Incline (not so) Long Awaited Volournian EARLY Impressions of AOD Demo

[Volourn]

Okay, guys, finally, downloaded this sucker... The real question is.. am I the actual sucker for wasting my time on VD's presumed masterpiece of main stream butt kicking? Read below, and find out.

Word of warning... I am very early.. I've spent my time mostly making characters and doing the early quests. I've only gotten into 1 fight per character before stopping...

These are just random musings....

- the music is awesome.. if the rest of the music is as good, this could easily end up in my top 5 game soundtracks...even when I got annoyed about stuff, i didn't want to quit just so I can listen to the music.. L0L

- the character system is fantastic... it covers everything needed.. if only there was a dwarf race. heh <>

- combat system itself but the balance is off... it seems it favors only those who put everything into combat while any character of mine that I tried mixing combat and non combat skills ends up dead let alone a pure non combat character.... Yeah, you can totally avoid combat but the options to do are limiting role-playing wise.. ie. when escorting the innkeeper/merchant you either have to fight and die (unless you are combat focused) or be a coward and flee.. rather limiting lol..

- i shouldn't need to have strength 10, dex 10, maxed skill in sword to take these losers up.. I know there are no levels but these guys must have rather high skill points since they can dodge, hit, and take damage well.

- i like the fact that health can't be increased so hit points don't get to ridic numbers.

- combat system reminds me of FO which is a good thing..

- why no dualweild.. yeah, you can equip 2 weapons in the two hand slots but you can't use them at same time.

- graphics aren't anything special.. not the worst but rather bland..

- alchemy/crafting systems look good though I haven't tinkered with them so far.

- the different starting archs are real nice.

- i noticed it seems useless to equip shields or heavier armour at start of game since they limit AP way too much 9armour) or make your chance to strike so low you'll likely miss which means those wearing leather armour with no shield equipped with high speed weapons are heavily favored as trying to win with an axe weilding heavy armoured shield equipped monster = lol

- what's with the constant insta teleport?

I'll play some more but there is definitely potential here with some tinkering over.. Also, try not to have npcs spam entire books at one time.. Let the PC say more than okay or next.

Again, the best part of the demo is the awesome music... the worst part of the demo is the insta teleport...


Good job overall, VD and co!

 

[Vault Dweller]

- i shouldn't need to have strength 10, dex 10, maxed skill in sword to take these losers up.. I know there are no levels but these guys must have rather high skill points since they can dodge, hit, and take damage well.

You don't. 7-8 will do, once you figure out the system and how to use different attacks, weapon types (within a class), crafting, alchemy, and nets with max efficiency.

Good job overall, VD and co!

Thanks.

 

[Darth Roxor]

 

[Crooked Bee]

Volly is a SIS.

 

[Jaesun]

INCLINE of Volourn.

 

[l3loodAngel]

The official apology of skyway to come.

 

[Volourn]

Fuck Skyway.. i read the thread with his whining.


"You don't. 7-8 will do, once you figure out the system and how to use different attacks, weapon types (within a class), crafting, alchemy, and nets with max efficiency."

I tried a character with 8str,8dex, and 8int with axe, heavy armour, and shield and simply couldn't do anything b/c i to hit chance was too low. Nets were useless since throw as at 7%. I'm sure further in the game this is a legit strategy b/c you'll have more skill points but earl on you are seemingly forced to be 100% combat or avoid it altogether. I do like the way nets work though.

Also, I do love the way how the starting quest for different characters are all connected beautifully yet different though when waking up due to hearing the fight you should be able to investigate instead of hiding in your room until it is done. The game makes the roleplaying choice of your character to be uncaring.. Just because I am a drifter doesn't mean I'm blaisse. Have you not watched gems like Littlist Hobo, Highway to Heaven, or The Fugitive? Heh.

Again, I can't state even more clearly how awesome the music is.

 

[Severian Silk]

- what's with the constant insta teleport?

