The Age of Decadence

[Username.]

The Age of Decadence

Out now on Steam's Early access program, there is a demo /> http://store.steampowered.com/app/230070/

The Age of Decadence is an isometric, turn-based, single-player role-playing game set in a low magic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world, inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire. The game features a detailed skill-based character system, multiple skill-based ways to handle quests, choices & consequences, and extensive dialogue trees.

Traditionally, many fantasy RPGs are about killing things, clearing up dungeons, and being a hero. Now, there is nothing wrong with mindless fun and wish fulfillment, but we serve a different meal here. Quoting from one of the reviews:

“Well, if you want a hardcore, heavy metal roleplaying experience that challenges you, this is the ticket. Otherwise, take a pass. The game is vicious, both in its lack of morality and its merciless systems. If you want to be the hero of a story, run and don’t look back. If you want to be Attia of the Julii or be a power player, this is your RPG.”

The focus of the game is not on killing monsters, but rather on dealing with fellow humans and factions, trying to survive – easier said than done – and making a name for yourself. Naturally, to accommodate all that scheming, plotting, and backstabbing, we give the player plenty of choices, from multiple solutions to quests to different paths you can take through the game. You (and your actions) will determine who your friends and enemies are. There are no default good and bad guys.

Features

• 23 skills, ranging from Dagger and Critical Strike to Disguise and Persuasion to Alchemy and Lore.
• Tactical combat system, featuring a flexible set of standard attacks, special attacks such as whirlwind and impale, and aimed attacks at different body parts.
• 8 weapon types: daggers, swords, axes, hammers, spears, bows, crossbows, throwing weapons, each with individual traits.
• Non-combat quest resolutions and a well-developed diplomatic path.
• Over 100 quests, taking you to 20 locations: towns, outposts, archeological digs, sealed places of Power, underground facilities, and temples.
• Each situation has multiple ways of handling it, based on your skills, reputation, and connections.
• An interesting world with rich history and unclear future that your actions can shape into seven very different game endings.
• Detailed crafting and alchemy systems: forge your own weapons with different properties, brew different potions, experiment with Greek's fire and black powder.
• Hundreds of items, ranging from weapons and armor to scrolls, tools, flasks, and pre-war relics.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Oz5Jn3JQU[/media]

*This trailer, unlike the other one, is official. But please don't just watch it, at least read the bolded before commenting.

 

[FoggyFishburne]

Another isometric RPG set in the medieval era? Fuck me. I'll pass.

Never been a fan of isometric RPGs. I don't have anything against the isometric perspective per say, hell one of my favourite games of all time is Bastion. But combining that with stats just turns the gameplay into a point and click chore. It's boring. No patterns to memorize, no puzzles to solve. Just hold down the mouse button and hope for the best. And spam your potion key.

Not for me.

 

[Username.]

Another isometric RPG set in the medieval era? Fuck me. I'll pass.

Never been a fan of isometric RPGs. I don't have anything against the isometric perspective per say, hell one of my favourite games of all time is Bastion. But combining that with stats just turns the gameplay into a point and click chore. It's boring. No patterns to memorize, no puzzles to solve. Just hold down the mouse button and hope for the best. And spam your potion key.

Not for me.

Are you fucking kidding me?

 

[FoggyFishburne]

Are you fucking kidding me?

No. I'm not. I've played a few in my life. Divine Divinity and Diablo are two just the top of my head. Both degenerate into just holding down the left mouse button. It was beyond boring.

If you think that I might actually like the genre and that you could offer some advice on what perspective I should approach a certain isometric RPG game, then feel free to share it. Your shitty gif isn't helping anyone.

I sense a bit of fanboyism from you though. Like you grew up playing Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura and loved it and therefore anyone who even dares to voice their opinion and doesn't share your fucking preference, you just automatically have to spam shitty gifs to prove your superiority in taste. Don't know how much a person like you can teach me but hey, I'm open minded. Any strong arguments that you can provide in order to persuade me and make me think differently about a genre I passionately dislike, or are you just gonna copy+paste more Cage gifs. Fuck mate, you might find a funny meme to share as well. Go nuts if that's your preferred method of discussion.

