Incline Age of Decadence - Tips, Tricks and Spoilers

[SausageInYourFace]

I am curious, did the character creation always indicate suggested skills for the classes or was that implemented later?

I have to admit, the writing is damn good in this one. On my last playthrough, I brought Antidas as vessel to Toragoth and the whole scene gave me such serious creepy chills like I haven't experienced in ages. Probably amplified by the music, which is also bredy gud.

There appear to be one or two oddities (bugs?) here and there but due to the complexities of the connections I am often not sure whats intended and if I am simply missing something.

In one playthrough, I was unable to give Antidas Fengs fake ring, for no reason that was apparent to me. The dialogue option simply didn't seem to trigger?

On one quest, there was dude who lost his house; I sided with the other guys, the dude ran away, I got the imperial armor, kept it, slaughtered the guys I sided with and got some 'thanks to you the dude can have his house back!' message. Mkay? I am also pretty sure there is a typo somewhere in the initial dialogue.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

you need not only to have Feng's fake ring, you also need to know it's fake iirc (streetwise or lore) and confront Feng about it who then suggests to peddle it off to Antidas

 

[Goral]

lol
This is pure gold: http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/666826251245906396/?ctp=24#c1489992713706245912

Spoiler

Atrushan

3 grudnia 2017 o 17:42
I spent *four* hours trying different characters, weapons and combinations in order to save that one guy from the very first mission in the inn - or at least keep myself alive. "Fun" isn't the first word that crosses my mind in this situation.

More like an epic waste of time and money. I regret having bought it.
#358

Vince [autor] 3 grudnia 2017 o 17:58
Początkowo opublikowane przez Atrushan:
I spent *four* hours trying different characters, weapons and combinations in order to save that one guy from the very first mission in the inn - or at least keep myself alive. "Fun" isn't the first word that crosses my mind in this situation.

More like an epic waste of time and money. I regret having bought it.Both of these goals are optional - you don't have to go with the trader and if you do, you don't have to save the trader or even to fight.

Optional fights are always the hardest and new players can easily avoid them. I don't think the fight in question is that hard but it can be overwhelming for new players who don't know the combat system well yet.
#359

Atrushan

4 grudnia 2017 o 13:26
I can live with trial and error. That's why I tried it for hours.
But when the game kicks me out of the first town, preventing me from finishing or even starting most of the quests, that's just wrong.

Just because I went after a thief and a guard decided to interfere. Heck, I'd pay the blood money if they'd leave me get the coins together. But you can't walk 5 meters straight without running into them.

I've never seen a game before that so consequently denies the player the chance to even properly play it. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Create a new save for *every* single step I make because the next one could be the last?

I already spent most of the time in the game saving and loading.

Vince [developer] 4 Dec, 2017 @ 11:30pm
Atrushan:
I've never seen a game before that so consequently denies the player the chance to even properly play it. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Create a new save for *every* single step I make because the next one could be the last?I assume you killed the guard, which was your decision (there was an option to walk away when the guard interfered). Turned out other guards take killing of one of their own very seriously, which is hardly surprising and unpredictable turn of events.

I'd suggest not to act like a hero or a tough guy until you can handle the consequences.
#361

Atrushan

5 Dec, 2017 @ 12:48am
Atrushan; 5 Dec, 2017 @ 12:51am
#362

Vince [developer] 5 Dec, 2017 @ 1:15pm
Atrushan:
Like a hero or tough guy? I just wanted my money back.Which is the very definition of a tough guy. Someone stole some money from you, so you went after the thief and killed a corrupt cop in the process.

But no, I had to either kill the guard or kill everyone else until my body count was high enough to impress the guard.You could also walk away, realizing that you're no longer dealing with just a thief,

Unless there was some other, looked option that I couldn't see due to lack of skills/abilities. Which, frankly, might have been the case.There are 5 or 6 options there (some are hidden): fight, walk away, intimidate with your bodycount, and threaten the guard if you're a praetor or a thief (he doesn't care about you but your boss is a different story).

If you choose to attack the guard, you get a warning:

"Whoa! Easy there! Do you know what the penalty is for attacking a guard? I'm giving you one last chance to walk away."

If you still attack him, the consequences are on you.

