AoD dex' reviews

[DramaticPopcorn]

Review by Vault Dweller when?

 

[Perkel]

Having just completed my third playthrough, I think this is one of very few games that actually gets gradually better and better with each replay. The range of options is staggering, along with the way you can lock yourself out of entire questlines and areas.

If we ever re-do the RPGCodex Top 70, AoD could put up a seriously good fight for a place in the top 20 at the least.

imo top 5 easily.

 

[Lurker King]

imo top 5 easily.

If PS:T, that only has writing in his favor, is the first on the list, AoD should be in the top five, at the very least.

 

[Goral]

imo top 5 easily.

Agreed. #1 or #2 on my list (only Fallout 1 can be considered equal in my book).

 

[Perkel]

If we ever re-do the RPGCodex Top 70, AoD could put up a seriously good fight for a place in the top 20 at the least.

seriously felipepepe

I think thanks to those 2 years we will see substantial changes to top70 hell even top 10 will see changes.
Also we need 2015 rpg awards like last year.

 

[felipepepe]

seriously felipepepe

I think thanks to those 2 years we will see substantial changes to top70 hell even top 10 will see changes.
Also we need 2015 rpg awards like last year.

2015 RPGOTY awards sure, but doing an "all time" voting right after a bunch of big releases is a bad idea. There's a HUGE bias towards more recent releases.

To know how great & memorable 2015 releases truly are, you'd better ask in 2017 or so.

 

[Mozg]

I wonder how butthurt I could have gotten about AoD if I'd tried to commit to playing Thieves' Guild as my first character. In that alternate history I'd probably have been trolling people about how AoD sucks

Thank God I am in the start-with-a-pure-combat-character timeline

 

[Turok]

¿is that good?

¿Really?

 

[Makabb]

Matthew Mcconaughey currently orbiting our planet has finaly received AoD trailer and here is his reaction

 

[anus_pounder]

WHAT?

 

[AwesomeButton]

Matthew Mcconaughey currently orbiting our planet has finaly received AoD trailer and here is his reaction

For a moment there I took him for Josh Sawyer.

 

[felipepepe]

Metacritic finally got 4 reviews and now stands with a green metascore:

That looks nice.

 

[Xor]

I remember first hearing about Age of Decadence back when I used to lurk on NMA. Back then, before I really knew anything about Bethesda and had hopes that Fallout 3 might actually be a decent game, I didn't give too much thought to the idea of a Roman-themed Fallout-inspired RPG. At the time I was still fairly new to cRPGs beyond Fallout and Baldur's Gate, so there seemed to be plenty of good games available as I explored the genre, and in my naivete, I expected more would be made in the coming years. How times change.

Age of Decadence is the first game I've ever played that's legitimately reminded me of how I felt the first time I played Fallout. I can't properly describe the magic, the sense of wonder and exploration I had when I first played that game. No game I have ever played since then has made me feel that way. Until now. I don't think I can give a game higher praise than that.

It was worth the wait.

 

[valcik]

I really wish game had 2D background.

Same here, this is my only complaint so far. That awful and nauseate rotating camera saves me from playing 24/7 though!

 

[hell bovine]

I really wish game had 2D background. Listening to this small but amazing OST really sets the tone and i feel 2D handpainted backgrounds would really really make game a lot better.

That is my biggest problem with AoD; this game would really benefit from 2D. Icewind Dale with its beautiful environmental backgrounds comes to mind. But as it is, AoD's clunky camera - even worse than NWN2 - combined with graphics that I find strenuous to look out, take all the fun out of exploring. This is the first example of a game, where the graphics really detract from the final score in my opinion (NWN2 at least had a shitty story, so there wasn't much to loose anyway). I might finish my "sweet talker" playthrough, but I doubt I'll try another character.

 

[Cadmus]

watching the retards come out of the woodwork
it's beautiful

these are some IGN-tier complaints right here:

-camera is difficult to handle
-can't complete all the quests
-can't play because game is ugly
-can't roleplay a transgender sheepherder pacifist

RPG Codex or Steam reviews? Take a guess!

 

[hell bovine]

Well, I can understand the camera complains. Playing AoD is like trying to read an interesting book, that for some reason was printed in Comic Sans size 6. And brown color.