 

[volsung]

No. I'm not. I've played a few in my life. Divine Divinity and Diablo are two just the top of my head. Both degenerate into just holding down the left mouse button. It was beyond boring.

That's because those are ACTION RPG's. With RPG being very light in the Diablo series.

If you think that I might actually like the genre and that you could offer some advice on what perspective I should approach a certain isometric RPG game, then feel free to share it.

The Holy Grail of Interplay's cRPG's: Fallout 1 & 2, Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale 1 & 2.

If you feel adventurous, consider Arcanum (which you seem to know of already) and Temple of Elemental Evil.

Granted, there are no *patterns to memorize* in any of those games. Not sure what that has to do with role-playing, especially if you mean the awkward Japanese action "RPG" boss-like encounters. There are, however, lots of puzzles to solve. You could say these entire series are about problem solving: even character and/or party creation is an optimization mini game of sorts. Everything is planned and decision driven, but you click to execute those actions at your leisure. No click fests, just a tactical thinking fest.

If you like these, remember there are three more coming up: Wasteland 2, Project Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera.

 

[volsung]

About the game, looks kind of crude for a modern game, even for an indie. By this I mean slightly unrefined gameplay, which is one of the biggest issues with cRPG's. Conceptually it sounds interesting. But I don't fully understand what/who we can be and why we are supposed to do all those things. I hope there is a strong narrative behind each of the character's actions, and strong enough reasons to choose a path over another. Sure there might be options, but are they relevant?

I'll just repeat myself here yet again: a serious cRPG needs strong narrative, real character motivations (be a hero, last of your kind, save the world are not valid) and in-game decisions that effectively open or close gameplay opportunities.

Hope this turns out OK. There aren't enough cRPG's anymore.

 

[Username.]

No. I'm not. I've played a few in my life. Divine Divinity and Diablo are two just the top of my head. Both degenerate into just holding down the left mouse button. It was beyond boring.

If you think that I might actually like the genre and that you could offer some advice on what perspective I should approach a certain isometric RPG game, then feel free to share it. Your shitty gif isn't helping anyone.

I sense a bit of fanboyism from you though. Like you grew up playing Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura and loved it and therefore anyone who even dares to voice their opinion and doesn't share your fucking preference, you just automatically have to spam shitty gifs to prove your superiority in taste. Don't know how much a person like you can teach me but hey, I'm open minded. Any strong arguments that you can provide in order to persuade me and make me think differently about a genre I passionately dislike, or are you just gonna copy+paste more Cage gifs. Fuck mate, you might find a funny meme to share as well. Go nuts if that's your preferred method of discussion.

You do realize that what you're doing is about as dumb as lumping every FP/TP game together because of their perspective, right?

 

[judas1507]

where can i download the demo?
how can i support this to happen?
The game world needs more developers less capcom-ish and more CDProject-ish

 

[Username.]

where can i download the demo?
how can i support this to happen?
The game world needs more developers less capcom-ish and more CDProject-ish

You can both download the demo and support the devs through Steam or, if you prefer, you can do it through their website(it's what I did): http://www.irontowerstudio.com/

 

[pomor]

I remember, I got the demo once. The difficulty was absurd, about 20 tries, and I was unable to pass the first fight...
There was no way to controll your character directly, the stats were fighting for you. And I have tried like a dozen combinations of builds, and did not even get close to beating the very first opponent.

 

[Blothulfur]

Definite incline, i'm buying when it's done, and Vault Dweller is a golden god.

 

[Username.]

I remember, I got the demo once. The difficulty was absurd, about 20 tries, and I was unable to pass the first fight...
There was no way to controll your character directly, the stats were fighting for you. And I have tried like a dozen combinations of builds, and did not even get close to beating the very first opponent.

Get better at the game and/or avoid fights whenever possible.

Indeed, bloth. The Incline is strong in this one.

 

[Smiling_Jack1]

I remember, I got the demo once. The difficulty was absurd, about 20 tries, and I was unable to pass the first fight...
There was no way to controll your character directly, the stats were fighting for you. And I have tried like a dozen combinations of builds, and did not even get close to beating the very first opponent.