Anyway, I saw your review, so it looks like the game isn't for you.
#363

Atrushan

5 Dec, 2017 @ 3:12pm
#364

Vince [developer] 5 Dec, 2017 @ 3:22pm
#365

Fragoos

5 Dec, 2017 @ 3:53pm
#366

Vince [developer] 5 Dec, 2017 @ 4:18pm
#367

Atrushan

5 Dec, 2017 @ 5:32pm
Vince:
So you expected no consequences after killing a local guard because he refused to help you (i.e. not in self-defense)?
There shouldn't even be such a situation to begin with. I shouldn't have to kill a guard to get back my money. You purposedly kept throwing as many stones in the players way as you could to prevent any kind of proper game balance. That's far from "challenging", it's simply broken.

And if someone complains, you list the things they could have done to prevent it. In theory, that is. Most options are locked behind stats, abilities or (thanks for pointing that one out) character selections. Therefore you barely ever leave the player a real choice - left aside the ability to play the game their own way.
You pretty much dictate a path. That is not freedom, nor choice. And definitelly nothing worth praising.

And then we always have the "don't act tough and be a hero" part. Common sense and any kind of civil courage is pretty much not wanted or welcome in this game. Leave thugs to their harassing of villagers. Don't interfere. Let people rob you blind and use you as they see fit. Don't lift your head or as much as a finger in protest.

So much fun. But let's leave the questionable core message and morals aside. Expecting anything else from a title named "The age of decadence" was naive and a mistake on my side.
#368

Genocidocles

5 Dec, 2017 @ 6:48pm
Atrushan:
Originally posted by Vince:
So you expected no consequences after killing a local guard because he refused to help you (i.e. not in self-defense)?


And then we always have the "don't act tough and be a hero" part. Common sense and any kind of civil courage is pretty much not wanted or welcome in this game. Leave thugs to their harassing of villagers. Don't interfere. Let people rob you blind and use you as they see fit. Don't lift your head or as much as a finger in protest.
Have you tried building a character who can kick said thug's heads in? Like, it's not that hard to make a killing machine if you're not a retardate.
#369

Vince [developer] 5 Dec, 2017 @ 7:23pm
Atrushan:
There shouldn't even be such a situation to begin with. I shouldn't have to kill a guard to get back my money.Why is that? The thief is working with the guard, when someone chases him, he leads them straight to the guard who handles the problems. Simple and effective.

You can resolve the situation in the following ways:

1) Kill the thief with a ranged weapon (requires either throwing, bow, or xbow skills)
2) Chase the thief, talk to the guard and:
- kill the guard and face the consequences (not the best option unless you can handle it)
- if you're a praetor, demand your money back
- if you're a thief, threaten with reprisals from your guild
- if you're a killer of some reknown, intimidate the guard
- if you're neither a killer, nor a praetor, nor a well-connected thief, walk away (not very heroic but it works like a charm)

You purposedly kept throwing as many stones in the players way as you could to prevent any kind of proper game balance. That's far from "challenging", it's simply broken.What's broken about it? The only problem I see is that you're trying to play this game the way you play all games - you expect to beat everyone and handle every quest.

And if someone complains, you list the things they could have done to prevent it. In theory, that is. Most options are locked behind stats, abilities or (thanks for pointing that one out) character selections. Therefore you barely ever leave the player a real choice - left aside the ability to play the game their own way.Sure, your skills matter a lot. If your character's skills are low, he won't be good at anything. Yet there are plenty of choices that don't require any stats or skills.

And then we always have the "don't act tough and be a hero" part. Common sense and any kind of civil courage is pretty much not wanted or welcome in this game. Leave thugs to their harassing of villagers. Don't interfere. Let people rob you blind and use you as they see fit. Don't lift your head or as much as a finger in protest.If you're a tough fighter, you can help the weak and fight every evil and sin you see. If you aren't a tough fighter, well, you can't do much, can you?

This isn't a game where you play a mighty hero regardless of your stats and skills. This is a game where if you want to be a mighty hero, you have to fit the bill. Hardly unrealistic, is it?

 

[Bohrain]

lol
This is pure gold: http://steamcommunity.com/app/230070/discussions/0/666826251245906396/?ctp=24#c1489992713706245912

I have a feeling that guy has never actually witnessed any "civil courage" in action.

 

[Lhynn]

Vault Dweller
I read in some steam thread that you said daggers have different hidden stats depending on the type (that make certain kinds of attacks stronger). Is it the same with swords? could you give me a breakdown?

How important is Hardness? like is it worth going handar just for it?

Want to craft my first blue sword but i really cant set my mind on one.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Vault Dweller
I read in some steam thread that you said daggers have different hidden stats depending on the type (that make certain kinds of attacks stronger). Is it the same with swords? could you give me a breakdown?

