the Hutt]

That sort of shoutout is like gold for a small indie

 

[Stinger]

What a great birthday present

 

[Septaryeth]

Oh wow, didn't realize demo saves still work!
I'm really tempted to use my saves from like a year ago, knowing I got lucky with several "impossible fights" in the game.
But then I do want to refresh my memory and perhaps challenge myself......Man, can't believe I'm actually afraid to lose in a game at this time and age .

 

[t]

Oh wow, didn't realize demo saves still work!
I'm really tempted to use my saves from like a year ago, knowing I got lucky with several "impossible fights" in the game.
But then I do want to refresh my memory and perhaps challenge myself......Man, can't believe I'm actually afraid to lose in a game at this time and age .

You'll have some serious issues with saves from the version from a year ago. Also, the combat balance changed quite a bit, so you may just as well try again with the new build.

 

[Elhoim]

One thing I really liked about AoD's ranged weapons is that you could've actually use them from, you know, range. It's not like it really changed anything - even as a very strong archer, attacking something like monastery raiders (a rather mild encounter, mind you) led to 1-2 casualties tops. After all, they all get to you after 3 or 4 rounds of shooting, even if you attack them from as far as possible. So why do we need another "archers are blind morons who can't hit shit from 10 meters"? It wasn't broken in the first place, especially since most battles don't even give you the opportunity to snipe.

Yes, it was. It was using a formula in which the penalty ranged from 0 to 30 at max range. So, throwing weapons at 8 range had a 30 point penalty. Now, with this system, it's 15. Not saying the balance is perfect, and I'm thinking of increasing the "free" tiles more. But saying it was perfect the way it was it's uninformed, or just biased from a very long range weapon user.

As for the rest of your post, I agree with some things, and disagree with others.

 

[lisac2k]

Great news, congrats ITS!

Hoping for a quick implementation of the rest of the content (more personal/faction endings in the first line), but will play it from D1, of course

 

[Vault Dweller]

The game will be released with all proper endings, worry not.

 

[Goral]

Elhoim and Vault Dweller
I couldn't resist and I've started another playthrough after 4 months of fasting and I must agree with Pope Amole II that it became much easier. I'm not sure whether it's because there are more skill points (are there?) or maybe opponents are weaker but the difference is substantial. And the fight with Antidas is still way too easy IMO. As for the archers, I remember bandit camp being much harder than it is now because archers then had a very good aim (and there were 3 of them). Maybe you should consider adding a harder difficulty setting because the way it is now it's not that easy to die (at least not as easy as it used to be), at least in Teron and Maadoran. Then again broken bones have been activated again which is awesome :].

I remember how happy I was when I've finally managed to

Spoiler

kill Antidas with a stupid mercenary. Now that was a tough fight and it made sense because a group of soldiers was against elite guards of the most powerful man in Teron in his own palace. No one in his right mind would let enemy soldiers in, unless they were sure they've had a significant advantage. As things stand now, IG soldiers can take care of things practically themselves.

Don't get me wrong, I still love your game as much as before but the combat balance was better previously IMO. BTW, will the "CONTINUE" button work in the final version? Because currently it does nothing.

 

[Elhoim]

Elhoim and Vault DwellerBTW, will the "CONTINUE" button work in the final version? Because currently it does nothing.

It will.

 

[Lurker King]

Elhoim and Vault Dweller
I couldn't resist and I've started another playthrough after 4 months of fasting and I must agree with Pope Amole II that it became much easier.

I don’t buy it. I remember people complaining on the first day that you can have 7 dodge when you are fighting in the outpost. What they forgot to mention is that you can’t beat the outpost with a dodger with less than 7 dodge. All the enemies are stronger now. I was trying to beat Livia and the two thugs and I was having my ass handed to me with 6 dodge. In the olden days, I would beat them with 4 dodge. That is without mentioning they are smarter now (their positioning is better, they have more weapons, use more items, etc.). If anything, I think the game became harder. I can still beat all the fights, but is harder now. When you complain that the game is not difficult enough I can only read this as a complaint that the game doesn’t feel like the first time, when you didn’t master the system yet.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Oh looks like I bought this one. Hold the guillotines! Where's my vodka?

 

[Morkar Left]

Don't believe his lies. No thursday release means it must be a hoax!

 

[Crooked Bee]

An earlier EA version of AoD was heaps of fun already. I'm really looking forward to playing the final version extensively!

I wonder if my favorite Loremaster/Merchant build is still viable...

