Game News The Age of Decadence Released

[Delbaeth]

Congrats. Hopefully the Age of RPG Decadence is near the end.

 

[Elwro]

Congratulations! Of course, now I don't have time to play it. Still, I preordered this a few years ago giving my money straight (as straight as possible) to ITS, so I guess a download link should be waiting for me at the forums...

It's amazing this is finally done! I remember that years ago when VD was already somewhat ahead with the game I was starting my PhD, and in my head it looked like a huge project. Now I'm already a few years after my defense It'll be awesome to progress further than the first city, which I played many times in the beta.

Edit: found the link in an old email from BMT Micro. And it's working

 

[Jigawatt]

Btw Vault Dweller the current subtitle for AoD over at http://store.steampowered.com/ I find to be a bit misleading, other released games say 'Now Available' but it seems to imply AoD is still in early access.

Might want to ping someone at Valve if it's something you care about.

 

[Perkel]

Btw Vault Dweller the current subtitle for AoD over at http://store.steampowered.com/ I find to be a bit misleading, other released games say 'Now Available' but it seems to imply AoD is still in early access.

Might want to ping someone at Valve if it's something you care about.

Yup that is pretty big thing. Hit up Valve.

Just don't go into rage mode like that other dude with same problem as AoD have on front page.

 

[Ackermanus]

I am glad PastAckermanus kept his BMT email, because now I can finally enjoy the final version. Hadn't played since the first Teron demo to avoid spoiling myself, and oh boy is this a treat. Wasn't able to progress that much yet, sadly, but the combat animations have improved a lot (dodges in particular look amazing), and the rest is as good as I remembered it.

Good job Iron Tower crew, here's hoping the the game sells enough to keep you guys going.

 

[likaq]

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/age-of-decadence

Codexers, upvote!

 

[likaq]

skyrim with guns -> second place in top 10 steam
King of Incline -> 13th place

 

[ROARRR]

My first build and I am doing fine...

Spoiler

 

[naossano]

I actually checked the steam list just to see if Elder Scrolls with guns 2 was actually listed.
I am disapointed by Beth lack of honesty...

 

[likaq]

I've restarted this game probably 10-15 times and so far everytime ends with me not having a chance at beating any of the missions due to low skills and impossibly hard AI. Need a cheat engine to enjoy 3/10

I would have loved to love this game. It's got everything I want in an RPG, except that it's too bloody difficult. The developers are selling me a game where I'm supposed to have multiple ways to beat quests, and I can get down with that. I chose to be a dude with a big two-handed sword who was street-wise and could talk without embarrassing himself. I wanted to live that character. But my dude both can't talk and can't fight past the first quest.

So I re-rolled a better talker and gave him heavy armor and a tower shield. He's more survivable now, and he can talk even better. Still can't beat the first quest.

The only way to beat the first quest is to do a bunch of talking and skulking, and so the game doesn't deliver on its promise. Maybe you don't want me to feel like a bad-♥♥♥ dude, but I DO want to feel like a bad-♥♥♥ dude. I even went out of my way to poison all of the guys in the first real encounter and they STILL kicked my ♥♥♥ despite being "so feverish as to barely be able to stand up".

So, no, I don't recommend this game. I'll come back when I see a patch that addresses this and a sale for 50% off.

Started development in 2006. Plays like it was made in 2006.

Linear dialog leaves little room for success unless you min/max the right skills.

Started as a lockpicking thief, every door was locked, no options to open. Dex was highest stat... every dex attempt failed. Rolls aren't random, so there's no chance for luck just pre-determined scripts. There's really nothing to interact with in the environment. Had a few kinda-creative NPC encounters, but it's more like a choose-your-own-adventure than an RPG. Instead of being rewarded for what you build, you're penalized for what you don't.

Ultimately, not worth 26.99... or even 6.99... or even free. I have too many other games I could be spending time on that are much more fun and engaging.

I bought this because I was interested in playing a game that has a low magic setting and allows a low combat playstyle, simply because I'm interested in seeing good ideas on how that can be accomplished.

However, this game doesn't have any. Every single conversation option that carries you forward in any way simply checks if you have the right character values, so there is really no skillful way to navigate social situations, you just have to know what skills you need to pass the checks. The entire game is hard for all the wrong reasons. A single wrong decision can kill you, but there is no way to suss out the situation and get any kind of idea what will happen other than just trial and error.

You get situations like this (spoilers): You're approached by a merchant who asks you to come to his house and check out his wares, the second you agree you are teleported to the house and locked in a room with two bandits, you get one more check of your dexterity to see if you can run away, failing that they immediately attack you. Unless your character is a skilled fighter (which you aren't with low dexterity) you're dead. You load, the merchant approaches you again, you refuse to go with him and continue on your way.