It is the same with all weapons. When there are two weapons of the same type (i.e. two long swords), one is more suitable for fast attacks (like the saber) while the other is more suitable for power attacks, like the broadsword (handar). Equip both weapons, scrolls through different attacks and compare damage.

How important is Hardness? like is it worth going handar just for it?

The higher your weapon's hardness, the higher the chance to damage armor's DR (i.e. reduce it until the armor is properly repaired). If you manage to reduce heavy armor's DR from 8 to 5, for example, you'll quickly notice the difference.

 

[ilitarist]

Evil people had convinced me to give Age of Decadence another try.

On my first try I've completed Act 1 as Loremaster. I didn't like the writing (seemed that it's very uneven, sometimes it's a wall of text, sometimes it's a lone word on a page), lack of agency (felt that I've already made my choices when created the character; beside critical path I could only do a Merchant quests and there it was either comply to some shady people or go away as I didn't have needed skills). After I left the city to Act 2 I was told consequences of my actions so it seemed like there was no further consequences to anything I did. Ah, and also instead of gameplay I often got walls of texts telling me about wonderful adventures I'm having without any input from my side (blown up a machine in the cave killing lots of people thanks to a skillcheck).

So, any tips for starting off? Maybe Loremaster is not the best background? Maybe there are some ways I had to create and develop my character?

 

[Castozor]

Evil people had convinced me to give Age of Decadence another try.

On my first try I've completed Act 1 as Loremaster. I didn't like the writing (seemed that it's very uneven, sometimes it's a wall of text, sometimes it's a lone word on a page), lack of agency (felt that I've already made my choices when created the character; beside critical path I could only do a Merchant quests and there it was either comply to some shady people or go away as I didn't have needed skills). After I left the city to Act 2 I was told consequences of my actions so it seemed like there was no further consequences to anything I did. Ah, and also instead of gameplay I often got walls of texts telling me about wonderful adventures I'm having without any input from my side (blown up a machine in the cave killing lots of people thanks to a skillcheck).

So, any tips for starting off? Maybe Loremaster is not the best background? Maybe there are some ways I had to create and develop my character?

Play a combat focused character. You might still feel you aren't properly impacting decisions but at least there will be plenty of gameplay. You can try a hybrid too but apparently those are a bit harder to make work. My first complete play trough was with a combat character and I found it far more entertaining than the latter talky play trough I did.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I didn't like the writing

One day I will understand some people's problems with the writing in AoD, one day.

 

[Lhynn]

One day I will understand some people's problems with the writing in AoD, one day.

I really liked the drifter start in AoD, thats where i really started to like the writing. Thats who i wanted to be and how i wanted it all to start.

 

[ilitarist]

I didn't like the writing

One day I will understand some people's problems with the writing in AoD, one day.

That's what I wrote in other thread about it:

About Age of Decadence - the very first dialogue in the game had filled me with sadness. Here it is from some random letsplay: https://youtu.be/iVNThgmK2VI?t=958

First the dude talks like a wiseman, then he talks about "shithole", then you're teleported to the inn inside of the dialogue (seen visual novels with gentler transitions), as well as whole pages of dialogue consisting of a single word "Why?" right after lengthy boring unnecessary decsriptions.It's amateur and looks as if there were different authors writing different screens with no overmind editor and no consistent vision: some likes to write the text as if it's a historical novel, some are edgy and insert swearwords - and it's just the difference between NPCs and locations, it happens inside the same dialogue. All while you have less agency in dialogue than in Fallout 4.

 

[Trashos]

My first 3 playthroughs were talker (merchant, ended with 1 kill total), fighter, hybrid (and hybrid ever since). Hybrids are the most interesting ones, but also the toughest ones. If you don't want to do a simple talker, go with fighter. But you definitely want to do a hybrid at some point.

If you go fighter, I suggest you try spears/dodging as a first try.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

ehres a fuckgunign ip and a fuckg trik as wlel whenrebr u grt tleeporte d arong th eplace becu se of ni agne cy whatos ever drink s shdot a shot of soemtinh storng enoguh to lea ve and aftertaeste eventualt tthe expeirne ce become srathe racceptoable

:cheersmate:

 

[ilitarist]

Playing it again right now. Still don't get it.

