Game News The Age of Decadence Released

[cvv]

Aren't the Banner Saga artists ex-Biowhore triple A dudes or some such? No wonder it looks amazing.

And true, in the West good artists - like good anybody - are expensive and hard to get by. East of German borders tho you can have top notch guys working for hot potato soup, as is obvious from the recent Polish, Czech or Russian games.

 

[Irenaeus II]

The portrait of the gray guy, yes. The rest only if you like jRPG aesthetics:

 

[Ezrite]

Aren't the Banner Saga artists ex-Biowhore triple A dudes or some such? No wonder it looks amazing.

And true, in the West good artists - like good anybody - are expensive and hard to get by. East of German borders tho you can have top notch guys working for hot potato soup, as is obvious from the recent Polish, Czech or Russian games.

So much forgotten/hidden/not yet blooming talent over in the east.

AoD got a charm and esthetics of it's own. I think the engine works better in fantasy Romaneqsue setting than a post apoc modern world like in Dead State. I have a hard time restarting in Dead State but I probably do it just to finish the story and see how far I get.

 

[Lurker King]

Overall, I prefer the 2D art of Underrail over AoD 3D stuff, but just because it is 2D, nothing more. AoD items look great, though.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Also, every single fucking [lore] check being followed by [lore][crafting] makes me fucking cry. I begin to wonder why did I even bother putting those points into lore in the first place when it's completely useless without crafting.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Um, it's not completely useless without crafting?

There are things you can do with Lore. There are things you can do with Crafting. There are things you can do with Lore AND Crafting.

 

[Irenaeus II]

Also, every single fucking [lore] check being followed by [lore][crafting] makes me fucking cry. I begin to wonder why did I even bother putting those points into lore in the first place when it's completely useless without crafting.

Yeah, [lore][crafting] makes me want to punch a nigger kick a dog.

Crafting should be called crafting, computing and mechanics to be less misleading.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Um, it's not completely useless without crafting?

There are things you can do with Lore. There are things you can do with Crafting. There are things you can do with Lore AND Crafting.

So far, almost every single instance of [lore] that I had was followed by [lore][crafting]. The only exceptions were the Teron outpost and the crumbling map in the Saross library.

 

[Jaedar]

So far, almost every single instance of [lore] that I had was followed by [lore][crafting]. The only exceptions were the Teron outpost and the crumbling map in the Saross library.

Sorry roxor, but you're wrong here, lore has plenty of uses on its own. To get the most of it, you do need some crafting but typically only ever 3 or 4.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Lore - identifying old things, reading obscure tablets, performing rituals
Non-combat Crafting - fixing old things

I'd say that the ratio of lore to lore-crafting checks is 10 to 1.

 

[Irenaeus II]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_crafts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicraft#List_of_common_handicrafts

 

[Bubbles]

Sorry roxor, but you're wrong here, lore has plenty of uses on its own. To get the most of it, you do need some crafting but typically only ever 3 or 4.

Yawn, another fanboy. You should save your strength for the hysterical ranting in the review thread.

 

[hivemind]

Yawn, another fanboy. You should save your strength for the hysterical ranting in the review thread.

can't tell if this is satire

 

[Jaedar]

Yawn, another fanboy. You should save your strength for the hysterical ranting in the review thread.

AoD has plenty of faults (for example the thief guild in Ganezzar is completely broken), but the distribution of lore and lorecrafting checks is not really one of them.

I probably should not even reply to this troll post?

 

[Irenaeus II]

Yawn, another fanboy. You should save your strength for the hysterical ranting in the review thread.

[strength]Rant hysterically in the review thread.

[failure]AoD gets its first mixed review. Prepare for the worse.

 

[Lady_Error]

I've noticed a lot of players saying it's possible to become "completely stuck" or "unable to progress" when in fact they are only stuck in some quests or can't reach their preferred solution. AoD seems to do a great job at offering alternative ways to progress your story, unlike most CRPGs.

If you've got a fighter build and cannot proceed by fighting, then obviously the skill check option is also not open for you - because it's a fighter build.

How long did the playthroughs take you on average, Lady Error?