Stuff like that is pretty much how this entire game goes down. You encounter a situation, you try to weigh the best response to it, the game throws a skill check at you, if you have the right numbers on your character sheet something good happens, if you fail something bad happens. The only way to skillfully navigate through gameplay like that is to simply know ahead of time what skill values you need to get a positive result before going into conversations.


I have no problem with games that let you make bad choices, but when the bad results are down to skill checks I can't influence in any way I'm not really playing a game, since a game needs to have some kind of skill involved. Likewise, when there is an actual choice involved but picking the wrong thing then just boils down to: Load and pick the other thing there is no real gameplay, since only foreknowledge of the outcomes lets me make an informed decision.


So basically: This game is extremely disappointing if you were hoping for a low magic / low combat game but aren't willing to completely forsake actual gameplay and just quicksave crawl through "choose your own adventure" style conversation trees that can kill you.

^
as expected, steamtards cannot into anything more complicated than skyrim.

author of review above in the comment section:

Bottom line is, this game doesn't have any interesting gameplay, the combat is meh, and the social aspect which should be its strong suit is nothing but clicking through linear dialogs while occasionally having your character sheet checked for the correct numbers to be allowed to succeed.
Bad choices that end in death also have no more depth of consequence than any railroaded Skyrim quest because all they do is force you to load and make the correct choice. Your character needs to be alive to have to live with bad decisions

325 hours in skyrim

 

[Elwro]

Goddamnit internet. Hopefully anyone reasonable has enough sense not to take such reviews as completely accurate, especially if a demo is available.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

It's 12th on the Steam now When it will be 24 hours of it being in bestseller list?

 

[Hoaxmetal]

Goddamnit internet. Hopefully anyone reasonable has enough sense not to take such reviews as completely accurate, especially if a demo is available.

Anyone reasonable enough (and anyone in general) will see the "Helpful" reviews first by default anyways, and they're all positive.

 

[Aenra]

I love the guy that wanted "a bad ass dude with a 2h sword who was street-wise and could talk without embarrassing himself "

Because that's just so fucking reasonable. Why, Vault Dweller, why aren't you helping?

 

[Cadmus]

Goddamnit internet. Hopefully anyone reasonable has enough sense not to take such reviews as completely accurate, especially if a demo is available.

Those reviews are a selling point to me as I'm sure to many other people. Idiots can go fuck themselves, it's always been like this. Only it kinda hurts more because ITS is a tiny studio.

 

[Pegultagol]

I realize I can only play a few games in the limited amount of time I have and I can attest to very few experiences glued to a fluorescent rectangle as having been more vivid than most of my blur of life.
I hope this game is one of the few experiences that I can take away as having given back as much as I opted in and engaged in the world.

Bravo, Vince, it is really a work that should be played, enjoyed, exploited, and discussed. And thank you.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Congratulations reaching your Goal Komrade! To the next Objective now!

P.S. will have to wait till Komrade VD will get they keys to GOG but we waited for 70 10 years so few more days won't Matter. :russia:

 

[likaq]

Why is shadowrun review thread pinned but this thread is not?

 

[Darth Roxor]

gee maybe cuz dis thread is not kodex kontent

 

[ArchAngel]

^
as expected, steamtards cannot into anything more complicated than skyrim.

author of review above in the comment section:



325 hours in skyrim

You can expect a lot of these until people like that stop buying it altogether. I said it before, AoD is a niche game for a niche audience.
Kind of like KotC.

 

[Fargus]

The amount of shit threads on steam makes me sick.

 

[VonVentrue]

I love the guy that wanted "a bad ass dude with a 2h sword who was street-wise and could talk without embarrassing himself "

Because that's just so fucking reasonable. Why, Vault Dweller, why aren't you helping?

The people who got so used to Todd's school of design ("a Jack of all trades type of PC had better be capable of accomplishing every single goal & quest, or else!"). Aren't they adorable.

 

[ArchAngel]

The people who got so used to Todd's school of design ("a Jack of all trades type of PC had better be capable of accomplishing every single goal & quest, or else!"). Aren't they adorable.

It has nothing to do with Skyrim. AoD is a different game from almost any other games, including Fallout 1/2, Baldur's gate and such.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Some news coverage, although not full reviews yet:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/10/15/the-age-of-decadence-released/

http://www.pcgamesn.com/the-age-of-...ecadence-begins-after-a-decade-in-development

 

[Makabb]

This game is shit, there is no spikey haired guy with big ass sword that can dual wield pistols