Started as a drifter with 10 in perception, intelligence and charisma. Got the artifact after seeing a fight. Have no opportunity to talk to innkeeper about the night fight. Went to a loremaster, and on after talking to me for a minute he asks me, a stranger, to kill another person for few coins. What the hell? Then I go to a Comercium, got the quest about guards, complete it (he says, I quote "I've given you a simple task and you gave me 200%", as people in Dark Ages naturally talked). Guards don't want to let people in. I persuade them to lower the price. They agree. Then I talk to people who want to enter. They promise they'll repay me. After that I have only one option: to pay the old price, not the one I haggled for. I can't say no.

I am sent to get secrets from Mercato by giving him an opportunity to write off his gambling debt. I come to him, ignore thieves suggestions, outplay the guy but he doesn't talk. I have no opportunity to do anything else. I'm teleported back and even though I succed in persuasion I get a loss or reputation.

Then I was sent to talk to raider who captured some noble and he's all business, very cautious. But then he spills his fucking life story on several pages as if we were best friends. Then there's a mining camp where selecting 4 obvious options from a very short list of options ensured that I destroyed whole camp. When powerful lord says he will reward me my only possible reaction is "How much is the reward".

Am I being trolled? Is this some sort of long joke a la Grimoire? There's more agency and consistency in any shit AAA RPG that is shat upon in codex. Is AoD forgiven everything just because it was made for a dime? Even in Numenera I saw better dialogue, I was only attacked by walls of text when I asked question, here every dialogue is either a wall of unnatural exposition - so you start thinking it's a stylization, but then you talk to people like Mercato who only have 5 words to say for each of your phrases, and then there are all those shit & fuck words that cool boys use. Can't ever ask questions apart from "tell me the rest of your giant wall of text". And there are a lot of typos! I played first act as Loremaster previously and apart from dialogue in the beginning everything was almost identical, the difference was in skills I could apply and that was it - why have those different starts then?

And UI looks like it's a parody. Even simple journal screen has 6, six different fonts on it for maximum unreadability (8 when tutorial window hovers there)!

 

[Castozor]

I told you to make a combat character didn't I, you make the same mistake as last time and ask: why am I still not enjoying this? To be fair I can empathize with some of your complaints since I alSo encountered them during my play-trough with a talky character, the mine example being very grating if you didn't save beforehand. Although by now you should have known to save-scum beforehand, it's not exactly great that you need to do this but it is what it is.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Playing it again right now. Still don't get it.

ITS a game.

 

[ilitarist]

I told you to make a combat character didn't I, you make the same mistake as last time and ask: why am I still not enjoying this? To be fair I can empathize with some of your complaints since I alSo encountered them during my play-trough with a talky character, the mine example being very grating if you didn't save beforehand. Although by now you should have known to save-scum beforehand, it's not exactly great that you need to do this but it is what it is.

To be honest I don't want to be combat character at all. When I've hear about this game in the beginning of the development it had posed as Fallout in an interesting setting. Around time of release it got praised for possibility of completely non-combat playthrough. Dialogue and world building are supposed to be strong sides of the game. From what I've seen from tutorial the combat system isn't that interesting; it also goes the more realistic route so I gather there's little you can do apart from preparing to combat through potions.

I savescummed because of strange nature of dialogue system. Sometimes it tells you beforehand if you will pass the skill check. Sometimes it seem to hide options based on your stats.

What I like about the game is the amount of societal skills. People praise Morrowind for variety things to do besides fighting and favourably compare it to, say, Skyrim. But in both games you have just a single societal skill (Persuasion or something) and skills like Merchant are useless anyway in Morrowind, and you can't see any difference because of people's disposition outside of quests. Still the game consists of two halves, in one you use a dozen of combat skills, in the other you use Persuasion (and maybe Stealth), so there's no reason not to advance those peaceful skills. And in D&D 3e games it was assumed that you use one of 3 dialogue skills and almost all skill checks allow using any of the three, maybe 2. In AoD even completely talky character can't go all the way. That I like, the system is ok. What they did to it I do not like.

Oh well. It's a game. Trying to hard to understand it.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Because you have to think long and hard, trying to figure out why you don't like a game/book/movie that other people like why some people like a game/book/movie you don't like. Anyway, yours is the most bizarre reviews I've ever read, so that's something.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/ilitarist/recommended/230070/

Age of Decadence is a role-playing game similar to Fallout 1 or 2.

One of the selling points is that you can play as non-combat character, progressing just by using social skills. And indeed you can. I even like that there are lot of social skills - not just the usual "diplomacy", you can use impersonation, streetwise talk, lore... Also stealth and stealing, and those are only used in dialogue or in special places.

