Forest Dweller
Smoking Dicks
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Best rpg since Dragon Age?
-
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AoD dex' reviews
- Thread starter Perkel
- Start date
Cadmus
Arcane
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I think I saw 2 more similar posts.
Notice the amazing critical skillz of this poster, too. Pros: good writing, Cons: moving your mouse. Whatever. I'm just sitting here, updating my .txt on everyone and waiting for the ITZ when I will be allowed to pass the
The point is that while the camera isn't the greatest thing in the world - for example you need to position the camera on your character in Madoraan when walking up the loremaster's tower otherwise it might get stuck in the edge of the map - it's an absurdly nitpicky detail not worthy of even the Roxor's upcoming review.
As for my own complaints, I either never have done much of anything in my 3 playthroughs or the ending screens seem a little bit barren and go by fast.
Secondly, when you go back to cities after the time passed, almost nobody acknowledges any of the stuff you did and you can't even gloat about it but I guess it would have been insanely too much work and you can handwave it away by saying they are too far away to even know about something. Actually that's probably true as in many of the quests you are an emissary taking a weeks long trek to find out about what the fuck the guild branch has been doing.
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hell bovine
Arcane
I didn't like MotB much, so I didn't care for the shitty camera, same as with NWN2.
But in AoD I have the following issues: sometimes after a cutscene the view changes to a nearby building instead of back to the character, sometimes it just ends up in another area corner for some reason (haven't been able to find out what causes that), zooming out causes the character models to go wonky (decapitation seems to be the most popular case). The last issue is the most annoying, because - I strongly suspect the textures are the culprit here - I find the close up graphics really tiring on the eyes and would prefer to play "zoomed out" instead, but can't.
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2009
- Messages
- 9,881
Can I just say the AoD trailer is fairly misleading?
"In a land where the ancient evil never awakened" is a truth with some modification, only saved by a literal interpretation of awakening (which isn't much of a save).
"The job of destroying the world was left to mankind" Is just entirely not true.
And don't even get me started on the whole "Welcome to the age of decadence" bit.
Lurker King
Self-Ejected
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- Jan 21, 2015
- Messages
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Fixed for accuracy. You forgot to mention the other “criticisms” on the Codex:
- This game suffers from an overabundance of skill checks.
- The game has more choices than other cRPGs, but it feels linear.
Disgruntled
Savant
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2012
- Messages
- 400
Finally finished the game. I really liked it but there were some clouds hanging over the experience that didnt make it as satisfying as it could have been. Ive only completed it with the one Praetor build I started with from the beginning so some of these opinions are tied to that character.
*****Warning Spoilers Ahead*****
Difficulty
The game starts out very difficult and forces one to a specific set of skills or very high combat abilities to pass through Teron. The first city is the real hellgate of AoD, that fancy robot cave and scorpion river was a cakewalk in comparison. After Teron its suitably challenging but I was instilled with the sense that im playing savescum trial and error.
By the time ive started Maadoran, im no longer picking skills by choice but with heavy compromise towards the checks I have to pass. This really takes you out of the atmosphere unless you've committed to playing ironman and have the patience of an underground bridge machinery monk.
Combat
I really liked the combat system even though the game was way too fond with concentrating on beating the player to a pulp before he got a chance to play with it. Particularly memorable fights from a tactical point of view was the Aurelian loremaster interception, bridge rush with the raiders and the Triarii gladiator battle.
I think there should have been more small team vs small team battles or small team vs huge mob battles. Too many fights ended up being me vs the rest (although it was cool as a challenge coming up with 40 reloads till the perfect steps and luck came through). And there were a couple of encounters with 8v8 where my involvement didnt feel as meaningful. Like I said elsewhere, I felt as a Praetor the game should have given me soldiers to work with more often and in general hiring mercenaries and guards for most classes would have really played well in this game.