That's just there temporarily for testing purposes. It will be removed later in the full release.

 

[alkeides]

And you guys wonder why I fell in love with her!

Someone said Volourn was male. I am confused.

 

[Excommunicator]

Volourn is my sister

 

[Lancehead]

Again, I can't state even more clearly how awesome the music is.

I always played with the music turned off. Maybe I should give the music a try the next time I play.

 

[oscar]

why no dualweild.. yeah, you can equip 2 weapons in the two hand slots but you can't use them at same time.

Thank God. Dual-wielding is moronic, high-fantasy retardation.

 

[Volourn]

"That's just there temporarily for testing purposes. It will be removed later in the full release."

Lets' hope so b/c it is a huge turn off.

"Thank God. Dual-wielding is moronic, high-fantasy retardation."

No.


"I always played with the music turned off. Maybe I should give the music a try the next time I play"

DO IT.

 

[Blasterhead]

Oh? I didn't realise the teleporting was a temporary thing. At first it took me off-guard, but I quickly appreciated it after it saved me so much time and takes you straight to the content with no filler. (exact opposite of elder scrolls) Treat the game like a kick ass pick-your-own-adventure book. The downside being there are a lot of neat scenes that you need to walk about to initiate, though, although most of them ended up in my character getting killed. Curious what bothers you about it, though. Feel like you don't have control of your character?

Re: dual-wielding

Oscar is right, outside of some pretty out-lying situations it's simply fantasy. (and I've never seen those situations modelled in a game, it's usually dancing-with-swords nonsense)

 

[Volourn]

"Feel like you don't have control of your character?"

Yup. And, it loses the adventuring/exploring feel. I like walking around town and finding stuff. ie. I was walkinga round the merchant area for shits and giggles and ended up having a fake merchant and his gonns try to baboozle me.

P.S. I'd also like to get skill points when using abiltiies to avoid battle. ie. I tried to use dex to 'run' from that battle just for fun and you get nothing for it. So.. why would you avoid it outside of fear of death? Also, how 'bout an option to persaude the goons to go away. It justs eems to me that soem,times chocies are donw to fight or flee and fleeing to avoid combat which isn't rewarding at all. Should be fight, flee, or talk out of in the various cases.

P.S.S getting 'bonus' skill points' with death blow while allies can 'steal' them from you is silly. This hasn't happeend to me before but I've read about others suffering from it. I haven't got a npc to join me yet.

P.S.S. I love the different descriptions when walking to different areas.

P.S.S.S. Music still rocks!!!

 

[RedScum]

The teleporting between locations will stay according to VD. (And i personally dont mind it.)

 

[Commissar Draco]

Unless you use rapier and parring dagger or sabre/revolver combo the dual wielding is DnD bullshit... But wait this is Classical Roman times game?

 

[Vault Dweller]

1) Teleporting stays. It has its pros and cons and for many the pros outweigh the cons.
2) Dual-wielding - what does it mean exactly in a turn-based game with action points? You can equip two weapons (I often do) and use the off-hand weapon for quick strikes or aimed attacks. You can't attack simultaneously with two weapons.
3) The reward for running away from the battle is staying alive.
4) Skill points rewarded for killing will be removed in the next update (too many people are very upset when your allies "steal" your kill - :vader's NOOO! picture: , you will get skill points for battles, not individual kills.
5) Good point about the drifter. We'll fix it if we have time.
6) Stats - trust me, Volly, if you can do more with less. Here is a character screen recently posted on our forums:

 

[Loretta]

why no dualweild.. yeah, you can equip 2 weapons in the two hand slots but you can't use them at same time.

Thank God. Dual-wielding is moronic, high-fantasy retardation.

But shield splitting is your kind of moronic retardation, yes... Talk about larpers selection bias.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Wooden shields were resistant to splitting?



Edit: Regardless, shields splitting is a game mechanic - shields provide protection; shield splitting is about removing that protection and making a blocker vulnerable, not realism. Dual wielding is different, in a sense that in its pure form it always exists in turn-based, AP-based games where you can decide which weapon you will attack with. So, dual wielding is more of a RT thing where such micromanagement is next to impossible.