The two assasins(if you refer to this fight) gave you the option to walk away. It's your fault you didn't took it. In general, the game is designed without "game mentality". By that i mean that the player is droped in more or less realistic situations. If someone approaches you and tells you to follow him because he has something to tell you, if you stupidly deside to follow him in a dark alley and 3 thugs attack you, it will be instand game over for more than half the bults in the game, no matter how hard you try.
In this game you are not a hero who is supposed to beat everything. You are just an asshole in a world full of assholes who tries to survive in a hostile invironment. No one qurantees you you will succeed.

Directly from the mouth of the dev:

It's an optional fight. Needless to say, it's hard. You're up against two Thieves' Guild's enforcers. They gave you a chance to walk away. You decided that you want to be a hero, but being a hero is a tough gig.

Now, some people managed to kill them, some people even managed to save the guy who was the target (Vardanis), but I wouldn't expect more than 20% of gamers being able to pull it off.

If you do, you can go back to the thieves guild and get yourself a job.

Logically, she is a powerful player in the local politics. If she was easy to kill, she would have been killed a long time ago. Quite a few people did it during testing, so I know it's possible. In fact, some complained that the fight is too easy.

In general, just because you get a quest, doesn't mean it should be easy. If you can't kill her, maybe it's worth joining her.

We aim for realism, not artificial balance to ensure that every player can succeed.

And remember, Vince (dev) considers Fallout and Baldur's Gate piss easy games that only morons can fail.

 

[Yurtex]

I've tried a demo(thanks to HomemComH) and now I know ill definitely will get it when its done.

Like theme, liked idea and liked its hardness witch immerses me even more. The only thing I'd prefer to be added, is a voiced dialogues at least main one, as it some times get annoying to read walls of text.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Looks interesting. The only question I have is if you control just one person or an entire party.

 

[Smiling_Jack1]

One person

 

[ReptilePZ]

One person

Well, that's a bit unfortunate.

Anyway, I played the demo and the combat seemed pretty standard, don't quite understand what the fuss is about. It would have benefited from a party system as controlling only one character during turn-based battles can get pretty boring since there aren't enough interesting and varied options. While the plot itself seems intriguing, the writing is... not the best. They do seem to have a pretty good grasp on how to handle C&C, however. Loading saved games takes too long, they need to optimise that but it is just a demo so that's alright.

To sum up, my impressions are that, while the game has some interesting ideas, the presentation is rather lacking - forgettable music, uninteresting visual style, stale dialogues, run-of-the-mill combat. And the way the game gets you going on the main quest seems really contrived.

 

[Smiling_Jack1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlsV-my46sk

 

[volsung]

And remember, Vince (dev) considers Fallout and Baldur's Gate piss easy games that only morons can fail.

Combat can be really brutal in BG2, but I am guessing that "Vince" means you cannot get yourself in impossible situations that guarantee failure/death, in Infinity Engine games or Fallout. And that's true. Even against mobs, dragons or demons, and even if it's tough as nails (tactical wise), there's always a chance to win.

This is an interesting approach and I think it's awesome. Not every option in a game has to lead to glorious crap. Take for instance how pissed some people were that Geralt could die if he said the wrong thing to Roche during the interrogation, heh. They seriously thought something was wrong with the game.

This is a different and interesting approach to ass whopping. Make them think, damn it

 

[Smiling_Jack1]

Take for instance how pissed some people were that Geralt could die if he said the wrong thing to Roche during the interrogation, heh. They seriously thought something was wrong with the game.

Now make a game where every situation is like this,but depended not only on your choices but your skills as well, and you have AoD. You can kill people through dialogue, you can be killed through dialogue.I think it's awesome, but i can understand it can be frustrating for many people.
As for combat dificulty compaired to BG, diferent philosophy. In BG you were SUPPOSED to run around in the wilderness killing things. You were a hero. In this game you are not.
A random alley thug is a person that has spend his life hurting people to rob them. If you have not a fighting character, he will beat the crap out of you. The "you are the player" excuse is removed from this game. And even if you make a fighting monster, unless you realy master the system, a 3 on one fight will kill you 8 times out of 10.
The difference with Fallout is that combat is brutal even with good fighting skills. You still require tactics to survive, as opposed to crit in the eyes with 95% success rate.

http://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/TJHKE/the-age-of-decadence
For anyone interested.