AoD was trying to be somewhat realistic and make one try to avoid fights. but instead the player in my position was forced to go down the same old path of becoming a killing demi-god. Allowing assistants to come and go, live and die with you would have added a nice buffer to the otherwise binary outcome of most encounters. Instead of total loss, you might scrape away with your envoy shattered, instead of total victory you might lose your best men in the battle.
Some misc points i have: low-DR armor not being that useful early-midgame since the strongest armor was always optimal against 5-6 combatants who would eventually kill you faster in the low-DR armor even if you had some points in dodge. The AI was top notch and regularly did its best to kill me close and far. Nets and alchemy pots should come with a hint that you dont need throwing skill to use em, or gimp em and make people take points in throwing to use em.
You can see here what ive ended up with, I could have grabbed the power armor as well but I thought my 5 power tubes would come in handy in the temple. Boy could I have used just a smidge of these points in the beginning instead of hoarding them in the endgame for some specific check i might have needed.
Lore, Setting and Writing
The premise was original which was nice. Overall though it felt a bit all over the place and the machinations didnt draw me in. That could have been through lack of locations, environmental background, story segmentation and ease of movement. You go here and there and you never really to do much before the slides or a character tells you of the major events while you were away. The filler was cut but you need some filler to keep the player thinking that there is a large population behind the guilds, ruins and npcs.
A big problem was how easy it was to find each ruin. The only places that really made me feel like I uncovered some ancient wonder was the Teron squatter camp and the Maadoran well. Otherwise the major destinations just popped up on my map after a couple of conversations and scroll readings. And my character all alone made the journey to them like it was a domestic flight to a tourist spot. I feel each trip should have required someones backing, a group of travelers and the works. Have some sort of dialogue check you have to pass to see if you make it and what you lose on the way, just like the troubles you heard about from the other failed excursions.
Writing style was up my alley, cynical and without saintly/evil sugarcoating. Although it went a bit too far in some places where I felt like i was reading a modern internet forum post instead of the words of a fantasy character from a crumbling Romanesque world. I was hoping the big twist was that there were no gods and it was actually a world that crumbled after our contemporary one, then I walked into the hangar and those hellfire missiles were just airship ballista rounds after all.
Quests, C&C
I was really impressed by the amount of different pathways and juicy character sheet references that played out throughout the game. Its cool to see when your reputation and minute skill and stat choices regularly come into play instead of being sprinkled in a couple of places like most rpgs.
The minute branching should be appreciated by anyone who has played and deeply considered it in game development.
The monumental task it is to have them diverge and still keep everything intact as the game keeps progressing. A single turn can split off into a different universe altogether, so to write it into a hard rpg with no dynamic AI picking up the slack should be richly commended. Too long and too often the devs slack off and dont bother beyond a couple of changes here and there instead of putting in the time like this team.
Its a shame the experience of this is clouded by the difficulty that spoils play and encourages savescumming. This is where an enforced level up system every time you receive points would make people like me commit to a build and face the consequences of my skill choices more often. But of course that could only come with adjustments against some encounters where win/lose checks could get a lot of people stuck.
Ending and Conclusion
The ending was lackluster but Id already been going through the motions by that point so it wasnt a let down from a peak exactly. Thats really the biggest shame of AoD, as hardcore as it was, there was a definite and recognizable sense that I was going through the motions like one would in most average rpgs, and that sense came a little too early.
But I dont want to be too harsh wish my critique. For a small indie team making a first game that can hold its head up with any of the greats is quite an achievement. I tried my hand at Arcanum few years back and it was too much broken bullshit to deal with despite being a classic. AoD was engrossing, balanced and polished enough to keep me happily playing to the end. Well done for putting those years of passion in, it showed.
*****Warning Spoilers Ahead*****
Difficulty
The game starts out very difficult and forces one to a specific set of skills or very high combat abilities to pass through Teron. The first city is the real hellgate of AoD, that fancy robot cave and scorpion river was a cakewalk in comparison. After Teron its suitably challenging but I was instilled with the sense that im playing savescum trial and error.
