Preview The Age of Decadence Demo Preview

[VentilatorOfDoom]

One day Mozgoëbstvo will make a non-retarded post, as if he really had to add something worthwhile to the topic in question. Haven't seen one yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Or perhaps he could just fuck off and post somewhere else? That would be cool too.

Ah, yes.. i seem to recall something about a drifter... so long ago...
wait a minute... you played it! Is it available in this build?

Is what available? The background *Wanderer*? In the build I've played it was still called Drifter. I've played one.

 

[hiver]

Yeah, thats what i meant. Well then... whats it like?


btw i always thought text book adventure is there because it allows a much bigger variety and numbers of options followed by consequences than the usual approach.

How else would you have several different options of going into some guarded base or fort? You can go over the wall, trick guards in several ways, disguise, create a diversion or what have you... all fitted to each of different character builds.
Having all those for every situation in the game, done in open animated style spins even my non-developer mind.

Due to good writing all the ones ive seen or read about seemed totally immersive.
Maybe... maybe making a less intrusive screen for them, in the future, would be a good idea but theyre just fine as they are.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Drifter/Wanderer is a bit like a "no-background" option. You don't belong to any of the factions, like an assassin would belong to the Boatmen, a thief to the thieves-guild etc. You're a stranger in town. That means after the opening quest you can try to join/work for any of the factions. Probably best to pick something according to your stats/skills, but afaik you can try to join any of them, The Commercium, Boatmen, thieves-guild, House Daratan or the Imperial Guards. I think I've joined the thieves, but had to prove myself in some thieving skill iirc before being allowed in.

 

[felipepepe]

Anyway... whats with the Wanderer background?
I dont remember seeing that one before.

Looks like they've renamed Drifter to Wanderer.

So um...what's wrong with just "None?"

I think it's better that way. Instead of "you came from nowhere and have no backstory", you are a wanderer that no one knows where you came from and what you can / will do. It's basically the same thing, but LARPing.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Saying "None" is larping too, only in that case it's up to you to make up your own story. Whereas "Drifter" or "Wanderer" implies that you already have a bit of a background, just that you aren't known to those in the starting town.

Since the whole point of the background seems to be a blank slate (i.e. you're not satisfied with with any of the pre-set backgrounds), I see no reason not to simply call it "None."

 

[Berekän]

Looks great so far

 

[DwarvenFood]

I feel Thursday is coming closer. Were there any plans for a boxed version ?

 

[wesleyclark]

I feel Thursday is coming closer. Were there any plans for a boxed version ?

Yes. From the (unofficial) FAQ:

How much will Age of Decadence cost?

"$25 direct download, $50 for a box... plus shipping." (Ref)

What methods of payment will you accept? Paypal? Electron Visa? Cheques? Cash on Delivery?

"Too early to say, but I can assure you that we'll find a way to get the game to everyone who's interested. We can't afford to say "sorry, but we only do things a certain way." (Ref)

Will Age Of Decadence be available on Steam?

"Likely, but not immediately after release." (Ref)

What comes with the boxed version?

"Boxed version will include a full color, professionally produced box (as good or better than what you see in stores), full color glossy manual, full color glossy map. And the aforementioned CD case, of course." (Ref)

Will you ship the boxed version to any country that has a postal service?

"Yes, we will. It's a personal guarantee." (Ref)

If I buy the boxed version, would I be able to download the game so I don't have to wait playing?

"Yes." (Ref)

 

[curry]

$50 for a box... plus shipping."

 

[commie]

Well then it's a boxed purchase for me. What's 50 clams anyway? At the turn of the 90's I was paying 80-90 dollars a game and of course back then the 90 bucks was worth a lot more than it is now. Only Steam has made fashionable the faggotry to whine about the cost of a new release if it isn't under 10 dollars.

You want to know about the decline? It is also due to faggots not wanting to pay the real worth of a game, forcing developers to make their games ever more mainstream just to get the massive numbers of sales they need now to counterbalance the pathetically small price of the game.

I'll be doing my bit to fight the good fight. Will you?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Funny but I don't find walking back and forth in RPG's all that boring. Maybe it's the type of RPG's I play, ones with a lot of interesting things to see and do and people to meet along the way; maybe it's the atmosphere of the world, or the threat of ambush along the way etc.

I'm not saying that walking around and exploring is boring. I'm saying that running between maps to deliver a message or going back and forth between NPCs is boring. Some examples:

The Witcher: "Yaevinn (in the swamps) will ask you to deliver a letter to Golan Vivaldi in the Temple Quarterand then return with his reply."

You run through the streets, leave the town - loading screen, go to the dock, travel to the swamps - cutscene/loading screen, run around in the swamps, get a quest to go back to the town (running back to the dock, loading screen, enter the town - loading screen, run to another district - loading screen, and then do all over again to return with the reply. I think it was the first quest I've turned down because the traveling was too much.

The way I see, when you do a non-combat quest, the best part (or the only good part?) is dealing with different people and trying different ways to accomplish your objective. Not running for 10 min, hoping that you'll be ambushed to break the boredom.

Other memorable examples are the city of Athkatla in BG2, ToEE's Hommlet's quests, and even some Arcanum's quests, like the crystal ball one - talk to A, she sends you to B, B gives you the ball, bring it back to A, something happens, go talk to B again. Thank God they were on the same map. It's not a bad quest, but 90% of it is running back and forth between A and B.

When you abruptly go from one location to another just to pick an answer from a list it kind of misses the point of a role playing game in the traditional sense...

In what way?

