Game News AoD demo released

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Turn down profanity??? certainly not heres the idea i have of a gladiator fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvDfsjIuf34

Now, that's a combat system I'd like to see in a cRPG. It's a lot more fun than fighting with giant butter knives :D .

Especially for dealing with multiple opponents.

 

[hal900x]

In this pic I have enough AP to attack, but it's not allowing me to. Is that some kind of aftereffect of the knockdown I just recovered from, or a bug?

 

[Mogar]

Started out as a sword / dodger type. Breezed through everything until I got to the Ordo Team. Every other hit was a crit and if I didn't take care of the archer, I was dead by the end of the second round. Got frustrated, restarted with an archer build. Before each match began, I'd run to the farthest corner (the AI doesn't seem to engage you unless you are within a certain radius for a certain amount of time) and snipe my opponent, who'd waste two to four turns getting to me, longer if I hit him in the head or nailed him in the leg. I only had extreme difficulty in defeating the Hoplite and the Triari (who I only beat because they ran out of their axes before I ran out of my arrows; I still shiver at the crits these guys can get). One thing of note, however, is if I cripple the champion, he won't pull out his crossbow, he just continues to charge me, making for one hell of an easy battle as I plug him in the head and legs. If, however, my opening move is not to cripple him, he goes ranged and rapes me. Is this a bug? And I believe it has been mentioned by others too, but I've had some difficulty with crashes and corrupted saves (it seems to happen when I buy certain pieces of armor / weapons), and the like.

As for bugs: One bug which has been mentioned is my character somehow attacking itself, which happened to me twice. Another bug I remember is if you charge your opponent before a match starts, you'll be frozen in place but continue running towards him when he initiates combat, which halts all combat as he waits patiently for you to stop your animation and you continue to charge him. The last bug I remember is if you go to load your game after death and before the game over screen, the game seems to get confused and will return you to the main screen after displaying the game over text. This would be a minor annoyance, but it also seems to have a good chance of corrupting my save and crashing me on the next load I make.

Overall, it was mostly enjoyable, difficult, and sometimes frustrating affair thanks to random crits, and some bugs.

 

[Elhoim]

In this pic I have enough AP to attack, but it's not allowing me to. Is that some kind of aftereffect of the knockdown I just recovered from, or a bug?

It's a display bug, and most likely your AP is 2. Here is the report for the bug:

- My turn started next to an opponent. I had 12AP. I tried to back away, and he hit me with a hammer, knocking me down and throwing me 2 tiles away from him. I got up without losing the 2AP (my AP remained at 12). When I moved THEN my 2 AP got substracted.

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

Game crashes everytime at loading screen.

got an ati.
and says not enough dos memory... i'm not going to search for my smartdrv.exe floppy files and how to find more conventional memory.

Edit. got in, crashed right after.

 

[sheek]

They haven't tested the game on ATI cards...

 

[Castanova]

Can you finish the combat demo without combat?

 

[Fez]

Can you finish the combat demo without combat?

Well done that man.

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

They haven't tested the game on ATI cards...

well i suppose some of you lucky people who played smoothly has an ATI.

 

[ksjav]

Can you finish the combat demo without combat?

There is a hidden cheat code key combination, something along the lines of Alt + F4

 

[Elhoim]

Can you finish the combat demo without combat?

Yes, if you are fast enough with the camera and the mouse

We'll fix that, though.

Game crashes everytime at loading screen.

got an ati.
and says not enough dos memory... i'm not going to search for my smartdrv.exe floppy files and how to find more conventional memory. Rolling Eyes

Edit. got in, crashed right after.

What renderer are you using? Try direct3d and use the following fix:

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/in ... 244.0.html

 

[Melcar]

They haven't tested the game on ATI cards...

well i suppose some of you lucky people who played smoothly has an ATI.

I got one and it plays fine.

 

[Arem]

What renderer are you using? Try direct3d and use the following fix:

http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/in ... 244.0.html

What the hell are you doing at ITS?

OGL - 11-12fps*
OGL with fix - 30+ fps, max resolution with shadows

D3D - 15-20fps*
D3D with fix - around 6fps*

* on lowest settings

Well thank you at least it is playable now.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

No dual-wielding

Thank God.