 

[Perkel]

That is my biggest problem with AoD; this game would really benefit from 2D. Icewind Dale with its beautiful environmental backgrounds comes to mind. But as it is, AoD's clunky camera - even worse than NWN2 - combined with graphics that I find strenuous to look out, take all the fun out of exploring. This is the first example of a game, where the graphics really detract from the final score in my opinion (NWN2 at least had a shitty story, so there wasn't much to loose anyway). I might finish my "sweet talker" playthrough, but I doubt I'll try another character.

Nah camera works good. WSAD + QE really sets it way above crappies of NWN2 camera. But i think fixed camera instead of freely movable would benefit game a lot.

watching the retards come out of the woodwork
it's beautiful

these are some IGN-tier complaints right here:

-camera is difficult to handle
-can't complete all the quests
-can't play because game is ugly
-can't roleplay a transgender sheepherder pacifist

RPG Codex or Steam reviews? Take a guess!

There is stark difference between wanting game to be even better (like 2D graphic case) and "duh game is ugly"
In current form game look is workable but it is not the prettiest game ever.

2D + fixed camera would remove camera quirks and would give artists way more laverage in therms of delivering post apocalyptic setting.

3D pro is that you don't need to animate every single different piece of armor or weapon but creating 3d world is expensive
2D pro is that creating environment is really really really easy and inexpensive but animations themselves are expensive.

This is why imo best way is to merge best of both worlds and leave worst. 2D world with 3D characters in it. Like ToEE, Gorky17, PoE etc.

And since world is 2D you can't move camera thus it fixes camera as designers needs to work on location design to catter to fixed camera perspective.

IMO AoD in 2D would be glorious to watch.

 

[Vault Dweller]

That is my biggest problem with AoD; this game would really benefit from 2D. Icewind Dale with its beautiful environmental backgrounds comes to mind.

Absolutely but it would require art resources we don't have.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Review by Vault Dweller when?

Good for what it is.

 

[Perkel]

Absolutely but it would require art resources we don't have.

Only if you would go prerendered route like PoE or BG

I don't believe handpainted maps are harder to make than creating each and every asset,texture in full 360, fight with lighting, fight with performance, fight with engine to get things not glitch out and in the end trying as much as possible to copy and paste assets you can because each and every object is time and a lot of money and in the end you have result that really looks good only when you chase best of the best tech as everything but best tend to look "ugly" and "old graphics"

Meawhile proper 2D handpaited maps are timeless and will look good as long as there is artist that knows his job and provide unique touches which would be simply to expensive to recreate in 3D

But i agree FULL 2D game, especially animations would be expensive. So imo choose and pick what is best of both world. Set customization in 3D (like characters, armors, weapons etc) and statics (backgrounds, world) in 2D.


edit:

Only big pitfall of handpainted 2D is imo lack of possibility to make huge changes late into project. With 3D you can rework in days how city could look. In handpainted 2D even with photoshop wizardry it would create more work.

But i guess this should be nailed in concept art phase before moving onto actuall making of area

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Worse camera than NWN2? The fuck are you smoking.

It took me 2 years to get out of the cave where Mask of Betrayer starts.

Not even joking.

 

[Goral]

2015 RPGOTY awards sure, but doing an "all time" voting right after a bunch of big releases is a bad idea. There's a HUGE bias towards more recent releases.

To know how great & memorable 2015 releases truly are, you'd better ask in 2017 or so.

I've become AoD fan ever since Teron demo came out (so early 2013). If anything, I'm a bigger fan than I was. Objectively it's the most innovative RPG since Arcanum with many fresh ideas and interesting approach. Subjectively it's the best RPG ever (along with Fallout 1). In comparison, Wasteland 2, Divinity Original Sin, NEO Scavenger and other recent titles (especially Shadowrun tablet games) aren't even close to its greatness in my opinion.

 

[hivemind]

Do people actually complain about camera in AoD ?

Imo it's pretty good.

I love how I can move it around and look at the battlefield/scenery from almost any angle. It could use with a bit more angular freedom when you are absolutely zoomed in, but apart from that it's great.

 

[valcik]

these are some IGN-tier complaints right here:

-camera is difficult to handle

Care to quote someone who's complaining about "difficult to handle" camera? You are either stupid or a provocateur, sir. Probably both.