What I don't like is that writing is bad on many levels. First texts are amateur on their own: there are lot of typos; most characters are very verbose while some say next to nothing; the style is all over the place - NPCs switch between Dumas' historical fiction style and edgy cynical "modern" speech with all the ♥♥♥♥♥ and ♥♥♥♥s cool boys use. Second there's an issue of dialogues not actually being dialogues. They feel extremely railroaded and mostly defined by your stats - the game even hides normal answers when your stats allow you to say something special. You can very rarely ask NPC specific questions, most of the time you just ask a general question and click continue several times while NPC tells you everything they have to say. Dialogue often teleports you around town with no choice of your own; you rarely can refuse something proposed to NPC or say good bye before you've heard everything NPC has to say.

One of the most preposterous examples: refuges try to enter the city and guards ask for money. I haggle with guards to lower the price and I can either pay or talk to refuges. I talk to them and they promise to repay me later. Then the only option I have is to pay the sum guards had asked for initially, not the one I haggled for. I can't say no.

Third problem with dialogue is that story feels very gamey and railroaded, it's full of inconsistencies - you can't understand if it's realistic dark fantasy or the usual cartoon world. Whoever you start as local loremaster asks you to murder his competitor the minute he meets you. Raider you're sent to kill will spill his life story right after aggressively asking for a ransom. The game describes a huge adventure with you blowing up a mine and killing a bunch of foreign soldiers inside in fewer number of words than is used by local preacher to tell the usual preachy thing; and to get this achievement you have to select obvious options from couple of choices in dialogues; you won't see locations you've blown or people you've disposed of.

It's not a lack of budget, the game is just rough and not very well thought out. You get more agency in pseudo-RPGs like Fallout 4, at least there you can say "Yes" to next quest in a sarcastic way. Here the game pretends you're dealing with some clever schemes while all you do is choosing between "Use my already defined skills" or "Fail the quest", in rare occasions you can use any of the 2 available skills, often you're not given opportunity to fail if you have skills.

I like the idea of non-combat RPG but this one leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

To recap. You don't like the game because:

- some characters say a lot, others not so much, whereas in real life every person has something to say
- some characters sound like 'academics', other characters speak like common folks and swear like sailors, whereas in real life everyone speaks the same way.
- swearing is a recent, edgy, and cynical thing and couldn't have possibly existed in ancient Rome, wise and noble, even though Vulgar Latin was a thing and swearing in those days was common and well documented.
- you were asked to kill someone! In an RPG! What madness is this?
- after you convince the raiders' leader to attack the mine to earn the ransom money (meaning the situation is no longer hostile and now you and him are on the same side), IF you pass a Perception check and notice that he's a former soldier and IF you decide to ask him about it and IF you pass a Charisma check, then he will tell you how he ended up raiding. Clearly, the same as him randomly telling you his entire life story.
- the description of you blowing up the mine isn't verbose enough
- the guards at the gate changed their mind after seeing you talking to the refugees and refused to honor a previously negotiated discount. Le horror.

 

[ilitarist]

- some characters say a lot, others not so much, whereas in real life every person has something to say
- some characters sound like 'academics', other characters speak like common folks and swear like sailors, whereas in real life everyone speaks the same way.

I don't like when the same character does that in the same dialogue. Almost every character has a wall of text to give to you whether he's characterized as verbose or quiet person.

- swearing is a recent, edgy, and cynical thing and couldn't have possibly existed in ancient Rome, wise and noble, even though Vulgar Latin was a thing and swearing in those days was common and well documented.

The way swearing is done here is tasteless. E.g. the very first place you visit, a cenral inn of the town has a sign that says something along the lines of "place to sleep, eat and fuck". I expect it to be something for the lowlife but no, it's a respected establishment. That or people here are just angry in general and speak like that, maybe it's kinda a penal colony. But no, those walls of text (that, I believe, where written by a person who had little contact with anyone who wrote the rest of dialogues) feature little to no swearing. In other words, it makes both streetwise speech and "academic" speech unnatural. It's inconsistent and looks juvenile.

- you were asked to kill someone! In an RPG! What madness is this?

This is supposed to be a realistic RPG where you interact with a society. Even in something like Witcher 3 (which is not the greatest writing on earth) no one asks professional mercenary to murder some innocent person. Stuff like that breaks immersion, fast.

- after you convince the raiders' leader to attack the mine to earn the ransom money (meaning the situation is no longer hostile and now you and him are on the same side), IF you pass a Perception check and notice that he's a former soldier and IF you decide to ask him about it and IF you pass a Charisma check, then he will tell you how he ended up raiding. Clearly, the same as him randomly telling you his entire life story.