By the time ive started Maadoran, im no longer picking skills by choice but with heavy compromise towards the checks I have to pass. This really takes you out of the atmosphere unless you've committed to playing ironman and have the patience of an underground bridge machinery monk.
Combat
I really liked the combat system even though the game was way too fond with concentrating on beating the player to a pulp before he got a chance to play with it. Particularly memorable fights from a tactical point of view was the Aurelian loremaster interception, bridge rush with the raiders and the Triarii gladiator battle.
I think there should have been more small team vs small team battles or small team vs huge mob battles. Too many fights ended up being me vs the rest (although it was cool as a challenge coming up with 40 reloads till the perfect steps and luck came through). And there were a couple of encounters with 8v8 where my involvement didnt feel as meaningful. Like I said elsewhere, I felt as a Praetor the game should have given me soldiers to work with more often and in general hiring mercenaries and guards for most classes would have really played well in this game.
AoD was trying to be somewhat realistic and make one try to avoid fights. but instead the player in my position was forced to go down the same old path of becoming a killing demi-god. Allowing assistants to come and go, live and die with you would have added a nice buffer to the otherwise binary outcome of most encounters. Instead of total loss, you might scrape away with your envoy shattered, instead of total victory you might lose your best men in the battle.
Some misc points i have: low-DR armor not being that useful early-midgame since the strongest armor was always optimal against 5-6 combatants who would eventually kill you faster in the low-DR armor even if you had some points in dodge. The AI was top notch and regularly did its best to kill me close and far. Nets and alchemy pots should come with a hint that you dont need throwing skill to use em, or gimp em and make people take points in throwing to use em.
You can see here what ive ended up with, I could have grabbed the power armor as well but I thought my 5 power tubes would come in handy in the temple. Boy could I have used just a smidge of these points in the beginning instead of hoarding them in the endgame for some specific check i might have needed.
Lore, Setting and Writing
The premise was original which was nice. Overall though it felt a bit all over the place and the machinations didnt draw me in. That could have been through lack of locations, environmental background, story segmentation and ease of movement. You go here and there and you never really to do much before the slides or a character tells you of the major events while you were away. The filler was cut but you need some filler to keep the player thinking that there is a large population behind the guilds, ruins and npcs.
A big problem was how easy it was to find each ruin. The only places that really made me feel like I uncovered some ancient wonder was the Teron squatter camp and the Maadoran well. Otherwise the major destinations just popped up on my map after a couple of conversations and scroll readings. And my character all alone made the journey to them like it was a domestic flight to a tourist spot. I feel each trip should have required someones backing, a group of travelers and the works. Have some sort of dialogue check you have to pass to see if you make it and what you lose on the way, just like the troubles you heard about from the other failed excursions.
Writing style was up my alley, cynical and without saintly/evil sugarcoating. Although it went a bit too far in some places where I felt like i was reading a modern internet forum post instead of the words of a fantasy character from a crumbling Romanesque world. I was hoping the big twist was that there were no gods and it was actually a world that crumbled after our contemporary one, then I walked into the hangar and those hellfire missiles were just airship ballista rounds after all.
Quests, C&C
I was really impressed by the amount of different pathways and juicy character sheet references that played out throughout the game. Its cool to see when your reputation and minute skill and stat choices regularly come into play instead of being sprinkled in a couple of places like most rpgs.
The minute branching should be appreciated by anyone who has played and deeply considered it in game development.
The monumental task it is to have them diverge and still keep everything intact as the game keeps progressing. A single turn can split off into a different universe altogether, so to write it into a hard rpg with no dynamic AI picking up the slack should be richly commended. Too long and too often the devs slack off and dont bother beyond a couple of changes here and there instead of putting in the time like this team.
Its a shame the experience of this is clouded by the difficulty that spoils play and encourages savescumming. This is where an enforced level up system every time you receive points would make people like me commit to a build and face the consequences of my skill choices more often. But of course that could only come with adjustments against some encounters where win/lose checks could get a lot of people stuck.