The talker playthrough is much faster - took me about 20 or 25 hours. The fighter and hybrid playthroughs I didn't finish and the progress was slower due to the fights.

Frustration factor is a pro to me. When my character is stuck, I look around and find something I didn't know before or die. Die = start again
Bad fighter: git gud

I don't think that the fighter build was bad. The stats were close to optimal - STR, DEX and PER very high, Dodge at 9 and Hammer at 7 or 8.

The problem is really closer to the end when you run out of quests to get more skill points and cannot proceed because you lack them.

 

[likaq]

[strength]Rant hysterically in the review thread.

[failure]AoD gets its first mixed review. Prepare for the worse.

Just wait till potato site gry-online.pl decides to write a review.
5/10 or less is likely.

 

[Black]

[strength]Rant hysterically in the review thread.

[failure]AoD gets its first mixed review. Prepare for the worse.

Doesn't matter.

http://www.gram.pl/artykul/2015/10/20/age-of-decadence-recenzja.shtml

Minuses
-grafix
-early combat too hard

 

[Lurker King]

[strength]Rant hysterically in the review thread.

[failure]AoD gets its first mixed review. Prepare for the worse.

[Mountain Dew] [Doritos] Send some e-mails, maybe you can convince other journos of AoD importance.

[failure] You take your time, trying not to think of your lack of resources and the fact that this is not a triple-A game. But you can’t. You know too well that they will never care about indies, but you refuse to believe it. It can't end like this. As if that wasn't enough, later on the last buyers of FO4 still take up the opportunity to post more negative reviews, joking about the old graphics and the lack of voice acting. You still make some fake accounts, posting detailed reviews in the hope of reversing the situation. You fight like never before, but the causals are too numerous. ITS journey end here.

 

[epeli]

If you've got a fighter build and cannot proceed by fighting, then obviously the skill check option is also not open for you - because it's a fighter build.

I know for sure that your fighter can reach the endgame, just by looking at the fights you listed.

Spoiler

You mentioned two fights that happen in Ganezzar, so you can go and talk to the cartographer in Ganezzar inn to continue the temple/map quest and get the locations of Dead River and Hellgate, if you haven't already done so. You can probably fight your way through Hellgate. Alternatively, you can try fighting your way through the bottom of Dead River, since your stats tell me you should have everything you need to survive there. If all else fails, you might get through Hellgate with some permanent HP loss, avoiding most of the fighting.

But honestly, you shouldn't be having much trouble fighting with skills that high and pure fighter stats. You're doing something else wrong. Bad equipment choices, not using support items properly, poor fighting tactics or a combination of those.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Lore - identifying old things, reading obscure tablets, performing rituals
Non-combat Crafting - fixing old things

I'd say that the ratio of lore to lore-crafting checks is 10 to 1.

Okay, allow me to rephrase that:

Everything useful that has to do something lore is either immediately followed by or checked at the same time with crafting.

 

[Jaedar]

Okay, allow me to rephrase that:

Everything useful that has to do something lore is either immediately followed by or checked at the same time with crafting.

Nay, but you missed the lore check at Saross for the extra location, so you missed... well most of the lore content to be honest since your path doesn't give you another way into zamedi.

I wish some locations (inferiea, al akia, and to some extent the pass and zamedi key) were findeable in more ways.

 

[cvv]

Got around to playing it only now and honestly I can't say much about the game since I don't really see what's happening there.

Joking aside tho, really, on my 22" the UI is small as fuck. I have to strain my eyes constantly to read the text. Plus in the 3D map - overhead flavour text without a dark underlay? Really?

From what I've seen the writing, worldbuilding and character systems are absolutely stunning. Easily the most hardcore, oldschool storyfag RPG I've played in a long time (ever, maybe). But I can't enjoy the game like that. I've played for about an hour and I'm already cross-eyed. And my noodle hurts. Goddamit.

Waiting for console-friendly Enhanced Edition.

 

[Bubbles]

Waiting for console-friendly Enhanced Edition.

Age of Decadence: Decline Edition

 

[Elhoim]

62 pure lore checks.
5 Lore + Int.
6 Lore + Crafting (including lore check, and then a standalone crafting check).