Fair enough, in this particular case my character may have been very persuasive.

- the guards at the gate changed their mind after seeing you talking to the refugees and refused to honor a previously negotiated discount. Le horror.

The game shows no indication of that. And also guards now hold a knife near my throat so I can't say I don't want to pay for refugees so I don't have this option, right? This happens in this game all the time, I go to speak to character and I have no option apart from moving his storyline ahead with no way out.

I am too puzzled how someone who likes RPGs may like AoD. I could imagine someone who likes visual novels would be surprised by relatively big number of possible choices, but even then the writing is subpar and the choice quickly disappears when you develop the skill you use and as skill checks get higher you can just select skillchecks you can do and proceed.

 

[Black Angel]

I don't like when the same character does that in the same dialogue. Almost every character has a wall of text to give to you whether he's characterized as verbose or quiet person.

If you haven't noticed, they're only like that if you pass some checks that's offered in regards to the relevant topic generated by their previous dialogue, like Lore/INT, but mostly CHA. In the beginning I remembered it's Feng and the Raider Leader, they won't tell you shit if you didn't pass the check.

This is supposed to be a realistic RPG where you interact with a society. Even in something like Witcher 3 (which is not the greatest writing on earth) no one asks professional mercenary to murder some innocent person. Stuff like that breaks immersion, fast.

First you mention AoD as being realistic RPG, and then you go compare it to Witcher 3. Make up your mind, already.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I don't like when the same character does that in the same dialogue. Almost every character has a wall of text to give to you whether he's characterized as verbose or quiet person.

Almost every person (in real life) has a wall of text he/she wants to say, assuming that 'wall of text' means 4-5 sentences in a row.

The way swearing is done here is tasteless...

I wasn't aware swearing could be tasteful.

E.g. the very first place you visit, a cenral inn of the town has a sign that says something along the lines of "place to sleep, eat and fuck". I expect it to be something for the lowlife but no, it's a respected establishment.

In a shithole town. I supposed Al Swearengen's The Gem Theater was also a respected establishment.

That or people here are just angry in general and speak like that, maybe it's kinda a penal colony. But no, those walls of text (that, I believe, where written by a person who had little contact with anyone who wrote the rest of dialogues) feature little to no swearing. In other words, it makes both streetwise speech and "academic" speech unnatural. It's inconsistent and looks juvenile.

That's an odd way of looking at it (that swearing means being angry about something). Did you watch Deadwood? Were they all angry all the time in your opinion?

Where I used to work, swearing was a way to add emphasis (like pay attention to this part, it's important) and it was widespread, from the president and the VPs to managers and especially production stuff whose speech consisted mostly of fuck this or fuck that. The sales reps were the most well spoken folks there. It was the same way in most 'behind the closed doors' meeting with other companies, no matter how profile. Maybe that's just the business world though but that's what I know. I doubt the army is any different but maybe teachers are nicer, who knows?

This is supposed to be a realistic RPG where you interact with a society. Even in something like Witcher 3 (which is not the greatest writing on earth) no one asks professional mercenary to murder some innocent person. Stuff like that breaks immersion, fast.

Because in real life nobody hires strangers to kill someone? Certainly not the innocents, right?

The game shows no indication of that. And also guards now hold a knife near my throat so I can't say I don't want to pay for refugees so I don't have this option, right? This happens in this game all the time, I go to speak to character and I have no option apart from moving his storyline ahead with no way out.

There are very few cases like this, mainly because the scripting was a nightmare due to the number of options, so on rare occasions when you indicate your willingness to do something, we remove the option to backpedal.

I am too puzzled how someone who likes RPGs may like AoD. I could imagine someone who likes visual novels would be surprised by relatively big number of possible choices, but even then the writing is subpar and the choice quickly disappears when you develop the skill you use and as skill checks get higher you can just select skillchecks you can do and proceed.

Respectfully, how would you know that, after 5 hours and 6 achievements out of 109? You didn't like the game, the writing, the design - fair enough. You don't need to clock 50 hours to figure out if you like or dislike the game, but when it comes to choices, you've barely scratched the surface.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I wasn't aware swearing could be tasteful.

Your mother sucks dwarf cock!

 

[HeatEXTEND]

First you mention AoD as being realistic RPG, and then you go compare it to Witcher 3.

Spoiler

 

[Lhynn]

Vault Dweller ever get tired of answering to nitpicks bro?

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I wasn't aware swearing could be tasteful.

Your mother sucks dwarf cock!

Dwarf cocks......are tasty?