Age of Decadence

[Algea]

Hello everyone!

I’m here to bring your attention to one amazing game that is currently in development. It’s called Age of Decadence and you can find everything about it here. It has a free public beta version which I have tried recently and instantly fell in love with. For those who seek challenge – it also has a Combat Demo version to try their skills (much needed!) at fighting different opponents. This game has a turn-based battle system, post-apocalyptic setting and the most impressive dialogues written in the last decade. There is a catch though – it has decent graphics but it's not pretty. But amazingly interesting, immersive and fun to play.


Have fun reading about it and playing its beta. It’s big enough to get a good feel of the game and it’s so much more interesting content-wise than anything mainstream I’ve played lately.

 

[Rod_Lightning]

I am downloading the Beta because I have a LOT of work this week and I feel like procrastinating.

Looks like an interesting game.

 

[BrecMadak]

Just watched the commentery gameplay video in here. Looks like a very story-driven and non-linear game, even though it has not good graphics.

 

[Algea]

Be ready - the combat is really hard though. I'm going to download Combat Demo to gain some skill. I can't really stress enough how good the game is (if you look past the graphics). Selecting different backgrounds will end up with different beginnings of the story (and not only that, different points of view, you will feel and perceive things like your character), and they are so deliciously interconnected. I had so much pleasure just starting the game over and over again, trying to milk as much different dialogue options as I could. The game is not only interesting to play, it's interesting to read; it's on par with the best fiction novels I've read. And I'm quite an avid reader.

No, they don't pay me. It's just THAT good.

 

[Rod_Lightning]

Graphics don't bother me. They are above passable to my taste so they are barely influencing my judgement. You got me excited to play this damn you. I'm in school atm using their internets, arrrdieharharr.

 

[Algea]

There won't be any multiplayer though. It's going to be exclusively intimate experience (i.e. single-player only). I'm all up for it because it just feels right in this case, but for someone else it could be a real deal-breaker.

I'm not trying to make anybody buy it. Just try it out and if you like it - spread the word. The devs are a team of only four people, they need our support in any way possible. I pre-ordered it because I loved it even if it's not here yet (we kickstarter lurkers know what it means to believe in an idea, in a promise of something amazing), and I'm trying to bring attention to it too.

 

[Algea]

Seeing as combat part of this game is a main stumbling block in the Internet I decided to post a link to the dev's message where they explained their views regarding combat and difficulty: here it is. Yes, it is hard. I died trying to kill one of the motherfuckers that tried to rob me. Was it unfair? Hell no, I just sucked big time. Have I tried again? Not yet, I decided to avoid the fight completely. Am I going to kill them later? You bet! Every fucking one of them, but maybe not with my main negotiator character.

 

[Pantheon]

Looks really interesting. Thanks for sharing

 

[Algea]

Looks really interesting. Thanks for sharing

No problem! When I like something it's hard for me to keep my excitement to myself. I tend to overshare.

 

[Kaizer0002]

Sharing is caring. I made an assassin because I like stealth and it took me 10+ tries to get through the first fight it imposed on me after my assassin climbed into a window he couldn't climb out of. I am trying to figure out how to use sneaking since I dumped all my points into it but from what I can tell, it passively reduces the range enemies can see you at by .05 tiles. Am I missing something or is persuasion the only real way to avoid combat? So far as an "assassin" I've had more success donning heavy armor than sneaking.

Edit: So I retried as a thief. The opening mission is roll some skill checks through a dialog box as opposed to actual stealth gameplay. I think I'm done with this game. I suppose it's nonlinear in that I could have probably chosen to leave town whenever I like or pick what conversation options I wanted to, but once you get into the quests there was little choice involved. Maybe Assassin just isn't their best one and I'm not giving it a chance, but I was not impressed. It seemed I was more reacting to situations the game put me in than making choices. Apparently investing in stealth and disguise as an assassin is a bad choice and you should invest in heavy armor instead.

 

[Algea]

Assassin and Imperial Guard are more battle-oriented backgrounds. Thief, Merchant, Praetor and some others are negotiators. Sneaking generally used in checks in dialogues (the engine doesn't bode well with sneaking system so they removed it). Also - it's not a whole game, it's the demo-version and it includes this first city and a couple nearby areas.

Basically you're right, you're more reacting to situations than freeplaying. It's not an open-world RPG where you go whenever you want and do whatever you feel like (though you can go whenever you want by the way, after doing the first quest, it's more like introduction). It's a heavily story-driven game with many dialogues and descriptions. The point is - the more negotiator-like your character is (etiquette, persuasion, streetwise, trading) the more options with different checks (double checks too, e.g. streetwise/persuasion) will be available to you. If your character is a doer and not negotiator then you won't see those choices at all. So in short in this demo being an assassin could be pretty boring (because it's short) and bland if you don't like the battle part of the game. Hint - assassins are more like agile dodgers with daggers coated in poison. Heavy armor and shield are all good, but don't forget to put points into strength, block and appropriate weapon of choice.

On the other hand if you didn't like it - that's perfectly fine. I played a negotiator so I was totally smitten with dialogues, and the fact that I was reacting to situations rather than actively role-playing didn't phase me at all. I like many kinds of games.

Anyway, thanks for playing and sharing your opinion!

 

[Oona]

I played this game, and it's not bad.
But, the graphics are lacking, and the world feels dead. Most of the npcs are just standing like lifeless plushies. The animations are terrible, and the sounds- what was that sound they used for the footsteps? Awful! The music is really good but it's not something you want to hear for hours on end. I would much prefer the natural sounds, and it has none.
I think the developers focused on the things that mainstream games don't, and ignored completely what mainstream games focus on. They forgot to balance things out. If this game looked good and felt real and alive, I would be interested, but until then...
Also, aren't they developing Dead State? That game looks really nice, why shouldn't AoD?

 

[Algea]

I'm not really sure, Oona, why they chose this approach but you can always address those issues on their forums. Vince is a nice guy and always ready to explain his point of view.

Thanks for trying it out!

 

[Oona]

To be honest, I don't think they'll make a graphic, sound and npc overhaul just cause of me. It feels like they are sure about the direction they've taken with the game, from the little I've read on their forums. Maybe a miracle will happen and they'll improve it before release? Otherwise SG is the only rpg that looks like it has everything I look for.

 

[Algea]

I thought you wanted answers to your questions. As I don't have them unfortunately, I suggested you to ask them on official Age of Decadence forums. If you're interested in answers, of course.