The Age of Decadence

[Rune_74]

Well I played it an it was decent, the interface is a direct copy of fallout(or pretty close)

The ground textures really were distracting, they didn't seem to fit. Another thing that bothered me I was fighting a guy using a crossbow, I had a sword, at close range he was able to attack every turn(this included reloading I assume) and hitme every time. Seems an odd choice.

And gotta say very ugly crowd...even for an indie game.


BUT...

I do see some good potential here....I wonder how far they are away though, since they seem to be still tweaking combat.

[BasiliskWrangler]

I had a chance to play it for about an hour. It's pretty good. Any suggestions or problems that I had have already been mentioned by others. It definitely is a "beta" and it needs some more time in the oven, but it is a solid start and the final game will be really improved by the feedback they'll get from it.

[AK_Marty]

Here's a link to the ITS forum for downloads: http://www.irontowerstudio.com/forum/in ... 221.0.html

I have played for about four hours and have only made it about half way through. I have tried several different character builds, but when I specialise in one weapon I do fine up to a point, then run into some bad guys that I can hardly handle. I think the full game is going to be quite the adventure. They say you will be able to finish the game with minimal or no combat, if that is the path you choose. This is strictly a combat demo and is really challenging, for me anyway

edit: I tried a hammer/dodge guy yesterday and finally won all the arena fights, YAY

[screeg]

Updated demo. Bugs fixed, issues addressed.

[Evnissyen]

I very much want to play this demo, but I still have to wait a few more days, sigh... .

Not that a few days is a big deal, but I figured it was worth a frivolous post to mention... again. After all, I'm a very important person and I'm sure everyone's aware of this, even if they're too shy to admit it.

I understand.

My external drive, I reckon, should be here Monday.

Then I can set up a partition with Boot Camp, load Windows, download the demo and test it out.

I just know everyone's on pins & needles waiting for me to test the demo and give my impression/review.

Just everyone be patient.

[quasimodo]

I've been playing the combat beta/demo for the last 4 days. I find it to be the best single character TB combat I have ever played. You have to keep in mind this beta is the show off the fine features of only the combat system. As such you fight a series of opponents with very different skills so you can check how well your build performs. You receive skill points after each victory wich you can put toward various offensive or devensive skills. To succeed you pretty much need to focus on one weapon and one defensive skill. There are a lot of different builds possible and you need to develope different strategies to succeed.

I'm pretty impressed with the overall balance of the combat, the enemy A.I., and how well the various enemies skills were designed to make each encounter a little different. If the combat encounters in the final game are anywhere near as well designed we will be in for a treat.


edit: As was posted above there is a newer bug-free version out. The current version gives some stronger weapon "synergies" so that its now possible to have a viable character who can use multiple weapons. Again the "beta" aspect of this combat demo is obvious as there are a lot of ITS forumites happily testing away.

[Rune_74]

I've been playing the combat beta/demo for the last 4 days. I find it to be the best single character TB combat I have ever played. You have to keep in mind this beta is the show off the fine features of only the combat system. As such you fight a series of opponents with very different skills so you can check how well your build performs. You receive skill points after each victory wich you can put toward various offensive or devensive skills. To succeed you pretty much need to focus on one weapon and one defensive skill. There are a lot of different builds possible and you need to develope different strategies to succeed.

I'm pretty impressed with the overall balance of the combat, the enemy A.I., and how well the various enemies skills were designed to make each encounter a little different. If the combat encounters in the final game are anywhere near as well designed we will be in for a treat.


edit: As was posted above there is a newer bug-free version out. The current version gives some stronger weapon "synergies" so that its now possible to have a viable character who can use multiple weapons. Again the "beta" aspect of this combat demo is obvious as there are a lot of ITS forumites happily testing away.

Hmm you didn't find it odd that a enemy could load and shoot a crossbow at pointblank range and not miss or have any issues at all? I thought it was a decent turn based combat system, however it didn't do anything to set itself as the best ever, it seemed ok though.

[quasimodo]

I don't see your problem with this. I didn't see the AI doing anything I wasn't allowed to do. The fights were well balanced and challenging. There were lots of different skills and attacks and I used them all as was tactically required. As far as the best....well there isn't much competition in the single character TB world.

[screeg]

...it didn't do anything to set itself as the best ever, it seemed ok though.

Well, what single-player tactical turn-based game have you played which you liked better? I found it to be quite deep, especially considering the full game is not a combat simulator, but an actual RPG.