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I'm pumped for it to be finally completed. I hope it is everything that it is supposed to be, lives up to the hype.

 

[Goral]

Lurker King
I've stopped following discussions on IT forums shortly after Ganezzar has been made accessible to the players so that I wouldn't spoil myself before the 1.0 version came out. That's why I can tell that 4 months ago it was harder, at least Bandit Outpost. And when the demo came out Antidas fight was way harder than it is now which made it more fun IMO.

And maybe you're right that you can't beat the outpost with less than 7 dodge (unless you're an archer/crossbowman) but that poses a problem - it forces player to do quests in a particular order (or just ignore them entirely). Previously it would be impossible to leave Teron with 10 dodge and 6 swords, now it is and it makes all Madoraan fights a breeze (actually, after Teron these are my stats as IG when arriving in Madoraan). Even considering that I chose swords my character is still too powerful.
As for Livia fight, in the current version the doors are locked which removes the option of fighting them one by one and forces the player to just use brute force (or not only that, alchemy/crafting is your best friend). In the outpost the tower has also been removed and previously my tactic was to go up there and fight there by using whirlwind + right positioning.

When you complain that the game is not difficult enough I can only read this as a complaint that the game doesn’t feel like the first time, when you didn’t master the system yet.

That might be the reason why I love this game so much actually. Winning some of the harder fights (like Antidas fight in previous version) made me feel awesome :].

Anyway, I'm afraid that IT guys are listening to guys like that and that too much that's why I'm proposing additional difficulty setting if the current one were to become default.

 

[Cazzeris]

I'm a bit worried about the difficulty balance as well, specially since one of the latest patches changed the skill point costs for all the skills from 5-10-15-20-25-30-35-40-45=225 to something like 5-10-10-15-15-20-20-25-25=145. This kind of huge changes don't seem easy to balance, so I'm not sure if the game will provide its classic brutal challenge at release (which will inevitably make some people feel disappointed).

 

[Vault Dweller]

Anyway, I'm afraid that IT guys are listening to guys like that and that too much ...

We aren't listening to them at all. It's unfortunate to lose players who don't seem to understand the combat system but we can't do anything to help them.

However, there's been a strong opinion voiced by the experienced players that there wasn't enough SP in Maadoran. That's why we added SP on discovering new locations and lowered the cost of buying skills as it's never been our goal to allow the player to max a single skill. If we went too far, we'll increase the cost a bit.

Keep in mind that until now our focus was on the content and scripting issues. Now we can finally focus on balance. So if you feel that the game or some fights are too easy or that a certain combat aspect makes it too easy, let us know and explain why. Thanks in advance.

 

[Lockkaliber]

Big congratz to VD and team, you guys deserve it. The release of AoD marks a milestone in Codex history I think. Looking forward to playing the game.

 

[Brandon]

Mother fuck, I am literally flying out of town on the 14th and will be gone a month.
Oh well Vault Dweller I guess you'll have to wait an extra month for my release annotated video. Maaaybe.

Congrats on finally making it to the final mile to all you guys!

 

[Vault Dweller]

Oh well Vault Dweller I guess you'll have to wait an extra month for my release annotated video. Maaaybe.

Can't wait!

 

[winterraptor]

I declare the True and Holy release date to be October 15 in spite of these mere declarations of the material realm, and verily will I make my purchase then.

 

[Lurker King]

And maybe you're right that you can't beat the outpost with less than 7 dodge (unless you're an archer/crossbowman) but that poses a problem - it forces player to do quests in a particular order (or just ignore them entirely). Previously it would be impossible to leave Teron with 10 dodge and 6 swords, now it is and it makes all Madoraan fights a breeze (actually, after Teron these are my stats as IG when arriving in Madoraan). Even considering that I chose swords my character is still too powerful.

You don’t need to have dodge 7 because you don’t need to kill everyone in the outpost in an open fight. You have many alternatives:

Spoiler

You can (1) convince them to leave, (2) convince the bandits to kill them for you, (3) sneak and take the power tube without killing anyone, (4) explode the smelter and kill everyone, etc.

One of the tough love design main principles is that the game world will impose itself on you and you need to consider your choices very carefully. There is nothing wrong with the fact that it forces the player to do quests in a particular order because that is how things were supposed to be. You will only beat the tougher fights if you became stronger beating the easier ones first. I think you are giving too much importance to numbers that were taken out of context and failing to see the big picture. It doesn’t matter that before it was impossible to leave Teron with dodge 10, what matters is that juggernauts and dodgers are much more difficult to hit because they are also stronger now. I was playing yesterday as an assassin, doing the infiltration quest at Maadoran.