 

[tuluse]

P.S.S getting 'bonus' skill points' with death blow while allies can 'steal' them from you is silly. This hasn't happeend to me before but I've read about others suffering from it. I haven't got a npc to join me yet.

You don't get NPC followers, but there are battles where you have allies.

 

[l3loodAngel]

4) Skill points rewarded for killing will be removed in the next update (too many people are very upset when your allies "steal" your kill - :vader's NOOO! picture: , you will get skill points for battles, not individual kills.)

I would argue that there is no need to marginalize everyone as "good" and "best builds" will always come on top SP wise (for kills) compared to "barely", "so so" and "just enough builds".

 

[Globbi]

- combat system itself but the balance is off... it seems it favors only those who put everything into combat while any character of mine that I tried mixing combat and non combat skills ends up dead let alone a pure non combat character.... Yeah, you can totally avoid combat but the options to do are limiting role-playing wise.. ie. when escorting the innkeeper/merchant you either have to fight and die (unless you are combat focused) or be a coward and flee.. rather limiting lol..

You are asked if you don't mind fighting before this escort, right? If you don't focus on fighting, start with shit gear and have no utility items (nets, alchemy) then you should not take this job. Hybrid characters in this game are the most interesting IMO - a lot of dialogue options and can still handle group fights.

 

[Volourn]

"1) Teleporting stays. It has its pros and cons and for many the pros outweigh the cons."​

Eh.​

"2) Dual-wielding - what does it mean exactly in a turn-based game with action points? You can equip two weapons (I often do) and use the off-hand weapon for quick strikes or aimed attacks. You can't attack simultaneously with two weapons."​

Eh. I'll live without dualweilding as I rarely use dualweilders anyways.​

"3) The reward for running away from the battle is staying alive."​

I wouldn't mind that if there were other ways to avoid combat than simply running like a coward. Perhaps, bluffing (streetwise? persuade?) enmies in the like.​

"4) Skill points rewarded for killing will be removed in the next update (too many people are very upset when your allies "steal" your kill - :vader's NOOO! picture: , you will get skill points for battles, not individual kills."​

Good to know.​

"5) Good point about the drifter. We'll fix it if we have time."​

Thumbs up.​

"6) Stats - trust me, Volly, if you can do more with less. Here is a character screen recently posted on our forums:"​

Yeha, but your example character is not of a beginning character. It has spear at 60 and critical strike 74 which unless I'm doing something wrong is impossible at start since 50 seems to be the max 9at least for me). How does that character survive some of the earlier battles? Does he run until he gains extra skill points?​

NOTE: I've tried chemistry.. fun fun. ​

 

[Vault Dweller]

"6) Stats - trust me, Volly, if you can do more with less. Here is a character screen recently posted on our forums:"​

Yeha, but your example character is not of a beginning character. It has spear at 60 and critical strike 74 which unless I'm doing something wrong is impossible at start since 50 seems to be the max 9at least for me). How does that character survive some of the earlier battles? Does he run until he gains extra skill points?

I meant look at the stats. The character is a merc, so he survived the assassin fight and probably took the escort mission.

I did a lot of early fights with different combat builds and you don't *need* to have more 7-8 in physical stats (unless you want to kick ass with vengeance).

Edit: When you start playing the game, it's "normal" to think that you need 9-10 in physical stats to have a chance and that armor/shield limits you too much. As your understanding of the system grows, you'd be able to 'do more with less' and play jacks of all trades.

Also, keep in mind that some fights are very difficult and you aren't expected to beat them, unless you're really, really good. Take the escort mission, for example. You aren't forced to take it and you're given several opportunities to walk away. It's not a mandatory fight that you simply must win to progress further, so there is no shame in walking away. Well, there is, but at least you'll live to fight walk away from another fight another day.