Age of Decadence - September Update

Well, I do love mechanics -
Let me say this: There are 'mechanics' and there are mechanics. AoD is the latter.
I've been spending some time testing the latest beta and it is yummy. To everyone who's going to wait until the final release to play it, make sure you have some time on your hands, a lot of time.
 
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Let me say this: There are 'mechanics' and there are mechanics. AoD is the latter.
I've been spending some time testing the latest beta and it is yummy. To everyone who's going to wait until the final release to play it, make sure you have some time on your hands, a lot of time.

As I said, I don't mean to pin this on AoD at all - it just triggered my response.
 
Let me clarify a few things here.

This isn't a 'pay2betatest' thing. If it was, we wouldn't be testing it internally right now. We will release a polished demo that will give you access to about 60% of the game.

From another post:

"There are three towns (in total) in the game. That's where all the scheming, plotting, and back-stabbing take place. So, from this point of view, each town is roughly 33% of all that goodness. There are 20+ locations in the game. The + stands for minor stops that we don't count as locations. The first demo had 3: Teron, the raiders' camp, and the mine.

The second demo has 7: Maadoran, the Abyss, the tomb, the mountain pass, the Ordu camp, the tower of Zamedi, and another raiders' camp. So, that's 10, which is 50%. If you like exploring old places that should have stayed buried (similar to the tower and the Abyss), the endgame is where it's at."

We didn't plan to release anything else after the first proper demo (i.e. not the combat one), but it took us longer than we thought and we want to give something to those who have pre-ordered the game, as a way to thank them for their support, since many people have asked for some kind of 'beta participation' or 'early access'."

Those who have pre-ordered do have a right to ask for that and we don't want to tell them no, because some people don't like the practice. That's all there is to it.

So, if you want to wait until the game is out, by all means, do so. I agree that it's better to play a game from start to finish than to play a demo, no matter how extensive and polished. If you don't mind playing demos, if you enjoyed the previous demo and want more, you will be pleasantly surprised. This 'chapter' is bigger and better than the first demo in practically every way.
 
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It was never like this, where you pay early to gain access to incomplete software as the norm.

Absolutely NOT picking on AoD but I don't like this trend either DArt BUT if there weren't enough people who are willing to pay for testing a game, this trend would die out.
 
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Fair enough :)

Again, it comes down to how much repetition you can be exposed to before saturation kicks in, I guess.
AoD isn't that kind of game. The focus is on dialogues and quests, which aren't repetitive at all, not on leveling up and fighting some more.
 
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Nice. I also liked the demo. I know they were dialing down the difficulty some, which was probably warranted, but I hope they didn't go too far.
We didn't. Latest report from the testers:

"Haha, I barely survived the first attack with couple of HP by trying to prevent the last rampaging Ordu & Belgutai from reaching the last bowman, who finally sniped them out. Unexpectedly, then came the second wave... good times :grin:

The fight is a really fantastically thought out set-piece, especially with the options Oscar posted. "

The demo did feel like you had to make an all-melee character if you wanted to fight at all...
Not really. If you want to beat every fight, you have to specialize, because usually you're outnumbered and outgunned. If you want to be a jack of all trades, you have to pick your battles or look for ways to gain an upper hand (like poisoning the guards at the mine) or dabbling in alchemy and fight like a mad scientist.
 
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It was never like this, where you pay early to gain access to incomplete software as the norm.
In case of AoD, the software is incomplete only in a sense that the last 'chapter' is missing, not in a sense that the game itself is in incomplete state with missing features, bugs, and balance issues.
 
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsxiO7Ff2OE

- Inventory is okay.
- Texture ratio pixel/meter is ridiculously bad.
- Bad "art"work on stone walls.
- Way too much text, designers could have been more smart, more economic with wording & do interesting, short & effective creative writing.
- Brown colors on various shades of Brown are extremely interesting!
- Dialog system is disjointed, distracting, not a nice complete whole
 
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsxiO7Ff2OE

- Inventory is okay.
- Texture ratio pixel/meter is ridiculously bad.
- Bad "art"work on stone walls.
- Way too much text, designers could have been more smart, more economic with wording & do interesting, short & effective creative writing.
- Brown colors on various shades of Brown are extremely interesting!
- Dialog system is disjointed, distracting, not a nice complete whole

this would be a hardcore rpg your playing/observing, not skyrim.
 
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In case of AoD, the software is incomplete only in a sense that the last 'chapter' is missing, not in a sense that the game itself is in incomplete state with missing features, bugs, and balance issues.
Once again, I didn't mean to say that AoD is a bad example of this trend. I have no idea about the details of those 60% - though there's no way I'll believe there won't be significant patches done from now until the full release (and I'm not talking about the chapter content).

I'm not that naive ;)

But it's the trend that bothers me - nothing more, nothing less. Maybe I'll make a thread about it - so this one won't get bogged down for no reason.

FWIW, though, I think AoD is a very admirable piece of work - and I envy anyone capable of creating something so significant.
 
- Way too much text, designers could have been more smart, more economic with wording & do interesting, short & effective creative writing.
I can't figure out how to answer this other than just to laugh. You'd really have to play the game to comment on the writing, but yeah, if reading in an RPG isn't your thing, this won't be the game for you.
 
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I played the demo last year and thought the writing was excellent for an RPG, especially compared to the usual drivel.
 
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thanks for the clarity VD and keep up the good work. I'll be getting this when it comes out.

is there still a chance for a free camera?
 
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I played the demo last year and thought the writing was excellent for an RPG, especially compared to the usual drivel.

+1

I've stayed away from the most recent demo because I don't want anymore spoilers before I play the final release. The original demo was enough to make this game a definite purchase for me.
 
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Absolutely NOT picking on AoD but I don't like this trend either DArt BUT if there weren't enough people who are willing to pay for testing a game, this trend would die out.

Yep, it's just another way to squeeze money out of their fan base, while doing less. I'll pass on the early access, as should others who care about the industry.
 
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Yep, it's just another way to squeeze money out of their fan base, while doing less. I'll pass on the early access, as should others who care about the industry.
As soon as Steam announced this feature I knew developers, and publishers would take advantage of it. They can get money now instead of after the game is released. It's a dream come true.

The bug testing is just a good side effect of this, but I'm with the side that says just give me the finished game. Sorry I hate playing Alpha and Beta games.:)
 
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