...but then again AoD is set to redefine what is meant by the term 'RPG'...

It really isn't. AoD draws heavily from the old games, so it doesn't redefine anything, but rearranges RPG concepts in a different way. RPGs are the most diverse genre (dungeon crawlers, sandbox, story-driven, tactical, etc), so AoD is our contribution to it, nothing else.

... I see that you put a lot of effort into it, so package the fucker like in the olden days and I'll be all over it like the C&C fag that I am. A good game is a good game regardless of what genre it actually fits.

Thanks.

 

[zool]

Vince, congrats on the game, it sounds really promising.

There's only one thing that's bothering me since the beginning : are you sure you haven't gone overboard with the whole backstabbing/you-can-trust-no-one/nothing-is-what-it-seems thing?

It's great that characters and factions can bullshit you, use you as a pawn, betray you - and that you can do the same to them. But if EVERY single quest is not what it seems at first, if EVERY character in the game is lying (at least in some measure), if nearly NO ONE really believes in his cause/is loyal to his faction, then it's just a reversal of the traditional "pretty much everyone says the truth" basic assumption players have in "normal" RPGs. In AoD's case, that would pretty much amount to encouraging players to metagame simply assume by default they're being constantly lied to. IMO, that kinda nullifies the "oh man, they've been using me since the beginning" feeling you have when you're only lied to/used as a pawn occasionally (see how Troika found a good balance in VTMB).

It's more of a general feeling than a reaction to something that was specifically written in the demo preview, and I hope I'm mistaken here. If not, I would still play the game and probably enjoy it, but you might hear me lament about "unnecessarily exaggerated grimdarkness" in AoD...

 

[Forest Dweller]

$50 for a box... plus shipping."

You're right, it's much better to pay that same amount for every dumbed down piece of shit that's on the market shelves today.

Are you retarded, curry? Oh wait - I don't really need to ask that, do I?

Hey, how's that theory of yours concerning VD and Brian Mitsoda coming out? Have you gathered any more clues?

 

[Crooked Bee]

$50 for a box... plus shipping."

The digital version is merely $25, so I fail to see what your problem is. Most Steam games cost more than that. If you don't want to spend a fifty, then just go digital.

 

[Vault Dweller]

There's only one thing that's bothering me since the beginning : are you sure you haven't gone overboard with the whole backstabbing/you-can-trust-no-one/nothing-is-what-it-seems thing?

Not the case.

It's great that characters and factions can bullshit you, use you as a pawn, betray you - and that you can do the same to them. But if EVERY single quest is not what it seems at first, if EVERY character in the game is lying (at least in some measure), if nearly NO ONE really believes in his cause/is loyal to his faction....

Not the case at all.

The digital version is merely $25, so I fail to see what your problem is.

He doesn't have one. He just wanted to post a picture.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Who is that guy anyway? Looks jewish.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

50 dollar for a box, glossy map and manual? That's some really good value-for-money actually. I don't know how much todays games cost at release because I haven't baught a new game in ages. But back when there were still games worthy of buying, a new one would cost around 50-55 Euros as far as I remember. And mind you, in most cases they just came in a dvd-case with a 5 pages instructions booklet for that price, nothing else. So the 50 Dollars (roughly 38 Euro) are a good deal in my book. Of course additional shipping costs and possible custom fees (?) will make the boxed version more expensive for europeans and other customers outside of North America, but whatever.

Here's another confirmed buyer for the boxed version Vince. Consider that game of yours pre-ordered.

 

[Shannow]

Colbert. Sometimes he's funny. I prefer Stewart, though.

EDIT: Weren't you from Germany, too, TftC? New computer games games could almost always be gotten for 40€ or less. Especially when you talk about a few years ago. Now computer games seem to have moved towards consoles in pricing too and one will see more 45€ games, but still... Nothing changed with the packaging, though. The vast majority of normal editions comes in a DVD case with a 5-20 page booklet.
I don't really care about packaging and booklets though I'll probably go for the digital version.

 

[felipepepe]

Here's another confirmed buyer for the boxed version Vince. Consider that game of yours pre-ordered.

Same here, even knowing that probably the shipping will cost more than the game, I want the company of the AoD manual at my bathroom breaks for the next decade.

 

[Esquilax]

The digital version is fine if you are a filthy untermensch peasant. I want the boxed version purely for the satisfaction of knowing that I am a bro.

 

[curry]

He doesn't have one. He just wanted to post a picture.

I'm going to have to play the demo before making the decision but I do genuinely think $50 is quite a lot for a computer game, especially since it's so easy to acquire games by other means nowadays. I get that the hardcore fans are going to buy it regardless of the price but I honestly think you'll have hard time selling the game at that price. I guess you've done your sales research though.

 

[Phelot]

$50 has always been the standard price for games. Only recently with consoles has it jumped to $60.

Anyway, $50 is reasonable especially for what appears to be a lot of quality. TBH, some indie devs kind of sell their stuff short, but I guess the idea is that the extra $20 is for boxes and manuals, something that isn't as exciting in a digital release thus it costs $30.

I'll likely get the digital AoD. I'm not into collecting games and manuals and stuff anymore.

 

[undecaf]

If Steam is considered as distributer for the download version, have Vince&Co. thought about asking GoG for the same deal?

If they really have the new agenda of getting newer games there AoD would fit right in, not to mention the commercial value from being able to say "See how we potatoes love gamers, we now support quality oldschool indies too".

 

[Melcar]

Fuck potatoes.

 

[Luzur]

is it thursday?