Normally I would agree, but it seems appropriate given the idea that gladitorial combat is part of the game.

 

[youhomofo]

Anyone else give spears a try? Anyone else find all but the basic variety useless?

Spears have reach. Awesome. Except I can't attack enemies up close. Well, since most enemies have to be one square away to hit me that means I have to continuously back up in order to hit them. Which means they get to take free strikes at me all day.

Am I missing something or are they utterly useless weapons?

 

[Melcar]

Combine it with dodge. A high dodge skill will ensure that you don't get hit that often when repositioning your PC. Spears kicks ass by the way; a high enough skill level ensures that you get plenty of shots at your target as he closes in.

 

[youhomofo]

Yeah, but I'm still losing AP each time I move a space. Maybe if I could take a free strike at him for moving into base to base contact spears would be cooler.

Unless I'm missing something, I don't see why getting a few pokes at an enemy a square away is better simply hacking with a sword and retaining the 2AP it costs to move while also avoiding any loss of damage due to a failed dodge roll.

 

[Melcar]

If you make a dodge build chances are you got a high dexterity score, giving you plenty of APs. Additionally, when moving back use fast attacks instead of normal. Once out of reach, the extra opportunity attack (provided you got a high enough skill rating) as the opponent closes in will negate any AP loss from repositioning. I usually end up killing most opponents with those opportunity strikes rather than with a regular attack.

 

[Zomg]

They're not useless but you really need a lot of spear skill to depend on the poke-aways. I played through the demo with a 9 AP 10 Con slugger spearman in heavy armor/helmet that didn't put a point in any other skill but spear until he maxed it (then started on critical strike, although it was pretty pointless) and he got through all of the arena fights without too many problems (Ordu fight took several tries). The 6-on-1 fight would probably take like 50 reloads to win with him though, so I didn't try; it's a silly build compared to getting a high defense, and defense doesn't work that well with spears because you don't get so much easy counterattack damage.

 

[Melcar]

You just have to move around a lot. The best is to position yourself diagonally to your target, that way you are far enough to attack, and close enough for them to attack so you can dodge/counter.
Just finished the demo with a spearman. With 270 in dodge none of the six guards could touch me, and 180 in spears guaranteed me an opportunity strike (I was basically getting two free strikes every time they moved towards me).

I just love that you can beat the demo naked


Only The Butcher gave me troubles with this build. I managed to kill him by going short spear + buckler. Buckler allows you to keep your dodge bonuses, and the short spear still allows you opportunity strikes.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Anyone else give spears a try? Anyone else find all but the basic variety useless?

Spears have reach. Awesome. Except I can't attack enemies up close. Well, since most enemies have to be one square away to hit me that means I have to continuously back up in order to hit them. Which means they get to take free strikes at me all day.

Am I missing something or are they utterly useless weapons?

 

[Jora]

Spears are awesome. I beat most fights without having to reload more than once. Used romach and trident.

edti: They are also really fun to use. A breath of fresh air when it comes to RPG weapons.

 

[serch]

I like the demo. The first character I tried was a dodge, two handed hammer, high armour warrior and I annihilated the opposition. Only the Triarii gave me pain until I realizad the boss wasn't wearing a helmet. Builds using shields have not been so successful. Perhaps a higher penalization to dodge when wearing heavy armor would be ok.

 

[youhomofo]

Oh, don't get me wrong. I love spears. I wouldn't be bugging you guys if I didn't.

Guess I'll give them another shot, see what I can do. Too bad nets aren't visible in the offhand. I always loved the spear/net gladiators.

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

I typed a long name for the savegame and it crashed after a window message, must be a bug(texture holding out of balance). Problem is now i can't access savegames, it keeps saying that line. Where are the savegames located, so i can delete the bad one?

Oh and i got the grey menu thing.

Other than that, combat is wonderful. BUT the dodging animation should start later, im sure many said this already... when the characters are only lifting their weapons, you already know whether the blow hits or not, it takes suspence away.

(ah it doesn't randomly crash anymore, had to turn off the native VC improvements)