[Elveronion]

i'll tell ya what i think. it's good but it's not great. it's just that the fanboyz over on iron tower forums or rpgcodex think that jesus christ has returned and brought this demo with him. pleeeze.

you are right screeg, this isn't a combat simulator it's an rpg, so it better be dam good. because i personally don't think the combat can carry the game by itself. no magic? no spells? no monsters? limited fantasy? the whole world seems dry and uninspired. i really don't see why so many people are so excited for it. i will still buy it becuase this is what i collect, but i am not excited for it!1

hey, i wish all the best for mr. iron tower but i am not a fanboy. i am not a fanboy of basilisk either, and i have told them how eschalon could be improved. i just call it like i see it. personally i am way more excited for book 2 than age of decadence becasue i think book 2 storyline and game world is intriguing.

[BasiliskWrangler]

no magic? no spells? no monsters? limited fantasy? the whole world seems dry and uninspired. i really don't see why so many people are so excited for it. i will still buy it becuase this is what i collect, but i am not excited for it!1

Well, that is what makes it unique. It's not traditional high-fantasy, and I applaud Vince for going that route. No doubt some people will be turned off by it, but others will find it refreshing. It's a marvelous thing that we have Avernum, Geneforge, Age of Decadence, Depths of Peril, and Eschalon- all variations on the RPG genre. It's all good. Choice is good.

[Evnissyen]

...Just posting to ask Elveron why people on this forum, lately, have been coming up with new avatars that scare the life out of me?

(Sorry this isn't AoD related, but I thought we needed some light distraction.)

[Rune_74]

...it didn't do anything to set itself as the best ever, it seemed ok though.

Well, what single-player tactical turn-based game have you played which you liked better? I found it to be quite deep, especially considering the full game is not a combat simulator, but an actual RPG.

honestly I've played the game before...it was called fallout then though....sure it has a different time line but it is very much like fallout, almost to the point of being exactly alike. What turn based games have I played that I liked better...well TOEE was better, but thats not the point really. I think it is no better or wosre then alot of single player turn based engines I have seen. There were a couple problems, one being the crossbow relaod and fire at point blankat my character when he was in melee with the enemy(which should be next to impossible) This nagged at me because if you are going for a realistic approach then this is a problem.

[quasimodo]

...it didn't do anything to set itself as the best ever, it seemed ok though.

Well, what single-player tactical turn-based game have you played which you liked better? I found it to be quite deep, especially considering the full game is not a combat simulator, but an actual RPG.

honestly I've played the game before...it was called fallout then though....sure it has a different time line but it is very much like fallout, almost to the point of being exactly alike. What turn based games have I played that I liked better...well TOEE was better, but thats not the point really. I think it is no better or wosre then alot of single player turn based engines I have seen. There were a couple problems, one being the crossbow relaod and fire at point blankat my character when he was in melee with the enemy(which should be next to impossible) This nagged at me because if you are going for a realistic approach then this is a problem.

Again I don't see the point of your crossbow complaint. The game manages to balance melee and ranged combat which is a lot more than most games. Expecting realism in TB combat seems a bit much.

And again I am saying this Demo has the best single controllable character TB combat I have played. (I.e. I'm comparing it to Fallout 1&2, Arcanum, EB1, Geneforge.)

I'm not comparing it to party based TB games like ToEE, JA2, X-COM, KotC. Which I happen to like more because of the added tactical options of managing a whole party.

C

[Evnissyen]

Well... just got through playing the combat demo.

First impression:
I found that the game system made the character difficult to maneuver and attack with, and also that attack options were limited. (For example with a sword you could only slash, you could not stab or hack, and I tried a number of key combinations to see if they altered my attack strategies; they didn't.)

The attack mode seemed clumsy. With a sword you have to get in close to attack: understandable and reasonable; but it didn't always work when I clicked on my opponent with the attack icon (I think it was diamond-shaped). I guessed that clicking on the crossed-swords button below manipulates between parry and attack mode, but I'm still not sure if this was the case. I was killed by the guy with the crossbow (and I really shouldn't've been) because 1. I was too busy still trying to find alternate means of attack and also 2. the attack mode was seemingly too clumsy and so I don't think I was capable of getting my character to properly attack my opponent.

Take this all with a grain of salt: I'm not a highly experienced gamer.

Additionally, and this criticism has less to do with the actual combat scenario and strategies: I don't like the fact that they switched around the left and right keys: this was not correctable in the Options. The left key, in my experience, is traditionally for movement and the right is traditionally for other options, like speaking with people or attacking them; in AoD this was reversed.

Most annoying was that the camera rotation was not truly under my control.

Back to the combat: The dodging was good.

Also, the blue spaces (I assume to indicate the range of ranged attacks -- so far I only tried the sword) was very good.

I thought the combat was okay. Better than many, not the best it could be.

Again it should be accepted: I only tried the sword.

I will probably play the demo again, despite the fact that I'm not very interested in combat-only scenarios.