Spoiler

If you intimidate the guy with a tunic, he will turn against you near the palace.

That was one of the easiest fights in the world and I always killed them blindfolded. Now I was killed two times in a row, with dodge 7. What happened?

As for Livia fight, in the current version the doors are locked which removes the option of fighting them one by one and forces the player to just use brute force (or not only that, alchemy/crafting is your best friend). In the outpost the tower has also been removed and previously my tactic was to go up there and fight there by using whirlwind + right positioning. .

The modifications in Livia’s fight and in the outpost just prove my point. It became harder to cheese your way into fights. Of course, I used a little poison and crafting, but you can’t spend too many SPs in that, otherwise you lose content.

And when the demo came out Antidas fight was way harder than it is now which made it more fun IMO.

I heard the complaints about Antidas’ fight before. I never thought that Antidas’ fight in previous version was difficult, to be honest. I think you give too much importance to the political status of Antidas, which means next to nothing when he needs to save his neck. The truth is that he is a decadent idealist, who is fooled by Feng on a day-to-day basis, owns a lot of money from the merchant guild and thinks that he can rebuild is empire with the lost magic. It makes perfect sense that he can’t defend himself properly when the dogs of the imperial guards start barking at his door. It makes perfect sense that his best fighter was Dellar, a tough guy who was a mercenary in the past, instead of another soft guard.

Anyway, I'm afraid that IT guys are listening to guys like that and that too much that's why I'm proposing additional difficulty setting if the current one were to become default.

I would not put a cent that someone like Vault Dweller would make this kind of changes. He resisted a lot of suggestions from more knowledgeable people here on the Codex and he knows all too well that causals don’t like to read. The alteration of the SPs distribution has nothing to do with that. They need to ensure that you can have from 0 to 10 in each skill. The only way to do this implies that some focused combat builds can have 10 dodge by the time they leave Teron. That is not really a problem if you consider that this a pure combat build that will ignore a lot of content and will die in the current level of difficult.

 

[Goral]

You don’t need to have dodge 7 because you don’t need to kill everyone in the outpost in an open fight. You have many alternatives:

Spoiler

You can (1) convince them to leave, (2) convince the bandits to kill them for you, (3) sneak and take the power tube without killing anyone, (4) explode the smelter and kill everyone, etc.

(...)

I know, I've done this several times. I thought it was obvious I was talking about fighting options since we were discussing COMBAT BALANCE.

As for "cheesing your way into fights", in this particular fight reaching the door and opening it wasn't without a cost, you had a long way to go and you were an easy target for your enemies which sometimes made this option more problematic than it was worth. But the point was that there was an option like that. Now your options are more limited which isn't good IMO. At the very least there should be some kind of message when you enter the room that the door is locked instead of you just knowing that it is so when hovering your mouse cursor over the door.

The truth is that he is a decadent idealist, who is fooled by Feng on a day-to-day basis, owns a lot of money from the merchant guild and thinks that he can rebuild is empire with the lost magic. It makes perfect sense that he can’t defend himself properly when the dogs of the imperial guards start barking at his door.

"Antidas is no fool". The fact is that Antidas has managed to stay in control over Teron all these years and I find it hard to believe that he would let himself be killed this easily by a bunch of soldiers in his own palace. As for him owing money, that doesn't mean much for the most powerful man in the city. He could always renegotiate and the merchants wouldn't have much room to operate (short of assassinating him there wouldn't be much they could do, hiring sellswords themselves and attacking one of the lords would bring Gaelius or IG on them). Besides, Feng is one of the most intelligent people in AoD world so it's no wonder he would be fooled by him. Cassius - clearly an intelligent man is fooled to go with a stranger to an abandoned house. Intelligent people do stupid things.

Anyway, as I've said the difference in combat balance is significant and it's way easier now. You have way more skill points than before, there are also new awesome weapons and in general fights aren't as hard as they used to be. Now it's much easier to become a hybrid player (as IG I ended up with Lore 8 and could do things that were possible only to a dedicated Loremaster). I'll try different build and maybe revise my opinion but so far that's the impression I'm getting.

 

[oscar]

I pre-ordered back in '12, any chance of a Steam key (I can give the product ID and password and all that jazz if you don't trust this prestigious reviewer)?

 

[Elhoim]

I pre-ordered back in '12, any chance of a Steam key (I can give the product ID and password and all that jazz if you don't trust this prestigious reviewer)?

Vault Dweller