Ending and Conclusion
The ending was lackluster but Id already been going through the motions by that point so it wasnt a let down from a peak exactly. Thats really the biggest shame of AoD, as hardcore as it was, there was a definite and recognizable sense that I was going through the motions like one would in most average rpgs, and that sense came a little too early.
But I dont want to be too harsh wish my critique. For a small indie team making a first game that can hold its head up with any of the greats is quite an achievement. I tried my hand at Arcanum few years back and it was too much broken bullshit to deal with despite being a classic. AoD was engrossing, balanced and polished enough to keep me happily playing to the end. Well done for putting those years of passion in, it showed.
Just finished my third IG run and just wow how epic it was at the finale...
and all after starting as bouncer in inn. I felt like this officer who suggested Saint Constantine to paint those silly X-Po sings on the shield before the Mulvian Bridge Battle... Sadly my run as Aurelian Preator and 
supporter of Nobility was bugged... still it was nice to to back different faction to achieve so different outcome. 
Now I need to run Loremaster and find all this techno Magic gear and trivia. Game is obviously
and so far above POE in terms not only of settings and dialogues but even production values (except 2D backgrounds >>> dated 3D graphics) Sawyer should commit seppuku now; VD should try the Kickstarter route for his new game cause his new SF game with a bit better graphics (2D not raising with AAA titles) will be blast destroying Larian and IneXile offerings.
the fact that if you were both badass Guardsman and Persuasive you could say Man like Paulinas that he was wrong working for Galienus and thus changing the fate of the Empire and world for centuries was just WOW...
supporter of Nobility was bugged... still it was nice to to back different faction to achieve so different outcome. Now I need to run Loremaster and find all this techno Magic gear and trivia. Game is obviously and so far above POE in terms not only of settings and dialogues but even production values (except 2D backgrounds >>> dated 3D graphics) Sawyer should commit seppuku now; VD should try the Kickstarter route for his new game cause his new SF game with a bit better graphics (2D not raising with AAA titles) will be blast destroying Larian and IneXile offerings.
Irenaeus II
Unwanted
Can't argue with the Comissar.
Irenaeus II
Unwanted
:ehue:
:ehue:
:ehue:
Cadmus
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2013
- Messages
- 4,264
HiddenX what's the reception in your thirdworldian shithole? I read like 2 threads about AoD and couldn't find anything interesting except for people complaining about the usual bullshit like "omg it's on rails, you do what developer tells you, not enough Skyrim"
It's so nice to see that RPGWatch is still holding onto their standard of being a bunch of morons. I also saw some people asking about the game for several pages and being completely unable to grasp what it is about instead of trying the demo like a normal person.
EDIT: I don't think this review has been posted yet : http://www.geeksundergrace.com/gaming/review-age-decadence-pc/ gonna read it now, it's some christianfag website so I'm curious.
EDIT2: I read it and it's pretty standard in the way it's retarded. The author complains that you spend too much time in combat watching attacks that miss because there's some dice rolls or something, graphics are ugly, too frequent use of profane language, etc.
It's so nice to see that RPGWatch is still holding onto their standard of being a bunch of morons. I also saw some people asking about the game for several pages and being completely unable to grasp what it is about instead of trying the demo like a normal person.
EDIT: I don't think this review has been posted yet : http://www.geeksundergrace.com/gaming/review-age-decadence-pc/ gonna read it now, it's some christianfag website so I'm curious.
EDIT2: I read it and it's pretty standard in the way it's retarded. The author complains that you spend too much time in combat watching attacks that miss because there's some dice rolls or something, graphics are ugly, too frequent use of profane language, etc.
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IHaveHugeNick
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2015
- Messages
- 1,870,182
Fuck this game and fuck VD with a rusty shovel.
Trying to go back to WL2...nope.
Tried Pillars WM instead...nope
The epic line of nopes continued until I eventually went back to Fallout 2, where I was finally able to get - somewhat - similar experience.
Thank you for ruining entire fucking genre for me. Now I need a new hobby, perhaps making soap sculptures?
Fuck.
Trying to go back to WL2...nope.
Tried Pillars WM instead...nope
The epic line of nopes continued until I eventually went back to Fallout 2, where I was finally able to get - somewhat - similar experience.
Thank you for ruining entire fucking genre for me. Now I need a new hobby, perhaps making soap sculptures?
Fuck.
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
AoD forum needs a sticky thread with select glowing testimonials like this one compiled in the OP.
Irenaeus II
Unwanted
haha quoted for truth
Cadmus
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2013
- Messages
- 4,264
Yeah, it really sucks. I can't turn on a random game for fun because everything is too retarded compared to AoD so I'm stuck playing AoD forever until VD releases something new. I'll probably have arthritis in my fingers by then and a full blown Parkinson.
"Hey, grandson, fetch me the new game from Vault Dweller on your magic device that goes beep beep."
"Hey, grandson, fetch me the new game from Vault Dweller on your magic device that goes beep beep."
Komrade Komissar Aproved post with one caveat that Fallout 2 was AoD played on Awesome mode with 300 SP added from new games only Wasteland with Its hilarius Manerite faction dialogues and DDOS combat came close to AoD Perfection; sadly the former had lame first half and latter suffered from Diablo loot and Larian goofiness.
Lurker King
Self-Ejected
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2015
- Messages
- 1,865,419
That is exactly how I feel. At least I have some oldschool classics to discover with more sophistication and challenge, but they are mostly without reactivity and are poorly written.
When I'm done with AoD, I will play Prelude to Darkness. The game is one of the main influences of the tough love design of AoD. RoA2 will be the next.
Irenaeus II
Unwanted
The combat is not often tedious. I also think the game looks great. Also, AoD works fucking great as an RPG.
Other than that, great review. 10/10
Other than that, great review. 10/10
Cadmus
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2013
- Messages
- 4,264
The combat ain't tedious.
I'm starting to get tired of every retarded review opening with a warning that the game is shit and hard but you could try it anyway, pretty please.
Difficult combat is a selling point, not something that requires a warning. It's a reason to recommend the game. What the fuck is this shit? Is everyone so scared of the popamole skyrim retard's reaction?
Everyone I showed the Incline Trailer to said it was badass and cool. Nobody said "uh but if it's tedious and hard how can I be a dragon then?"
While I had been also looking forward to a talky playthrough, it's a mistake for a random retarded reviewer to base his review on this style of play. The combat system is awesome and an integral part of the experience.
I'm starting to get tired of every retarded review opening with a warning that the game is shit and hard but you could try it anyway, pretty please.
Difficult combat is a selling point, not something that requires a warning. It's a reason to recommend the game. What the fuck is this shit? Is everyone so scared of the popamole skyrim retard's reaction?
Everyone I showed the Incline Trailer to said it was badass and cool. Nobody said "uh but if it's tedious and hard how can I be a dragon then?"
While I had been also looking forward to a talky playthrough, it's a mistake for a random retarded reviewer to base his review on this style of play. The combat system is awesome and an integral part of the experience.
Irenaeus II
Unwanted
Not enough empowered women fireballs
IHaveHugeNick
Arcane
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2015
- Messages
- 1,870,182
The combat is fantastic once you get into it.
If I had to guess, I'd say the reason it doesn't get the recognition it deserves, is the default animation speed.
I speed the animations up right away, already learned my lesson with Torque after Dead State. But I'd bet a crate of beer that most people don't even know that option exist. And on default speed the combat just fucking drags, man. It really does, especially if you have to reload for 15th time.
If I had to guess, I'd say the reason it doesn't get the recognition it deserves, is the default animation speed.
I speed the animations up right away, already learned my lesson with Torque after Dead State. But I'd bet a crate of beer that most people don't even know that option exist. And on default speed the combat just fucking drags, man. It really does, especially if you have to reload for 15th time.
The first description that comes to my mind re the combat is "nail-biting" 
The second - "totally optional". Still, it's great that you've posted a positive review
The second - "totally optional". Still, it's great that you've posted a positive review 
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